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Meeting Title: City Council
City: Somerville, MA
Date Published: 2025-07-10

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AI Disclaimer: Summaries and transcripts above were created by various AI tools. By their nature, these tools will produce mistakes and inaccuraies. Links to the official meeting recordings are provided for verification. If you find an error, please report it to somervillecivicpulse at gmail dot com.

Time & Speaker	Transcript
Lance Davis	All right, I'm going to call this meeting to order. This is a meeting of the City Council. It is Thursday, July 10th. Please note that video and audio of this meeting is being recorded and may be shown live on local access government channels and on the City of Somerville website and will be available for future review. Will the clerk please call the roll?
Clerk	This is roll call. Councillor Mbah?
Lance Davis	Present.
Clerk	Councillor Wilson?
Lance Davis	Present.
Clerk	Councillor Ewen-Campen?
	Present.
Clerk	Councillor Scott.
J.T. Scott	Present.
Clerk	Councillor McLaughlin.
J.T. Scott	Here.
Clerk	Councillor Burnley.
J.T. Scott	Present.
Clerk	Councillor Sait. Councillor Strezo.
J.T. Scott	Present.
Clerk	Councillor Clingan. Councillor Davis.
Lance Davis	Here.
Clerk	With seven councillors present and three absent, we have a quorum.
Lance Davis	All right, thank you, everyone. My name is Lance Davis. I'm the vice president of the City Council. I'll be presiding this evening in the absence of a president, as Councillor Benita-Newfield has resigned to pursue other exciting things. So happy to lead you all through the process. First, let me let you know that pursuant to Rule 32, let it be known that the City Council salutes the flag of the United States of America, and let us recall our oath to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the Commonwealth to the best of our abilities and understanding. We begin our meetings with a moment of silence. Are there any counselors wishing to say a few words about members of our community this evening? OK. Seeing none, everyone who is able, please rise. And we will have a moment of silence.
SPEAKER_17	Thank you.
Lance Davis	All right, first order of business is approval of the minutes of the regular meeting of June 12th. Any discussion? All right, that item is approved. The next order of business is the election of a president of the 2025 City Council for the remainder of the year. The floor is open to nominations. Councilor Mbah.
Will Mbah	Thank you, Mr. Chair. I move to nominate Councilor Davis as council president.
Lance Davis	Council Mbah nominates Councillor Lance Davis for president. Are there other nominations? All right, seeing none, is there a motion to close nominations? Motion to close. There's a motion to close. Any objection? Seeing none, that motion carries. Nominations having been closed, will the clerk please call the roll on the question, for whom do you vote?
Clerk	Yes, indeed. On the election of a president, for whom do you vote, Councillor Mbah?
Will Mbah	Councillor Lance Davis.
Clerk	Councillor Wilson.
Will Mbah	Councillor Lance Davis.
Clerk	Councillor Ewen Campin. Councillor Scott.
Will Mbah	Councillor Davis.
Clerk	Councillor McLaughlin.
Willie Burnley	Councillor Davis.
Clerk	Councillor Burnley.
Willie Burnley	Councillor Davis.
Clerk	Councillor Sait. Councillor Strezo. Councillor Davis. Councillor Clingan. Councillor Davis.
Lance Davis	Councillor Davis.
Clerk	With seven votes, Councillor Davis is the new president of the City Council for the remainder of 2025.
Lance Davis	All right, thank you all. All right. Councillor Davis has been elected president of the 2025 City Council. Will the City Clerk please administer the oath of office. All right, the next order of business, well, I'll continue to preside. Now I'm in new capacity as president, and we will elect a vice president to replace me, as irreplaceable as I may seem. Is there any, next order, we did this already. Next order of business is to, is the election of vice president. The floor is open to nominations. Councilor Wilson.
Jake Wilson	I nominate Councilor Wilmabah.
Lance Davis	Council Wilson has nominated Council Ba. Are there any further nominations?
Matt McLaughlin	Motion to close.
Lance Davis	There's a motion to close. Seeing no objection, nominations are closed. Nominations having been closed, will the clerk please call the roll on the question, for whom do you vote?
Clerk	On the election of a vice president, for whom do you vote? Councilor Mbah.
Will Mbah	Councilor William Ba.
Clerk	Councillor Wilson.
Will Mbah	Councillor Mbah.
Clerk	Councillor Ewen Campin. Councillor Scott.
Will Mbah	Councillor Mbah.
Clerk	Councillor McLaughlin.
J.T. Scott	Councillor Mbah.
Clerk	Councillor Burnley.
J.T. Scott	Councillor Mbah.
Clerk	Councillor Sait. Councillor Streisand.
Lance Davis	Councillor Mbah.
Clerk	Councillor Clingan. Councillor Davis.
Lance Davis	Councillor Mbah.
Clerk	With seven votes, Councillor Mbah is the vice president of this council for the remainder of 2025. Congratulations.
Lance Davis	Is there an oath in office for that one too? Councillor Mbah, would you please come up to take the oath?
	Okay, now first I'll be reading for you.
Lance Davis	Ooh, this may be the first time that someone is sitting in the first seat but voting last. Well played, counselor, well played. All right, everyone, now back to work. We have a few items that we're gonna take out of order, but not in the sort of normal sense that we do. We're actually gonna take the regular order of business first, although we will take up with item 4.1, we will take up item 10.7 along with that out of order. Then we will take up items 10.1 and 10.4, and then back to the regular order of business. Yeah, that's essentially the plan. At some point after we take up items, in that then regular order after 7.5, we're going to take items 10.5 and 10.6 out of business as well. The reason for that, there are a number of items that require two-thirds vote, and we will have a couple of our members who are away this evening joining us remotely so that we will have the ability to, if everyone were to vote in favor of those items, at least we have the possibility of having a two-thirds vote. Of course, if not, then no worries, then that, then we go on. We'll then have a brief recess and we'll come back and we will finish the items in the regular order. So not quite as clean cut as usual, but we're trying to balance the reality of folks this time of year and make sure that we get the city's business done. So would the clerk please call the next item.
Clerk	Item 3.1 is a small wireless facility from Crown Castle Fiber for facilities on a new pole at 10 Hawthorne Street.
Lance Davis	All right, I now declare this public hearing open. Is there anyone here to speak on the item? Randy Spisano. Give us one minute. There you go. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_14	Good evening. Yes, I'm here to present. We are just upgrading our existing outdated equipment. Essentially, this build was from quite a while ago. We need power converted for the updated antenna and
Lance Davis	the updated radios inside the shroud fairly simple okay thank you is there anyone else here to speak on this item all right seeing none uh the public hearing is closed any comments or questions from the members all right see none and that item is approved
Clerk	Item 3.2 is a grant of location from Eversource to install approximately 166 feet of conduit in Broadway and Mount Vernon Street from Manhole 1784 to a point of pickup at 44 Broadway.
Lance Davis	I now declare this public hearing open. Is there anyone here to speak on the item? Jackie Duffy.
SPEAKER_15	How are you tonight? And congratulations on the presidency. We would like to install 166 feet of conduit in Broadway and Mount Vernon Street to provide electric service to 44 Broadway, and it's for an 81-unit building and two retail spaces.
Lance Davis	Anyone else here to speak on this item? All right, seeing none, the public hearing is closed. Any comments or discussion? Seeing none, that item is approved.
Clerk	Item 3.3 is a grant of location from Eversource to install one new manhole in approximately 76 feet of conduit in Given Street from utility pole 383 over 1 through new manhole 32650 to a point of pickup at 156 Highland Ave.
Lance Davis	All right, this public hearing is open. Is there anyone here to speak on the item?
SPEAKER_15	Jackie Duffy, Eversource would like to install one new manhole in approximately 76 feet of conduit in Given Street for electric service to 156, I'm sorry, 156 Highland Avenue.
Lance Davis	All right, anyone else to speak on the item? All right, seeing no more hands, the public hearing is closed. Any discussion? Seeing none, that item is approved.
Clerk	Item 3.4 is a rental location from Eversource to install one new manhole and approximately 30 feet of conduit in Warren Street from the new manhole 32350 to a point of pickup at 8 Medford Street.
Lance Davis	I now declare the public hearing to be open. Anyone here to speak on the item?
SPEAKER_15	Jackie would like to install one new manhole 32350 and 30 feet of conduit in Warren Street to provide electric service to 8 Medford Street. This will be 18 residential units.
Lance Davis	Anyone else to speak on the item? Seeing no more, the public hearing is closed. Any discussion? All right. Seeing none, that item is approved.
Clerk	Item 2.5 is granted location from Eversource to install approximately 40 feet of conduit in Moreland Street from utility pole 236 over 9 to a point of pickup at 77 Moreland Street.
Lance Davis	I now declare this public hearing to be open. Anyone here to speak on the item?
SPEAKER_15	Jackie Duffy, Eversource, would like to install 40 feet of conduit on Moreland Street to provide electrical service to 79 R Moreland Street.
Lance Davis	Thank you. Anyone else here to speak on the item? Come on right up to the dais here, and please just introduce yourself, name and address, and go right ahead.
SPEAKER_17	Hello, everybody. My name's Nick. I actually reside at 77 Moreland Street. I did take a look at the plans via email that was sent to me, and it does say an approximate pickup. The problem, though, is that we are very concerned as to how approximate this can be. I, as an electrician myself, you know, this is... It's electricity, it's an unforeseen kind of situation, something you can't see and it can hurt you. And my experience running 2,000 amp services for a brand new Dunkin' Donuts and for a 14 unit apartment, we wanna know exact, we don't want approximate because if this impedes or imposes on our, you know, our private property we would like to know because if it does this would require an easement from the uh from the landlord and you know from us personally so we want exact not not approximate just to make sure okay thank you all right is there anyone else here to speak on the item
Lance Davis	Okay, no more hands. I declare the public hearing to be closed. Ms.
SPEAKER_15	Duffy, were you able to hear the concern that was... Yes, we can set up a meeting with the owner of 79 and 77 if that will help.
Lance Davis	Okay. Madam Clerk, can we put those folks in touch with each other? Councilor Wilson?
Jake Wilson	I think I have the customer's information. With the meeting with the speaker?
Lance Davis	We can certainly add conditions. We can also send it to committee if there's, although we probably won't have another committee meeting until September.
Jake Wilson	Mr. President, that was my concern is that they're looking into this work. If it's conditioned, that might be able to be satisfied then on its own over the summer.
Lance Davis	Madam Clerk, we can add a condition that the folks at Eversource have a meeting with the neighbors to address the concerns. I would need to vote on that. Okay, so Councillor Wilson so moves. Any discussion on that proposed amendment to the application? All right, seeing none, that is approved. Is that satisfactory if we folks have a meeting with you, you can get everything squared away and make sure that there's no concerns? All right, very well. So that'll be approved with the condition that the utility meet with the neighbors to sort out the exact location and make sure everything is...
SPEAKER_15	is um is acceptable all right very well thank you um next item item 3.6 is a grant of location from eversource to install approximately five feet of conduit in prospect street from manhole 23059 to a point of pickup at 86 prospect street now declare this public hearing to open is there anyone here to speak on the item jackie defy ever saw us would like to install five feet of conduit and prospect street to provide electric service to 86 prospect street it's going to be a 29 unit building
Lance Davis	Anyone else here to speak on the item? No more hands. All right, then that public hearing is closed. Any discussion on the item? Seeing none, that is approved.
Clerk	Item 3.7 is a grant of location from Aversource to install approximately 17 feet of conduit in Prospect Street from manhole 23058 to an approximate point of pickup near 110 Prospect Street.
Lance Davis	I now declare this public hearing open. Is there anyone here to speak on the item?
SPEAKER_15	Jackie Duffy, Eversource, would like to install 17 feet of conduit in Prospect Street. This is to enhance the system reliability in the area.
Lance Davis	Okay. Anyone else here to speak on the item? No more hands. All right. I declare the public hearing closed. Any discussion? All right. Seeing none, that item is approved.
SPEAKER_15	Thank you. Have a nice night, everybody.
Lance Davis	Thank you, Jackie. Take care.
Clerk	The next item is item 4.1, a resolution by Councillors Clingan, Burnley, Ewen-Campen, and Scott, Sait, Mbah, Strezo, Wilson, and Davis in support of Teamsters Local 25 in their labor dispute with Republic Services.
Lance Davis	All right, can we take up item 10.7 together with this?
Clerk	Of course. Item 10.7 is a communication of the mayor conveying a communication to Republic Services urging expeditious resolution to contract negotiations.
Lance Davis	Very well. Councillor McLaughlin.
Matt McLaughlin	Thank you, Mr. President. Sign me on as well. Pinch hit in for Councilor Clingan today. But this is an issue that's dear to my heart. Two things I want to say about this issue. Everyone following the news understands that the local teamsters are on strike against Republic Services. in 14 cities in Massachusetts. And this is not a union against some small town trash company. This is the second largest waste disposal unit in the country. Bill Gates is the largest shareholder of this company. and the CEO makes 170 times more than the average trash collector. So this is really the corporatization and consolidation of wealth at the expense of workers, which is typical, but it's in our backyard, so it's something we have to speak up about. So I'll let the teams just speak for themselves, too. There's Bridget Quinn from Local 25. I'd like to sponsor her to speak and just encourage everyone. I think most people already signed on to support this item.
Lance Davis	Okay, Councillor McLaughlin would like to sponsor Bridget Quinn to speak. Seeing no objection, Ms. Quinn, please introduce yourself for the record and go right ahead. Thank you for joining us.
SPEAKER_13	So good evening. For the record, my name is Bridget Quinn, and I'm the legislative director for Teamsters Joint Council 10 New England. I just want to start by thanking Councilor McLaughlin and Clingan for sponsoring our resolution, of course, for the great support that we have with all the councilors signing on. So Local 25 represents 450 workers at Republic Services. And our members have tough, demanding jobs, and they provide such an important service to our communities. For the past several months, Teamsters Local 25 has been bargaining with Republic Services for a new contract. We have a few demands, very simple demands. Higher wages, affordable and accessible health insurance, and safe working conditions. Republic Services has repeatedly refused to bargain in good faith. And as a result, this company has caused a strike that is disrupting trash collection in 14 communities around eastern Massachusetts. And it's also left small businesses, like the ones here in Somerville, scrambling for alternatives for their trash collection. And so make no mistake, this strike is completely and totally the fault of Republic Services. And it's also not an isolated incident. Republic Teamsters in California, Illinois, and Georgia, and Washington State have also been forced to strike, and now we have 2,000 Teamsters on the strike line because, again, this company refuses to pay its workers competitive wages and respect them in the workplace. Republic, as we know, would be nothing without its workforce, its workers who work hard every single day to provide service to our communities. But for far too long, this corporation has forced our members to endure unsafe working conditions and economic precariousity. Our members will stay on strike until they get the contract that they deserve, because none of our demands are unreasonable in any way, shape, or form. We're calling on Republic Services, which is the second largest waste company in the nation, to provide the same wages and benefits that local companies like Capital Waste provide to our Teamsters. If a local company can afford it, so can Republic Services. They can and should take care of our members and make sure that they go to work and save working conditions and come home at the end of the day and can provide for their families. And so I just want to close by thanking the members of the City Council here for supporting the workers. You always do, and we very much appreciate it any time. Thank you for your time.
Lance Davis	Thank you. Councilman Goff, anything further? Any further discussion? Councilor Strassel?
Kristen Strezo	Sure. I'm proud to sign on as co-sponsor of this. And I want to commend Team Service 25 for the hard work you're doing. We stand with you. I stand with you. And I think that Republic Services has demonstrated a clear contempt for its workforce by choosing not to come to the table and bargain. and respect the workforce. I also think it shows contempt for its customers and I think that's unacceptable and just shame on public services and I encourage if you have public services in your business or in residential to reach out to them and let them know that this is unacceptable and to stand with the Teamsters and stand for fair wages and to respect the employees. So that's all I have to say with that. We're with you. Thank you.
Lance Davis	Councillor Bott.
Will Mbah	Thank you, Mr. President. I would like to thank Councillor Clingan and Councillor McLaughlin for putting this forward. Also to thank the Director, Director Queen, for speaking. I just want to make a highlight because when, for members of the public, when they say the demands are not unreasonable, like just a caption from the resolution, It says, these workers have been bargaining in good faith for fair wages, affordable health care, safe working conditions, and adequate paid time off, standards that reflect both the dignity of their labor and the financial success of their employer. And Republic Services has failed to meet these reasonable demands and has refused to return to the negotiating table, prompting TeamSTAR's Local 25 to initiate a 24-on-7 strike until a fair agreement is reached. I'm telling you, Republic Services is at gritty peaks. I don't think that most of these issues that people are negotiating, just like she said, I just want to share that for members to know that these are just basic stuff that workers need to present their dignity that they are not giving to them. So thank you for indulging me. Thank you. Councillor Scott.
J.T. Scott	Thank you, Mr. President. I can honestly say I've never been happier to have my trash not picked up. I'll admit, I've had a Commercial Republic Services dumpster for over a decade, but this is fundamental to workers' rights, even though it is hot out there and it is stinky out there. One thing that I did want to highlight, though, in this is the mention that there are apparently over 100 residential and commercial customers here in Somerville, particularly as it relates to the residential. I've heard from several large buildings in my district who are concerned about the heat, about smell, and about the fact that It's really going to be a logjam situation for them. I would like to request that the administration consider the possibility of extending some of our municipal tipping. I know the city's policy has been not to service buildings over a certain size, but for the duration of this particular labor conflict as a way to both support our residents, and to support the workers who are fairly on strike here to get good working conditions. I'd like the administration to consider what we can do to facilitate residential trash pickup for these buildings that are left high and dry by Republic Services right now. Thank you, Mr. President.
Lance Davis	Okay, thank you. Madam Clerk, for the council item, does that request a copy to be sent to Republic Services? I just want to make sure it does. If it does not, since we have a copy of the letter that the mayor sent, if we could include a copy of this as well so that it be very clear that both branches of the city government feel strongly on this issue, make sure that gets to the right folks. Very well, thank you, and thank you for coming here this evening to speak on it. All right, so that item is approved. Those two items are approved, and that will take us to our first out-of-order item for the evening, I believe, Madam Clerk. That's item 10.1. So we're gonna do 10.1 and 10.4, then go back to the regular order of business.
Clerk	Item 10.1 is an order by Councillor Burnley that the Director of Mobility address in writing the steps the department will make to assess the feasibility and need to install a speed bump on Cherry Street between Highland Avenue and Summer Street.
Willie Burnley	Councillor Burnley. Thank you, Mr. President, through you. I'm gonna be very quick about this one. I've had a constituent call me probably 15 times about this particular issue, and I understand why. It's a safety issue when we have cars speeding through our streets, when they could harm one of our residents. I just wanna hear from the director, that they are looking to assess whether this would be a good street for a speed bump to just slow down a relatively small road that connects to some of our more major streets to ensure that traffic calming allows everyone to live safely and calmly in our community. But I'd just like for this to be approved.
Lance Davis	Thank you, Councillor Burnley. And just for clarification for folks who are thinking this is between Highland and Summer, there were speed bumps installed on this wider section of Cherry between Summer and Elm Street, right? So this is, okay, very well. So that item is approved. Thank you for that. Madam Clerk?
Clerk	Item 10.2 is a resolution by Councillor Burnley condemning Harvard's attack on its graduate student union.
Willie Burnley	Thank you. Mr. President, through you to the clerk, I'd like for the language of this resolution to be replaced with amended language that the clerk has before her. and for her to read out the language after we take a vote.
Lance Davis	So, Council Burnley moves to replace the item with the revised version that was sent to the clerk. Madam Clerk, could you have that version?
Clerk	Yes, indeed. It will be on your screen in just a moment, and I will read that into the record as well. Whereas education, research, and academic inquiry are values intimately connected to the lives, careers, and passions of Somervillians, and whereas the Trump administration has targeted education and research, including grants, funding, and academic freedom at Harvard University, and whereas Harvard University employs many residents of Somerville, and whereas labor unions play a critical role in workplace and economic justice, and whereas Harvard University is attempting to strip union protections away from workers who are in tenuous positions in science research, including by removing hundreds of students from the Harvard Graduate Student Union, now therefore be it resolved that the Somerville City Council strongly opposes these actions by Harvard, is opposed to all forms of union busting, and urges Harvard administrators to undo these actions, and be it further resolved that Somerville urges Harvard administration to seriously engage with the demands of the Harvard Graduate Students Union on issues from fair pay to protections from harassment and discrimination to resources for non-citizens, and be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to Harvard University administration and president.
Lance Davis	All right, that motion is before the committee. Any discussion on the motion to replace the item with the revised version? All right, seeing none, that is approved. The revised version is now before us. Councillor Burnley.
Willie Burnley	Thank you. And thanks to the clerk for reading that out. It really tells one piece of a very troubling story that has been going on for years. And frankly, it's a story that's older than Harvard, older than this country. It's a story of labor. It's a story of the question of what a worker is. who are workers. Can I interrupt you briefly, please?
Lance Davis	I noticed that a closed caption is not working. And so I'd like to declare a brief recess just so we can get that working because we want everyone to be able to participate in all of the items, including this important one, if you don't mind. We'll take a brief recess to see if we can get that operational, and we'll come back as soon as it is. I'll call this meeting back to order. We don't need to call the roll because I can see that we have a quorum. Not quite sure how soon we'll be able to get this issue addressed. My sincere apologies. We are actively working on it, but it doesn't seem like something that is likely to be fixed in the next five minutes. So we're gonna continue on. Captioning is available. So this is effectively captioning for the room, for the chamber itself. Captioning is available for folks watching on Zoom, so hopefully they are already aware of that because they're hearing and seeing my voice through that captioning. And my apologies. This is a new addition to our proceedings, which I'm very happy that we have. Unfortunately, we don't have it at the moment. So all I can give you is that we're working on it and doing our best that we can to get it back up and running. Councillor Burnley, my gratitude for your forbearance. You have the floor.
Willie Burnley	Thank you. Through the chair, let me try to recollect my thoughts here. Feel free to take it from the top, sir. Well, it's off the top, so we'll see what I come up with. But the point I was trying to make was, We are seeing some incredibly disturbing and frankly disgusting actions by the largest higher education institution, not only in our great Commonwealth, but in the nation. An institution which has billions, billions of dollars is attempting to remove 973 workers from their union. on the argument that they should have never been considered for the union anyway, which is an argument that the Harvard Grad Students Union has faced since they tried to unionize initially many years ago, this argument that they are not workers and they are not entitled to the benefits of workers. Now, this is something that I view as incredibly dangerous and existential for workers of all kinds and backgrounds because it's a fight that predates Harvard, predates this nation, and gets to the heart of the fight for labor. When we define what a worker is, in such a way that we remove people who do the hard work to make our institutions run, to clean our facilities, to make our society function. We are allowing the degradation of the dignity of every single person. on this planet, the degradation of all workers. This is an injury that strikes at the heart of not only unions, but of every person who gets up and goes out the door trying to provide for their families, trying to provide for themselves. When we define workers as less than and to say that they do not have the rights that all people are deserving of we not only besmirch but degradates our collective dignity and that is what harvard is attempting to do through reliance on a besieged national labor relations board through The force of knowing that if they are able to remove these workers from the union, they will essentially cut out a third of their dues. They will be effectively trying to bankrupt this union. And like so many other fights, we know that this will only be the beginning. If they are able to rip apart unions years after they have been certified, years after they have negotiated contracts, there is nothing stopping them from moving forward and doing this in such a way that they can attack all unions. And at a time where work itself is being destroyed by technology, AI, the mass layoffs of various industries, we as a community need to stand up for all the workers in our community and make sure that Somerville is a union town. And to that point, I would like to sponsor a Somerville resident and a member of the Harvard Grad Student Union, Dorothy Manovich, to speak up to this issue. Thank you.
Lance Davis	Councillor Burnley moves to sponsor the speaker. Is there any objection? Seeing none, please approach and just introduce yourself for the record.
SPEAKER_07	Thank you. Hello. Well, first of all, thank you so much, Councillor Burnley, for bringing this resolution and for having me here to talk a little bit about it and what this means. So my name is Dorothy Manovich. I have been a Somerville resident for five years, living in Ward 2 in Union Square. And I have, you know, throughout the course of my graduate program, I have been able to live a good life here because of my union and the things that my union has fought and won for me. Some of these things include being able to pay for dental surgery that I would not have been able to afford otherwise, which was reimbursed through union health care funds, protections from overwork, protections from harassment and discrimination that I've benefited from in my workplace. And that's, you know, just kind of like the top of the list of some of the union protections that we won as the Harvard Graduate Students Union that have made my life and my work livable here in this amazing community. And so I also wanted to highlight, in addition to some of the points that Councillor Burnley has already highlighted, kind of what is happening right now for the Harvard Graduate Students Union and at Harvard and what this means for us, right? So as counselor Burnley said, Harvard University is attempting to strip union rights fully from 973 workers based on our most recent analysis and partially from an additional thousand workers. And this constitutes an attack on those workers specifically and on our union in general. These workers are also concentrated in STEM fields, which have already been attacked by the Trump administration. These are workers who are already under extreme stress and labs that are already seeing funding cuts. They're being attacked by the Trump administration and now they are being attacked by their own university. And not only is this just a massive problem, it's also illegal. This is pretty explicitly illegal, and this is something that with a functional NLRB, we would have many more options to fight this, but because Harvard thinks they can get away with it, and because labor law and the NLRB is what it is, we are in a position, we are in a more difficult position than we ought to be. And so I want to highlight specifically what this means for the workers who are attempting, or Harvard University is attempting to cut out of our unit. So these are 1,000 workers who are going to lose the wage protections that we have in our contract. Any new wage increases that we win, if Harvard is successful, they will not have access to those. They will not have access to the harassment and discrimination protections that are so important to us and that we are fighting expand in our next contract. And as I'm sure a lot of you are aware, Harvard has had massive, massive scandals, especially related to gender-based and sexual harassment over the past decade, some of which were centered specifically in my department. And so, in addition to this, we also have funds to help people with emergencies when they lose their housing, when they have a family member who passes away or gets sick and they need to travel and have expenses that they weren't expecting. We can cover those. We have funds for health care and dental and child care, which, as we know, is a problem not only for the parents who are in our union, but also for our community, so many parents in our community. And if Harvard is successful in cutting out these workers, all of that is going to evaporate for them. We also as a union rely on union dues like all other unions do in order to fight for our workers. That means paying for lawyers, that means paying for our wonderful staff who carry a lot of the burden of our organizing and basically everything that comes with running a successful organization. And so with a potentially massive cut in dues, we will be at a much lower capacity to operate, which Harvard has never wanted to have any unions on campus, and they fought very hard against the formation of our union, and so it is not surprising that they are seeking to weaken it in this way. And so the solution here is for Harvard to once again recognize these workers as part of our unit, as they have been since our unit's inception, And once again, it falls on us as a union, on our union brothers and sisters, and on our community to fight shame and pressure Harvard into doing the right thing. And so we hope to get the council's support on this resolution and your partnership in this fight for the workers in our union and the workers in our community. Thank you. OK.
	Thank you.
Lance Davis	Councilors Wilson, McLaughlin would like to sign on. I'd like to sign on. Councilor Scott, Councilor Strezo, Councilor Mbah, all right. I think I saw Councilor Mbah, then Councilor Wilson, and then Councilor Scott.
Will Mbah	Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank the good Councillor Burnley for your leadership on this. I have also known Dorothy for the past several years. Thank you for your leadership and just for being a fierce advocate. not just for you, but for the community. I used to be a member of the union when I was in grad school. I was a teaching fellow and I was also a teaching assistant. I was paying my dues because I know the importance of being a member of the union. it's really necessary that we continue to fight because eternal vigilance is the prize for liberty. So showing up, some of your members that I've seen, just showing up here is an act of resistance. So don't give up. Thank you.
Lance Davis	Council Wilson, then Scott and Strezo.
Jake Wilson	Thanks, Mr. President. Harvard versus Trump gets all the headlines, right? But this is Harvard taking advantage of the rollback under Trump of labor gains, and it's really disgusting. As the spouse of someone who I watch get just terribly exploited for five years in a Ph.D. program by the academy, this is just disgusting. It's infuriating to see this. Academia is founded on the exploitation of student labor. Let's be real about that. And the best antidote is student unionization. I can't tell you how many times during those five years of grad school that I told my wife how badly they needed a union after witnessing the latest ridiculous treatment of her or her colleagues. So yeah, I stand in solidarity with HGSU and UAW against this ridiculous action by Harvard. Shame on you, Harvard.
J.T. Scott	Councillor Scott and Councillor Sessom. Thank you, Mr. President. Obviously, everybody in this room supports the Graduate Student Union, the workers at Harvard. I am dismayed that we have to be having this conversation right now. I think it is, somebody very wisely told me not too long ago, that this is a time to de-escalate all conflict with anyone who is not actually the enemy. And we are in an environment where conflict is being escalated, where the force of the federal government is being deployed at both institutions and directly at our neighbors. We've seen institutions that have buckled to that pressure, whether it would be a law firm like Paul Weiss or a university like Columbia, who decided that collaboration was the better approach. But here, When Harvard decided to not buckle, to stand up for some principles that most people would like to see them stand up for, there was an outpouring of support from the community, from institutions all over the country to say thank you for doing the brave thing, for doing the right thing. Here, the brave thing, the right thing is very obvious. And I would urge Harvard to de-escalate this conflict because your graduate students are not the enemy. Your workers are not the enemy. They are the people that make your institution flourish. They're the people that make your institution function. They're the people that make your institution great. And confusing your allies with your enemies is one of the simplest ways to undermine and rot out your entire organization. So, I would implore Harvard, please, let's de-escalate this conflict. Let's all stay on the same side of fighting for the values that we all share. Thank you, Mr. President. MR.
Kristen Strezo	Thank you, Mr. President. I will be very, very brief. Thank you all for being here tonight. We stand with you. It takes a lot of courage, guts, and just perseverance to speak your truth. And we see you. We will stand with you. We will continue to stand with you. And we are stronger together, absolutely. Thank you.
Lance Davis	All right, thank you. And I'll echo that. Thank you for being here. That item is approved.
Clerk	Item 10.3 is a resolution by Councillor Burnley in support of certain public workers' right to strike.
Willie Burnley	Councillor Burnley. Thank you, Mr. President. You might sense a trend in my items this evening. On the previous item, I spoke a bit about the importance of recognizing the dignity of workers, understanding what being a worker entitles a person to within an organization. And to that point, on this item, the fundamental power that workers have is to withhold their labor. There is, in my opinion, no more fundamental right than that as a worker. And frankly, as a citizen, no more fundamental right than to withhold labor and our finances from destructive institutions or programs. And yet, so many public workers who make our institutions flourish, operate from cities and towns to state government to federal government, are not given the same rights as so many workers across this nation and across our Commonwealth and in our own community. This resolution is in support of a pair of bills at the State House that would give certain public workers the right to strike. Now, I understand that some folks worry about that, right? We just heard this evening, well, so no one picks up the trash. There's gonna be trash everywhere, you know? And yet, from Councillor Scott's comments to Councillor McLaughlin's comments, I have to believe that people will be understanding when they know that our communities are, collectively going through this struggle together, when mega corporations, when institutions such as ours, public bodies, governments, when they do the wrong thing, workers have the right to, and they should have the right to, withhold their labor in pursuit of better working conditions, higher wages, decency, dignity, in the workplace and in their lives. For far too long, folks like our teachers have not had the right to strike. Some have. Some brave folks have. But they've been punished for it time and time again. We cannot live in a society where workers have their basic human rights respected if they cannot exercise the most fundamental power of laborers, which is the right to strike. And that's why I'm calling on my colleagues to co-sponsor this, to support this pair of legislation at the state level, because Somerville's voice does matter. I know it's easy to push aside us and say we're just a small city that has a particularly progressive bent, but our leadership matters, and the voices that we bring to the table matter to push forward these issues. And I wanna bring forward some voices of our community right now, and I'd like to sponsor. I'm gonna do it all in one, if that's okay. Jim Kaplan, Marian Walls, and Colette Berhard.
Lance Davis	Council Burnley sponsors the three speakers named. Any objection? All right, see none. Please approach together or one at a time as you like. Just do us a favor and introduce yourself again formally for the record so the clerk can make a note.
SPEAKER_05	Hi, I'm Colette Burrard from Ward 7. And for the past 17 years, I've been a resident of Somerville. And I've also been a public school teacher in Massachusetts. So back in November of 2023, my local Andover Education Association went on strike. And it was terrifying. It was really risky. And if you know anything about the demographics of Andover and about our district in general, we have traditionally not been a very assertive kind of union until recent years but we we had to do this because for the better part of a year our school committee was refusing to negotiate with us and this was on virtually every issue that came before them in bargaining from expanding recess for our elementary students which wouldn't have cost the district anything to implement to providing living living wages for instructional assistance who topped out in $30-something thousand dollars a year. Some of them were in our district for two decades, couldn't afford to have health insurance deducted from their paychecks. Their attractability was not surprising because earlier during the pandemic years, they were refusing to negotiate with us about getting independent contractors to come in and evaluate our HVAC systems so that we could come to school safely during a worldwide pandemic. So I'm sure you've noticed that Andover is not on an island here. We were preceded by Malden, by Haverhill. We were followed by Gloucester, Marblehead, Newton, Beverly. And We've done this wave of strikes despite the risk, despite the fact that we've faced potentially crippling fines, because right now our employers have really no incentive to negotiate with us at all. They know that the law is on their side, they hold that over us, and as such they feel they have the moral authority to wait us out. They know or suspect that we won't be able to financially withstand a strike action. And so these are going to continue indefinitely because this is not a sustainable situation. Making strikes illegal for public sector workers isn't stopping strikes. If you want to prevent strikes, then you need to support giving us the ability to withhold our labor when our management refuses to negotiate with us. So I really urge you to support this resolution and to support all of your workers who deserve the same rights as our private sector labor brethren.
SPEAKER_16	Thanks. Following that up, a second speaker from the Mass Teachers Association, also an alumni of this union here in Somerville for 30-something years, 34 years teaching in Somerville. My name is Jim Kaplan. I'm a resident in Ward 6, Lance's home ward. I have three minutes and three points. Number one, the division between private sector rights and public sector denial of rights is part of the original crafting of labor law in the United States. There were carve outs on various things designed to assure enough votes to get it through. Those carve outs established, for example, the exclusion agricultural labor from the NORB. Why? Because they were brown skinned and they spoke Spanish and many did not have citizenship at the time. It arranged for the carve out of black workers, especially in the south where southern representatives and senators would not vote for the bill. to establish the NORB and labor rights, the Wagner Act, unless black workers were excluded from labor protections. And it divided into private sector and public sector. And public sector had no right to strike in most states, state regulated. Therefore, it can be changed in this state. In some ways, we're actually quite lucky under the impending dictatorship of the new Fuhrer. we actually may be in a better position than some of the private unions that are going to be targets for union busting. Nonetheless, it would be a much better situation if we were increasing in power. And I speak tonight to the last point, which is all the folks around this horseshoe are Democrats. with an interest in the invigoration of the Democratic Party in order to stop this drive toward dictatorship that we are in right now. The way to do that is to engage the working class in this country through all its expressions, one of which is the labor movement. And that means taking some risks that some thinks may jeopardize the apple cart in some areas. Here in Somerville, It won't necessarily do that in the case of the teachers, the education workers, the educators union bargaining. I was astounded at how cordial the last night's bargaining was when they attained a contract. On the other hand, there was the long, drawn out, slow torture of what was then the Somerville Municipal Employees Association. Had they had the right to strike, that contract would have been settled much earlier and we would not have lost nearly as many people out of that union working for the citizens of the city. There may be some conflicts that cause strain. If you want a labor movement to fill the sails of the Democratic Party that all the people here belong to in one wing or the other, then you're going to have to take some risks. Otherwise, without a labor movement, you saw in the last election where alienated victims of a bad economy and utter inaction from either of the two parties often on labor issues cost us. That's very clear. It's a small risk, and there's a big gain if you build a labor movement. Thank you.
SPEAKER_12	Good evening. I'm Mary Ann Wallace. I'm a resident of Ward 4 and a regional vice president for SEIU 509 and sit on the public sector side of the local, which represents 13 state agencies. One of the issues on why we support this, the right to strike, is because we are held gunpoint, for lack of a better word, because we have no ability to really fight for what our members and the families and clients that we represent deserve. Not all contracts are just about wages. It's about working conditions, but it's also about fighting for the people that reside in our communities. And we are literally held at the state, for my local, we are literally held at the state's beck and call as to when they wanna sit at the bargaining table. At any point, they can cancel a session, they're not, They don't have to come with bargaining items. We have literally stalled negotiations for over a year at times because they control when we meet, because we have no power over them. If all of you can remember, a couple of years ago, we actually passed a contract and our money was being withheld from the state. They wouldn't sign the increases. It was Christmas time, and our members were going without their money that they bargained for, voted for, but it was sitting. We are held by municipalities, by state electeds, all the time. And we're also held and bound. Our raises come based on income. So we're already at a disadvantage most times than large corporations like Harvard, The least we can do is give us, our workers and our members, the dignity to have the right to strike for what we deserve and what our families deserve and our communities deserve. Thank you.
Lance Davis	All right. Thank you, Councillor Wilson. I'd like to sign on. Did we read the folks who had signed on at the outset? Not for this one. Not for this one. Okay. Councillor Wilson would like to sign on. I'd like to sign on. Councillor Scott? Councilor Mbah, Councilor McLaughlin, sign on, yep. And Councilor McLaughlin would like to speak, then Councilor Scott.
Matt McLaughlin	Thank you, Mr. President. It feels like it's Labor Day already. So it's always good to have these conversations before the city council. And in honor of an early Labor Day, I would like to talk a little about the history of labor and strikes, which were not always allowed for anybody in this country. There were times when the National Guard would break up strikes in support of business owners. Business owners were allowed to lock out employees, but unions were not allowed to strike. People were killed over this. And the struggle for labor continues to this day. And I I support first of all I support this But you know people think you know going on a strike is no small thing. It's not a vacation. It's not time off The workers take a tremendous risk doing this a risk of not getting paid a risk of potentially losing their jobs Being replaced by scabs or whatever you want to call it There's a chance that things do not work out for the workers so if a group of people decide to vote and favor of a strike that's a really big deal and I don't want to see teachers go on strike I don't want to see garbage workers go on strike because everybody gets hurt in that process but they're hurt along with it as well and they're the people who are dealing with it the most direct and just to point out to you what Jim said as well you know the history of this is the Democratic Party was used to be organized labor was the backbone of the Democratic Party and Union membership has declined. The Democratic Party has declined. And then there's also instances where, you know, maybe the values aren't aligned like they used to be. So I do see this as a good opportunity to speak up in support of organized labor, people's right to strike, which again is, it's a risk they are taking. It's not a fun decision. I don't think it's a decision anybody who relies on a salary would take lightly. So even a public service employee, I would hope, you know, vital work being done, but people need to be paid for that vital work as well.
Lance Davis	Councillor Wilson and then Scott. And Councillor Stroud would like to sign on as well.
Jake Wilson	Yeah, thanks, Mr. President. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, my colleague, for bringing this forward. I appreciate the comment about, you know, how do you ultimately, like the power of the strike and how you ultimately settle these. It was just yesterday, there was a headline I read from the UK. It was something to the effect of labor, the Labor Party promised to do away with public sector strikes. Why are we seeing so many of them? And I was shocked for a second. I know obviously this new labor is a little disappointing to everyone, but I thought, have they really abandoned public sector strikes? And it turns out, Labor's approach has been to go give good contracts to their public sector unions over there, and that's how they're avoiding public sector strikes. So it just speaks to what we heard about how the answer to, you know, yes, give the right to public sector employees to strike, and then go do right by them, and you won't have public sector strikes. Simple.
J.T. Scott	Councilor Scott. Thank you, Mr. President. We talked about a lot of important pieces of organized labor in unions tonight. I want to lift up one thing that Ms. Wallace touched upon, which is that the folks that are working in these public sector jobs are frequently taking lower pay. because they believe in an ideal of a public sector that provides services, a government that works for the people, that helps our neighbors. And as politicians who sit around having large conversations about values and then try to implement policy, I don't think it should be undervalued how much the people working in direct service delivery in these public sector jobs also have really strong values around the services that they are providing and the services they would like to provide. you know when we're talking about DCF you're talking about people who have the best interests of these families and these children at heart and want to be able to deliver the services that their neighbors deserve that they would like to be to receive if they were ever in a horrible horrible position like that and not having the dignity even the option of the right to strike puts them farther much farther away from the decision-making power that they should have when it comes to shaping policy not just the overarching things that we might talk about around this horseshoe or might get talked about at the Statehouse but even in the day-to-day implementation of how people are treated not just the workers on the job but the people that they're serving so as with just about all things um removing the impediments to more people being involved in those decision-making processes removing the risk that a worker faces because even with the right to strike a strike is a scary thing i believe that these are absolutely essential and i think they result in a better system where all the people who are part of this incredible rare idea of a government that serves our neighbors um should have the strongest possible voice in in how those services get delivered so i of course 100 support this and we'll continue to support the workers in our public sector who are trying to lift us all up together so thank you mr president okay thank you counselor bye
Will Mbah	Thank you, Mr. President. I will be remiss if I don't give a shout out to the good for your leadership again on this. um thank you to colette as well to manuel and jim and i will also build on what jim said it's uh i think just us sitting here is pretty embarrassing that we're having this conversation when we have other bigger issues to be talking about so i really appreciate you guys you know sticking it out and fighting for people thank you councilman would you take the uh pony for a moment please Councillor Davis.
Lance Davis	Thank you, Mr. President. I want to just speak briefly on this, just because I can't let this pass. Thank you for all the comments. I won't repeat what was said. I fully sign on to all of them, and thank you to the speakers who came here tonight to support this issue. To be clear, this is the Council reaching out to our representatives at the state level, expressing our support for something that is already before them. Whether this will move forward at the state level is very much an open question, at best. But I think it's, to me, I just want to note, and whatever small ounce of hope I have that this piece of the message gets through to anyone up there making a decision, this isn't wacky left Somerville doing its thing again, right? I love it when we do our thing, right? But this is a fundamental issue for millions of workers across the Commonwealth and the country. And we heard about the dignity of good working conditions, the ability to advocate on behalf of your fellow workers. I've never quite understood why this particular rule exists, that public sector workers can't strike. And I'll confess, I'm biased. My mom was a second grade teacher, special ed and second grade teacher for her whole life, her working life, and beyond her retirement, actually, and a proud union representative for her school. And I saw how hard she had to fight for anything, even just to get a planning period for her colleagues, which she did. She's very proud of that fact. But without the ability to strike, that was a huge win, just to get a little planning period during the day. So I support this. I hope that the folks at Beacon Hill will really take this seriously, give these organizations the right to advocate on behalf of themselves. And let me just echo the point that we on the left need to do a better job of being inclusive there are values there are things upon which that we all agree upon and if we aren't able to work with each other and find those common threads despite however vast the other differences might be we're going to continue to have a hard time winning on these issues so it's just It's incredibly important that we focus on where we can collaborate with folks, even when those folks disagree with us on other stuff. That's how we're going to win stuff like this. Thank you for bringing this. Thank you, Mr. President.
Will Mbah	Thank you. Does any member want to speak again on this item? Seeing none, is that approved?
Clerk	And the next item is item 10.4, a communication by Councillor Brantley conveying information regarding the reconstitution of the Wage Theft Advisory Committee.
Willie Burnley	Councillor Brantley. Thank you. Through the Chair, I'll try to be very brief. And I think this item speaks exactly to the point you were just making and the point that Mr. Kaplan made as well. As my colleagues may remember, we made some amendments to the Wage Theft Ordinance, specifically to the Constitution of the Wage Theft Advisory Committee. touch that up a bit to remind folks that one of the changes that we made to that committee was that all those positions are to be approved and submitted by the council president and approved by the city council. I've talked with some folks who currently reside on the committee, which effectively does not have quorum yet. And we are going to reach out to various unions to help find representatives who can help us do the important work to ensure that wage theft is not happening in Somerville and to support the workers who are on the front lines of those fights. So I just wanted to let you all know that when we come back from our, I'll say, I was gonna say well-deserved break, we'll see. When we come back from break, I will have a number of suggestions in collaboration with our council president about who can actually fill these seats on the Wageshift Advisory Committee so that we can do the work to actually report on issues of wage theft, have our first meeting effectively all year because we've never been able to have true quorum, and move forward in a way that actually does right by these values that we've been speaking toward all night. So just wanted you to have a heads up. There will be several suggestions when we come back from the break.
Lance Davis	Okay. That item is approved.
Clerk	that will return us to the regular order of business and item 4.2 a resolution by councillor davis that the administration submit to the city council and school committee the city's contingency plan in the event of an emergency school closure during the 2025-2026 school year
Lance Davis	Thank you, Madam Clerk. This is something that I submitted at the request of the school committee members as in the practice. So this will be referred to committee. Madam Clerk, I saw that Dr. Kimono was in the audience. I just want to ask if Dr. Kimono was here to speak on this item or if you had anything that you wish to speak. I'm not sure if you were here for this or some other item, Doctor, but I wanted to give the opportunity if there was something you wanted to say here.
SPEAKER_02	Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Thank you. Through you, President Lanz. I was prepared to speak to the actual, the money, the $1.5 million supplemental budget that was set aside by the mayor, so I wasn't... ready for a different conversation. But in terms of a contingency plan to address the needs of the district, that is definitely an area of need. If there's any discussion or conversation that the City Council wants to have around ways to support a contingency plan to address the space needs in case of an emergency, I am definitely open and available to have any conversations around that.
Lance Davis	Thank you very much. I just want to make sure I acknowledge you and give you the opportunity. So that will be approved with a copy sent to school buildings, facilities, and maintenance. That'll be on agenda for a future meeting there. And we'll have an opportunity to really dig into the conversation at that point. Thank you.
Clerk	The next item then is item 4.3, a communication by Councillor Mbah, conveying a report of the Job Creation and Retention Trust Fund.
Will Mbah	Councillor Mbah. Thank you, Mr. President. So at the June 10th meeting of the Somerville Job Creation and Retention Trust, we reviewed key financial updates, active initiatives, and status of current RFPs. The trustee linkage fee fund remains at approximately $2.2 million, with an additional $900,000 expected from upcoming development. The trustees approved $294,200 dollars allocation to the city's summer promise department for child care advancement programs initiative. Following a discussion on the single proposal received at this collaborative structure, updates were also provided on the Good Municipal Jobs RFP, currently open through October 15. We limited union participation noted during its initial info session. and trustees encourage broader outreach to generate more proposals and share updates about potential training collaborations, including HVAC training through Bunking Hill Community College and facilities in Boynton Yards. The board also discussed planning for the next RFPs informed by partner feedback showing widespread concerns about federal funding cuts and a desire for flexible funding. Trustees explore revising eligible funding categories to better respond to current needs and emphasize the value of more open-ended RFP model. A new subcommittee was formed to draft the RFP and determine scope, timeline, and award structure. So we also have conversation to touch on workforce development pathways such as union partnership and some of the high school programs. which prepares students for certification and employment so we close the meeting with the reminder of future meetings and motion to adjoin pass unanimously i ask that it should be accepted as submitted all right thank you council by any discussion all right seeing none that item is placed on file item 4.4 is the communication by councillor Mbah conveying a report of the affordable housing trust fund counselor Thank you again, Mr. President. At this June 12th meeting, the Somerville Affordable Housing Trust reviewed its financial update and approved several funding requests aligned with its mission to preserve and expand affordable housing. As of May 31st, the Trust had approximately $8.2 million in its non-CPA account and $2.3 million in CPA funds available for new commitments. trustees unanimously approved a 129,805 CPA-funded emergency request from the Somerville Homeless Coalition to support four households at risk of displacement from permanent supportive housing. They also extended Somerville Housing Homeless Coalition's Tenant Stabilization Program contract through November 2026, and approved rolling over $17,000 in HomePass admin funds to a new contract. In addition, the trustees approved a new two-year contract for just a start to its TPS, allowing use of up to 10% of administrative costs, affirming eligibility for tenants for up to 100% AMI. The trustees also released 171,000 CPA commitment previously designated for the purchase of 31 to 35 Richardson Street as the property is no longer owned by the original applicant. some of the community corporation that is the occupant. So trustee discuss updates to open board positions including the needs to fill seats for non-profit representative and a banking finance professional with applications open through July 2025. staff noted that a new housing program coordinator has been hired to serve as a permanent liaison to the trust. A meeting concluded with recognition and appreciation for outgoing board member Brielle Carderan for her new contribution. And if you endorse me, Mr. President, the trust also met today, July 10. And actually, it was brief, 37 minutes. So the trust met earlier this evening for a short time to announce its end of the fiscal year financial status and to begin planning for the RFP that will be issued in the fall for rent subsidy and similar tenant assistance program. Beginning fiscal year 26, the trust is in fairly solid shape with a total of over 13.5 million available for new commitments. The revenue into the trust has been declining because of the poor real estate market and lack of new zoning linkage. However, the trust has achieved its 13 million of available funds partly by going back and moving unspent money from past years out of several accounts of unfinished programs. So the September RFP that will be written in the next few weeks will give the housing NGOs the opportunity to request funding for their various programs which help low-income tenants to make up rent areas and cover other deficiencies and legal costs to avoid eviction and find new housing when facing displacement. I ask that this report be accepted as submitted.
Lance Davis	Thank you, Councillor Bayh. Any discussion? All right, that item is placed on file.
Clerk	The next item, Mr. President, is item 5.1, an officer's communication from the Director of Economic Development requesting that this council convene an executive session to discuss strategy regarding the disposition of 90 Washington Street.
Lance Davis	All right, thank you. This item needs discussion that may have to occur in an executive session. Is there a representative from the law department to speak to and provide an opinion on the need for an executive session? Is there someone here from the law department to confirm that this is appropriate for executive session? Thank you. We'll wait briefly while we get a representative from the law department here. Anyone know any good jokes that are clean? Joining this next question, very good. No worries, we're happy to wait while they log in. Songs, I'll take song requests.
SPEAKER_02	Okay.
Lance Davis	Madam Clerk, while we're waiting, can we lay this item on the tables, and I can make a few administrative notes to the Council?
SPEAKER_14	Of course, Mr. President.
Lance Davis	All right, very well. So that item will be laid on the table briefly while we get someone from the Law Department here. Members will notice in their mailbox a printed copy of the Council's rules. I missed this. We used to have updated copies that I always kept in my drawer. I found it useful, and so I ask that we go back to this, to having this handy. Of course, this is not a complete set of the rules because we defer to Robert's Rules of Order. except for where they are superseded by this. So keep that handy if you want. It can come in really handy if you wanna use procedural rules to accomplish something. They can be very useful at times. What was the other thing I was gonna note? captioner is joining excellent that is very good news oh I submitted some changes to the committee assignments to the clerk today to replace me as chair because the president does not serve as chair or vice chair so in each case for those two committees the vice chair will assume the chair of those committees when those go out if anyone has any concerns for any reason of course let me know we can always adjust those will be For the remainder of this term, of course, in January, whomever is president will make their own determinations at that point for the new council. What else? Do not have a representative. Those with the new committee assignments will be sent to the council tomorrow morning? Oh, can we make them a late item since I didn't know I could do that until? She'll send them by the email tomorrow. Let's just fill in a few holes for, oh, and the other thing is, it's my intent as president, I should have said this earlier, so those won't be for the full year, it's my intent as president, when my understanding is for Ward 7, once the election happens, that person will begin to serve immediately, so it'll be my intent to fill that new counselor in for the last few weeks of the session, just to get a head start, I think so. Very well. And we have an attorney here, excellent. Who do we have? Attorney Selkirk, please introduce yourself and the request is to confirm that this item is appropriate for executive session.
SPEAKER_01	Correct, thank you, Mr. Chair, or Mr. President. Yes, the need for executive session is based on the fact that we'll be discussing 90 Washington and we need to... Sorry, I've got the meeting running in the background and I can't turn it off.
Lance Davis	We can hear you just fine, so go right ahead.
SPEAKER_01	Okay, very good.
Lance Davis	Right through the background. So the opinion is yes, is it appropriate for executive session?
SPEAKER_01	The opinion is yes, it is appropriate. Very well.
Lance Davis	All right, thank you. So that has been established. Councillor Wilson moves to move to executive session. That requires a roll call vote, I believe.
Clerk	On the motion, Councillor Wilson.
Lance Davis	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor Ewen-Campen. Councillor Scott.
SPEAKER_14	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor McLaughlin. Yes. Councillor Burnley.
SPEAKER_14	Aye.
Clerk	Councillor Sait. Councillor Strezo.
SPEAKER_14	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor Clingan.
	Aye.
Clerk	Councillor Mbah.
SPEAKER_14	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor Davis.
SPEAKER_14	Yes.
Clerk	With seven councillors in favor, none opposed, and three absent, that motion is approved, and this council will enter executive session.
Lance Davis	All right. When we come back, we are going to pick up committee reports, including legislative matters. I know there's some folks here for one of those items, so we'll get to that as soon as we get back. Thank you. All right. If all members would take their seats. Would the clerk please call the roll to reestablish quorum?
Clerk	This is roll call. Councillor Wilson?
Lance Davis	Present.
Clerk	Councillor Ewing-Campin? Present. Councillor Scott?
J.T. Scott	Present.
Clerk	Councillor McLaughlin?
J.T. Scott	Here.
Clerk	Councillor Burnley?
J.T. Scott	Here.
Clerk	Councillor Sait? Here. Councillor Strezo? Here. Councillor Clingan? Here. Councillor Mbah?
Will Mbah	Here.
Clerk	Councillor Davis?
Lance Davis	Here.
Clerk	With seven Councillors present, we have a quorum.
Lance Davis	All right, thank you. No votes were taken in executive session other than the vote to adjourn. Would the clerk please call the next item? Read the next item.
Clerk	The next item, Mr. President, is going to be item 6A, a report of the Committee on Finance, meeting on July 8th, 2025. Let's apologies. We are taking item 6 C out of order So the next item is going to be item 6 C a report of the committee on legislative matters meeting on July 1st 2025
Will Mbah	Councillor Davis.
Lance Davis	Thank you Mr. President. The committee did meet on July 1st. We had a discussion on a number of items, well actually really just two substantive items. One was a proposal to look into regulation of mopeds or motorized bicycles. The Boston ordinance that was referenced really has to do with insurance on those, and so the discussion was, we kind of focused more on that as well as other ways that we might make the community path safer vis-a-vis motorized vehicles and the types thereof. The item was left in committee, I believe, to look into other ways we might suggest regulations. So over the course of the recess, we work with the law department to look for something we can do there. And then the primary discussion was on proposed amendments to the condominium conversion ordinance. I would like to, so that's item 24-1740. I would like to move to sever that item with the intent of placing it on file. The reason being that we have a separate item, which Madam Clerk, I left my notes up there, Madam Clerk?
Clerk	Yes.
Lance Davis	Just the reference for folks, the separate item.
Clerk	It's item 7.1.
Lance Davis	7.1, I thought so. So my suggestion will be to move to 24-1740, which is 62, no, wait, that's not right, 25-1044, which is 65 that had been recommended to be approved, but there is part of the discussion in committee was to the administration requested that we establish an October 1st effective date for these amendments. Because there was some disagreement on exactly how to do that logistically, we left that to be determined. The administration has worked with the clerk's office on proposed language, and that is reflected in item 7.1. So after the report, I will ask that we take up item 7.1, which is the replacement for this item. So first, Madam Clerk, I'd like to request to, or Madam President, I move to sever item 25-1044 with the intent that it be placed on file.
Will Mbah	So, Councillor David, move to sever that item. Any discussion or opposition? So that item is severed. All right. Mr. President, I'd like to place that item on file. Okay. By any objection, the item is placed on file.
Lance Davis	And I will discuss the substance. I'm happy to summarize the substance of item 7.1 separately after we get through the report. So with that, I request that the report be accepted as submitted.
Will Mbah	Any discussion?
Lance Davis	The item is approved. Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to take up item 7.1 out of order, please, if we could.
Clerk	Item 7.1 is a request of the Mayor requesting ordainment of an amendment to section 7-64, 7-65 and 7-68 of the Code of Ordinances to reduce displacement of tenants and update relocation payments.
Will Mbah	Okay, the item is back before us, Councillor Davis.
Lance Davis	Thank you. Okay, so just to be clear, this item is a replacement for the item that was in committee that we just placed on file. Substantively, it is exactly the same as the item that was in committee with the exception of the aforementioned October 1st effective date. The substantive changes are the result of a working group that met many times over the past several weeks or months. I'm looking to Councillor Scott to correct me if I'm wrong here. But the working group ultimately recommended some Minor changes in terms of textual, you know, in terms of the language. The intent, this was a result of requests and concerns that were brought to many Councillors from constituents who had experienced a building being sold and then being converted to condominiums effectively. finding a loophole in the ordinance. And the request was to the administration, Department of Housing Stability, the Housing Department, and others to see if there's a way we could mitigate the impacts of that scenario. And ultimately, what they came up with, working with the law department to make sure that what was recommended was on solid legal ground, what were the changes that are before you. So the substantivity is the same changes that have been before the council for many weeks now. discussed in committee a week and a half ago and reflected in the item that was in committee and are also reflected in item 7.1 before us. Mr. President, I'd be happy to defer to the good counsel from Ward 2 who served on the working group. If there's more detail he cares to share about the substance of the amendment.
Will Mbah	Oh, I want to thank you, Madam Clerk. So I want to recognize that Councillor Ewen-Campen has joined the Council remotely. Councillor Scott.
J.T. Scott	Thank you, Mr. President, and thank you to my colleague from Chair of Legislative Matters, former Chair of Legislative Matters. this was in actually an incredible working group of staff working with members of the kind of conversion board based on as reports from constituents and the the fundamental problem is that there are tenants rights that should be provided and that based on the timeline of the ordinance as it currently exists has proven to be trivially trivially easy for tenants to be displaced from their apartments a demo permit to be pursued and then by the time the condo conversion process actually takes place those tenants are long gone and unable to be found and that the waiting process the timeline is such that it lines up pretty closely with the normal permitting process that somebody would go through. So the working group went into a great deal of depth on a variety of different approaches and I gotta say, some of them I liked a lot, but based on defensibility, based on efficacy, and frankly also on simplicity, this is a very elegant solution to quite a few of the problems, but in specific, the circumvention of the intent of the ordinance. So this is a very simple change. And for developers who want to do the right thing, it has zero impact whatsoever. All this required is that the people who are in the building Get the compensation that we have as a city and with the state's approval, I have said they are due to help them relocate and find a place to live. I was just trying to go upstairs. Like what's the six one thousand the other? You go down like nobody's process. It's talking about goal in the least. This just goes through as intended, which is, I think, the way we would all hope things would work. Right. Follow the rules. Everybody wins it. will and intentionally so inconvenience people who are attempting to not provide their tenant relocation benefits or their tenant right benefits that the council has established as a policy goal and established an ordinance through several years of work so i want to once again reiterate the things that i gave in legislative matters committee for the people who worked on this for the folks who brought a spirit of collaboration and exploration to the table and trying to reinforce this ordinance I feel like this is really straightforward and I look forward to voting on it as soon as possible. And also I want to thank the clerk's office for collaborating on the language to get that thorny effective date issue resolved. So thank you again.
Lance Davis	Mr. President, if I may add just a little bit of additional detail. Thank you, through you to the good Councillor from Ward 2, thank you for that summary. One point that I thought I found interesting in the discussion as it was conveyed to the committee was that the ultimate effect or the intended effect of the proposed changes, which as I said are very minor in terms of the actual language, are to make it more attractive to keep folks in their homes, to not clear out a building. And that is truly the driving, as I understand it, that was the driving intent, really not anything else other than to to make it make more sense for folks who might own the properties or be buying properties to keep folks in their homes until they're ready to take other actions on it. I will note that during the meeting, the administration noted that there had been a request from some constituents to not take action this evening. or that evening, the evening of the committee meeting, and to that end, we did ultimately recommend approval, but I noted very specifically that if folks did have concerns, at that point I had not heard any of those concerns directly, but certainly that provided us a week and a half opportunity for folks to weigh in. I have received some feedback since that time, as I imagine others have as well, And we have four items that are also on the agenda this evening that are communications regarding that. So I just wanted to call folks' attention to that. Thank you, Mr. President.
Will Mbah	Thank you, Councillor Davis. And may the record reflect that Councillor Clingan has joined us remotely. Madam Clay. Okay. Councillor Wilson.
Jake Wilson	Yeah, thanks, Mr. President. We mentioned Councillor Young-Kampen. He'd mentioned last week in the Legislative Matters meeting that there's no rush to vote on this proposal. The proposed ordinance changed tonight given the October 1 effective date. Given that we have seven of us here in the chamber tonight, with two joining us here remotely, I think it makes a lot of sense that Councillor Davis referred to the feedback about, you know, just taking a beat just to table it for our next meeting in order to give counselors just time to know exactly what this is and know it frontwards and backwards for good two-way communication with the public about it and to have all 10 of us here for that discussion and that vote. i spent time earlier today watching that presentation from legislative matters last week reading the legislation talking to our legislative policy analyst i'm personally a good place myself as a result i support this i think it accomplishes the stated goals with some really simple clever incentivization uh i'm not gonna pretend that that i think that you know all of us are are in that same place i've had that same opportunity to get to that comfort level so i think this is about the process and i think it makes sense to uh to just table it for the next meeting uh and take up and so i'll move to table the item um it's uh item 7-1 until our next meeting
Will Mbah	There's a motion on the table. On that motion, Councillor Davis.
Lance Davis	Thank you, Mr. President. On the motion, I'm comfortable with that as well as I said in the meeting a week and a half ago. Certainly want to make sure folks have time to weigh in. they have now but certainly some of the I read all the communications that came in I would actually ask that those four items be be also laid in the table so that they remain in the agenda so we have that context the folks want to you know review them over the summer there was some there were some concerns raised that that were not specifically discussed in the committee meeting and I I will take the opportunity over the recess to touch base with economic development, other folks to just get their feedback on some of those concerns. Find out if there may be unintended consequences that we haven't considered. I won't opine on whether I think there are or not. But I did have a conversation with staff from Intergovernmental Affairs today, and it's the administration's position, and it certainly would be my position as well, that regardless of taking action on this this evening, if this motion to table fails, or whether we take it up at the next meeting of the council, which would be the end of August, that that October 1st date would not change. So, effectively, the effect of these changes would not happen any later. We essentially have a bit of time to make sure that everyone has a chance to weigh in, that we all have a chance to consider those views without, if we then do decide to go forward, it changing the effective date in any way. So, thank you, Mr. President.
Will Mbah	MR. Thank you, Councillor Davis. Any other conversation on this? So I'll hand it to the Chair for, you know, Madam Clerk may have to recommend we need a roll call vote or not.
Clerk	Thank you. We don't need to roll call that. I will just clarify for the record that this is going to be item 7.1 as well as 9.8, 10.18, 10.19, and 10.20, all of which are public communications.
Lance Davis	Any further discussion on the motion to lay those items on the table? Any objection? All right, seeing none, those will be laid on the table until the next meeting of the council. Next item.
Clerk	And the next item then will be returning to the regular order of business, item 6A, a report of the Committee on Finance meeting on July 8th, 2025.
Jake Wilson	Mr. President, the Finance Committee met on Tuesday, July 8th, for an hour and 13 minutes with four of five members present. We made very efficient work of a 14-item agenda. In addition to the minutes from our six budget season meetings from last month, we were recommended by a 4-0 vote that you approved tonight. Authorization to dispose of unclaimed bicycles through a program in conjunction with the YMCA whereby Somerville residents can apply to get free, tuned-up bikes. A long-delayed response to an order by Councilors Ewen Campin and Clingan back in 2021. A new contract with Blue Bikes. I've made some requests for some new stations in areas of our city that look to be currently underserved by Blue Bikes. an extension of the lease agreement for the parking lot off Grove Street between Elm and Highland Ave, and a time-only extension with the Franklin Cummings Institute for Job Training for the Job Creation Retention Trust. We also marked as withdrawn three items that the administration requested to be withdrawn. The last two of those, IDs number 25-1163 and 25-1164, are being replaced with two new items submitted for tonight's meeting. Those are agenda items 7-2 and 10-5. The former is due to changes prior to Tuesday night's meeting, while the latter is due to the hours of the civic space area being amended from an original 8 a.m. to sunset, as stated in that original item that's being request be withdrawn, instead simply referring to the city's standard hours for our parks by ordinance, which is currently 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. With that, I ask this committee report be accepted as submitted. Next.
Lance Davis	All right, that report is accepted, and that brings us two items before us. We're going to roll call the acceptance of the committee report.
Clerk	On the committee report, Councillor Wilson.
Lance Davis	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor Ewen-Campen. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Councillor Davis. Yes. With eight Councillors in favor, none opposed, and two absent, that committee report is accepted, and that places two items before this Council for a roll call vote. The first of those is item 25-0978, the fourth amendment to a lease for the Grove Street parking lot. On that item, Councillor Wilson.
Matt McLaughlin	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor Ewen-Campen.
Matt McLaughlin	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor Scott.
Matt McLaughlin	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor McLaughlin. Council Burnley?
SPEAKER_14	Aye.
Clerk	Councilor Sait? Aye. Councilor Strezo?
SPEAKER_14	Yes.
Clerk	Councilor Clingan?
SPEAKER_14	Yes.
Clerk	Councilor Mbah?
SPEAKER_14	Yes.
Clerk	Councilor Davis? Yes. With nine Councilors in favor, none opposed, and one absent, that item is approved. And the next is item 25-1160, the final Urban Center Housing Tax Increment Financing Agreement for the 299 Broadway project. On that item, Councilor Wilson?
Jake Wilson	Yes.
Clerk	Councilor Ewen-Campen? yes councillor scott yes councillor mclaughlin yes councillor burnley aye councillor Sait councillor Strezo yes councillor Clingan yes councillor Mbah yes councillor davis yes with nine councillors in favor none opposed and one absent that item is approved all right very well thank you everyone next item council would you like to continue with the regular order of business or take additional items out of order that require some roll call votes
Lance Davis	Let's do the latter since we have folks joining us here remotely and we can make use of their services while they're here.
Clerk	So the next item that this council will take up then will be item 7.2, which is item 25-1238, a request of the mayor requesting approval of a maintenance agreement and landscape management and maintenance plan for the future Sewell Park at the 299 Broadway development.
Jake Wilson	Mr. President, can we also take up item 10.5 along with this? Is there both 299 Broadway items? These are the two aforementioned replacement ones.
SPEAKER_01	Sure.
Clerk	Okay. Item 10.5 is a request of the mayor requesting approval of a public access and maintenance access easement for 299 Broadway property owner, LLC. And the will of the council is to take one roll call vote for both of these. Is that what I heard?
Lance Davis	Seeing or hearing any objections. Any discussion on the items?
Clerk	On both of those items.
Lance Davis	Councillor Wilson.
Jake Wilson	Yeah, Mr. President, I'll thank the developer, their attorney, our law department, and IGA for turning this around really quickly. They got that replacement item done and up in Legistar in under 24 hours, so excellent job, everyone.
Clerk	And on both of those items, Councillor Wilson.
Jake Wilson	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor Ewen Campin.
J.T. Scott	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor Scott.
J.T. Scott	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor McLaughlin. Yes. Councillor Burnley.
J.T. Scott	Aye.
Clerk	Councillor Sait. Yes. Councillor Dreisel. Yes. Councillor Clingan.
Willie Burnley	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor Mbah. Yes. Councillor Davis. Yes. With nine councillors in favor, none opposed, and one absent, those items are approved. All right.
Lance Davis	Next item out of order.
Clerk	All right. The next items that require a roll call vote are several from the administration that have been requested for immediate consideration. I will get there in a minute, I promise. I got to catch up to the tens here. So that is items 7.3 through 7.5. The first of which, item 7.3, is a request of the mayor requesting approval to appropriate $1.5 million from the Salary and Wage Stabilization Fund to the school department to fund collective bargaining agreements.
Lance Davis	Any discussion on the item? All right, seeing none, Madam Clerk.
Clerk	On the item, Councillor Wilson.
Lance Davis	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor Ewen-Campen.
SPEAKER_14	Yes.
Clerk	Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
SPEAKER_14	Yes.
Clerk	Yes. Yes. Yes. The next item then is item 7.4, a request of the Mayor, requesting the appropriation of $1,045,000 from the Participatory Budgeting Stabilization Fund for the purpose of implementing the winning projects from the second participatory budgeting cycle. All right then, on the item. Councilor Wilson?
Jake Wilson	Yes.
Clerk	Councilor Ewen-Campen?
Jake Wilson	Yes.
Clerk	Councilor Scott?
Jake Wilson	Yes.
Clerk	Councilor McLaughlin? Yes. Councilor Brindley?
Kristen Strezo	Aye.
Clerk	Councilor Sait? Councilor Strezo?
Kristen Strezo	Yes.
Clerk	Councilor Clingan?
Kristen Strezo	Yes.
Clerk	Councilor Mbah?
Kristen Strezo	Yes.
Clerk	Councilor Davis?
SPEAKER_14	Yes.
Clerk	With nine councilors in favor, none opposed, and one absent, that item is approved. And item 7.5 is a request of the mayor, requesting approval to appropriate $800,000 from the Facility Construction and Renovation Stabilization Fund for renovations to the Cummings School for the Warming Center project. item on the item councillor wilson yes yes yes councillor mclaughlin councillor burnley aye councillor Sait councillor Strezo yes councillor Clingan yes counselor yes counselor davis yes with nine counselors in favor none opposed and one absent that item is approved and there is one further item being requested by the administration for immediate consideration and that is item 10.6, let me find that here. A request of the mayor requesting approval to appropriate $3,892,796 from the salary and wage stabilization fund to the police department other lump sum payments account to fund retroactive payments in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement with the Somerville Police Employees Association.
Lance Davis	Discussion? On the item.
Clerk	On the item. Councilor Wilson.
Lance Davis	Yes.
Clerk	Councilor Yuen Kampen.
Lance Davis	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor Scott?
Willie Burnley	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor McLaughlin?
Willie Burnley	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor Burnley?
Willie Burnley	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor Sait? Yes. Councillor Strezo? Yes. Councillor Clingan? Councillor Clingan? We lost him in the ocean. Councillor Mbah?
Will Mbah	Yes.
Clerk	Councillor Davis?
Matt McLaughlin	Yes.
Clerk	With eight councillors in favor, none opposed.
Matt McLaughlin	That's a yes from me, Madam Clerk. Sorry about that. Yes.
Clerk	Thank you.
Lance Davis	Thank you, Madam Clerk. Are there any further items that the administration is requesting action on this evening?
Clerk	There is nothing else that I am aware of that requires a roll call vote.
Lance Davis	Okay. So we're going to take a brief recess to shuffle some papers and we'll be back in two minutes.
	Thank you.
	Thank you.
	Are you on the mic?
Matt McLaughlin	you
Lance Davis	All right, I'm going to call this meeting back to order. Would the clerk please call the roll?
Clerk	This is roll call. Councillor Wilson.
J.T. Scott	Present.
Clerk	Councillor Ewen Campin. Councillor Scott.
J.T. Scott	Present.
Clerk	Councillor McLaughlin.
J.T. Scott	Here.
Clerk	Councillor Burnley.
Will Mbah	Present.
Clerk	Councillor Sayid. Councillor Strezo. Present. Councillor Clingan. Councillor Mbah.
Will Mbah	Present.
Clerk	Councillor Davis.
Lance Davis	Here.
Clerk	With seven councillors present and three absent, we have a quorum.
Lance Davis	All right, thank you, Madam Clerk. The administration has asked that we take up items 7-6 through 7-10 out of order now, so that we can let the good folks in the administration who are here on those items go home for the evening, which I'm more than happy to do. So if you could please read item 7-6.
Clerk	Item 7.6 is a request of the mayor, requesting approval to accept and expend a $3 million grant with no new match required from the Mass Works Infrastructure Program to the Department of Infrastructure and Asset Management for the Inner Belt and Brick Bottom Pedestrian Crossing and Associated Project Area.
Lance Davis	Council Wilson.
Jake Wilson	Mr. President, this was just a, we figured this would be the one item sent to finance, so why send one item to finance? Let's just do it tonight.
Lance Davis	Very well. Any discussion on the item? Any questions? We have staff here to address any. All right, seeing none, on the item. No need, that item is approved.
Clerk	The next item is item 7.7, a request to the mayor, requesting confirmation of the appointment of Daquan Goodnow to the position of police officer.
Lance Davis	Could we read in 7, 8, 9, and 10 as well?
Clerk	Of course, Mr. President. Item 7.8 is a request to the mayor, requesting confirmation of the appointment of Andrew Pasqualino to the position of police officer. Item 7.9 is a request to the mayor, requesting confirmation of the appointment of Benji Antoine to the position of police officer. Item 7.10 is a request to the mayor, requesting confirmation of the appointment of Victor Souza to the position of police officer.
Lance Davis	Thank you very much. So as a reminder, Councillor Ewan Campion, who serves as Chair of Confirmation of Appointments, suggested from a process standpoint that for initial confirmations, we don't send these to committee, that we approve them at the council level that evening. I'm inclined to follow that process unless there's an objection. All right, seeing none, do we need any votes? All right, well those are approved then. Thank you very much.
Clerk	And that will once again return us to the regular order of business, Mr. President, and item 6B, a report of the Committee on Housing and Community Development, meeting on June 30th, 2025.
Lance Davis	Councillor Strezo, thank you for your patience.
Kristen Strezo	Why, thank you, Mr. President. So we met on Monday, June 30th at 6 p.m. in City Hall, and virtually we had two of the three members present. We had Councilor Ewen-Campen and I. We discussed the Councilor McLaughlin's order talking about the housing bond bill and how Somerville may strengthen its protections and the condominium conversion and tenant protection laws. And I'm going to skip ahead to convey to you some really important, so read that in the minutes, but I want to skip ahead to convey to you some information about the Sealing of evictions and the recent state legislation, which is now in effect. Technically May 5th of this year, now tenants can petition the court to seal records from no-fault evictions, such as when a landlord sells a property, significantly increases rent, or dismisses the case. So please convey that to your constituents. This is in effect, and the Office of Housing Stability is working very hard to make sure to get the information out to tenants, to everybody. We're working alongside Cambridge with that, so look for workshops. There have already been six so far, but the information is trying to get out there as fast as possible. We also discussed the economic impact of small businesses as a result of recent federal immigration policies. We had Deputy Director Dana Whiteside to discuss some Older efforts such as the business impact of packets, it's 1033, so bear with me here. that they created, and also some grants that are still happening, oh, the leasing handbook, that was presented last year, but he reminded us that it exists, and really encourage you to pass that along to your constituents as well. We also talked about how the efforts being put forward of how we can get, how small businesses can obtain tax IDs so that, you know, when we have our twice a year events slice of the city, that maybe they can be contracted with the city to be one of the vendors. That's important. The deputy director has said that these programs exist and they are willing to help make that possible. So tell your constituents to reach out to economic development so that they can be part of that. We also talked about the we talked about our one-year action plan for community development block grant we had our Director of Finance and Community Development Ellen ANC sicko it's 1030 so talking about just the updates that have happened since the last year and I want to emphasize this that For the first time in 20 years, the city will be fully leveraging the financing capabilities of the Community Development Block Grant. And this will require the city to make its annual entitlement payment of $500,000. And that will result in significantly long-term benefits for the community. So that's happening now. It's inactivated. That's exciting. And then we also talked about more impact on small businesses and how construction plays a role in that. Kept it in committee, so I'd love to hear more Conversations and what you're experiencing colleagues and always welcome to discuss that in committee as well But I think that conversation has to be happening ongoing especially with what with the impacts we're having federally and with all the construction and digging up of streets, et cetera, that we're all hearing about. So I ask that these minutes be submitted as, or accepted as submitted.
Lance Davis	Any discussion? All right, the minutes are approved, thank you.
Clerk	The next item is item 7.11, a request of the mayor, requesting that this city council schedule a joint public hearing with the Somerville Redevelopment Authority regarding updating the 90 Washington Street demonstration project plan.
Lance Davis	Any discussion on the item? So the suggestion says go to land use. If there's any objection, this topic was previously discussed in finance, but that was, in my recollection, all committees of the whole, so it really wasn't a finance item. I think land use is the best spot for this, so if there's no objection, that'll be approved to the copy of the land use.
Clerk	Item 8.1 is an officer's communication from the chief of police conveying a biannual report pursuant to section 2-6G of the code of ordinances.
Lance Davis	Any discussion?
Jake Wilson	all right that item's placed on file item 8.2 is an officer's communication from the city clerk conveying block party licenses issued block parties any discussion council wilson through the president to the clerk uh in the budget this year there there was uh there was a line for block party supplies are we now able to uh to give those out to people
Clerk	Through the President and Councilor, that's an excellent question and I'm happy to answer that we have drafted the scope of work and we are sourcing vendors so we are in the process of obtaining quotes and once a vendor is selected we will certainly be happy to announce the coordination of that process. It is not quite there yet. We do understand that we are squarely in the middle of block party season and we are moving as urgently as we can but the contracting process is a lengthy one.
Jake Wilson	Mr. President, the contracting process is definitely a lengthy one. So, yeah, I appreciate that update. I was just asked about this last night, actually, by a constituent. So, thanks.
Lance Davis	All right. Very well. Thank you. That item is placed on file.
Clerk	That brings us to item 9.1.
Lance Davis	Councilor Burnley.
Willie Burnley	Oh, thank you. Through the Chair, I'd like to waive the readings of items 9.1 through 9.6, as well as 10.8 through 10.16, and ask that they be approved. Any discussion on those items?
Lance Davis	Councilor Scott?
J.T. Scott	Mr. President, I just wanted to call out my particular enthusiasm for the July 19th Honk Community Concert happening on the Lincoln Park Soccer Field.
Lance Davis	Very well. I'll jump on board the PSA train and call out the September 4th or 5th community event at Davis Square. This is the second annual event being held sponsored by the Somerville Foundation in collaboration with Davis Square Merchants. It was a really fun event last year. Hoping to build it more this year and get everyone together out in the streets. So look forward to that. Seeing no discussion, those items are approved.
Clerk	Item 9.7 is a public communication from Courtney Foster, submitting comments regarding item 25-1170 in support of the Climate Superfund Bill.
Lance Davis	Item is placed on file.
Clerk	Item, let's see, we're almost there. Item 10.7 is a public communication from Margaret Sapir, submitting comments regarding a sea spire.
Lance Davis	10.17.
Clerk	10.17 is exactly the number that it is. Not at all the number that I read.
Lance Davis	The hour is late, as Council White would say.
Clerk	There's one more. 10.21, a public communication from John Angeloni, submitting comments regarding Davis Square.
Lance Davis	That item is placed on file. I will note that I had a conversation with the Director of Engineering on the item just today, so we're working on addressing that.
Clerk	And that brings us to the end of the agenda for the evening.
Lance Davis	Are there any late items?
Clerk	I see no further items before this council. I believe there may be a motion to be made from the floor.
Lance Davis	Motion to be made from the floor. Yes, of course. Rather than it being a late item, we're going to do it as a motion from the floor. Okay. The president moves that this council congratulates Councilor Sait on the birth of her child, who arrived this week, July 3rd, I believe. My understanding is everyone's doing well. I'm very happy, and we look forward to having one more set of hands to help us all get our job done at the council. So congratulations to Councillor Sait. That item is approved.
Clerk	And there are no further items before this.
Lance Davis	All right. Councillor McLaughlin moves to adjourn. Thank you all.