e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e said that when you 12 I said no L used around stre of I'll both of us doing it's for don't between do EAS ask foree [Music] spe [Music] domet [Music] 9 a did you find did you [Music] [Music] million times we the house and then there's dogs across the street so when he has the dog spee okay yeah Rich um former counselor Russell dropped it off for us m we have the City attorney here we can [Music] good evening and welcome to the Personnel committee meeting today is Tuesday April 27th it's currently 6:15 p.m. um voting members in the city council chamber we have councelor at large Anna Levy councelor of District B Wendy lzone councelor of District n Vice chair of the committee and counselor of District a fidelino Santiago pursuing to the chapter 20 of the acts of 2022 this meeting of the Personnel committee is being conducted both in person and via remote participation a reminder that persons who would like to listen or view this meeting while in progress May either attend here at the city council chamber or you use or use um any of or use our Facebook or YouTube pages to to listen at this point please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance iedge Al to the flag of the United States counselors we do not have any minute to approve at this time so we're going straight into new business we have one agenda item agenda item 220-24 the confirmation of appointment of Carlos Matos as director of planning and developments and this was this is sponsored by uh Octavian spanner special adviser to Mayor Brian depena advisor spanner the first well the first time we're discussing it yeah to hello to uh send uh Mr Carlos manto's name uh before you for approval uh for confirmation and to uh as director of The Office of Planning and Development Mr Carlos is uh uh as some of you have already met him before but for those that do not have uh all his credentials I think it was brought it's before you is a very seasoned professional uh that has worked both in the public as well as private sector uh I would like to also mention that I think almost two decades ago he served uh as a city councelor as well for the City of Lawrence uh and um he has vast experience in in planning and development any Economic Development both uh on a local level state level as well as uh working with um very renowned um Banks financially institutions uh we would like to request or this evening I I would like to request on behalf of the mayor for your uh approval and to submit um his name before the entire city council for approval and it is my understanding that you have someone that would like to speak on this it as well correct you can you would like to do that okay wonderful yeah this is Mr Ramon cada as you know he serves on the uh Lawrence Redevelopment Authority but he's also uh a businessman in the city and has been uh serving the community um uh in different charitable organizations as well good evening uh City councilors my name is Ramon Kar I reside at 100 Sanders and I've been in the community for over 38 years I'm here in support of Carlos mat's nomination I believe that we have to embrace our best and brightest in order for our city to uh move forward uh so I'm here in his support he has the credentials he has the background he has the experience and I'm hoping that you guys uh uh vote to move him to the city council thank you thank you Mr Matos is there anything you would like to say before I pass this on to the counselors um thank you madam chair I just want to say that uh I look forward uh to the opportunity to continue serving the City of Lawrence I have served the City of Lawrence in uh in the past both as a community member uh activist and nonprofits um as well as uh as was mentioned prior as a city counselor and also uh working for the state reptor the first state reptor was elected here uh from the City of Lawrence uh at the time 16 Essex District so I have a very long history um as as was mentioned I I'm some of you have worked alongside of you and on certain uh interesting projects in the past and I look forward to be able to continue to do that and apply uh my expertise in in this particular area to further and better um the City of Lawrence uh for its residents thank you thank you counselors any questions or comments councelor lzo um I'm assuming because that's how you're reaching for you thank you madam chair um can uh we ask question uh can uh is the attorney here can we ask a question attorney hen can you come up to the podium please go ahead counselor good evening councilors evening um for you m chair so if is the um I'm getting a lot of questions my constituents are very um vocal with this appointment so one of the questions that we have is if if can can uh Mr Matos uh if if it gets hired um well if it gets approved by the council can he continue to be a consultant no okay so follow up question um I guess for you Mr MOS do you have plans to or to transition from your consultant cuz I see on your resume that is still you're you're still involved with with that position is there a transition plan for you so just to be clear I am not Consulting for the city so I own a consulting company which I'm still the owner of that company and that's what you see there but I'm not Consulting for the city I'm in an acting capacity as an employee for the city currently not Consulting councelor um Santiago are you miss Mr Miss chair and in your resume I see the qualification according with your y [Music] requ to havee inic is not working according with the according for the disposition is required to have a master degree do you finish no I do not have message but if you finish reading the sentence it says or equivalent experience yeah um yep it says here section c of the ordinance um the minimum qualifications for this position of director of The Office of Planning and Development shall be a master's degree in urban and Regional planning preferred minimum of 5 years experience as a municipal planner with one to two three of su uh supervisory experience or any equiv equivalent combination of education and experience a valid Massachusetts driver's license and aicp certification preferred correct does that answer your question counselor any other questions councelor lzone another question oh you wer I'm sorry councelor lone councelor Santiago it's for you Mr mat sure can you add to me a like your can you point out to me in your resume to work experience sure I mean my resume is exactly my work experience um I have over 20 years of experience uh both in the public and private sector as well as uh 10 years Workforce Development education uh and economic development as is outlined in my resume what about the municipal planner so um I've been the chair of the housing Committee of the city council I've worked for uh I've worked alongside the SS committee which is comprehensive Economic Development Committee which does planning um I've been the director of Northern essics Community College both the third tier cities project which is a planning uh project for the city of hoolo City of Lawrence as well as working with the northeastern uh Center for Urban and Regional planning I have education that I have from uh University of L with regards to Regional economic and social development which also relates to planning which one is Municipal uh SS is a part of the mar Mac Valley comprehensive Economic Development Committee which does planning here in law and in the region of Mary M Valley other questions or comments through you Madame chair uh so you mentioned Mr Matos mentioned that the company uh I'm assuming he owns has business with the city no it does not have has a contract no okay explain please it has no contract they had a contract with the city no longer has a contract with fire correct so now you're not getting paid Mr Matos that is correct wow volunteer work how nice of you not from the company no I'm an acting you are getting paid he's going to get reimbursed my then Che reimbursed if it gets a approv company gets absolutely nothing so so just to to clarify what I'm hearing is as soon as you were offered the acting position your contract your consultant work contract with the city expired correct and is there a signature confirming that correct yes so can can you provide that I can ask the City attorney who's here oh can is that something that will be able to be provided to this committee yes I don't have it on me I wasn't prar sure okay thank you Council l oh yes I have uh I have another question this is for me Manos I know he mentioned in the uh in the resume uh he mentioned Chelsea Federation give me one second yes in your resume you mentioned Chelsea business Foundation correct you still it says that you're still there so I is that no that's probably a typo on my part I apologize for that I am here at the City of Lawrence as the acting director of Planning and Development period I'm not doing anything else and and and of course um City uh attorney hen and all of this was verified correct and if the city were to call Chelsea business Foundation we can wait isn't that your consult no that's not your cons okay yeah um so we were to call this Foundation we can verify that this just wasn't wasn't updated we were provided a non-updated I I didn't do the personal check myself advisor banner yes I I would likeing my character yeah I would like to just for for clarification I myself has been a director of planning and Community Development through and economic development and I also serve as a uh assistant City administrator um the mayor would have not brought uh this name before you if the individual is not qualified um in terms advisor spanner I don't I don't believe the question I hand is is not about his qualifications it's whether we did the due diligence to ensure that he is 100% like his work right currently is 100% with the city of bars yes but there was questions in regards to his minicipal experience and that's the reason why I would like to clarify some of that and with all due respect but um the the City attorney was is here that confirms it and uh documentation will be provided to you thank you Council thank you Madame chair I I guess we are reviewing his resume uh and that's why we asking some of the the question we are not uh we are not concerned about his qualifications um but I will uh based on the question that I just asked about the uh shelu business Foundation it or either he resent a resume stating that he's no longer there uh but it looks like as we what we have now in front of us is that that he's now working there Madam chair through you so clear mad chair Mr M Madam chair through you I would be lying at this moment and unless you're saying I'm lying um I am telling you I am not working anywhere except the City of Lawrence in the position of acting director of Planning and Development my resubmitting it if you like is nowhere near as Testament to it than my stating it to you here in the public record through you Madame chair so why do you left Chelsea business Foundation Mr matus I left the Chelsea business Foundation because I saw other opportunities and I pursued them which everybody does I see I'm looking at the audience and and I'm looking at faces that's that's a natural move I've done it people do it all the time um so I don't I don't fult as an individual I do not fault you I think I was there four and a half years in in the organization I felt that I had other opportunities and I decided to pursue them like every other job question please are you all set councelor L on you still have the floor so still have the August a year ago this position Council Santiago did not recognize you Council are you are you all set um just to um M to you madam chair just to uh uh uh for the people that are watching and for the people that are present um that the mayor requires to uh do a search when he uh sends an appointment or it's only one application that is sent to the city council do we advise spanner the position was advertised process um yeah hello yeah it's good yeah Mr markl could not be here tonight uh but um we did advertise the positions and based on the uh candidates that we applicants that we received um they were no match compared to to Mr Carlos Matos I see here was posted on March 20th until April 3rd how many applicants did we receive in total I don't have all that information Mr Mark has it uh but I would I would uh have him um be ready for I thought he submitted in the in the uh in the packet how many applicants but if not I mean you can come before you uh yeah yeah we can certainly get that that inform information y um actually uh attorney hen can you connect with with um with the caffle and include that information on the with the uh with the contract that ended the the consultant service most definitely thank you my question councelor counc councelor Santiago yes okay this position was posted internal or external it was advertised uh externally so to have any other applicants to apply where it's advertised publicly like any other position and we have copies of the advertisement as well ad advisor SP um advisor spanner when is so the when what date was Mr MOS appointed don't remember March I think it was in March or or it's March I believe or February end of February Bas not quite sure so we're basically at the 30-day Point correct so 30 days okay any other questions or comments counselors no um councelor love you thank you Madame chair well how long was this position open for a long time for quite some time yes because the reason when this Administration came on board we had um I think some of you asked during the city council I don't remember if it was during the committee but um the office of Planning and Development had a director uh of uh planning a director of Community Development um but no one was basically overseeing the the the department so uh the mayor wanted to make sure that um you know that we would go through the process of of structuring the department to make sure that it works and then um it was brought before the city council during the previous city council members uh there were questions whether the position was um the changes that we wanted to do um would require a charter change or just uh re reorg I mean a reorganization or just restructuring the different uh uh the uh the office of Planning and Development um so that took a little while I know that the attorney also was busy trying to figure out a few things and then we finally uh got an opinion and we brought about it we advertise the position so what department is going to be under his supervision the three the three well all employees of Planning and Development uh but he would have the um the he would be overseeing and director directing the department but overseeing the director of Community Development uh the director of planning and the director of Economic Development and inspectional services and inspectional services as well thank you thank you mad chair Council three M chair so the the ordinance has had not not not changed yet the ordinance no so no the ordinance hasn't changed but that position exists which is ordinance number 2. 68.3 so we going to approve something without an ordinance we have the ordinance right here is that being um I'm asking for clarification Madame chair is the um the consultant mentioned um spanner Mr spanner mentioned that he's going to be supervising would you uh clarify that I Y I see I see where you y will you clarify that can I get a letter give me one can I me excuse I see I see I see the question yeah I believe the city council uh received a copy of a memorandum from attorney Tim [Music] hooton and it says the following regarding the planning director it is my opinion that the the recreation of the planning director position is that a reorganization of the planning department the position had existed prior and was not removed by ordinance the requirement of dis position has not changed and this is dated April 11 and was submitted to all of you so we do not have that in our in our in our uh binder and it's a simple letter and can hand it over just give me one second I'm going to check my city email right now was this attorney hen was this sent to the city clerk to the council president to whom or to the entire city council I believe I just sent it to the mayor's office it was to be distributed with the package okay so moving forward when it comes to matters of personnel any documentation I should be cced as the chair of the Personnel committee we do my committee members do not have does not have that memo you do have it in front of you so I do just read it but um I should BCC to ensure that things like this do not happen well this memorandum was submitted to I believe uh Mr Mark counselor Mark Le plant and it was submitted to the chair and counselors I don't have it um Mr M you is there something you want to add yes um Madam chair I just want to clarify something there's a confusion because of titles so there's a planning director which which this is not that position the planning director position is before you still for approval and that's what that letter is referring to so that's the different matter that's before the personnel and ordinance committee and so this position is always been ordinances and was occupied by Mr uh McCarthy on an acting basis for a long period of time so the position was filled to answer councelor Levy's question the position has been filled until recently in EN acting capacity by um Mr McCarthy but the other position that that memo is referring to is the planning director not the director of the office of planning the director of the office of planning has traditionally had the four directors which is in the office of Planning and Development which is the planning director the economic development director and the community development director as well as the inspectional service side of the house which is the ISD uh the director of ISD as per the ordinance and that hasn't changed thank you any other questions or comments counselors yes council [Laughter] president yes uh three share U as a council president I would like to add a few things um on that within the discussion yes um this position was fed before by uh Teresa par right uh and back then we we have her for about over six years I believe uh working in charge of different departments the only Department the only person that it was move or not funded was that uh the the planning director uh they remove funds from there when when the reorganization I believe 2014 happens uh we have an item in front of us in front of the city council uh talking about this position that is correlated to the position uh that it was uh back then when the position was ordinance uh he have a configuration of salaries and when when we approv the actual configuration of the salaries on the increasement of the salaries this position was there and that that act that item is in front of the city council currently table uh that it happened about two two to three meetings ago so just just to clarify those points on that because it's a correlation on the current situation uh for the for the appointment and the and the actual uh all the item that are related to this and the actual position that is uh that is been discussed thank you council president I have two questions and then a closing comment um first my first question is for advisor senior advisor spanner we are aware that there's a there's a spending freeze so where where is the salary coming from for this position is is his is the position out of uh uh it is funded this position has been funded it is currently funded my second and he's and he's been currently functioning as the acting my second question is for you Mr Matos if appointed as the Director of the office of planning and de and development what positive changes or or um initiatives do you see that that we that we currently need and what is your vision long story short what is your vision for the office thank you uh tons actually so uh as you heard the office of inspectional services ISD is under um the OPD director currently those offices are not really working as was intended in the reorganization similar to for example the city of of Somerville which has the same structure and really integrates those types of uh the two services so just to give you by way of example currently um an inspector goes to a business and they may want to TI that those folks right so what I would like to see is a little bit more assistive situation currently we have through the council we have funding to help the small businesses so what I like to see is create a a different workflow in which if an inspector goes to your business and finds some sort of fault that needs to be addressed that we then work with the director of economic development in this case Frank cillo and they would go and contact those organizations that the council has seen fit to fund to go and work with them to provide them technical assistance so instead of being fined immediately now they have this kind of different workflow where they have the opport opportunity to grow and scale the other types of things that we need and speaking of Chelsea one of the things that we we did in terms of tons of initiatives we helped hundreds of businesses we we we worked with the state we worked with private Banks State Street Bank which I also used to work for as well and what we did is we helped them through the pandemic one of the worst times by providing them funding by providing them technical assistance by providing them with the support and more important the value the small businesses of the City of Lawrence and and in most Latino communities and in the state are the lifeblood of the economy and they have not received the support in my opinion that they are Merit nor have they received it wasn't until the pandemic unfortunately where these businesses were recognized as essential when we all know that they have are the number one providers of employment that they provide taxes to the city they provide good goods and services regardless of the I as we saw throughout throughout the uh pandemic so really looking to fortify those what are the types of things that these businesses need they need the types of technical assistance that will help them to grow expand and create more jobs they they need the types of assistance that helps them to compete in the digital world we currently are looking at a massive transformation and and a fast-paced movement into that digital economy and our businesses quite frankly are not quite as equipped as they should be or can be and so those are the types of things that we work on with regards to for example housing right I've been on many Housing Organization many planning organizations with regards that be that Chapa be that mass CDC worked for example as a president of the board of the Arlington Community trand uh organization I've worked hand inand with Lawrence Community works in the past as well and a variety of other organizations that are still here and some that are not here anymore and so what we need to do is figure out a a much more holistic strategy with regard to sep of these things that's also part of the reason why we need to fortify our planning our planning department has basically been gutted over the years and not properly staffed which is why during the budget I hopefully we'll be coming forward to you to speak to you with that and get your your approval for those type of expansion because we have a lot of things that are going on and we need to do a lot more contest planning as you see some of the initiatives that are happening for example at the governor's level with the transit oriented development excuse me the types of things that are pushing to resolve the housing crisis so all those types of initiatives we really need to bring it to to to the local level and how to translate that we also need to work better with mass hire like for example I used to work with the with the workforce investment boards I led Health Care Partnerships I was on the overseers board at Lawrence General Hospital I've done a tremendous number of work at the local level regards to planning for improvement to the community both on the workforce level the housing level and on the community level and so those types of things are need to be integrated into a much more holistic system and those are the things that I would L if I am appointed to this position so I had a comment that was two questions but I just thought of another question before I I conclude with my comment how would you balance the obviously you're going you disposition reports to the mayor and the mayor's office the administration uh but there are times with any Administration uh there are times when uh perhaps a mayor may have an idea that may be good may not be so good for the community but you know when it's our own idea we think it's great we you know we we think no this is the best how will you communicate and balance with the with the administration if a plan is actually in your extensive expertise if if a plan comes before you from the administration and you're just like wait a minute this might not be the best how would you communicate that to the to the administration and and ensure that you're not only leading the department in the right way but also the you know the city's future sure so I know that this may be unique for me but I think we all have a boss and while we're hired to do a job at the end of the day we provide the best information that we possibly can we argue strongly for the position that we believe is is the right direction but at the end of the day like with your bosses we have to follow the direction that we're given and that's really how I take the approach I will provide as much information I will fight vehemently and I'm famous for that for the positions that I think are the best direction to go but at the end of the day the responsibility is the person's that is in charge and that's really how I approach things thank you my final comment I uh counselors I actually I reached out to acting director MOS when when he was first announced as as acting director and I had an extensive conversation with him about my concerns about what I think is going well in the community and Etc and I was very satisfied with that conversation um what I see on paper I definitely you Prov that in that conversation I even joked uh with advisor spanner that it was great to have a conversation with with an intellectual person that's outside of of the of the ad advisor uh but I do appreciate the the extensive uh background and expertise that you bring um and I know the conversation that we had was not an easy one I did ask you very tough questions but you you answered and and I appreciate that and I want to thank you for the job that you have done thus far thank you counc three you Madam chair councilor laon well uh I just want to point out for the record that uh the reference that Mr Matos is using at in his uh resume are basically people that work for the city so I'm going to name them so my constituents are aware there's no there's no reference from any of his jobs uh we have Octavian spanner senior advisor uh one of the reference Jose Javier another uh either City employee or consultant a Capital Access manager and the third person is Mayor Brian depa as a third uh job references uh just for the record there's no reference from any of his previous job uh thank you Madame chair thank you advisor sper the Personnel Department usually I mean you can put any names if someone asks you to give a reference and I think all of us know this uh you can put a reference if it's someone is going to ask you for an employment reference what they usually do they call the employers and try to find out and um do you Madame chair Council own uh Mr spanner and I understand your point we mentioned uh we I asked a question about uh his previous job in Chelsea and Mr Matos uh correct me and said that he's no longer there so it looks like that no one from the city made a call asking for his references I and I know that Mr Matos is very capable uh a very talented young man uh um I know him personally but I'm I'm here making a point about the process his resume is incomplete and the reference that he used none of art from his previous job thank you Mr Spencer thank you Madame chair no but I want to know how do we get to that conclusion I mean I respectfully but that's the question you're mentioning right now that this individual candidate that we're bringing before you that they haven't done the background check on him that's what you're stating according to the to you Madame chair according to to the question I asked Mr Matos he correct me when I said are you still working for the Chelsea what's the name of the organization Foundation Foundation Chelsea Foundation he uh made uh he corrected me by saying that that he made a type off uh the attorney also uh was here and he kind of responded but Mr Matos said that he's no longer working with Chelsea the Chelsea Federation what's the name again CH Chelsea business Foundation Chelsea business Foundation uh what I'm saying here it looks like unfortunately that the city did not follow the proper process of calling well there was no reference actually in his resume he mentioned three people from or they are either employee of the City of Lawrence or consultant and I'm not I'm not putting um I'm not saying in any way that Mr Matos is not qualified for uh if he gets uh approved by the council uh I know he's capable he's a very clever Latino uh man uh and this community he knows a community but what I'm saying here is that the process followed by the city is not accurate is there thank you mad you're welcome councelor so Mr Matos you were trying to get up is there anything that you like to add sure just a quick correction on that Madam chair one these are my current references as they're my current employer and the previous job was not the Chelsea business Foundation previous job was my Consulting work also with the city which is why I provided the most current recent references of my employer through you Madame chair Mr Matos you mentioned as your previous job did you recognize me my councelor you you've uh put it maybe you made a mistake uh but in your resume you mentioned the FED Chelsea Federation correct I I as your last employee it my resume indicated the one this is what I have in front of me Mr Matos I was asked about by the I believe the chair whether I was still Consulting from the city so it was seemed very common knowledge to me by the members of this committee that I was prior to this acting position consulting which was the first question of whether I was both consulting or being in the acting capacity and then after that yes I'm sorry I apologies Mr Bros continue and so I'm just claring clarifying the order of my employment I am currently the acting director of office of Planning Development prior to that I was Consulting for the city which I responded to questions regarding that prior to that I was the CEO of the Chelsea business found just to kind of put it in context and so the last two employers are the ones that I put down as references through you Madame chair what we have in front of us Mr Matos is your resume and it states that your last job from 2020 to the present it's with the chelon business foundation and as a chief executive officer and I appreciate your explanation and admitting that you made a mistake but I'm I'm asking question based on the resume that I have in front of me thank you Mr Mattis thank you councelor any other questions or comments just looking something up right here counselor Levy you say hi okay all right so um so to summarize all this discussion Mr mantos you stated you wouldn't be stating this publicly if your current situation was not that you are currently working for the Chelsea for the Chelsea business Foundation attorney hoen is going to provide us the contract that ended the consultant work with the City of Lawrence um once you were announced acting acting director um I mean according to the ordinance that we have you have extensive uh compared to what is required to to your resume you have extensive um experience here so at this point counselors I will if there are no other questions or comments I will entertain a motion motion to send it to the full council with favor recommendation motion oh okay motion to send it to the full council with favor recommendation at with uh and at the meeting we can have all of the information requested at this label motion has been made by councelor Levy is there a second second seconded by councelor lzone discussion all those in favor say I I and the eyes have it so thank you so much we will see you at the full council meeting next Tuesday at 7 p.m attorney hen please ensure that that we get those documents necessary um for to continue moving forward all right are there any other matters Mr McCarthy good evening um good evening good evening there's a item on the agenda um or four down um I apologize I came I just came from a sidewalk on the Conservation Commission so uh and I the only thing I brought with me is a letter but is a request to have the position of planning director reestablished as a position with the city yes so that item was tabled because the ordinance committee did not have the written ordinance uh from attorney Huen at the time ordinance is meeting right after this meeting so I I so is it on both agendas so it's so it what it is on both agendas so once it is okay with ordinance then we're going to go through it with personnel and then it'll be sent up to the full Council thank you there any other questions or comments at this point I'll entertain a motion to adjourn motion has been made by Council lovey second by Council Santiago all those in favor say I I and the eyes hav thank you so much e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e lying you behave yourself tonight good just check wonder what I'm up against wow I feel like that where's the love are you ready good evening and welcome to the ordinance committee meeting today is Tuesday April 23rd 2024 um voting members are I think we're all present uh on the chair Mark La plant we have Vice chair Selena re we have councelor Gregory Del Rosario and councelor Felina fedelina Santiago pursuing a chapter 20 the acts of 2022 this meeting of the ordinance committee is being conducted both in person and VI remote participation reminder the persons who would like to listen or view this meeting while in progress May either attend in person uh at the location above or use any of the following access locations which is the Lawrence city council Facebook page and the law city council YouTube page uh with that would you please stand for the pledge ofs I United States indice motion to approve motion to approve is a made by C Rosario seconded by the Vice chair all in discussion all in favor say I I oppos no the eyes have it doing hold on okay all right Council before the meeting started I went through the audience just to figure out who's here for what so we can try to get this thing get people out of here um at a reasonable hour if we can I know that the big ticket item this evening council is probably the the Lawrence school committee most of the folks or not the Lawrence school committee but the the home rule petition so I know there's a lot of people here for that um but having said that what I would like to do is there's a lot of other things that may go by a little quicker I like to get those folks out first so uh in order on the agenda by which they're here um the very first one oddly is the uh if there's no objection I'll just go in this order number 21424 it's the underground uh install under underground conduit at Medford Street near Oxford Street Mr bushe did I pronounce your name correctly yes sir you did I mean you think with a French Canadian name like bu I should be able to say that quick okay um yeah Dave bue senior design in National Grid 1101 Turnpike Street for the record uh North andore uh just to explain quickly what this is is a petition to place two 4 in conduits from a poll on mford Street to the backside of the existing Market Basket that's there they're asking for more electricity they're basically going up about 50% uh with their load of electricity that uh they're adding um in order to do that they want to place the Transformer right near the corner of Oxford and Medford streets right now the Transformer is feeding from the middle of Medford Street as you go back towards uh I think it's melro uh Melvin or Marvin the other street but nonetheless uh what we're asking for is uh the two as shown in the diagram that we provided two 4in conduits uh to bring our electric service to the backside into a new Transformer location for the Market Basket so that they can expand thank you counselor any questions for Mr bushe um Mr Del Rosario for you Mr M this this will be um is there an extra poll there to um on Oxford Street you said no not an extra pole the only thing we're asking for is underground Co to it from existing pole 7173 that's already there um right near 2426 Medford Street and at that point we' go underground and approximately 70 ft to get into the property of 700 ess6 Street and as you can see where the Transformer Pad is located that's on the private property thank you chair okay sir any other comments looking for a motion motion full Cel favor recommendation for public motion has been made by Council delali seconded by the Vice chair Reyes discussion see no discussion I'll call the question all in favor say I I oppose no the have it thank you you're welcome uh what we go to the the full meeting so what happens at the the next meeting I think it's on what May the 5th something like that the first Tuesday 7th so May 7th is our next full city council meeting okay to order of public hearing so you don't you don't need to show up for that we just wait for the full full meeting uh waiting for the public hearing that's probably where you're going to want to okay you're going to make some comments that's that's the time sounds very good thank first yes sir all right moving along uh let's see here document 21624 annual community community resource Fair September 7th 2024 at the campon common Miss Sange welcome good evening councelors my name is Liza San and I am um here representing gr Lawrence Community Action Council and I'm here um for the annual community resource fair so um the day is September 7th but we have a rain day of September 14th so we're looking for permission for the north common for September 7th and September 14th as our rain date and this is the annual event we do this every year without um any issues we're for this is campaign on common yes did you have any um so you got clearance from the recreation department for the original date and the rain date yes both are clear they're free they were um informed of it and they just asked us to come in front of you for approval but the point the point here I I get that but the point is that there is no conflict the the schedule is free you're able to go there should we Grant the permit right got it okay correct and this is for glcac okay looking for questions comments or a motion Mr Del Rosario thank you you how many years have you been doing this this fair I believe this is the 11th year how many vendors are you expecting on on on this this year um so usually it's it's primarily it's our organization so we talk about all of all of our services and we also invite other nonprofit to come and provide information for free to um the public so we usually have like 20 Benders thank you chair a question councelor Santiago the schedule time the time is 11: to 2: p.m. is when the event will run but we need access to the park earlier than that so it's from around 8 CL we set up tables and Tents and then we're at at the park by 5:00 p.m. but the event runs from 11:00 p.m. to 2: p.m. 11:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. 11 11 to 2 yes and we do Flyers it's a big Community event that day it's a beautiful event yes all right look another question Council Santiago for this year what is the purpose so every year it's the same purpose purpose is to promote um access to the community for our service fuel assistant um the police department shows up there too the fire department it's basically a day to um talk about all the resources that the city has and we host it so we talk about all of um the things that great allwen Community Action Council does and we invite other vendors that provide services to the community so we don't it's it's not a um money there's nothing being sold it's just resources to provide resources to the public okay so a couple reminders you probably your organization already knows this please don't drive on the grass with vehicles heavy equipment on the grass uh number one number two of course um the noise um speakers just be cognizant that you're in an area I probably don't need to say this to your organization which is pretty good but just be mindful that there's other folks around so that's that's that I'm looking for a motion motion attend to the full coun with a favor recommendation or public hearing I we don't need a public hearing on it no not for this to the full Council fav recommendation motion made by Council s councelor delber are seconded by councelor Santiago discussion see no discussion I'll call the question all in favor say I I oppos no the guys have it thank you you're welcome December May 7th right not December May 7th September 7th and September 14th May 7th is the next meeting yes okay perfect thank you you're welcome December 7th is Pearl Harbor day is that right Rich good um next one is 21824 three days of worship August 23 2425 at originally was O'Neal Park but I I'm understanding there's a change please come on up good evening my name is Sandra Lopez and um we are here because we would like to use the park uh for three days of worship ship um my pastor's here with me and so is my my the male Pastor um we just want to reach out to the community and teach them you know when I have she can speak a little bit yes hi U we're fromia p in English is healing the Brokenhearted and this event is to reach out to the community um you know speak to them and share the word of God and um have these three days of worship and that's what we that is what our main you know goal is um you know provide the word and um nothing we not you know we're not going to sell anything it just uh unite and help the community so thank you so we got a couple of notes in our packet this was originally for O'Neal correct and uh so let's get that clarified so you're looking at Camp yes I spoke to um Adalie um and he said that on that Friday they have like a championship um basketball tournament or some something so we're not able to use the park on that day that's why they uh they told us that you know we be better if we use this park here the common Park it's camping no Comon so you got permission to use camping no Comon yes this is it was available for those three days and we could we have you know we spoke to him he said that that's okay that was fine yeah what would be really good for us and I and I appreciate that is just to have some documentation from the recreation department I don't think this committee I have an email here that you do yes let's send that over to us we that would be helpful okay um what do I forward it to hor what you could do um you can send it to ter Teresa Teresa Teresa Vega right next that one y that person yeah you want to copy me you want to copy the members here that' be great too okay for all of us on the website you can just copy us so we can see that it was there U that that would be great so everything's the same you're just going to have it a campign y yes got it okay comments motions looking for a motion to send the substit to full council with a with a favorable recommendation is there a motion so Move Motion made by Council Del rosaro seconded by the Vice chair discussion see no discussion I'll call the question all in favor say I know the eyes have it all right so please come in case there's confusion on the 7th May 7th May 7th come back okay thank you all right you're welcome uh 21924 Hoops for Christ basketball tournament please come forward May 25th 2024 hi hi good evening I'm here representing um my church uh this is our seventh annual tournament for the youth we reach out to the youth um we preach um they play the whole day and we're doing it this year in the okos South Common Park um and it's just for fun and to reach out to the youth preach the word of God is our main cause is this your first time doing this first time doing the basketball seven an wow yeah uh so the same thing I think I may have not said it to the last folks but the same thing as before um keep the vehicles off the off off oconnell and also just be mindful that on the other side of the Pavilion there are people who live there so be mindful of them so keep the the waste contained to the area of which you are going to be doing your your event yes and you got clearance you're set with Recreation for that date okay any comments questions C Santiago how do you pick up the players and what age are they it's um from 12: and up they usually go to the park and um we also have a flyer that has the information and we usually put it through the media and we pass pass it around through our contacts and that's how they end up going mhm uh we usually have like 200 go wow yeah it gets really packed really packed mhm so we do have a flyer for that you and what H where H the schedule practice before the before the tour no no no practice it's like uh they call it a 33 five and five usually when they see the flyer and they go in they we we say what we're going to do and they usually um bring their team they make their own team and they just go and they play okay okay so very good so the other thing I would ask when I hear 200 people I'm thinking oh they may be some trash so just be obviously be careful of the trash pick up and and and do a favor for our DPW in our parks and keep it clean thank you all right you're welcome looking for a motion same favor recommendation second motion been made by the Vice Chair seconded by Council Santiago with the favorable recommendation discussion see no discussion call the question all in favor say I I oppos no the eyes have it May 7th look forward to seeing you then the okay okay thank you that's final passage we're just the committee got it okay the last thing that I have before we get to um the school home rule petition is on the very last page is document 17122 adding the planning director's position under the Planning and Development Department I see Mr hudin our City attorney is here welcome Mr hon good evening good evening councilors um the specific purpose I'm here is that you had a question and the question was um you didn't see this in the um ordinance and what had happened and it actually was an ordinance position it's been an ordinance position since um Before Time the problem is that it was stopped being printed in there as the uh as the chairman knows um as with any ordinance the only way to get rid of an ordinance is to have an ordinance to get rid of it or have a hearing on it there has never been one so it still exists you can't get rid of it is this position was ordinance back just because it wasn't reprinted in the ordinance doesn't mean that the ordinance went away there has to be a a positive vote to remove the ordinance and there was we researched it there's no positive vote to remove the ordinance so this position still exists all right so that really clears the decks I think that was the at least from my perspective that was the one question that I had was the question of whether or not a reorganization was required because things were this was being changed um and placed into a different place but according to the City attorney because there's an ordinance that that even if we were to put the police department under Recreation that's not a reorganization because if there're still there there's still positions that are ordinance but I'm going to go with you um on this recommendation uh again I I I don't want to say to that point I'm saying this position existed it existed in the order that it is in um it's not a to it was never removed placing it I think the original question was we were creating a whole new position and is this now reorganizing the um the planning department it's not reorganizing the planning department it's not reor okay right I'm I'm going to hang my hat on that it's a small hat but it's going to be on that it's going to be hang there I'm looking for questions comments or motion this would not need a public hearing what would this what would this need then if there's already an ordinance there what are we looking at what's the request fill the position through you so one more question so the question is we we don't fill no no no but what's the action of what's the action of the council there's already an ordinance well it's also in the Personnel committee the Personnel committee is waiting for you to to make this decision and we're before the Personnel committee to fill the position and go back up so I would suggest that you maybe are informing the um Personnel committee that you agree that this is not a reorganization and so that's the only movement that really is nothing before this committee if there's already an ordan is created unless we want to reauthorize it is that what we might be doing because it's been unfilled for some time or no I believe it has not been filled six months it's been empty it's Wai it's waiting for us I get it yeah yeah but you're not I understand I get that yeah he's in the position currently but I would say that it's uh been vacant more than six months because he it's so jumbled over there he was also being paid as the Director so what is your suggestion then for the full city council specifically this committee at this point I think what are our options I think this committee should auth authorize The Filling of this position um and inform the Personnel committee about that I know that's the Personnel Committee just left saying that they were waiting to hear from you I'm going to release the the floor to council delario thank you if I'm not mistaken that position was discussed early of of the personal committee if I'm not mistaken um and it and it also went up we f a recommendation to the full Council uh for the next meeting if I'm not mistaken is not is not the position we're talking about no no they um that position they just held off because they were waiting to hear from this committee there were two there was the planning director per position which was also on the agenda so which made it confusing that went up director director of planning and so the the greater position that was on the um uh on the personnel and this is just planning director which would be below that so the planning director is reporting to the director of office of planning and developmentor OPD gotcha so with the recommendation from the city attorney is that we we I get the I get the bouncing to the to Personnel I get that what I'm not is approving I'm not sure we already have an ordinance on what are we approving I that's where I'm a little fuzzy um what you're I guess what you're saying is this position exists so we have to say this this position exist well someone has questioned it that's why we're here okay do we have the information uh that has the the all the the basic information for the ordinance since it's not in is it in our is I don't believe it's in the current one it's it was reprinted from is ation in City the most current version that's the problem is it it had printed printed printed then some year it just disappeared but it was never removed shouldn't we at this point I hate to throw this in there but shouldn't we do it the right way and if things have changed over time shouldn't we have the right language of the current iteration of whatever it is the planning director's position is Now's the Time to do it is it not I I need my computer um good evening uh Council the uh Dan McCarthy planning department um we were requested by the uh um Personnel Department to sit down and draft it and we did sit down and drafted up uh the current um ideation of what the planning director's position is uh was similar or nearly identical to the old one um but with you know with the c updates about about who reports to who for 30 seconds waiting the computer so I think the only the only the the the way it's perceived is is that the planing director will report to the director of the entire office then the planning director will oversee the day-to-day operations of the plan department so the officer the the director of the entire office oversees Community Development Economic Development the planning department and inspectional service all four Council has a courtesy to me so I can get my computer in the other room can I have a 30 second recess so I can just pick that up and come back motional recess 30 seconds made by Council doar seconded by the Vice CH favor say I po guys have be right back you down that version we did you know I'm not even here for this somebody's got to tell me when these things he's right to go go to the 30 seconds motion re motion made by coun delour seconded by the Vice chair discussion see none all in favor CI oh know the eyes have it so I am looking up right now so we can talk apples and oranges here City of Lawrence planning DOR VOR correct so right now there is no in our ordinance book there is nothing called a planning director that I can say and so what we want to do is we want to insert reinstate that reinstate do we have the reinstating language that's okay if you're helpful let's bring it on what do you got is that is that language this was the last meeting and that's the one you guys want me to s okay is it is it in our book I don't know if you have it be once did that's what Teresa gave okay I'm going see if we have it you can use that okay so thanks to Maria we have some language correct that we can throw in there now what I don't know is if it's the language that there has been some discussion on and and what I wanted I think well I can't speak for anybody else here but what would make some sense is that we have the language that it that has been agreed to or worked on and that we include that and if there's any change we don't know if there's been any change but what's that attached to is that an email to someone that's uh this is part of a package this was an email um so you included it in there we take a look at it take a look yeah yes that that is the language that we sent down okay okay the previous one okay okay so what's the story behind this this is this is what was real previously in the book that no this is what's currently this is what's currently and this and we don't know if this is what was in the book previously we don't know if this is our previous ordinance or this has been changed I don't want to say it I read the old ordinance but I don't want so this came out of the prior ordinance as D the plan director position um as it is it was amended to make some changes in the numerology so it would fit in he also put into place that the plan director would um report to the office of director the director of Office of the planning director because that position did not exist at the time okay so this language was there was this is subsequent language prior to the creation of OPD is that what this is this is after OPD language what I have in my hand it actually existed before with amendments this but these are different so the point I'm driving at I hate to beat this is that if any Amendment any change to an ordinance any change to an ordinance I don't care except for ministerial era scrier stuff it's minor stuff but any substantive change to an ordinance would require a public hearing so because of our process and so if this language is different than what was previously there even if there's only one qualification age even if it's one responsibility that would tip the requirement for a public hearing what I what I I guess we don't know is whether this triggers it is there more here than what was in the previous printed iteration that the public had access to it is not identical there is changes in that from the prior one so as legal counil I would I'm going to put words in your mouth I would imagine it's probably in our best interest and according to our rules to send this up to the full Council to order a public hearing on the language that's there that that's fine just so you know that I was requested to be here on one specific issue was it this one it wasn't that it was it does does this position even exist okay that was the question that this board had sent up to me so I came back with the answer the the position does exist so if if that's the request of this board I believe sure put it up for a public hearing but I mean I mean that would I mean you're I agree with you what I don't want to do is put a gun to your head and say this should be your opinion but if you agree you agree if you don't agree then we need to hear that too okay so counselors I I think what we just heard here is that there's the recommendation by the City attorney that we take the language and we need to get this in our packet for the official packet right and the language and we should all get a copy of this right um yeah is it do you want to do we want to make an order public send us up to the full Council to with a pable recommendation order a public hearing on the language that's in here that's what I'm going to be heading for is that so move with that so Move Motion made to send the language it's inside here that I'm handing over to Maria for the full counsil order public hearing it's been seconded by the Vice chair discussion see no discussion I'll call the question all in favor say I I Poe no the eyes have it thank you very much we're on our way you know I very seldom do you ever see the hills of Lawrence it's very nice picture behind [Laughter] you South Wars that's right not Massachusetts right all right so I think that was it for all of our non uh School related items I think so we're going to move over now to the school related stuff that would be document number and we should have stuff in our packet document number 14824 establishment of home rule petition governing defining a governing structure for the Lawrence School Board upon the exit of State receivership counselors we have some dignitaries among us this evening we have members of the lawren school committee who are here they did provide to this committee uh a draft document uh for our consideration um what I would like to do is and I would also I we have other people who are here who are members of the public and as it's been customary in this committee is to allow folks if they wish to speak on a matter that they can't so um if the members of the of the Lawrence school committee wish to speak on this matter now because of your position we invite you to speak now if you like good evening councelor it's Jonathan Gusman I am the um vice president uh Vice chair of the lawence school committee represented District F and with me today uh committee man Lenny Ro from District C and committee woman Myra ores from District a uh as the chair uh llan mentioned we have submitted a draft of a particular Home Room petition on what their receivership subcommittee has met and discussed in a public setting uh and that is before you for your consideration this particular request is a well-rounded school committee looking into the hybrid model looking into having still the six elected per District having one student representative three appointed by the mayor they nominated by a nine nomination panel and the mayor and a destiny what we did was we looked at the current city Charter we looked at the particular structure and then we provided our recommendations based on our year experience on the school committee we also expanded on the budgetary pass process as there's no guidance on that we ensure that there was still a process of executive branch nominations still coming down to the city council for its approval as the leg legislative body uh and ensuring that when a nomination is made and it's not filled within 30 days this body then can take process to solicit and to appoint all across uh each member again will be for two years elected member within districts what we're doing also within this particular uh language is a transition of those three particular appointed individuals and within four years after those appointed appointments are done they must transition to an a large capacity elected which will serve after that for four years that is the structure that we have provided you and uh if you have any questions we're here to answer those questions to the by of our ability thank you are there any other members of the school committee who wish to speak on this matter if not that's fine if yes that's okay too it's up to you no pressure good evening um School Committee Member myores representing District a former Lawrence uh C coun there you go I I needed you to say it um I'm standing here before you sure I'm standing here before you with all respect asking and informing the public that what we've put before you as our all- encompassing stakeholder written Home Room petition and also as a compromise to what was dictated by our present um mayor depena is having the community community be represented and having this legislative body remain inclusive in the process that we believe is necessary I believe that this is a city that we know that there is an imbalance of power and that we are heavy in the executive branch at this moment in time and and expanding and like receiving the home root petition as written by the mayor to appoint eight I believe eight positions that are just by the exec itive Branch I think supersedes and overshadows the role that the Lawrence city council has here in this city this great City of Lawrence and it also takes away the voting privileges that the um electorate has and what we fight for a Civic engagement in this city I believe that as the um putting it forth without including the school committee without including stakeholders without including parents and grandparents that I see here um represented in this ordinance committee was an oversight and it also doesn't stick true to what the mayor has said ablo with this hom Ru petition the way that is written that is what is before you at this moment and I do not now the city cannot vote so his campaign is now the community now the city in this directive this home petition appoints the executive branch appoints and and and takes away from the voting privileges of this city and I don't believe that that is the side of History we want to be on as we are moving back into a place of local control as we are moving to have the Lawrence city council continue as the legislative oversight in this place making the rules that govern govern our great City what we have before you is a a consider we've taken mayor depa's um directive in the form of a home petition in consideration in saying you know what appointed positions are a good idea let's in this transition let's have the executive branch be represented by three appointed positions to serve through the executive branch term of the four years and at this time I ask you to review consider and support what we have before you and thank you for this time respectfully any other questions any other any other elected officials wish to speak good evening uh my name is Lenny Mara I'm a representative of the school committee for district C and we have a petition we have a petion that we put together in a meeting uh where there were some we disagreed on a couple of things we came up with it and it's for your consideration um me myself I'm I'm I'm a resident of Lawrence have been for 10 years now have three kids in the system uh in the school system Public School System um that's my only reason I only drive because of them I'm going to school myself um I'm an engineer for turbines uh for planes that's what I did when I was in the Navy retired already but my heart is with the city I would like to see elected people in power I understand the power of having people be appointed people of statues and stuff like that that can help us with knowledge and stuff that we may not have I understand that but I also understand that the city has a say and you guys have a say the electorate has a say and that's why I'm here and I believe that it's in in our priority to to do this the right way so that's that's what I'm here for thank you any other elected officials who wish to speak on this matter I open it up to the public is there any members of the public who wish to speak on this matter now is the time to speak because once we start this conversation we're not kind of going back and forth so if there's me members of the public who wish to speak please come now good evening um I just wanted to give my opinion as a father of three kids in Lawrence um I mostly agree with the school committee's propos for one second just so we can get your name and address I know who you are I know where you live but just for the record sorry uh Luis robbles 183 Abbot Street um so basically I I do agree with most with the fact that I think most of the committee members should be elected officials however I think the three appointed um members should not be elected official I think we should allow it so that it can be anyone even if they're not residents of Lawrence this way we can tap into talent that is not in the city even though we have a lot of talent in the city I think it doesn't guarantee that those people will run for office so I think we need to have these three appointed positions open so we can get people maybe from MIT Harvard or anyone who is willing who doesn't live here but is willing to contribute to the City of Lawrence with expertise and this three appointed officials will not over rule the majority of the six elected members they will still have a majority vote uh but they will also have the support of those three appointed members also another thing that wasn't mentioned is regarding the student that will be elected I don't think that 12 graders should be penalized I think they should be able to complete their full year as an elected uh member and I think the term for the student should be one year because in high school you have uh turnaround every year there's ninth graders coming in 12 graders growing out and it's a yearly cycle so I think the student one should be a yearly term and uh that's basically all I wanted to say thank you thank you Mr robl last call for anybody else from the public okay counselors um this is now up for us for our discussions for our questions committee members uh uh the rules are pretty simple I think we have a couple of options here uh one option is that we could ask the questions we want to ask um um and ultimately weend if the council the committee so chooses it would be an order to make amendments to the draft that's set before us by the mayor so the the working draft is what was sent down to us right that's the working draft um we certainly can take parts or whatever if we wanted of what the school committee has said hypothetically but we can certainly amend if we choose to amend that's one thing the second thing is we could have a bunch of questions this evening not amend and we could send this up to the full Council we can set it up with a Rec any kind of recommendation favorable unfavorable or without a recommendation and we could send that up to the full Council um I'm going to let you know where I'm going to come I'm I'm not I I may be asking questions this evening um if the committee decides it's going to go in the Amendments I wasn't planning on speaking giving my opinion this evening I I'm I am going to be looking for more information I would encourage the council president since a public hearing is not required for a home rule petition uh that our vote when it gets to the vote would be to advise the council president to open this do this item up for any public participation should anybody from the public wish to speak on this on this item so that would be a potential request from this committee to the to the council president who by the way is here council president uh thank you U Mr chair um Jo a city council president the my intent is that I would like the council to order a public hearing on this uh even though it is not required but it will be necessary and needed for the public to have an opportunity to speak as long as they want uh that's that's my my my that's what I would like to see obviously it will be the desire of the vote of the of the city council uh not necessarily my desire but I I think it will be fair for the public to come over and and and uh and discuss this on a public hearing settings that way they have the the amount of time that I required to speak on behalf of this thank you council president so there are our options um we've got we have a few options available so with that um we can open up the floor for discussion regarding regarding this topic I'm happy to begin somebody else wishes to go ahead and start that's fine too um I'll start unless somebody else wants you I really don't need to start if some you want to go Council Del Rosario thank you to you any of you can answer this have you guys reached out to any community that has a completely hybrid or elected and and tell me if they fail in how it works CU I did my research and some City including Cambridge which I was there today and it and it to me is working perfectly and they all happy one thing the Cambridge also did and include uh I'm not saying that they should be for more participation of the people when it comes to voting or elect anybody somehow they change the rule while residents not citizens are also voting um for elected members of the school committee but can you guys any of you if you guys guys reach out tell me where has been this hyb bird place and and where it's not working and where it's not you know the way it should be and let me just ask this C Mr delar not to you but it would be really good if someone who was the drafting of the of the underlying document was here is there anybody from the mayor's office here this evening are they here that would be that would that would have been helpful okay um School Committee Member Vice chair um the the the Administration was here before you last time and they did mention that there was no such thing as what they drafted across the research right I I just want uh consel D to CL clarify simple any any other any other any other community that has a harbard like like I said I was in Cambridge today and they completely hybrid appointed off appointed that was my appointed and they pretty happy so have you guys know any other community that has been appointed and somehow is not working or the school is failing some of them 78% of the of the of the bostonians voted that they wanted a full elected school committee and the mayor refusing to move it just Boston Boston right now which is one of the biggest districts in Massachusetts for school districts I have spoken I have my I don't know how this particular Administration that fine uh because I found many and I'm having conversations with them and what one of the community members spoke about the appointee individuals I agree right there's individuals that don't want to get into this politian they just want to serve they want to bring their perspective into the table and I agree with that right which is why we were compromised and on our recommendations we provided that appointe uh opportunity right for somebody to be able to serve their community in that capacity you know we're still regulations in where you have to be a a a city of lawen resident in order to serve in any board or commission right within the city ordinance um but some of the conversations I've been having with school committee me school committee members from other districts in other state where majority is uh there's a a majority appointed and some elected some of them have tried getting appointed and because they don't have the qualifications they never get appointed they run and because they have Community backing Community knowledge they've been there for the community for so many years that's how they get in right so it excludes individuals that potentially don't have the degree but want to serve their community and if I do an assessment of particular individuals that serve an elected role where qualifications run for office many individuals might not be sitting right and serving but I don't think that should push people away I don't think that somebody that is willing to serve their community and learn through the process should be not allowed that opportunity through you uh chair if just thinking if the transition would have be today is the school committee honestly speaking the school committee that you have right now or you guys are in what you have right now is ready to take over 3 something million dollars on a budget from a school and running like right now let's say something happening right now you need to take over do you honestly say that you guys the way that the way the school committee is structured right now as it is right now do you think honestly speaking that you guys are ready to do that or your school committee is full have the full potential to run the school as your school committee is right now so let's let's put that into perspective counselor the school committee does not run the budget that's the superintendent's job we set policies based on the superintendent's recommendations and the administrator which is the superintendent runs the schools not the lawence school committee the lawren school committee since 2011 has not received a dime for professional development nor the resources for for professional development but we by ourselves have SE researched and done our work right we receive a good recommendation by the EA director of mask that he has this is the only school committee that he has worked with that is competent enough and he put that in writing and got sent to the commissioner of Education Jeffrey O'Reilly Jeffrey C Riley and where we completed collectively over 74. 5 hours of training when uh the school committee were petitioning for determination of receivership is a school committee balance that's basically what the question is it's not running it's balance to take make is is the school committee balance at this point in time if a transition will will come in like right now that's basically the question I know I'm in the superintendent I know the budget but you guys had a big part in approvement when if you have the voice which we don't have it right now and we understand we on the receivership but it's balance as it is right now we have key individuals within the school committee in each seat that bring expertise to the table whereas policy live experience parental um special needs uh el el elpa right uh El students uh administrative potential Financial potential law uh any other counselors who have questions councel I'm sorry School Comm woman uh councel dillar can you define balanced and what you mean by that and compare your uh the balance of the city council in your example I mean we're talking about the school committee and I'm asking you the question I'm asking for an example but I'm asking you a question how you guys have Define define balance I'm I'm out I'm out just one at a time and and and it count you have the floor and she may or may not answer your question but you have the floor but I gave her the floor away and she got up and asking questions okay Define balance balance is are you guys balanced as it is he answers part of the question I don't need to compare how balanced is this with the school committee I want to know how balance you are but can you define balance to understand balance like he said he's playing a balance so you have what he needs you have some people with knowledge like he isling that's the balance right now if I count numbers numbers not knowledge the school committee is on balance cuz not every district is filed correct so every district is represented now is represented cuz we had it app point to one but for past few years it hasn't been it's two or three and at the end of the day it's two of them that I seem working on an everyday basis now you guys are getting together and that's when I when I come when I say balance and if you feel comfortable and if it's there is balance I respect that and he answered the question what his balance that I was looking for he understand the question or he understood the question thank you for your clarification and what you meant by balanced okay councelor Santiago when when you said balance that's right now they don't that's they don't looking for the balance but because the home rule petition doesn't have any balance because there are six appointed three by the by by by the elected in one I'm not comparing The Home Room petition what I asked them I asked them if they feel comfortable if they balance I'm not comparing any room Home Room Petition coun of Santiago so when I asked them for balances to see how comfortable they are and if they know what I was asking Jonathan exactly answered the question the way to me it was rephrasing it has nothing to do I don't know if any of this Home Room petition will be balanced at the end of the day when we picked it because we got a pick one and at the end of the day we got to see them how the works and then when we want to question the balance right now I'm asking right now as the school committee is right now I'm not talking about Home Room petition s the floor through you pres Mr chair Mr chair and the other things I am agree with my is she said right and if he they do this H wrongful petition they know they are not respect the voting rights for the residents they voting for you guys if they want to do something I I think they supposed to do it after you finish your term that's I think okay or is that a question or comment com com thank you are there any other comments or questions by members of the committee okay um I've got a few questions I think as I'm going through the uh the proposal I would be I would be asking the administration if they were here some other similar questions uh potentially but so one of the things that caught my attention is a real change and all of these questions are going to be how is that going to benefit right I'm not going to give you an opinion I want to find out how is this going to improve on on the system uh you're looking to go ahead and to have the city council elect a school committee members in some instances or can you explain that again for me so I get that better understanding of that so through other language there there's no such thing as the city council uh electing there is that possibility of confirming appointees right or going through the same process within 5.7 which if if a position becomes vacant whether the Lawrence whether in the school committee is this body that has the opportunity to appoint just as uh commit um committee council member that mentioned with District d uh attorney Sandra Edwards um who unfortunately is unable to be with us today because um her husband passed away um if not she will be here uh the particular piece right it calls for again six elected members three appointed members by the mayor who are nominated to him by the nominating committee panel an idea that we thought it was amazing it came from his own home repetition we put language and clear definition on it of who should be those individuals within those nominating nomination panel right who from the community or from organizations that work on education or within parental groups or within justice of education and and environmental justice work or within this particular body actually because we we P that language that somebody within this body should be also appointed into that nomination panel by I don't whatever process you guys do and there's also a student the student we want to be clear with the student piece right now that's a particular law at the state level that is trying to empower students to be voting members on bodies like these we thought we think it's a great idea to have a student H how we put it through on our language is that the student is appointed is elected with an by their classmates at Lawrence High School through a process right we represent Lawrence Public School Systems and that student serves within a year right that particular calendar year um and if the student graduates and that's one of the particular comments that got brought up that if a student is a senior and he graduates that there should be the opportunity to uh for that particular individual to continue serving you need to be a current lawen school student right that's why the language is like that uh in order to continue serving that means if you're not part of the Lawrence High School side then you have bacon your position we give that power back to the uh student government in Lawrence High School to appoint their member if they do not appoint within 30 days that goes back to the Lawrence school committee as we are the amend the the governing po the governing structure of Lawrence Public Schools anything above it comes back here right so we don't um if we don't have somebody wear in our our seats then there's a process right that comes back here and simple as it is I keep saying and keep hearing that for the past years some positions have been vacant people are not running for them we're hearing those conversations let's put those into perspective of why people don't want to be in these positions right if the city council had no power you wouldn't be here there's definitely and there's a lot of occasion in where the city council can provide Power with through school buildings we don't get tapped in that was not taken from us under receivership law but nobody asked for opinion I'm as the vice chair I sit in every school Authority I do my work nobody needs to know I do it sorry so a couple of things as well thank you Vice chair so the second thing is speaking of Vice chairs um um in this language you're it appears that you're taking out the mayor's current position as the chair of the school committee corre um and that you are replicating seemingly some model of which we are part of which is a kind of a president maybe even a vice president as well correct is again I'll go back is is something broken at the level with the with the mayor being the chair that that that that needs to be fixed uh multiple times when uh the administration of Mayor Rivera was here we had to be challenged constantly to meet because he will use language within the city Charter that we could that he will claim that we couldn't so we will have to go back into the Attorney General's office and uh go through the process so understanding that we're still in open we're still a governing body and we're still starting to open meeting laws and we need to go process and that the city Charter provide us the guidance based on our rules to meet right there's been challenges in where the meetings have been set by our rules the mayor has not come to one of our meetings so the vice chair has to tap in to current to agend us figure out process this all by the Vice chair and the school committee right and with the particular both of the structures that are being in place there there has been conversations of should the appointee serve within the school committee that's one question and be also the chair and president of the committee those are questions that we're still asking uh and trying to figure out the City attorney what cc to ensure that if he seees something uh within the language he points it out uh he told me that he has not looked at it question uh sure go ahead Council Santiago you said the mayor doesn't assist any meeting he sent any not any notification any reason for why what I know is that the mayor came to the reort which is the first meeting after we're elected in saan after that the mayor does not participate in our meetings my question is why h because why he want to do a lot of appointed if he doesn't look like it does the important for him and we and and because of those we know that the mayor's office the mayor capacity is really a busy capacity which is why when in the language we have put or Des KN to ensure that that individual right the mayor right now how is written on the city Charter cannot send somebody right he needs to sit and he needs to vote he cannot send and somebody from his office to do the process and say we putting on we're putting it on this language he saying the mayor or designity from his office has full power of voting right to ensure that there there's a process on on to allow the executive branch to be part of this you know on the hom rep petition that was said by the mayor it calls for a certain amount of members there's a fla on the number there's an even number now there actually not 11 there's 12 right because the mayor sits there as the chair that's part of the boarding the the governing body on their home repetition we set ours for 11 sure okay do you think if he did do the the home petition he will be present he will putay more attention to the meeting um I I I don't know I again I I feel I I I will say it again I believe the position of being mayor of the City of Lawrence um brings a lot to the a lot of work and S as you need individuals to that you trust within your Administration to be part of that process right and this is why we we thought it was a good idea to put this before you um even within the nominating commit the nominating panel the mayor is able to assign it destining now when you had your conversations obviously I just want to throw this out there I think I know the answer um when you were reviewing this document to submit and present to the city council I'm presuming that you had a long view of this so you're not necessarily just looking at the current administration because whatever gets passed will be on Beyond this Administration so I just want want to ask you that very pointed question is did you consider the fact that this is not just for this Administration but a much longer Arc and with that in mind I believe the the committee members also thought about the idea of a transition to a full elected right from having this Administration who is currently requesting appointees uh to this process and we're saying you know after four particular years that particular those three positions should move into at large position um to to be elected into this body right to bring other expertise that are not at the table that the residents of Lawrence at large believe uh the qualifications that a res of the SE Al should have to be sitting on the school committee would that answer your question speak Vice Cher ra uh thank you shair uh Mr Guzman uh can you clarify when you be elected like who you are right now uh you mention here uh the transition is not to choose three at last person or three a last new school Committee Member uh you thinking in mind is like for example uh you uh gradually be LGE or you planning to choose or put uh three last position to ruing uh through a school committing or or what do that mean so the so when in the structure the school committee let's call it phase one phase two phase one right is the same that we have right now six elected per one per district one student representative uh and the hopes that that stward repres can vote crossing my fingers and the uh the mayor or design right and three appointed individuals by the mayor's office confirm right by the city council and is put forward for the mayor's consideration by the nominating panel four years right they get this happens they get SE seated right an election happens every two years the district school committee members have to run after four years pass those appointed positions will transition to an a large elected position meaning that if those appointed members want to stay there they got to run for that position in four years did I answer that would be like the phase two of uring that we move to a majority uh elected school committee what is you propose to uh what is the position to our major in this committee he is a member of the Lawrence school committee yeah but you say not elting like you want to choose your chair do chair yeah so the the mayor's not on our proposal the mayor is not the chair the mayor is a member the mayor or Des is a member of the Lawrence school committee okay thank you let me go back to the student again so I think if I heard your your under under your breath comment hopefully I thought I heard you say so let's just hypothetically say that we just endorse um what the mayor's proposal or your proposal which to have an elected to have a vote by by someone from a student I'm not sure this a Lawrence High student could be a all of our junior high students first of all it's that just came across my mind I'm not sure to you defined what a student is but that's number one but number two if there's is does are we prohibited by law currently by having a essentially underaged individual ual a student serving is an elected capacity so even if we pass this it may not even get through the state legislature because they don't allow for that I I guess there's a question there somewhere can you address that yeah so the the student representative the finition is laid within this home repetition example um draft and where it provides a clear uh who the student has to be again it has to be a Lawrence Public it needs to be a Lawrence High School student that goes through their own uh uh election process uh in where the student government uh becomes uh has some Authority right in case that position becomes available furthering more uh I want to make sure that I tell you that you know I'm providing you you know the true intention of providing you a do this for a living to State policy so I'm always paying attention and I know that there's a bill that is to empower 16 17 year olds right to get voting rights that is still in process at the same time there are other board member board spaces that have a student representative they're not they don't have voting rights but they're on the board as a member right at that point the legislator the legisl uh legislative body would just Redline that peace okay to but currently right now they're right right now there's already a student is there a student representative currently a non- voting student representative serving either on the LA or on the school committee on the Lae unfortunately the lawren school committee has not adopted that because we believe that the students should receive resources right to be here uh and and we don't have resources to provide a student okay and just so we're clear why is uh if if we have student representation now non voting and I my understanding is that the student repres the reason why there is student representation right now non voting clearly is so that the decision makers around the table now is the Lae can listen to some perspectives from the student as they make their decision right is that working and why do we need to have why do we need to take it to the next step if they're already giving input that we actually have folks who are under 18 having a chance to vote who have not gone through their gone through what all of us have gone through in our in our lives right and have some context Etc on decision making so explain why that's important that we have that I'm here today because the those particular ideology that students in high school don't have the capabilities of being around adults or people that have Pathways or or been you know many many P many past impress experiences because of that it's when I started becoming an ad an an advocate I founded the humanitarian Club I poach over 70 students out into the community because we were not being connected we were not being brought to the table I had to push for that right students know what student want one thing is to have a person on the table that just provides comments and doesn't have an actual opportunity to say yes or no something that can change the whole perspective of the vote of whatever matters in front of you we're pointed it forward as a process this is a process and where we hope that by the end of this discussion and debates on these discussions we have good news from the state and that it's already here through this Home Room petition not after we pass it and then we have to do over this again to add a student if you think about it point of information point of information um previously when I served on the school commit as a school committee member for district a we we had student representation when President uh javanni Rodriguez was on and president Senator paval Pano right so so it's been going on for some time and you want to reinert if the only difference here just want clear that now they're going to actually vote they're actually have the same power as other elected officials or the nominated individual they're going to have the same one vote as everybody else around the table that's the difference right correct and and at the same time put the perspective of putting a point individuals into a space and then then not having a voting right looking at the panel of folks who are going to advise the mayor on the selection process um I'm just wondering our individuals who are just regular taxpayers who who are I realize most of the money comes from the Commonwealth and not from our tax base I get that but we technically still contribute to our schools at some level um I I just often uh was there any consideration of maybe having someone with a bent of a of a taxpayer as you know we got every other group here we got teachers we got student advisory we have English language Learners uh unions city council PTO Justice Alliance education we got a lot of groups that's a yeah I'm just wondering if than consider for that thank you for the question because you have to be a resident in order to be part of this panel and if you're a wrest and you're a taxpayer necessary well well I would argue that I'm sorry I didn't mean to interject pleas continue no no you get the floor okay uh so you have to be arrested in order to be part of the panel not necessarily because you're part of these particular groups right means that you will be appointed you still need those qualifications in order for them to nominate you right on this right and this process ensuring that if there's a a vacancy happens it's still a process for that there's a well-rounded of individuals from you know and and then bringing it back to what we're looking at the other type of home repetition and where it red discuss about having parents in places of power um and we try to reflect that we I think the this particular panel is a great idea we provided more context and the fin of people within education and and and it's true right 95% of the budget of this of the Lawrence Public Schools comes from the state seeing that most of the budget that the city of mar puts in is around 70% of your budget which is a lot right um and every individual should be part of a process and have the opportunity to voice their concerns and I feel that there's so many times that they can do that through the panel because the panel has to do uh public space it has to meet in a public space it has to have public hearings the same time when it gets to the mayor and it gets sent here for confirmation uh for the nominees itself there's also a process of public participation want to speak okay yes Council Del Rosario and then counc R to you seeing that your home room petition just have some changes and and what you guys decide and think is going to work for you for for the City of Lawrence also have you guys tried to sit down with whoever compose the mayor uh Home Room petition and try to meet up in the table and say you know what we willing to go this way but can we kind of mix it up because right now what I'm seeing in your home room petition it's a little bit different but it's basically not against the hybrid at all so I'm not seeing it against it um so have you guys sit down and trying to meet halfway with whoever and try to bring something to us and everybody in the city that we don't see so divided have you guys tried it or have you tried it Jonathan thank you for that question I want to definitely mention that the Lawrence school committee is not divided the Lawrence committee is working together and the mayor who has the authority of doing what he put before you decided to put it before you without no recommendation of stakeholders including us right we hope and there's been uh individuals within this space from the mayor's office and where there hasn't been an extension matter of fact I did meet with the mayor a while months ago in where he told me there was going to be uh a proposal and that we were going to have a discussion that would that never happened that got sent to you guys and I found out the school committee found out because I looked at your agenda every time it comes out because as the vice of the law and SCH committee I received your agendas to put stuff on your on your agenda so we're always willing to have this discussions we even did our discussion publicly on Zoom right because we don't have resources to have a building and have meetings where're we're actually pushing for one right now on May 1 on the Lawrence Public Library we're going to have our meeting at seven in-person hybrid for the first time so we're hoping that it goes well and overall we're always willing to have a discussion our the lawen the receivership subcommittee's proposal draft has a lot of differences from The Home Room petition in front of you yes it's calling for a hybrid but we're listening to our members and our constituents that have reached out and have logged into our meetings and said we want to elect a school committee if you're there you're not there you need to fight for me to have representation when the transition happens that I can vote somebody in at the same time bringing that conversational transition there's noers convers ation right now of the Board of Education which is a public board about transition for Lawrence Public Schools but once again we table for you guys to we table it for you guys to do all that and give you the time to get to that after you draft this did you reach out and say you know what we don't agree with your proposal but we want you to read hours and see if we can meet up halfway how we how we try that after you find out there was a petition and we tabled it for you guys to have you meeting and all that stuff and then you drafted this but have you contact whoever drafted theirs and and see if that this it I anything wrong with that but again I can say that there's been conversations with particular individuals in the office and where discussions have occurred on this proposal point of information as a reminder the mayor is the chair of the school committee and he leads the school committee um Vice chair re is thank you chair um I want to ask because when I do my Outreach I see we have a lot of cities in massachusett doing uh hyri uh you have something starting to do in hyri and then they can come back or something wrong about say it again sorry okay so I do my Outreach and I I in Massachusetts we have a lot of school committee appointed with the mayor for different CI uh you have something doing wrong about that when they have in play right now yeah so in the beginning I mentioned that there has been Communications and where individuals have felt that by having a full appointed school committee individuals that are normal individuals like us I can say that right uh want to run and aren't able to get appointed because that don't mean credentials to be appointed so having a good live experience and being from the comedian running gives him the opportunity to do so um and there's been conversations and where I'm trying to really bring up details to provide to provide to you on the uh the concerns in other states on something like this but but again we are proposing a redraft a for your consideration in where um the particular question here is this why is this here why is the elected school committee getting challenged right clearly on the communication that you're hearing on the one email that the mayor sent you is a pun position has this body has the only body that can call for elimination on the receivership been contacted or talked to about a transition plan happening there hasn't so how are we proposing such Home Room petition when a transition plan has not been placed forward MH for Community consideration for stakeholder to have a conversation of what we want to see if Community wants to see this that's part of the transition plan we don't do this before we have that conversation if people in the third floor of the mayor's Administration want to learn about doing a transition plan they should look at holoc mayor City councilors school committee and delegation working together during this process as of right now I can tell you they're not working with us uh was conselor Rosario mentioned uh what is the uh possibility you can connect with the mayor office to bring it again this conversation uh we are always open to have discussions I believe and I speak for myself if uh the mayor has a consideration to have these discussions I will welcome it again this is a compromise if we have if we didn't have even to have this discussion we we wouldn't be here we prefer an elected school committee by the people of Lawrence right and we a transition plan should have been what you were reviewing right now not this thank you m Mr Gman so we're getting close to the I think to the end so we can make a decision but one of the things I need to ask is a couple things one is uh there currently the The Authority for the building of a new school is the authority of the city council and I see that in section s that under the city Charter is a school committee under Section let's take a look go ahead and that's the same language that is there actually okay where is it uh let me pull it up sorry I was not ready for that if you pull up the city Charter and you look at section five which is Lauren school committee okay and you go through it there's a particular section that talks under the school committee about the school buildings and authorities of any modifications within our buildings okay I stand corrected thank you it is in the charter under 5.5 okay we do our work thank you um compensation an operating budget that's kind of a big significant change why we want to put it on language uh the school committee should have the opportunity as any governing body to have a structure right and the structure comes from the spending budget of the city not from the Chapter 70 budget you cannot use Chapter 70 budget to for a governmental operating process so on this city Charter there's a compensation piece in where this body creates an ordinance by compensation this body has sent you that uh and it's stuck I think on the ordinance committee actually on on a discussion of uh compensation we have sent the actual documentations the structure the the process and I believe in some way some form it got removed because it could have inil a reorganization when it's just is set on the charter that is created by an ordinance by this body now of course the person that fills those is the mayor as the exective branch so I just this was back and forward with the attorney of the city I'm trying to figure out uh if the mayor decides to decrease your stien can he do that during the process yes because it's a line right and this is um part of the budget process the same for hours he can just do put you can say we want to pay this much to school committee members and by my understanding of the ordinance in the city Charter he can put zero right um and you are unable to increase it uh that's it's been like that there's constant conversations that that there was an ordinance that disrupted that have not find it I have asked Rano attorney Rano I have asked this attorney I have not received any documentation that says this got trumped out I'm I'm done with my questions are there any other questions counselors have councelor G Rosario it's just a comment I I I believe myself that we should be having this conversation all together when it comes to just them the administration should be here or whoever wrote the other petition Home Room petition should be here uh they not meeting with that um somehow the communication is broken so I guess the only way we can get them together is down here so I don't know this is how I feel um and and this is I think this this is what we should need to have that conversation when it comes to that that's that's just a comment so um council president uh thank you Mr shair uh to answer coun Rosario uh question uh we can have a joint joint committee meeting city council school committee and invite the mayor's office to discuss this and at that point we can actually uh make some changes resol Resolute around it and and finding common grounds I think that we have two very deep document in front of us none of those documents come from us but we have the opportunity to either approve it or not approve it if we work together on in a on a meeting that I'm pretty sure that the school committee will be on board yes to have that meeting I believe that we might find Common Ground uh around that um it is a suggestion I I think that we we we can work something together I think that there is other parties that would like to also be involved and and I agree earlier you chair through you and earlier you asked if anybody of the administration here to answer this or that nobody is here uh I don't think it's fair to you guys I mean to be here just proving the point and and then not saying anything again if they would have come here by themselves I I would have suggested same thing too we need a school committee to be here CU it's it's it's it's a whole group situation in in the meantime and it's a big decision that we need to make because this this could change the whole the whole part of when it comes to the education of our kids so I again this is just what I'm thinking we should have a conversation all together before we we we make any big decision on this if we call for if we call for through you Mr Sher if you call for a special meeting uh which is going to be a joint uh committee between the city council and the and the school committee is if if the compromise is to find common ground around this issue I'm more than happy to entertain that that opportunity not the idea the opportunity to find Common Ground uh with that that that compromise need to come from uh the school committee the city council and the mayor's office uh with the main objective of finding an a potential um uh law that's going to benefit the city of lawence at the end of the today um having discussion experic at the ordinance committee at the full Council and and having the the school committee um on the other side also doing trying to find that solution I think that as a former School Committee Member and and current current current city councelor I think that it will be it will be very essential and a privilege to work with the school committee and the mayor's office to find a potential common ground on this if that's something that we can it out I think that that would be fantastic very good so thank you thank you council president so we have a before us is the mayor's proposal um we received and considered or are considering the school committee's uh proposal as well you heard what the council president had to say um now it's the time for us to decide how we are going to dispense with this on the committee so are we looking to send this up to the full council at this point the council president if he decides he's going to do a special meeting he can do that um at at at his by his authority if he decides that he wants to do that but my question to us here is what do we want to do do we want to send this up without a recommendations do do we want to do any amendments tonight or where where are we I'm looking for any motions I mean I would support if this is important any I would just support send this up to the full council with without a recommendation but that's just me but I want make a motion to send to the full Cel to a favor recommendation with with a favorable or no recommendation with a favor favorable the mayor's Proposal with a favorable recommendation there is a motion to send the document up to the May I'm sorry May so what did you want so what did you want to send up to the council this one clear I want to make a motion to send those for to vote the city council meeting to the full Council to send to vote the full Council okay to goote to the favor recommendation not the not the mayor so before us just so I'm clear I'm sorry I'm confused we have two proposals we have the underlying motion the underlying proposal that the mayor gave to us we also received this evening what is known as a substitute Amendment if you um in Reading what was submitted to us they wanted to strike everything and insert this new all that new language that came from the school committee so we have so that would be an amendment so we would amend the Mayors to include the school committee's proposal as part of it is that what you're recommending no okay if that's not what you're recommending that we have the mayor proposal we as a committee we can send it up with a favor recommendation to the full Council we say we like it we want the full Council to support what the mayor has put together we can do that or we can say we don't like it it's an unfavorable recommendation we're sending this up but we don't like it so that Council knows how we stand or we can send it up to the full Council without a recommendation saying we have done our homework we have asked the questions as best we can over two meetings and now we're sending it up we don't want we want the full Council to ultimately make the decision without us providing a recommendation those are to send it to the full cons for the unfa recommendation unfa recommendation there is a motion to send this document the mayor's document up to the full council with a unfavorable recommendation is there a second see no second the motion dies I'm looking for another motion motion of sen full Council would recommendation second motion has been made to send it the full Council without a recommendations properly made by Council delar properly seconded by the Vice chair discussion see no discussion I'll call the question all in favor say I I oppose no the eyes have it it's unanimous it's going up to the full Council without a recommendation I would also encourage I would also ask this of this committee I I did hear what the what the council president had to say earlier this evening and I understand the dynamic by which the council president said what he said I ultimately believe that we can get to that very same point without spending the money we could have essentially a public hearing with the where the council will allow an individual to speak for as long as they want to speak for as many people as they want to speak as if it were a public hearing without having to spend the money for that I honestly don't believe that a lot of people read the Eagle Tribune the public notice sections in the back to find out when there's a public hearing and I just think that's probably money better spent when we get the same result by in letting the folks know in our communities or the people that we represent that if they have a comment they want to make on it they are invited to speak and have a chance to give that without has having to go to a meeting order a public hearing and then we got to wait another couple of weeks so U that's my thought on that if if somebody shares that opinion please make that motion we can make that recommendation of course to the council president so is there a motion to that if not we sit silent so the motion would be to to I guess instruct or advise maybe advise a nice advise a nicer word advise the council president that this committee thinks that we should not have an official public hearing we have to go ahead vote on it and then have to go ahead and pay the money but we invite individuals to come before the city council as if it were a public hearing without having to go forward with the payment of the newspaper payment so that's the question before us is there a motion for that if not we'll set it where it is I can make that mtion there's a motion is there a second to that motion see no second the motion dies council president well I just want to say for the record that if we order a public hand from a stop sign just this want to be clear if we order a public hearing for a stop sign if we order a public hearing for a stop sign this is a lot more important than stop saying okay um council president thank you you made your point and I would also say that by law we are required when we're changing an ordinance of of a public hearing this is not a change of an ordinance any other any other home rule petitions that come before the city council neither this nor any other homeo petition requires a public hearing That's the Law so but I do understand the council president's prerogative uh let's go back to the top of the agenda so that is it is going to the full Council without a recommendation I can find my document where' it go I think I lost my agenda where I am trying to nice try you thre it back there I saw you 16 do we have a we have someone else here to speak so what what number was that 163 B and second page thank you 163b Lawrence High Civics education creation and ordinance this is I think dealing with the Public Public Schools uh Lawrence High School it's Lawrence High School um sure go right ahead here for for the oneway street yes so we have a okay do the presenting sure be fine be fine oh my God looks nice whenever you're ready mhm soon as it comes up cars perfect slides show all right Falls in this is our Civics projects and our names are jri Castillo shant EST Ros all right so today we propose to you oh my B today we propose to you to have Crawford Street to become a one-way street from the hours of 7:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. allowing only a right turn onto North Parish Road this would improve drop off and pickup processes which would would increase safety for everyone in the route from school and to work to cause L incident for example as you can see right there we have um a car that every car is going straight and this car has an opportunity to hit anybody that's coming out of here for example we have the pedestrians on to your left that are passing by which could cause an incident with this car that's coming in cutting traffic car are traveling on the wrong side of the road which often occurs very highly if you really if you really think about it because there's over 3,000 kids in the lawai so everybody's just trying to get to work and drop off their kids students are often LED out of their cars into traffic which leads to traffic to being jammed up and more highly risked to get hit by a car and get more incidents as you can see right right here we have a pedestrian coming out into incoming traffic onto the side where cars are coming and dropping off their kids which puts their life in in Risk so our plan to make this a [Music] safer a safer street is to as we can see the black lines are are where the traffic would be going the red lines would be where the buses and parking would be and the blue lines would be the drop off area so as a car comes from Crawford Street they would be going down Crawford and they would only have a right turn they will only have to take a right turn into North Parish um because this road will be blocked off so no cars can go into Crawford and the student drop off section would go would keep going straight into Lawrence High School and the buses would go on the other side of the street so as we can see the um the white car is coming straight but the gray car has turned into Crawford so this would not be done if we block the street off and we put a right turn only sign would be when the cars come down from carford they will only turn right so North Parish Road would be cut into two different Lanes the lane on the right would be drop off and pickup Lane and the lane on the left would be buses and parking for staffs and at the end of the road we can see that buses when they are done dropping kids off they can turn a right and the the officer would make the incoming traffic from the right lane they would make a stop let the buses go through and then they can proceed there are multiple ways to travel and drop off um okay so you could go through Osa Street then a ride onto North Parish to the drop off pick up area take a ride at the end of the school and onto Cher Street another way is U Street onto exitor Street take a ride onto eector Street then a ride turn onto Crawford student can be dropped off on this street then a traffic exits with a right turn onto North Parish there's plenty of room to drop off or pick up on crafer Street also there will only a right turn only okay another option is instead of having cones in the middle of the street we could also draw a yellow line to separate the lanes and this will be the signs so with that um what the students have proposed we the students when went out into the community and they got some data for you so 77 responses and you can see that um we went in to just the neighbors um on Crawford Street so there are 15 neighbors that they oh I'm sorry there are 15 neighbors that they visited today the rest um come from within the building and as you can see you have over 75% that agree with making Crawford a oneway street during this time I'm not going to tell them you're going to tell them I'm going to show it right now the data says no for the oh yeah that's all right the it's over you explained go ahead because you spoke with the people all right sorry about that um so the little let's not mind that let's skip over that but um the little confusion it's red only because there was only like a little like error with it so the 76.9% is yes the 23.1 is no meaning yes meaning yes they want it to be a oneway okay that's the way the question was worded yeah overwhelming people want to be and then right here we have 61 .5% that said they have witnessed accidents that have happened on Crawford Street and North Paris Road and 38.5% have not witnessed it this is over 50% which is very very like common common but it's like in high risk for students and we all we all want to make sure our kids go to school safe and sound we don't want to ever hear that there there was an accident that happened and people that have witnessed any accidents that have happened near lawai is 59% which still is over 50% which is still a lot and 41% did say no and we have 46.2 people that are willing to come here um on City Hall May 7th to support this and then 53.8 said no but some did say that they were going to do Zoom so yeah can you tell them some of the personal conversations you had to so some personal conversations that we had with one um a lady did say that she was taking her son to school and he did go to the middle school I think it was and she had the someone gave her the right away and another lady took that right away and almost hit her so obviously that started an altercation which is you know it's the morning no one wants an altercation we're all barely up at that time but it's just like parents want to take their kids out to school but they can't because think about that like you're almost getting hit when you have your child in the car it's like as a parent you don't want that so then um and she could barely get out um we also had a lady that's on this dialysis that she could barely even get out due to the traffic where her car where the van I think it was the van will pick her up and they will barely have any space or like it would be difficult for her to manage to get into the car because how much traffic and how everything goes if if there's any questions so thank you by the way I don't know about my colleagues here but I don't know where this is going to go but I I'm impressed with the work that you've put in thanks to your teacher and your leadership to to go ahead you've pulled so two things you've pulled a lot of the right buttons okay and and you you were able to put a presentation together and you're trying to make a compelling argument and I think that's whether or not this goes doesn't go it doesn't make it frankly I mean I know you know it makes a difference because you want to see it succeed But ultimately the process you went through is more important I think than the actual end result so good job on the getting that process and now you know what it takes to get through this so my question for you is on your poll because that really got my attention right these are people that I represent and you're you're giving me some numbers so you now I'm I'm perked up to the whole thing but I'm really perked up when you're talking about the people that I represent so you said how many people on Crawford Street what was the what was the universe the number of people that you contacted um was it did I did I see 15 is that the number 15 15 it was so so you had 15 and so just so we're clear the numbers that you extrapolated or or derived were based on those 15 people so when you said 53% of the people agreed on something so it's going to be like if it's 15 people you're talking about like eight eight folks think that we should or if 60% thought that saw an accident we're looking at nine so just so I'm getting the context correct if I'm wrong go right ahead I'm sorry excuse me it wasn't just only on craford street we also asked around the school like the SRO and the staff and stuff like that no no no listen and and and so so so you broke it down to subsets you talked about residents you talked about like people in the building which I me me I'm guessing Lawrence High people in that building SRO and other other food but you broke them down to different groups right oh there we go what I want to say is girls how many people said no today that they did not want to change there was for for residents that did live on Crawford Street there was only one lady and that was the the dialysis lady because she didn't really let us explain but you know it's okay you know that's the way that's the way it is right so um but there was lots of people that did live there for they were saying how they lived there for 33 years and how like it's so difficult to with all the traffic and everything and they did agree to you know yeah sorry so let me ask you a question and and this this is hard because I'm kind of grilling you a little bit but I'm trying to do it in a nice way so you don't feel too intimidated by this the people that you talk to were they the principal they're not owners of course but were they the principal residents were they other students who live there were they were they the parents who who were the people that you talked to were you looking for specific individuals or classmates of yours who were the folks that you talked to who made up the 15 go ahead we spoke to just individuals that live there in general because they are residents that do live there and they would be on their street that we are making that one way so we decided to they we we decided to have them as our first targets to hit down because it is their street and we do want their opinions so that we can have them on our side and try to convince them in order to have this happen I'm going to stop right there before I get the hairy eyeball from my colleague so um is anybody else wish to comment on this before I go you want to go you go first thank you CH I I told you this was the greatest scenario to bring this because you have the main men from that area right here but I also have a question and I don't want it when it comes to to you guys and the work you put in I I if you guys see me work I want to move this quick and I want you guys to get the way you want to go but I also have some concerns even though I don't live in that area how about the next morning we approve this let think it's approved tomorrow it's going to be in effect but the people that live on the right hand side Parks right outside and this law is in effect and they need to go to work what's going to happen with those people it's only Crawford Street I guess I'm yeah I'm on the opposite side yeah that's true yeah yeah yes but I I mean I I I love the proposal yeah I I I was I'm Lefty that's what it is so I'm like I'm on the other side um girl yeah they going right but the buses are going to Comm in with Parish North Paris Road nor Paris Road let me show you so I'm confused hold on I got you I got you there we go you see there we go she got me all right so one of the ways they could come from also I'm sorry to interrupt you I'm also thinking as a bus school bus driver I am no it's okay it's okay I got I got this i got this she's got you well I still hold my license for it you got me let's go so the buses could go from osgar Street they have multiple different ways but right now they could go from osgar Street to North Paris Road to and then they could turn right yeah to Ching Street and then go down from there because they are also going to have their own names for the drop offs that's the buses or the or parents dropping off like this that's both right here it is so this is the one which lane is the bus the buses are going to be on the buses are going to be on to your left opposite side of the cars and they have many different ways of getting out they could go straight down and they could turn onto tricking Street and then head out from there I think it's already one way so yeah so we're going to allow the buses to go cuz that's what I'm confused cuz it's it's you guys explain this okay no no but the entrance the entrance are along side it's to the right right there's two there's two entrances so I'm I'm I'm going to so I'm going to allow the buses to drive the way that we don't want regular cars to drive to drop off the kids no no no no no no no they're going to be they're going to be driving into North Paris room let show you know yeah you're I got need my finger been talking too exit this and let's go to the slide that actually does it that shows it okay so here's the slide that explains it so the ladies sometimes talk very quickly so what's in red is the staff or anyone who's parking in the back of the school so remember this is the lane between the pack and the main building that this is not really a Street per se this is just the I don't know the alleyway between the two buildings the yellow is the way the buses will turn so the buses are using they are using this Lane right uh right here they are using this Lane they're coming down on their own but there's an SRO at the end here who's telling the traffic wait and then the bus has that nice swing now where they don't now they have this big swing to turn and park and then the last part is all of the drop off is done on this side of the cones you can actually see a car at the back see this car right here see it right at the back that's where they're swing so that would be like a car would come down here and they turn so so if the bus is coming through phip street right coming Philips Street Phillips it's um Phillips and Os good right let's say they go well craford it's craford Phillip right Philips Ood Crawford yeah's pH right here it's right here right at the end Phils Ood Crawford oh okay so you're talking way out by yeah yeah they say they they take that route the the one way doesn't affect the buses so the buses will still that's what I'm that's what I'm that's what I'm so it's buses only but also in the presentation it says buses in cars are going to drop off right but it's if I tell you that I'm going to drop off a kid and I'm not going to drop anybody off and then some of a s you know it it the buses are not it's only buses it should be I I I mean again I drive a school bus I understand the whole plan in diagram but the traffic is working both way but only one way will be for the cars and and the buses will be allowed to go in they again and we try to work something like that in school that we have near my my district that it's going to be only school buses going through here from this time to that time is that what we're planning to do no that's they're see the issue the issue that we're running into right now yeah so the issue that we're running into right now is the right side is currently be is currently used by buses and people dropping off and so buses are right now they're stopping right where say that white car is and it's causing a lot of traffic if we keep them on the leftand side and have them where they're supposed to be dropping the kids off which is in the back of the school then it would alleviate that traffic but it's also it's it's going to create the same type of traffic if you allow regular cars and buses to drop off so I just want you to think that you're going to have the same regular traffic to drop kits off and also you're going to have this traffic that it's going to turned right into CRA from craford to left to Crawford they're going to turn left on craford to North Parish yes so if you if you no so if you see so there's two so there's two options here so the for the drop off for the drop off not buses just drop off so the the first option is very similar to the bus route right going through the high school right um the the second option is going like continuing through OSG good going around using that one way and then only taking that right so people so the drop off is right here for students which is right on the side of Lawrence High in the road there's there's there's no there's no parking on that side but you're going to still have people in buses driving this way to drop correct correct can I just show you pictures Vehicles going this way too so it's going to be no it but that's what exists today and what I'm trying to show you is how do we how do we get rid of this problem right which is this this is our problem our problem is this there's cars on the other side so you're saying like you know oh the you have um cars that are two weights well you can't go two ways because look at that car right there right so I'm actually in this car then this car right here that's pulling out was in front of me in back of this car but he didn't want to wait any longer for that car so he pulled out into the traffic oncoming traffic that's at them coming at them to take the left onto Crawford if we eliminate the left on Crawford make Crawford only a one way coming down we have alleviated that possibility of an accident you see the kids they're being C it's circled right there that is just one day's work if we do this we will keep the flow moving therefore when you look at the two options we have right I'm going to go back to this two options coming down oswood just like the buses do and sometimes the buses actually go all the way up to the next stop which you said was I forget that street sorry to interrupt you I got it now so what we basically the main thing to to alleviate the problem is convert crafer into just a right right turn the traffic on North Parish basically will be the same until you get to craford correct now we got now we wanted have a limited disruption right to the neighborhood to you know we don't we don't want to disrupt what's going on and it's only for an hour and a half in the morning an hour and a half in the afternoon and that's it nothing on Saturdays and Sundays can you make a left from North Parish to C no but you can make a right from Crawford to North Parish correct that's why there's going to be um phones blocking the right l i mean no you're right yep left we go back to the pictures there like that okay so they can't do that which then traff that solves that problem of people people Happ the full council did we send this to the full Council we to here okay so so here's so here's the situation do we have we don't have anything from officer Cano so our last meeting we s a police because all these different things we we like to get the police department's recommendation and so I don't think we've received has anybody else I same the other one we haven't gotten it we haven't gotten it right so we need we need that to go forward um before we would order a public hearing because we need to get meets and bound not meets and balance we need to get we need to get the stuff so I understand the council president's coaching you on what to say here potentially but um did make a phone call um okay to the um police station you need to you need to speak here you need you need to speak here so we can all hear you it's okay um we did reach out to the police department and to the civil engineer we are still waiting for their responses okay so just so what we typically do as a committee is that we need to see that before we can send something up to the full Council um just because that's the way we do things especially on something like this and I and trust me when I say I appreciate the fact that you went out into and talk to the people that I represent to get their U their views on it uh that that's very meaningful to someone like me who represents those people so thank you um but we also need to make sure that um that what we're doing here makes sense from the public safety perspective which is part of your argument but we need to make sure the police department gets we get their advice we can ignore their advice we can reject we can approve but we need to get their opinion as to what this means and we haven't gotten that yet so and I understand the tight I understand the the time constraints I understand you're up against the wall on school I get all that but when we're doing something as important as this that could be impacting a neighborhood we need to do it right and we can't rush it and they're juniors oh they're juniors okay and I feel a little bit better okay so through you Mr Mr chair sure um well I mean uh what we're doing is an exercise of uh Civic engagement and a student engagement with the public I think that uh if we continue the exercise uh we will we make sure that uh the bureaucratic process are uh work through they are seeing what we're doing they're seeing how the city council Works uh and I will make a suggestion uh if possible what I I think that you know this process is about finding common ground and finding a a solution to the issue what I will said is that if you if the body decide to send it up to the full council with no recommendation pending the documentation of the the police department uh if we get that by two weeks from today which is our next meeting um and then we have we have what we need if it is convenience then at that point this the the city council will move forward to order a public hearing and be able to do uh make make this happening if possible if it's not if we don't get the report by that time I'll I'll commit myself as a president to send it back to the to the to the ordinance committee uh to continue the process here if we don't get the report for the next two weeks I think that that's a a compromise that we showing the commitment to the students and I think that if we get if we get the the the report and then we will have the information we need uh if it's satisfied and then we proceed with the ordering the public hearing if it's not we make a determination on the full counc that's that's a an option I appreciate that did you want to comment want to make a motion all right go ahead I was going to say some but go ahead okay I would like to make a motion to say uh we not recommendation before counil uh pending uh the city engineer documentation and also from Police Department second so as a motion to send this up to the full Council without a recommendation and keep in mind we have to order a public hearing on this but we we need to waiting pending uh before we can go ahead with a public hearing or vote on the public he we would need to get this did we send it to the city engineer okay I know we sent to the police police department and the city engineer for their for their review motion's been made and it's properly second uh discussion you only concern would have with that is that we we are doing a lot of things because we love our youth we don't want to disappoint you we want to make sure that you walk away from this experience positively we want that to happen right we don't want you to say I knew government doesn't work they don't listen to us and is another example of why we're not why do I even bother we don't want you to do that we want you to walk away with this feeling oh my God I feel empowered I feel like I can do something I'm making a difference so that's what we want um my concern is on the bigger picture and that is this that if if we decide this is the way we're going to conduct business going forward if everything we go going forward is going to be sending stuff up pending this and pending that as far as the police department is concerned um I I just I we that will have implications that's going to have repercussions that I haven't fully thought through but I I don't think that's where we want to go if we do a lot of these but now we're opening up this door um it should be a little bit of a concern at the End of the World by any stretch so anyway those are the competing factors motions been made properly second all in favor say I I those no the eyes have it I believe so I do hear what you're saying about your concern and you have actually educated um Mr Coster and I in this process as well um and so we will be more prepared next year and the following year when we do bring our Civics units to you so we will definitely make sure that a police department was contacted prior to ever coming up to you and that's great and I would just remind you again one of the things this is kind of a turfy thing but those of us who are district councilors there's three of us in this board right here if something like this at the M these things are big to us because they impact the people that we represent so if it happened in District a or it happened in District C I would they would want to know about this before it got here and they would want to be involved at least a little bit in that discussion so they can help guide and I think by our very Natures we want to be helpful right we want to we want to partner we want to make sure that you walk away from this feeling good so we I think I I'm sorry to bring you all in on this but no offense I know you're at large but um that's that's kind of the way we she's whole city um but that's the way that the district councilors feel so anyway I think am I right I don't want to overstep yeah there we go okay so you go so we'll so by the way it's May 7th and we'll see how happens about that time thank you thank you good presentation get some sleep go to bed have a good night you got to go to school tomorrow thank you all right oh councel Levy are you here for a reason let's take you up go what is up I didn't know you had some stuff up what do we oh those three yeah page two Council Levy what brings you to our to our good evening coun I'm welcome back we miss you go ahead so I'm here because I have a couple of items you know that I want to bring out this tonight yes I hope that I will not take it so so long to do it so my first item okay which is which is what what number my first item is going to be the 118 19 is on the last page so uh okay so this item was requested on 2019 that was sended to the or CB attorney just to write the the ordinance for this so this is a regard of anyone that owns you know a l uh in the city should F that and you know at least six in tall uh because that way the trash that they put it right sometime in there it's not being see it but also when we have the wind doesn't fly to the3 so many things you know it's going to be very it's going to help and keep our city more clean that's why you know there are places that you can pass by that you walk when you walk through the street and you see those empty lots F or trash F or garbage and so many other things so I think that if we made those the owners if they have a land they should take it care that but at the same time they your F that and so remind us councelor Levy so did we ever get an opinion back from the city attorney on that I asked I think that was Tony Rano and she always said that she agreed and that was okay but she never I don't know since she already put it in writing because I haven't never rece anything in the in writing but it was discussed you know for a very long time and here at the ordinance committee so we have I think I was the only one on the council back then under of this group um so we would need to were you want Council 19 you were there yes okay um I think we would need to resubmit that I what I know that we has this is what I'm here because I would like to send it to the City attorney okay just to look at the way on how we can do an ordinance you know that for people that have a lands you know an open land that just to take care of those land and make sure that the TR the garbage and everything doesn't go fly or doesn't go to the3 or the people who pass by the see it and keep thr mon uh uh more TR thank you for coming councelor ly I'm looking for a motion that we send document 11819 to the City attorney for his review as a potential draft ordinance um and I invite you counselor to work with the city attorney on the Reserve I will so move motion made by the council Rosario seconded by councelor Levy discussion see no discussion I'll call the question all in favor say I oppose no what was that did I say did I miss I miss speak the vice chair did I miss did I say something what did I say somebody else any questions no questions Mo motion passes what's your next one okay the second item that I have is this item was also this discuss about maybe two minutes ago that when we brought it to the table at the full C so that was the requesting of the voting ID what number item 44423 okay 444 d23 requesting a voting ID okay Council everybody was agree but because we do not have like the final language from uh the city atony that's why it was in the back I spoke with the city atony uh this week and he said that he already sent all of the information to the city CL oh but I don't see it I spoke with the city clear and and she said that she's going to look it because she doesn't know but I would like you guys to send it this okay so L is coming soon I know that this is also a Home Room petition that we don't have nothing practically to do oh yes we have too much to do because if we approve it we're going to send it back for approval by the maor and send it to our delegation in in Bost sure okay so um so you're requesting us to CL close that to the City attorney and the city clerk yes and get a copy over and get everything ready for the next meeting so draft drafted now good news he said that it's not draft he have to do practically any it's not draft so he said that he do has to do practically any any change to the one that I submitted to him okay well that sounds super easy then okay so we we we will need that so let's let's I'm looking for a motion to send correspondence to both the City attorney and the city clerk to between those two offices to get to this committee an opinion by the City attorney so we can we can vote on it at our next ordinance committee meeting is there a motion so Move Motion by Council was seconded by the Vice chair discussion see none I'll call the question all in favor say I I those know the eyes have it well I hope that we should get it by the D's uh ording committee let's hope so and with with me or without me that you can both and send it to the full Council okay okay so at the last but not the least sometimes I'm sorry yes table yes I think it's it's it's pretty much it's it's understood uh yes both them will remain on our agenda until we receive the documents correct table so I have a question okay so I know that you already voted but why don't send it to the food Council and get the information right over there and deciding what we are going to do in the well because we're opening up the Pandora's Box because we already read the information we already got everything so it's nothing to be discussed it's nothing to be changed so everything it should be like the last the last okay things was supposed to be in there all of the information is supposed to be in the packet that you have because he said nothing has to be change so we we would still need to get that from the city attorney so that everybody knows that we received it that we have it and then we can move on it I don't think this committee is going to hold it back I don't think so so I think we'll try to move it expeditiously I know that I do I support remember at the last meeting that we went in your neighborhood most of the people thought were asking for and they said that you know if I need to get any signature or whatever because they are ready to get the sure no I get that but I do think we need to to honor our process at which you were part of this and that's the way we typically do it so I think we should be getting that information and I think that we will I I I can't speak for everybody but I will try to move it as fast as we can as soon as we get it and then councils can vote however they want to vote but there we go what's your last one counc ly 210 yeah um the so I asked on the last uh what is Page four 21023 page four top yes yes the last item is the 1023 is the resolution in support of the Lawrence Public School Financial audit by state audit so I this Idol was rooted at last year and we were waiting for uh well nothing has to be done it just only for us to decide if we want it or not so because uh that's is what we discuss it at the last meeting so I got in here Jonathan and who is B of this proposal in Jonathan I don't please oh Public Schools public schools sorry I was thinking old cats sorry yep so so you want a resolution and support do we have it in here Public Schools Financial audit by this audit by the state auditor yes is it in our book I don't think we were expecting that so we don't have this right I to find out but I don't see it I don't think it's in here okay we don't obviously we didn't expect this to be up this evening so I don't we don't have a copy of this within our stuff uh but you do have the floor so obviously we will listen uh Also regarding this Idol I spoke with the city C and I asked you know to send it City CL it was about a couple maybe two weeks or three weeks ago that I asked him just to put it on the agenda to be discussed and to be sent uh to the full to the full Council to make a a decision on this regard it's the same regard like that we have with the El with the AR and everything so um is to move things from the ordinance committee and to get out and make a decision and all this item that you got in front of you right now sure so my understanding is that and I guess there's different interpretations of this but my understanding is that there I'm going to use the word audit and I don't think that's accurate completely but it's the same idea that annually the Lawrence Public Schools are required to submit a report I think to the Department of Education I think I wasn't expecting this is off off memory that has Financial [Music] um that that must provide certain financial information and that information is reviewed now I don't yeah I don't think it's called an audit no it's it's practically a report it's the same the same way just to report to um the the company who does the the a they do the report they send it information what is being in out and all the kind of stuff but they don't get into all of the detail that sure have you talked to Mark Kelo about this because he kind of is in charge of the audits for the city and I don't I talked to him it's been months and months and months I talked to him about this um yes okay um so yeah so when this was before this is I think Selena was u councelor ray is the only one that was on the ordinance committee right right am ioun and Levy so what this came in when the whole Fiasco started happening about money missing right uh the school committee spoke with the uh state auditor it's third opportunity and when you can come in and do an audit we put in the word Financial but the auditor can do more than that right it's not only financial it can be the hiring process it's a it's do you have all the policies that you're supposed to have based on stash you like there's so many ways we provided you language I actually send that language to all of you right now on email uh as a guidance right it doesn't have to be that the school committee is is provided an okay to do an audit and does truly support a financial audit particularly because during that time it was a concern about missing dollars taxpayer missing dollars and still today we don't have really a conclusion of that rather than the money was found there was really no explanation behind that or the money was returned so when the auditor office reach out to us they said in order for you to do this you the school committee the school district committee members have to say yes the majority the city council has to say yes and the mayor has to approve the city council and then from there it provides the auditor to start a conversation to see how would that look like right a I again a resolution is an opinion of what we potentially on but it's a conversation between uh the the the three bodies because of the uh the different pieces would in what we want um there's a there's a lot of I hear again and again questions within this body through our body that we're constantly requesting stuff most of the stuff that I get when I request it I had to do with public record rather than um just getting it by by ask um and where it should be public or or information that should be provided upon somebody requesting it and there's also the concerns of you know teacher retention and teacher turnover right and how teachers are being targeted uh so there like an audit on practices it's that is that the same process that they're using across and the auditor team has said that when this is determined when the CLE came because that was here that time the cath will mentioned the city doesn't audit there's a third party company that comes in and does a financial audit right he also said right and and this is public right that is a randomized audit that is not specific that is not looking right is randomized because it would be impossible for somebody to audit every single line right at the same time he spoke about that particular finan uh document of usage of Revenue to the Department of Education because of chapter 7 the money every district has to provide what you spend that money on particularly if you're using Sr funding as well so this is an opinion on saying we would like an audit please bring us that audit back there's no uh judicial process on this it's just getting an audit and having who's conducting the audit is it the state auditor conducting the audit you're going to ask the state auditor to to audit our books all right our Lawrence Public Schools Lawrence Public Schools um books all across and and and frankly I don't see nothing bad about that if there's nothing to hi why be scared and I I think the city has no control over the Lawrence Public School Systems so on our best interest to see if chapter 7 money which is still taxpaying money is being spent correctly there was also a concern about money federally Federal money being submitted back uh during the pandemic and not utilized correctly by our former superintendent do we have um every every Community gets Chapter 70 depending on on the definition not everybody but yes not everybody okay I thought everybody did to various degrees right I mean if you're the town of Welsley you're probably not getting much but if you're the town of the City of Lawrence you probably are um and I and there's everything in between anyway it's semantics um do other communities because this is a this is what what we're what we're hearing here in Lawrence Is Not Unusual if you go down to almost every community in Massachusetts they're going to say their local government is corrupt they're doing doing things with their money that they shouldn't be doing and there's problems every community's got people who are saying that about their Community I don't care if it's a Tony Community with a lot of leaves and grass or a community like ours with lots of bricks in Mill buildings it doesn't make a difference right um that's just the way it is so the question is has any other communities asked the state auditor to go ahead and audit their books has any other community on lawen on the public school system yes is under receivership there's only three that's not my question but my question is is that that's my question my question is you can you can spin it afterwards but my question is is sorry Council I was uh chair the plan let me answer your question thank you your question is there's no need to no because there's no need for the state auditor when there's a process in between governing bodies that can call for a specific audit through their system right uh the city council has a process to call for audits it's not not correct or do I st cor I suspect that the law that you included and thank you for sending this is to that talks about the state auditor can go ahead and do it is a state law auditor doesn't just come in if I called them up and say I want you to audit no the auditor says here's what you need I believe this to be true but I haven't done the research on this you're going to need the mayor you're going to need the city council and you're going to need somebody else to go ahead and make like you already said so my question is has any other community instead of this internally for their books and the auditor's office for this purpose and answer no so the I the general law is chapter 11 section 12 okay General law is chapter 11 section 12 okay which allows you this particular language is there that was provided to me by the audit's office fa the your question is no I do not know the information if it's on the books it could have happened okay sure which is why the language potentially is there there okay I do not know I can ask probably the the the answer will be yes but they will not give me information because it's probably personal information for those cities uh and and districts um but essentially what I believe was the focus here during this during this time uh it was during a tragic space that we were trying to figure out what was going on and nobody had the power to figure that out nobody had that power right where that's why the language is financial right but again it's a recommendation the same time it's an approval with recommendation at the same time this body can shape that particular language based on whatever you want and then again if the mayor says no then it's no right these type of uh resolutions and stuff the mayor gets everything that is on the school committee agenda and his staff now if they review it or they provide comments to this Daye we have not receive anything so let me cut this street because I don't even know what time it is are we getting close to 10 here I think it's over 10 it's not but we're getting pretty close so let's cut to the chase I think and just get to to the members can a vote on something here's how I see the options are on this a we keep this tabled B the other side of it we send this up to the full council with a whatever recommendation favorable nonfavorable just committee report a and then see we um already say leave it here and have it tabled so I think those are our options we can either sent it up or we can get more information we just got this tonight thank you for sending this I have a chance to quickly read it um but other members here may want to digest it a little bit more we have new members on this Committee of which I'm one um that have not had a chance to deal with this except for vice chair who's been around for a while now um so that's the options counselors I'm not going to put my finger on it beyond that I want to make a motion to favor to send to the full council meeting in favor to motion made to send this to the full council with a favorable recommendation this is to support this resolution motions been made is there a second second motion made second to discussion see none I'll call the question all in favor say I I oppose no roll call Council Vice chair Reyes yes councelor Santiago yes councelor Del Rosario and the chair votes no uh the motion passes it's going to the full Council as a fable recommendation thank you okay is that it Council ly that's it for tonight thank you so much for your attention and thank you for coming other counselors who who said they wanted stuff over here should be talking about their things too because we we I want to have you g the agenda we did we did thank you so much have a good night good night thank you document let's go through this as quickly as possible 20924 stop sign at woman in L Street create four-way stop that's going to go to the police department and to for study and Engineering or just police I always get confused just police yes just police motion been made is there a motion second motion made by counselor Santiago seconded by counselor the chair Reyes discussion hearing none all in favor say I I those no the eyes have it 21024 handicap parking 343 South Broadway motion I'm looking for a motion to send this to the police department for their review so motion made by the coun by Council Santiago second by the Vice chair discussion C none all in favor say I know the eyes haveit 21 24 stop sign Newberry Street corner of Elm Street put on by our vice chair uh that should go to the police department uh is there a motion counselor motion motion second motion made by the Vice chair s of the police department seconded by councilor Santiago discussion see none all in favor say I those know the eyes have to 1224 disclosure of a conflict of of conf by City employee some you want um there's just to approve and send this up to the full Council as a I don't know as a committee report does it make a difference um approval make it simple motion made by councelor by the Vice Chair seconded by councelor Santiago uh discussion see no discussion I'll call the question all in favor say I iOS no the eyes have it what is it exactly yeah okay uh next document is document number uh 21324 application for Hawkers and peders license oh Kyle Kennedy I had he was on television the second on Zoom I mean he's no longer with us uh I didn't know who that name was and now I do um looking for a motion to table that and invite him to the next meeting motion made by counc Del Rosario seconded by Council Santiago discussion see then all in favor say I hi the eyes have at 21524 15minute parking at 271 Lawrence Street put on by Council Del Rosario send this to the police motion motion made by councilor delaro seconded by councelor del Santiago discussion all in favor say I I those know the eyes have it uh 21724 I don't think anybody came here for that anybody come here for that that's a problem um typically we don't if you can't make it to our meeting uh they do have some time y so I'm looking for motion to table and invite them to the next meeting 21724 family days are motion motion made by councilor Santiago seconded by by the Vice chair discussion see none all in favor say I of the I have council is there anything else seeing none motion to adjourn second motion made by Council Delo seconded by the Vice chair discussion see none all in favor say I iOS no yes have it e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e 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