We'll be getting started in just a moment. The council will come to order. I'll rise and salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please remain standing for a moment of silence in honor of our veterans, service members, and those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. We will now conduct our land acknowledgement. We honor and acknowledge the
Massachusetts, Pinnacook, and Pucket peoples whose ancestral lands we now call home and on which we gather today. We express gratitude to the indigenous peoples who have cared for this land for generations, predating European colonization and continuing to the
present. Moving forward, we are committed to ensuring that the histories, voices, and contributions of indigenous peoples are recognized and respected in the life of our city. The clerk will call the role. Council Colon Hayes here.
Council Condan here. Council Crow. Council McDonald here. Council Omali here. Councel Seca here. Council Simonelli. Council Spataphora here. Council Taylor here. Council Winslow here. Council President Lahan here. So we have
10 people in a quorum. Okay. Thank you. Now, under the provisions of the open meeting law, for those of you in attendance, please be informed that UMA Urban Media Arts will be recording this evening's meeting. So just be aware there will be audio and video recordings of this meeting. The
first order of business is public comment. Public comment is allowed under council rules. Each speaker is limited to the subject matter relevant to our evening's agenda and everyone must keep their comments to two minutes or less. Clerk, do we have anybody signed up for public comment tonight?
We have 11 people this evening in a couple of emails. Okay. So, will you please read the first public comment? Neil Kennon, sorry. Yes. Yes. Please go ahead. Uh Neil Kennan, 11 Spruce Street,
Malden, Mass. I'm the business manager of Mystic Valley Regional Charter School. I'm here to speak on the Mystic Valley and Trafton Endeavor Park. Mystic Valley contends the law is clear. One, Malden's application for a park grant at Trafton and others in section 10 said
the city would charge no fees to use the park. The mayor and assigned contract to the state obligated the city to those obl conditions. Two, federal land and water conservation fund which also go governs park grants expressly prohibits
discrimination on the basis of residents. Reservations, membership, or annual permit systems available to residents must be available to non-residents and the period of availability must be the same. Quote,
fees must be reasonable and in normal quote fees charged to non-residents cannot exceed twice the amount charged to residents. where there is no charge for residents but a fee charged to non-residents. Non-residentidential fees cannot exceed fees charged for residents
of comparable state or local public facilities. Local is key here. Trafton Park renovation use substantial funding for community preservation funds. CPA funds also do not allow for discrimination based upon residency. in
doing so would violate public accommodation laws and most likely the civil rights laws of against Mystic Valley students who are 68% minority. There are groups not meeting the 90% residential requirement of the new park
policy being provided permits today for no fee and or being allowed to use parks in a nonexclusive manner. That's a fact. I don't want to embarrass those groups or anybody else. Four. Five. The new 2025 park policies,
regulation, and permits guide passed on March 11th, 2025 was not approved by the Secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs as required by law in CMR 3015.07.
Mr. Ken, you reached your 2inut policy. Councelor Winsel, an application put forth. Mr. Ken, your time limit is up. Thank you. request. Thank you very much. Rick Villu, Rick Villu.
My name is Rick Veu. I'm the assistant superintendent of uh Mystic Valley Regional Charter School. I oversee finance and operations. um been with the school for 20 years. Can I go? Yes.
So, the we're here about kids using a playground uh and a park. Overview of the process. March 2025 applied for Trafton Endeavor Park permit and waiver of fees. June 2nd, a letter from recreation department director Joe Lavine asking us to agree to newly
installed fee structure. June 3rd, I responded indicating that proposed fees did not align with state park program. July 9th, response from Joe Lavine with offer for permit for 25 hours per week at $50 per hour. July 16th, I initiated a public records request seeking what
other organizations permits and fees are in place. August 6, no public records response from city, so I sent a reminder. August 12th, met with councelor Winslow, MVRCS board member Doug Banghart, and the city's project manager seeking Mr. Councelor Winsow was
seeking $2,500 per season to have limited exclusive use of Trafton. I explained we are not seeking limited use. Councelor Winsow stressed that his role is to defend the community against the charter school. August 18th and 19th, exchange of emails seeking our
position. I indicated that I was still waiting for information requested to see if we were being treated consistently. August 21st, email from councelor Winsow directing me to deal with director Lavine, who's running the show. Last week of August, I go to Mr. Lavine's
office and have a discussion and propose to pay $250 per season and provide park cleaning service opportunities for our students. Follow-up call to Mr. Lavine to see if any response. September 3rd, letter from councelor Winsow saying we
need to pay $2,500 per season 8 am to noon explaining that estimation of keeping up the field cost $2,500 per season. We can't use the playground and he went to state that city does not issue permits for playground use and that Malden provides its school students
on-site playgrounds. Affirmative response by next day at noon or I will not advance this proposal to the council for fall 2025 in its September 9th meeting. Yet here we are. September 8th, the school uh school's response on why we can't accept his proposal. I gave a
copy to all of you and here we are. A staged event just before your time is up. We are just seeking to be treated fair and consistent within the existing city and state. Thank you very much, Adam Jeru. name and address for the record, please.
Hello, my name is Adam. I'm so sorry. Thank you. You can go ahead now. Hi, my name is Adam JRo. I'm from Jefferson A in Everett. Um, I have two children at Mystic Valley. Uh, so even though the residents of Everett, they spend the bulk of their day here in
Malden. This is my second time speaking in front of the council. The first time I spoke was when there was a resolution that would have harmed our school. I'm here again tonight to stand up for the children in all of Mystic Valley and my children especially. My concern with this resolution is not about money or
fees. It is about our children being treated unfairly compared to other students in Malden. Councelor Winslow, I want to assume good intentions. I know you and the mayor worked hard to improve Trafton Park and I respect that you want your constituents to enjoy it. Mystic Valley is simply requesting
non-exclusive access to the park during this part of the school day. Mystic Valley was recently ranked sixth in Massachusetts. Our children work hard to achieve this level of education, and do they deserve the same access to parks and playgrounds that Malden's public schools enjoy? Why are schools like
Malden Catholic, Salemwood, and Lynden treated differently than Mystic Valley? They have access to public parks and playgrounds during the school day. Why should our children be forced to play on a bare black top when a city park is directly across the street while other schools have
dedicated parks for school use? People may raise concerns about park maintenance, but Mystic Valley families contribute millions to Malden's economy, and the school requires student volunteer hours that could be used for park cleanup. That seems more than fair. Again, this is not about money. It's
about fairness and equal treatment. I've spoken to dozens of parents who feel the same way. And several are here tonight. If this discrimination continues, parents will only become more engaged like I have. More than 400 Malden children attend Mystic Valley and their
families represent thousands of voters. My request is simple. Please show Mystic Valley families that our children will be treated the same as any other student in Maldin with equal access to public parks. Thank you. Thank you. Christina Mason.
Good evening. Name and address for the record. Thank you. Christina Mason, uh, CVU AB, Ward 6. As a resident of Malden for the past four years in W 6, I've been attending Trafton Park.
All of those years, but more so the past two years, with my toddler. I spend hours there daily, twice a day, two to four hours a day. Go home, take a nap, go back to Trafton. I've encountered both neighborhood families. I've
encountered Mystic Valley families, students, and the students and staff as well as the neighborhood children have nothing have been nothing but respectful. They even ask my children to join in when they're playing. I've done my research before coming in
here today, wondering why as a community, why have we chosen to single out Mystic Valley over playing at a playground? Note, other schools within the city also use public playgrounds.
Why are we discriminating towards Mystic Valley? I'm not sure if you're aware or not. You guys are probably aware, but the city of Malden receives more than 1.5 million each year for Malden students who attend charter schools.
I look forward to this issue being rectified and us coming together as a city for these kids. After all, they're outside. They're using their imagination. They're exercising. They're not on tablets.
They're using, you know, getting some fresh air after sitting at a desk. They deserve to be there just as much as the other schools to deserve to be at the other public parks. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Patrick Hearn,
thank you. Name and address for the record. Hi, Patrick Hearn. 235 Summer Street in Malden. Um, I'm a nearly 20-y year resident of Malden and I have a 5-year-old and a two-year-old. Um, so I spent a lot of time at the Malden parks and I'm um thankful for the city for all that they've done by keeping the parks
updated and clean and safe. Um, I'm a little bit in disbelief that I have to be here today to advocate for my son to use a park during school hours. And so my son is a a student at Mystic Valley and I guess I would just stand here as a parent and and ask for the city council to come to a resolution to where Mystic
Valley can use that park under the same conditions that Malden schools can use their parks as well. So I thank you for the consideration. Thank you. Harriet Cassie. Thank you. Name and address for the record. My name is Harriet Casoi
uh at 164 Webster Street. Uh I've been in Molden for 22 years moving from Brighton. But one of the reasons why I came to Molden was the diversity and uh the attitude of not discriminating. Uh but looking at the
issue at hand, I feel like our children are now being discriminated. I'm a mother of five and uh all my children have gone to the modern public schools beginning from Forestdale and Lyndon and during that time this never came up.
They were allowed to use and they still are because their cousins are still there. They are using the parks for recreation and me being in health care I know the benefits of activity physical activity for our children. So limiting them and putting them to in class, not
getting out yet as residents, we pay taxes. I've not missed any tax here for the past 22 years. I haven't. But also I I didn't know that the city's paid 1.5 million for the kids
who go to Mystic Valley. So then why is it a problem? English is my third language and I don't know the laws or the rules but I think this is common sense that if other students are allowed to use the parks why is it different for
Mystic Valley kids I have children who have gone to the other schools there was no issue now they move to Mystic Valley which I love because the education is superior and I think we should work together so we can spread some of this to the other schools but now we feel
like our kids. My son came home crying. Mommy, we can't use Trafton Park. Why? Ask yourself. I don't know if some of you have children in in Mystic Valley, but if you do, this is wrong. And it's
not black or white. If something is wrong is wrong. So, if other kids are using the parks, I think we should be allowed to do the same thing. Thank you so much. Thank you. Janelle Ditz.
Janelle Ditz. Thank you. Name and address for the record. Uh Janelle Dvitz, 3 Sheridan Street. Um the last time I was up here, I was advocating for Denver Park revitalization. Um this council granted us quite a bit of money. We spent 3.4
million to do phase one. We're looking at phase two about 1.5. I just want to encourage I don't think anybody's here is arguing that we don't want kids to be outside and playing at recess. We don't want them stuck inside on tablets. I think everybody can appreciate the
outdoors and and being uh running around is a good thing. I think what we are asking is that it's uniformly applied and that there's some ground rules and that there are considerations to take into account with respect to maintenance and cost. And you know, we hear a lot about why can't the charter school be
treated like the other public schools. At the same time, the charter school was saying they're not a public school and subject to FOYA and other public uh records requests. So, I'm I'm hearing both sides of their argument that they're a private institution, they should be treated as such, but they're also a public institution. They should be treated as such. And the nuance here,
there are a lot of facts where there's gray area and there's nuance. So, I would just suggest everybody take a deep breath. I think everybody should assume goodwill. Get the facts and the data, have a uniform process, make sure things are being applied fairly and consistently because this will also impact ever. And that's a beautiful
investment we just made in our city. The grass is a real thing to upkeep. You can't have consistent continuous use about four to six hours a day on grass and have it thrive and be uh useful to the public. And as community members have called me several times, I've
talked to Paul about this. They are down there four to six hours a day every day. They're doing gym classes there. They're exercising as part of their facility. There's 20 to 30 teenagers down there with one adult. And there are real concerns that we should address. And I don't think anybody's trying to be unreasonable to the charter school. That's definitely not what's happening.
But there should be some sort of uh fair process where all these concerns can be heard in a uniform manner, whether that's through a commission or the mayor's office or potentially not every city council doing their own thing in their ward. I don't think that's a beneficial thing. Um, so I just ask everybody to take a deep breath, take a
step back and look at the facts. Thank you, Miss Dvitz. Elaine Corpus name and address for the record. Hi, good evening. U, my name is Elaine Corpus. I live at 35 Second Street in Malden. Um, I have been a resident of
uh, Ward 6 for almost 15 years. I have three daughters at Mystic Valley and then a son that attends a different school. Um, prior to Mystic Valley, my two eldests went to the Lynden in which they were able to freely use um the city
park, city um playground, the fields and the city courts um before school, during school for recess and gym and after school. And when my two younger children were not school age and when we went to these parks and the children were using
them, we just came another time. Um after that we I transferred my daughters to Mystic Valley. Um and things were a little bit different than than at London. Um the minute my children wore the Mystic Valley uniform, the maroon and the khakis, all eyes were on them
whenever they were at Trafton. um you know they people were looking to see why they were there, how long they were there for, was it during gym time, recess time, school hours, is it a large group meeting, do they have a permit to be there? Um and it became really uncomfortable, you know, for these
children who attended Mystic Valley and it's not fair to them. Um, in addition to that, there were lots of adults who um had their eyes on Mystic Valley and Trafton and would look for evidence as to when these kids frequented Trafton and then would put this evidence on
social media for the public to see, which is completely ridiculous. Many of us here have children and we would never want to see our children or anyone else's children on social media for any reason. I'm just here because I want all kids, the Mystic Valley kids, kids who
live in Malden to be able to have access to utilize um fields and parks near their school without discrimination. Um I want kids to not be harassed just because they go to a certain school and to be treated like all the other kids who live in in Malden and neighboring
communities. Thank you so much. Thank you. [Applause] Okay, next up we have uh someone named just Willie Uppam Street. That's me. Come on down. Name and address for the record.
Hello, my name is Whitley Jordan. I live at 11 UpMam Street in Malden. Um and I I'm just speaking. Um I'm just coming up speaking. This is my first time here in front of you guys and I thank you for allowing me to speak. Um, I just have to say that I have two um two children that go to Mystic Valley and I've been living
at Malden for about 10 years and I had the opportunity to bring to send my my kids to um the Catholic school, the public school and now we're at Mystic Valley and what I've noticed is that they none of there was there was no issues basically. Um I want to respect
respectfully emphasize that the concerns here is unequal treatment. Mystic Valley is being held to a different standard than other schools and organizations in Malden. Malden public schools use city parks, playgrounds during the school day without fees. Other organizations, and
I've seen them several times, maybe, you know, doing summer programs, they use the parks, they use the pools, no fees, right? Um, also they they use um the turf fields with lights without being charged. This does not align with the
city's published park policies, regulations, and permit guide uh permits guide. While the city has stated that playgrounds are not permitted for school use, in practice, Malden public schools rely on city playgrounds every day. The new policies imposing fees, time limits,
and banning playground use has been applied only to Mystic Valley. This is inconsistency, feels both unfair and out of step with how other schools are treated. At the heart of this whole matter, the well-being of the students is what's really important here. The
parks and the playgrounds are not luxuries. They're not. They are vital spaces that are support children's physical health, mental wellness, social development, and overall growth. Mystic Valley is committed is a committed part of the Malden community, which I'm sure they play they pay taxes as well in all
the um you know uh all the um properties they probably own. They pay taxes as well. and our students deserve the same access as their peers. I strongly I strongly urge the city to revisit this policy and work collaboratively collabor
with us to ensure a fair and consistent approach together. We can do this together. Thank you. Next up, Laura Thompson. Hello. Um, my name is Laura Thompson. I live at 53 Placestead Road and um,
I also live adjacent to a park that I see children play at all the time. And I really think that it's important for kids to get out and play. Um, I I I understand that
that more than just playing, there's also costs associated with maintaining a park. Um, and we have to take that into consideration, too. Um, I also think the adjacent neighbors in in the area need
they have a voice that needs to be heard, and I think that's what's caused some of the division over over time. I think that we can reach a solution uh if just like she the lady before me said if we all work together that's the key
thing here is that the residents the adjacent neighbors the school the kids and then thinking about the costs because we're already in the hole as far as the city's concerned as far as money goes and we all know especially me that
grass fields costs money so we got to find a way to make to work together. Thank you. Next, we have Veronica Aopia. Name and address for the record, please. Veronica Aopian from Alden Street, W 7.
Um sorry it's my first time speaking but I just wanted to introduce myself who we are on Olden Street uh because I have a lot of family they living there a lot of friends uh we are resident of Alden Street Molden we are registered
we are um disabled veterans that live there and uh we have children that go to the school. I have three children that go to Mystic Valley Regional Charter School. Um to be honest, it's very sad
to know that u it's possible that they will take their risks away that they won't be outside playing. uh something that we as a parent work really hard and by the way I'm also a small business owner that pays my taxes in Malden
and that you know my children my children will not have the opportunity to play outside uh to be healthy that's what I work so hard to do um I would really appreciate and and I personally volunteer if we need to make money let's
come together let's whatever whatever is neess necessary neessary to do to keep our parks to keep our kids healthy playing outside. I will be happy to work with any of you to make that happen. So, please let's
let's think of some other alternatives and let's keep our children healthy and playing outside. Thank you. Thank you very much. So, that concludes our list of folks who signed up for public comment in person. Um clerk, do we have any emails that
came in and can you summarize the extent of those? Yes, for purposes we will summarize. We had three emails come in to speak on behalf of Mystic Valley Charter School. And um to summarize, this one says, "As a parent of Mystic Valley Charter School
student, I am disappointed that the school is being asked to pay to use a public park that was built and maintained with taxpayer money. This is not fair or equitable. What is the difference between public school students and charter school students in this regard? As the city of Malden, you should be proud to host such an
outstanding school in your community. Mystic Valley is recognized as one of the top schools in Massachusetts. It deserves support, not obstacles. I strongly believe it is both my constitutional right and my daughters to have access to public parks during school hours without paying additional
fees. This is our park and it is not fair to single out a charter school for payment. Thank you very much for considering my opinion and supporting our students. And then additionally, we had four emails come in um from the opposing point of view. And to
summarize, this one reads, "I am a Malden resident. I purchased my home seven years ago. So excited to live around the corner from Trafton Park. I am also the mother of a toddler, an educator, and an administrator. I strongly oppose Mystic Valley Regional Charter School having access to the
parks for their recess and after school programs. As a resident and taxpayer, my family should have access to those spaces first. My child should be able to use the equipment without navigating through poorly supervised older children. The amount of trash left by
the school children is disgusting. They are not entitled to Malden's public spaces and they shouldn't have access before residents. May I suggest they take the former business and residential space in Maplewood Square that they raised and convert it to a parking lot and build a playground there. Perhaps
they will better care for a space they own themselves. Thank you for your time. Uh kindly forward my email if you should have landed somewhere else to direct me to the appropriate person. I was the appropriate person. Um that all of the emails that we received in full are
attached to the meeting minutes of the night this evening's agenda. So if anybody wants to review them in their entirety, they are there for public review. Thank you for that. And can I ask just for clarity because I did see that some emails came in after our usual deadline. Do we typically append those to the agenda or or do those just not they just
those usually don't get accepted if they come in after 4 p.m. Okay. Thank you for that clarification. And for those who are here, obviously we don't engage in a back and forth at this point in the agenda, but we are going to be taking up this order of business in just two more items. So if you do want to stay, please do feel free to stay in the room. We're getting to this item in
just a few minutes. Next order of business, paper 349-25, petition extended hours, Burger King, number 922,61 Broadway, Malden hours, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. This is a new petition. Okay. On a motion um by councelor seeker
to refer to license. Okay. All in favor? That motion is referred. Next order of business. Paper paper 350-25. Paper 350-25. Order that the city council authorize
the recreation department to issue a permit to the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School for limited use of Trafton Park reasonably consistent with the terms of a proposal set forth in a September 3rd, 2025 letter by Council Winslow, sent to Chairman George Warren
and Assistant Superintendent Rick Villu of such school. Or in the alternative, the city council directs the city solicitor's office in coordination with the recreation and inspectional services departments to undertake such investigations and all actions, including legal action,
necessary to prevent unpermitted use of Trafton Park by the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School, to otherwise ensure their compliance with the city parks rules and regulations and to otherwise defend such. This paper was sponsored by Councelor Winslow.
Okay, councelor Winslow for the paper. All right. Um, so just I had um at the request of councelor Condan, I made sure that everybody um on the council received a copy of my September 3rd letter. I don't know if that was shared
with the parents of the charter school. Um, but just to be clear about what um, you know, I was going back through my notes, this issue came up back in 2022 and, um, I heard things from parents uh,
uh, in the neighborhood about the difficulty of using Trafton Park when uh, the charter school was present there. And um I uh then uh I asked about just a simple thing. I was just a new
ward counselor at that time and I asked uh Joe Lavine our from rec department say I heard from a parent that there's confusion about the time frames that Mystic Valley um has exclusive use of some parts of Trafton. Some parents have been told that they cannot be there by
Momestic Valley staff and there's a lack of clarity of what time uh neighborhood children who may get out by 2:15 can um use the park and can you clarify? So I reached out to our rec director and he said uh well Mystic Valley used to apply for permits
um but somehow they've stopped applying for permits. So so for some reason Mystic Valley stopped applying for permits. So, so then um I reached out to Mi Mr. Valoo and Mr. Superintendent Dan back in 2022. Um I'm reaching out to
discuss the current and future use of Trafton Park by Mystic Valley Regional Charter School. My understanding is that in the past, Mstic Valley has obtained permits for its use, but at this moment there are none. The lack of clarity regarding Mystic Valley use needs to be
addressed out of fairness to the residents who use the park while Mystic Valley staff and students are present and to Mystic Valley itself. So students and staff have clear guidance on public use. I continue to hear complaints from residents who use the park and have been
adversely impacted um and when Mystic Valley students come into areas that members of the public are using. I also want to make sure that Mystic Valley becomes familiar with plans to reconstruct the court and field area um starting in mid 2023. Ultimately, all
the users of Trafton will need to work together to take good care of the park to keep it in better repair than it is now. So, that's the spirit I've been bringing to this whole conversation. And if you look at um my letter of September 3rd, um you know, the to try to address
that, I I actually reached out in August because I knew for the first time since 2023, Trafton was going to be fully available. It was under construction for a couple years. I knew that these conflicts were going to become I made the affirmative outreach to um the
charter school to say, "Hey, let's talk about this. I know you put in a permit. It's not going forward. Let's talk about this and why um a permit is important. Um you know one key distinction between the public schools Malden public schools using our public parks and the mystic
valley school is that the Malden public schools the mayor is the head of both the public schools in the city. So if there's some issues about overuse or abuse by students or problems with the neighbors they get addressed through our principles and our mayor and that type
of thing. So we have that that opportunity. Mystic Valley Charter School, the only way we really can help make sure that they understand the park rules and are following that is to require a permit. I mean that's what we do with all other user groups. So to be
clear, um Mystic Valley Charter School under the rules that um have been updated in 2025 can apply for permits. And so that is one of the key things. But one of the things that um you know I have heard um and this is what what uh
has been discussed is that um having uh you know comments from people um saying that they've actually been at the park draft park and been asked to leave by Mystic Valley Charter staff and at times I even report from a grandparent being
surrounded by Mystic Valley Charter skates and being basically forced out of the park. Some people are being asked and almost forced out of the park. Some people are just not going to the park. And to me, it's it's not I know you want fair use yourself and but I think what
I'm asking for from as a as the ward counselor is balance. And so Mystic Valley is basically asked for use of the park from the prime time of 9 to 3:00 p.m. And then at 3:30, as you parents know, at 3:30 the park is there. So what
I offered was to say let's let's share let's share it so that that um that that let's share so that Mystic Valley can have it in the morning and then that students would not come out in the afternoon so that parents can come out
there. I mean, I talked to grandparents literally putting away my groceries at my house because I live near Trafton. Some a parent and and the grandmother and the grandchild said, you know, we we got to do something about this. I don't go to Trafton Park to play in the
playground to have to talk to Mr. demand staff control students and students, you know, give my kids safe space. And Mr. When I said that to him and that's why I brought this to the attention of the charter school, he basically said, "Oh, they should just bring that up at the
charter school." It's like, "Hey, no, that's not why you go to the park. You go to a park to have some peace and quiet and enjoy your time. It's not there to go and create stuff." So, I'm just trying to say we're trying to create a fair balance and to split up the time and be clear. That's that's I'm
asking of is for some clarity here that that's what their their parents in the neighborhood grandparents in the neighborhood to go and enjoy the park. They want a time that's free from having a lot literally scores of students there. That's and so
that is what what um I put out there and then the so so and I think it's very legitimate my fellow counselors is have and just as uh you know Janelle Dispid is having fair use. So, I'm not adverse in and and I'm getting flak from people
in my own neighborhood about you charter school shouldn't be I am supportive of the charter school being at Trafton Park, but we need it defined and it needs to be under a permit. So, that's just what I'm saying so that when parents ask me when can I go to Trafton during the day that I can, you know, use
the field during, you know, the hours my my young kid is awake and and be there at the playground without having scores of kids there. So that is what we're trying to define. So that's just simply what's there. And the other thing is like we literally just spent a million
dollars in public money to fix the irrigation, the the the ball court, the field and the and the play and there was more on the playground. And that is um an important thing. And one of the things I think Laura Thompson I mean heard and I've battled over Roosevelt and uh and you know one of the things I
heard clearly we I think we heard a lot of people in the community want grass fields and one of the things I always emphasize is if we have a commitment as a city and this is this is for the residents here um Malden residents a lot
of and Miss Dvitz um she worked forever to be a grass field um to have a grass field, you know, why why does Fenway Park look so great when you go there? Because they only have 82 games a year and they have 20 people taking care of
it. Um, you know, we have a hand less than a handful of people taking care of our parks and um and at the the type of use that potentially the charter school is asking for six hours a day is more
than than can that park can bear. So, so I think that's the other legitimate thing of limiting the hours is both a purpose to create some fair balance between um you know legitimately I'm offering you know that the charter school kids can be there but we have to
both have some time for free play for parents you know some kids are not school age some people um even homeschooled people want to be able to use the park um during the day so I'm just saying I'm working to be fair and that's what I put out there and And the
other thing is to be fair that um having scores of students running over the field. I mean before construction, the charter school was bringing out soccer goals and volleyball nets and leaving them there as if this was not just a
public park. They were leaving it as if it was owned by Mystic Valley Charter School. And the field was, if you remember back in 23 before we got the irrigation gun in this level of use. I mean, I can show you the pictures. the field was in horrible shape. And so, um,
it's really now that we invested it in irrigation and receding and that type of thing, I'm interested in making sure that field is still in good condition, not only for charter school kids, but for the the um the kids um in the neighborhood. So, this is there there's
very good reasons why I've asked and I'm very reasonable person. Um, you know, I worked to get our bike trail happen. It took me 20 years to make that happen. I'm persistent but a reasonable person and I think that you know to uh I I I I'm I I say probably most of my
constituents I get elected because some people are are don't like the charter school. I actually stuck my neck out in favor of having charter school use here but it has to be in a fair balance and what your leadership there has said is
not balanced. And I mean, and it drives me crazy when we're we're fighting over $2,500 a season when literally your school, I mean, you should be talking to the leadership of school. They spent $34 million on properties, several of which they said that they were going to
actually put in parks and playgrounds on and that they they never did. So, you have to really turn around. Maybe you should look look at Mr. Valoo and Mr. Kenan to ask them why the money, the tax money that's supposed to be spent on your kids by the charter school are not
being spent on this stuff. They are not investing in you and we're fed up as a city that you we're being asked to invest in you when your own school doesn't do that when they have literally millions of dollars. So that is one of the things. But I say it's not out of
discrimination. We it's just the reality that we have we have we have um like I say we we have it's it's we're trying to create balance. I represent not only some of the the people from the charter school, I represent people who don't go
to the charter school who want to use the park as well. And they it it's intimidating to have scores and scores of kids literally classrooms full and let's out there and that we're just trying to create a fair balance that there's time when the charter school can
be there during the day and times that there's free play and then also that the impact of having all that use. I mean I I went to our DPW director and asked well Bob Knox I mean just the basic maintenance of a field
irerration to because when you have a lot of people use a field it gets compacted and that and and crafting needs to get airrated and the other thing is that you need to fertilize and seed it to keep the grass in good shape that a barebones estimate
of that is $5,000 a year. So the the the $2,500 per season that I put in my proposal is based on that that. So we're just asking to a fair fair balance between neighborhood use and charter school use and some contribution from a
school who seems to have a lot of money in its pocket and from a community that um you know is is looking we're struggling. I mean literally I advocated to get another 25,000 a year for all our parks. We spent only 125,000 a year on all our parks. Endeavor, Kurstead, all
that to to maintain our parks. So that's the type of thing. So to ex, you know, we're just asking for a, you know, I I put out there small contributions. So okay, so that's what I just say. Um, I appreciate the work of of Joe Lavine and Laura Perez. They literally worked on
these regulations over a two-year to really look at at fairness. I mean, one of the things I actually work have worked in this field. I had an issue related to park grants and that type of thing. actually had to turn away one in Gloucester because of this issue about
residency and the interpretation is a resident is a person not an organization. So we're we um we have uh we can create classes of of organizations and that's what we've done. So it is not about uh it's a
different thing and we have in that process I know that um the city did consult with the the state department of conservation services that I have worked with in the past and we feel justified in that. So we feel that um you know
that there that we have set reasonable and on nonarbitrary classifications based on um what we think is reasonable that we don't expect when a group is mostly made up of people that are you know almost 90% um Malden
residents that they have to pay taxes but to charter school as uh someone mentioned over 60% are not Malden taxpayers so that puts a burden the charter school is bringing in you know people who are not paying taxes and we're just asking for some contribution. I mean the folks that are
Mystic Valley I mean I don't think it's that much to ask that just hey contribute to help the city of Maldon to help help maintain this stuff. So that's that's you may not have heard that story from your um that but that's why I'm here. I'm just I am a reasonable person.
This is a pretty fair proposal that I put out there. I don't really understand the the power play that your um administration is doing there. Um so that that's that's thank you for letting me go. Okay, we have a lot of lights on. All right. Sorry. Thank you.
That's okay. Um so before I start to take some of the comments, I do just want to level set very briefly for the community. I want to explain a little bit about why this is actually before the council because we do have a parks and recreation policy manual that explicitly states that the reason that
that a question such as this would come before the council is because we're considering a multi-year what's called a heavy user permit um a multi-use permit that goes beyond one year. So typically when the parks and recreation department engages in a permit with a user it's for
a season or for a year. um the Malden City Council has the authority to engage in a conversation and make an agreement that goes beyond that. So that's really why this is even happening at this table. I just want to kind of lay the groundwork for why the conversation is happening here. Didn't ask for that.
Respectfully, you do not have the floor right now. Please don't yell out. This is not the forum for that. If we refer it, please stop yelling. If we refer this to committee, you'll all be invited to come to that committee meeting. I don't know if we're going to vote this in the room tonight or at a committee. If we do have a committee meeting, you
may attend. And if we choose to allow the public to speak, that would be your opportunity to do so. Okay. So, I can't have yelling or I'm going to take a recess until we can have decorum in the chamber. Chair, can I just clarify related? Yes. Let me put your light back on. So,
just to clarify on the point of why I was in this situation because um b you know basically I I mean Joe and Laura um you know they're great and they're dedicated to offering a lot of recreational opportunities to our our
our families and and and people. Um they work diligently on these rules and regulations. The charter school asked for exemption. they see this level of exemption as something that's really beyond what they um can do under the rules and regs. So there is this you
know the council itself when this was brought up a couple years ago we actually referred this them but with the understanding if there's these longer term commitments should come back to the council and you know the interpretation I get from the recreation
department is this is such a significant variation from the rules and regulations that they feel that this is a city council issue. that's that's why it's here that they uh you know I specifically talked to their director and that's that's their feeling is that they don't feel they have the authority under their rules and regulations to
make this significant precedent. So that's that's what that is. Yes, understood. And the the other point that I was just simply going to make is that there's tiers of users. So the Malden public schools are not part of the parks and regulations in the uh recreation department. So discussion of
that is not pertinent to what we're talking about here tonight and I'm going to rule that out of order if we start to veer into that. The public schools, the playgrounds at the schools, that's public school property. It's not in the park and regulation uh manual. It's not what we're talking about here. So we're only talking about public parks of which
Trafton is one. These permits, the hours, the in highintensity use that applies to parks. It does not apply to public school property. So that's not part of what we're talking about. And again, what we can do tonight is we can either vote this on the floor if we have a proposal for hours, for fees, anything
that's under our purview, or again, we can refer it to committee, discuss it, and then bring it back to the floor. So, that's what we're going to be able to do tonight. Um, and with that, I'm going to take councelor Condan for our first question. Thank you, uh, Council President. Um,
I have the charter school down in Ward 2, Edgeworth. Uh, the, uh, high school is there. They do a good job keeping the property up. The, uh, seniors down there appreciate
what they do to beautify the schools, and I do appreciate it. However, I trust Laura Perez and Joel Lavine to be fair and I asked them, "Please be fair, but
you have to be consistent." The fact is, somebody mentioned it. It's mostly people that not from Malden in the school. It's a great school. Everybody's lucky to go there and it takes a special
kid to be able to thrive in a school like that. So I think a lot of the people may not say it but they do appreciate the uh charter school and how well known they are.
But this is a difficult situation. We let everybody that is a Malden organization, we don't charge them. The is as long as they're a Malden organization, they have access to
Devon Park. Deva Park's twice as big as Trafton. So, it's going to take twice as much work not to lose that field. And that's what I care about. We're not done yet. You know, we worked around
everyone. We worked around Roosevelt. We lost the season waiting for them, waiting for them, and they kept going to court. And for that reason, we missed the season. So, we're not done yet. We
still got millions of dollars to spend on the field. The irrigation system, uh, soccer field, uh, girls softball diamond has to be put in. And then there's some historical
changes that we want to make to, uh, recognize people over the years that have done such a tremendous job on de. The thing I worry about is we have the little playground, the little kids.
They're up to five years old on one side and then they're up to 12 years old on the other side. Well, I got high school kids coming down there. They're not 12. So, that's a dangerous situation to me.
Uh, we don't give permits for that playground. Joe's right on top of that and so is Laura. Two people run that department. It's amazing what they do and they enjoy it so much.
Believe me. You know, they're trying to do the best they can, but they also want to be fear, you know. And I'm just hoping that, you know, the people from the charter school, I know you got your job to do to get the most out of what
you can, but you know, people were saying that they're paying taxes. There's a lot of taxes not being paid and we all know the properties are are being bought and I don't resent that but
that people are paying those taxes somewhere because we're losing our tax revenue. We are losing it and getting it replaced with the charter school buying the property. Um they run a good ship down
there. All right. We're not We're bound to many situations don't don't allow us to have that flexibility. You know, to buy a say a three family house and be able to put teachers in
there at a low rental rate. You know, that doesn't happen in the M public schools. Um, so I'm just asking everybody take a step back. I'm leaving it to Joe and Lara to come
up with the recommendations, you know, cuz I know that there'll be fear. So that's all I got to say. And uh, thank you Steve for riing up the peep. Thank you councelor K and councelor
Simelli. Thank you, Madam President. So, um after trying to take it all in here, uh today and uh this evening, talking to a few of my counselors earlier today and um clerk of committees I was talking to
as well. And you know, if you look at the if the if you look at the city's park structure, you'll see that like some parks uh some neighborhoods in the park in this city have like maybe one park or two. I'm
lucky enough in my neighborhood to have five and six uh parks and um you know whether how many people are paying taxes and how many people are not paying taxes. to me um
it's not as important as that um the charter school is still an arm of um of an educational building for children. Some come from Malden, some come from our sister and brother uh cities around
us. So we Malden's always been a welcoming city uh to everyone. So, I I'm going to make this offer tonight. Um, I guess until you guys can get this thing rectified. First of all, I think that, you know,
you got to have parody. I don't I don't know if you can maybe I'm not understanding this uh fully and I'll talk to councelor Winslow uh even after the meeting if you'd like to you know par as far as um
having the fees uh be equal across the board and not just singling out a particular entity. Uh I think this when you do something like that that's why I would hope that it would go into public properties committee uh referred to tonight uh so we can have some
discussion on it and whether or not uh madame president will uh think it's um important enough or if it's or if we're able to have people from the charter school in those uh public property committees would probably be a pretty
good idea. Um, so I'm I'm going to make you know the invitation now. Um, that you know you you guys can uh and again Joe and Laura I know do a great job at the recck department. Uh they
really try hard. It's not easy to find everybody park space and then also have uh enough park space left over for our people who actually live down in the neighborhoods and the moms and dads that may want to just walk their children down from around the corner and have
them go down the slide and then all of a sudden uh there's an activity down there from an entity you know so you know we got to look at those things too and that is why that I had talked when we changed the charter on the on the uh parks you I
this is my second time around doing this. This is my second time doing my parks over. Uh so that's why I find it to be important and I think that my colleagues agreed with me especially the ward counselors that you know the ward counselor should have the final say on
what goes on those parks and who does what on those parks because we're the front line of defense. We're the ones that have to go to the meetings uh to get the funding meetings with the neighborhood of what they'd like to have down there, the continuation of the
maintenance and the upkeep of the parks. Uh especially where money and funding is drying up uh like puddles everywhere we take a look. Uh so we have to be conscious of those things. But again, I'm going to put the invitation out there that where I do have five to six
parks compared to some of my other colleagues here that may only have one. You know, we can sit down and talk about using some of my park space down in Ward 7 uh for the charter school folks if need be. Um, you know, because it's it's
hard to take it all on one one park when you only have one park over there. And most of the time it was being refurbished, so it wasn't even in use. and and I I felt that little sting when we had Kstead Park which is actually right across the street from uh I think
the charter school's fieldhouse at the old uh Davidson Chevrolet. So you know I I I think this is something that we really should be sitting down having many discussions about and I know this has been an
ongoing saga in this city uh on park space and where we could get more. I I' I'd like to build a school down in my neighborhood. Actually, I'm like the only uh pretty much uh ward that don't have a school for being a low to
moderate income neighborhood uh and having five or six uh parks to go along with those schools. But again, that's for a later date. I can talk to the administration about that later on uh with the mayor's office and I'm sure, you know, they would like to come up with some other ideas, too. So, you
know, I'm just going to say that, you know, while we're getting this thing going, I have no problem with whoever. I I I know Mr. Kennan very well. I've served with him. You know, we've we've our families have grown up together. So, you know, I'm a pretty flexible guy. Uh
we we both have similar tempers, so I think we'll do okay uh on the discussions. So, but again, you know, I you know, we're you know, I said before, you know, you get into politics to help people and not hurt them. So, you know, I'm here and you know, my neighborhood
has always been a welcoming neighborhood. So, you know, we we even let Everett, you know, the Lafayette school come down and use Lincoln Commons from time to time for some of their projects. So, you know, we want to be open and welcoming uh to people coming into our neighborhood. So, if that helps
out at all, if it helps out you council Winslow, then you know I you think that would be a good thing to look into. I mean, I don't know how we can arrange maybe the rides from getting over from where you guys are down to Ward 7, but I'm sure my neighborhood would be welcome in and and having you guys come
on down and I think everybody can get along, you know. Uh and again I might be speaking out of school uh madam president because I don't know all the particulars just kind of finding about it this week just like most of my colleagues but um yeah um we're here to
serve you. So thank you. Thank you. I might be booking that when you're both busy. I don't know. Thank you councelor Simelli. Thank you. Councelor Sika. Thank you council president. Um, my head is spinning listening to all this
conversation because I am I think I'm more confused now than I was earlier this this afternoon when I was discussing this issue. And I actually probably may be in the minority up here. Um, my daughter is 26 and did not get
into the charter school 21 years ago by way a lot, right? But that's okay. Um, but I'm I'm having a little trouble here. I have a letter up here that was attached to tonight's agenda and it's signed by councel Winslow. I hear him say that this is a council issue. So I
want to know why if it was a council issue. This letter is only signed by councelor Winslow wood six counselor. I think this is something that should have been discussed before we were actually sitting up here having this conversation. Um because I don't know if
Council of Winslow decided 2500 per season or if it was our Malden wreck department that decided 2500 per season. I do know uh you know over the past year we've discussed how we were going to you know charge fees for these particular
parks, how we could continue to keep our parks beautiful, especially after the millions of dollars we've just invested into these parks. Um, and I, as long as everybody across the board is paying the same fee, then I have no issue with it.
I feel like the charter school in W six, uh, you know, yes, you are buying up a ton of property or taking away the taxes. It's fine. All your property is in pristine condition. It's immaculate. Even the building you took down in Maplewood Square looks a thousand times
better than it did when it was a little mini chain of stores. So I I have no issue with that. I am I'm struggling with this because I in one sense I hear Councilman Winslow
saying that he needs to get fees for this pack and then on in another sense he's saying that his residents should be able to take their grandchildren to the park during school hours. I do not have that luxury in W 8 and neither do my
residents. Lynen School does not own Lynen Pack, but Lynen School trumps anybody going to the Pack during school hours. If if there are kids if if if Sally from Claremont Street
wants to take her three-year-old grandson over to Lynen Park between the hours at 8 and two, she can't. Whether she drives, whether she walks, whether she pushes the carriage, she's going to have to find another pack. clearly not Trafton um to to go to and Wood 8 only
has one wood eight only has one pack. So why should wood 8 not be able to use their pack and wood six gets to use their pack when it sounds I thought this started as a fee issue and I'm not really quite sure we're at a fee issue. I think he just doesn't want the chart
of school kids at the park at the listening to I'm I'm I'm extremely I'm I'm I'm I'm more confused again now than I was coming into this meeting and I really
spent all afternoon. I have a copy of the park grant. I have the land and park programs. And if I'm reading this right, this park grant says that there's a specific area here that says that we're not going to charge fees to use the park
and we can't discriminate against residents and non-residents of the city of Malden. So I I will not be in support of this paper this evening if we decide to vote on anything. Um, I could entertain sending
it to a public properties for more discussion because I don't think um I don't I really don't think we went about it the right way. And I love Joe and Lara. I council Spataphora and myself do a ton of things with the Malden Recck Department and I trust them
wholeheartedly, but I just don't understand why only Council Winslow was involved in in the in the dialogue and the I I get it's his pack, but it we all should have been able to weigh in on it. And I think I don't know if it was
councelor or matt somebody had mentioned that you or it might have even have been um resident my apologies everybody up here all 11 of us although we're eight ward counselors and three councilor at lodges our city is our city and we
should be deciding on parks any any public property together not individually any public park any public building it it should be 11 of us. It shouldn't just be one person deciding what we're doing
with that particular space. So I um again I'm in the minority and thank you for your time. Thank you councelor Sika. I'm going to allow councelor Winslow to respond before I take the next counselor. Okay, councelor Seika. I feel that comment is very ironic because literally
when I talked about something on Townline Brook was just some residence. You attacked me for doing something in your ward. So, so please don't talk over. Yes. Yes. But but first of all, I I want to be clear on your first point. On your first point, we're going to get
um No. Under on your first point, I will I I on your first point related to the involvement of Joe and Laura. So, I had been for two years. My first outreach was to Joe Lavine. We've been working on
this for two and a half years. the council two years ago I came with this issue the council directed that um to the rec the stadium recreation committee. So I have been working on this for two years if you if you remember and then um as this issue came
up I affirmatively reached out to the charter school and I was talking to Joe and Laura and ultimately what pushed me to um bring this paper up is that I talked to Joe and he said I had had made made you know taken a step forward. He
said Steve I really want your help in resolving this as the ward counselor. That's what ward counselors do help resolve conflicts between That's fine if Lyndon that's how the dynamic is. I talked to people in Maplewood. When the ma when the Maplewood school was there, they never
used the park. The St. Joseph school back in ' 65, as far as I know, they did not use this park. This park has been always a neighborhood park. It was not used by the schools. That's the tradition. That's the tradition. I am Well, Neil, you I've been talking to a
lot of people. So, so um no comments in the chamber. Okay. So that is one of the cooler things and and let me be clear I just you're putting where I literally said 10 minutes ago that I am supportive of
having the charter school use the traffic park at some times but I'm not supportive of having it using it all day and not respecting the traditional use of the park as a neighborhood park. So that is my point. That's what I get to
do as a word counselor just like you. I mean the other thing I say about the schools is that in in 25 years ago we went through a whole public process when some of the parks were taken for schools. So there was a whole public process to consider. Those playgrounds
were designed as part of that public process. When the charter school in that was not a commitment that that tra Maple would I mean Trafton Park would be dedicated to the charter school. So there was a public process 25 years ago that laid out all those playgrounds and all those commitments that we made as a
city. There was never an agreement when the charter school came to start using Trafton Park. And I say we need to clarify that now just as councelor Conan is facing with Denver Park. There was never an agreement that the charter school when they bought the Emerson school was going to start dominating the use of Denver Park. So that's what we
got to deal with. That's why I'm I appreciate Council Conan speaking up here. We as ward counselors get to help create that balance. And I'm saying the the Mastic Valley Charter School, I'm not opposed to having them use the park, but it's too unbalanced. And that's what I'm hearing. And that's why I'm standing
up and that's why I I'm standing up for my constituents who are saying that. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Winsow. Councelor Seika for the second. And I'm going to say final time so I can get to the rest of the lights. That's fine, Council President. I appreciate it. I just wanted to uh remind councelor Winsow that it's it's a
a respect thing not to step into another ward counselor's wood and that's what you did with the townline brook. I'm not suggesting that here. I'm suggesting that before you sent this letter, we probably should have had a meeting and all 11 of us decided what this letter
was going to say and what the fee structure was going to be. I I am not walking into W six and having a conversation with the charter school without the W counselor. I did no such thing. And I would never step into
another W counselor up here as Ward and try to do something. If somebody in from W 7 calls, I call councelor Simelli. If somebody in Ward one calls, I call Peg. I know this person. Do you need me to help you or can I give Excuse me. Please
hold your comments. And the way that you just acted in your little rebuttal speech is the exact reason why you should not have been in charge of making decisions on this. Joseph school did use the chatt school
way back when they most certainly did. So councelor seea counselor McDonald thank you for your patience. Yeah thank you. So, I I live nearby and I spent a lot of time near Trafton Park and spent a lot of time knocking on doors in the neighborhood and I have to tell you I hear a lot of concerns about
the presence of the charter school in the community and its use of land and that definitely includes the park although it's not only the park but it is true that I hear regular reports and concerns from parents who live in the neighborhood that whether or not the charter school folks who are there are
asking people to leave the functional way that the charter school is treating the use of the park and the way that it's leading its kids that are under its care is crowding out resident usage. That's what's that's what's coming to me as a counselor um just organically
because I'm talking to the neighborhood. So this is not a regular parku situation where we there are not good comparisons in fact to what's happening here because Mystic Valley Regional Charter School is a singular organization. Uh, in fact, I
don't know of any other charter schools in Massachusetts that have large property portfolios across the city. And I we're not talking about res I it doesn't it's not my concern that about the residency of the students of Mystic Valley. My concern is that what we have
here is a private enterprise ostensibly funded with public dollars. although again we don't know a lot about that because there's not a lot of transparency there that is using a public asset without much agreement about how that should work and I'm not
okay with that. So, I am very interested in this question of why has the charter school not built a playground nearby um given that it has recently bought property, bulldozed property just last year, bought for $800,000, another property um to bring its total property
portfolio close to 20 and yet not built a playground there. Uh it's unthinkable to me that the Malden public's well at any rate. Uh that's a lot of money on the table and it is somewhat shocking to me that we are here talking about $2,500 a year
which I'm just not I frankly I mean I'm not sure that that is a fair deal for the city. I'm not sure that that is a fair bargain for the for the neighborhood for the use of that park. I do want to say to the to the parents who
are here, I really understand and agree that everybody should have fair access to a great education for their kids. I'm I'm not a charter school parent. I we didn't apply. It's not the right choice for my kids, but I understand that some that that it is for many. And I and I want nothing but good things for your
kids. And I have to say that I think part of the reason that you are here is because your this the leadership of the school has not been a good and consistent partner with the neighborhood and the community and has consistently treated these conversations as pitting our kids against each other when that
does not have to happen. It really does not. We certainly could have had different conversations leading up to this and we can certainly have better conversations going forward. I'm not against partnerships to use our parks or assets, but it's got to be give as well
as take. And that's just not what I've seen at any point. And that there's very there's no pre-existing trust to build on. This has been a frayed relationship for some time. And the dynamic here, I think, evidences that. So, we've got a ways to go. Uh I don't believe I can so
I don't believe I could vote for this permit tonight because I it does again it doesn't feel fair to the neighborhood and I don't think we've had enough time to figure out whether this adequately captures what miss the way um the school is using the park. I am very curious, you know, what other kinds of options
there would be and why none of those have been considered. But M, you know, Malden and our and our and our students, we're facing a budget deficit in this city. And the millions
of dollars in property that Mystic Valley owns does not pay taxes. And I and could we talk about a payment in lie of taxes and maybe have a different arrangement around the park. I'd be happy to explore other alternatives because that's thousands and thousands
of dollars right there. When we can't solve that problem, then we're going to have to be laying if we can't solve that problem then we have to lay off city staff and our families feel that. This does not have to be a zero- sum game. But that is the way that it has been treated to bring us here today. So, as I
said, I I can't support this permit tonight. I'm happy to if you want if we want to refer to committee take some more time to talk about it. I really want what's right for your kids. I don't think that whatever has been communicated to the Mystic Valley community is full and honest and fair
and that's what I want to see for our parks. This is a precedent setting agreement and we have lots of good we have lots of relationships that we want to have with community organizations who can fairly use the park and contribute to the community and that's the expectation that I have um for entering into agreements like that. Thank you,
Council President. Thank you, Councelor McDonald. Councelor Ali. Oh, okay. Accidentally. Um, so, you know, I I want to also reiterate that I understand the frustration of the parents. Um, and I
understand um why you feel like it's the city of Malden that is to blame for this. But to councelor McDonald's point, um the blame really um does not lay at the city of Malden's feet, but does squarely lay at the feet of the
leadership of Mystic Valley. Um but there is some blame for the city of Malden. Uh the city of Malden did functionally seed fund this school with our public assets. We functionally gave them the Emerson school. We gave them
the Maplewood School and Fire Station. The amount of public assets this that this organization somehow dispossessed from the city of Malden is extreme. Now, they paid for it. Did they pay fair market value? I don't know. I wasn't involved. I do know Mr. Kennan was
involved. Um, you know, he used to sit up here at one point. Um, to councelor Condan's point, um, the charter school does not pay taxes. The charter school buys up taxable property, mostly residential properties, more recently
retail spaces like Serenas, and then knocks them down and makes our community less of an attractive place to live. Um, the charter school claimed that it was knocking down Serenas and all of the businesses, the taxpaying businesses there because they wanted there to be a
recess space for their students. and comically, kind of like a a laughing in our face, put a little strip of grass with a with a Grinch. Does everyone remember the Grinch? That was them laughing at us. That was them flexing their power and their
control over the city of Malden. They no longer have that control and they're acting out. I feel for Councelor Winslow. I feel for Councelor Condan. Um, it's not fair that all of the burden is on just your neighborhoods. I appreciate councelor
Simonelli's creative thinking. Um, I think you're asking for for a problem though. I I I think we really need to resolve how do we maintain our parks in a fair manner. So, with that, you know, we do need to figure out how the city maintains our
parks. We have a duty to make sure that we maintain our parks. Um, and I hear what Mal Mystic Valley is saying. You know, it needs to be fair and equitable. I don't know about the park grant. I don't know about all the different rules that we that we agreed to. Uh, but we should make sure that we're complying with those. Um, and you know, if if that
requires all organizations contributing to the maintenance of these parks, then so be it. Um, you know, there's been a lot of comment about this the Malden schools not paying the city of Malden. Those that's the same entity. So if Malden public schools in the city of Malden taking one money from one account
and putting it into another account. So like that's definitely doable and if we need to do that to make sure we're taking care of our parks, then so be it. Um I think that that is something to think about. I don't know if it would be the right thing to do. It's up to the school committee and the the mayor. Um but we need to make sure we maintain the
parks. Um part of that is also Mystic Valley. Um and as I would mention, um you know, Mr. Mr. Kennan used to serve with us was up with me up here and I remember him talking about the tragedy of the commons and that's basically when
one group or one subset of group overtake the resources in the commons that results in a deteriorated public public space and so all we are asking as a city of Malden is that for Mystic Valley to contribute to help maintain
our spaces. We're trying our best. We have limited resources. It doesn't appear as though Mystic Valley has Illinois resources because you're literally buying up half of Malden, knocking down buildings, and doing nothing with it. I would love to see you guys build a school because sitting on
this land as vacant parcels that you don't use is ridiculous. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Ali. Councelor Cologne Hayes. Thank you very much. Um I feel like a lot of what I was going to say was just said. So I just want to thank um
councilor Mali um and um of course council McDonald who were bringing up some very valid points and also my colleague here next to me that I said thank you very much for what you said um about Denver Park as well. I also know what kind of financial
difficulties that we are heading into. I think we all know that and maybe that isn't clear or maybe that um you know the school doesn't talk about the city's finances but we are headed into a real dangerous place and we have to be more
diligent on how we spend our money. I heard some of the parents up here um speaking from the Mystic Valley Charter School and I heard some really disturbing stuff and I feel really bad if your kids if somebody's taking pictures of your children and or
speaking to your children um without your permission as a parent of three, I would be fuming. I would. However, there's also like um Council Winslow has his property to take care of and he has his constituents, you know, to answer
to. And I hear from constituents saying that the park isn't clean, that they're being um you know, taunted by kids from the school. I don't know if that's true or not, but that's not even really the point because really what I'm going to go down is to saying is like $2,500 a
season seems like a bargain. It is a bargain. And as a matter of fact, when I read it, I was like, that's too low. Um, we need to take care of these parks. They're brand new. That's going to take so much money. There was so much fighting over Roosevelt Park to keep it grass. And we we need to put money into
Roosevelt Park and open up more parks. Um, we can't be giving away stuff for free. I'd like to see what everybody is talking about here. Uh, Mr. Kenning got up and started um making accusations that some people aren't paying. I want to see that. So yeah, if it goes to committee, I want to see exactly what
we're talking about here because that's not fair either. Um, but the administration, I feel the parents, I feel like you're being duped by your administration. I think that you weren't giving the right information. Um, and I feel for you for that because I'd be
fighting, anyone who knows me with my kids, I'd be fighting like crazy if I thought that they were getting a bum deal. Um, but they're not. They're not. Um, and I also have been working with um, Laura Perez. I work very closely with Mr. Levine on on parks. They do a
phenomenal job and I'll be looking into seeing, you know, how to help them because they are short staffed. We need to all be working together here. It went from this conversation went from a very um, level-headed conversation here started
um, by my colleague here down a road. We need to get back to what we were talking about down some crazy road of accusations and and and nonsense. Um we need to work together here. Um I'd be willing to work with anyone, sit down with staff, go to the um meetings at the charter school. I've been putting out
stuff online to see if I can get some feedback. One thing like um councelor Simmonelli was talking about. Maybe we can trade off resources. Maybe, you know, something to talk about is maybe we can use um some of the park for Mystic Valley Charter School, your pool, some your turf. I don't know. trade off.
If two $2,500 is too much for you to pay, which I know it's not, maybe we can talk about other things. But I think as parents, you really need to think about what you've been told and listen about the because I because again, I feel for you and I be fighting hard for my kids, but I don't think you're getting the
full story and I hope that you hear from this from the city what a dire situation we are moving into and how we should be working together and not pitting each other against each other. It's not helping anyone. So, I'm here to help in any way that's possible. I'll vote it on
the floor tonight or I'll vote it to pass the committee. I I have no problem with that. Um, and thank you. Thank you all for coming out. Thank you, Councelor Cologne Hayes. Councelor Spataphora. Thank you, Madam Chair. I appreciate it. And I will be brief. I just have a couple questions. So, one is I know
councelor Simonelli said uh it's his park, it's his ward. I will I will completely disagree with councilman in that because the way the ordinance is written, it is not determined by the ward council. It's actually determined by the rec commission and or the city council board. So there there's parity because you said you have par, but then
you can't have, you know, eight different wards having eight different um fee schedule. So I think in that aspect, I know what you meant. You're territorial. You want to protect the park, but the same token is the way the ordinance written is you have to have some standardization and that's what this does. So my question is and this is
part of council wins is was the discussion between the charter school and yourself on under the high intensity user multi-year permits by our ordinance or was it underneath the hourly fee
schedule or single day permit I don't which one councelor wins you can answer through the chair I mean I was just putting out a proposal to move forward to avoid this conflict so that was really what it was and then um you know the the proposal of the
Mystic Valley of asking for zero basically fee was was not going anywhere. So I was just trying to resolve um this to prevent this conflict from happening. So and you know to council see point I mean I I looked at the option I mean and and we had went through all the consternation about the
things with the the trustees of library. I looked at this situation where, you know, last week the charter school started using the field as they had without a permit and I was getting all that. And so, um, I had no cho I did not
have the choice to have this meeting in private to really work to have the conversation with you all as a counselor. We are a body. Our open meeting law requires there was no option under the open meeting law to talk about a compliance issue. this is not a litigation issue yet. So that was my
dilemma that my only choice was to put something out there and I thought that to put my letter in the record was to make clear that I'm making an effort here and but I am I appreciate and you know I I hope all of you I I put this
forward in the spirit of what you had talked about a couple years ago when when there's an issue that requires some special consideration and especially it's going to set a longterm president that should come to the council. That's why I brought this paper here and that was, you know, I'm I am happy to work
with the public properties committee and and Mystic Valley to try to move this forward. Um, but that was the dilemma that that Joe and Laura did not feel that they had um under their rules the ability to move this forward. So, I stepped forward with this and it was
frustrating that the charter school was starting to use a field without a permit. So, that that's I'm just councelor councelor Spataphora does still have the floor. I just want to make sure. I'm just I just reached out so that I'm putting this I put this here so the the council could get involved in it. Thank you. No, that's I just this is this is the reason why I asked. First of all, you
know, I I was a graduate of Marley Catholic. I have kids there. I know they pay for their fair share there and I think everybody in the audience knows I think everybody said it up here. The city will be broke probably in the next two years. So So money is important to all of us. My concern is and my fear and again I I think there's a lot of great
points tonight is the way the the way this is read is you can do an hourly fee or you do a highintensity usually multi-year permit. The reason why I I say that that's uh this is probably where it falls under right simply because it says highintensity users are encouraged to pursue a multi-year permit
that goes to the city council. So I think to everybody's point it'd be great if we could have this discussion city council. The other one is the Malden and this is what scares me. The Molden Department of Recreation shall have the right to issue a permit to an individual organization does not conform to the above and I'm not saying the charter
school doesn't but it does not does not uh the fee schedule above or does not comp uh comport with other policies in the guide in the department it's sole discretion determined that doing so it's the best interest of the greater good each decision shall have no bearing or similar re respects requests excuse me
and shall not obligate the department with regards to future requests so they can wave it for certain instances without us without even us getting into it. If it's a highintensity multi-user, it's on us. We have to determine. So, I'm I'm assuming this is going to go under that one. So, the council should do that.
What I'm fearful of, there's other organizations that we know. I'm not saying that I'm listed here like the youth or that use the park every day that we're not charging a fee to. I do not want to charge a fee to them, but they could fall underneath that high intensity use too. Right. There's
there's a there's a school in the square that uses a park every day. I don't want to see them being feed. So, I want to make sure that we have a discussion that does not hinder other organizations that may not have the same means and don't have the same means to fall under that and then we're in a whole lot of trouble in terms of the community. So, I I would
hope that this body would refer it somewhere. We can have discussions with with the school because I'm assuming it's come to the council, right? Is that's my request is it based under this high intensity it goes to the school. This is what I was trying to explain kind of at the outset. Yeah. So, I don't know what committee it should go to, but
I think we should have a a discussion to talk about use, time, fees, etc., and parody, and hopefully we can do that in a setting that is conducive to a a place to I don't know where that is, but that's that was my line of question is where does this go? Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay. Thank Thank you, Councelor
Spataphor. Councelor Simonelli, are you looking to make that motion? Oh, okay. Uh, Council Spataphora Yeah, even though you and I don't disagree that often, I find tonight that I do disagree with you because I'd like to see you or anybody else try and come
down to my neighborhood and put something in one of my parks that me and my neighborhood say we don't want in there. So, I don't honestly I mean I think that's kind of well I'm just saying I look at look I think it should be discussed on with the entire body.
Absolutely counselor. I do agree or No, I I I get it. But that's why I made it clear on in that ordinance when we were going over it and I think I made it clear with you council Winslow when you were doing the whole charter review that you know the ward counselor should have
some sort of say at the end of the day because we're the ones that find the money can go to the meetings. You know you're there. You're right with me. I know I know you know what I'm saying on that though. But I'm going to yield cuz I was going to make a motion, but I'm going to yield it to And I do want to say councelor Winslow
has has given several rebuttals. This is actually his third time recognized to speak. Rebuttals rebuttal. I'm going to surrender my I know we want to be proper about how many times everyone gets I'm going to surrender my motion to councelor Winslow because it's his paper. So So I think we got a lot I think
everybody has discussed this. So, so my motion is I mean I really forward this here and put this paper forward to get this conversation going and but my expectation tonight um is that um that uh we there's two aspects of this paper.
So my motion is to forward both aspects of my paper um that both the Mystic Valley Charter School application and fee waiver to public properties along with my proposal um as well as to have the legal department and compliance team be on the ready to enforce our park
rules and regulations until such time a permit is issued. I think that's the other thing other thing is to understand that um one of the things that got this ball rolling was the charter school was using the draft and park without a permit. So I think we have to be clear that um we're we're moving forward to
towards a permit but and they understand they don't have a permit and they don't have the right to use the park until a permit is issued. So, so I, so I would like to make a motion that the um the applica Mystic Valley Charter School's application for a permit as well as my proposal be
forwarded to the public properties committee, but also that uh we uh as if necessary, we reach out to the legal department to work on any compliance issues that come up. So, thank you. Okay. So, I would representatives from the other
public, right? That'll be a public meeting and we can invite whatever departments we need to have there. Okay. I would like to briefly speak on the the motion in the paper. I don't want to belabor what others have said. I have also heard from a lot of constituents even though I represent the west side of
the city. I have a lot of residents who work at the charter school, have send their children there. I also have folks who've tried to visit Trafton Park, especially since it's got a brand new playground and have had some of the encounters that councelor McDonald described. you know, either feeling uncomfortable with how crowded it is or
having had interactions where they've been asked to actually leave, which is super disappointing. Obviously, none of us want to have that happen. I don't want to hear about it happening at DER. I hear about that as well. I think it behooves all of us to make sure that all of the institutions in the city are being treated the same and are also
following the same rules. In my do in doing my due diligence on this, I was not able to find another educational institution in the city that does not have a permit. So, we clearly need to have everybody work having a permit that's going to be in the parks kind of full stop. That's where I'm at on this.
Whatever that amount is, I think we can talk about that in committee. That's clearly the parameters that we need to get agreement on the hours and the amount. I'm in agreement with a lot of my colleagues. The amount in this letter struck me as awfully low. I pulled the water usage for the park today. It's
$1,300 a month. That's not even seating. That's not DPW maintenance. And that's before you even look at whether the amount of time being spent on the park by one entity is even reasonable. So clearly I think we have some discussion to do about what that number is and what
those hours are. But I would echo what councelor McDonald said. There's nobody up here is wanting to take recess or gym or after school activities away from any child in the city. My daughter goes to BB. We do not have a field there. They do gym on blacktop.
End of story. There's no field. There's no grass there. They didn't even have a playground for half the kids for most of her time there. If the high school basketball team needs to use the gym there, they don't even get gyms sometimes. These are the sacrifices you have to make when you're sharing facilities, which Malden Public does. To
councelor Seika's point, um I think the place to discuss this further certainly is in the public property committee. I would say that I would either welcome or be willing to draft a paper to discuss Denver as well when we do take it into public property because I think if we're going to invite you all to come back and
discuss this, we might as well discuss both facilities. Since we've brought it up multiple times tonight, I think we should take up all the fields that we're talking about tonight and just get one policy in place that can tackle all that at once. That would be my preference. Um, so we have a motion on the table. Do we have a second to send to public
property? Seconded by councelor Spataphora. All in favor? I. Okay, that motion carries. Thank you very much. Thank you all for coming out tonight. Next order of business. Paper 351-25
committee report. The standing committees on rules and ordinance and finance to whom was referred papers 294, 340, and 341 series of 2025. Having considered the same, make the following report on a motion by councelor Winsow to
receive the committee report. Seconded by councelor Crowe. All in favor? I. Okay. Paper 294-25. Be it ordained by the Malden city council that the code of the city of Malden 6.12.0602
sale of goods by weight, measure, or volume is hereby amended by striking the table in its entirety and inserting the following as attached. Councelor Winslow for the paper. What? Um yes. So we discussed this paper um in
the um rules and ordinance committee and the decision was to um the the committee voted out favorably. Um there was some discussion of whether we should even enroll it tonight. The thought was maybe um that since we have to enroll and ordain um councelor Ali asked for um
some documentation that will help um create a a basis for the fees um the uh commissioner uh Nelson Miller said that that would be able to be prepared by our next meeting on September 30th. So um so
um September 30th so that um we can consider enrolling and ordaining. So I don't think we need to table if we're just not gonna take it up at the next meeting, right? We can. Yes. So yeah, however, whatever the recommendation of this clerk is, but um yeah, so the recommend we it was recommended out favorably, but um not to
enroll it tonight. So yeah. Okay. Um C councelor Ali, did you want to speak to the paper? Yeah, I mean so we definitely we're definitely talking about it has to be tabled. Um and I appreciate councelor Winsow's willingness. Um, I think once we get the financial basis for the
increased costs to justify these these increase in fees, um, I think we'll be in a good a good a good state. Um, I think this is not a controversial paper. I think we're going to be able to definitely b document it for from a financial perspective. Um, but for the
long-term health of these fe these fees, um, I think we could enroll and ordain in the same night on the 30th once we have that. So, I would um either move to table it or second councelor Winsel's motion. Thank you. Okay. So, um the clerk has reminded me
that we're we're both in error. We we do need to table it. We read it into the record with So, so I make a motion to table the paper. Um Okay. So, in councelor Winsel's motion to table, seconded by councelor Ali. All in favor? I I Okay. So, that is tabled. Next order of
business. paper 340-25 be ordained by the Malden city council that the code of the city of Malden 2.24.070 traffic supervisor salary schedule is hereby amended by adding the updated salary schedule chart effective July 1st 2025. Okay. Councelor Winsow for the paper.
Yeah. Um yes. So the committee did vote out to recommend this paper. I mean right now um our traffic supervisors as most people know as crossing guards. We have 47 of them. their salaries been uh $19 an hour and then it went up to 22 um
in the current contract um that expired back in um at June 30th. Um this will raise their um salary up to $25 and then increase it over the next three years. So um so that uh the committee voted in
favor of the new schedule. So I I make a recommendation that the uh the council um enroll the paper based on this recommendation. So, okay. On a motion by councelor Winsow to enroll the paper. Seconded by councelor Ali.
Yes. So, yes, I want to thank councelor uh Winslow and councelor McDonald for shephering you know the two these two papers through um ordinance and finance. Oh, uh yeah. And um yeah, fully in support of this. Um I think that the uh
it's great that they're getting a salary increase still really low as we discussed in in committee. Um I do think that they deserve more. You know they are literally crossing you know our youth across streets and making our streets safe. So I think that they deserve it's a dangerous job as we've
noticed that there they can get hit by cars. Um people accost them regularly. Um I think that uh to councelor Crow's point um I think we should also look into making them special municipal employees and I look forward to to um
collaborating with her and others on that. Um, so I am firmly in support and would second councilor Winsow's motion. Thank you. Okay. On the motion by councelor Winsow, seconded by councelor Ali. All in favor? I. Okay, that carries.
So I have a motion uh to suspend the rules to be able for the purpose of Yes. Yeah. Okay. Do I have a second to that? Seconded by councelor Crow. Do we have to do a roll call? Okay, we got time. What are we doing besides your committee
meeting? We're going to get some quality discussion out of everyone. Do I get to cancel it? Do I get to so that a motion by Winsow seconded? Councelor Ali seconded
to suspend the rules for Council Cologne Hayes. Yes. Council Condan. Yes. Council Crow, yes. Yes. Council McDonald, yes. Council Romani, yes. Council Seika, yes. Council Simmonelli and Spataphor, Council Spaphor, yes.
Council Taylor, Council Winsow, yes. Council President Lennan, yes. So, the rules have been suspended. All right. So, I make a motion to ordain uh paper uh 340-25. Who seconded? Council. Okay.
Uh we'll do a roll call vote. Council Clone Hayes, yes. Council Condan, Council Crow, yes. Council McDonald, yes. Council Ali, yes. Council Sega, yes. Council Spaphora, yes. Council Winslow, yes. Council President Lennan, yes.
Okay. Ordained. Okay. All right. That's good that traffic supervisors get their money a little bit sooner. That is well worth it. Paper 341-25 order that the sum of $60,000 be and the same is hereby
transferred from salary reserve to traffic salaries. Councelor McDonald for the paper. Oh, I am so sorry. Hang on. On our last. Thank you. So, this is just the appropriation for this fiscal year to cover the increase in the salary
schedules. Um the schedules are effective as of July 1, 2025. So the traffic supervisors will get back pay till then and this will cover the increased cost for the rest of the year coming from our salary reserve as
budgeted. So I make a motion to um approve the order. Council. Okay. On a motion by councelor McDonald, second by councelor Crow. All in favor? Oh, I'm sorry. That's financial council. Roll call. Council Condan.
Council Crow. Yes. Council McDonald, Council Omali, Council Sega, Council Spaphora, Council Winslow, Council President Lennan, yes. Okay, the order has been adopted. Okay. Um, the docket is clear. Would anyone
like personal privilege? Okay. I have Councelor Winslow. I just um one week from today voters in ward four and w six will be uh having a preliminary election in ward four for school committee and in ward six for
city counselor. So I encourage all um residents in those wards to vote. Um if you're not available next week, um the clerk uh we we're still have early voting um tomorrow and um Thursday here at city hall and you could actually
still pull your uh mail and ballot and put it in by the um Thursday. You could could get that um in time to put in by the 16th. So uh please come out and vote. You could hear tonight. Um they're important issues that we vote on as a council and uh looking forward to um the
will of the voters. Thank you. Thank you, councelor Winsow. And I will take that moment to remind folks that because of the preliminary, we will not be meeting next week as a council. We additionally will have the week following as a break because of the observance of Rashashana. So the next
council meeting is actually going to be on September 30th for us and for the public to be aware of. Two weeks off after tonight. Um so I will next take councelor Ali. Oh, did you just turn yourself off again? There you go.
Uh, thank you so much. So, uh, there will be a Weights Mount cleanup on Saturday, September 27th at 10:00 a.m. Uh, we're going to be partnering with um the Great Malden Outdoors. So, please come out and check out Weights Mount
Park. Um, it's a great view. Um, it'll be a nice fall day, I'm sure, based on the weather we've been having recently. Um, this Thursday, September 11th, at 6 p.m., I will also be holding a question and answer session uh regarding the library matter outside the library at 36
Salem Street. So, if you have any questions or want to learn more, um, I'll be there to answer your questions. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Ali. Counselor McDonald. Next Wednesday, September 17th, at 7 p.m., our Malden's new police community
advisory council is having its first public forum. So, I hope folks can show up. The Police Community Advisory Council was created to be an independent voice on public safety issues. They meet with Malden Police Department. They meet with members of the community, especially those who have been
traditionally marginalized. Um, they review data. They make recommendations. So, this is an opportunity for them to share what they've been hearing to get more information from the community. So, please join that public conversation. Um, they're meeting in person at the community room at our police station on Eastern A. And uh again, that's next
Wednesday, September 17th at 7 p.m. Thank you, Councelor McDonald. Councelor Cologne Hayes. Thank you. I just want to announce uh everybody here got a flyer. Actually, the um Hispanic Heritage Month festival is
Saturday, 12 to 4, uh September 20th at the Ed Lucy Plaza here at City Hall. And I just wanted to point out that this will be the first time that um we'll be raising the flag here in Malden. The Hispan the the Hispanid Hispanic flag
that they red um redesigned and that was really led by Juan Lopez and uh a group um that he has been working with and they've been traveling around the world literally to raise this flag. So it's really super special that we're going to
be doing it here in Malden. So, I hope you um all come. It starts at 11:45 with the parade and um that's 12 to 4 again at September 20th. Thank you. Great. Thank you, councelor Cologne Hayes. Um seeing no other lights, just a couple quick things from the chair. I
want to thank everybody who came out to Felsmere Pond on Monday, including so many of you for a good dog day. It was a wonderful event co-sponsored by our animal control and police and so many of our local businesses. Um it was really fun to meet so many of your pets and um
we were able to also have the Girl Scouts come out and hang up the new signs um reminding folks to recycle their fishing lines and we have new fishing line containers where you can recycle the lures and not you know leave it in the trees and at the pond where it can harm the wildlife. So go check that
out if you're down at the resz. And then I wanted to also invite folks there's going to be a world music concert this Saturday at 3 at the pond. um that is something that's been funded by the mall and cultural council and it's free and open to all familyfriendly event. So come on down and check it out if you're
around this weekend. And seeing no other lights, do I have a motion to adjurnn? Okay, on a motion by councelor Ali, seconded by councelor Winslow. All in favor? I we are adjourned at 8:52. All right. Code of conduct committee. We're going to meet for five minutes.
Five minutes. I'll stay for five minutes if it's long.