Okay, it's 7:10. 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 honor and acknowledge the Massachusetts, Penuk, 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. Clerk, will you please call the role? >> Oh, I'm so sorry. Councelor Ali, >> I'd like to offer another moment of
silence for Alex Prey, who was uh what appears to be murdered by ICE civil federal agents. Um, I think it is very concerning where our country is right now. And when you see Americans being
murdered in the streets by the government, I think it requires all of us who have taken oath to remember those oaths and remember that we are all neighbors and we need to protect each other. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councilwoman. Thank you.
>> Council Cologne Hayes >> here. >> Council Condan >> here. >> Council Crow >> here. >> Council Lewong >> here. >> Council McDonald >> here. >> Council Ali >> here. >> Council Sega is not with us this evening. Council Simoni.
>> Council Taylor >> here. >> Council Winslow >> here. Council President Lahan >> here. >> Okay. So, we have um 10 in attendance. Council McDonald is with us online via team. So, all votes this evening will be taken as a roll call vote.
>> Thank you, Madame Clerk. Okay. So, 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 meetings. So, be aware that there will be audio and video recordings of the meeting. First order of business.
Representatives from Malden's Reed will appear before the city council to announce their one city, one book reading selection for 2026. >> Fantastic. Welcome. >> Thank you. Thank you for having us on this very cold evening. Appreciate the
opportunity to be here for our sweet 16. You are all invited to our sweet 16 party this year and um we wanted to announce our book selection, invite you all to participate in our programming and share a little bit about what's
happening and present copies of this year's book selection to you all. So to start to announce this year's book is called Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ing. We wanted to introduce the book to you
with a number of questions. Um, this is a really timely book and some of the thoughts around the book during our selection meetings were what happens when a society is built on democratic
ideas begins to fracture. And this really focuses on why words are important, how words can be deemed dangerous, and how art, storytelling, and human connection help us resist
oppression and ignite hope. So for those of us who don't know us and haven't been a part of our community read for the last 15 years, our uh program um is is formed to bring the community
together. We're one city, one book and we want to make sure that we connect the community through one book and read that throughout the year and then have a number of programs related to that one book. We also have a number of um
companion books for younger readers and English language learners and we'll share those with you as well this evening. The themes from this year after those leading questions that I started with are focusing on civic ideals and
democracy were really tying in with the role of the American Revolution, its 250th special anniversary and the unique role of Malden being among the very first to um break with Britain. So we're really looking at the power of community
and focusing on civic engagement and thinking about revolution, one's own personal revolution and courage and resistance. We also celebrate libraries. We celebrate our library throughout our
programming. Our library is our fiscal agent and our anchor institution. But through the themes of the book, we also celebrate the library as a sanctuary. And to connect the dots with the revolutionary war history, Malden Reeds
has um gratefully been named a recipient of the Malden Community Connections Grant. And we're focusing again on that special 250th anniversary of America, the American Revolution, and the unique role of Malden to be among the first to declare independence from Britain. So,
we're having a number of programs this year. We'd like to invite you all and members of the community to participate in including this citizen lysum series. We're doing um a number of programs including the lysum in collaboration
with the Massachusetts Center for Civic Education as well as Malden's Revolution. And we're having a number of programs including a field trip and exploring the city's historic landmarks.
We also want to specially invite you to our kickoff. Leave it to us to not think that there will be a se Super Bowl on February 8th or that the Pats will be in it, but we hope that you will still have the energy to join us on February 9th at the
library. We're looking forward to a fabulous evening. We'll be having protest music. Some of you may remember David Stein, a chef and um a performer from Malden, as well as his wife Sue.
David was a member of our steering committee for years and years until they moved to Albany. So David and Sue will be joining us for an acoustic set of protest music from primarily the 60s and 70s. We'll have a community sing along.
We also will be showcasing art again um what inspires us and what brings us brings us hope and we're looking at the message of Karita Kent. She's the artist who had done the gas tanks over at 93 and her art was um her prints were
bequeathed to the library and so we're so pleased to be able to have an exhibition of her work. Also looking at other forms of art and looking at knitting and there's some really cool things we've discovered about knitting
and codes within um the art of knitting. So, we'll be showcasing that at our kickoff. We also have just ordered a replica of the Boston Tea Party Ship. We will have the Tea Party
ship, Bales of Tea, to throw overboard. We have a number of other collaborations that we should call out, including with MHS, Love for Kids Student Club, as well as the high school YMCA leaders. They'll
be partnering with us, and we have books available for checkout from the library. We'll have refreshments available including tea from the tea party. And we also will have sandwiches that are very generously donated by Anthony's.
We also wanted to share a little bit of information. I just mentioned the connection with the revolution. So I wanted to talk a little bit about the citizens lysum. This is an education opportunity for adults and teens. We're focusing on the foundations of American
government and this will be in collaboration with Roger D. er who has participated and led these sessions in the past and um we've enjoyed those those um learning opportunities at the Malden Public Library. That's a fourpart
series that we're planning this time um thanks to the community connections grant and so we hope that we'll see folks for uh this new opportunity. We have a number of programs coming up. a number is still in the works. So,
we'll say stay tuned for a number of announcements that we're not quite ready to make, but we do want to share that in March 11th, we have a mayor's book discussion. We have film screenings coming up. We'll be showing Hamilton at the library. So, we're really excited
about that. And we're also planning a number of programs for the schools and for kids to participate in. And we've had a mini writer done. We've had an afterchool writing program for years for the middle schoolers and we'll be doing
that again this year. And again to connect with the themes of the book, thinking about sanctuaries and what are places of refuge, we also are thinking of the environment. So stay tuned for programming related to the environment as well as again connections with the
Revolutionary War, Malden's history, and other kids programming. I wanted to announce a couple of the companion books and focus on the themes for the younger readers and English
learners because we really always want to connect with all the members of our community from prek and picture books for kids who don't know how to read yet all the way through adults and also to connect with English learners who um
maybe aren't able to read the book in English but can read with her kids the um companion books. So I do want to call out the second one on the list here which is she persisted Kulvin and this is a book by Malden
native Lisa Klein Ransom. She's come a number of times back to Malden and she's a wonderful author. her husband is an illustrator and we always appreciate her really thoughtful writing and the um way that she's approached um sharing with
kids the message of courage and being able to stand up for your rights. There are a number of other books that also focus on these themes. We also have a number of companion books. This I said is our sweet 16. So, we've had a number of books that we've donated over the
years, thousands of books to the Malda public schools and to the library, including books like the story of Rub Regurges. And we look always at what we've done over the past to connect our past programs with what we're doing this
particular year. And so, we every book is near and dear to our hearts, but Ruby Bridges felt like it's very applicable for this year. And it also connects with Malden Safe Streets, one of our other community partners. This year,
wanted to highlight the um for folks who are less familiar maybe with Malden Reeds, some of the impacts and highlights from last year, give a taste of something to look forward to for things to come. And councelor Cologne Hayes, you can see um the picture here
is from a book discussion that you had led over at Cafe Renard. So, we thank you for participating in last year's program and just wanted to remind folks that we partner with schools, the library, nonprofits, community organizations, and businesses
all to connect folks around literacy and to have uh discussions and bridge communities together. And last year, we had our stone soup event over at Bread of Life um um making a meal with kids to be able to be served at Bread of Life.
We also hosted our kickoff at Bread of Life and we had a Malawian band perform and really enjoyed that performance. And with that, we'll turn back to this year now that we've given a taste of what's to come, what we've done in the
past, and ask that you get involved and participate and invite we want to invite the community to participate along with us by reading the book. We have um For instance, the book um book group at the Malden Senior Center always participates
with Malden Reads and they're going to be reading um our missing hearts. So, we're looking forward to that. We have a number of events we'll be posting on our website. We always are looking for volunteers and we always look for new
participants and uh we've included where to reach out to us if anybody is looking for more information and how to follow along with us on social media. With that, we wanted to thank you very much for listening and appreciate your
participation and wanted to take any questions um before we might be able to present you with this year's book. >> Thank you so much. Do I have any lights for any questions for our Malden Reeds presentation?
Councelor Cologne Hayes, thank you so much. Um, I don't have any questions. Um, I just wanted to say thank you. I'll keep it short, but u, you've been going on for 16 years and I've been a participant since, you know, day one, but I was so excited to see David Stein.
That was a very cool surprise. >> Remember David? >> I do remember David. Absolutely. Um, so thank you. And you're always adding something new, which is great. And, um, I definitely will be doing another book discussion. So, um, appreciate all the work that you all do. Thank you so much.
Thank you. >> Thank you. No other Oh, counselor Ali, I was going to say we always have a good amount of questions and comments on this. >> Thank you again for coming as well as the support team. It's it's always great to to have y'all here and looking forward to reading the book. Every year
I kind of give a plug for Libby which is the um audio book or it's also like you can also read the books I guess through it. Um you can sign up if you have your library card. It's really great. You can get it from multiple libraries to get different collections. So definitely want to plug in listening to it via
audiobook on Libby. Um I just wanted to ask would you be able to go back to the slide with the events? I'm really excited for some of the events that you have going up. It was I think like the lysum maybe one. >> This one. >> This one. Okay, great. Y >> thank you. And then >> we have a flyer um with these dates to
present to the city council. >> Oh, fantastic. And then um is there possible to get a copy of the presentation so we can attach it to our agenda? >> Sure. Um I'll email that. >> Thank you so much for coming. I really appreciate it. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. And I also will say about the audio book that
I listen to it and it's a really engaging narration. >> Yeah, >> that's a great tip. >> Well, I will just say from the chair um I always buy the book as um holiday gifts for my family. It's become a little bit of a tradition even though they don't all live in Malden. It's
something that we've all started to look forward to and a lot of them participate in some of the virtual events. Um, and they all read it already and have I've gotten feedback already that the book is fantastic. So, I've been holding off because I knew we had this presentation. Um, and I know my spouse took part in
the selection committee, so I've had a little tidbit and I've been really eagerly awaiting hearing more about the events and everything. Um, I can't wait. The lineup sounds fantastic. And I just want to say some of the kids in YA books um I've read with my child are just out of interest. Those are amazing too. So I
think like folks are really in for a treat this year. Well done as always. I just having that little behind the scenes of how much work goes in throughout the year to picking it and all the books that get eliminated. I just had no idea um that there's that that much gets considered before you really finalize the selection. So I just
there's so many volunteer hours that go into it. I always want to make sure to highlight that because I'm not sure everybody knows how much time goes in before we get here. So kudos to all of you for for doing that. It's amazing and I would encourage anybody watching really plug in and come to these events. Um they're always so much fun. So thank
you for being here. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. I saw a couple of our volunteers um join on teams. So that's great to see folks joining virtually as well. And also we did start out I think we usually have about 40 books recommended by everybody
in the community and we sort of restart and then um whittle them down throughout the summer. So it's it's a it's a labor of love for sure. >> Yeah, I can definitely tell. Um Jo, do you want to do a photo before we
>> move? Okay, maybe Dora says yes. All right. >> Yes. >> Says yes. If Dora says yes, then we're going to do it. All right, we'll take a five minute recess to do a quick photo. >> Okay, great. Oh, sure.
>> Oh, yes. Fire would love. It was Elvis's daughter. Thank you. >> Good side. All right. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll grab the angels. Yes, I think we're now ready to move on to our next agenda item, which is public comment. Okay, public comment is allowed under council rules. Each speaker is limited to subject matter relevant to this
evening's agenda and must keep comments to two minutes or less. Clerk, do we have anybody signed up for public comment? We do. We have Alana Russell. Hello. How is everyone? Thank you for having me. My name is Alana Russell and I reside at 54 Kimble Street in Malden.
I'm just here to support the order that Carrie McDonald and Steven Winslow have put forth, which states that as a diverse and immigrant-rich community. The limited resources of the city of Malden shall be fully dedicated to address the local needs and priorities of Maldin's residents, businesses, and
visitors. The goal of this order is to provide a safe, livable, and welcoming community for all. No city employees, departments, appointees, processes, or representatives shall assist in fulfilling the unique and separate responsibilities of the federal government, including immigration
enforcement or cooperation with any federal agencies or policies contrary to their stated goal of this order. This order should be followed to the maximum extent permitted by the law, provided that it shall not require the city to break pre-existing contracts or agreements with federal entities. Malden
should be a city where our immigrant and undocumented populations feel safe and supported. What's happening in our country right now with the federal agents murdering US citizens on the street, citizens who are accept exercising their first amendment rights to protest and stand as witness to the
mistreatment of other human beings is absolutely despicable and should be condemned. I'm proud to live in a city where we have such a diverse population and we can come together to support our neighbors during difficult times. This is a moment in history where we need to stand together against authoritarianism
and the harm that the US government is doing. I celebrate um Councelor McDonald and Winslow and fully support the order that they've put forth and ask that the rest of the council support this order as well. Thank you so much for your time.
>> Thank you. >> Okay, seeing no other in-person um comments signed up, do we have any emails to be read? >> We do. So before we begin, I will just start out by saying that we received 36
emails. One was in opposition, two were in support, but recommended amendments to the language, and 33 of the emails were in full support of the paper. the first one. >> Oh, I was just going to explain because I think the last time so when we have
emails that exceed the amount of time available to read, I just wanted to make sure we got questions from the public last time why we might summarize instead of reading all of them. Um, so all of the emails that we received will be attached to the docket. So members of the public that are watching, all of
those can be read when you click on our agenda. It's a hyperlink. You can read all of those afterwards. Um, but we are going to read a selection of the emails received. um particularly as the clerk just stated since some of them state the same position. Um so we'll read highlights of the ones read unless any counselor objects to that which I am
open to anybody can make a motion to disagree and we can read all of them if you would like to exceed our allowable time. Okay, seeing none when we'll proceed. >> Thank you. >> As I just stated so the first one is the one that was in opposition. It says, "Dear Malden City Council, I am writing
regarding tonight's agenda to express general opposition to appointing individuals who are not Malden residents. I believe Malden is entitled to make that distinction, and there is no shortage of qualified residents capable of serving in these roles. I am also writing to oppose paper 72-26.
I appreciate the stated interest in public safety, but we but have several concerns. First, this proposal reads like a rushed attempt to establish sanctuary conditions without explicitly stating so. Other major cities engaged in public outreach, discussion, and
public hearings before adopting similar policies. And Malden residents deserve the same level of due diligence. Second, the language is vague and broad, creating opportunities for abuse and legal liability. Any policy of this magnitude should be narrowly tailored
and clearly defined and consequences for breach of policy should also be explicit. Third, Malden already faces budget constraints and adopting sanctuary policies at this time could jeopardize federal funds critical to public health and safety. The city
spends hundreds of thousands of dollars annually on street lighting because as shared by Representative Ultrino, Malden is not safe enough to turn the lights off overnight as was done in the9s. We need help. Fourth, sanctuary policies conflict with the principle that no one
is above the law. Finally, if the council values free speech, it would not attempt to stifle or chill lawful communication by public employees, creating situations that could violate 8 S. I'm sorry, USC subsection 1373, which
prohibits restricting city employees from sharing information with federal immigration authorities. I urge the council to slow down, engage the public, and ensure any final action aligns with Malden safety, fiscal stability, and core values. And that was from John
Seya. And I left his address in my office. Sorry. He did send it in. The next one says, This is from Thai Lamb of Oliver Street. Dear Malden City Council, I write today to express my support for Order 77-26,
which directs municipal employees and agencies to refrain from assisting federal agencies in immigration enforcement. I believe that the recent actions of the federal government through DHS, ICE, and CBP are direct assault on the rule of law and should be opposed by state and local governments
and their citizens. However, I would like to recommend amending the language of the order. The part of the order that I would like to call into attention is quote, "No city employees, departments, appointees, processes, or representatives, shall assist in fulfilling the unique and separate responsibilities of the federal
government, including immigration enforcement, or cooperate with any federal agencies or policies contrary to the stated goal of this order." End quote. I would recommend the following quote. No city employees, departments, appointees, processes, or
representatives shall assist the Department of Homeland Security or its affiliated agencies in fulfilling the unique and separate responsibilities of the federal government for immigration enforcement. End quote. The purpose of this order is clear, and the language should also be equally clear and
explicit. Prohibiting city employees from cooperating with any agencies or policies of the federal government is overly broad and not specific enough which may have unattended consequences. This is especially true as the city manager of Cambridge and the mayor of Medford have recently laid out in their
stances clearly that oppose these recent series of cruel actions by ICE and associated federal agencies. Sincerely, Thailand Oliver Street. To the members of the Malden City Council, I am writing today to express my support for order 7726 directing city employees and
agencies to refrain from assisting federal agencies in immigration enforcement. I believe that the actions of the federal government through DHS are a direct assault on the rule of law and should be opposed by state and local governments and their citizens. However, I would recommend amending the language
of the order. Um, no city employees, departments, appointees, processes, or representatives, shall assist in fulfilling the unique and separate responsibilities of the federal government, including immigration enforcement, or cooperate with any federal agencies or policies contrary to
the stated goal. Instead, I recommend no city employees, departments, appointees, processes, or representatives shall assist the Department of Homeland Security, or its affiliated agencies in fulfilling the unique and separate responsibilities of the federal government for immigration enforcement.
The purpose of this order is clear. The language should be equally clear. Prohibiting city employees from cooperating with any agencies or policies of federal government is overly broad and may have unintended consequences. Thank you. Bob Fitzpatrick, 66 Medford Street.
Dear city councilors, I am writing to you in support of paper 72-26. Um, and I just I do want to clarify that the actual paper number is 72-76. I know in the last two emails I said 77.
That wasn't a mistake. It was actually a typo in the way that the the constituents wrote the paper. The actual number is 72-26. This will take us one step closer to feeling that much safer in Malden. This past September, we saw how aggressive
ICE treats members of our society and community who lawfully and politely follow the current and correct process through citizenship and immigration services. ICE broke Hernand Escobar's car window and tried to yank him out of the car. Hernand was abused so much that
he was taken from the car on a stretcher. I am really grateful for counselors Carrie McDonald and Steven Winslow for sponsoring this order. I also want to extend my gratitude to Mayor Christensen for helping assist Hernand family and our community during that unpredictable and questionable
time. I know I feel much safer in Malden knowing that you all represent us and advocate for community safety when many feel basically broken brokenhearted. In accordance with the law and in support of paper 72-26, I am writing in support to limit cooperation between city
employees and federal agents who violate the constitutional and human rights of Maldonians. Sincerely, Ali Durac Floral Avenue. Distinguished members of the Malden City Council, I appreciate you taking the time to read this. I wanted to express
my enthusiastic support for Council McDonald and Winslow's proposed order 72. um -26 directing the city not to use any municipal resources to assist with the federal government's so-called immigration enforcement. I don't think
I've ever weighed in on a public comment before. However, this issue is one of the most consequential facing the dis in the last 15 years that I've lived here. It is absolutely critical you all support this proposed order. Let me tell you why. As we've quite clearly seen,
these raids are not about safety. They are about vengeance, terror, and power. There is nothing safe about an unaccounted unaccountable masked secret police going hog wild in our nation's cities. We've seen the consequences. Innocent people injured, permanently
maimed, and even some some >> sumarily. >> Thank you. executed in the street. Not to mention the trauma inflicted on thousands and thousands of families and small children who have done nothing, and I repeat, nothing wrong. But here's what will
contribute to public safety. Reassurance that immigrants can trust our local authorities, access services, and report crimes without fear of reprisal or deportation. This order will send a clear message that the city will not assist in these criminal acts by the
federal government and protect its citizens from the harm the bad actors intend to inflict upon them. It's been a long, strange few years, but make no mistake, this is an inflection point. This is the time to act. Malden has a storied history standing up for what's right when it comes to inflection
points. The distinction of being the first city to endorse the Declaration of Independence comes to mind. At the risk of sounding too high for Lutin, I hope the city council will exercise the same sense of historic responsibility now that our forefathers had then. Please
support this order. Thank you. Chris Caesar, 34 Main Street. I am writing in strong support of paper 72-26. I am a 48year-old white woman and a Malden resident of nearly 15 years. I have benefited from systems that were
not designed to harm me in that real uh really gives me a responsibility to I'm sorry in that reality gives me a responsibility to speak clearly when those systems are used to harm others. Malden is an immigrant city. Our neighbors, co-workers, classmates and
friends are immigrants and the safety of our city depends on trust, not fear. When local government is pressured into acting as an extension of federal immigration enforcement, that trust is destroyed. People stop seeking help. Families withdraw. Everyone is made less safe. This order affirms that Maldin's
limited resources belong to Malden's people. It draws a necessary line against anti-aging im immigrant authoritarian federal agenda that prioritizes punishment over humanity and undermines local self-governance. This is not a symbolic gesture. It is a moral
and practical commitment to dignity, safety, and community care. I urge the city council to pass paper 72-26 and make clear Malden is a place where people belong, are protected, and are not used as political targets. Thank
you. Tasha Bakloski, 78 Bowers Avenue. I'm writing to provide the following comment with respect to paper 72-26 to the city council. I am your neighbor here in Malden and I work in the Malden District Court, now located in Medford,
as an attorney. It has been terrifying to see ICE kidnap criminal defendants, many facing driving offenses or minor misdemeanors, their family members and victims, often of domestic violence, often right from the courthouse. Since
the beginning of 2026, I have seen ICE officers in our courthouse several times a week, and they have arrested three of my clients. One of those clients was a female domestic violence victim who had been working as a cleaning lady in America for almost 30 years and was the sole custodial parent of three American
citizen children. Immigrants, even those with legal permanent status, are afraid to come to court because they know they will be in danger of harassment in arrest even if their paperwork is in order. And they are afraid to call the police when they need help. This creates
a public safety risk to all Malden residents, not just immigrants, because we all depend on one another to report unsafe conditions of all kinds to our police department. Thank you, Juliana McCori, 45 Harvard Street. >> Thank you for also being here in person
to follow up your email. I am writing as a Malden resident to support the proposed 72-7 uh 26 for the city council meeting on January 27th stating that our resources should be dedicated to ourselves in not supporting federal agencies. Federal agents have
proven themselves to be reckless, violent, and intentionally cruel, not only in recent events in Minnesota, but here in Malden, as evidenced by the international car intentional car crash to abduct a resident on their way to work in September. Malden does an
admirable job taking care of our own and we should be focused on helping ourselves and not these agitators. Beyond our moral responsibility, we have a fiscal one as well. ICE has a budget larger than the FBI and Marine Corps combined. They do not require any
additional resources or support from our already stretched thin city. Our town instructions wish for a free and independent state. And it's measures like this that keep us free and independent from federal overreach, extra judicial activity, and outright
fear-mongering in a proud city. Andrew Maderos, 115 Floral A. I also have this. This is um so that was a sampling. Okay,
>> that was a sampling of some of the um longer ones. We also have 19 shorter emails that all basically the same say the same thing. Okay, some of them are only one line. >> I put them all together in um as a batch. I will just read this first one
that says, "We need to make sure our community is safe from the corrupt actions that the Fed agents have done in other communities across our nation. Our state and local representatives need to stand up and push back. This community does not need the federal government and ICE agents patrolling our neighborhoods.
Our di diverse community is what we as Americans should be proud of." Um, and that's from Johan Sedneck, 39 McCormack Street. So, we've gone through about 25 minutes now. Do you want to keep going? >> Why don't we read like one one or two
more? That brings us to our time. >> Okay. I'm writing in support of um paper 72-26 to prohibit cooperation between city employees and ICE and CBP agents. In recent months, these agents have started kidnapping and murdering
American citizens in cold blood, especially in Min Minneapolis. If they start doing the same thing here, I would like to know that the city of Malden will not help them in any way. I support Malden cooperating with federal law enforcement when they are working within the constitution and not
deporting community members. In the current circumstances, I simply cannot trust the federal government. Please vote in favor of paper 72-26. Kelvin Pomerance of Summer Street.
My name is Anna Jeffrey and I live at 28 Weight Street in Malden. I have called Malden my home for 16 years now. I am writing in support of councils Winslow and McDonald's order clarifying the city position on cooperation with ICE and other immigration enforcement. We don't have to look to Minneapolis to see how
dangerous and out of control ICE is. We have already seen them ram into vehicles in our own city. This lawless agency cannot be trusted in any way. They cannot be trusted to tell the truth about violent incidences involving their officers. They cannot be trusted to keep
those they take into custody alive. There were 32 deaths in ICE custody last year and six deaths already in 2026. They cannot be trusted to obey legal orders against transferring those they take into custody out of state or even out of the country. They cannot be
trusted to obey the Constitution of the United States as they terrorize protesters, legal observers, the press, and bystanders. And they cannot even be trusted to undertake the task they are supposedly charged with, removing undocumented immigrants. Time and time
again, they have picked up legal residents and even naturalized or nativeorn citizens in their unlawful sweeps. This has never been about the worst of the worst. It has always been about terrorizing brown people. ICE cannot be cooperated with. They have no
respect for the law, no respect for the people, and no place in our city. I'm writing to express my support for paper 72-26. We are so lucky to live in a community with so many immigrants. It is appalling and deeply
troubling to the rise in fascism around the country and at home here in Malden. We've seen our neighbors get kidnapped when they are driving to work, walking their kids to school, and going to the grocery store. This is hideous and heinous, and we should all be outraged. Let history be the guide. An attack on
the most vulnerable is an attack on all of us. I hope this order is the first in a long line of protections for our immigrant neighbors. And I hope that the city council will take this initial step in ensuring that we protect all Malden residents from the rise of fascist
extremis extremism. Katie Mc uh Katie Dylan, Mount Vernon Street. City Council and Mayor Christensen, please help keep Malden, our immigrant-rich community, strong by not supporting ICE. Our city does not need or deserve federal thugs threatening our
friends, families, neighbors, and co-workers. This diverse immigrant community of Malden being torn apart are not criminals or threatening us. Thank you for standing strong and not assisting the immigration enforcement. Elaine Sedneck McC uh McCormack Street,
Malden. I'd like to voice my strong support of the city order that opposes cooperation with ICE DHS and or any federal immigration groups. As a longtime Malden resident, one of the strengths of our community is that we are made up of a diverse population and we deserve
policies that support our residents public safety and constitutional due process. Our city's resources are better allocated addressing local needs. Supporting this order sends the message that Malden values human lives, constitutional protections, and
strengthens our inclusive community. I urge the council to pass this motion and commit to policies that reflect our shared values of fairness, compassion, and safety for all who call this place home.
Mave Ragusen, 145 Mount Vernon Street. As a Malden resident, I am writing in support of the order being proposed to focus our city's resources on our city's needs and to prevent these resources from being used to further current federal goals, including and especially
those goals that are anti-immigrant. I greatly value my neighbors in our rich, diverse city, and I am strongly in support of this order that aims to provide a welcoming and safe city for all. I am strongly against city employees, departments, appointees,
processes, and/or representatives assisting in fulfilling responsibilities of the federal government, especially our current authoritarian anti-immigrant federal government. Sarah Drapu, 36 Glen Street.
I am writing in support of paper 72-26 prohibiting employees, departments, appointees, processes or representatives of the city of Malden from performing duties that are the unique and separate responsibility of the federal government. This is good stewardship of our financial resources. It is also
essential in the current climate of often illegal, extreme, and dangerous overreach of the federal government into the affairs of states, schools, and individuals. of immediate concern is protecting all of Maldin citizens from the actions of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement. Stacy Gilchrist, 30 Parkside Place. I live on Clinton Street and I am support in support of order 72-26. The federal government, including immigration enforcement, are terrorizing
and separating families, harassing protesters and civilians in murdering people at detention centers and in the streets. We must do all we can to keep them from doing this to our community more than they already have. I would also support outside of the orders
wordings, breaking existing contracts with entities that help serve immigration enforcement like the flock contract. They are using these cameras to collect data and surveil people and limiting their surveillance to our community is an important factor in harm
reduction. Meredith man, Clifton Street. Dear counselors, 11 months ago, Tom Holman, the federal government's borders, promised, quote, "I'm coming to Boston and I'm bringing hell with me." End quote. In Minneapolis, we now see what he meant by hell. He meant bringing
newly hired and barely trained federal agents to terrorize people and disrupt businesses because their politics differ from those of the federal government. Gil Kurlosk, the former commissioner of US Customs and Border Protection, has
stated that CBP IC agents are not trained for urban law enforcement. And now we see the result of allowing untrained and unrestrained and unvetted federal agents into a city. Two innocent American citizens have been murdered by them on video in the past three weeks.
In the few weeks of 2026 alone, nine people have died or been killed by ICE CBP agents. in interactions or in custody. The death toll for 2025 was 32 people. ICE have been recruiting in online groups and from groups such as
Proud Boys, Oathkeepers, 3enters, and other extremist groups. People in these groups have been convicted of violent crimes against law enforcement, including January 6th. ICE and CBP have been sharing memes that our dog that are
dog whistles for racist KKK and Nazi propaganda as recruiting materials. They are a danger to us and our neighbors. We do not want these people in our city. We have our own real law enforcement who do not hide their identities, who are
trained to work here. And who are our neighbors? We all know that when Tom Holman said he was going to bring hell to Boston, he did not mean it would be inside the confines of the municipal boundaries of the city of Boston. We all know that he was referring to the greater Boston metro area, including
Malden. Please do all you can to protect your constituents and your neighbors. Please vote to keep hell out of Malden. And this is from Patrick Hogan, 184 Adam Street. >> Does that conclude our emails? Thank you so much for reading all those, Madame
Clerk. And before we move on to our next order of business, just since I know some folks are here for this agenda item, we do have about one more page of um kind of regular council business to get through before we discuss this. So, you're welcome to stay. Um we'll make sure to get through our other items as quickly as we can. So, if you'd like to
stay for that, please do. Um and I expect we'll be getting to discuss that um pretty quickly. Councelor Ali, >> I would like to request that the chair take that matter out of order so that we can just dispose of it quickly. Otherwise, I could make a motion if you'd prefer. >> Okay. Do we Is there any disagreement on
that? I'm fine to take it out of order. >> Or do you need a minute? Are you okay? Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, we will take paper. >> I think it's page 5, 72-26. >> 72-26.
As our next order of business, >> order that as a diverse and immigrant-rich community, the limited resources of the city of Malden shall be fully dedicated to address the local needs and priorities of Maldin's residents, businesses, and visitors. The
goal of this order is to provide for a safe, livable, and welcoming community for all. No city employees, departments, appointees, processes, or representatives shall assist in fulfilling the unique and separate responsibilities of the federal
government, including immigration enforcement, or cooperate with any federal agencies or policies contrary to the stated goal of this order. This order shall be followed to the maximum extent permitted by law provided that it shall not require the city to break
pre-existing contracts or agreements with federal entities and the sponsors on this paperwork. Council McDonald and Winslow. >> Okay. Councelor McDonald, are you able to unmute yourself? >> I sure am. Can you hear? >> Okay, you have the floor. Yes, we can hear you. >> Well, thank you so much, Council
President. And I just want to thank all of the community members who submitted public comments about this. Um, and I have to say that I don't think there would, you know, that isn't representative of of any
particular amount of like pre-existing uh work on this. As much to say this this is a issue that is front and center for our community right now and we are all watching with horror um as the as we watch these just awful images from
Minneapolis. And and just speaking personally as someone who has friends on the ground there, um it is it is unthinkable. And yet I want to be clear that this order is not about Minneapolis. It's about Malden and that
deportations, arrests, family separations are happening in our community. Um they're happening right now. And a couple of the commenters referenced this. Um, but they're happening in uh they're happening in courouses. They're hap it's happening at
hospitals. Um, I witnessed a deportation arrest on my street that was a parent taking their kid to school. Um, and they arrested the parent. And that is uh
that's the reality of what's what's been happening in Malden for some time. And so I think that while we at the city council cannot resolve all of the all of that, we we do not have um the kind of role that our members of Congress do,
but we can focus on our community and what we can do and we can say this is not going to happen in our name. not in Malden uh will we put one penny as much as we can help it towards advancing this kind of horrific and
anti-democratic anti-onstitutional agenda that is not making anyone more safe. Um this is not actually framed as a sanctuary paper or sanctuary you know order because I actually don't think that that's correct. I don't think that we have the power to guarantee
sanctuary. Um because as I said, these these deportation arrests have been happening in Malden already and we're already getting, you know, information that maybe they could they'll ra they might ramp up again because we've had multiple surges in the past year of ICE and CBP here in Malden. Um and in
communities like us in Chelsea and Everett and elsewhere. Um so what can we do? So we I have had a lot of conversations with different parts of our city government. Um, I think that this order is very aligned with what our current practice is in terms of
departments are certainly trying to avoid um doing anything to help with this uh with the anything that would help or assist ICE in any way that they they're not required to do. Um, and I know we've been getting a lot of questions about this. I've gotten a lot of questions. I know the mayor's been
getting questions. I know many of you have been getting questions of a member from members of our community. So this is not so much a radical change in policy as it is the need to make it very clear where we stand and what the foundation of policy is that we are operating from going forward. Uh because
there are so many unknowns of what is to come. Uh this is definitely uh the most urgent concerns are about immigration enforcement and the what I would say is unconstitutional tactics there. Um and
there are other areas um around health care and reproductive rights um and DEI where the federal government again has already intrusively been trying to get um Malden to answer certain types of questions. Um so I think so that's why
it is that's why it has a broad focus and it is trying to thread the needle between um what is uh what we must do and areas where we really do work together and we do receive substantial federal grants for our schools for our comm community development block grants
for example um that we don't we certainly do not um want to let we don't want to give that up because those areas of joint responsibility but these pieces that are just the federal responsibilities where agenda is being driven. We really want to stay as far away from that as possible.
So, I think it's really important and it's really time to be clear with our community about what this uh about what's the baseline expectation for the resources, the limited resources and the capacity of the city of Malden. Um, and
uh, I do want to say that we have just today going back and forth with the mayor and his staff and um, you know, they they recommended and would like some some more clarity about what what the real boundaries of this are and make sure that there aren't some kinds of
unintended consequences. So, so I am prepared to uh, Council Winsow and I talked a little bit. I mean, I think we're prepared to have this be sent to committee to try to consider some of those amendments. Um, but I I do think time is of the essence and would would hope to see it back on the floor in two
weeks um once we can address those things. The last thing I just want to say is that I I don't think this is uh you know check the box and go home. This is as I said just a foundation and there is so much that I think we as a city can do and need to do and that many of us are doing and that I want to encourage
all of us to do to support the safety and care for the members of our community who are under target and under threat. um supporting community organizations, our immigrant-led community organizations um and and to engage your state legislators too. State, there are a
number of state laws being considered around uh requiring law enforcement um to not wear masks, for example, and looking at immunity questions. So, I would just encourage folks to engage with that. I've been talking to our state delegation about that as well. Um, and I just want to thank Molden PD and
the mayor's office and um the clerk's office and others for a conversation about about what I what I'm going to reiterate is current practice. As far as I can say, I want to say explicitly Malden PD does not hold people um for immigration enforcement reasons. That's
not criminal reasons, but immigration reasons like requests from ICE. And that is um that's state law in Massachusetts from the Lun Commonwealth decision in 2017. but they've been public about that. So again, u making sure there's a firm foundation there. So my hope would
be that we can get to, you know, a strong and clear order that can have broad support um and do so quickly here, if not tonight, than in the next few weeks. Uh and I thank you all for considering this um urgent priority for our city. >> Um thank you, Councelor McDonald. I do
have a lot of lights, but before we go to discussion, I'm hearing that you want to send it to committee. I do want to recognize that we do have our chief, our police chief, and a representative from the mayor's office here and invite them to address us. If you want to speak to what our existing kind of protocol and
practices since the counselor and the sponsor did um reference that, I think it might be helpful to ground our discussion before we get into questions from the council. >> Absolutely. >> Sure. You have the floor. >> Thank you. Good evening, council members. Uh thank you for this opportunity uh to talk to you about this
proposed >> taking up the microphone and putting it there just so we can make sure. Thank you. >> Good. >> Yes. >> Much better. Thank you. >> Want to thank you for allowing me to uh make a statement regarding this proposed order. >> As someone who's interacted with this
community in a law enforcement capacity for over 30 years, I'd like to believe that the vast majority of our residents would support any goal of a safe, livable, and welcoming community. As the chief, it's at the core of what we do every day while striving to protect the rights and dignity of all
members of our community. That said, the proposed order is not one that I support for several reasons. We are department that is heavily guided by state laws, mass general laws, MGL's, code of mass regulations, CMRs, and
departmental policy and in particular our state accreditation policies which guide absolutely everything that a Malden police officer does. Injecting this order language into our policies would be contrary to the many policies enacted by the state and
codified in our state accreditation policies. Adopting local ordinances that must be reconciled with these simply leaves too much room for interpretation. In fact, the very wording of safe, livable, and welcoming is subjective,
and it means different things to different people. It's both unfair and unrealistic to expect our police officers to interpret this in a way that meets the goals of the co-sponsors. I suspect that the same goes for other city employees and departments as well.
I'm aware that many city departments have partnerships with the federal government. Malden Police Department, the Malden Fire Department, Malden Public Schools, Malden Housing Authority, Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development, the OPSCD,
just to name a few, have all received federal funding and/or training at one point or another, and many annually. A categorical prohibition on assisting or cooperating with federal agencies risks intentionally impairing these critical functions, even when that
cooperation has no connection to immigration enforcement and directly serves local public safety priorities. Federal agencies are connected to the Maldon Police Department in the same manner that they are connected to most midsize municipal police departments
through formal routine and legally authorized mechanisms. These connections primarily arise from joint task forces, grant funding, intelligence sharing, training programs, and emergency response coordination administered by the Department of
Justice. For example, the Malden Police Department has offices that participate in FBI task forces such as the Joint Terrorism Task Force, the JTTF, violent crime initiatives,
missing and exploited children, bank robbery task force, just to name a few that we're involved in with the FBI. We work with the ATF, which is Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Agency, on firearms tracing and gun crime investigations. We coordinate with the
DEA, the drug enforcement agency. We partner with them on narcotics trafficking and enforcement. And we work with the US Marshals fugitive task forces. These relationships are standardized nationwide and typically governed by memorandum of understanding
agreements or grant conditions which the Malden Police Department currently has. In addition, federal involvement commonly flows through administrative and operational infrastructure. This includes the Department of Justice grant
programs. For example, Mald Police Department has received the the burn the JAG grant uh year over year. This is funding for victim services and for other public safety initiatives. The Department of Justice grant program
also has another uh agency with an it's called COPS. That's an acronym for concern of police survivors. You all remember Sergeant Michael Geodano, member of the Molden Police Department for years. He died of COVID while serving the city
and he more than likely contracted that while he was working. Cops was able to reinforce a finan give the family financial relief at probably the worst financial time in their lives. We also get access to federal databases
and intelligence products through regional fusion centers. In our case, the Commonwealth Fusion Center, which is tied in with the Boston Regional Intelligence Center. The Commonwealth Fusion Center is connected with every federal law enforcement agency that you could think of.
FEMA is tied in with MIMA, which FEMA is the the federal emergency management agency. They connect with Massachusetts emergency management in in major disasters. Department of Justice federally provided training through institutions like
federal law enforcement training centers and to us in law enforcement circles. We all know this to be Flexy Fleetc or the FBI National Academy which I graduated from in 2006 after spending three months down in Quantico, Virginia. None of these connections are unique to
Malden. These are connections available to all municipalities across the country. This is a standard policing model in which municipal departments are integrated into a multi-layered federal, state, and local law enforcement system. These connections
are ordinary and they're policydriven. To sever our ties to these critical federal partnerships would be completely irresponsible and would undoubtedly place our community in the dark, out of touch, and in danger. Information is the lifeblood that
ensures a safe, livable, and welcoming community. Contrary to the goals stated in the order, it's important to understand that police officers are not situated in the same way as other municipal employees or departments. By the very nature of our profession,
local law enforcement agencies such as ours are inextricably connected to a wide range of state and federal law enforcement partners. These relationships are not discretionary and they're certainly not political. They're rooted in statutory obligations,
court orders, task force participation, information sharing requirements, and long-standing public safety mechanisms. Many of these communications occur through mandatory reporting channels that exist specifically to safeguard our
local community from serious crime, violence, terrorism, human trafficking, narcotics distribution, and other serious threats. a blank statement and I quote, "No city employee shall assist in fulfilling the unique and separate responsibilities of
the federal government end quote is excessive and risks undermining legitimate necessary public safety functions." This approach to me reflects a reaction to a complex and problematic national issue
rather than the operational realities of local policing. Effective public safety requires limited purposeful communication with federal partners when it directly advances the protection of the city of Malden and needs to be free to be accomplished
without any subjective set of goals. While the proposal states that the order, and I quote, shall not require the city to break pre-existing contracts or agreements with federal entities, end quote, this appears intended to mitigate risk. It introduces
significant confusion and operational challenges. The term pre-existing is inherently subjective and in this case is undefined. This creates uncertainty as to which agreements are covered, how long they are covered, how they are
interpreted, and who determines whether the given activity falls within or outside the scope of the protected agreement. More importantly, the language would prohibit the city and by extension the Malden Police Department from entering
into any future contracts, expired contracts, memorandum of understanding, task force agreements, or grant related arrangements with federal agencies, regardless of their purpose or benefit to this community. This could effectively freeze the Mald
Police Department's ability to adapt to emerging public safety needs, access federal resources, or participate in lawful cooperative efforts that are routine for local police departments. I'm going to I'm going to provide you with a couple of examples um and and I'm
sure that um you're going to be aware of at least one of these. One of them involved white collar crime. Just a few years ago, the city's IT system was hacked through no fault of anybody here in the city. These were professionals through a partnership with the United
States Secret Service with whom we have no existing contract or agreement. We called them. They came here instantly uh without question and through their specific expertise mitigated what could
have been a catastrophic release of information. My point is that if this order was in place at that time, reaching out and contacting the Secret Service would have been a violation of the order. This makes no sense to the city.
In another disturbing case, there was a recent press release by the United States Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts. The headline read, quote, "New York man convicted of sex trafficking a minor in forced labor." End quote. He was convicted by a federal jury for
sex trafficking of a minor by force, fraud, and coercion. Transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity and forced labor. No verdict can replace the pain, the suffering, and the lifelong trauma for
that victim. But the perpetrator will be incarcerated for years and unable to reaffend. And I mentioned this case because the young child was a Molden resident. Detective Bob D Salvador at the time and Detective Renee Kelly work closely with
our federal partners in the FBI to bring this case to a conclusion and a conviction. And finally, you know, from an enforcement and compliance perspective, the scope of language prohibiting assistance with quote the unique and separate responsibilities of the federal
government end quote is is so difficult to apply in practice. Many law enforcement activities involve overlapping jurisdictional responsibilities, shared intelligence, and parallel investigations. Without
clear objective standards, the proposed order places officers and supervisors in an untenable position where routine lawful police work could be construed as a violation, exposing the city and its employees to unnecessary legal and operational risk.
Now, I'm aware that this proposed order is a reaction to the immigration and customs enforcement operations. I sent to the city council back in January of 2025 a community newsletter where I outlined our role which is
guided absolutely by Lond versus the Commonwealth which council McDonald recently mentioned. That is the only thing that we really need to have here in this city that dictates everything a local municipality can do in Massachusetts when it comes to immigration enforcement.
And what I put in that letter, every word of it is still true today. Nothing has changed. At the same time, it's critical for me to be clear. The Maldon Police Department does not enforce federal immigration law, will not enforce
federal immigration law, and will not divert local resources for civil immigration enforcement. Our office's role is to uphold state laws and regulations, departmental policy, protect constitutional rights, and ensure that all community members,
regardless of immigration status, feel safe reporting crimes. seeking assistance in engaging with law enforcement. I remain committed to this department maintaining communications with federal agencies regardless of existing contracts or agreements to the extent
required by law and operational necessity and only when such communication directly serves legitimate public safety purposes for this community. This allows us to safeguard the rights of all of our community members, preserve the trust between the police
and the public, and continue to fill our sworn duty to protect the city of Malden. In closing, as the chief of police being charged with the responsibility of our community safety, I respectfully ask the council not to support this unenforcable
proposed order. In my opinion, it does not make the city of Malden any safer. Thank you. >> Thank you, Chief. Um, I think as we have more discussion, I'm sure there may be questions. If you wouldn't mind if we
call you back up, I appreciate it. >> Um, I'm going to go to Councelor Winslow as the co-sponsor and then I do have a number of lights. I'm going to take everybody in order. >> Um, councelor Winsow, you have the floor. >> No, Chief, thank you for your very direct and uh, statement and we
definitely need to look at that memo or whatever. And uh that's why councelor McDonald and I really do want to make sure we pause and think about this carefully. I mean we know we have a government system of federal laws um state and local laws and it's sort of a
tiered approach and um you know it's a strength of our our system to have multiple levels of government but as we see it's a challenge when the leadership of the federal government is um you know
directing things that are um difficult and that's really you know when we talk about Um, you know, think about Malden and 250 years ago, what we face as a community and having um then a a our
government sending troops into nearby cities and towns um shooting, you know, our our neighbors. That's really why we came up and uh spoke and supported the instructions. So, I just want to read a
little bit. So, so 250 years ago, just coming up in May, uh this is what Malden residents said about what was happening then. Um they spoke out against a king who undertook a frantic policy of administration and sent troops and warships intended to
a us into submission and erect a system of despatism in America and call for their representatives to establish an American republic since they would never be willingly subject to any other king. And um you know since councelor uh
McDonald and I introduced this uh events in Minneapolis have even become more horrific. The the um you know really the public execution of Alex Prey a um an ICU nurse helping our veterans um just
working uh being present to document these things. So, um, so that's really we're facing some of the same dilemma Maldonians faced 250 years ago. And, um, I say even my family, um, was in
Massachusetts down in Marshfield and they faced that same dilemma um, being torn both ways. Um, it's not easy and so we um, you know, that's that's really one basis. Um we have to be concerned
because um you know desperatism can uh move stealthily and it's a disrespect for law and order and it's a an authoritarianism really means as we had a king. Um we we back in 250 years ago
said we we will stand up to the authority of an individual who's not respecting our lives, liberty, and property. And that's we have to be ready as a community if that's what continues to happen. Um and uh you know the
Minneapolis massacre that happened this Saturday and and before um was just like we had the Boston massacre a few years before um our revolution. So we we have to be aware of that the this is difficult times and but I do appreciate that our nation has come 250 years and
developed a very complicated set of law um and and and federal superiority. And um but we as a local government 250 years ago faced that and um you know we
fought for rights to speak up to um not have troops in our homes and invading our homes and that type of thing. So um just as I making unwanted searches. So we have to be ready as a community to talk about that. And you know over the
two past 250 years um we have welcomed people of many different faith, cultures and ethnicities and they established homes, businesses and places of worship here and that served as a foundation for nurturing the success of future generations that make up our diverse and
thriving Malden we know today. And um and as the case has been, many Malden families are multi-generational with heads of household, older and younger relatives who may be citizens by birth or naturalization, permanent non-residents, and others seeking or
hoping to become residents. I just happened to come across our 1939 poll book um which listed, you know, every resident. It's interesting that they listed listed not only voting people, but people who had come from other countries. So you see the
multi-generational families. The condoms were in the the shipellis. Um our community has been for 250 years a community where we have people born and you know natural-born citizens as well as people coming from other countries.
So to face a federal government that is working um to break that is breaking Malden. And um we have to stand for the community we are. Um and then uh you know you know I have to appreciate um
the work of councelor McDonald and the chief and Maria Louise. We had um you know all the work of our um you know police uh you know task force and looking at our use of force policy and I came to respect so much what our Malda
police do in terms of keeping our this diverse community safe. And I I tell people that um the police department is a shining example of how to make a community as diverse and comp complicated as Malden be safe and work
for everybody. And we have to stand as a community in the face of what's going on in the nation to say Malden is the example of what we want to follow. And what our police are doing is the model that the ICE should be doing. I'm sure Chief you and all you officers who w saw
that video from Minneapolis that was nothing that would ever happen by a Malden police officer. That is the pitiful thing that we face and we don't whatever we do we don't want that happening in here and we don't want to put you in that that tough situation of
seeing fed people with badges doing something that's against everything you stand for. So, so we stand with you and we will work with you. Um, and that really, you know, the observation, experience, research and community input that establishes those policies and
practices of the police and that developed that trust between municipal officials and communities and focuses our limited resources on safety for and free movement of our diverse mix of population who live, work, study, shop, and worship here. That's what we need to stand for and we need to work together
on. So that's really what I, you know, thought of when councelor McDonald, um, you know, really approached me on this. And I think that's something we do have to, this statement should be about sending the message to our residents and
out to people just like we did at the state and federal level. that the direction the state and federal level need to be going is the way we've been doing this for the past 250 years and not the way it's been happening this
past year and month or whatever. So, that's really what I'm here for and I I do appreciate and everything the police do and and we do want to work that way. Um, let's let's make sure we make that statement the same way Malden stood up
250 years ago that um we oppose frantic policies of administration that are arbitrary and are not in the best interests of our community and the life, liberty, and property um that um is important to build a strong community. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councelor Winsow. I'm going
to next go to Councelor Taylor. >> Thank you. So, I had originally put my light on for a friendly amendment because I appreciate all the work that went into this and all the work um that our police have done. Um, and I know the mayor recently signed on to the amicus
brief and also issued a statement. And I think it's important that we as a city, all the leaders with the police with what they've been doing, their policies, the procedures that they follow, um, with what the mayor has signed on to, that we do
stand in solidarity together and say something together. But I did think it was important to really narrow it down and specify that as more of a statement of support for the community and for um abiding by
the procedures as I said that are already in place and being followed um to kind of bring that together. So if this is going to a committee I guess originally I was going to do a friendly amendment but if we're sending this to committee I'm also fine with that. So
maybe I'll wait and hear what what other folks have to say, but I would like it to be a strong statement of solidarity, all of us >> together working together because I feel that is going to make the biggest impact for our residents and neighbors.
>> Thank you, Councelor Taylor. Next, I have councelor Simonelli. >> Thank you, Madam President. Well, I would just like to uh recommend that uh I I'll make a motion to uh put this into the public safety committee. Uh I think that's where it belongs at this point. I think there's a
lot uh that we have to hash out here uh from what the chief was saying, from the people that were calling in stating. Uh I think people right now uh are generally nervous and scared in society today, the way things are going. Uh, and
I think it's, you know, it's a paper that we're all going to have to work on collaboratively. Uh, you know, just finding out tonight that the mayor's office was involved in and and one part of this and other uh entities were part of others. I think that's why it's
important for us as a council to maybe that's why we have these subcommittees so we can put these things into those. Uh, if you want to vote it up now, up or down now, that's fine. But I think that I think there's a lot more questions that need to be asked and you know what like for instance like what are the
what's the police department doing now? You know we might know some of the things that they're doing. Some of us up here might know more than others but the public don't know what they're doing whether it's cooperating or not cooperating with ICE until we can start having some of these public meetings and
public forums that the citizens can come and they can you know weigh in on it too. I mean, just flat voting on it up here, I don't think is a good idea. Uh, you know, because, you know, people don't get to speak their piece uh from
uh from the uh from the chairs out here in the audience. They don't get to speak their piece. So, I think by putting into subcommittee there, it's a public forum. They can come in, you know, they can see what's going on. they could see some of the things that the police department are doing, aren't doing, the things that
the police uh administration along with the uh current uh mayor administration are working on too that we're not privy to at the moment. >> So that's why I just don't think it would be fair to vote this thing out tonight as it stands. I think we we're better off. So I guess I think that my
recommendation would be making a motion uh to move it into public uh safety committee. Thank you. >> Okay. So I want to continue discussion, but we do have that motion. And I will note public safety is chaired by councelor condom, but we do have both sponsors on that committee. Councilors McDonald and Winslow are both on that
committee. So if we if there's openness to that, that might be >> rules. I think public safety probably is, >> you know, maybe the appropriate thing that might make sense. And >> okay, >> I just think there's a lot more you got to hash out
>> with the elderly statemanship of Paul Mr. Condan will be appreciated and and the input from councelor seek and councelor Simelli will be appreciated. >> Okay. >> So I'm going to go next to councelor Ali in the queue.
So, I want to start by saying that I appreciate the difficult task that M police have and I also believe that that task is being made so much more difficult by the actions of untrained
ICE agents who are making our nation and our community less safe. Um, I know that our chief and the department have done a lot of groundwork to improve the relationship between law enforcement and the community and to see these amateurs
undo and tear down so much effort is really a shame. Um, I approached this as, you know, a descendant of immigrants who need not apply, who came without papers.
And I truly believe that history will view what is happening in Minnesota the way we remember the Boston Massacre. It's that big a deal for people. Um,
and our public safety officials, whether it's the police, our de our DAs like Mary and Ryan, our attorney general Andrea Campbell, we all need to remember our oaths. And
I remember my oath and I want to make sure that if a surge comes to Boston, there is no second Boston Massacre. We cannot have that. Our I'm a student of history and our
founding fathers relied heavily and were influenced by John Lockach who wrote of Republican government in his second treatise in 1889. that men or people being as has been said by nature free, equal and
independent, no one can be put out of his estate and subject to the political power of another without his own consent. The only way whereby one divests himself of his natural liberty and puts on the bonds of civil society
is by agreeing with other men or people to join and unite in a community for their comfortable, safe and peaceful living, one amongst another, in a secure enjoyment of their properties and a greater security against any that are
not of it. Government gets its power from the people. It's not the other way around. So with that said, I agree with the sentiments that have been said tonight
that this order resolution needs work. It needs diligence. It needs engagement. I think that work needs to be done in committee with calm talking and engagement. I'm not a fan of
being performative even though others might not agree. Um, and I agree that public safety would be the committee to put it in. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councelor Ali. Um, Councelor Cologne Hayes. >> Thank you very much. um not going to say
much because my colleagues have um said a lot of what I was going to um talk about, but this is obviously a timely um matter and we've all been scared and hurt and hear back, you know, we've all heard back from our community members.
Um and so I really appreciate my colleagues for bringing something forward so that we could at least start with it. But I did have some questions on it myself. So, I'm glad to hear it's probably going to be um forwarded uh referred to a committee. I did try and um reach out to the chief because I did
have questions um about how this is worded. So, thank you for coming here. That was um very detailed and um thank you for that for all you do here. Um I also reached out for to our local nonprofits. I sent them the wording and asked for feedback. nonprofits who work
on the ground with immigrant populations. Um they wanted to see some more details. So, um, without belaboring that, I'm glad it's going to be referred out for, um, you know, for further talk, but I don't
want to, um, undermine how terrible of a position that we're in now. And that Malden being, you know, uh, 40% of us are, you know, foreign born, we're um, majority minority commiti, you know,
community. We've all heard, I'm sure my my colleagues have heard. I take calls on a daily basis it feels like um lately about families who are scared. They didn't know where else to go. I know I'm working with Luc, so are my colleagues and we're trying to do things on the
down low. I think that our community and our neighbors really this is where we're all stepping up and I'm sure you've all heard there's been community members that are doing amazing things. So we are doing something while we work on this. So that makes me feel good. Um, but
wherever this gets referred to, um, I'm looking forward to a a deeper conversation. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Councelor Cologne Hayes. Councelor Condan. >> Thank you very much, uh, Madame President. Now I know why you made me chairman of public safety. You don't
like me, do you? >> Jesus. Okay. Uh, it was well written on both sides. Uh, I'm not going to paint everybody with one brush.
Okay. I'm sure there's some good officers on the ice team and uh until they come into the city, I'm not going to make up my mind either. I'm really not. There's no reason why I should. I mean,
my crime rate in W two and W three, it's tremendous. And I had a pretty smart guy one time tell me the strength of our community is the diverse diversity we have. And that's what keeps our crime
rate down. And I know it'll stay down. So, I'm a good listener, though. I'm a very good listener. So, there'll be people that bring up things that I want to hear, and there'll
be people that bring up things I don't want to hear. It's you got to look at what we have here as a community. I really don't see the people of Maldon acting the way the people of Minnesota act. I'm sorry. I
refuse to believe that. I lived here 76 years as a boy in Edgeworth and I'm still a boy in Edgeworth, but you know there's a lot to consider here
and those partnerships that we have and I'm a well aware of them we can't do without. All right. There's great great accountability
between all those organizations with the city of Malden. So, we'll see what happens. Remember, Peg Crows is chairman.
>> She resigned. >> Thank you, Councelor Con. Um, Councelor McDonald, I see you have a hand raised. If you can unmute, you have the floor. >> Yeah, thank you so much. Um, really appreciate all the conversation here. Um, and look forward to discussing different approaches in committee. I I
just wanted to clarify based on the chief's comments, you know, that the there really is not an intent in this order. And I and I actually don't think it says this, but um but we but this would be a good example of what we need
to clarify. It is not intended to stop any of the work that we do for criminal enforcement, the any of the good work that the Malden PD does, um any of the investigations that are there. Um that is not that's not really that that isn't the intent. And again,
that that's not how I would interpret it, but I understand the need to clarify that. So that's why I support sending it to committee. But I just wanted to note in all in the in some of the examples provided there um from the chief and I and I do appreciate you taking the time chief to come down and and talk with us and I'd be happy to chat with you by
phone more about this to see if we can figure out how to say what I don't actually think we're that far apart in a lot of these things. I think we just got to figure out how to say it clearly and not say things that we're not trying to say which is the art of the writing. So, um I take no great pride in um you know,
I'm not married to any particular wording here. Um, but I do just want to say clearly, especially for the folks who are watching this, that this is this is not an order that isn't that is about or intended to um hamper our ability to do uh criminal investigations um or
enforce the law uh in the way that the Malden PD does and is charged to do and is our responsibility to do um and is and is all about those kinds of things that the that we mentioned here that um Malden PD actually does not do like enforcing civil immigration procedure.
So, thank you. >> Thank you, Councelor McDonald. So, we do have a motion on the floor, seconded by Councelor Taylor. Okay, we are going to have to do a roll call. So, let's go ahead and do that as soon as the clerk is ready. >> This is >> This is a motion to refer to the public
safety committee for further discussion. >> Council Clone Hayes. >> Yes. >> What? Okay. There's a request to read who's on the public safety committee. Luckily, I had my committees printed out thanks to our clerk tonight. Okay, so
the public safety committee is chaired by councelor Condan. The vice chair is councelor McDonald and the members is councelor Sika, Simonelli, and Winslow. >> You're welcome. >> Council Cologne Hayes, >> yes. >> Council Condan, >> yes. >> Council Crow, >> yes.
>> Council Lewong, >> yes. >> Council McDonald, >> yes. Yes. Council Ali, >> Council Simmonelli, >> Council Taylor, Council Winslow, >> Council President Lahan, >> yes, >> that paper has been referred to public safety. >> Okay, that is referred to public safety.
So, we are sadly not on page five. We are going to go back in time. >> Uh, and we are the way back to the >> rewind to the consent agenda. Thank you all for coming tonight. Okay.
So this evening's consent agenda consists of meeting minutes to be approved, one appointment to be placed on file, six petitions to be referred to the license committee, three papers to be referred to finance, and one communication to be placed on file. Does any counselor have a desire to remove
anything from the consent agenda for the purpose of further discussion? I see councelor Taylor, >> can we just remove out 5426? Um, yes. I don't think we need further discussion or a vote to do that. So,
we'll remove >> Thank you. >> Item 54-26. >> I saw another light. Who would had their light on? Is it >> same one? Okay. So, we will take that up as a separate item. >> Seeing no other lights, do I have a
motion to approve the consent agenda? Okay. Motion by councelor Lewong, seconded by councelor Crow, and we will do a roll call vote. >> Council Cologne Hayes, >> yes. >> Council Condan, >> council Crow, >> yes. >> Council Wong, >> yes.
>> Council McDonald, >> yes. >> Council Ali, >> Council Simmonelli, >> Lord. Council Taylor, >> Council Winsow, >> yes. >> Council President Lahan, >> yes. Okay, the consent agenda has been
approved and we now >> so we'll take up >> 54-26. >> Thank you. Paper 54-26. Order that $300,000 is appropriated from available water sewer enterprise fund retained earnings to fund a legal settlement
between the city of Malden and TUS Construction Incorporated. Okay. So, we have I see our controller and our legal team here. If we have questions or discussion on this. Um,
oh, I see councelor Ali, you have the floor. >> Thank you. Um, so to quote councelor Crowe, um, you know, I feel like this is cart before the horse to some degree. Or maybe it's
>> cart after horse. No, that that's >> I guess that's your catchphrase now. Yes. So, you know, it it appears to me that our legal department um the three individuals sitting in the room tonight um have entered into a legally binding
settlement agreement without having the settlement authority of the city council. Um this t this appears to be a a significant ethical failing in my opinion. Um, and it shows a lack of competence and integrity that is
alarming to me. Um, and I believe that their actions have put the city of Malden in significant legal peril. This is a contractually binding settlement agreement without settlement authority.
And so, um, I don't know where we're at. Um, but I am very concerned with the direction of the legal department and the behavior of our attorneys. Thank you. >> So, I'm just going to remind folks that this is we're looking to refer this
correct to to finance or what do we need to do? >> So, it was on the consent agenda in order to be referred to finance as most um financial papers automatically are. Um, but this paper was actually discussed with the full council. It
might be a little repetitive. Send it back into committee >> and I think the more efficient thing would be to discuss and approve it on the floor this evening. >> Okay. >> Okay. Councelor Simelli. >> Thank you. I a point of information if
someone could give it to me. So this this it what I hate to see happen here tonight is to have roll out what we went into executive session last week for >> which we can't discuss on >> right and would that somehow spill out
into this arena tonight and that we want to be very careful uh and and moving forward in doing so. I'm not I'm not quite clear what we're what the topic is tonight. >> Yeah, I was trying to clarify and I got the procedure wrong which I apologize. So we do need to make a financial vote.
That's what we're doing. >> Yes, councelor Winslow. Sorry, I'm just >> 42.01 says all orders for appropriation to be made by transfer loan shall not be acted upon until the matter has been referred to and reported upon by the finance committee. So, our own rules.
So, we'd have to have a motion to suspend the rules first. We were going to do it differently. >> If you're going any financial paper has to go to finance committee first. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Unless you suspend tonight, right? Are you saying unless you suspend >> Unless we suspend our rules,
>> right? >> Are you you're all >> Yeah, I just want to make >> No, I appreciate that. I appreciate it. >> Second. >> Okay. Council Mali, did you want to speak? >> Okay, you can go ahead. >> Yeah, I would urge that we do not suspend the rules. I I urge that we
refer this to the finance committee for further discussion. Uh, one of the reasons being is I think that um, you know, if it quacks like a duck and it when it waddles like a duck, it's probably a duck. And you know, we're we're attempting or our legal department is attempting to use our water and sewer
enterprise funds that are meant to improve our water and sewer system, replace lead lines to settle a defamation case. Um, there are questions whether or not this violates state finance, public finance laws. Um, I think that we really need real legal
opinions, not um opinions that are being um colored by political uh things. Uh, we need legal opinions. We need legal advice, not political advice. And I really would like to ensure that the Division of Local Services confirms that
we can use these funds that are meant to improve our water system to pay the settlement of a defamation case. Um, you know, I I think it's inappropriate and I really would like our finance committee to look into this and I would like to
actually reach out to the Division of Local Services, the Inspector General if need be to really make sure that what we're doing isn't getting us into more legal peril because I do believe the legal settlement that was signed and agreed upon by the legal department has put us in more legal peril. Thank you.
>> Okay. Thank you, Council Rome. We do have a motion on the floor and I do see some lights, I assume, to discuss the motion. Councelor Cologne Hayes. Okay, I'll take you next and then I want to say for our legal and financial team, I will give you an opportunity to address the questions that have come up.
>> Okay, great. That was going to be one of my questions. Um, >> so I am not a lawyer, nor do I pretend to be one, but I do have some questions for the and it has to do with transparency
to the public. I understand that we went into executive session, so we can't talk about that. But I'm looking at this like as if I was a resident and going, "What is that about?" Usually, when a paper gets referred to the finance committee,
someone presents it, there's a sponsor, um it's usually the mayor. We get some background um before we vote. Um, so my question is just why don't we just re if we refer it to finance at some point, this is probably going to be a question
for legal, maybe we'll have more information that we can give the public. Um, so again, I don't want to get into legal matters, but I am having a problem just approving this without the public completely understanding it. That's
>> and and I just wanted to reiterate also what the clerk had said at the outset was that because we met in executive session and we received that background >> that we have essentially had that committee meeting or that discussion and that is the recommendation as to why we
can if we vote to do so after having discussion and hearing from our legal and financial team that we could proceed to suspend our rules and take that vote on the floor because we've essentially had the discussion that would have otherwise taken place in committee. Thank you. No, I totally understood. >> Okay. Um but thank you for restating it.
Um I still have because it was in executive session. >> My problem was just with the public knowing about it. That's all I understand. We know about it. It's um about the public. So that's the question I have. So thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Councelor Cologne Hayes. Uh next I have councelor Condan.
>> Yes. I'd like to uh pose a question to our legal team. Um, are we under the gun here to have the settle on it by a certain date? >> Uh, Madame President, through you to the councelor. My name is Mark Rumley. I'm
special counsel in the city of Mullman. Uh, the wasn't any final settlement agreement signed in court. In court a week ago this morning, this is Tuesday, so it was a week ago today. We went before both sides, plaintiff and
defendant, went before the judge and reported that during the course of the days before, just three days before there were numerous discussions about settling this case. When that occurs, the court enters an order called the NSAI order, which I have explained
before. And that means you have 30 days to wrap things up. And it doesn't mean that it was finally settled last Tuesday morning because if it was, there'd be no need to be here. But we are here and we have 30 days. So the answer to your question is the court needs to hear back
no later than I believe it's February 19th which is 30 days from last Tuesday uh morning and that was the day the trial was supposed to begin. That was the day we were going to impanel and we reported that we had a tenative meeting of the minds on the settlement of this matter
and this matter which is public record. The complaint is public record was not simply a defamation case. It was based upon contract and there was an allegation of defamation and it expanded as it goes on. So to characterize it simply as a defamation case is
inaccurate to say the least. >> Thank you. Um >> if I might >> Yes, you can. >> Mr. ran again. As far as this is a jury trial, correct?
Now, >> yeah, we're getting >> that was kind of >> might not be Chuck's area. >> It was scheduled for a jury. That's correct, councelor. Now, I've been up here long enough to see some of these things just go kind of wild,
particularly with the jury, but uh did he work on uh this uh company? Did they work on pipes and water lines and Yeah. >> And if they did,
>> does that allow us to use the enterprise fund? Yes, councelor. So, uh, TUS Construction was under several contracts with the city of Malden. Um, there was dispute over some of the the contracts that they that they were under. Some of the
contracts that they may have been been under. All of those contracts were water sewer related. Um, there were no contracts with TUS Construction um, unrelated to water sewer. That so, you know, hence the reason for the appropriation before the council tonight. Chuck, can you just state your
name and title for folks watching at home? >> Sure. Charles Renigan, city controller. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Charles. >> So, you feel comfortable that we because I I personally feel anytime you can settle something like this over three
fiscal years, three years to pay the money that we're resolving it at. And uh that puts us in decent shape as far as getting this off our back. Co
>> correct. I I do want to just reiterate the paper before the council tonight is to appropriate $300,000 today, tomorrow, next week, whatever it might be. Um whatever the future of that settlement is is not what I'm here to
talk about. Is not what the council's voting on tonight. It's it's a one-time $300,000 appropriation from retained earnings from the water sewer enterprise fund, which is the equivalent of councelor McDonald's favorite term, free cash on the general fund. And it's just
it it's simply reserves, right? It's how many how much reserves does a city have in its general fund, in the water sewer enterprise fund, and the other enterprise fund that the council votes on every year is cable access. If you remember a few weeks ago, um a month
ago, uh the council voted to appropriate $50,000 of retained earnings from the cable access fund. So that's all this is. It's just water sewer reserves. >> Okay. I think we can come up with reasons to possibly delay resolving
this, but I think it would be foolish on this council's part to do that because we only got uh What? >> 20 days. >> 20 days to get this thing through the
committee and um get it before the council, suspend rules, and vote it one way or the other. I don't I'm not asking anybody to vote a certain way. However, you know, I think we know what's going
on here a little bit uh with the legal department and they seem to be very satisfied with and Mark has a tremendous amount of experience on this stuff. So, I mean,
we're not lawyers, so I look forward to uh getting this thing on time. So, thank you, Charles. >> Thank you, Councelor Condan. Um, Councelor McDonald, I see you've had
your hand raised. You can unmute if you're able to. >> Thank you, Council President. Um, honestly, I think I could go either way about this. Uh, in terms of voting it on the floor tonight, I do feel like we've had discussion or if we want to send it to the finance committee, we can have a
discussion about this. The thing I just want to point out is that the finance committee can come back with a recommendation on the appropriation, but it just feels like there are a lot of legal questions, legal strategy questions, legal authority questions hanging in the air that we're not going
to be able to resolve. And so I I just want to one make sure we're not referring this to the finance committee to address legal issues that we're really, you know, aren't equipped to do. And if that's where this ends up going, like we can't we can't adjudicate that.
So, um it's I just want to make sure that expectations are clear if we revert to committee and if that those are other questions that they get resolved in the right venue because we're not going to be able to go down that kind of uh deep rabbit hole in the in the finance committee discussions.
>> Thank you, Councelor McDonald. Councelor Winslow. >> Yeah. Um I I do you know I I appreciate councelor Ali's raising the issue of just making sure that um you know this uh you know
the water and enterprise fund is an appropriate place to draw these funds from. Um and if there's a state guidance on that I I don't know if that in executive session we really particularly address that type of issue. So, um, so I
though I, so I'm sort of reluctant to spend the rules. I mean, we have enough time to get an answer from that, um, and then come back to vote on it. So I'm I'm sort of I I actually having I am an at
you know been an attorney um working for the government and you have those situations where you negotiate with another attorney and you have this is subject to you know decision by your client. The other thing being a government attorney it's not always
clear um who has authority um in the government agency to make that decision. So, um, so that's kind of what we wrestle with. But I think essentially what, uh, has been made clear to the council is that this 30-day, uh, NIC agreement is sort of that type of thing
where our attorneys, I mean, I think we've had this discussion that it's clear that, um, the reason why we have a city solicitor is its office is to handle the legal disputes of the city and make resolution of those. So, I
think it's within the authority and I think that uh my belief is that thei solicitor's office is following the appropriate procedures and u working with the mayor's office and the council to to resolve this in a um reasonable and transparent manner. And I I think we
heard in executive session what the the the um legal um you know and and strategic basis for that was. So I'm confident in um what the council is but you know having you know I don't want to approve an appropriation that would not
you know you know if there is I guess Chuck okay >> I guess I I would maybe just ask a question of Chuck is there uh you know I know like in terms of you know we have all these public records requests there's there are agencies that sort of help guide municipalities on certain
decisions of under state law. So what you know is uh you know local services division is that where you turn for guidance on what you can spend money for and is this a question that's been asked and is is that would you reach out for
them for guidance or that type of thing? Is there >> Yeah, council. That's a a great question. I was just about to walk over to um to Mark Rumley to um I've reached out to the uh Department of Revenue, Division of Local Services on several occasions to ask for I don't want to say
legal advice, but you know, financial advice from a legal standpoint. And 100% of the time their answer to me was reach out to your city solicitor. Um get an opinion from your city solicitor. And that is what they 100% of the time recommend to to to Malden and every
other all the other 351 cities and towns. >> So they don't have like a you know like often there's opinions about you know from the secretary of state's office about public records and or you know or contract. So they don't have that kind of >> No. So I think the problem is this
example it's so specific there would be no general >> you know like like a drop down on an FAQ. Okay. as to the city of Alden versus Tus Tus construction. This is so specific that um there wouldn't be just a standard yes or no. >> So So they did they have guidance though
that you might typically look you know in terms of you know how to you know what you can you know I know there's like specific guidance we can't uh pay someone for um something that hasn't been delivered. So that's sort of there's >> so that's a state law. So, so again that
would come come back to legal advice where they would say reach out to your city solicitor. Um, you know, if someone, you know, developed a, you know, a good relationship with someone, they might give you legal advice, but more often than than not, they would simply say reach out to your um local city solicitor.
>> So, I guess I'd ask the solicitor's office, is is it your advice that the city could make this appropriation or is that something you need to take more time and we should take to the finance committee? So, I guess that's the the question I have if uh that would be the
only thing I'm really looking for the finance committee to to consider if we you know not suspending the rules. So, yeah. >> Good evening. Alicia McNeel, city solicitor from Walden. Yes. Um, uh, Council Wins Winslow, I did check with,
um, the controllers's office regarding the water and sewer fund, and it is my understanding that that is the fund that we would use to pay uh, for this type of uh, litigation settlement. So you're saying you referred to Chuck or did you
I'm just saying is is that so it's your legal opinion that we can spend water and sewer enterprise funds on this particular settlement. Is that >> Yes, it is. After I I did consult with um our controller and it is my legal
opinion that this is where the funds would be um legally come from. >> All right. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Right. That answers my question. >> Okay. And I just want to reiterate that the both um our solicitor and controller reiterated the same opinion to me when we were docketing this as well.
>> Okay. >> Um I I would appreciate also just um circling back to councelor Ali's question though. I don't know maybe this is for both of you. The the question about whether this affects capital projects and lead lines I think is one that we're all going to get followup
from the public on the the legality of whether we can use this money and whether it's taking away from other things I think is two different things. things I want to be really clear on. >> Sure. Uh great question. So this is the paper before the council tonight is
unappropriated money within the water sewer enterprise fund. So every year um a water sewer enterprise budget is presented to the council. Uh the 300,000 before the council tonight is unappropriated um unspoken for. So it
was not allocated towards lead lines. It was not allocated towards water mane replacement. Uh the current balance as of July 1st 2025 2025 of retained earnings in the water sewer enterprise fund was 963,000
I believe. Um so the request before you tonight is to appropriate $300,000 of that $963,000 which is unspoken for. So it in absolutely no way is it taking away from any work today. Not to say that a year
from now, two years from now, we couldn't appropriate that $300,000 for something else, but as of today, um this day in January, whatever the date is, um no, it's not spoken for to do any capital projects.
>> Okay. And if we did want to take this to the finance committee and come back, we would be looking at was it February 10th? >> February 10th. Is that in relation to the February 19th deadline, is that
workable or is that really cutting it too close? >> Well, as I've stated on this case before, the settlement was tentative. So, there are other elements to it that are non-monetary. They deal with procedures before the court. We're trying to wrap all of those up before
the 19th. And it would be nice to have the the payment of 300,000 ready when we're ready to sign a final settlement agreement. There are uh various elements to that that are being talked about right now, but are not finalized. So, it would be nice to have the payment aspect
of this uh resolved as quickly as possible so that we can resolve the rest of that. But I can assure you that those matters which are procedural and have to be set forth in writing which are non-monetary, no one's going to be signing those until that check is ready. I want to have that
done simultaneously. Here are the documents. Here's the check. Here's the pen. And then the case gets resolved. So if we cut it too close, then we're going to have to go back to court and explain what happened and how come the matter isn't finally settled. And if that
occurs, and I'm just speaking hypothetically now, if that occurs, then the other side, their attorneys can try to uh ask the court to ascribe attorney's fees for them on top of uh any settlement because of the delay in this matter and that's not a very
prudent way to conduct business. So the answer to your question is two weeks from now, I believe, is still before the 19th, but it does make things difficult in order to finalize this tenative settlement. Okay, I'm going to continue taking questions
from the council. Councelor Cologne Hayes, thank you. Sorry. Um Charles, can you please step back? So, I'm having a hard time um
voting for this. Um not because of legal issues. I understood that fully in um executive session. And I understand um what's going on here with the appropriation from the lead pipe fund um funding. Why didn't we use
free cash so none of this lead pipe conversation could be you know brought up? One of the things I'm thinking about now is I understand it's not appropriate right now. What if down the road, you know, we want to continue to replace our lead pipes. Do
you think is this going to um make it so that we are are um having less lead pipes because we've already taken money from it? So what was the difference between free cash and the enterp? So the paper for before the before the council
tonight as as I said earlier the reason that we decided to use uh the water sewer enterprise fund retain earnings was because the contract and the the the current contracts and the potential future contracts with TU's construction
were 100% related to water and sewer. >> Uh so the reserves the retained earnings and the water sewer enterprise fund were chosen for that. Legally, could we use the general fund reserves to pay that? Sure. On the reverse side, legally we couldn't
use the water sewer enterprise fund to pay for a nonwater sewer expense. >> Got it. >> Um, so I mean to answer your question, yes, we could use general fund reserves to pay for it. Um, but that was not the scope of the projects that we were under
contract with. that was water sewer related and that's why the recommendation was to use retained earnings. >> Okay. And that's because >> it could leave us with more free cash for other products. You know that I understand what you just said there. So
that's why you're using >> it's helping us like reserve our >> it's maintaining its identity, right? So the intent was water sewer. Um so that's that's all it's doing. It's maintaining the identity of the you know the purpose. >> Okay. Um thank you so much. So, I'm um
I'm not going to vote um yes on this. I just uh I'm having an issue with transparency to the public um about, you know, about this funding which usually happens in finance. So, I'm sure it'll pass, but that's just let
everybody know. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Cologne Hayes. Um Councelor Simelli, >> thanks. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, so can this money be carried over at all? The money that the $300,000 if we didn't use it for settlement, would that money
be able to be carried over? Even though it's not mock money now for specific uh projects, but if we did have one, let's say one of us counselors, I pipe burst in the middle of the street. Had little street all over. It comes out to like $300,000. So we'd have less
because we're using it for that, right? >> Yeah. >> Be able to carry it over if you didn't have to use it. I guess is my question. >> Correct. Yeah. So, the the water sewer retained earnings, the general fund free cash every June 30th. The fiscal year closes out. Um, we do our year-end
books. Uh, we submit that to the Department of Revenue and they certify on an annual basis normally in October. Um, gives us a couple of months to close out the books. They certify the new fiscal year's free cash andor retained earnings appropriation. So, anything
unspent this year carries over into next year. >> Okay. So, this is untapped money that potentially any one of us councilors can use for a project in their district. >> Only after an appropriation. >> Only after the appropriation. All right. Yeah, I guess that's I'm
answered. Thank you. Uh >> oh. >> No, it's good. I'm good. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Councelor Simelli. >> Um, councelor Ali for the second time. So, I just want to put it out there that when councelor Winslow asked our city
solicitor what she did to determine what her legal opinion was, she didn't seek any legal advice. She instead went to a non- attorney and asked the non- attorney what his legal opinion was. That's what I heard. I think that is not
appropriate. I don't think that's a real legal opinion. I think it's your gut feeling, but I don't think it's based in the law. Um, and I guess the question I would ask, the hypothetical I would ask is if a member of our water department took a a copper water pipe and decided
to murder someone while on the job, would we be able to settle the murder case with water and sewer enterprise funds? >> I'm not going to answer that hypothetical because I don't know. There's a lot of things that would uh we would h I would have to evaluate for to answer that hypothetical. That's number
one. But going back to your comment, I did not talk to our controller to seek a legal advice. I consulted with our controller to determine whether or not we could use that fund for this
particular um settlement because that was the fund that was involved that was the type of fund that was involved with the contract. So for you to say that I said that I checked with the controller seeking legal advice. No, I did not seek
with the controller. I did not speak with the controller to seek legal advice. And I'm not sure why I would seek another opinion from another attorney if I've done my own research on whether or not we could use this fund.
>> And what was that research? The research was talking with attorneys in my office, doing some legal research on Lexus, talking and and doing other uh research. >> Yeah. I mean, I don't see the connection. My understanding is that in
open session, our legal department was heard conferring with the uh opposing council about reccharacterizing making sure that this the settlement was not characterized as a as a settlement for the defamation suit even though that is what the bulk of the claims are. My
understanding is that there's a small portion of the claim related to um whether or not uh some of the material removed was ledge versus just urban infill. And um that claim was maybe around $100,000 or something around that
like. But the bulk the vast majority of the claim the millions of dollars of claim was related to a incident that happened months later. uh that that is characterized by the oppo by the plaintiffs as as defamation. Um I I
think it does not pass the smell test. Um I'm very disappointed in the legal department you provide this type of advice that puts us in legal peril. Um the question I would ask is what happens if we do not accept or we do not accept this settlement? What happens if we do
not decide to fund this? Um, I've read the the last sentence of the judge's order that uh barring unusual circumstances beyond the controls of the parties, however, this case will not be returned to the active trial list,
failing the timely filing of an agreement for judgment or stipulation of dismissal. The parties are free to enforce their settlement agreement either in this court by way of motion during the NI period or separately or a separately filed action for breach of
contract. So the judge is characterizing this as though there is a binding contract. >> Councelor uh Ali, >> what happens if we do not pass this? Council Omelly, I'm not sure where you're getting your evidence or your your information rather from in terms of
how much of the the dispute was related to defamation and how much was related not only to trench versus rock, how much was related to other contracts. I'm not sure where you're getting your information from, but that is incorrect
what you're stating. What was incorrect about it >> about because you're saying that the vast majority of it was related to defamation. >> My understanding is that the claim was based on what was publicly available that there was a bad reference that then
caused th this contractor to lose contracts in other communities. >> Okay. >> That was the bulk of the claim, my understanding. Is that not correct? >> That is incorrect. I'm not sure how. So, so based on your reading of a complaint, you could determine what monetary value
was associated with the defamation versus the contract part of it. Is that what you're saying? >> Based on reading a complaint, >> my understanding >> is that what based on reading a complaint? >> A very small portion was related to this
dirt thing and the bulk of it was lost contracts. That's my understanding. >> Your understanding comes from reading the complaint. My understanding comes from many different places. >> Okay. Um I'm going to let uh Attorney Mley answer your question.
>> Defamation, excuse me, defamation is uh mentioned in the complaint. When a case goes on in trial, there are many different things that unfold. Not only was the basis of the original complaint both contract and defamation, but as
time went on through the first trial and into the second trial, judges were making particular rulings or reserving particular rulings. One of the elements of this case which makes this far away from defamation was the allegation of the plaintiffs and you'll find this in
Judge Pina's uh omnibus order where he reserves judgment on whether or not the actions of the city of Malden to terminate the contract not defamation but to terminate the contract led to a
number of other contracts that the plaintiff couldn't met. There were 13 of them just up to the time in between the time period after Malden terminated the contract which was in September of a particular year. I think it was 23. Uh
it was terminated by uh Kate Fallon. And then afterwards they had 13 contracts that they couldn't get. None of those contracts had anything to do with defamation. And if you added up the bulk of those 13 contracts and the opportunities that the plaintiff couldn't get, that added up to $19
million. Now, if we take that if a jury came back and even said that they could have three or four of those contracts and not the 13, even that would have led to a judgment against the city of applying all the percentages there, a
judgment against the city of multiple million dollars. And then you apply, and this is part of the analysis that trial lawyers do. Then you apply the interest, which would have gone back to 2021. And even if they only got four, the
judge g the jury would give them just four of those 13 contracts, the judgment against the city would be millions of dollars, millions of dollars alone. Thus, we came to the agreement that we came to just in order to take that risk
and to make it re to try to make it into a real number. I don't want to wax poetic, but in Willy Wonka, there's a there's an expression where it says never doubt what no one can be sure of. So, we don't doubt what a jury could come back on. But I assure
you this, this jury would have come back in a place which was in my estimation much higher than the agreed settlement. It's reasonable. It's prudent and it serves the taxpayers of this community. >> My question was what happens if we do
not approve this? You didn't answer my You didn't answer my question. My question >> You did ask me a question. >> It sounds like you were deferred to by the city solicitor. What happens if we do not approve this is what my question was. Well, again, we'd have to see what happens. But if I was on the other side and this wasn't approved, at some
juncture, I would come back against the city and say, "We had a tenative deal and they just totally and completely ignored it and I'd ask for attorneys fees." At very least, that would happen. And at very most, a judge might say, you know, that did happen and there could be other sanctions and there may be by some
judge the ability to enforce a judgment against the city. I don't know exactly what would happen because I don't have that crystal ball, but I do know something would happen and what would happen would not be good for the city of Malden. That's what would happen.
>> Which brings me back to my cart before the horse. How can you enter into a contractual settlement agreement without getting the approval of the city council? >> Yes, you may. >> It was it was it was inappropriate. This vote should have happened first. This
should we should this we should have been known. We should have known about this beforehand. As we know, this shouldn't even have been in a second trial. So, I just say I think it makes no sense to rush into this. I think we need to get our ducks in a row, make sure what we are doing is legally
allowed >> and that we're getting good advice. Thank you. May I, Madam President? Yes. Just briefly, >> the the knowledge of this council about this case really goes back to the executive session that we had after the first trial. So, there was knowledge of
this case certainly, but the what I want to address is this. The question really comes down to is how do negotiations unfold? And in this case, the negotiations on settlement happened in the three or four days prior to this trial. That's when they got heated up. We had had a certain
point where we said, "It looks like it's not going to settle." And on the Saturday before the Tuesday, all of a sudden, the plaintiff called and said, "Can we talk?" And so, there was a series of conversations that happened after about 3:00 on Saturday, right through Monday on Martin Luther King
Day. They went all the way through. I don't know the number of calls there were, but there are a lot of them. And we were all involved in the discussion. And we discussed this with the mayor's office and the mayor. Talk to the mayor that Saturday night and Sunday and Monday who is the chief executive
officer. Now ask yourself, what if I said to myself, well, let's go to the council first. You would have had about 15 or 16 phone calls and we would have tried to reach a consensus among the entire council at that point. Doesn't make any sense in terms of negotiation.
The executive power is in the mayor. So he said that's the tenative deal. Let's just see how it goes. So, we told you about it as soon as we could. That night, on the day of the trial, the mayor as the chief executive was able to go through the parameters and shape the
possible tenative agreement. And now we come to the council. Why? Because the first payment on this tenative agreement is $300,000 and you are the appropriating body. It's really quite elementary and that's why we're here. So
to try to characterize it as some type of backdoor deal, some type of illegal process coming forward does not do you a service. You are being asked to do what you were called to do under the charter, which is to appropriate money. And so that's where we are. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Um Councelor McDonald, you've been very patient. You can unmute your mic. >> I just wanted to call the previous question. Councelor Winslow, do you have a question on that?
>> I'm so sorry I keep flicking your mic. >> One qu one more question for council uh controller Rangan. Um it's come up related to uh being able to fund lead pipe removal. We as a council voted for
an MW or a zero interest loan that basically covers that anyway, right? So we have we have a sort of almost a um an equity loan that we can tap when if we when and if we need it. Right. So so we have the financial resources to do
that. So >> absolutely for so for for lead pipes the council has voted um year over year over the last I don't know for four or five years to appropriate threequarters of a million dollars in the enterprise fund for lead pipe removal. Uh the MWR 0% loan. Uh we have a federal earmark that
um Katherine Clark secured for us. So there's multiple funding sources. Uh we have been over the last you know five years ultraaggressive um in doing that more than doubling the um the the D mandate. Um so by no means is is the
replacement of lead lines going to be slowed down by a $300,000 appropriation. >> Right. Right. because I thought we just within the past year we voted specifically on a paper that the MWA started a zerointerest loan program. So that's that's what I remember. So all right. Thank you very much. Great. Great. >> Thank you, Councelor Winsow. Okay. Um
I've lost track of the motion on the floor. Who made that? >> We've got a motion by council >> motion by councelor Condan seconded by council Simali to suspend the rules for the purpose of voting this financial paper on the floor.
>> Okay. Yes, I'm ready. No. Council Condan, >> yes. >> Council Crowe, >> yes. >> Council Lang, >> yes. >> Council McDonald, >> yes. >> Council Ali, >> Council Simelli, >> yes. >> Council Taylor,
>> yes. >> Council Winsow, >> yes. >> Council President Lenn, >> yes. >> Okay, so the rules have been suspended. >> What was the vote to suspend the rules? >> That was 8 to2. >> Okay, 8 to2 to suspend the rules. Okay, do we have a motion? Okay.
>> Clarifying question for councelor Ali. You have the floor. >> I just wanted to clarify suspending rules is 2/3 or or 34s. >> It's 2/3. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, councelor Ali. Um so a motion by councelor, seconded by councelor Simonelli
>> to this would be to approve the order. >> Approve the order. Council clone Hayes. >> No. >> Council Condan. Yes. >> Council Crowe. >> Yes. >> Council Lewong. >> Yes. >> Council McDonald. >> Yes. >> Council Ali.
>> Councelor Seelli. >> Council Taylor. >> Yes. >> Council Winslow. >> Yes. >> Council President Lahan. >> Yes. >> So again, that was an 8 to2. The order has been approved. >> 8 to2. The order >> is adopted.
>> Okay. Thank you everyone. We are still on page three. Uh, and we didn't do the consent agenda itself, did we? Or did we get through that? We did. We did. Okay. >> We did approve the consent agenda. And we're moving on now to um paper 56-26
council reappoint. Lisa Kagno. >> Oh, I don't think we did 55. Did we do the planning board? >> I'm sorry. Paper 55 was part of the consent agenda. I'm sorry. Been placed on file. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, council reappointment Lisa Kagno 31 Quincy Street as clerk of committee said term
to commence upon confirmation by the city council and to expire on January 31st, 2028. >> Okay. On a motion by councelor Crowe, seconded by councelor Simonelli to approve. We will call the role.
>> Council Clone Hayes, >> yes. >> Council Condan, >> yes. >> Council Crowe, yes. >> Council Lewang, >> yes. Council McDonald, >> yes. >> Oh, council Ali, >> yes. >> Council Simonelli, >> Council Taylor, >> yes.
>> Council Winslow, >> yes. >> Council President Lennan, >> yes. >> So that is approve. Confirmed. >> Okay. >> Unanimously. >> Okay. >> Okay. Paper 57-26. >> Mayoral reappoint. Angie Lao of 35 Mount
Vernon Street, Boston as a member of the affordable housing trust fund board said term to commence upon confirmation by the council and to expire on January 31st, 2028. >> Okay, councelor Crow for the appointment. >> It has been, you know, our um sort of
practice for reappointments, bayoral reappoints that um we actually approve them on the floor. I did hear I'm open to debate in in someone's public comment, you know, they're because they're not Malden residents. And so I
do want to explain that um two of the people that are on the affordable housing trust are not Malden residents, but that is because they have an expertise in in affordable housing and housing development. So be when we have boards and commissions, we can kind of
go outside the for specific things. So, I want to make a motion that we approve um the next mayoral reappoints. >> And I'd actually like to speak to this one as well because I am the appointee to the affordable housing trust fund
board. I think um with with with Brian and Angie, you know, when you're putting together a slate of appointees to a board like that where you require specific expertise, >> it's important to obviously to get the the mix of expertise that's needed. But in Angie's case, she's executive
director of the of a community development corporation that is serving and building in Malden. Right now, we don't have a CDC exclusively based in Malden. They're building two properties right now. I think we've been lucky that Angie has served. Um, and you know, again, Brian comes from the financing
world. These are seats that, you know, if I I think if at any point there was a Malden resident that fil that filled a similar role, there's no reason why we couldn't have a Malden resident. But at the moment, this is two highly qualified folks who are serving roles that directly serve the community and are
actively building affordable housing projects in the city right now. So I it is a question that I get a lot um as someone who's on the on the affordable housing trust fund board and you know Roxanne as a resident contributes in a in a really deep manner. So I would look
for >> eloquently explained. >> Yeah. Well, I feel strongly about it because it's a board that's doing good work and I don't want their expertise to be disparaged either. Um, and who seconded that? My apologies. Council Simmonelli. >> Yep. I have Cro Simmonelli to confirm
>> um paper 57 which is Angie. >> Okay. So, we should we can we read them all? >> I was going to ask because it sounded like you said I think I wanted to make for multiple papers. Okay, that'd be great. >> So, let me read them all.
Paper 58-26, mayoral reappoint of Roxan Regen Wild of 35 Vancra Road, I'm sorry, Braftoft Road, Malden as a member of the affordable housing trust fund board said term to commence upon confirmation by the city council and to expire on
January 31st, 2028. Paper 59-26 mayoral reappoint Brian Slater of 195 Beach Avenue Melrose as a member of the affordable housing trust fund board said term to commence upon confirmation by the city council and to
expire on January 31st 2028. So this is Crow and Simo on all of them. >> Council, >> I was going to say we have to do a roll call for all of these, right?
>> One roll call for all three. >> Council Cologne Hayes, >> I'm sorry. Did you have your light on? Did you have a question? I'm so sorry. No, you know what? It's It's not a question and I am going to vote yes to this. I just feel like I wanted to give a shout out to Roxanne. Um we've talked a couple of other uh folks, but Roxanne
Readington Wild is phenomenal and she does so much work here for housing and um and she does live in Walden. Um so I figured since Brian and and Angie were mentioned, I'm going to give a throw out. So, but go ahead with the vote. Thank you. >> Okay. So, you said yes to all three of the appointments. Council Condan, yes.
>> Council Crow, yes. >> Council Lang, yes. Council McDonald, >> yes. >> Council Allen is not in the room. >> Council Simonelli, >> Council Taylor, >> yes. >> Council Winslow, >> yes. >> Council President Lahan, >> yes. >> Okay, so all three of those have been
reconfirmed. >> Paper 60-26. order that the city council opt the city of Malden into early in-person early voting for the 2026 special municipal election and to designate the city clerk's office 215 Pleasant Street, room
22 as the central early voting location during the regular city hall business hours from Monday, March 16th through Thursday, March 26th. Okay, any discussion on this or be looking for a motion to adopt? Okay. So, moved by councelor Taylor, seconded by
councelor Winsow. We will call the role. >> Council Colon Hayes, >> yes. >> Council Condan, >> Council Lewong, >> Council McDonald, >> yes. >> Council Simmonelli,
>> Oh my god, we need to take a recess after this. >> Council Taylor, >> yes. >> Council Winslow, >> yes. Council Mali, >> paper 60-26, opting into early voting for the special municipal election. Thank you, sir.
Council President Lahan. >> Yes. >> Okay, so that paper that order has been adopted. >> Paper 61-26. Order that the city council designate the following locations as polling places for the entirety of the 2026 election cycle. in our normal
polling locations or in explained in the body of this paper. Nothing has changed from last year. >> Okay. Any discussion on this or do we have a motion to adopt? >> Okay. Motion by councelor Winslow, seconded by councelor Luong. We'll call the role.
>> Council clone Hayes. >> Yes. >> Council Condan. >> Yes. >> Council Lewang. >> Yes. >> Council McDonald. >> Yes. >> Council Ali. >> Council Simonelli. Council Taylor. Councelor Winslow. >> Yes. >> Council President Lahan. >> Yes. >> Okay. That order has been adopted
unanimously. Paper 62-26. Order that the city detail a minimum of one officer for each polling building to be determined by the chief of police and the city clerk or their respective design. >> Okay. Any discussion, questions? Do I have a motion? Motion by councelor
Taylor. Seconded by councelor Lewong. We'll call the role. >> Council Cologne Hayes. Yes. >> Council Condan. Yes. >> Council Crow. >> Yes. >> Council Lang. >> Yes. >> Council uh McDonald. >> Yes. >> Council Ali. >> Yes. >> Council Simonelli. Council Taylor.
>> Council Winsow. >> Yes. >> Council President Lahan. >> Yes. >> Okay. That order has been adopted. Thank you. >> I'm going to call a fivem minute recess to give people just a quick break. >> I'm dropping like flies here. >> I need some water, too.
Me too. Everybody's back. >> Just can I just colleagues? Can I just note your microphones are on? That's all. >> Yes. will come to order. Next order of business. >> Paper 73-26. The council will address the open
meeting law complaint filed by Bruce Freeman of 8 Marvin Street on January 21st, 2026 against the city council related to the emergency meeting of January 20th, 2026, which was posted under the provisions of MGL chapter 3A section 20B.
>> Thank you, Madame Clerk. Um, at this time, I'll invite our legal team to address the council. Oh, helps if I put on your podium mic, doesn't it? Thank you so much. >> Hi, good evening. So, here's Sami, assistant city solicitor. So, um I think
you guys know the routine uh when a open meeting law complaint is made to a public body, which is you. Uh you guys will first put it on your agenda and then decide how you want to respond. uh very often in the past you have referred
it to the city solicitor's office to respond and um we will be happy to do that for you and um I think I've explained to you before I always try to do an investigation into the complaint. Uh I try to even
reach out to the complainant to see if they have any facts substantiating the complaint. Uh occasionally I hear from them often times I don't. But I always like to give them the opportunity. Uh I oftentimes will if I feel the need to speak everyone to every one of the city
councilors uh and anyone else who may have knowledge substantiating the complaint. Uh and I'm sure I will uh do a thorough investigation in this one like I do in all of them. And I actually wanted to ask the chair uh if
you could allow me to request from the complainant um more information to substantiate the complaint. That does a couple of things. Um, uh, it helps the investigation, but it also gives us a little more time to
respond, um, under the rules of the attorney general's uh, regulations under the open meeting law. So, um, I may not need the time, but it's always nice to have it just in case. And um given how serious some of these allegations are with
fraud and lies and whatnot, I sure we want to do a thorough investigation so we can tar and feather those who are responsible. Um so I would ask the chair if I could uh if you could just delegate to me the um the requested request the
authority to request more time from the complainant if the u if you refer it to our office. >> Okay. Any questions from my colleagues? Bless you, Councelor Ali. Whoops. Hang on. Okay,
you have the floor. >> Yeah, I just want to go on the record uh for your report that um I do not believe that there was an emergency. I think I said similarly uh last week when I um objected to us going into exe executive session. Um and as we know, we were not
asked to take any action in executive session. So there was no reason to go into executive session. Um we could have had executive session today uh when the legal department could have asked us to vote to approve the settlement that they
entered into. There was no reason to do it on an emergency basis last week. Um it could have been done today and and if if it was done today prior to um them entering into an agreement without our approval, um it would have allowed us to do the due diligence that we had a right
to do as a city council. Um, so yeah, I I I do not believe that um it was an emergency and I and I think it was an open meeting law violation. So that would be my statement that I'd ask that you forward to the attorney general. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Councelor Ali. Any further questions, discussion, or motion to refer to the legal department? Okay. So, we have a motion by councelor Crow to refer to the legal department with a with authority from the chair to ask for an extension.
>> Yep. Council Cologne Hayes. >> Yes. >> Council Condan. >> Council Crow. >> Yes. >> Council Wong. >> Yes. >> Council McDonald. >> Yes. >> Council Ali. Councelor Taylor. >> Yes.
>> Councel Winslow. >> Yes. >> Council President Lenn. >> Yes. >> Okay. So that matter has been referred. >> Okay. And the vote on that was how many are we left with now? >> That was an 8 to1 vote. >> 8 to1 vote that was referred. Okay.
Thank you. Next order. >> Paper number 74-26. Committee report. The standing committee on license to whom was referred papers 2 through 15 and 27 through 29. series of 2026 having considered the same make the following report. Committee recommends these
petitions out favorably to the full council. >> Okay. On a motion by councelor Condan, seconded by councelor Cologne Hayes to accept the committee report. We'll call the role. >> Council Cologne Hayes, >> yes. >> Council Condan, >> yes. >> Council Crowe, >> yes. >> Council Wong, >> yes.
>> Council McDonald, >> yes. >> Council Ali, >> yes. >> Council Taylor, >> yes. Council Winslow, >> Council President Lennan. >> Yes. >> Okay. Councelor Condan for the
committee. >> Well, did you I'm sorry. Uh do you want to read all >> uh my my recommendation would be I will read them all into the record. Council Condan can offer his comments and then
maybe we just vote them as a whole. >> Okay, that sounds fine. >> Um Okay. So >> you'd like that? Is that okay? Okay. Do we have to make a motion for that? 2-26 Petition Amusement Machines Flaming Grill and Buffet 52 Broadway Three
Machines Renewal Paper 3-26 Class 2 Autob Bazar Corporation 17 Charles Street 12 cars renewal paper 4-26 class 2 Quality Auto Sales Incorporated 856 Eastern Avenue 5 cars renewal paper 5-26 class 2 Reaganos
Towing Service Incorporated 1081 Felsway 17 cars renewal paper 6-26 class 2ano's towing Service Incorporated 1176 Eastern Avenue 10 cause renewal paper 7-26 livery company Milange Transportation Incorporated 27 Garland Avenue one
vehicle new paper 8-26 livery driver Emanuel Balanga 27 Garland Avenue new paper 9-26 livery company Boston Glide Transportation 65 Lebanon Street one vehicle new paper 10-26 livery driver
Murikio A Vasquez 65 Lebanon Street Malden New paper 11-26 livery company Brandon Limo and VIP Transport Miltery Services LLC 661 Main Street apartment 29 one vehicle new paper 12-26 livery
driver Pierre Jean Pierre B Jean >> what would you say >> cout 661 Main Street apartment 29 new paper 13-26 livery company HPL Group LLC 500
Broadway 4139 one vehicle. This is uh an existing license that is adding a vehicle to it. Paper 14-26 livery driver Alien 3 Parkway Court 10 Chelsea new
paper 15-26 taxi driver Anthony J. Ward 156 Franklin Street Mold and New paper 27-26 livery company Zing Zai T Service LLC 15 Burge Place One vehicle renewal paper 28-26 livery driver Xiang Lang
Lang 134 North Street Lexington renewal paper 29-26 class 2 Nicks Foreign Car Center 121 Beach Street four cars renewal >> okay councelor Condan for the committee Thank you, Madame President. Uh, as
always, you know, our compliance people know all these people that are applying for the licenses and they they inspect go down there and they had no problems with any of these licenses. So, I would
move that we grant them. >> Okay. On a motion by councelor Condan, seconded by councelor Cologne Hayes. We will call the role. >> Councelor Clone Hayes, >> Council Condan, >> yes. >> Councelor Crow, yes. >> Council Wong, >> yes. >> Council McDonald, >> yes. >> Council Ali,
>> Council Taylor, >> Council Winslow, >> Council President Lahan, >> yes. >> Those are unanimously granted. >> Okay. Next order of business. >> Paper 75-26, committee report. The standing committee on public property to
whom was referred papers 16 through 20 series of 2026 having considered the same make the following report. Committee recommends these orders out favorably to the full city council to sell all five properties listed pending judgment.
>> Okay. On a motion by councelor Lu Long, seconded by councelor McDonald to accept the committee report. We'll call the role. >> Council Cologne Hayes. Yes. >> Council Condan. Council Crow. Yes. >> Council Lewong. >> Yes. Council McDonald, >> yes. >> Council Ali,
>> Council Taylor, >> Council Winslow, Council President Lahan, >> yes. >> Okay, the report has been received. >> Okay, so we're doing all five properties. Do we want to do we need to vote them separately? Do we want to read them and then vote them together? How do
we want to do this? Um, let me read them all into and then we can receive your committee report from the chair for public property and then you can decide if you want to make a motion to vote them all at once or >> that sounds good. >> Okay. >> Okay. Thank you. >> So, the first paper is 16-26 order. The
council will vote on whether to sell or retain the property known as 141 Pier Street unit 14 by city assessor's parcel identification number 09177330414. I'm sorry. 30214 as in accordance with tax title litigation and foreclosure action with
the Massachusetts Land Court case number 24TL 0000380. Paper 17-26. Order. The city council will vote whether to sell or retain the property known as 19 Murray Hill Park and by city assessor's possible
identification number 027103315 as in accordance with tax title litigation in foreclosure action with the Massachusetts Land Court case number 24 TL 0000371. Paper 18-26. The council will vote on whether to sell or retain the property
known as 109 West Street and by city assessor's possible identification number 034194411 as in accordance with tax title litigation in foreclosure action with the Massachusetts Land Court case number 22 TL000000342 paper 19-26. The council will vote on
whether to sell or retain the property known as 157 Columbia Street and by city assessor's parcel identification number 1378003 as in accordance with tax title litigation in foreclosure action with the Massachusetts Land Court. Case number 22TL
0000329. Paper 20-26. The council will vote on whether to sell or retain the property known as 195 Beltran Street and by the city assessor's possible identification number 008063302
as in accordance with tax title litigation and foreclosure action with the Massachusetts Land Court case number 13 TL147156. >> Okay. Thank you to our clerk councelor Leong for the committee. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Sorry. >> Close.
>> Thanks. >> Um yes. So, we had treasurer. Yes, please. Fabulous. >> Oh, let me put on the podium microphone for you. Great. >> All right. Also, >> thank you, Dan Grover, treasurer. I just wanted to add um one piece of
information related to paper 16-26. It was specifically asked by Council McDonald in our committee meeting to see if we could reach out to 141 Pier Street, the resident there, uh with housing families because it was at that time
um our current knowledge that there was a tenant living there. >> Uh we have come to find that that person actually had moved out in December. The owner is occupying that property. We were able to get in touch with them. Um you know, they asked what they could do. We told them that they could pay. They
may be looking to get a loan to take care of this, but I just wanted to make sure that I address the fact that we were specifically asked to reach out to the tenant. They are no longer there. That's all I have. >> Okay. Thank you for that. >> Great. Thank you. So, we've gone into during the meeting, we went into um our treasurer went into
detail about um everything from the start of a a taking of a property all the way to the taking of a property. And it was the consensus of the committee to refer these to be sold. >> Okay. So, you have a motion to recommend
that these be that the city sell the all of these. Do you want to take them? How many do we have? One, two, three, four, five. Do you would you like us to vote on them all together? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, we have a motion to vote to sell these five properties.
>> Seconded by councelor Cologne Hayes. We will call the role. >> Council Cologne Hayes, >> yes. >> Council Condan, >> yes. >> Council Crow, >> yes. >> Council Lewong, >> yes. >> Council McDonald, >> yes. >> Council Ali, >> yes. >> Council Taylor,
>> yes. Council Winslow. >> Yes. >> Council President Lahan. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, that passes. All of those orders pass unanimously to sell the properties. >> Okay. Thank you. Next order of business. >> That is your document. >> Is personal privilege. Does anybody have personal privilege tonight? Councelor
Winslow. >> Yeah. No, I just want to thank um the Department of Bubble Works are and parking department and police and fire for all their work um during the snow emergency. Um this is a big storm. the first time I mean I've been on ward
counselor for over you know this is my fifth year now this is the first big storm like this so it's a lot there I appreciate the the patience of neighbors and and the assistance a lot of neighbors did with each other of you helping shoveling here snow blowing there um there's still a lot of snow out
there both on city streets and sidewalks so um you know do get out there the 24 hours is ticking now to get your sidewalk shoveled so please get out there um you have till tomorrow to do that and um hopefully our businesses are doing it right now. They have a shorter
time frame and um if you do for residents um uh you know do reach out to your counselors but also put cclick fixes in um you know there's literally scores or more of complaints or issues that come up. So get them in the queue.
Um you talking about them. Social media does not necessarily bring them to attention to counselors or our public works department. The way you do that is cclick fix but always happy to um as a ward counselor to follow up as well. Um you know and also just you know we are
going through a transition for our public works director. A little awkward timing. So um you know but I think uh you know Paul Meyers our interim director was the operations director. So very familiar. I mean actually I'm pretty pleased the fact that we haven't
had to do this much snow removal and um all in all the the streets in W six were relatively uh you know clear. Um not perfect um but that's usually the what happens after a snowstorm. it takes a few days to uh make sure every street
gets cleared out and uh and with so many you know you know I think we do have to work a little bit harder on um you know having people park on the right side of the street um you know I know there's a few streets in my ward that people did not then that's those are the streets
that are in worst shape so takes the cooperation of residents to um really make sure that at least we can get one path cleared and eventually get the streets that are cleared. Um but um you know we're working on it and uh just you keep in touch with the DPW through you
know cclick fix and your counselor to um and and it will get done and heck we might have to go all do it again this weekend. So >> might have to say it. >> And then um just another announcement um something to look forward to in February. We are doing going to do the
second annual very vinyl um Valentine's celebration uh for the Maplewood Association that help helps raise money for spring flowers in Maplewood Square um and around W 6. So that's happening on Sunday um February 15th from 5 to
7:30 at Patrick's in Maplewood Square. So um I'll host some refreshments. Bring your uh you either new or old vinyl. um you can play a record and you make a donation to do that and um it's all kind of fun and uh it's not going to interfere with your couple's night on
the 14th. So, uh we pushed it back a day so you can uh you know go out on your uh your own. Uh but this is open. You don't don't have to feel you have to you just come out and have fun. All you have to do is love uh music and and have some vinyl. That's all we're asking for. It's
uh not any uh any any other pressure than that. So, thank you. Great. >> Love it. Okay. Thank you, Councelor Winsow. Councelor Ali, >> I just want to thank the DPW workers and Bob Knox for their efforts. You know, uh the fact that this storm happened for
like so long and there was like two bands of it really made it difficult. They were up all night and they had to like get back up and do it again with very little sleep. So, you know, I do appreciate all of their the hard work. you know, they have to drive around very carefully so that they don't cause any damage with the plows and it's very
difficult to do this job and and I just appreciate their work. Um, I do want to congratulate, you know, Bob Knox for his new opportunity in Everett. Um, you know, also known as South Malden. You know, I know it's uh, you know, we're our communities are are tied together and it's great that someone like Bob
who's from Malden and has really taken care of our community for so long is able to to to go to a community like Everett. Um, I'd like to wish everyone a confusing Groundhog's Day. I don't know what you wish people on Groundhog's Day. Um, so I figured it's kind of a confusing holiday.
>> Uh, hopefully I don't remember if the rodent is supposed to see the shadow or not see the shadow, but um, yeah. So, there's that. Um, lastly, you know, um, I appreciate my colleagues up here. Um and
um I I would say that you know you know whether it's on the national level where an executive tries to take on more power than um they are normally allotted um you know from the legislative branch specifically um or locally here. Um you
know I I do think important decisions um like settling lawsuits um should be vetted by more than one person. Um, and I do believe that, you know, at least while I've been on the council, the city council has always been, um, brought up to speed on these things, um, and has
been asked to to take a vote to settle a case. Um, I think having a number of people involved to vet that provides accountability. Um, and and the question you have to ask yourself is not is Mayor Christensen going to make the right decision, but is the next mayor going to
make the right decision or the mayor after that? Um, as we've seen on the national level, um, you know, concentrating power in the executive can can go off the rails. Um, so I, uh, appreciate y'all listening to me tonight. I know I can come across as pedantic. Um, but it does come from a
good point that, um, or or a meaningful point that I truly feel is in the best interest of our community. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councelor Ali. Councelor Condan. All right. >> Didn't go.
Uh this was a tough storm for the DPW to start with, you know, and they did a pretty good job opening the streets. Now, if we're going to get hit this weekend, I hope that they concentrate some of the streets, the side streets in
particular, can only get one car down. >> Yeah. >> So hopefully they can try to widen these streets for the weekend. Otherwise, it's going to be a nightmare if any get any kind of snow. So, please try to widen
the streets a little bit. Thank you. >> Yep. I I agree. Thank you, Councelor Conan. Counselor Cologne Hayes. >> Thank you. And thank you to all the ward counselors that were taking probably tremendous amounts of calls. I talked to my W three counselor, council president, and I was like, "Thank you for being
you." Um, so I did get some, but not nowhere near what you all got. Um, so I I'm going to be saying this probably every um week until we get there, but we are holding our Junth music bingo. So for those of you who have ever been
there, it is so super fun. It's held um it's on February 27th, which is Black History Month, and that is intentional um as we're raising money. This helps us raise money so that we can continue the Junth um celebration that we do with
losing funds and all. This is um more important now than ever. So there is an event um Facebook event going on. I'll invite you all. I'll also send it to um Lisa to forward. But it's at the Irishamean 6:30 to 9 and it is $30 which
is cheap for five cards. you win prizes and you there's some food there and honestly it really is a community building with super great music. So I hope you all buy at least a ticket, maybe a table. Thank you. That sounds awesome.
>> Okay, seeing no other lights, do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Okay, motion by councelor Ali, seconded by councelor Condan, and we will call the role. >> Council Cologne Hayes, >> yes. >> Council Condan, >> yes. >> Council Crow, >> yes. Council Lewong, >> yes.
>> Council McDonald, >> yes. >> Council Ali, >> Council Taylor, >> Council Winslow, >> Council President Lennan, >> yes. >> Okay, we are adjourned. It is 10:08. >> Thank you everyone. way to be.