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Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Good evening, everyone. Just letting you know we'll be starting a few minutes late. Hope to be getting going in about 5-10 minutes. Thank you so much for your patience. >> Mhm. >> Mhm.

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>> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Mhm. >> The council will come to order. All 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

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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, Pennacook, and Pawtucket

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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

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histories, voices, and contributions of indigenous peoples are recognized and respected in the life of our city. Clerk, will you now call the roll? >> Councilor Clone Hayes. >> Here. >> Councilor Condon. Councilor Crowe. >> Here. >> Councilor Leong. >> Here. >> Councilor McDonald.

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>> Here. >> Councilor O'Malley. >> Here. >> Councilor Sica. >> Here. >> Councilor Seminara. Councilor Taylor. >> Here. >> Councilor Winslow. >> Here. >> Council President Linehan. >> Here. >> Under the provisions of open meeting law for those of you in attendance, please be informed that UMA, Urban Media Arts,

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will be recording this evening's meeting. So, just be aware there will be audio and video recordings of this meeting. Is there anyone else present tonight who is recording in addition to UMA? I know we do have language interpretation happening tonight. Thank

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you so much for being here. Okay, seeing no one else who's doing any recording, I'll go to our first order of business. Okay. First order of business, Council will hold public hearings on National Grid petitions to install new poles and underground

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conduits. The first one is paper 284-26. Petition, Massachusetts Electric Company DBA National Grid and Verizon New England Incorporated plan number 31115123. National Grid to install one JO pole on Forest Street beginning at a point

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approximately zero feet northwest of the center line of the intersection of Forest and Nevada Avenue and continuing approximately 28 feet in a northwest direction. National Grid is petitioning to install new pole P2501-84 approximately 38 feet northwest of an

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existing pole P2501 Malden Mass hearing required. >> Thank you for coming back. >> [laughter] >> They don't >> you again. >> You too. >> Thank you. You have the floor. >> Um just open to any questions.

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>> Okay. Hang on one second. Let me put on your light counselor Taylor. >> Can you Okay. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Um so this one is located on Forest Street across from Nevada Ave, correct? >> There's two of them, yes. One is Forest

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Street and Nevada and the other one is Gordon Street and Flora. I think they're part of the same petition. >> Yes, is that right to Madam Clerk? We have It looks like >> Well, the um the Gordon Street one is paper 285. I have not read that into the

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record yet. So these are two different locations. >> separate. >> Okay. Okay. So it might have been the same proposal but it's separated here Um so I think for this one we have we're we're currently looking at an easement um for the sanitary. So

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the ones on Forest Street because of the way the guy wires go, that would have to be included in that proposal in that easement request as well because the the guy wires make it so it's not handicap accessible going down Forest Street. So

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that is what I have for for my notes here that that was just an extended of the Forest Street work. >> Yeah, and we requested the easement for all of those. >> Yeah, it hasn't it hasn't got So this would just need to be pending that. >> Yep.

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>> Okay. So are you comfortable conducting the hearing on this one and moving forward pending that easement? >> Yes. >> Okay. So at this time I will declare the public hearing open. Anyone wishing to speak in favor of the petition, please come forward, state your name and address for the record. Anyone wishing

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to speak in favor, please come forward. Okay. And we don't have any emails regarding this one, correct? Okay. Hearing none and seeing none, I declare that portion of the hearing closed. Anyone wishing to speak in opposition to

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this petition, please come forward, state your name and address for the record. Anyone wishing to speak in opposition? Okay. Hearing none and seeing none, I declare that portion of the hearing closed. Do we have a motion related to this

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petition? >> Make a motion. >> Okay. So the motion would be on Councillor Taylor's motion to grant, seconded by Councillor Luong with the following conditions: that the engineer be called when Dig Safe's notified, that the streets and sidewalks

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be restored to the satisfaction of the director of public works. All those in favor? >> And there are a few more, sorry. >> Did I miss something? >> And sorry, and pending >> pending the easement >> your easement anything along the the cemetery because of the the work within if there's funeral

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processions, we ask that you work with the cemetery superintendent to make sure that there isn't work going on during a >> Okay. >> Is that clear? Is that an adequate? Okay. Apologies for missing that. All those in favor?

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Aye. Any opposed? Okay. We can move on to the next petition. Paper 285-26 petition Massachusetts Electric Company DBA National Grid and Verizon New England Incorporated plan number 3 111 5123 National Grid to install one jail

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pole on Floral Avenue beginning at a point approximately 0 ft northeast of the center line of the intersection of Floral Avenue and Gordon Street and continuing approximately 20 ft in a northeast direction. National Grid is petitioning to install new pole P4799-84

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and sidewalk guy wire fixture approximately 29 ft southeast off existing pole P4799 on Floral Avenue, Malden, Mass. Hearing required. >> Okay, I'll go back to Councillor Taylor. Um so we did have um some feedback about this from the the

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neighborhood and I think uh Carolyn, would you like to read that into record or do would you like me to >> I have >> to do that during the hearing? >> During the opposition portion of the hearing, I will I have it ready to go. >> Okay, great. Okay. Um

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so I would just say, you know, to take that into consideration uh what the neighborhood is asking for um and I believe this one is to help keep up the pole across the street that's leaning.

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>> So right now it's leaning towards Gordon Street and we're adding a new pole to help bring it back straight. >> Um can I ask are there are there plans to fix a lot of the existing poles that are completely deteriorating cuz there are there are several and there's one that

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>> We have we have hundreds if not thousands of poles just in Malden that we're we have designs for it to fix, replace them or guy them. >> Is there a way to get a plan cuz a lot of these are safety issues and there are some that are a little bit more pressing than this that just, you know, they have

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chunks missing, they're leaning. I have multiple constituents from not just that area. One is by a school um that is in significant disrepair that I've been asking for for a while. So, I'd just like to to see maybe some sort of plan as to what what we are going to

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do going forward. >> Yes, you have my email. If you If you email me the pole numbers, I can send you back the >> them again. Yeah, I've emailed them a few times. So, I I will definitely email >> I'm I'm the engineer from Alden, so anything that goes on Alden, I'll take care of it. >> Okay, great. Okay, any other questions before we do

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the [snorts] hearing on this petition? Oh, sure, Councillor Carl. Let me put your light on. Ooh, hang on. We'll need to turn someone else's on. >> So, just as you answered Councillor Taylor about the the pole numbers, can you figure out a list of the hundreds of thousands that you are looking at in

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Alden? >> Hundreds of thousands, but hundreds >> Hundreds or thousands, whatever That's what you meant. Hundreds or thousands. I'm If you have a list of the ones you have >> I don't have the list, no. I'm not the only designer that's working on them, so I wouldn't have all the lists.

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So, if you just email me >> list? >> If you just email me what pole numbers you're looking at and what street they're on, I can take a look at it and see if we have something in the work for it. >> Okay. Yeah, that would be That would be good to know. Can we email a street number or a street

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name if we don't have the pole numbers and could you provide that or do you really need the pole numbers as well? >> If you have two crossing streets, I can go out there and take a look what pole number is. >> Okay, that's great to know. Any other questions before we move into the hearing portion? Okay, at this time I'll declare the

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public hearing open. Anyone wishing to speak in favor of the petition, please come forward, state your name and address for the record. Anyone wishing to speak in favor? Okay, hearing none and seeing none, I declare that portion of the hearing closed.

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Anyone wishing to speak in opposition to this petition? This is 88 Floral Avenue. Please come forward, state your name and address for the record. Anyone wishing to speak in opposition? Okay, We do have one email to read, is that correct?

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>> Yes. I am writing regarding National Grid's petition to install a new JO pole P4799-84 on Floral Avenue. Most of the utility poles on Floral Avenue are located on the odd-numbered side of the street. Given the existing pole configuration, I

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question whether it is necessary to install an additional pole directly across the street from an existing pole. From a visual standpoint, the proposed placement would be unattractive and could negatively affect the appearance of the neighborhood. Additionally, there are no new homes or developments in the

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area that appear to require this new infrastructure. If the purpose of the proposed pole is to provide support for pole P4799, I would suggest that National Grid instead repair or replace the existing pole, which appears to be deteriorating

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due to rot, rather than installing an entirely new pole. Thank you for considering my comments. Sincerely, Maria Diaz Bezito, 81 Floral Avenue. >> Okay, thank you, Madam Clerk. One last call for anyone wishing to speak in opposition.

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>> Do you want me to speak on that or >> That would be fine, sure. >> Okay. So, regarding her question about replacing the pole, the pole is being replaced for pole 4799. We're replacing it to a class two pole, but in the future it's going to do the same thing and lean towards Gordon

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Street again. So, that's the reason we're adding a pole for guiding purposes. >> Do you have a question or comment on that, Councillor Feeney? >> So, I was under the impression that the pole wasn't being replaced, it was just being supported. So, is the pole also being >> Yes.

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>> replaced? >> Yes, but we don't include that on the petition since we we don't need to petition for a replacement of a pole. Since it's an existing pole, we don't have to petition for a replacement. >> Okay. >> That's why it wouldn't be on the petition.

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>> So, then I guess I'm just concerned or my my question is so then when we ask for poll replacements, why are we told oh well, you know, why are we waiting so long when there's safety hazards? When when there's when there's things that, you know,

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again, we have a poll that is in complete disrepair where children walk to school. >> Mhm. >> Um if we don't need a petition to do that, why can't it just >> replaced within 4 ft of the existing pole, we don't have to petition, but if it's further than 4 ft, we have to

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petition for it again. So, I'm not sure what poles you're talking about again, but um I I'd like to take a look if you provide me the numbers or the street. >> I I think maybe for this one just to get a little bit more information of other options

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that we have and and what it cuz if we can just replace >> I mean, we can replace it, but >> the pole with our added safety >> it leans again, do you want me to come back and petition for a new pole or >> Are you thinking of tabling it or >> of tabling just pending more information

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so we can go out there and and get more information >> Okay, Maria, did you want to speak to this? We do have a resident looks like waiting to speak on it. So, let's take the um the comment for the hearing before I close the hearing. >> So, the pole 4799 is currently >> Can you state your name and address, sorry? >> Des Vazito, 81 Laurel Ave.

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>> Thank you. >> Um pole 4799 is currently only feeding one house across the street. So, I don't understand why we need a whole pole there. And the pole that's been there has I've been in the house for over 30 years and that pole was there before I even got there. So, saying that you

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can't replace it with a new one cuz it's going to deteriorate and go again, you're talking 40, 50 years down the road. There's no need to put a pole to hold up one pole and feed one house. So, that's my opinion and my neighbors and I were talking and we're all kind of

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like I we don't understand why that's happening. There's no poles on that side and it just leaves you a nice open sky right now. >> Okay. >> Okay, thank you. I see a light from counselor Winslow. >> Yeah, I know Zane we have that something similar happening on Granite Street and

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one of the things I asked about is and I know if people recall when we were doing the cell phone towers, we actually had reports on the engineering. You know, this is you know, the static engineering exercise of what wires pulling where and you know, so

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it's a calculation that engineers make to determine whether that guy wire is necessary. So, do you is that something you can bring back if we table this to to show >> If you're talking about pole analysis, we've never done pole analysis. National Grid has never done. I know Telecom has

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done pole analysis, but we we don't do it. >> So, so but in this instance, I mean, that's really what the the question is. What is driving the need for the guy wire? I mean, you're making the assumption. Is do you guys don't actually calculate whether the poles can

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take >> them internally, but we don't provide it externally. >> So, so well, I mean, we could we can make those conditions if we need to. So, we we did that with aerial stuff. So, it is a isn't unprecedented that we're asking for that calculation. So, I don't

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understand why you can't present when there's this issue in the neighborhood why you can't present those calculations that you know, other people gave willingly and they're they're stamped by engineers and everything like that. So, I don't I don't get you know, so I don't get why we can't get that

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information to really establish why you know, what the needs are. Thank you. >> So, I'm going to do one last call cuz I actually never closed the hearing. So, I'm going to do one last call for opposition comments. Going once, going twice, declare the hearing closed.

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Now, we can be free to take up motions. >> I would like to make a motion to table that pending further investigation as to what we can do. >> Second. >> Okay, on a motion by Councillor Taylor to table seconded by Councillor Winslow. >> Yes. >> All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay,

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that petition is tabled. Next order of business. >> Paper 286-26 petition. Massachusetts Electric Company DBA National Grid plan number 31295951 National Grid to install underground facilities on Salem Street. National

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Grid to install handhold 223 in front of 300 Salem Street. Trench and install one 3-in concrete encased conduit from MH 223 to handhold approximately 11 I'm sorry, 110 ft [clears throat] on the

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right the public right of way. Hearing required. >> Is this also your section of Salem Street? Lucky you. Councillor Taylor. >> So, this one I believe is a a private customer that is requesting this. Is Am I understanding that correct? And it is

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underground and the street will be repaired afterwards. >> and the sidewalk will be repaired. Yep. >> Yeah, so this I have no objection here. >> Okay, any other questions before we open the hearing? What's the Are you able to say what the

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purpose of the private request is for? >> It's to serve 300 Salem Street. >> Just to serve the one residence? >> Yes. >> Okay. All right, at this time I will declare the public hearing open. Anyone wishing to speak in favor of this petition, please come forward, state your name and address for the record.

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Anyone wishing to speak in favor? Okay, hearing none, seeing none, I declare that portion of the hearing closed. Anyone wishing to speak in opposition to this petition, 300 Salem Street. Anyone wishing to speak in opposition. Okay, seeing none, hearing none, I'll

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declare that portion of the hearing closed. What We have We don't have any emails. Okay. Do we have a motion regarding this petition? >> one more request that if there are any trees along the sidewalk, those also get replaced.

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>> Okay. >> I didn't look at it. >> Add condition regarding trees. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, is that a motion to grant with that additional condition? >> Oh, yes. Sorry, Counselor O'Malley. Go right ahead. >> Um does Is the property currently served

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with electricity or is it just upgrading the service or >> They're They're currently served, but they're upgrading the service and their service is not up to standards. So, we're replacing their entire service. >> Uh and is it Is it currently fed by a like overhead wire? >> No, it's currently fed from the same panel.

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>> Okay. But you're you're not just running a new line. You have to You have to >> We're running new conduit, yep. >> Okay. >> The conduit is very old, deteriorating. Uh it's not up to standards. >> you need the hand hold to make the 90° turn. Okay, thank you. >> Okay, thank you, Counselor O'Malley.

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Uh who Do we have a second to that? Okay. Uh motion by Counselor Taylor, seconded by Counselor Colon-Hayes. Uh with the following conditions: that the engineer be called when Dig Safe is notified, that the streets and sidewalks be restored to the satisfaction of the

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director of public works, and uh with the additional condition regarding trees. >> Yeah, I would say con- Not that I like to put more work on people, but consult the tree warden and >> tree warden is consulted. >> If there If there is a tree. >> Okay, understood. I don't have it in

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front of me. >> It looks like there is a tree. >> Okay. All in favor? >> Aye. >> Aye. Any opposed? Okay, that petition is granted. Next order of business. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for coming again. Appreciate it.

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Council will a public hearing for the purpose of receiving public comment regarding the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget. Paper 233-26, order the mayor will submit the fiscal year 2027 annual appropriation orders for the general fund.

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>> Okay, and before I open the hearing, I do just want to remind folks, so at a public hearing there is no time limit. Um we just ask that you come to the podium, take everyone take a turn coming to the podium to address us, state your name and address, or you can just state the street that you live on under our new

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rules. Um you are only to be speaking on the budget, but you do not have a time limit on what you can address us on tonight. Um we do have interpreters interpreting tonight. Um so I would ask that folks, if you can, take the time to speak slow so that

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our interpreters have a chance to keep up with those who are listening on the devices in the audience. Um and I'll give the floor to Councillor McDonald in a moment if there's anything you do want to say about the budget before we get started, but um just as a reminder, this is for us to listen to

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you and hear your feedback on the proposed budget. We are not going to vote on the budget tonight, that's going to happen next week. So tonight is all about listening and hearing from the public. Um the last thing I'll say is that the Council does not engage in

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debate or answer questions um in this forum tonight, and we also don't take questions from our teams or our online audience. So the only questions that are going to come in tonight is going to be from in the chamber. Do folks feel like I missed anything that would be helpful to say before we get started?

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Okay, [snorts] I'm going to give Councillor McDonald just a few moments before I open the hearing. Councillor McDonald, you have the floor. >> Thank you all. I'm Councillor Keri McDonald, and I'm the chair of the Finance Committee. And so we have breakout committee meetings, uh which we've been doing for the past month to

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discuss the budget. And um I have to say that every year we hold a public hearing on the budget and it's required in our council rules, but it is also a really good thing to do because it's one of the most important decisions we make as the city council about approving the budget.

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And I've never had such a great turnout at a finance committee or rather a budget public hearing. And so I'm really glad to see so much engagement in the chamber. I'm Do we >> And did folks write in as well? Do we have emails?

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>> We also and we also have emails and things like that. So I'm really glad to see this kind of public engagement. I just wanted to say a word about the budget process up until this point. Under state law, the mayor is the one who has to propose spending and the

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budget. And the budget is then sent to the city council for review and approval. So we have spent the last month in the finance committee meeting with every city department to talk about the changes that are being proposed in

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their budget and what the impacts might be and what they can do to help the overall budget situation. And we've had great conversations with each of our department heads about those things. The context, as I think we all know, is that we have a budget gap this year. The

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city had proposed a tax increase override that was not passed by the voters here and as a result have a budget proposed by our mayor that does reduce positions by over 30 positions, I believe, across nearly every city

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department. With the ex- with a clear exception of our schools where the state requires us to continue to invest at higher levels. And investing in our schools is also good. So we are wrestling with the question of how to

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balance the budget um and how to deal with the cuts that the mayor has proposed. I want to reiterate what Council President Linehan has said, which is that we have not voted in the Finance Committee. Um we will vote in the committee next week likely prior to the full council

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being able to vote on the budget as proposed by the mayor. Um so this is the time that we we deliberately do this hearing prior to any vote so that we can make sure to include this public input. So um I think that we had great discussion so far and look forward to hearing um

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what you all have to offer on this proposal for how to uh make the best of a rough financial situation and uh continue to serve our residents as best we can. >> Thank you so much. The only other thing that I would add for anybody watching at home or for anybody who is going to be

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watching the recording of this meeting over the next week, the full budget is available on the city's website, cityofmalden.org. It's front and center when you get to that homepage. It's very easy and interactive to page through. So if you're following along, listening to the comments that we get tonight and you

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want to go look at that and then send an email >> [snorts] >> to any or all of the councilors for us to consider, I will say that's something I'm definitely willing to take emails from the community and I bet all of us up here are as we um mull over what we hear tonight and get ready to take our

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final vote next week. So with that, I think I will get started. Um at this time, I will declare the public hearing open. Anyone wishing to speak in favor of the budget, please come forward or of the petition, please come forward, state

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your name and address. And again, you can just say what street you live on, come to the podium and state your name and street for the record. We have a brave first taker. >> My name is Edwin Lucy at 116 Daniel

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Street and I'm not sure if I'm speaking out of turn, but I did have an idea that it might be of little help to the city in terms of what you're trying to accomplish, which is a which is a challenge and a half both for the administration and of course for the

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people here for the city council as well as the the people in the school committee. But I happened to be in city hall the other day and I was surprised when I asked the question, "How many bills go out every month for the water bill?"

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And I was told there was 11,000 bills go out every month for the water bill. That surprised me cuz I wasn't aware of that's it was that many. And if you do the math, even with metered mail,

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and you multiply the cost of a letter that goes out with the bill, which is 79 cents, that's over $8,000 a month times 12 months. That's over $100,000 is spent sending out water bills.

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I made some inquiries in some neighborhood communities and I spoke to people in Revere, Everett, Medford, Melrose, Stoneham, and Wakefield. There was six

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communities. Five of the six communities send out quarterly bills for the water. We used to do that years ago and at one point for the convenience of the public they extended it in the here in the city of Malden for 12

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months. They also do that in Everett. And Malden has one advantage over Everett, which I'll touch on in a little while, but if we were sending out bills just four times a year like the tax bills for the real estate.

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If you do the math for over $8,000 a month for the stamps on the bills that go out, and you were sending eight months that we weren't sending them, and four months you were, that's about $70,000 the city would spend less

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sending out the bills. I haven't even got to the cost of the envelopes, or the inserts in the envelope, or the envelopes that's in the envelopes, because that's all part of the bills. The reason I mentioned about everything somewhat different is I talked to

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someone from Auburn recently, and he mentioned to me that when he receives a water bill, he doesn't even bother with it. He takes it, opens it up, and throws it in the waste basket. He will shred it so somebody can't find out how much water bill is going to be. In other words, we're not looking at

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his bill, but he goes online, as a lot of people do today, whether they're in Auburn, and that's particularly among the younger people. So, all he does every month when the bill would normally come to him, he goes online, finds out the amount of the

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water bill, has the city pay his out of his checking account, just like you do on a credit card. So, if he never got a water bill, it wouldn't bother him, it wouldn't be a problem. And I think there's a lot of people in that situation. They don't need the bill to remind them that they

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have to pay it. And now, the idea is that if you you did that, just send four bills a year, and you had a lot of people that would still not bother opening the bills, because they would then in turn do the same thing this this man told me he does, which is that he

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just would know the bill would be due, and he would go on the online and pay his bill. So, either way, there's a you know, in this day and age, when you deal with millions and millions of dollars in different departments. It significant amount of money isn't

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$70,000. But if you if you add it all up, you're also sending out because it's two envelopes two envelopes in each each bill about 250,000 envelopes and there is some cost to envelopes even if they're not that

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expensive and you buy in bulk. And the other thing I which I'm not aware of but I'm I'm assuming a lot of those envelopes that are put together to send the bills out every month which is a lot of staff hours that they're done manually.

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Because you have to take think of think about it you put one envelope and then you put a bill in an envelope and then you put an another envelope in the in that with so you can return it and uh that would mean that in some ways now what you're dealing with

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issues of pay personnel there were probably going to be some instances now where you know the the people that were were not going to have a job after July 1st they may be some of the personnel that are helping doing all these bills and therefore if you didn't have the bills

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to go out that would mean they could be doing jobs that it could would result in better performances and quicker services for the for the people of all the so the the thing that it just seems to me is that in some fashion that the city

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could maybe consider doing going back to the the four times a year instead of the 12 times and they can work it out so that to ensure that the you are going to inconvenience some people cuz people maybe don't always pay the bill on time. So if they get a quarterly bill instead

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of a monthly bill that means the bill is that much higher that they they're behind but I think the most people in the in the community would be paying them as due and if they didn't want any bill at all as this gentleman said he he could just tell the city don't send me a

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bill I'll send you the the money every quarter." And then take it from there. And uh the other thing is I mentioned comparing Everett and Malden. Malden is set up with the computer system, which Everett is not. The In other words, in Everett,

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um if you wanted to pay the bill the same way as I just mentioned this is being done by this other person, Everett isn't set up for that, but Malden is. So, therefore, it would be a a convenience for the public that they would covering doing it. It would certainly be an advantage

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to the community personnel who will have less time to spend doing menial kinds of things. And most important, there is a savings there without really doing anything other than changing the system and getting people to use the use to uh a new system, which is just a less

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frequent bill. One caveat that I would would be important or the is to ensure that uh if you're sending out in the city agrees to do it in some fashion, that uh if people might not knowingly have a

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leak, you don't want them to wait 3 months to find out when they get the bill that the the leak is uh resulting in a bill of a thousand dollars instead of a hundred dollars or whatever. So, you'd have to have a monitoring system and uh they used to have that. They would I recall years ago and I don't

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want to keep dwelling on the past cuz things that always weren't always good either then. But that um the city department was able to flag uh attention on bills where uh excessive in terms of water bill. And therefore, sometimes it might be just that people watering the lawns or

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in the in the warm weather, the bill would be higher than normal and would be standing out the amount being paid. But in any event, that's that's an idea I thought maybe the city could could consider without imposing on anybody within the

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community. I I overall, and the what what would be worthwhile is that may save some person's job or maybe take care of a shortfall in in in a portion of the budget that's currently a an issue. So, again on that, I appreciate you listening to me. If anybody had any

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questions, uh that I I'd be more than happy to answer if I know it. >> Thank you. We appreciate it. >> One other thing is an afterthought and the separate from water bills is I was reminded uh

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uh tonight the um there's a state mandate program which is to uh require communities to advise people they have an option to when they want to vote, they can do it by mail. And uh

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the the state being a typical uh state level business, they have a they've said, "Let's do this and oh, by the way, the community is going to have to pay some of it cost and uh I think if you look at the not only just in Malden but in a generally, I think

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the there was a 15% turnout in the last election at the local level. So, that um it took obviously at the state level a little more voting and there'll be a bigger percentage in national elections even

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bigger. But, the with the Bill Galvin being on television reminding people about the options to vote by mail or by absentee and people get those mailings and they they don't really take advantage of them. And it seems to me that's a that that's a

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lot of money being spent and we So, maybe we can think about asking our state legislators to to sponsor bill to have the state fully fund the cost of of the absentee ballots and over the counter voting and that way, that's one

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less expense that that you'd have that it would also serve the purpose of getting in as many people to vote which seems that they don't vote. So, they'd rather than waste the money and then if it's going to be spent, let the state spend it instead of the community. Thank you very much.

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>> Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak in favor? Okay, going once. Seeing none and hearing none, I will close that portion of the hearing. We don't have Do we have any emails in favor? Okay. At this time, I will

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open the second section of our hearing. Anyone wishing to speak in opposition to the budget to the petition? Anybody wishing to speak in opposition, please feel free to come to the podium and state your name and address. Thank you. >> Mok Yiu Tony.

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>> Hi everyone. My name is Tony and I live at 120 Mountain Avenue. I have lived in Malden over 10 years and I'm proud to call Malden my home. I love the diverse culture and all the things to do in Malden. I go to the senior center to take classes, to sing and

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dance with my friends. And I love Malden because I feel that our local government listens and cares about what residents need. Earlier this year, when my neighbors and I heard about the city's budget gap and the override attempt, we wanted to keep

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our city services, the activities and events that support seniors, students, and residents across the city. So, we voted yes. As the results came in, we're disapp- disappointed to hear that the attempt failed. But, then we're further saddened

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to hear that the city plans to cut the language access coordinator's position and reduce bilingual city clerk staff hours. You will not need a courier. >> The language access coordinator and bilingual staff, they are vital bridge

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between Asian residents in the city. The bilingual city clerk staff comes to our building every year before elections to do outreach to sit with us and to explain how to vote. The language access coordinator makes sure that there's interpretation and translation across

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city hall. That important information reaches every resident of Malden, no matter what language they speak. Immigrant residents are part of the fabric of what makes Malden a great city. Without this bridge, we would be cut off.

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Our voices and our needs will not be heard. I'll go find him. Thank you. We urge the city to restore funding for these positions. The work of building a truly inclusive Malden has only just begun and we cannot afford to go back

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backwards now. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hi Beth. Hi everyone. My name is Lai Ying Lee and I live at 10 Quincy Street. I need to see how much money is out there. >> Like many cities and towns across

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Massachusetts, Malden is facing real budget pressures. I'm grateful that our city has worked hard to protect essential services, which is why it felt really unfortunate that the override didn't pass and the city now needs to make cuts to make ends meet.

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I have lived in Malden for 8 years. As an immigrant to the US, language access isn't just a service. It is how I participate in the city to understand my water bill, navigate the assessor's office, and access elections information. These services make the

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difference between feeling included and invisible. Malden >> We are here today And Malden has made tremendous progress. Three years ago, the city became the second in Massachusetts to provide fully bilingual ballots, a landmark

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achievement through city and community advocacy. Because of that, every time I go to the polls, there's a bilingual worker there to help me. The signs are translated. Election staff come to our community events to walk us through how to vote.

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This didn't happen by accident. It happens because of sustained commitment from the city, community groups, and city hall staff like the language access coordinator and bilingual staff at the clerk's Malden supporting I need to go home to work.

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The illegal parking by the city What do we Malden You know, we go home. You know, we don't need to Malden's What do we something like that to do thing thing but you need to be happy. You have to be happy to do thing thing thing. You have to be happy to do thing thing thing thing thing thing thing thing

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thing thing thing thing thing. Something like that to do thing thing. >> With over 20% of Malden residents being Asian, this work is crucial for the growing community here. We are so proud of what Malden has built together. The work of including all residents in every

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language and this is a reflection of our city's values. We know these are difficult decisions and we are grateful for everything the city has done so done to support our community. We hope the city will find a way to protect these positions because the progress belongs

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to all of us and we want to keep moving forward together. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um hello. My name is Annabelle Shue. I am I have lived and worked in Malden for the past 3 years and I live on Summer Street.

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>> Thank you. >> Um so I work with Asian American youth based in Malden and the surrounding areas and I help them build a sense of empowerment, agency and political consciousness. Um the youth have all handwritten their

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own responses to the change with the language access coordinator and I passed those on to the city clerk who will be reading them out later. Um as a representative of the team at youth, we deeply oppose the cutting of the language access coordinator position. The first feeling we had upon hearing

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this news was shock because it seems like a joke that such a crucial and deeply necessary position can just be cut, can be treated as a privilege rather than a necessary service for so many in our community in Malden. Um we know as well we have personally

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worked with the language access coordinator as many probably have in this room. It's a deeply essential position and it's overloaded as well. It's like the work of it touches every single city service and it works for the most vulnerable among our the people of

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Malden. Um cutting this position feels very short-sighted. It doesn't only affect our elders and our older generations. It also affects the youth of Malden. 60% of the high school

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um has used ESL services in some way. It's something that touches every uh socioeconomic status. Every group has someone maybe who will need these services and it really fails the very communities that we pride

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ourselves on uh nurturing and sustaining. And will result in greater inequities across Malden. I think talking about supporting immigrant communities is cheap and we really need action to show that and to continue the work that the

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great work as well that um the city council and other people in the city have done so far. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hello everybody. How are you? >> Good evening. >> Hi, my name is Lily and uh Chinese name uh Hua Lili and I live at 557 Pleasant

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Street. I've lived in Malden for 28 years. When I first came to the US from China, I first landed in Greater Boston, lived in Boston, and now I landed in Malden. Um all of my family members, they live

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in Chicago, San Francisco, but I decided not to move with them because I love I fell in love fell in love with this city. I love Malden. I've worked in Malden, and then my son, who was uh before he was 18, he was in high school.

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And when we moved to Malden, um you know, he was enrolled in schools here, and he also really liked um the community here. Malden is a very good city. >> Uh >> Yeah, as my son's grown up um and he's

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an adult now, thinking about buying a home. About buying his first home. And I was like, uh don't buy elsewhere in other cities. Buy in Malden. This is where our roots are. Community is here. We love Malden. So, buy here. Uh

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The community here is really great. What we really love is the government. The city council leadership. >> The mayor's leadership. >> We love this community because it's great and lots of things are, you know, people really care about the community

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and the residents here. You listen to our voices. You listen to our needs. And this is why I've lived here for so long. I used to work at um Stop & Shop Stop & Shop in Malden for 22 years. And this is why I settled here.

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>> I've been retired for 4 years. Um every day I'm grateful for this community and what the city has done for us and the care that you've shown the senior residents here. >> Yeah, I used to rent in Malden, but

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a couple of while ago I was able to get government subsidies and benefits and I was I got approved to move in to 557 Pleasant Street and this is when my life has has finally become more steady. And thank you for listening to my story

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and the reason why I'm here today is because you know, it's important for me that we're able to have a voice and be able to share, you know, what our needs are in this community and you know, one of the things I really care about is election and voting. It's one

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of the ways that we can get our voices heard. So every year during elections, I always vote and the city clerk's office election department always, you know, have really nice staff that come to our building, talk to us, walk us through the

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guide us through the voting process and how to fill out the ballot if we decide to vote by mail. >> And for those of us who don't speak English or read and write in English, voting is not a small task. And it is because that the city has

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staff members have bilingual team a bilingual team language access coordinator that come to work with us and help us through the process. This is how we could get it done. And this is how I could participate civically and fulfill my

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responsibility as a citizen as a resident here. And without but without that without that bridge that language access, we won't be able to be heard and seen. Uh this is why the language access coordinator bilingual staff members at

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the city hall matters so much to us. It's part it's why we feel that we're part of the city. So please protect these position positions. I told my woman the low whole being coaching the pool yard

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making >> I have two more issues I wanted to tag along since I've been interpreting here interpreting here today. The other 557 Pleasant Street residents asked me to make sure to bring those two issues up. The first is the traffic light at the crosswalk right behind our building.

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Lots of residents, senior residents, cross use that crosswalk every morning for exercise, go on walks, and things like that. So, the traffic light has been broken, so please help us address that. And then also, there's a loose manhole over the street in front. And every time like at night when the cars

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and trucks pass by, it makes like a "clunk clunk" sound. It's really noisy. So, please help us fix that. Please, thank you. >> Thank you. >> so much. >> You're on that. We're on it already. >> Good evening, counselors. My name is Mei-Ling Kim. I'm with the Greater Malden Asian American Community

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Coalition, GMAC. Um 381 Pearl Street. Do you need my home address? Okay. So, I think this meeting is actually a really great illustration of why language access is so essential. Um you would not have understood the

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stories and experiences of some of our some of your constituents. And um they also would not have had the opportunity to share their experiences in their own words and voice. And so, um as some of the folks who spoke before me said, visibility is so important to being a

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part of community and building that. So, thanks for this opportunity for sharing our comments. Um I know that you're already aware of this information, but over 70 languages are spoken in the Malden public school system. More than 28% of Malden's

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residents identify as AAPI with the majority speaking Mandarin and Cantonese. And we also have many neighbors who also speak Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Spanish, and many other languages. This diversity is so is what I hear of so often when people talk about what

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makes Malden special. And I feel like this diversity also brings something more powerful with it, which is a sense of belonging, which is also another [snorts] word that I hear of very often spoken at different events. But, belonging doesn't happen on its

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own. It depends on infrastructure to support it, built over built over many years by people who have come together to organize and advocate to open up city conversations, to participate in civic processes, in decision-making, and the

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creative life of this community. And in Malden, belonging has been shaped by years of advocacy that started way before my tenure at GMAC. Um and it has led to very great successes, including the passing of the transliteration bill, which enhanced voting rights for

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Chinese-speaking residents in the city. The work of Elena Martinez as the language access coordinator. Um she has taken language access beyond translation to build relationships within and across many non-English-speaking communities, establishing civic infrastructure to

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facilitate civic engagement between residents and City Hall. As part of an API coalition with the Asian Community Development Corporation, the Chinese Progressive Association, and the Asian Outreach Center at the Greater Boston Legal Services, we have worked with the City Clerk and the Mayor's

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Office to ensure language access isn't a nice-to-have, but a critical piece of sustaining belonging in Malden. We have greatly appreciated the City of Malden's partnership and commitment to language access over the years and urge this council to continue investing in

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the infrastructure of belonging that makes Malden the exceptional place that it is. And just as a final comment, we did try AI as a possible translation tool and it really did not work. >> Wow. >> And so I hope that is not being

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considered as a viable option. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Anyone else wishing to speak in opposition at this time? Sure, please come forward. >> Hi everyone. Good evening. My name is Doe Rung Hwa.

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the law >> Um I came to the US in 2020 and I've lived in Malden ever since. I found that Malden as a neighborhood is feel safe, it has a great environment, the people are nice. >> [laughter] >> So,

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what also makes Malden really great is that we have really great representatives from the federal government, state government. We also have a really good mayor that really care and listen to the community. And I understand right now that Malden has to face really difficult decisions with

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the budget. And, you know, this is really unfortunate and we all don't want to see that. Um, but one thing that I really do want to bring up is like our concern from a lot of um seniors. Uh, as a as a senior resident, there are a lot of things that I don't know. Um, just like when you guys are speaking

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up we're speaking up here, we were having issues with the translation equipment once the audio was on. So, the equipment wasn't working. So, uh he was saying that I I didn't know what was going on. And so, you know, in language access is how we can communicate with you and talk

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to you about what we really want to see in the city and what can make this city really great. It's kind of like a a car. If you want to drive a road, you have a car of passengers you want to move forward, you need a GPS, right? To kind of connect us and, you know, show us where the road to go and why and give us

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that information. So, you know, language access is like that GPS for us for the whole city and, you know, the whole car ride to work and for the whole city to work for all of us. So, um thank you so much for all of your support for listening to us today. Thank you, city

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councilors. Thank you, mayor. Um, and uh we really want to work together to make this uh city a really great and inclusive city for all of us. Thank you. >> Thank you. Last call for anybody wishing to speak in opposition. >> Hello everyone. Ryan O'Malley, I'm the

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Ward 4 City Councilor. I'm also a resident of the community. Um, I rise um not necessarily to speak in opposition, but to try to propose some um ways in which we can resolve the challenges that we are all facing and the hard decisions that none of us want

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to make. Um, the some of the hard decisions that we've heard tonight. Um, I just for people's edification, I'm not a member of the finance committee, and so I can't make motions in the finance committee. We will be voting next week

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on the budget, and I do not want to be accused of blindsiding anyone by making motions the night the budget needs to be passed. So, I figured I'd propose these to you tonight so you have a chance to think about it, and so the public also understands um So, we have a budget gap that we need to

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resolve, um and we need to make some decisions. I'm proposing some cuts that would then allow us to restore some of the positions that we have heard would really be painful. Um, you know, when it when it comes to uh what I think is fair, I don't think

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it's fair to uh pay people overtime when we're talking about cutting people's full-time positions. Um, I think that, you know, when you think about that, you're talking about whether or not someone can afford a vacation home versus someone being able to afford their rent or their mortgage. Um, so I

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would propose that we cut overtime um by uh $289,000 um in in the police overtime, which is not the entirety of it. And by cutting $289,000 uh from overtime in the police budget, we would be able to restore the four

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police cadets for the same amount of money. I would propose that we cut the firefighters overtime by $446,000, and by cutting that overtime, we would be able be able to restore four firefighters for the same amount of money.

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Um, in our budget, we have a line item called salary reserve, which is $1.2 million. Um, I I understand that that might be a gesture, um but really it's hiding the amount of free cash we have by $1.2 million. I propose that we cut that line item,

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put it back into free cash. What we learned in finance recently is that we will have to make uh the transfer regardless of where that money is. Um it would at least show the community what we really have when it comes to free cash. Um additionally, um you know, I think

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that it makes sense to bring some of our landscaping budget back to what we did in 2019. Um and I'm proposing that we cut some of our landscaping budget by $55,000. Um that would definitely pay for the language access court uh language access officer in the city clerk's office that

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we heard is so important when it comes to our elections. Um additionally, um I'm proposing that we cut professional services um by $120,000 in the legal department. Um I think that

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uh if there needs to be a transfer from free cash for some particular reason, I think we should be doing that. Um but I think what we've seen is that um by having such a large budget to pull from, um we're having a lot of litigation uh

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that maybe isn't beneficial. Um finally, um you know, I just think what is fair is fair. Um it's been proposed that a number of the award accounts for 4th of July be cut by

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seven by down to 2,500. And so, I'm proposing that we cut the mayor's events budget by 7,500, bringing it down to 2,500, uh the same amount that each ward counselor has for 4th of July. Um additionally, I think that we should

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be cutting professional services um from of $40,000 uh from the executive um branch, uh and that would also help restore additional positions. Um so, I have other ideas. Those are just like uh I think low-hanging fruit.

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If you really wanted to right-size the budget, you could just go back to 2019 numbers across the board. Um but this was some of the ones I think we could pick out. Um and the total savings uh from some of those things that I just recommended would be 1.6 to 1.8 million

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dollars. Um that would be my proposal. Um I'll state it again in finance. Uh and if if those motions aren't made in finance, I'll be making them next week on the floor. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councillor O'Malley. Anyone else wishing to speak against this petition?

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Oop. Hang on 1 second. The podium seems to have gone off. Okay. >> I am Christopher Dreyer, um resident at 166 Mountain Ave. Um I'm looking at the budget proposed

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and also for fiscal year of 2027 and also fiscal year budgeted of 2026. Um I I just would like to iterate that um the there's a fair percentage of people

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that rent in Malden and raising property taxes um only it affects property owners disproportionately to people who rent. There's not much revenue generated from

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raising property tax on uh rental property. And I think um that in addition to several other line items on the budget like for example the city rakes in a whopping um

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1.2 million dollars for uh I believe parking tickets. Um it just refreshes my mind back to like um like uh

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like we're just if we need to make that many parking tickets, I mean like I I I just would like to iterate that that uh well that is literally a third of the ARPA funds that we had from

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previous years. Um I just think that the I'd like to state that the um parking garage revenue is down by 20% and so um

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if we could as a city garner the utilization of the parking garage more effectively and actually not just one parking garage, but I think the city owns several parking garages if I'm in maybe mistaken.

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Um and these public garages are underutilized and honestly under revenue generating. And that could be a way to preserve people's cars as well as other

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things, but um one other thing that I was going to mention that was really important is vacant property um well, it is a challenge to get people to uh offload vacant property onto

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the real estate market. Um I think heavy leans should be placed on um vacant property because whether it's commercial property or um uh residential property um

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these owners need to understand that they're part of the community of Malden and watching the ma- community of Malden and the city of Malden deteriorate based on lack of active ownership and active investment in the community is

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something that should be financially um revenue generating for the city at some point. Um And I think a vacant property tax should be explored um because

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it's just I can there's a list uh that isn't comprehensive or complete on the city of Malden's website of about vacant property and I I I think that's just residential property. Um The amount of vacant commercial real

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estate property that is for lease but just for rent and just waiting for that high ticket uh renter is kind of profane um because we as a city need to generate revenue

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but um I think if more people are focusing on getting renters uh not owners, we will be a city forever stuck in um

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a difficult do loop of um tax revenue being funneled to only a few people who are owning and out of respect for time, I'm sorry. Uh I will keep this short. I just wanted to say that

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I think there the ARPA funds and the school budget aren't the major aspects of the the budget being um misappropriated um I I really think uh

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well, I'm not a financier or like a accountant um I think there are just major flaws in the budget that uh could be adjusted and I think um and I made this point to a pretty uh

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a pretty f- much earlier. I think it was like a year ago or something like that or 2 years ago, but I think um uh I think the city of Malden should do what like budget cuts on or end freezes on any salary above

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100,000. Um that goes across the board to any city employee. I think making over $100,000 as one individual uh for 1 year is excessive it from a city

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perspective um enriching oneself on the city caught from the city coffers of the city's hard-working um residents were

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it's it's just disturbing because I think people need to be seen as public servants and it that is the true nature of what it means to be a public service and public administration. It's not to become like

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affluent millionaires off the public dollar. And that's basically my time and I'm sorry I was so uh jumping on different topics, but I think um there should be a budget freeze across the board for every single line

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item and uh no one should take salary um from uh like going forward if like there's such a disgraceful amount of budget impasses. It's just

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it it it's something that Malden could write itself with within its own resources and it's kind of embarrassing. That's all I'm saying. Uh I think we need to get the budget in order. That's all. Thanks.

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>> Thank you. >> Hi, good evening. My name is Karen Colon Hayes. I live at 105 Wyoming Avenue. Um, I want to thank counselor O'Malley. You're always coming up um, with some great thoughts uh, to come here. We are residents also. So, um, I did do some

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work with counselor O'Malley and I want to say that there will be more ideas that we'll either present in finance um, if not on a paper and one of my um, top priorities was of course the language access um, coordinator. So, um,

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hopefully some of these cuts that we will make um, we'll be able to get that position back because of what everyone else just said here tonight. It's extremely important especially in our city. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Anyone else wishing to speak in

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opposition to the petition this evening? I know we do have some emails to read before I close the hearing. >> do. >> Okay. I think we can move into the emails then. >> Okay. Dear City Council, my name is Thomas and I live in Malden at Diane's View. I am

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also a GMAC Youth Leader. I wanted to ask why it is necessary for you to cut the entire language access position. You gave very little notice. Next one says, my name is Alex and I live on Westcott Street. As a GMAC Youth Leader, I am against the cutting of the language access coordinator position.

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Language access as a whole is significantly important to all people throughout their lives and community. Without language, we would not be able to communicate properly with a lot of people we meet and converse with every day. More access to language leads to newly discovered connections and communications which can

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lead to influential or significant changes that benefit our society. Altogether, having more language access helps us as a community unite. As someone fortunate enough to have language access to the point where I've made so many connections and friends, it has positively impacted my life and

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relationships and I could not be more grateful. As for questions, do you think cutting positions rather than earning the money elsewhere is beneficial and efficient? Why? To the city council. My name is Seiremann and I live on Hancock Street. I am also a GMAC youth

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leader. And I am against the cutting of the language access coordinator position. Malden is a very diverse city and if positions like this are cut, it would put a huge portion of this city in a really rough situation. It will decrease participation in public events because

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many people who cannot yet speak English well may not be informed about events. To the city council. My name is Andy and I live on Stadium Road. I am also a GMAC youth leader and I am against the cutting of the language access coordinator position. Language access allows all cultures and races to

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partake in city council affairs and isn't this nation built on freedom and equality? Well, then language is one of, if not the most important in connecting communities and bringing equality. My name is Satvinder and I live on Ferry

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Street. I am also a GMAC youth leader. As GMAC, I am against the cutting of the language access coordinator position. I wish to feel empowered by having my voice heard. It is especially important to have an opportunity for people to actually participate in the community.

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Hello city council. My name is Terrance and I live on Main Street. I am a GMAC youth leader and as a youth leader, I am against the cutting of the language access coordinator position. I am wondering why the position was cut and what will happen to those who have been cut. Also, what will happen to the language access position since it is

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important to our community and how diverse the Malden community is. Getting rid of it will only handicap those who are in need of language access, removing lots of participation from community members. To the city council. My name is Cheryl. I live on Coleman Street. I am also a

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GMAC youth leader. As a GMAC youth leader, I am against the cutting of the language access coordinator position. Language access is a very important and it allows many who are not fluent in English to be able to complete many important documents and also express themselves.

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Learning a new language is very difficult and takes a lot of time. This position should not be cut or taken in such a light way. Why did the entire position have to be cut? It doesn't make sense to me since Malden has such big diversity in its families and benefits greatly from this.

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I heard that this job will be transferred and added on to another position, but this doesn't seem to be very efficient as it is not an easy job. Will there be support for this person or a new group? Last year GMAC went to see and learned about this position as we were working towards a new language at

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Malden High School. My family also personally has had trouble with some documents or even just speaking about things that don't come up in daily life. Translating for me is not easy or for my siblings. Even though my mom is able to understand, write, read, and talk with

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good proficiency, translating some words is not easy. So, I can understand how many people who may not understand English very well will find it even more difficult. I propose finding a new grant for the language access coordinator position. My name is Henry. I live on Alden

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Street. I'm also GMAC youth leader. As a youth leader, I am against the cutting of the language access coordinator position. This position is a very important to us because our community is very diverse. We all came from different backgrounds. Some of them know English, but not all.

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So, we should not leave those people who do not know out. We should help them and encourage them to be part of Malden. It is very important to me because I have to do translation for my parents and grandparents. By doing that, it helps them out a lot, but some other people don't have that

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privilege and that is why we need this position to help those people. We should find funding for this important position. Question, why are we cutting positions just to make other people's lives harder? To the city council, my name is Ryan and

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I live on Coleman Street in Malden. I am also GMAC Youth Leader. As a GMAC Youth Leader, I am strongly against the cutting of the language access coordinator. Malden prides itself on being among the top five most diverse cities in the state with Malden High School ranking as the number one most

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diverse public high school. Every day the streets of the city are filled with dozens of families coming from various backgrounds, cultures, and lifestyles. The lack of a language access coordinator would not only disrupt the voices of Malden residents, but also shake the foundations of the city as a

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whole. Throughout my experiences with volunteering or hosting community events, I have witnessed dozens of individuals lost, struggling to grasp and understand the sheer amount of English words being thrown at them. Language barriers are some of the strongest walls dividing humankind,

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which is why solutions that overcome these obstacles should be encouraged, not weakened. Therefore, I hope everyone considers the consequences of making this decision. Thank you. And then we have one more. To the honorable members of the city

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council, the Massachusetts Inspector General's June 2026 final report on Sheriff budgets and expenditures identifies fiscal principles directly applicable to Malden's proposed FY27 budget. I respectfully submit the following questions as they apply to the

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proposed FY27 budget. One, the OIG report warns that budgets lacking itemized purpose-specific line items enabled uncontrolled spending and mission creep. Does the FY27 proposed budget separate mandatory obligations such as debt service and collective

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bargaining cost from discretionary expenditures to allow the council to evaluate each on its merits? Two, the report identifies use of reserves to close structural deficits as unsustainable. The mayor's transmittal letter proposes drawing $5.2 million from reserves. What is the projected

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reserve balance after this draw and what is the plan if the structural deficit persists into FY28? Three, the OIG found that eliminating discretionary spending while protecting mandated services is essential. Has the council received a clear breakdown distinguishing which of the proposed

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cuts affect legally mandated services versus purely discretionary ones? Four, the report emphasizes [snorts] that clarity of purpose and clarity of funding ceilings are essential controls. Are the proposed zero cola wage freezes for open union contracts reflected with sufficiency contingency funding in the

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event those contracts ultimately settled above zero? Five, the OIG stresses the fiscal decisions conducted outside normal oversight systems create accountability failures. Are all proposed grant-funded position shifts as in as such as in engineering and

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general government backed by executed grant agreements or those revenues offset speculative? Thank you for the opportunity to comment. Brian DeLacey, 1 Earl Street. And that is all we have for comments.

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Okay, thank you very much. So, at this time I am going to declare the public hearing portion of our agenda closed. Do we have any questions or comments from the council before we move on to our next agenda item? And I am going to before we

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go into questions, I do just want to remind folks that um the council again is not going to be voting on the budget tonight. Um we do have our finance subcommittee that's going to continue discussing this tonight and next week and our full council will be coming back

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here 1 week from tonight to vote on the budget. Um I do want to thank everybody who joined us tonight. I also want to thank our interpreters. This was a long discussion and I know that's a long time to be interpreting. >> [applause] >> So, thank you.

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And I'm sorry that there were some technical difficulties, but I appreciate you bearing with us. Um please again come and speak to me if there's anything you have questions about that I can help you with afterwards. And with that, I will go to questions from the council. Questions or

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comments from the council. Councillor McDonald. >> Yeah, thank you so much. Uh I just want to say heard loud and clear um that there is significant community concern around the access to language translation and interpretation. Um I

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want to note that came up also in the council's committee conversations. So, I'm sure we'll be talking about that very soon. Um but I do just wanted to say to Councillor Melly and others um regardless of whether you are a member of the finance committee, anyone can

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attend any of our councilors can attend the finance committee and and and raise your suggestions there. So, I just want to be clear that we will uh we it will be an opportunity to um share all the things that you may suggest. I don't know that all of us are going to take

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the chance take the time right now to get into as much detail, but I appreciate the points that you that you shared there. So, um just thanks again to the many folks who are here attending and participating in this process. >> Yes, thank you very much.

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Okay, with that, I will move on to our next and I think final agenda item for this evening. >> A representative from the solicitor's office will follow up on paper 277-26 with an update to the council on the investigation into the open meeting law complaint filed by Bruce Friedman of 8

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Marvin Street on May 13th, 2026 against the council related to the executive session held on May 12th, 2026. >> Okay, and we I couldn't even see you over there. Our assistant city solicitor attorney Samia is with us. If you can please join us at the podium.

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Thank you for hanging in for this long evening. >> [laughter] >> Uh Yeah, so this is a open meeting law complaint submitted by Bruce Reedman regarding an executive session of the city council that took place on May 12th, 2026.

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And basically two things that the complaint states. It says that the topics listed were not sufficiently specific. And that the purpose of the session was improper. So one of our other assistant city solicitors has drafted a response which um

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uh addresses both of those complaints. Uh with respect to the first complaint be the about the notice not being sufficiently specific. Uh uh Prasanna Rajasekaran in our office pointed out that um

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the notice was sufficiently specific under the open meeting law guidelines and determinations of the attorney general because it identified the specific litigation that was going to be discussed and it identified it by name. Um and with respect to the purpose of

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the session not being proper the complaint seems to say that um because the case was fully adjudicated um the exemption does not apply. Uh I don't think that's actually right at all because the case technically was not

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fully educate adjudicated. Um there were hearings still being conducted and even after the hearings are being conducted, even after a decision is made, there could be an appeal. So really it's not fully adjudicated. So I think that's um one way in which the you know the

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complaint just got it wrong. And um the other thing that the complaint says is you know that the um something about there was no there was no detrimental effect on the litigation position of the city. So, the

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open meeting law complaint, and again, the response addresses this. Um there doesn't have to be a detrimental effect. The The law says there may be a detrimental effect. So, um I'm happy to address any other questions. I don't know if you guys have read the response, but I'm just sort of

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um summarizing what the response from our office says on behalf of the city council. >> Okay, thank you. Do folks have any questions? Okay, seeing none, I'd be looking for a motion to approve allowing the legal department to submit um to the complainant and the Attorney General's

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office. Okay, motion by Councilor Luong, seconded by Councilor Colon-Hayes. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Present, Councilor O'Malley. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much.

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Next order of business? >> That is your docket. >> Okay, the docket is clear. Do we have a motion to adjourn? That everybody wants to adjourn. Okay. >> [laughter] >> I'll go with Councilor Sica, seconded by Councilor Crow. All in favor? I. We are

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adjourned at 8:53. Thank you, everyone. >> We reconvene We're going to reconvene in 5 minutes in the in the in room 105 for the Finance Committee meeting and back on Teams.