Are you good? Okay. 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. I also wanted to do an additional moment of silence tonight. Tragically, a seventh grader at the BB school where my
daughter is a student passed away last week um of cancer. Um a young woman, Norma Rose Tmaine Smith, who my daughter and many of her friends had the opportunity to get to know over the last few years, um has been battling a rare form of brain cancer since 2019.
And she has actually been able to attend school up until just very very recently. And she did pass last week. Um, Norma Mar Rose has a, you know, from everything that my daughter and her friends have told me, has just a bright, sparkling personality. The, um, services are going to be this weekend. The
information is posted on the BB Facebook page. If anybody's not on Facebook and would like that information, please feel free to reach out to me and I'm happy to share that privately, but just wanted to have a moment of silence for this darling young girl who's gone too soon, Norma Rose. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Will the clerk please now call the role? >> Councelor Clone Hayes here. >> Council Condan here. >> Council Crowe >> here. >> Council Lewong >> here. >> Council McDonald >> here. >> Council Mali. >> Council Sea >> here.
>> Council Simonelli. >> Council Taylor >> here. >> Council Winslow >> here. >> Council President Lahan >> here. Okay. Okay, under the provisions of the open meeting law. For those in attendance, please be informed that UMA Urban Media Arts will be recording will be recording this evening's meeting. So,
just be aware that there will be audio and video recordings of tonight's meeting. First order of business is public comment. Public comment is allowed under council rules. Each speaker is limited to the subject matter relevant to this evening's agenda and everyone must keep their comments to two minutes or less. Clerk, do we have
anybody signed up for public comment? >> We do not. Okay, then we will move on to our next order of business, which is the consent agenda. So, this evening's consent agenda consists of one appointment and one communication to be placed on file, as well as 13 petitions to be referred to the license committee.
Does any counselor have a desire to remove any of these items from the consent agenda for the purpose of further discussion? >> Okay, hearing none and seeing one. Seeing none, I have a motion to approve by councelor Sika, seconded by councelor Simonelli.
Uh, all in favor or sorry, all opposed. The agenda is approved. Next order of business. Paper 98-26, mayoral appointment Katherine Price of 30 Tough Street 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. >> Okay. Councelor Crow. Thank you, Madam President. These are mayoral appointments and so we have been for the reappoints not bring them into um personal appointments unless someone had
a um a reason or really wanted to talk to somebody in particular. We can always do that. Besides this, we'll make a motion that we approve this reappoint. >> Second. >> Okay. Um do we need to do a roll call to confirm? >> We do. >> Okay. Clerk, will you please call the role? >> Council Cologne Hayes,
>> yes. >> Council Condan, yes. >> Council Crow, yes. >> Council Lewong, yes. Council McDonald, yes. Council Ali, >> yes. >> Council Sega, yes. >> Council Simmonelli. Council Taylor, >> yes. >> Council Winsow, yes. >> Council President Lahan, >> yes. >> That has been confirmed unanimously. >> Katherine Price is confirmed. Okay. Next
order of business. >> Paper 99-26, mayoral reappoint. Kirk Zimuski of 569 Felsway East as a member of the conservation commission. Said term to commence upon confirmation by the city council and to expire on
February 13, 2029. >> Okay. Councelor Crow, >> again, this is a mayoral appointment and with a mayoral reappoint. And so again, you can go to conservation commission or we can have them in at another time, but um I make a motion that we approve, um
his appointment here on the floor. >> Do I have a second? Okay. Second by councelor Winslow. Uh let's do a roll call to confirm. >> Council Cologne Hayes, yes. Council Condan, >> yes. >> Council Crowe, yes. >> Council Lewong, yes. >> Council McDonald, yes. Council Ali,
Council Sea, >> Council Simmonelli, Council Taylor, Council Winsow, >> Council President Lahan, >> yes. >> Okay, confirmed unanimously. >> Okay, that is confirmed. Next order of business, >> paper 103-26, the Malden City Council will address the open meeting law complaint submitted on
January 30th, 2026 by John Seiya of 37 Pier Street, Malden, against the council related to the wording of paper 7226. >> Okay. Thank you. And I will invite our assistant solicitor. Well, I guess we need a vote to refer this to legal. I'll
invite our assistant solicitor to come up if folks have questions. Is that appropriate? >> As soon as we get a motion. Yeah. >> Yes. I think that it is appropriate to have the legal. Yes, please. >> Okay. Thank you. Do we have a motion to refer to legal? Okay. By councelor Taylor, seconded by councelor Simonelli.
Uh we can do a voice vote. All in favor? >> I Okay. Oh, let me put your podium on. This was um a vote to refer the open meeting law complaint to legal for to devise a response. >> Okay.
>> Do folks have questions? >> Did you want me to read? Did you want me to read? This is >> That's fine. >> It's actually not that brief to be honest. Is it? >> No, it's got a full addendum. It's not It's not that brief. >> Okay. So, how do we want to handle this?
>> Um, it doesn't necessarily need to be read into the record unless somebody's got a question about it. >> Are folks familiar with the I know we've had a lot of these lately. Do folks would folks appreciate a summary of what we're talking about or is everybody
caught up? Everybody's good? Did folks have questions for our assistant solicitor? >> So, I will say that um the opening of the alleged violation complaint says, "I submit this complaint under Massachusetts open meeting law concerning the city council's
consideration of order 72-26 and its referral to the public safety committee. The agenda and order language as posted did not provide the public with sufficient notice of the substance or practical implications of this matter. The order used mandatory language with potentially significant operational
effects yet relied on broad undefined terms that did not clearly describe what actions or policies were being considered. I will go further to um explain that um Mr. say also said that he deems that if this paper went on to
the public safety committee agenda because it was referred then that would also be another open meeting law violation for the same reasons on the different agenda. So on this night on tonight's agenda council cond you had like a little almost a disclaimer at the
top of your agenda to try to get clarification to the public on the scope and the nature of the paper that you you talked about in committee last night. So I hope that made it clearer for the people the scope that we were talking about. >> I see >> of of this paper.
>> Okay. So folks recall this is because this is a little bit of an unusual >> it very much >> compared to other complaints that we've had. Do you want to summarize what the what what you've what's been sent to us so far or what the response has been what the recommendation is?
>> Um I actually have not worked on this one myself. >> Okay. But I'm sure we will uh you know take this in. We'll review the complaint, apply the law to it, and uh you know, bring you something back to vote on. >> Okay. I I have a couple lights on.
Councelor Winsel, you have a question? >> Yeah. No, I mean I think certainly this is definitely unusual and uh you know I I guess I think it's um just based on my own experience and I'm sure this is something you'll do with looking at the cases is just I think there's pretty
definitive thing in the um you know these the you know decisions on these complaints about the scope of and detail what we have to put in an agenda. So I'm looking forward to the legal office's review of that. I think it'll be very
clear um the result thing. >> Okay. Councelor Omali. >> Um so I would say that you know um the open meeting law is great and we try our best and um you know I think that you
know when the mistakes are made you know we should admit our mistakes. Um I don't think that this was a mistake. Um I I don't think that what we presented on the docket would be an open meeting law violation. I I did not talk to either of the sponsors and I was able to read it and
pretty clearly ascertain what it was related to. So I I just don't you know everyone has their right to file open meeting law complaints and I think that they provide a good uh check on us to make sure we're following the law. Um I think we follow the law here for sure. Uh I don't think this this particular
open meeting law complaint has merit. Um, and I do think it's important to uh make sure that, you know, if this does get sent up to the attorney general, um, that we kind of explain ourselves well so that we don't have a determination that for some reason putting even vague
policy objectives on the docket for for create like for to get more specific, you know, it would I think it would be a open meeting law violation to have something so overly specific that it looked like you were doing the deal behind behind closed doors. Whereas if
you put something more generic out there to be worked on in committee that actually is more in compliant with the open meeting law in in my opinion. So um I did vote present because I wasn't understanding the motion. It was a little confusing earlier, but I think our legal department will do a fine job
um responding to this. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Councelor Rali. Councelor Wel, you have your light on again. Okay, councelor Winso for the second. Just another quick thing of I mean what the other thing is just for the legal office is just make sure you get the record of the meeting. We had a lot of people make comments on that. So
um both in person and um in writing. So I think that's part of the thing about the open meeting law in terms of vagueness is that you know obviously there was a lot of people that were not on the council that understood what that was and made comments. So I think that's certain important part of the record to
emphasize in our response. Thank you. Okay, councelor McDonald. >> Yeah, I would just echo my colleagues comments on this and say that I think the goal of the open meeting law is to promote discourse in public to make sure that we are not doing things behind closed doors inappropriately. I think we
had a very robust exchange uh in the council meeting and that that is what we should be doing is being transparent with the community about what we think and what we're discussing. And so um I hope we can continue to do that. Um, and uh, and I'm glad that our legal
department will be um, helping us respond to this because I think the ability to put open-ended conversations on the docket feels really important for the council to be able to do its job um, rather than trying to micromanage how those discussions happen before they even get to the agenda. That's the whole
purpose of an open meeting. So, um, thank you for responding. >> Thank you, Councelor McDonald. Yes. Um, from the chair, seeing no other lights, I I echo what my colleagues have said. I would not want to quash debate on our ability to docket things where we need to generate discussion and refer to
committee and do the proper work of the council. Um, I I was interested in this complaint, but I look forward to hearing what the legal assessment is and seeing what the um analysis is that comes back. So, we'd be needing a voice vote to refer to legal. Is that what we >> We did refer to legal. >> Oh gosh, we already did that.
>> To clarify, just we had this question earlier in the day. Did you want legal submit on your behalf or bring it back to the body for review. >> Okay. So, we have the option to have the Oh, sorry. Council Crow, did you have a question before we >> I do think that that we authorize we
you've heard what the council, you know, sort of thinks and you know, sort of things to look at. So, I do think that although we refer to that we um authorize them to submit to the attorney general and not have to come back for another >> and not have to come back. Okay, that's that's exactly what I was just going to
ask. What's the what's the sense of the body? Do you have a >> Yep. Go ahead, Council McDonald. >> Um, just to clarify, so is that with the council president sign off? >> That's what we're discussing. >> Okay. I I would support uh legal submitting our response with your review.
>> Okay. >> I just want to make sure that it was >> that's what we need a motion around. >> Yes, I'd be happy to second that motion. Can we voice vote that >> or do we need a roll call? >> No, we can voice vote that. >> Okay, so on a motion by councelor Crow,
seconded by councelor McDonald to have that response by legal authorized by the council president, signed by the council president. All in favor? >> I Okay, that carries. No by councelor. >> Okay,
>> that motion passed by a 10 to1 vote. >> Thank you so much. Okay, next order of business. Paper 100-26, committee report. The standing committee on finance to whom was referred paper 52 series of 2026,
having considered the same, make the following report. Committee reports the paper out favorably with the following recommendation that it is requested of the mayor to seek a financial management review from the Massachusetts Division of Local Services. Okay. Okay. On a
motion by councelor McDonald, second by councelor Taylor to receive the committee report. All in favor? >> Paper 52-26. Order that the finance committee meet in conjunction with the mayor's financial team to research the feasibility of submitting an application
to the Massachusetts Department of >> That's the problem. >> Oh, what happened? >> We're missing a page. >> Okay. So, what's happening up here is that not everybody has page two of the agenda. >> Oh, no. Okay. >> Where do you skip to? Just go with me. I'll read it to you. >> It's on the postage.
>> The finance committee will meet in conjunction with the mayor's financial team to research the feasibility of submitting an application to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue Division of Local Services Financial Management Resource Bureau for Financial Management Review of the City of Malden. The purpose of such review shall be to
evaluate municipal operations, financial practices, and organizational efficiency. Be it further ordered that upon successful completion of the review, the finance committee will come back to the full council to report on the bureau's findings. And this was sponsored by councelor Lewong. >> Okay, councelor Lewong for the paper.
>> Yes, thank you so much. I'm, you know, very excited about this and I think it's definitely um time for a review. So, the financial management review was originally done recently in 2011 and it
it's usually done with the transition of um Mariel of mayors. Um now it's 16 some odd years later and um our city has changed and our the way we sometimes do business might change. So I think it's time for us to also take this moment to
review it and again and call for review. >> Okay. Thank you, Councelor Lu Wong. Um questions. Councelor McDonald. >> Uh just want to echo that um I'm very supportive of this paper and would like to be added as a co-sponsor. Um and that we had a really good discussion about
this paper and the next paper in committee and talked about the importance of an outside review. And then just trying to get clear on really what that can do and what it means. Um the city does get financial audits and what that is is outside independent accountants who make sure that our
books, our accounting is correct. But that doesn't have anything to do with the decisions we make about those resources. Um, this kind of a financial management review that the division of local services can do for free, gratefully, um, is really focused on our financial and planning processes. It
can't displace the work that we have to do as the council or that we do with the mayor about how we spend our money, but it can really help us think through the process for how we manage that money and those financial decisions. I think it's really worth doing. I appreciate councelor Long and Councelor Cologne Hayes bringing these papers forward so
we could have a good discussion in committee. Um and uh and it was a unanimous vote to refer this uh to refer this back. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councelor McDonald. Councelor Ali, >> I would also like to thank the sponsor and would love to be added as a
co-sponsor. Um I do want to thank um you know, Council Long, um Councelor Clone Hayes. I know that you both have taken different positions here, but I think that your compromise has been great to find a costfree uh option here and fully in support. Um
I think that the the the city only um gains to benefit from this type of performance review. Um and I do appreciate the the collaboration. I think that you'll probably see a unanimous vote up here. Um and the fact that people want to sign on as co-sponsors is a good sign of a healthy
and well thoughtout paper. So, kudos to Councelor Long. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councelor Ali. Councelor Cologne Hayes. >> Uh, thank you so much. I also would love to be um a co-sponsor on here. And I want to um thank um Council Lang on your first paper. Well done. Um and I uh
appreciated the chance. I think the um my I don't have my piece the paper here, so I'm not sure what's happening, but Oh, I am next. Never mind. I'll say what I'm going to have to say next. >> Okay. Any other lights? Anybody else want to be added as a co-sponsor?
>> Okay. >> Yeah, I'd love to see everybody added. I think that'd be great. >> So, everyone, >> yeah, I'd love to be added as well. >> Okay. Me, too. >> Yeah. Okay. Do we have a motion to adopt
the order? May councelor Leong, seconded by Councelor Taylor. Okay. All in favor? >> I. That motion carries. The order is adopted. Paper 101-26 committee report the standing committee on finance to whom was referred paper 53
series of 2026 having considered the same make the following report committee recommends reporting the paper out to the full council to be placed on file. >> Okay. On a motion by councelor McDonald seconded by councelor Taylor to receive the committee report. All in
favor? I >> I >> um paper 53-26 order that the finance committee engage in discussions regarding the costs involved and procedures required for requesting the office of the state auditor to conduct a municipal audit on
the city of Malden. The purpose of the audit shall be to identify any inefficiencies and irregularities in financial management within the city, to ensure that public funds are being used effectively and in accordance with Malden's goals and policies, to enhance transparency and public confidence, and
for the state auditor's office to provide recommendations for improving financial controls and safeguarding against waste or loss while complying with relevant laws and regulations. Uh, sponsored by Councelor Cologne Hayes. >> Okay, councelor Cologne Hayes for the paper. Thank you very much. So, we
talked about this um in the finance committee and I had um talked about putting forward an audit um for many many months and once I I had lots of conversations with the state um auditor's office and once I found out
how long um something like this was going to take it they said approximately one possibly two years and that it would cost us some money even though we weren't sure exactly what that cost was. Um, I was happy to fully support counselor Lewang's who um was a
different avenue um to go and didn't cost us money. It made perfect sense. So, um yeah, I just wanted to put this, you know, on file and um put an end to it. Thanks. >> Okay. Any Oh, I see have a light by councelor Omali. You have the floor.
>> Uh prior to it being put on file, I would like to just state that I was in support of your paper and like to also be added as a co-sponsor. Thank you. Okay. Okay. Seeing no other lights, do I have a second to the motion to place the Okay. Second by councelor Crow. All in
favor of placing this on file. I >> I >> Okay, that is placed on file. Next order of business. Paper 102-26. Order that the city council will vote whether to go into executive session with legal counsel for the city in accordance with exemption 7
Massachusetts general law chapter 3A section 21A7 to comply with or act under the authority of in general or special law or federal grant in aid requirements in order to act on periodic review of those executive session minutes listed herein to determine if release of
records is appropriate at this time or if continued non-disclosure is warranted. Council vote is required prior to the release of the executive session minutes for the following dates. April 29th, 2025, March 11th, 2025,
March 4th, 2025, February 25th, 2025, February 11th, 2025, February 4th, 2025, September 26, 2023, September 12th, 2023, October 25th, 2022.
And a roll call vote is required. Okay. Do we have a motion related to going into executive session for the purpose of conducting these review of these minutes? >> Okay. We have a motion by councelor Taylor. Thank you. Seconded by councelor Simonelli. Okay. On councelor Taylor's
motion, seconded by councelor Simelli to adopt the order and enter into executive session for the purpose of conducting periodic review of selected executive session minutes for possible public release. The clerk will call the role. >> Council Cologne Hayes. >> Yes. Council Condan, >> yes.
>> Council Crow, yes. >> Council Lewong, >> Council McDonald, >> yes. >> Council Ali, >> yes. >> Council Seca, >> yes. >> Council Simmonelli, >> Council Taylor, >> Council Winsow, >> yes. >> Council President Lahan, >> yes. >> The order has been adopted by a vote of 10 to one. >> Okay, so the council will enter into
executive session. We will now enter into executive session. The body will not reconvene for any further business this evening, and we will adjourn directly from executive session. Too late. >> 7:34. 7:30 4
I'll ask