Good evening. We'll be starting in just a moment. Thank you for your patience. Just trying to get our teams broadcast to work. We'll be starting in just a moment. councelor Simmonelli, can you please put your camera on?
Councelor Simmonelli, are you able to hear us? I can't see him. I see him writing in the chat, but we can't hear him. What is he doing? Councelor Sinnelli, can you try speaking again?
These mics are fine. All right, we ready? The council will come to order. I'll rise and salute the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, 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. Let me turn Councelor Condan's mic on
for an additional moment of silence. Thank you, Amanda. Um, I'd be remiss if I didn't bring up uh the unfortunate death of uh one of our great W two uh people, Billy Satimal,
uh who passed away uh last week. and uh he had a tremendous salute to him and the number of people that showed up to his funeral along with his uh wife,
three children, one had passed, Michael, but uh if you needed a furnace fix, it was Billy. I think he fixed half the furnaces and w too, but he was a a guy that just didn't
know how to say no. And he's going to be missed in our community. So, please give him a moment of silence. Thank you. Thank you. The clerk will now call the role
or you can't. Oh, no. Councelor Cologne Hayes here. Councelor Condan here. Councelor Crow here. Councelor McDonald here. Councelor Ali here. Councelor Sika here. Councelor Simmonelli
is with us remotely. Councelor Spataphora is with us remotely. Are uh councelor Taylor here. Councelor Winslow here. Councelor President. No, we can't hear you. We can't hear
you. Spataphora. We can't hear you. Zinnelli. Uh councelor Council President Len here. And um just for the public's awareness, we are still working out some of our teams um tech issues behind the scenes, but given the hour, we are choosing to proceed with the agenda. Um
we do have a quite a few members of the public in attendance, so we don't want to keep folks waiting. Um our IT director is working behind the scenes to try to get our remote participants um on board with us. So the next order of business or our first order of business is um guest citizens achievement and
announcements. Clerk, will you please read the first order of business? Joe Blank, founder of the Run Club of Malden, will appear before the city council to present the city with the plaque from the Roadrunners Club of America, hereby naming Malden an
official runner friendly community. Welcome. Thank you. Um yeah, so um I have a plaque here. Uh it's from Roadrunner uh clubs of America. Um several of you uh counselors
uh assisted the club uh in in getting this achievement. Um it has to do with um you know Malden being considered a safe and welcoming place for runners. A lot of it has to do with the infrastructure we have, uh, be it the Northern Shiran Community Trail and, um,
just things they look for, um, crosswalks and just to make it a safe and welcoming place. And so, um, we were really proud to, uh, get this achievement and Malden is really there. It's a great spot for for our club and for our runners. So, uh, we thank you
for that. So, I have this plaque. I would love to give it to you guys however you want to uh, have it. Do we want to do a photo? Okay. Yeah, let me um put counselor Taylor's light on as the um sponsor of our guest tonight. Thank you. Thank you so much for uh
coming and for all the work that you have done. Um we also have a citation from the city for you for just your um amazing contributions to the community and for keeping for building the community and keeping it going. Uh we
really just appreciate that. So, I guess we'll also be presenting you with that. Awesome. Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah. Maybe before we do that, I have one light. Counselor Clone Hayes, did you want to speak? I did. Thank you. Hi, Joe. Uh, thank you so much um again for all you do here. I
remember years ago when um I was with actually a few of you when you first started this and I can't believe how you all grew this and it is just such a great thing to see, you know, people getting healthy and running and I know I haven't been there in quite some time.
I'd like to get back, but it is really exciting to see what you all have done and to give just another activity for folks in Malden. So, thank you so much for continuing all the work that you do. Oh, you're welcome. Yeah. Uh you all are welcome to uh Sunday we have our road race. Uh again many of you guys have
helped us uh with this and we're so appreciative of all the work that the city does be police and you guys. Um it's Sunday morning 10 a.m. Uh it's called the wobble before you gobble. It's a Thanksgiving uh themed race. Um it's a really great race. It's grown. I
think uh counselor Hayes was there when it was eight people. Uh and now we're going to have over 400 people. And if you 400 participants, we have a kids dash that's uh free and open to all uh ages like zero up to about 10 years old.
Uh do a short little run. Um and then there's a 5K afterwards and um our beneficiaries are Bre of Life Malden and the uh Mystic Valley YMCA. Uh we've raised over $10,000 for that for those two organizations in the last couple
years. So um we'd love to see some more people there. It's going to be a great day. So, thank you guys. Thank you guys all again. I appreciate all you've done for us. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Let's I want to come out in front and we'll take a quick photo.
Amen. looking good. I don't know if there's an official photographer. Thank you. Okay, our next order of business is public comment. Public comments allowed under our council rules. Each speaker is limited to subject matter relevant to
the evening's agenda and must keep their comments to 2 minutes or less. Uh clerk, do we have anybody signed up for public comment this evening? Yes, we have 11 people signed up for public comment. Okay, so let's take our first in-person public comment.
William Spataphora, 37 Prospect Street. Good evening. Uh William Spataphora, 37 Prospect Street, Malden. I'm here tonight because it has become painfully clear that there is a lack of consideration for the residents of Malden who are expected to pay for every single wish list item that comes across
the table. Before you ask us to reach deeper into our pockets, I'd like to know how many meetings have actually been held to review potential budget cuts. Where is the evidence that the cost-saving measures have been discussed? The reats on lampost look great. What did those cost? The mums
planted across the city are nice. Were they necessary? These are small examples, but they point to a larger question. Does anyone analyze departmental spending and say we can save money here if we cut there? Or does it simply not matter? Because the default solution is always to have the
taxpayers foot the bill. This mindset will continue until the residents feel they have no option left but to sell their homes and leave. And that is not what we want. We love the city. We want to stay in Malden, but we cannot and will not continue to pay for the
inability to make hard decisions. That's exactly what we elected you to do. So do it. Residents deserve real leadership. Vote these debt exclusions down and prove the residents you actually care about us. Thank you. Next, we have Neil Kennan at 11 Spruce
Street. Neil Kennon, 11 Spruce Street. I just want to quickly uh cite the 2024 annual uh comprehensive financial report but done by Chuck Ranigan. The 25 is not done yet. What we have here is a
spending problem, not a revenue problem. more than enough revenue, more than you're going to get in the next five years has come out in over the last five years. But what's happened in the last 10 years is the following. In 2015, this city had,90
employees. Five years later, it had 1361. And five and four years later, it had 1552. That's 262 more employees. It's not just the schools. The school department, this is full-time employees. The schools went
up 210. You may say you can't control them. I'll give you that in the short term. In the long term though, you went up 52 employees outside of the school department. Where are they? Who's talking about it? The population hasn't grown here. So that needs to be
addressed. What also needs to be addressed is even if you get and I think the the movement is to do these overrides. Even if you get them done, you haven't done what Mr. Sparta said and gotten at the structural problem.
Here's the structural problem. Inflation 4.5%. City council over the last 5 years 4.8% on average. Legal department 18.1%. City clerk's office 9.5%. Inspectional service 13.1% up. Police
department 11.4. fire department uh uh five uh police department 5.1 inspectional service 11.4 education and this is the big one and you can't do anything about it but you should refuse to do net school spending
6.2 that's why you cannot keep going because that 6.2 you pass the 5.4 4 tomorrow, 5 years from now, we'll be right back here if education spending keeps going up because your revenue over here in the city, even if it goes up,
is not. Thank you. Next, we have Denise Cowi at 81 Newland Street. Hi, Denise Cowi, 81 Newand Street. Tonight, I'm speaking in opposition to the five proposed debt exclusion
overrides. Collectively, these measures would authorize the city of Mald to take on an additional 91 million in temporary tax increases, some lasting more than 25 years. While each project has merit on its own, the core issue is affordability
and responsibility. And we have to ask, can Malden taxpayers sustain this level of added burden on top of already rising costs for housing, utilities, and everyday living? The largest of these overrides, 36 million for the Northeast Vogue, would raise taxes until 2022,
a 26-year commitment. Many of us today will be paying for this long into retirement. And at the same time, we're being asked for 10 million for lead pipes, 10 million for an art center, 10 million for Roosevelt Park remediation, and 25 million for a new fire station.
We all care about safe water, quality schools, public safety, recreation, and the arts. But caring about these goals is not the same as agreeing to fund them through long-term tax heists without a clear, comprehensive financial plan. Before taxpayers are asked to shoulder
nearly a hundred million dollars in added assessments, we should see alternative funding strategies, grants, phased approaches, a prioritization of existing capital funds. A debt exclusion should be a last resort, not the first answer to every capital project the city
faces. We expect reasonable budgeting, long-term planning, and solutions that do not place additional financial strain on residents who are already stretched thin. And to the counselors who signed on to this, how dare you wait until after the election to come after us with
your own personal agenda. We should have been known of this before we went to the polls. That's it. Maria Despacito 81 floral lab.
Hi. Hello. Um, I'm just here to talk speak in favor of Jeff Donahghue to repres represent Malden for the Northeast Vocational School Board seat. He's a former Ward four counselor that worked hard for the city. I believe that with his background as a lifelong union tradesman, he would be a great addition
to the board. So, that's all I have. Bin Gity 47 Perkins. Hi, a lot of familiar faces. I am going to kick us off by thanking all of the people who just talked about the budgetary issues because Jeff Donahghue is going to add to our budgetary issues after we all have to
pay his pension. He lost his city council race in 2021, recently lost the preliminary school committee race. uh and his ward has resoundingly rejected him multiple times recently. He is now
using his friends on the council and in the local government to secure his pension without winning an election. That means that we the taxpayers will be paying his pension if they wave the next election.
So I think if we're paying pensions with our budget issues, we should be paying pensions to government employees that actually earn it. This vote to appoint him is rushed due to upcoming shift in council members. We know and this corrupt behavior that's happening is
exactly what Maldonians voted against in the recent elections. Not only Malden, multiple towns surrounding us voted against corrupt local politicians for this reason and this behavior. Jeff Donnie, who does not deserve to be appointed to the Northeast uh school
committee, certainly doesn't deserve to have the next election waved so he can float into retirement on our taxpaying dime. He needs to earn it. Scott Fitzpatrick, 68 Olive. Good evening. Scott Fitzpatrick, 68 Olive A. Um, just want to voice my
support for Jeff Donahue to be appointed to our vacant seat at Northeast Metro Tech. I'm speaking as a resident and a proud graduate. Um, the school really needs its leadership from Malden and I can't think of a better person than Jeff Donahue. Jeff has a long history of
public service. He served on the council here and he wasn't afraid to ask the tough questions when he was on the council here of departments and agencies with their spending. He's a wellrespected member of the Carpenters Local Union 218 of their executive
board. And I can't think of any better person than Jeff Donahue to represent Malden on the Northeast Metro Tech School Committee during the transition from the old school into the new school. Thank you. Got Siobhan Callahan, 68 Olive.
Hi, Siobhan Callahan, 68 Olivev. I'm here to express my support for Jeff Donahghue to fill the uh vacant seat at the Northeast uh Metropolitan Regional Vocational School Committee. It's important that Malden is represented by
an individual with appropriate background and experience who understands the issues associated with vocational education. Mr. Donahghue is a lifelong Malden resident and a former Ward 4 city counselor. His professional
career in the trades combined with his leadership in the union provides him with knowledge of the essential roles of vocational education plays in preparing students for bluecollar careers. His extensive experience offers a
practical perspective that directly aligns with the missions of the vocational school. um his background in public service and his job in the union and his leadership experience will make
him a great uh appointment for this role. Jennifer Spataphor, 37 Prospect Street. Good evening. Um, I usually do not address the council because I have my own platform being on the school committee, but I thought it was really important that I speak to the debt
exclusion topic tonight. I'm here tonight because I'm concerned that we're discussing debt exclusions before we have any clarity on what will happen with Proposition 2 and a half. It's putting the cart before the horse and frankly it feels like we're throwing spaghetti at a wall to see what sticks.
The last time I came before this council was to advocate for the demolition of 15 Ferry Street because on the school side, we recognized the potential tax revenue new development could bring. I stood here then in support of decisions that strengthen our long-term financial
outlook. So, yes, it's frustrating to now see us rushing ahead on debt exclusions without fully understanding our broader financial situation. The energy going into stirring up the community around these debt exclusions could have been far better spent standing with your fellow committee
members and council members at the recent chapter 7 study forums or at the state house pushing for legislature to move quickly and fix the funding issues at the root of this problem. That advocacy is where our focus should have been and still needs to be. So tonight,
I'm asking this council to pause, refocus, prioritize one major issue at a time. Stand with the school committee, with our educators, and with our families as we push for real structural change. Hold off on the debt exclusions until we have a a better look at how
everything's going to land. Um, it's logical. Thank you, Kimberly Gillette. Seven Tough Street. Hello, Malden City Council. I came all the way in person to say that I look forward to applying to the position of the school committee representative for the vacant Malden position of the
northeast school committee that needs to be filled ASAP. I have faith that you all will agree that transparency and procedure are paramount in positions such as school committee representatives. This position should cover the interimm only and a
valid and fair election be held for the seat that will represent so many modern families. Vocational schools are worthy of proper representation as public schools. As a recent candidate from Alden School Committee in Ward One, I received over 260 votes on my first time out as a
onewoman campaign against a longtime incumbent. I have I was 13 votes shy of the seat and I have knocked on the doors of almost every ward over the last decade and can say with my whole chest that I am someone that people would vote for.
The mayor's suggestion will have trouble saying the same. I'm an active participant in public school communities and events. I volunteer my time in schools and with grassroot organizations throughout our beautiful city. I am a tradeswoman that is uh also represented at the
vocational school. I'm a level one stylist, master of my craft, and small business owner here in Malden. I'm also back in school at our local community college to transition careers because I can. I am aware, upto-date, and involved in discussions around learning, not just
for me, but because my own children attend high school and preschool. I am outspoken, and I am not new around here. If the mayor missed such an obvious opportunity like me and asking me to step up for the interm, imagine how many excited and really, really qualified
candidates that we're missing out on in a democratic process. I look forward to putting my resume up against the suggested candidate and so many others that will likely apply. And if I lose, at least it will be to someone in the community once representing them.
Sean Salazar, 59 Bainbridge Street. Good evening. Sean Salazar and I live at 59 Bambridge Street. I came tonight planning to speak in support of the agenda items from councelor Bali, Cologne Hayes, and Winslow that would earmark revenue for the proposed override for specific projects. As
Mullen considers the path forward on an override, it's important that all options be discussed so we can fund both essential services and long neglected projects, including a revitalized Roosevelt Park without turf. Well, while reviewing the agenda, I was struck by item 432-25,
the appointment of Jeffrey Donnu to complete the Malden Representatives term on the Northeast Metro Tech School Committee after the passing of James Holland. In his letter, Mayor Christensen acknowledged that the city council and the Mand school committee are meant to jointly select the
replacement and that typically this would involve community outreach to identify interested qualified candidates. Instead, the mayor chose to bypass that process to quote unquote move expeditiously, putting forward his own candidate without allowing an open
and transparent search. This raises real concerns about political patronage, especially when one of the justifications offered is that the nominee quote unquote recently ran for school committee despite losing in a preliminary election. The mayor also cited the nominees background as a
tradesman and advocate for vocational education. Those are important qualities, but they are not exclusive to one person. Many Malden residents in including people working directly in vocational education and active in the community are equally qualified and
would welcome the opportunity to apply. By pre-selecting a candidate, the mayor overlook the possibility of other capable applicants and sidestep the joint responsibility of the council and the school committee. This is political favoritism and it undermines the transparent process our community
expects. I urge this council to reject reject this overreach and begin an open application process so all qualified Maldin residents have a fair chance to be considered for this important educational role. Thank you. Does that conclude our in-person public
comment? Yes. Okay. Thank you, clerk. Um, did we receive any additional comments via email? Yes. Can you summarize the content or the topics um that we received emails regarding
uh we received nine emails um that support the appointment of Jeff Donahue. We received 11 emails opposing the appointment of Jeff Donahue
and we received two emails opposing the debt exclusion ballot questions. Okay. Um, do counselors want to hear the uh debt exclusion emails? We probably have time for just one or two emails. I think we can Okay, let's hear the two debt
exclusion and then I think we're good with the summary of the for and against for the appointment. Dear clerk and city council, I am writing to voice my strong opposition to 434-25, 435-25,
436-25, 437-25, and 438-25. The mayor's office, finance committee, and council as a whole has done nothing to cut back on expenses, nor shown any
good faith attempt to do so. However, they expect property owners to assume a tax increase to supplement their shortcomings and reasonable unreasonable wish list. Additionally, trying to push these items
through last minute and holding a special election in February is irresponsible and reckless with no regard for the constituents of Malden, especially for those who will have to assume the burden. Therefore, I urge the council to
strongly vote no for a special election for an override and all other items attached to it until other alternatives and solutions are explored. Many of us have had to make our own personal cutbacks to make ends meet. The city has
an obligation to do the same. I would also like to know what the cost would be to hold a special election in February. Thank you. Sincerely, Janice Rice, 103 Henry Street. Um, and sorry I couldn't be here tonight to talk to you all in person. work
issues. I think of all of you in the highest regard. I feel that I am in a unique situation. My hubby works for a town that is also going through an override vote as well. We are in
override fatigue over here. Lol. Joking aside, it's been the topic of dinner conversations at my house for months. I am seeing both sides of this. I am still a hard no on this. I don't think asking
for money for a firehouse or an art center is the right thing right now. Where would the firehouse go? That would be engine two. By the way, I also think a hiring freeze and cuts are in order.
We have to do we have to do it in our own households. Correct? I feel in my humble opinion those that own houses are going to get screwed
especially if there are going to be multiple overrides in the coming years. If the city offered one big financial number with no additional overrides in the future, it may be easier to swallow. Again, my opinion here. Not sure if that
is something you can do. Thank you for listening. Marlene Galla, 40 Webster Street. Thank you to our clerk. Um, there's even more colorful language to be viewed on the agenda. If you want to see the rest of the letters, we'll be attaching those.
They will be attached. They will be attached tomorrow. Yes. Okay. Thank you so much. Our next order of business is public uh is um the consent agenda. Apologize. This evening's consent agenda consists of one appointment to be referred to personnel
and appointments committee and 23 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 purposes of further discussion? Okay. Seeing seeing no lights on a motion by councelor Sika, seconded by
councelor Taylor. Uh we have to do a roll call vote because we have two counselors remote. whenever the clerk is ready. And I don't actually know if we can we've had any success getting our remote
counselors to be able to vote. We'll go by a thumbs up, thumbs down. Councelor Simmonelli, if you're able to put your video back on. Oh, I see you. Okay, great. Thank you. So, we can do the thumbs up. Okay, perfect.
Okay. Okay. Clerk, will you please call the role? Yes. Councelor Cologne Hayes, yes. Councelor Condan, Councelor Crow, yes. Councelor McDonald, yes. Councelor Omali, yes. Councelor Sika,
yes. Councelor Simelli, thumbs up. Thumbs up. Councelor Spataphora, thumbs up. Councelor Taylor, yes. Councelor Winslow. Yes. Council President Lanham.
Yes. Okay. The consent agenda is approved. Next order of business, appointments and elections. Paper 432-25. Joint appointment of the city council and school committee. Jeffrey Alan Donahghue, 56 Tremont Street, Malden, as
the Malden representative of the Northeast Metro Tech School Committee to fulfill the term left vacant by the passing of James Holland per the regional school district's community agreement said term to commence upon
confirmation by both bodies of the Malden city council and school committee. Okay. Do we have a communication to read? We do. Thank you. This a letter of appointment by the mayor. Dear members of the council, I am
writing to you regarding the regarding filling the open position on the Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational School Committee with the passing of James Holland. As city clerk Caroline Desidario indicated, the regional community agreement under which
the school committee operates calls for any vacancy to be filled by the local school committee and the city council acting jointly. The appointment is temporary and that they shall serve until the next regular bianial election.
I considered gouging interest from members of our community but after giving this additional thought I believe it was it would result in a lengthy unwieldy and undefined process. This is a unique situation and there is simply no
criteria that would guide the type of process that we may conduct for an open position on a border commission. When combined with the temporary nature of the appointment and the importance of
having Malden represented as s represented as soon as possible, Malden is better served with a more immediate appointment. Therefore, I am recommending to the city council and the school committee the appointment of Jeffrey Donahghue to fill
the open position until the next election. He is a lifelong Malden resident and former Ward 4 city counselor. But more importantly, Jeff has spent his career in the trades as a carpenter and union leader where he has
been passionate about the role vocational education should play in our education system. He recently ran for the Malden School Committee where he also spoke about the importance of vocational education.
Malden would be uniquely situated by having a representative who has hands-on experience in in the trades, a true passion for vocational education and local political experience. I think his
back I think this background will serve us well as the VO opens a new facility and expands enrollment. I would recommend that we follow the same process that Chelsea recently did in having the city council first vote on
the appointment and subsequently the school committee. I would also ask that we move expeditiously with filling this vacancy. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Gary Christensen, mayor, city of Malden. Thank you, madame clerk. Okay, so we are
having a variety of technical issues both in the room and on teams. Councelor Seika's microphone is not working and we have counselor Simelli whose virtual microphone is not working. So what I am going to do is I'm going to take counselor Sika first. Um I just I'm just
stating that because I need to put her light on and you're going to see that she's not blinking but she's let me know that she's waiting in the queue via her hand being raised. I'm then going to take folks who are lit up on my screen here and then I'm going to take councelor Simonelli via cell phone
through my microphone. So, please bear with me while I address these issues as quickly as I can. Councelor C, you have the floor. Oh, it my my light is working. It's good to hear it. The button is just not working. Thank
you, Council President. And I appreciate um you allowing me to go first because I think what I have to say might stifle some debate up on this on the council floor. So I have prepared something that
I was going to read, but as I was listening to several members of the public discussing public comment, um Oh, sorry. We Oh, I'm so sorry. You're you're live again. Sorry. No. Um, I heard the word
transparency over and over and over again. And I also heard a resident say that we did not vote for corrupt behavior. But that is exactly what the residents of the city of Malden voted for a few
Tuesdays ago was corrupt behavior. And I'm going to explain why I believe that. Okay? because I would like to request that council of Cologne Hayes along with council Mali recuse themsel from deliberating on this specific topic and
voting on this matter because there's two serious violations of state laws. Mass General Law Chapter 268A section 23B3 requires that a public employee to consider whether his or her
relationships and affiliations could prevent him or her from acting fairly and objectively when he or she perform performs her duties for a city or a town. If he or she cannot be fair and objective because of a relationship or
an affiliation, he or she should not perform their duties. Councelor Colon Hayes and Councelor Ali have well-known personal relationships with Mr. Donahghue. That prevents them from being objective on this particular vote.
Over the last 36 hours, my head has been spinning. I've had a migraine for the past two days over what I've heard is happening in this city. I've spoken to people last night today and there is
little gray area on this topic. I would also like to let everybody know that and to this body's attention that there is a violation of open meeting law by councelor Cologne Hayes.
Serial deliberation is prohibited by open meeting law. Councelor Cologne Hayes has communicated privately with at least five other members of this body representing a quorum of this exact
topic. We are deliberating in front of the council this evening for the purpose of impacting the deliberations on this matter. Point of order. Point of order. I have a point of order. I'm sorry. What's your point of order? I'm trying to get to your microphone. Councelor Ali,
point of order to the president. You have made it a point to talk about decorum and I would like for you to actually enforce what you state. I am not. Let me finish my point of order. The the decorum of this body, councelor Lahan, you have said that you care about
decorum, but you only seem to care about decorum when it has to do with certain people. It's funny. You you enforce the rules of please don't talk over each other. Let councelor Ali finish his point. Please councelor Ali, I'm going to let counselor see finish her point and I'm going to let counselor Cologne Hayes
respond. She's next in turn and she has the right to respond. Thank you. Thank you. Serial private discussions via emails, text messages, or phone calls violate the law's requirement that
deliberations must happen in a duly noticed public meeting. That is not what has taken place over the last 36 hours. Okay? You should not be calling and giving your opinion of a topic that is
in front of us for deliberation while preaching transparency. Councelor Cologne Hayes has violated the public trust with her private deliberations. I have heard from several city councilors up here. I was not
blessed to have received a phone call or a text. Thank you, Jesus. But there are others that have and and therefore I believe that because of councelor Ali's relationship, previous relationship he's had with um
Jeff Donahghue and councelor Cologne Hayes, I think they need to they should be recusing themselves from all discussions tonight on this matter to maintain what we have left to salvage the integrity of this discussion because the there's some serious problems here.
If we continue to move forward with this, okay, and and it has nothing to do with Jeff. This is any business that is before us as a city council, we should not be having deliberation. We I got in trouble years ago for an open meeting
violation for sending an email and putting my saying how I was voting on it. I didn't try to sway anyone's vote. I didn't try to change anyone's mind. that councelor Cologne Hayes has tried to do that over the last 36 hours and it's unacceptable. That's corrupt
behavior. That's what the people of Malden voted for. Thank you, Councelor Seika. Councelor Cologne Hayes, you have the floor. Thank you very much. So, what I was going to address is um
now I'll have to do two things. So, I first would like to read what I was going to say about um this appointment and what we're talking about. So, what I'm going to do now is read what we um received from our city clerk. Um and this was back in September. And it says,
"All with the passing of James Holland, uh Malden now has a vacant seat on the Metro um Northeast Metro Tech School Committee. The school's regional community agreement states that a vacancy must be filled by the local school committee and the city council
acting jointly to appoint a member to serve the remainder of said term. I spoke with the mayor's office yesterday and it was suggested that a posting could go out to gauge interest in the Malden resident who may wish to fill this position. After identifying a short
list of potential candidates, I would recommend that the personnel committees of both bodies meet to review the candidates. This may be done separately or together. The most recent city who had to appoint a member to a vacant seat
was Chelsea about six months ago. In Chelsea's case, their council voted first on an appointment, then sent to their name to the local school committee for their vote of um of approval. How you choose to put forth a candidate is a decision I will leave up to you. In
the attached document, you will see the appointment is meant to fill a vacant seat until the next bianual state election. However, after speaking yesterday to Superintendent U Deberry, I learned he is utilizing his authority to
wave the next state election until 2026. The appointed successor will serve until the next regularly scheduled um school committee meeting nemit the northeast metro tech I guess it's school committee election in March of 2028.
So with that being said this is not a personal um thing although I might have some personal feelings which we all do about certain people and I'll I'll I'll suggest that I mean I'll talk about that later. Right now, this is a do with a process, the democratic process. And
what we need to do is exactly what our clerk has suggested, and that would be to put this out publicly so that we can hear from um like the folks who had got up and spoke today. Not saying that um Council Donghue may have uh what it
needs to fill this position. I mean um Jeff Donghue, but so do many and many of them are actually in this room today. So, in order to have a clear election, we need to just do exactly what this says. It's very clear from Carolyn, you
know, our clerk, what it is that we have to do. It's not hard. Um, I think that he could apply with everyone else that has um applied that could apply to this and then we meet and we discuss it because that's how a democracy works and that's what we should do. So, to me,
it's pretty clear we have to follow this um along with our school committee members. Um, now second part too to address. I'd like to um we could address this by speaking to a city solicitor. I'd like to see notes on who you think
um I spoke to about this and also bring up um something that happened um a few months ago and that was when um Lette Alvarado we had met and we um approved uh a
meeting um in in one of the uh I think it was a personnel meeting sorry we unanimously put her forth here you know as a um candidate for the CPC and then a lot of public um and personal things
came up here and so we can be able to have personal feelings and personal um disagreements. They were stated by a lot of people on this council and you were one of them and you didn't like what um
Lette had to say uh on social media and therefore and how she might have treated some people on here and therefore um you didn't you you wanted people here to not vote vote her out basically even though she was voted out through um you know the personnel committee. So basically,
yes, I can have very strong opinions about people and still make a professional um choice on what goes on in our city. Funny thing is is that um a few like just maybe 10 minutes ago back in the in the back room, we were talking
about jury selection and we I was chosen for a jury. Um and we were talking about what it was. could I make a a decision on a murder murder um suspect even though I work with youth? It had a long
sessions. My father um worked in the uh criminal justice system. I had a lot of personal opinions about this, but could I make a valid decision not on personal opinions? 100%. Um, so that is the same
thing here. And I am suggesting that we put this out for a vote because as I just read here, this would not just be filling a short term like just putting someone's name down um to fill it without any public um vote. This would be like a two-year
appointment. So, I'm asking that we put a hold on this, whether we um table it and we put this out so that everyone in our community has an opportunity to apply for this as we all should have opportunity to apply for this. It's just
fair. Um and so that's what I'm asking folks to do tonight. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Clone Hayes. Councelor Omali, would you like an opportunity to speak next? Okay, you have the floor. Um, you know, I I will say that um
the counselor from Ward 8 fundamentally misunderstands the law. Um, and you know, as someone who has strived to be as transparent and accountable as I can. I'm not perfect. None of us are perfect.
Um, you know, when it comes to the open meeting law, when it comes to the public records laws, um, you know, I have tried my best and I did not violate any open meeting laws. I all all I will say is when we talk
about how we treat each other, you know, if you expect me to treat you with respect, I would just ask that you treat me with respect. The conversation that you just had could have happened with me outside of this context. It could have happened with legal. There are so many different ways
that we could have handled it. And I hope that we can take a step forward to not treat each other the way you treat me. Um, on the process, I really don't want to talk about the person who's been put forward here. I want to talk about process. I think that, you know, respect
starts with all of us. I have never been a I'm not a perfect person, but I think we can move forward. There is a defined process for the vacancy. I'm going to read what it is. According to the agreement that we have, if a vacancy occurs among the members
elected by a city under subsection IC, the local school committee members and the members of the city council from a city involved acting jointly shall appoint a member to serve until the regular next regular bianual city election at which election of a successor to be elected to serve the
balance of the unexpired term, if any. That election could have happened a couple weeks ago, but that was not put forward. This process was I don't know if it was sped up or slowed down. Um, but we have a chance to do this the
right way where there will be public confidence and we have so many quality trades people in our community. They have they deserve a chance to represent our community. So, I'm focused on the process. I am very prepared to talk about the candidates's qualifications.
I'd prefer not to. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Ali. Councelor Taylor, thank you. Um, so I would just like to add that I think the process is extremely important and I think that the school committee has been um somewhat
left out of this and we should be including them more because this is more their wheelhouse than it is ours. Um, but I'd also like to address that when we hold our citizens accountable, we hold each other accountable, we have to hold ourselves accountable. And one
thing that I think that we're lacking is some sort of expectations for ourselves that can be put across fairly and evenly for what's expected. as the council that just came on and at the end of my first term not knowing, you know, and
constantly arguing about what is an open meeting law and what isn't. I mean, serial deliberation was actually brought up just two years ago when I started. It was the first open meeting law violation that I was part of. I think we all know
that it is not okay and we have to be okay regardless how we feel about somebody holding them to the same standards as everybody else. I'd like to see us do that going forward. I'd like to see us have some expectations. We've
talked a lot about having norms and how we're going to hold ourselves accountable so that our community can hold us accountable and know be able to trust us. I'd like to see that happen going forward and I would like to put this to the personnel
committee um and make that motion to send this to personnel so that we can start having create a process that'll be more transparent in the future. Thank you. Okay, so we do have a motion and a second on the floor. Um I am going
to try to take counselor Simonelli on this phone here. Um, so bear with me while I Lisa is coming back. Okay, so did he Okay, Councelor Simmonelli, let's give this a shot.
Okay, Madame President, I'm glad to see that you're doing well and that you're in a tennis tonight. Worried about you. I appreciate it. That's why we've got the the sexy mood lighting tonight is from is for my head. I appreciate that. That works for me. Works for me as well. So, I'm going to just try and be quick
because I don't want you holding the phone up there. I know you're having technical difficulties. Is everybody all right? You can hear me. All right. It sounds great, actually. Okay. All right. So, I'm just going to give a quick history lesson here. Um, some years ago when Richard How was a mayor,
he actually appointed uh in the same process uh our current mayor uh to the school committee and along with Francis Baker. from my neighborhood to the school committee as well. Uh so I'm not saying that the process is not flawed,
but I think that if you want to change the process, then what the counselors need to do or the counselors that are representing uh this this agenda tonight here should put in a a paper to the ordinance committee to do such to that
do that thing. Other than that, then you know we got to go by president and that has been the president whether you like it or you don't like it. You know that's that's what we go by. So I mean I'm looking at some numbers here and we're this year alone we're spending $900,000
a year for the vocational schools. Then moving forward we're going to be spending $1.4 million. then $2.3 million is what we're paying for right now for our kids to go to the vocational school. So, do we really want to keep this seat vacant and not have a
seat at the table during this process? I would say no. And as far as the um character of uh former counselor Jeff Donnie, I grew up with Jeff Donnie and we both grew up pretty hard. And Jeff is
a uh is in the trades union, I believe the carpenter's union, and has gotten a lot of people jobs in the city of Mald, including a lot of people from my neighborhood that wouldn't have got these type of jobs if it wasn't for Jeff Donnie. So, I think he'd fill that position very well because he has a
political background already. Uh Andy's a lifelong resident of the city of Malden. that kind of works for me. Even though Joe uh Jeff and I haven't always agreed on everything, even as kids. Uh but personalities aside, I think he would do a fantastic job. He's a
wonderful father. I know his kids very well. Uh that he's brought him up very very well. And uh and I support this appointment. Uh and I think that we need to start moving forward instead of backwards. And uh you know I'm not going
to mention I'm not going to talk about right now about the firehouse the arts done at a Roosevelt Park. I I will say this. I I do not support a two and a half override. I never did. I don't think we we're not talking about that agenda item. So you really shouldn't talk about those. Chris,
thank you. Thank you for the correction. But as far as the You're right. But as far as the appointment goes, you know, I I I think Jeff will do a fantastic job there. Uh I'm just going to keep personalities out of it. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you, Councelor Simelli.
New number. Okay. So, we do have a motion and a second on the floor, but I do have a couple other lights. Um, I'm going to go to councelor Winslow and then councelor Crow. Councelor Seik, you do you want to speak in another time? Um, just really quickly. Okay. All right. Councelor Winsow, I'll
take you next. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, since I was elected in 2017 to the council, started serving in 2018, there's been a commitment from the council to try to open up opportunities for people to serve on board commissions to advertise things
more broadly. I even for elected uh you know, for for city positions to be out there. So, that's been a commitment I've seen since 2018. So, I don't know about these precedents under Mayor Howard. Um that's quite a while ago and I don't see
anything in that legislation that prevents us from having a process as a council. Um and I know um having served on the personnel committee and and knowing uh councelor Lahan and councelor Crow have been very serious about those commitments. We we've actually tried to
work with the mayor mayor's office to sort of reduce some of that burden to um you know when there's uh certain positions that um we think that really should be go quickly we do but you know an elected position that's you know going to be filled for a couple years at
least and may you know make someone incumbent that's a pretty serious responsibility that's put on us under the law and I think it's perfectly legitimate to say we need to have a transparent process. We've already heard some people beyond I appreciate Mr.
Donnu putting his uh you know his his interest forward but there's other people we should consider this as serious business and to um make this about personalities I just think is is wrong. I think we have a serious uh role that's been called on us by the legislature. We should undertake it that
put personalities aside and figure out uh what who can best serve from Malden and uh just having one person to consider is I don't think it's the way to go. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Winsel. Councelor Crow. Thank you, Madam President. And um actually, it is really a unique
situation as councelor Ali had outlined sort of the vacancies. It's about four lines really that really doesn't um set us a clear process of how or who puts the names forward. And you know, as councelor Winsel has said, you know, we
as the the body have been trying to be get out there and um and get a broad um perspective of people that would be interested in things, but we cannot set the mayor's process. We have no authority to tell them how he has to go
forward with his process. And we have no authority to tell the school committee how they go about their process. We do have precedent as we look into that the the mayor has been the one that puts the name forward. So he did do that. We've
had other things again if he the mayor decides to put it out he can put it out but if he doesn't want to he's he's a body of one us we have to put things out like that really because we are a body of body of 11. So, you know, we can't have all
different processes, but so we do have a name before us and although I think if we're going to be sending this to committee um is that to interview Mr. Donghue, I think just take it up or down vote now.
And if it's about the process, it is a little more um sort of cumbersome because there's not really a clear one. And I know that councelor Cologne Hayes had mentioned about um uh the superintendent but he is now speaking to it his attorney before confirming any
election related details moving forward. So he is trying to look at those things. We are following what Chelsea did 6 months ago because they're the first ones that have done this. Luckily we have not in you know unfortunately it's right now but had this issue to deal
with. So, I do think we have a qualified name and I would make a motion that we either approve we'll approve Jeffrey Donn who is the next um vocational school committee member. Okay. Thank you, Councelor Crow. Councelor Sika. Thank you, Council President. I'll be
brief um really quickly. Councelor Rali, I was just stating that you had a a personal relationship. That was it. I did I did not meet I did not mean to bunch you in with the open meeting law complaint, which is going to be filed tomorrow morning. Um, Zahir, is there
any way that you can come up and speak at the podium for me, please? Could I get a legal opinion on what's going on up here? Because councelor Cologne Hayes can sit here and deny, deny, deny all she wants, but I've
talked to several counselors up here that received text messages, voicemails, and or phone calls from her stating some not so nice things that um Mr. Donnie who could potentially, you know, get her for defamation on. And I just I I'm not
quite sure whether we vote it, we don't vote it. I'm not sure where to go from here. But this this isn't even about again Jeff Donahghue. This is about this particular process. We're hearing process process process all night, but this is about this particular process. We are not supposed to serial
deliberate. We we got in trouble two years ago for a a counselor who was running for council president, which had nothing to do with any sort of a vote other than us electing a person to lead us into that upcoming year. And we got a
open meeting law violation um pulled against us because somebody called and asked for somebody's support. This I feel like is completely different. Um, we had a member of this body calling to sway how somebody voted
on a topic that is before us in deliberation. So, can I just say I'm going to just say, can we maybe ask for a definition of serial deliberation and then take the rest of the conversation perfect offline so that we can vote the motion on the floor?
Sure. And maybe I should just say, you know, I'm not going to, you know, my office doesn't just give legal determinations on the fly without doing some kind of investigation. Understood. Okay. So, you know, if if there was if there was I'm not saying
there was, but if there was, is this something that we should be having a a discussion on and voting on tonight or should we not? I'm not even sure what that means, but if there's a complaint, if there's a complaint about an open meeting law
violation, so we should we should take a vote and then tomorrow I'll file an open meeting law violation and then we'll deal with that after the complaint goes in the first instance to the public body. Yep. the public body, in this case, the
city council will often uh uh refer it to the legal department to investigate and to respond on behalf of the public body as I've done I don't know how many times for you guys. Um so including the the couple of years ago that you know you might would have been referring to.
So you know I'm not going to say sit here and say there there is ser serial deliberation or not. I mean it just can you tell the public what serial deliberation is? Serial del deliberation can be found where uh somebody tries to communicate one member of a public body
communicates with another a quorum of a public body but not all at one time but sort of circumvents the the rule against deliberation with a quorum by going one by one to different uh different members and communicating with them in that way.
However, it doesn't necessarily mean that just because you happen to speak with, you know, individually with five or six people, it's automatically serial deliberation. It depends on what the substance of the communications are and what to some extent what the intent was as well. Y so it's not just you spoke
with six people, therefore it's automatically serial deliberation. Understood. Um but the process is what we've done before. The open meeting law says if there's a complaint, the complaint goes to the public body. It's brought to the floor um at an open meeting and it's
either investigated by the public body or frequently referred to the legal department and we will do our investigation and do our best to make a determination. Awesome. Thank you. I have one more thing before I no longer have the floor if that's okay. Um, I just want to I I
feel like I said this not too long ago when we were up here for poor uh Chuck talking about his, you know, commission on the board of appeal, I think it was. And I'm I'm going to state this and I'm going to leave it at that. The city of Malden elects the mayor to lead them.
Gary appointed Jeff Donghue for this position. This is not something that happens often. We don't have people that are passing away in seats where an appointment is necessary. Um, you know, God rest James Soul back in September.
We did nothing over the past two months. So maybe Gary thought he needed to send down an appointment because this position needed to be filled and he did he did just that. I I don't think that I don't think we're going against any
particular process. this is just happens to be how this is going to be done at this particular moment. There's no process. We've never had to do this before. And as far as all of a sudden all these other people that are interested in this position, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. I I don't
remember, but I feel like there was a long-term woman on this city council in this particular seat before Mr. Holland took it over. And there's never I've never seen any interest in this school committee seat for the vote. I mean, I
think it's great all of a sudden if there is, but if if uh the mayor was thinking like I'm thinking on this, then there really has never been any sort of interest in the Vogue school committee seat. If as far back as I can remember, I mean, it was Bob McCarthy's sister for
years. I can't think of her name. Does anybody know it? Jean Feny, right? And then, you know, and then Jim took over from her. the this has not been a sought out seat. So, if it is all of a sudden, I think it's fabulous, but we need to make sure we
have somebody in place immediately. Thank you. Okay, I've got three lights and then we need to call We have two motions on the floor and we need to call a question. Councelor McDonald for the first time. Oh, sorry. You have the floor. Thank you. You know, briefly, I want to
echo councelor Winslow and just saying I really appreciate Mr. Donahghue being here. I think the mayor has sought to lead this process in good faith, but I think that the appointment of someone to an elected position is a is the highest burden of appointment that we would make to a vacant elected position. And I
think that it's incumbent upon us to set forth the process by which we're going to do that. Uh because it is not super well defined. And so I would support a referral to committee and I hope that in that you we can have a discussion about how we might create the possibility to
consider other candidates who may not have known this vacancy was open or had the chance to apply. I don't have a specific recommendation about how to do that. I have ideas, but I do think that we should do that in coordination with the school committee so that we all feel ready to vote on whatever comes out of that committee process. That would be my
recommendation. Uh, and I'd be happy to um support the uh councelor Taylor's motion. Okay. Thank you, Councelor McDonald. Uh, councelor Ali. Yeah, I'll just I'll um I'll echo what councelor McDonald stated. You know, I I appreciate the mayor's proact
proactivity here. Um, but I think for the the um public confidence and and fairness, I do think that we need to be able to ensure that everyone has a chance. Um, including the the individual put
forward. Um, I think that the the the document, you know, doesn't say like, you know, take a left, take a right, jump through a hoop, but it it does pretty much say the city council and the school committee jointly will decide who
will replace this individual. And I think it's only fair to do that. Um, you know, there are people in our community who are also very qualified and have a ch have deserve to have a chance. Um, and I think whoever ends up having that in the end, whether it's the person who's been put forward or someone else,
um, I think they will be more successful, uh, knowing that they they had a fair chance to get that. Um, I appreciate councelor Crow's position, you know, um, but I mean that fundamentally it it's clear it's it's the city council and the school
committee, and of course the mayor is the chair of the school committee, and I appreciate him taking the lead here. Um, and I think we can help. Thanks, Thank you, Councelor Ali. Uh, councelor Colon, thank you very much. Um, just to address
the the concern that people may not want to have this position or apply for it. I mean, we are living in a way different Malden than many years ago. Uh, we have tons of people applying um for all our positions. I think um actually councelor
Condan always mentions that in the um personnel committee that wow look at the people we have now you know applying um they're just it's just a different caliber and our city um they rely on us to give them a chance and to be um let
people apply to this position and if it was posted I guarantee you we would have had a lot of people applying for that just like we have for any other position. Um and there is something that uh I read it already from the clerk. We do have
a basis for a process and that is the city council and the school committee. It says put forth names. Um this is not a mayoral appointment at all. That's I don't know why that's even being said. It's good
that if he wants to put down a name that's fine. Put that name out there with everybody else. Um, but I just want to support um, Council Taylor's um, her motion to send it to personnel because
this may not be the only time that this is going to happen. I mean, people could leave other positions. This could happen again. We should have a process. So, I do support that and I'd like to um, take a vote on that um, motion now. Thank you. Okay, let's call the question. So, we
have a motion on the floor by councelor Taylor, seconded by councelor Ali, right? Uh clerk, will you call the role, please? Yes. Councelor, the motion is to refer the appointment to the personnel and appointment committee. Correct.
Yes. Okay, that's what I have. Councelor Colon Hayes, yes. Councelor Condan, councelor Crow, Councelor McDonald, yes. Councelor Ali, yes. Councelor Sika, no.
Councelor Simmonelli, that's a no. He did a thumbs down. Councelor Spataphora, also a thumbs down. Uh, Councelor Taylor, yes. Councelor Winslow, yes. Council President Lahan,
yes. That is a six to five in the affirmative. Uh, I'm going to call a fivem minute recess. It's okay with everyone. Keep it going. Apparently
Thank You don't know. I don't think I think it Yes, you until they voted. I don't know. Council will come to order. Uh the clerk
has reminded me that I did not properly state that that paper was referred to personnel when we concluded before we took a recess. So I do just want to make sure that we do that. Um, next order of business, paper 44 433-25
be it ordained by the Malden City Council that the code of the city of Malden MCC 9.2050 2050 provisions applicable to all waste is hereby amended by striking subsections A, B, and C and in their entirety
subsections A, B, and C in their entirety and inserting the following in their place. Okay, Councelor Winslow for the paper. So, um, it's been pretty quiet out there. Um
I'm surpris this is actually a paper to talk about our trash fees. So um so it's something's going on here when that is not the most controversial thing on the city council agenda. But just I'll be transparent with everybody. That's what this paper is about. Um and just to kind
of give you an overview view. Um I submitted this paper as one part of an alternative proposal I plan to put forth related to the proposed 5.4 4 million prop and a two and a half override now under consideration. And I'm I'm I'm
putting forth the proposal that'll have three elements. Um first will be what I would call a modest belt tightening proposals maybe in you 1% or so to be included in the fiscal 2027 budget. Um that my preliminary estimate could
reduce citywide spending by about $1.2 million. that is pretty much preserving staff as is, but um and and not touching uh other things that we can't really deal with. I mean, we're already reducing $3 million in healthcare hopefully, but really just looking at um
budgets. I do have to say in uh Maplewood Square, Billy, I raised the money for the the flowers there with the the community. So, we're trying to do what we already try to do. Yeah. So, but it is a type of thing. So, we we actually formed the Maplewood Association of that. So, um, part two,
um, is really, um, looking at, um, there's a m municipal empowerment act out there. Um, I did reach out to Chuck Rainan to get an estimate that that is potentially, um, uh, could raise another $660,000 a year if somehow the
legislature moves forward with that. Um, that would include a slight raise in the meals tax as well as um, the raise in the hotel tax and other things. So, so that's um that could um with and I also think that um in the discussions we've had about
spending and and uh I think we've had we have some overly conservative assumptions. I think we could rely on a small amount of reserves. So maybe about between some municipal power revenue and some minor use of reserves that's maybe another million dollars. So that gets us
down to the 3.0 you know4 million. And then the the fourth part is this is is this um focus on trash fees. One key compartment I I did look at a lot of the other communities and I actually reached out to a former employee Ron Cochran who
works in this program at Mass D and try to understand what's going on statewide. Um there's 101 cities and towns or actually towns out there where people have to take their trash down to the transfer station. They have a little tag that they have to get. So 101 cities and
towns like that. Um I looked at cities and towns that were um you know having trash and recycling fees. Um you know Melrose theirs is up to $432 a month. Um but I was intrigued by um to hear that
Salem um imposes a fee just on um absentee landlords. And so um and I understand Chelsea has something similar. So, one of the things is to propose for 2026 to have a search charge
of $50 per unit for non-absentee landlords to help shift the burden. And I think one of the things we saw in the trash strike was that a lot of um the places where enforcement wasn't, you know, people weren't complying with the bag requirements or or over stuffing
stuff was, you know, where people are absentee, you know, for absentee landlords. So, I think there's a legitimate connection there that we have to do more enforcement and education um in places where the landlords or or residents are not there. So, that's one thing. And then just the proposal does
you look at raising um our trash and recycling fees either the bags or the tags um in 2027 by 50%. Those have not been increased at all since they were enacted back what in 2008 I think Paul wrote. So that basically my estimate
with for that would be somewhere in fiscal um uh 2026 um we would be in actually I guess it would be starting fiscal 27 um that would be $400,000 in additional trash
fees with 600,000 in the future. So, and if all these proposals come into place, my alternative proposal would be for a $3.4 million override instead of a $5.4 million override. And that would, you know, help the immediate financial crush
crunch on the city faces. And these actions would also build fiscal stability in the future. Um, a modest override will ensure that we as a city and as as uh uh uh school committee members spat mentioned that we need to
continue to focus to work to change that chapter 70 funding. So, a modest override can make sure we're um we're focused as a body and our legislative people focus on that. Um, and then also I'm very committed to creating financial
stability. We have a big another financial hit we're going to take when our trash contract comes up in a few years. And you hear, you know, we're paying $75 a unit. Melo's $432 a unit. We're going to be getting having to
really um put in a lot more revenue somehow. So, we have to start having this conversation. I've been having this conversation. um at city council for the past four or five years. Um I think it's we I put this forth this paper so we can have a real conversation about those
fees. So um so I say that's what I'm proposing and like I say there there would be for 2026 that $50 per unit um for non-owner occupied residential units of six units or less. Um and that covers some disposal fees that right now we're just using general funds for. And so
that would be really folks outside the city probably, you know, they're they're absentee landlords. Um and then for 2027 looking at um you raising fees, that would be somewhere maybe $13 to $50 per household. So you know, a buck a month
for some households, four or five bucks, maybe a bit more if you have a bigger household. And that would be the first increase in 15 years. And then also one part of this I know you know having um there's a lot of you know when the trash things were passed in 2008 um there was
a lot of consternation about um making sure we have involvement of the community. One of the other things I I this proposal has is basically a floor to say right now in this fiscal year we committed a certain amount of general funds to trash collection and disposal.
we as a city council would be committing to make sure we continue going forward to commit that level of general funds. So this this revenue would be above and beyond to NSA to put us on course to take care of that leap. You know, I think one of the things I remember so
much um in W 6 and there's a lot of W six people work very hard to try to overturn the bags. um that the biggest upset was that literally it was like June 30th of whatever year that was that Mayor Howard had to come up with
something to balance the budget and literally without any really public discussion or involvement the the the pay as you throw got adopted because it was some way to get some more revenue for the city. I'm putting this out here because I want to have that be the discussion of the override. I'm even
open to putting this, you know, voting as a council to put this on the same ballot as the override so that the people could have that. So, that's that's just what this paper's about. And my my recommendation is we refer this to finance and um and rules and ordinance.
I mean, I've got some rough numbers. I'd like to have a little bit more analysis from the mayor's office to and to see whether kind of my rough estimates are good. But this this is my my idea that of really trying to put something out there. I mean you saw Melrose they
offered sort of three tiers of override. I mean ultimately they all passed but I what I'm hearing as I was you know doing my final weeks of campaigning. What we have a point of order on the floor from councelor McDonald. Yeah. Respectfully, I I look forward to talking about these things in committee,
but we're pretty far from this paper. Okay. And I think we need to bring this back to the paper because we have more papers in this. So, so I just So, in conclusion, I just hearing from constituents that that um are very civic minded, but they
have tight budgets. We as a council need to really, you know, work hard to, you know, get our financial things in order. um and that we have to respect the you know the the residents budgets as well as our own. So that's really the the
intent. So that's just want to say that's why I'm putting forth this and I just wanted to let let people know I'll be reaching out in finance. I'm on the finance committee and um and and and also advocating at the state level for the municipal empowerment act. Thank you. Thank you councelor Winsow. Council
McDonald, would you like to speak to the paper? Thank you. You have the floor. Yeah, thank you. I do want to acknowledge that um councelor, you know, councelor Winsow, this was absolutely the kind of that this follows all the conversations that we've had in the finance committee about the trash deficit. Um and I do think that we can
raise unrestricted revenue by raising trash fees. I also think we've got a lot of different things on our plate as possibilities right now. This is certainly the time if you if we have ideas, we should raise them. Um, but I part of what we're going to need to air traffic control here in the next couple
weeks in our finance committee is like what are we really asking the voters about and we cannot ask them about five different things at the same time and expect that message to be understood. And so I I I look forward to talking about the possibilities here and the numbers and also the prioritization and
sequencing of all of this. And I want to just say really clearly in terms of revenue estimates for this will matter as it will for all of all of the pieces that we're talking about when the $5.4 million figure that is the anchor point
for this I do not believe is a figure at which we can guarantee no further cuts or layoffs to city services. So, we need to really spell out, well, how do these pieces add up together based on what we know? We're going to know a lot. We will know more, you know, the closer we get
to that. But I just want to remind people that like we are already we start in the hole. The further we get from closing the hole, if we take pieces away from that, the hole continues to grow. And and we have to make sure that we have dependable revenue in place for the
employment commitments we have on July 1, 2026. That's the thing we need to focus on is a bridge to some things that will take more time. And so the trash conversation can be a part of that, but I think we got to figure out what we're talking to the voters about first, what our first priority is based on um what
we think is is the soundest decision. And I'm happy to do that in a in a joint rules ordinance and finance committee. So, thank you. Thank you, Councelor McDonald. Councelor Condan. Yes. Uh
originally when we took up the OPA funds and people were hired, that was for one year, but all of a sudden we ended up with these people still on the payroll
on jobs that we had never filled in the past. So what we need to do is look at those jobs and do what the OPA money was
intended to do. That was to subsidize city government for that year. and people that were hired were hired for that year under the OPA program with the
agreement that that would end with the OPA money. Now, there's still jobs that we never had before that we we have
it now. And I don't know how that can be, you know, and I think we should think about putting a hydron freeze. Councelor Con, are you going to bring this back to solid waste eventually? No. I think we have to think about
free putting a freeze on new jobs because they're right. We haven't done anything. Would you like to at least second to send it to finance and ordinance so that we can continue the discussion? Tomorrow. Tomorrow.
Yes, that's a great point. We do have a community forum where we can dig deep into these issues tomorrow night. Um, councelor Winsow, did you make a motion when you were speaking on the paper? I think you you did. I just want to get clarity on that. Be clear. Yeah.
Sorry. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. Okay. So my ultimately my motion after discussion is to move this to a joint finance and rules committee so we can have those discussions and analysis of the proposal. Great. So on a motion by councelor Winsow, seconded by councelor Conan, we
do need to call the role and we have our remote counselors on video for a thumbs up or down. Councelor Cologne Hayes. Yes. Councelor Condan. Yes. Councelor Crow, yes. Councelor McDonald, yes. Councelor Romali, yes. Councelor Sika.
Yes. Councelor Simmonelli gave a thumbs up. Councelor Spataphora. Oh, also a thumbs up. Councelor Taylor. Yes. It's really hard. It's hard not to thumbs up. You can do both.
Councelor Winslow. Council President Lahan. Yes. Okay. So, that is referred to a joint finance and ordinance committee meeting. Next. Next order of business, paper 434-25.
Order that during the city of Malden special municipal election to be held on February 10th, 2026, the following debt exclusion ballot question be included. Shall the city of Malden be allowed to temporarily assess an additional $36
million in real estate and personal property taxes through a debt slashexpenditure exclusion for the specific purpose of paying for the construction of the Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational Technical School for which the monies
will be used for the fiscal years beginning July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2022. A yes vote would support a temporary increase in real estate and personal property taxes beginning with fiscal
year 2027, which is July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027 until fiscal year 202,
July 1st, 2015 to June 30th, 2022. A no vote would make no change to the current tax structure. Thank you, Madame Clerk. Um, Councelor Ali for the paper.
Thank you. Um, so I want to start by saying that I agree with some of the public comment that we heard tonight. Um, I do believe it is irresponsible and reckless to hold such a significant
election of a ballot question related to Prop 2 and a half in the middle of winter. I I think that it is setting it up to fail. I think it's setting it up to divide our community. I think that
people see through the the see through the smoke and mirrors that it's being done in the middle of winter in order to suppress turnout and to really not get an accurate reflection of the needs and wants. It is the needs and wants of our
community. Um I will give you an example of another time that happened. Um, you know, there's been a lot of talk online recently about the the low turnout in our municipal election that we just had. Um, but this particular paper has to do
with $36 million that we are required to spend uh in order to build our new vote. We are already required to spend that. It's coming out of our our operating budget. Um, and
2.2% 2% of our community um decided that actually less than 2.2% of our community 2.2% of our community was the total turnout. 666 people that's a strange number uh voted yes to
make the city of Malden have to contribute $36 million to the vote. That is what we are talking about tonight. That money is currently coming out of our operating budget. The whole point of all of the papers here is to try to correct mismanagement that is happening
in our community right now. We are using our general operating funds to build capital projects. That is why we don't have any money. That has been happening for far too long. If you Google Massachusetts
debt exclusions, DLS, Division of Local Services, you can find a very informative page about what are the legal requirements for Prop 2 and a half, what a debt exclusion is, and you can also
get a really great chart that tells you which municipalities in what year and what projects they funded through debt exclusions. You can do schools, you can do general government, you can do roads, you can do sidewalks, you can do, you can build a
senior center, you can rehab the all of these things that we have been doing have primarily been coming out of our operating our our checking our bank, our savings account. That's not the right way to do things, particularly in a high interest environment um that we've been facing and the fact
that our costs are going up. So, I agree it's irresponsible. I think it's being set up to fail. Um, it's probably not going to pass. And what I'm looking to do is come up with a plan B. How can we try to save as
much money from our operating funds so that we don't have to cut rank and file? But I will say that cutting rank and file is a decision. It's a decision of the mayor. The mayor comes up with the budget. The mayor has to put forward his proactive budget. But if the if the
mayor decides that he wants to cut rank and file police, fire and teachers, we can't add that back in. We can only cut further. And so the benefit of being here for a while long a long time and some councelor Condan and some others
can probably state this is that in the past when mayors have tried to do something foolish like this the council flexes its muscle by cutting all the mayor's staff and cutting management in order to bring the mayor back to the table to say restore the rank and file
employees and let's really talk about right sizing our our city by putting a temporary bandage of a Prop 2 and a half that's going to divide our community. You're just kicking the can down the road. I agree. We need to get the the state delegation to to to change
its tune and actually start, you know, walking the walk, but that's not going to happen before we need to do something. Uh and as you know, the the school committee represented from W 3, um we have been meeting with the state delegation. It's been an all hands-on deck thing. So, I appreciate the work
that you've done and I and I've been right there by you. not at every meeting because I I but I do appreciate that you you have been working and I have been by side here. Um but I will say that when speaking with the public uh people do not trust just generally giving more
money to the city of Malden not knowing where it's going to go. It's un if you do a prop two and a half override it's unrestricted. It's going to go to the special interests maybe even my special interests. And I don't think that that's necessarily the right thing to do. I
think that if People want to see something done in our community, they should know where their money is going to go. And that's the whole point of a debt exclusion. It's it's a temporary increase in taxes for a specific project.
The the the the VO debt is a no-brainer. I think this should pass unanimously. It's something we already have to pay and it's taking over a million dollars out of our budget every year. I That's a lot of bad news. I want to give you good news and lift people up a little bit. I did talk to our financial
team and our free cash certification did come in. It came in over what we were expecting. So, our bank account has $21.8 million in it. That's a significant chunk of change. It's our rainy day fund. We are not we are not in
the type of dire financial straits in my opinion that is being put out there. I think that's part of a narrative to get the community to think that they have to support a general debt, a general Prop 2 and a half override. Um, I want to talk about the the
amounts. Um, I expect the finance committee under the leadership of councelor uh McDonald to determine the exact amounts and the exact term of the loans potentially for these debt exclusions. Um, in talking with our financial staff, uh, the term of the
loan is based on the useful life of the asset. So, for instance, a house or a building can be as long as 30 years, but you can go shorter. Um, so here you see 25 years for the vote. That's also based on the fact that that is how long our commitment to contribute over a million
dollars a year to the vote lasts for. Um, so again, the point of these papers is try to get us away from the mismanagement of using the general fund to fund capital improvements. That needs to change. Otherwise, the structural deficit is not going to be fixed and a
prop and a half override is not going to fix the problem either. Um, I will talk to each paper, but that was just the general one and why I hope that it's a unanimous vote on the no-brainer, which is the vote debt that we're required to do. It's over a million dollars a year. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Ali. I'm going to
go next to Councelor McDonald. Thank you, Council President. Um, and you know, I have to just start by expressing my surprise as finance chair to read the docket on Thursday to see
five override votes, uh, papers on overrides scheduled for the agenda, only one of which addresses the actual budget deficit that we have. the others relate to projects that don't exist or
potential new spending uh or one that is paid for in another venue. So to just speak to this one and then I hope maybe we can take the because this this first paper 43225 does actually address something that is currently on our budget or and when we say our budget I
mean the general fund the general operating budget which is what we pay the bulk of city staff with. So maybe we can take the others together. But on this one, I will say this this actually does address this problem. It as as uh the sponsor said, this is a $1.4
million dent if this were to go to the ballot and pass in a $8.4 million hole, of which we hope uh GIC moving, you know, changing our healthcare will save 3 million, but we don't know. Um, and so
I I think that's a perfectly legitimate thing to talk about. Um, and I would be happy to have us talk about that in the finance committee once we make a decision about what we want to do about the override. Part of the reason I'm so surprised is that we've been having an
extremely public process talking to a lot of people on city staff putting out information in public about what the real dynamics that influence our city budget gap are. Um, and we have a public forum scheduled tomorrow for people to
ask questions. Uh, and these papers are frankly a bit out of left field. uh and I don't think that it honors the work that not only we have done at the council table but our city staff and the city employees who are watching this you
know this process and wondering my god what is going to happen to my job or parents watching I don't know what's going to happen to my schools uh so I think it's really important that we sequence these conversations and not simply start to talk about a bunch of different things at the same time
because this stuff is complicated as it And we need to get our act together ultimately to say this is the pitch we want to put in front of the voters. And I really do not believe it is fair or appropriate or will ever work to come up
with six different things that we want to put in front of them at the same time. We got to pick what we want to do and we have to do that by figuring out what's really going to address the long-term structural budget deficit. Uh I couldn't agree I couldn't disagree more with you councelor Omali that the
problem with the budget gap is that we've been paying for capital things out of operating funds. We have decreased the amount of bonding that we do significantly. We paid for a lot of our capital projects, most recently with CPC money, which is not on the on the city
budget, with um federal um community development block grants, not on the city budget, and with ARPA funds, onetime money, not in the city budget. What we don't what we have not been doing is increasing our debt um very
much year-over-year. I mean, it's come down from 15 million a year on debt service to now six between six and seven I think. So that has actually come down and contributed to a better budget picture. We have talked many times about what
contributes to the budget gap. Rising health care costs, rising net school spending. These are things that we've demonstrated over and over again uh that nothing in these proposals addresses. Um, and so I think it's really important
that we finish what we started, which is a conversation about whether we want to put an override on the ballot. And I want to say really clearly, because this is important for anybody who comes to the forum tomorrow, the date of that vote is not yet fixed. We have a proposal from the mayor and we can
change that date. I think it's a good thing to talk about because I agree that I've heard a lot of those concerns. I think those are valid about the timing of the vote. So that's a thing we can talk about and we can decide. Another thing is the amount or the structure of what goes on that override and what we say it covers or doesn't cover. And so,
you know, we we were starting to get into this earlier, but there are other structures other communities have used, different levels, different those are all things that we actually do have the authority to do. And another thing we have the authority to do is to cut city staff and budgets, as we've noted. I certainly am going to make sure that by
the time I vote on this, I've made my recommendations for where I think we should trim, but I think we got to look at the whole picture. Uh and so this is a time to get ideas out on the table. I appreciate you doing this uh in for this particular one and I'll speak to the
others later. Um, but I really just want to say it makes me very sad to hear you introduce this paper on what is a really good project for our community by denigrating the financial acumen of our city staff, by taking what I think are
pretty nasty accusations and spout repeating them like they are truth about mismanagement of city funds um, and calling our overall numbers into question. Um, really just doubting the whole process. I don't think that's in good faith. I think if you have
suggestions for places you think you should cut, and I would say this to all of my council colleagues, I encourage you to put those forward and or send them to the mayor's team. I actually think we should all do that to show what we think uh is most likely to happen.
But I for one um have been working my butt off for a month and a half at this point to try to give our community every opportunity to weigh in and ask questions and really feel like they understand the dynamics of this. And I
would just appreciate if our co if my colleagues here could show some respect for one another as we go about that process because I think that respects the community that we're trying to serve. So, as I said, I'm happy to talk about this paper in finance when we have the time to do so after we finish the
conversation about the debt o excuse me about the override that we started. Um, and then we'll talk about the remaining four papers which I again would encourage us to address as a group. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor McDonald. Uh, Councelor Clone Hayes, thank you very much. Um, so I want to
just talk a little bit about how and why we put these on the agenda. Um, and thank you to councelor Mali. you went through a lot of the details there. So, we are having a community meeting. Um, we wanted to put out
additional thoughts. We can all have like reasons of why um or or ideas of how we think we can um close the gap here. That's okay. Um I was also surprised. I mean, um,
when I got that letter from the mayor, the prop override, I was shocked, too. I mean, I knew that we were in a financial, um, bind, but I also know that, you know, the chair, as vice chair of the, um, finance committee, I had no idea that was coming down. So, I also I
do appreciate that. I would have loved a little heads up on that, too, because maybe I would have put these ideas on there way before. Um, so the debt overrides are things, they're just ideas. So, I just want to address also. So, I appreciate all your feedback. Um, I really really do and I think that
maybe we went back and forth on on Facebook, I'm thinking, but it's it's to get feedback. So, the fact that this did go out on the agenda and it did bring people out here and we are hearing for you. I mean, that's the exact reason
um why it's on here. And some of this is the debt. So, a debt override. The dates can be discussed. These I was assuming we're going to refer. We're not I I did not assume that we're going to vote here on the floor, right? We're going to refer these to finance. We can
take them after if we're feeling like we're a little backed up here. You we can talk about them after the community meeting, but I think it's going to come up probably in the community meeting. I think it's the right time to bring these up. I don't think that um
we're not able to have other thoughts about ways we think that we can um help fix this problem. So that's why that was put on there. Um it was knocking doors. It was hearing from the people. These are all the projects that I heard a lot
about. Do I think all of them are going to pass? No. If they do, yeah, I would be surprised. But we put down what we heard and I put down um my big one was the Roosevelt Park and um the Vulk, right? We are we have to pay that. We do
also have to in my opinion deledd Roosevelt Park. So these were all ideas. Um I don't think anyone should be jumping the gun thinking that we're going to vote to do this. Did I, you know, we think that? No. We're all hands on deck right now. Um we should be
talking about everything and leaving nothing off the table. So um if this gets you know I'm hoping it gets fur to finance and we can discuss things um about how we want to go because I also believe no way I don't think February is
a great time to be doing this. So we do have a little bit more time in my opinion to discuss these whether we put a couple of the uh you know a prop override on there with maybe a debt exclusion. Let's just talk about it and figure it out.
That's all this is. So, um, that's all I have to say about that and hopefully they'll get referred for a further discussion and if people want to discuss it tomorrow at the community meeting, please bring it up. Thank you. Thank you, councelor Cologne Hayes. Um, councelor Winsel, you have the floor.
Yeah, I'm just going to say I mean I I in general I mean one of the things I kind of get a perspective on and try to normal parliament of you know kind of looking at your kind of own budgets. I mean, you have a checkbook, which is sort of you pay your immediate bills out
of. And then if you're in a good enough situation, you have savings, which is sort of the reserves, the free cash. And then when you're making major purchases like a car or a house, um you have to look at
getting a loan. And um and so I think it's gosh, if you can buy a house or get a car without having to go and get a loan, you don't have to pay interest. So why pay someone else interest? And so so
there's actually the fact that we can do a lot of capital stuff, buy fire trucks and other type of things that are capital things um without getting a loan or a debt exclusion saves the city money in the long run. Just like if you were
buying a car for cash versus getting a loan. And especially now, I mean, I know, you know, just I don't know, it was maybe 10 years ago, the council voted I think $50 million to do um paving work and that type of thing. Interest rates are so low it's almost getting free money. Interest rates are
high right now. So, we have to be um extra careful about what we might put out um in terms of debt exclusions. Um and and so that's one of the things. Now, I you know there's five of them here. I put my name on only one of the
five. Um I appreciate councelor Ali reaching out. I I had my own opinions as that we go through that. Um but you know one of the things this is an expenditure we the voters committed. It's funny 660 that's how many votes I got in ward six
this time. So so imagine that's how how you know just one ward voting for that much money we spend. I think, you know, generally I think uh you know, we know we want to support our schools and that type of thing. So, um so that that was why I thought this is
one that's worthy of like at least discussing because it can, you know, if we you make that decision, are we going to make sure we put aside money every year for that or are we just going to take that loan out and do that? That's that's some decision. Are we in that bad of
crunch? I think that for the the voke it's worthy of having that discussion as we put together the overall package. Um so I think that's worthy I I'll discuss the other ones. I think I did not put my name on those because I had I thought we do have to set priorities and and you
know there's not only priorities about maybe spending money but it's also as a council spending time to really if we're going to really dig in and take this seriously. Sometimes we have to quickly make decisions. I'm a what I call a once through decision maker. Why waste our
time in a committee if we can't just decide things today? So, so this one I would be willing to send to committee. So, right. Thank you, Greg. Okay. Thank you, Councelor Winsel. I'm going to try to get councelor Simelli on speaker phone again. Councelor Simmonelli, are you ready to speak? Can
you give me a thumbs up? You good? Okay. All right. Let's give it a shot. Oh jeez, that's really loud. Can you Yeah. Can you mute? What does he got?
Oh, yeah. Councelor Simelli, can you turn off your speaker so that you can talk on the phone, please? How you doing now? Good. Yep, that's better. Thank you. Thank you, Madam President. So, listen.
I I gotta tell you what I'm hearing is quite ridiculous at this point. I mean, you're asking for a two and a half override and at the same time you're having to put more debt to what I understand on a firehouse center in Roosevelt Park. Again, uh
listen folks, we're headed in for some rough waters. I've been through this before and uh we were lucky enough to close that deficit uh when I was on the council. was actually council president at that time by selling properties that we had uh a lot of land that we had that
uh we were able to get rid of at the time. I'm sure we don't have as much as we did back then, but uh we should be looking into some of those things uh that we have. We have the uh building on Pearl Street that nobody seems to be mentioning about uh that we could probably sell off uh in this market
right now for some decent amount of money. Uh, so those are some of the things that I'm going to be proposing in the near future. Uh, but I'm telling you, I don't I cannot support any of this except for the $36 million for the vocational school that we're already on
the hook for. But as far as like you're asking the homeowners to take a two and a half override to to to vote for a two and a half override, then you're adding more debt on top of it like paying for a new firehouse, art center,
Roosevelt, everybody talked about up there about their own home spending, uh their checkbooks and uh their savings account. Well, you know, when you get bad times in your house, right, you got to pull your belt together. You got to like kind of hold back a little bit here. you got to start maybe doing some
cutting some and some uh like councelor Conan had mentioned about the opa funding money. So, you know, you you've got this opera funding money that was supposed to be temporary and yet we're still holding on to uh employees that were hired by that opa money and we're
putting it on the general fund and in reality we're putting it to the Malden residents, the homeowners of the of Malden. And then we're going to ask them to take another what what's what's the firehouse cost? $10 million $10 million for the art center. $10 million for
Roosevelt. So you're at $30 million when you're behind the eightball. I have never heard such ridiculous talk in my life. So I'm not for any of this except for the $ 36 billion for the vocational school that we're on the hook for. And if nobody liked it, they'd come see me.
That's that's all I got. See you later. He kind of brought it back around to the agenda item that we're talking about. Thank you, Councelor Simmonelli. Okay, Councelor Taylor, thank you for being so patient. That's okay. Thank you. I So, I'm just a
little bit confused because the way that I'm understanding things is that we have a deficit in our general operating that we're going to have to make cuts. So basically like if my house budget if I don't have enough to pay my overall bills, I'm not
going to take out a credit card to go on vacation. And that's what the capital expenditures are. Like that's a whole separate thing to say I I can't I can't feed my family or or pay my rent,
but I'm going to do these other things and I'm going to ask people to pay for that and take out more money. So I I understand that we want to have discussion and I'm I'm glad that that we are now bringing things up when you know we have known about this for quite some
time like but I'm glad that things are coming up for discussion. I just don't understand why this when it doesn't seem to make basic financial sense like you you just wouldn't do that. You wouldn't say, "I'll let my rent go for three months
and go to Disney." Just my opinion, but thank you, Councelor Taylor. Uh, Councelor Ali for the second time. Yeah, I think these are great. I appreciate that everyone's willing to have these conversations. Um, Council McDonald, I'm going to have to push
back. Um, I'm not bismerching our staff. Our financial team has been telling us this for for decades. The reason why am I proposing a debt exclusion is because you as well as the financial staff and the mayor's office
have for like a decade, not you a decade, but you know, collectively a decade have been saying that a Prop 2 and a half override is a bad idea. There's a very slim chance it's going to pass. It's going to divide our community. The way to go is a debt exclusion because people can see the
fruits of the labor. They can see this money goes there. It's not going to disappear into the god knows where. And so I that is not me. That's just me honoring and respecting the things I've been told
by professionals for years. Y'all turn me into a convert. Um to counselor Taylor's from the counselor from W 5. Um yeah, when it comes to a debt exclusion, um we are
excluding the debt from the city's coffers. There's no additional cost to the city of Malden. There's a defined new revenue source which is this debt exclusion. And we will be raising for instance with the voke $36
million over the over the 25 years to pay for that money that's coming out of an increased property taxes, personal taxes, uh personal property taxes, etc. So it doesn't have a negative impact to the city's budget. It might have a an
impact to every property owner's budget for sure. Like that's that that's what taxes are. Um, but you know, I put this out here. Councelor Colon has put this out here to get the creative juices flowing. No one should be surprised. Every time this has been up here on the
council, we've talked about this. Every time it's been talked in finance, we've mentioned this. I was surprised that y'all didn't put something forward. So, you know, before we get too far down this road, because I have to agree there's been a lot of hem
and han in finance, not a lot of actual walk in the walk, just kind of talk in the talk. This is me trying to walk the walk. I'm sticking my neck out politically. I think that having nice things is worth
spending money. Maybe some people in the community think that there are different things that are nice. I happen to think that having a deled Roosevelt Park would be great so that the the students at the the Salem Wood School and the surrounding community can play in a lead-free environment and not have
special education challenges because they've been inhaling lead dust as a former Salemwood student. Um, I think it would be great to make sure we have enough money to remove our lead pipes so kids don't have more special education as they're drinking lead. I think it'd
be great to actually maintain our sewer system so we don't have sewage going into the Malden River and not to mention groundwater going into our sewer system which then we have to pay the MWR to treat that groundwater.
Maintaining our assets is the fiscally responsible thing to do. It's not cheap. We have no revenue source for storm drains. Council McDonald, you you you say you care about climate action. Is it climate action in 50 years or climate
action today? Because it really needed to be climate action 50 years ago. So, let's actually take the action. Don't vilify me. I won't vilify you. I hope we support at least one of these. It sounds like we do have support for at least the vote. If that's all we get
through, I think that's a success. Thank you. Councelor Winsow. Yeah. I'd just like to make a motion to for paper 40 3425 to refer to um finance committee for further consideration.
Okay. Okay. We have a motion by councelor Winslow. Do I have a second? Okay. Are you okay? Second by councelor Cologne Hayes. Um councelor McDonald, did you want to speak to the motion? No. You're you're all set. Okay. I'll go.
I'll wait. Okay. Point of information by councelor Condan. You have the floor. To the trash fees. What's the paper? This is for the voke. This is for the vote. The vocational. Just the one paper. Okay. Um, will the clerk please call the
role or counselor spat? Are you all set? I saw you had your hand up before. I don't know if we can get him. No, we can't. We can't hear you. I'm sorry. Do you want me to try to call you? No. Okay, he's waving us off.
I'm so sorry about the tech issues. Okay, we'll call the role now. Councelor Colon Hayes, yes. Councelor Condan, yes. Councelor Crow, yes. Councelor McDonald, yes. Councelor Romelli, yes. Councelor Sika,
no. Councelor Simelli, no. It's a no. Councelor Spataphora, that's a no. That's a no. Councelor Taylor, Councelor Winslow, yes. Council President Lahan,
yes. That's uh 8 to three. Okay. So, the motion to refer that to finance carries. Um I would like to take up the next is it four papers together. Okay.
I'm sorry that is a lot of reading. Read them. I'll read them all. That's fine. Paper 435-25. Order that the city that the city of Malden's special municipal election to be held on February 10th, 2026
include the following dead. Excuse me. When I read it the other paper, it sounded okay. Oh, okay. Excuse me. Order dur that during the city of Malden special municipal election to be held on
February 10th, the following debt exclusion ballot question be included. Shall the city of Mulgum be allowed to temporarily assess an additional $10 million in real estate and personal property taxes through a debt/expender expenditure exclusion for the specific
purpose of paying for the construction associated with lead pipe removal, water, sewer, and storm drain system capital improvements for which the monies will be used for the fiscal years beginning July 1st, 2026. 6 through June
30th, 2037. A yes vote would support a temporary increase in the real estate and personal property taxes beginning with the fiscal year 2027, which is July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027
until fiscal year 2036, which is July 1st, 2036 to June 30th, 2037. A no vote would make no change to the current tax structure. Paper 436-25.
Order that during the city of Malden special municipal election to be held on February 10th, 2026, the following debt exclusion ballot question be included. Shall the city of Malden be allowed to temporarily assess an additional $10
million in real estate and personal property property taxes through a debt/expenditure exclusion for the specific purpose of paying for the construction associated with deleting Roosevelt Park
to a full three-foot depth and for the restoration of natural grass a natural grass field and drainage. system for which the monies will be used for the fiscal years beginning July 1st, 2026
through June 30th, 2037. A yes vote would support support temporary in A yes I'm sorry. A yes vote would support a temporary increase in real estate and property tax taxes beginning
with fiscal year 2027, July 1st, 2026 to June 30th, 2027 until fiscal year 2036, July 1st, 2036 to June 30th, 2037.
A no vote would make no change the current tax structure. Paper 437-25. Order that the city of Malden special municipal election to be held on February 10th, 2026. The following debt
exclusion ballot be included. Shall the city of Malden be allowed to temporarily assess an additional $10 million in real estate and personal property taxes through a debt/expenditure exclusion for the specific purpose of paying for the
construction associated with the outfit of an art center at the old Malden District Courthouse on Summer Street for which the monies will be used for the fiscal years beginning July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2013. 37.
A yes vote would support a temporary increase in the real estate and personal property taxes beginning with fiscal year 2027, which is July 1st, 2026 through June 30th, 2027 until fiscal year 2036,
July 1st, 2036 to June 30th, 2037. A no vote would make no change to the current tax structure. And paper 438-25. Order that during the city of Malden special municipal election to be held on
February 10th 10th, 2026, the following debt exclusion ballot question be included. Shall the city of Malden be allowed to temporarily assess an additional $25 million in real estate and personal property taxes through a
debt/expendent share exclusion for the specific purpose of paying for the construction associated with an east side fire station for which the monies will be used for the fiscal years beginning July 1st, 2026 through June
30th, 202. A yes vote would temporarily increase the real estate and personal property taxes beginning with fiscal year 2027, which is July 1st, 2026
through June 30th, 2027 until fiscal year 2022, which is July 1st, 201 through June 30th, 2052. A no vote would make no change to the current tax structure.
Thank you, Madame Clerk. Um, Councelor McDonald, you had had your light on on the previous paper and indicated you wanted to speak to the other ones and I accidentally shut you off. Do you still want to speak to these? Okay, I'm going to take you first then. I'm happy to let Counselor Ali as the
lead sponsor speak first on these if he would like to. Okay, Councelor Ali. Um, you know, I definitely read the room and um, you know, I don't want to belabor this. So, I think just a very simple up and down vote to dispose of these papers. Uh, it
doesn't make sense to table them. Uh, it sounds like it doesn't make sense to refer them to finance to sit on that docket. Um, so I I think that we should take up the votes separately, but I would move that we adopt all of the orders um, so that we can dispose of them quickly. And I would need a second.
So we can take up those that motion to adopt. Okay, we have a motion on the floor and a second by councelor Cologne Hayes. Discussion. Councelor Winsow. Oh, can I Oh. Oh, sorry. Councelor McDonald. Uh, I'm so sorry, Councelor McDonald. You have the floor.
Okay. Um, no, I appreciate that. uh I support taking vote right now on these papers. The thing I just wanted to clarify for folks who might be watching and reading, you know, watching at home or reading these different things um is that I think it's very possible for counselors to put papers forward that
say, I have an idea and I'd like to discuss around this issue. We do that all the time. Um these are very specific proposals that as far as I understand are not attached to specific priced out projects. Usually, if you're going to do a debt exclusion, there's a specific
price tag attached to a study. You know, if it's if it's if it's a building, you've got the architectural plans. You're at 100% design or close thereof. You know what you're going to need to where the bids are going to need to come in at. So, we have that for the vote. For the remaining ones, let me just
clarify that for lead pipe removal, the count this council already approved a couple months ago a $17.5 million loan from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority to cover the full cost of replacing all residential lead service lines remaining in the city on the
private and public side. And that's a great term loan. It can be it's at a favorable interest rate. 25% can be forgiven. And we've already gotten the first installment of those funds. And those lo that loan is going to be paid for by the water sewer enterprise fund,
which is to say that we have already appropriated money outside of the general fund to pay for this purpose. So I don't know what this one would be used for, but I want folks to know that we are already paying for this and have committed to this because it's such a key issue in the city. for Roosevelt
Park. Uh, I want to clarify that we had applied for a section 108 loan from the federal government to pay for the previous plan for a a um construction project at Rosevelt Park. When that plan was ended due to community opposition,
we retained the loan and the loan is what is being used now for the deledding process which the last I had heard from city staff should be bid out um this you know this winter to be done in the spring summer I think so that is that we already have that
loan we have already taken it out at a better interest rate that already exists um there's not an additional project that need that is that is ready for funding although there could be in the future. Um on the arts center, I think we've just heard that we're already
taking a look at different um approaches to that site from the original plan from councelor Lingan, not to speak for her who's been leading this process, but again, we don't have a project attached to this figure. And on the purpose on the question about the fire station, you
know, there again, could be a good idea in the future, but we don't have anything more than a very preliminary estimate, which I think was actually a little higher than this. Um, we don't have a property identified. And so I think that it is uh these would not these these are not right for
consideration even if we weren't in the middle of a conversation of an override. And I think it's really important that when we put these kinds of papers with this level of detail, it implies that things have happened that I don't think have. I know they haven't. And I just want to make sure that we're clear on
the record where the process is on each of these areas because I agree. I hear about them from residents. I think they're important. But I think it's really important that when we put information out there as counselors that we are as uh forthright, I'm not going to use the word transparent. I feel like that just gets us in trouble. forthright
about where our what our sources are and what these things mean and what they're intended to mean and not provide a level of false specificity. So, um I'm I will be voting against these papers. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor McDonald. Councelor Condan,
thank you very much. I appreciate it. I think you should rip up every one of the papers. All right. In fact, give the courthouse back to the state. the We do not need a broken down courthouse.
Don't beat up on my courthouse tonight. I think it's my courthouse. The fact is $10 million doesn't even come close to straighten out that courthouse. It's falling apart. take a good look at it.
Rip up the paper. It doesn't mean anything. Anybody can say, "Give me $10 million to do this or that." We tried giving money to uh Roosevelt. They didn't want it. It's your turn now.
Took us to court. I care about a a just a few things in life. All right. I care about our police department and the safety of the people. I care about our fire department. But we
have something in uh Reier that's working. It isn't that it isn't working at all. What? It's in the fire. No, I know it's in moan, but it's on the reveal line. It's right on.
Right. But everybody's taking $10 million. It's not even close. We have a program to deled and it's working great. We're staying up with it. If anything you want to take out a loan, then take it out from the
MWRA. No interest loan. We get do it every year. But we have to get some realization on what this stuff costs because we're not even close. The papers mean nothing.
That's all. Thank you, Councelor Condan. Councelor Cologne Hayes. Thank you very much. Um, first of all, I'd like to let my the counselor to the left of me know that you actually voted yes on one of the papers. So, we'll rip up the other ones. The voke.
Yeah, you voted yes on that. Um so the um so now um we're I just also want to say that the to the people listening out in the city we did and I did what I said I was going to do. We had great
conversation. I said I was going to put stuff on the agenda so that we can talk about this um where everybody could hear and all the counselors could um chime in. I'm really glad that uh the the vote went through because I think that was um
probably the simplest one, but based on feedback and and what's going I have no problem even voting down my own uh paper that I sponsored. I have no issue with that. Um a different one based on that's why we have these conversations. So, I'm glad that that one went through. Um, and
I agree about um maybe the discussions could still happen uh now publicly, but the job here that we wanted to do is done. Um, and I'm really happy about the vote, but also just to um say to we weren't these papers aren't
about taking out a loan. No more no loans. These papers were about a debt override, so it would go to the taxes. So, um, just to clarify that. So, anyway, we can go vote, um, up down right now. I have no problems with it. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, Councelor Clone Hayes. I'm going to try to take Councelor Simelli again on my phone. Um, we've tried everybody's phone tonight, so give me one second. Councelor Simmonelli, don't forget to shut off.
Okay. Do you want to try again? Yep. Make sure you're thanking your friend who's been helping you all night. Oh, I know. I know. Thank God for my tech guy. Huh? Okay, you have the floor. All right. Thank you, Madam President.
Listen, that paper is the most fiscally irresponsible paper I've ever heard in my life. I mean, if you put that paper through, you'll have you'll have an you'll have people moving out of this city in trolls. You'll have nobody drinking the water. You won't have TO WORRY ABOUT IT. YOU WON'T HAVE ANYBODY
playing in the pot because everybody will move out of here. Are you guys crazy? You're looking for a two and A HALF OLD. NOW you're up for about $8 million. What's wrong with you? I'D LIKE TO COME BACK HOME soon and I want you guys to show me your checkbooks and your savings account. I'd like to really see
how you guys handle that because you guys should be pissed for broke by now the way you're talking out there. I've never heard so much ridiculous talk in my whole career of the 16 years. Hold it down. See you later.
I think we need to call him in every time. It's It's okay. You know, it's like a lot shorter actually. He was That was quick. That was great. Okay. Councelor Winslow. Yeah. No, I you know I I appreciate you
know councelor Mali did reach out to me just to as a sounding board on these. I mean you can see from where where I went um I did not uh you know these last four I was not supportive of them and and and really very much for the reasons councelor McDonald set forward um you
know on all of them so that I don't want to repeat those but I note like on that 404 3525 related to lead pipes and storm drains um we one of the things with people wonder about the ARPA money um
the mayor put $10 million into both lead pipe removal and storm drains. And we worked with um kind of a list of about 20 problem areas. We fixed about I think like 19 of the 20 with $6 million worth of ARPA money. And uh I give big credit
to um city engineer Yam Lip. Um it was it was difficult, but we've we addressed a lot of the chronic problems, which is great. Um the only problem we didn't address was really really something that Mass DOT has to fix up on Broadway. we couldn't come up with the scheme with
with the money we had. So, so you know, we hadn't done anything on storm drains for 20 years. So, we have a little bit of time to wait, but I I and also point out that councelor McDonald, you know, he's going to be talking about the climate action plan. One of the priorities that committee says we need to work on storm drainage and stuff like
that. So, so we should there are grants out there for that we can start pursuing if we're smart about those. So, we just have to come up with a plan. We've basically stabilized the system. we have and we need to figure out what to do as rain storms get more intense and and sea
levels rise. So, um so that's something we can work out with the climate action committee and then come up with some grant proposals there. Um you know, related to um uh you Roosevelt uh you know I think um you know it's it's good
to you know know we are working to dele what we have to to come into compliance. Um, I think, you know, we do have more community process. I mean, just like I said, the the Northern Strand Trail, which we heard glowingly about tonight, that was 20 years before we we did
anything in Malden before. So, sometimes it takes and that was through some couple economic cycles. So, so sometimes you just have to keep at it, just like the the art center as well. Um, when you don't have the money to do the construction, you put the time and effort to build up the community support
for that. So, I think those projects, that's kind of where I feel they're at. It's really premature. And then, um, on the fire station, um, you know, we had our firefighters here tonight. Um, you know, we have to make sure we can keep the stations we have open first before
we think about building another one. So, that's kind of, um, I think that's, you know, an aspiration we'd like to have, but, um, we don't really have a place to put it. Um, and and you know, we're what we're talking about in terms of the Prop Two and a half override is making sure we have the resources to keep open what
we have. So, so I I'm I really can't support in good faith these things. I think they're they're ideas we have to continue to work and chew on as a city. I appreciate Councelor Ali bringing those and let's we'll look forward to trying to figure out all those in the future, but um debt exclusion is not the
way to solve these problems at this moment. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Councelor Winsow. Councelor Ali for the final time before we call a paper. Oh yes. Agreed. Um so I
am surprised that my ideas made y'all so mad. Um you know it's just like when I put it out there I wasn't trying to make anyone mad. Um and you know if this is if this is what I get in trouble for giving I'm give putting out my ideas there. You know, I
think that, you know, in the in the spirit of the late Representative John Lewis, you know, get into good trouble, necessary trouble. Um, I think if putting out, you know, ideas of how we fund our community, if this is what trouble is in Malden, I'm glad I'm in trouble. Um, and, you know, I think that
there's another little cliche that I'll that I'll say and I'll leave you all with is that a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. I think that we took a step tonight and I appreciate that. Thank you. Um I have lost track of who made the
motion. Did you make a motion to adopt the order? Okay. So I also heard you say that you were willing to withdraw the papers though. Am I you did not say that up and down vote. Okay.
You right. That's what I was just going to say. So, can you reiterate what the what we're actually voting before we take the role? So, we're voting to adopt the papers. A yes vote would to would adopt them and put them on a ballot and a no vote would
kill the papers. Okay. Okay. So, you'd like to take them one by one and you wanted and a yes vote would would do exactly what it says on the docket. Would would No. A yes vote would not refer to finance. It would adopt the
paper and put it on the ballot and a no vote would not. Okay, understood. You don't need to read the whole right. Okay. So, we'll take them individually and we do have to do a roll call and we'll do a thumb thumbs up and down. Is that good for team everyone on teams?
Okay, we're good. Paper 435-25. Councelor Cologne Hayes, I'm sorry. We're voting to adopt. Okay. I have to put this light on to read the paper just for a second. It's the lead. This is the lead and water pipes. Yes. Thank you.
Voting yes. Councelor Condan, no. Councelor Crow, no. Councelor McDonald, no. Councelor Ali, yes. Councelor Sika, no. Councelor Simelli,
that's a no. Councelor Spataphora, that's a no. Councelor Taylor, no. Councelor Winslow, no. Council President Lahan, no. That so that is not adopted.
Yep. That fails 2 to9. And now we're moving on to paper 436-25, which is for Roosevelt Park. This is to adopt the paper. Councelor Cologne Hayes. No.
Councelor Condom. Councelor Crowe. No. Councelor McDonald. No. Councelor Rali. Yes. Councelor Sika. No. Councelor Simelli. That's a no. Councelor Spataphora.
No. Councelor Taylor. No. Councelor Winslow. No. Council President Lahan. No, that fails 1 to 10. Okay. And now we're moving on to paper 437-25
which deals with the courthouse arts center and this is to adopt the paper. Councelor Cologne Hayes, no. Councelor Condan, no. Councelor Crowe, no. Councelor McDonald,
no. Councelor Omali, yes. Councelor Seca, no. Councelor Simmonelli, no. Councelor Spataphora, also a no. Councelor Taylor, no. Councelor Winslow, no.
Council President Lahan, excuse me. No. That is defeated. One to 10. The next one is 438-25 dealing with the East Side Fire Station. Excuse me. And
this is to adopt the paper. Councelor Cologne Hayes. No. Councelor Condan. Councelor Crow. Councelor McDonald. No. Counselor Ali. Council Councelor Sika. No.
Councelor Simelli, Councelor Spataphora, they both indicated no. Councelor Taylor, no. Councelor Winslow, no. Council President Lahan, no. That is defeated 1 to 10.
Okay. So that concludes that section of the agenda. Next order of business, paper 439-25, communication, the climate action and sustainability commission respectfully
submits their report on FY2026 strategic priorities. Okay. Councelor McDonald, to receive the communication. Uh, would you like me to make the motion to receive it first and then read it or do you want to read it and then receive it?
Um, I need a motion to receive it and then I'll have the clerk read the communication. So moved. Okay. Clerk, will you please read the communication? I got to call the roll. Oh, I'm so sorry. I forgot we had to call the roll. No worries. Uh 439.
Sorry. Okay. Councelor Cologne. And this is to receive and file the uh communication. Uh Councelor Cologne Hayes. Yes. Councelor Condom.
We're receiving a communication. Councelor Crow. Yes. Councelor McDonald. Yes. Councelor Ali. Yes. Councelor Sika. Councelor Simmonelli. Yes. Councelor Spataphora.
Yes. Councelor Taylor. Councelor Winslow. Council President Lahan. Yes. All right. Okay. Will the clerk now read the communication? Yes. I will not read communication
to Mayor Gary Christensen and the Malden city council members from the Malden climate action and sustainability commission which is comprised of Amanda Treat Carrie McDonald Diego Maldonado Lipen G Rachel Serret Rebecca Mcers
Ricky Ma Robert Fitzpatrick Ron Cochran and Ryan Ali and this is dated ated for October 23rd, 2025 regarding fiscal year 2026. Oh, I'm so sorry.
It's 10 p.m. That's right. It's bedtime. Uh, CASC priorities. The Molden Climate Action and Sustainability Commission, CASC, is excited to present our strategic priorities for fiscal year 2026.
Though we were officially formed in June of this year, we have quickly moved to implement key components of the city's 2024 climate action plan, CAP. Our focus this fiscal year is on renewable energy,
community engagement, flood mitigation, and data reporting. These are foundational areas critical to building a more sustainable and resilient Malden. We are thrilled to launch these initiatives and are confident they will
deliver tangible positive change for our community. Fiscal year 26 near-term goals. Our top priorities for this fiscal year are centered on the following goals. Renewable energy. We'll work to achieve
souls smart silver or better designation by the end of fiscal year. This designation will help streamline the city's permitting process for sonal panel solar panel installations, one of the foundational elements for achieving
net zero carbon emissions across the city. This is an exciting opportunity to make it easier for residents and businesses to go solar. Community engagement. We'll establish a clean energy coaches program. We aim to
develop and train a cohort of volunteer energy coaches to provide residents with free peer-to-peer guidance on transitioning to clean energy. To support this effort, we are looking to partner with local universities and business leaders. This program pairs
well with the Souls Smart designation effort and is a fantastic way to empower our community, providing equitable access to affordable renewable energy options for all residents, including funding programs like tax rebates and
mass save incentives. Incentives flood mitigation. Our focus this year is to identify opportunities for flood mitigation. Malden has experienced mult excuse me multiple natural disasters
throughout the years with major with a m geez I'm so sorry with majority of them involving flooding the eastern parts of our city particularly prone to severe flooding our goal is to
work with the city departments and local advocacy groups to identify potential solutions in high-risisk areas We are eager eager to lay the groundwork for this effort. Data reporting and strategy. We'll update the city's
greenhouse gas emissions inventory. This effort is crucial from monitoring progress against the cap's targets and identifying key emission hotspots.
By the end of the fiscal year, we'll use the this data to inform our near-term and long-term strategic planning for the next three to five years. We also plan to use this information to provide a transparent and datadriven summary of
our progress to the city. We believe transparent data will be a foundation tool in our execution of the CAP supporting all of our focus areas. Key collaborations to implement these priorities. We'll
collaborate closely with several key stakeholders. Metropolitan Area Planning Council, the MAPC. The MAPC is a crucial regional partner that will support us with technical
expertise, data, and regional collaboration efforts for our ongoing initiatives. Malden Inspectional Services Department. Their partnership is essential for the Souls Smart designation process requiring streamlining permitting and
inspection procedures. The Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development, the OSBCD. The OSBCD will be a key partner for both clean energy coaches program and other community engagement efforts.
local community partners. These partners will be key in our public outreach efforts such as clean energy coaches program and provide on the on the ground knowledge for flood mitigation. Souls Smart. Souls Smart provides free
technical assistance in helping us achieve our designation, identifying opportunities for improvement in our permitting, zoning, and inspection process for solar installations. Mass Save Collaborative of Massachusetts
electric and natural gas utilities and energy efficiency service providers working to deliver energy saving programs and incentives to residents and businesses. Mass CEC quasi public state economic
development agency dedicated to accelerating the growth of clean energy sector across the Commonwealth. That is that's it. That's it. Okay. Um, so the memo is placed on file.
Yes. Okay. Next order of business. Can Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see your light. Councelor Ali. Um, I just want to congratulate the CASC. Is that what we're calling it? The CASC. The Climate A. There's an extra S. the climate action
sustainability commission for their their first annual report. U you know they they are doing the yman's work and I also want to congratulate councelor McDonald. I know this has been a long-term goal of of the councelor and um I think everyone deserves um applause all around. Thank you.
Thank you councelor Ali. Councelor Winslow. Yeah. No, I just wanted to say I was very pleased to see the discussion about flooding and storm drainage, especially for East Side. And I I'd be happy to um share uh with the committee about some of the work that I'm been trying to keep
on top of um with uh groups the Sus River wershed, cities of Everett, um and and River and Lynn. So, thank you. Thank you, Councelor Wzone. Council McDonald, I guess you just put your own light on. I think it was maybe like on from way before. Maybe it was. It's late.
Um, yes, I I'll keep it very brief. I I really encourage the climate action sustainability commission to send this letter so that you all know what they're working on. And that's an invitation to collaboration. Um, and to say, you know, on the storm water pieces specifically, they've already met with with the conservation commission and talked about
bylaws there. They've talked with the with with Yam Lip as the engineer. They've seen the the presentation that the Mystic River Wershed Association did at the waterfront committee. So, they're trying to, you know, figure out what's the next thing they can do and look for grant opportunities around that. Um, they're really focused on grants with
the assistance of Becca McFeeders, who is the sustainability and grants manager, and we're very well positioned for that. Um, MAPC has given us a technical assistant grant so that they're giving us additional staffing this year to help get everything in place. So, that's really helpful. Um, and I'm I'm personally really excited
about um the clean energy coaches program, which I'm trying to focus on because it's the goal is to help specifically renters and landlords um get to uh and folks for whom English is a second language to get through this
these complicated processes and get access to these incentives. And that really speaks to our our environmental justice goals as well. And I do want to just share that we've um I think we've already achieved a soul smart bronze designation. So we're on our way to silver. We're getting close. Um and I
think we'll do an announcement once that's ready. But they are doing really great work. I appreciate that. Um and uh encourage folks to engage if you um would like to talk with them about that. Thank you, Councelor McDonald. Okay.
Next order of business. Paper 440-25, committee report. The standing committee on personnel and appointments to whomever was referred paper 383 series of 2025 having considered the same make the following report.
Okay. On a motion by councelor Crow, seconded by councelor Taylor. Um clerk will call the role. Councelor Hayes. Yes. Councelor Condan. Yes. Councelor Crow. Yes. Councelor McDonald.
Yes. Councelor Rali, councelor Sika, yes. Councelor Simelli, thumbs up. Councelor Spataphora, also a thumbs up. Taylor, yes. Councelor Winslow, yes. Councelor Council President Lahan,
yes. Thank you. Okay. Councelor Crow for the paper for the committee. Thank you, Madam President. And so earlier this evening, the personnel appointments committee al some of the other counselors um met with former
police chief um Kevin Mus and he um his name is put forward to fulfill the unexpired um position on the liquor board um by Paul Lee who was moved out of the city and um as we all know um the former chief but he's had dedicated 42
years of service to the Mald Police Department. um and in his time of that service he actually was the liaison to the liquor board on behalf of the police department and really did a lot of work with them um on all different areas of
of enforcement and you know investigations and everything else. So he really has a unique um you know view before he gets on the board of you know what the board does. So we unanimously voted um to yes to um approve this
appointment and so make that motion. Okay. On a motion by councelor Crow, seconded by councelor Cologne Hayes to confirm. The clerk will call the role. You want me to read the paper first? Uh that would be great. Thank you. No problem. Uh, paper 383-25,
mayoral appointment Kevin Mullis, 135 Russell Street, Malden as a member of the license board said term to commence upon confirmation by the city council and to expire June 1st, 2028. And this is to confirm the appointment.
Thank you, councelor Colia. Oh, sorry. Councelor Omali, did you have a question? Sorry. Yep. Go ahead. So, I do want to say I'm in favor of of of this appointment. You know, I'm glad that it was um you know, discussed in personnel and I had a chance to speak
with the with the uh appointee. Um I liked how you said liaison liaison. Um, okay. So, the only question I did have is I do know that councelor Spataphora um was very adamant that all positions be publicly posted and um I
did hear the counselor from Ward 8 ask if there was a process for this particular um appointment and I guess I just ask like did we do a public posting? Um it's something that has obviously been discussed a lot tonight and generally with councelor Spapor's
order or ordinance I can't remember. Was this publicly posted? The the the counselor from Ward One said that she didn't know if it was publicly posted in in person, so I just wasn't sure. Thank you. And Mayor Lucy, if you're watching, I'm
trying my best. That that was not posted. We've had we've had other boards and commissions um that people have applied for that we have lists of of different people. This is kind of a unique position. Also, councelor Spataphora can speak to this.
His ordinance is specific to jobs, not boards and commissions. Boards and commissions is a little different because sometimes you have to identify um residents that have specific skills and knowledge. So, that's why um Chief
Mullus was brought in on this one. We also have to um make sure that they represent um different parties. Um in this particular one, we will replace in the Democrat position. Um and we're in
the process of filling in the Republican position as well because um Mr. Lee Kinnan will be resigning as well. Yeah. Sorry, I didn't realize your light had gone off. Go ahead. Uh thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. For the license board, we need partisan
seats. Yes, we need for the license board, we need partisan seats. I didn't I never realized that. Yeah, it's by statute. Okay, interesting. Yeah, councelor Colon Hayes, did you have Actually, Maria, I didn't I'm sorry. I was going to ask you a question, too.
So, um I didn't realize that they were partisan either, so that was that's great. But the just a quick question also that we had asked and and I was very happy to vote um for uh Chief Mullis but is it a paid position
and if it's a paid position does that make them an employee? I guess that was the question. Um I believe there is a stipend but I'm not 100% sure. I believe the liquor board does receive a stipend. And then the sec something's ringing here but and then the second question would be um if it is
they all become city employees. Okay. once they're paid. Okay. Thank you. In terms of like having to take the ethics test and everything and the paper I think that you're referring to because I actually met with the HR director about this, it came up in relation to an open position recently and we sat down
and actually watched the meeting if you can believe it because it was during COVID to make sure we had it right that it was just positions and not boards and commissions and it was to publicly advertise and not just appoint people for internal postings for jobs in city hall. I think we could if we wanted to
take this up we could for boards and commissions but it was it's something with the new HR director we wanted to make sure there was clarity on. So I had just just in the last like two months sat down and read those minutes watched that meeting to make sure that councelor Spataphor's paper was clear. Um okay I
do see councelor Crow has her light back on because I turned you off accidentally. That's okay. I think you turned me on accidentally. So, I just want to say in committee that I did um actually set the record straight sort of about that it was really about um positions and boards and commissions were different. Again,
I'm going to reiterate when it's a mayoral appointment, we cannot dictate the process that he goes with. So, the um it's the process of one. So the um but that was asked and answered and um
and it was talked to spoke to the um the ordinance um that it was employees again not necessarily the boards and commissions and about the stipen positions I believe and I might be wrong but I'll have to find out I believe the
stipened boards and and um commissions are only those that are statutoily required I believe that's what is the triggering factor of having a stipen or not. And I just want to add to that, counselor, that it's very rare that we
don't post for boards and commissions. And Kathleen Manning Hall could attest to that because she does all the interviewing and screenings and um you know makes the recommendations to the mayor along with whoever's on the panel with her. But mo almost 99%
of all the boards and commissions are posted positions. Thank you, Maria. Okay. So, we need to take the role. Yes. Okay. So, we need to vote to confirm Kevin Mullis for the appointment to the license board. And we are working to get
councelor Simmonelli back. He wants Does he want to speak? No, he doesn't want to speak. He's going to vote. Oh, just to vote. Got it. Got it. Okay. Okay. councel. Councelor Crow, yes. Council McDonald, yes.
Council, councelor Simelli, yes. Council Taylor, yes. President, yes. The appointment is
the appointment has been I'll turn the podium off so we don't echo. Okay. Next order of business. Paper 441-25 committee report. The standing committee on rules and ordinance to Homer's referred papers 276 and 277 series of
2025 having considered the same make the following report. Committee recommends that the papers be recommended favorably as amended to the full city council pending review by engineering inspectional services legal and OSPCD.
Okay. Is this your paper? This is okay. Yep. Okay. So, on a motion by councelor McDonald, seconded by councelor Winslow to accept the committee report, will clerk will call the role. Yes. We still don't have counselor clone Hayes.
Councelor Condan. Councelor Crow. Yes. Councelor McDonald. Yes. Councelor Mali. It's not I think we have to wait for him to get back. Okay. I'm I'm passing out something from councelor McDonald
that's from legal pass down if you don't mind. We're waiting for council but we will have to. There's this one. pipes. Oh, right. You added that. He said text me when you're almost done.
You should never do that. Just when John's like, "How much longer are you going to be?" And I And I'm like, "Yeah, no. Not another I'll be another, right?" Personal privilege could take 30 minutes. I don't have anything to say. Me neither. Well, I guess I do because if Craig can't talk, I have to talk about
Oh, wow. Council. Oh, that's true. That's true. We're voting to receive the committee report from rules and ordinance. Councelor Seca, yes. Councelor Simelli,
say it again. Yes. Councelor Spataphora. Thumbs up. Thumbs up. Councelor Taylor. Yes. Councelor Winslow. Yes. Council President Lahan. Yes. That's all. Yes.
Okay. Do we want to read the paper? Yes. Taking both together. Actually, yeah. Council McDonald makes a good point. I think we do need to take this paper and paper 277-25 together. Okay. I'll read both. Thank you for that. 277-25.
Be it ordained by the Malden City Council that the code of the city of Malden MCC 916 rental units inspection required is hereby amended as is outlined in the body of the paper body of attached paper
and paper 277-25 beordained by the Malden city council that the code of the city of Malden MCC 9.24 24.10 is uh excuse me, regulation of lead pipes in residential housing is hereby
amended by Okay. Thank you, Councelor McDonald, for the papers. Thank you all. I I'll try to keep this brief because we've had a lot of process around these two things. But to remind folks who may not recall when we first introduced this back in like June, um
Malden already requires every rental unit to be inspected at the point the tenant turns over. We also require that rental units not have lead pipes serving them. Um but we didn't have a consistent mechanism to enforce this. So this
proposal takes um a a um an approach that many other cities and towns like um Boston and I think Lemonster and Fitsburg do this and uh a range of cities across the the the Commonwealth,
which is to just create an annual registry of landlords and the units that they have. um and then they will let us know the term of tenency and when that is up then we will require the inspection to happen. It changes from a
price per inspection to a lower annual price per year for each unit. Um, and it requires that if you um do not have a if you don't live nearby, you need to designate someone as a residential a as
a resident agent who does live within 25 miles to be able to deal with landlords who are in fact absentee. Um, this is a way to require to have someone who will take our phone calls frankly from the problem properties unit or anywhere else. Um and uh we made this applicable
to all rental units um unless they are um Malden Housing Authority units because they have a separate process. Uh and so we then also tie this to the lead pipe removal uh ordinance. That's the
second paper you have 277. um had some back and forth about this in committee and landed where a property owner has to get a certificate one-time certificate from engineering that just says we don't have you don't have lead service lines to this property and um I was just
talking to our dispector of inspectional services earlier today because they've been consolidating the health inspectors that do these inspections anyways with inspectional they can kind of roll some things together and it can all be a part of their inspectional permit system online so it'll be very much easier to track this is a good time to do it. Um,
just to note, we just if you are uh if there's a property that has a residential um that has a rental unit and is otherwise ready to pass inspection but does have a lead line, the director of inspectional services has the ability to approve that permit
if or excuse me that rental unit for use if there's a plan to replace that lead line within the year. And we have resources now for all of those units. So it should be possible. So then they'll be able to remind the, you know, the the hand them off to engineering or to OSPCD
for resources and be able to check in on them um within the year uh to see how they're doing on that. So uh I think we've had a lot of back and forth about this in committee. I the what I handed out was just some clarifications that are not intended to change meaning but are based on um Alicia McNeel's review
and are just for clarification. It it it took it replaces the current language that's in ordinance. All owners, lessers, or persons in charge are in control of a rental unit with the phrase owners and agents and then defines agents. So, it just cleans that up to
make it a little more obvious. um moved a sentence or two around and clarified that while individual units that are owner occupied are not covered under this, any unit that might be in a building that is not owner occupied is considered. So to put another way, if
you own a triple decker, you live in one unit, your unit is not covered, the other two are if they're rentals, to be clear. Um and then uh had to clean up another another section to to clarify that that's not in conflict. So those are the only final edits. They were just typographical from legal. Uh, and I
think we're ready to um enroll. I don't have any desire for us to ordain on the same night. Um, but would love to get this going so that OSP, excuse me, inspectional services can get the ball rolling with scheduling the input of these permits into the system.
Okay. Thank you. Councelor McDonald, do you have a question? Councelor Crow, should I I understand, you know, and enrolling. So, but should we as amended? We have to amend first and then enroll. Yep. Yep. Thank you for that clarification. That's right. Okay.
C uh councelor Oh, it's you. You're putting on your light for counselor Simmonelli. Understood. Okay. So, I'm putting on I was I was that was I was very confused there. I'm sorry. Okay. So, I'm going to put on the end light so that our clerk can put on
councelor Simmonelli by phone. All right. You going to vote? I that that No, he's not speaking just for the vote. I see. Okay. So, I'll go to councelor Winslow. Yeah. No, I mean we had some very good discussions. I mean, as you can see,
most of us I think did everyone sponsor this co-sponsor this paper. So, I think as a council, we were very supportive of this. Appreciate councelor McDonald's um efforts to advance this as well as, you know, making sure we got the thorough legal review to make sure this is a
tight ordinance. I mean, I know a few things we did do in committee was um you know, one of the things was to make, you know, if if a unit turns over every six months or something like that, then there's some flexibility into whether you have to get anc inspection, that
type of thing. So, so we tried to work in things that were were practical and um I think that was also related to the the lead line uh ordinance as well. So I think that um it was a good process in terms of you know ironing out things that that integrated to what we were
doing and take into account that you know now that the inspectional services is leading this effort and has systems uh I think it's just a really good result. So thank you for council McDonald for spearheading this and uh say the council the the um you know the committee did vote um favorably to
recommend this as a council with subject to legal review. Okay. So, do we have a motion related to the amendments? Okay. So, a motion by councelor Crow to amend, seconded by councelor Taylor. Um, the clerk will call the role.
Councelor Clone Hayes, yes. Councelor Condan, yes. Councelor Crow, yes. Councelor McDonald, yes. Councelor Ali, yes. Councelor Sika, yes. Councelor Simelli. Oh, that's it helps if I mic.
Yes. Okay, we hear. Okay, that's a yes. Councelor Spataphora. Yes. Councelor Taylor, yes. Councelor Winslow, yes. Council President Lahan, yes. Okay. And did somebody Council McDonald, did you make a motion to
enroll? I would like to make that motion. Yes. Okay. Do I have a second? Oh, I'm going to have councelor Taylor do the second. Uh, and the clerk will call the role on the motion to enroll. Yes. Councelor Cologne Hayes, yes. Councelor Condan,
Councelor Crow, yes. Councelor McDonald, yes. Councelor Ali, Councelor Sika, yes. Councelor Simonelli, yes. Councelor Spataphora. Councelor Spataphora,
thumbs up. That's a thumbs up. Councelor Taylor, yes. Councelor Winsow, yes. Council President Lahan, yes. Those papers are that that paper is enrolled. Okay. And we're amending
do Okay. So, for the lead pipe paper for 277, right? 277-25, there's no there's no amendments on that. Okay. So, do we have a motion to enroll? So, so moved by councelor McDonald, seconded by councelor Winsow. The clerk will call
the role. Councelor Colon Hayes, yes. Councelor Condan, councelor Crowe, yes. Councelor McDonald, yes. Councelor Omali, Councelor Sika, yes. Councelor Simelli, yes.
Councelor Spataphora, yes. Councelor Taylor. Yes. Councelor Winslow. Yes. Council President Lahan. Yes. All yes. So that paper is enrolled. So that is enrolled. Next order of business.
Paper 442-25 committee report. The standing committee on license to whoms referred papers 387 through 3 397 series of 2025 having considered the same make the following report. Okay. On
a motion by councelor seea seconded by who is in license? Counselor. Counselor. Okay. Councelor Cologne Hayes. Clerk will call the role. Councelor Cologne Hayes. Yes. Councelor Condan. Councelor Crow. Yes.
Councelor McDonald. Yes. Councelor Rali. Councelor Sika. Yes. Councelor Simelli. Councelor Spataphora. Yes. Councelor Taylor. Yes. Councelor Winslow. Yes.
Council President Lahan. Yes. That's all. Yes. Okay. Councelor Seca for the for the committee report. I'm so sorry. Yep. Um, thank you. The license committee met on all these licenses that Morgan is
about to read in two seconds um between tonight and a couple of weeks ago. Um, they were all voted out unanimously from the committee. So, I make a motion to grant all these petitions. Okay. So, let's have our clerk read the petitions
before we take the vote. Okay. Paper 387-25, petition, Amusement Machines, GLS Associates, Inc. 50 Holden Street, Malden, Five Machines Renewal, Paper 388-25,
Petition, Class 2, Joe Champa Auto Body, Inc. 322 Eastern Avenue, Malden for vehicles renewal paper 389-25, petition class 2, Jordan Motors, Inc. DBA Malden Auto Sales 147,
excuse me, 147 Ferry Street Malden 24 vehicles renewal paper 390-25 petition extended hours voten hours occasional Saturday and Sunday events 12:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Renewal
paper 391-25 petition extended hours LNK Billiards Inc. 77 Exchange Street, Malden. Hours 7 days 12:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Renewal paper 392-25
petition extended hours MRM Donuts Corp. DA DBA Dunkin Donuts 617 Broadway Malden hours 7 days 4:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Renewal 393-25.
Petition extended hours Walgreens store number 03130 185 Center Street Malden hours 7 days 24 hours renewal paper 394-25 Petition Livery Company HPL Group LLC
500 Broadway apartment 4139 Malden one vehicle new paper 395 5-25 petition livery driver homie Pierre Louie 500 Broadway
apartment 4139 Malden New paper 396-25 Petition Livery Company YHS Transportation LLC 137 Highland Avenue Malden one vehicle new
paper 397-25 petition livery drive livery Driver Ees Henry Sade 137 Highland Avenue Malden New. Okay. Thank you, Madam Clerk.
Motion to grant. Motion to grant, please. Okay. Do I have a second? Thank you, Councelor Crow. Okay. Clerk, please call the role. Councelor, sorry. Councelor Kum Hayes, yes. Councelor Condan,
yes. Councelor Crow, yes. Councelor McDonald. Yes. Councelor Romali. Councelor Sika. Yes. Councelor Simelli. Yeah. All right.
Councelor Spataphora. Say yes. Councelor Taylor. Yes. Councelor Winslow. Yes. Councelor Council President Lahan. Yes. Okay. That's 100 granted.
Okay, next order of business. The docket is clear. Okay. Does anybody have personal privilege? Okay. Councelor Ali, I think we should take 15 fairy. No, I'm joking. Oh my god. Tonight's a good night for that. No. Um, so I just wanted to, you know, let the
community know that Malden Arts will be hosting a public art of Malden trolley tour this Sunday, November 23rd at 100 p.m. You can go to give G I G I V U TT R.com/troly
t r o l your t o r. So givebutter.com/trolyour to get your tickets. Uh we'll be showing switch boxes to murals and sculptures uh and we'll tell you the stories behind them and maybe you'll find out about some art that uh you maybe not didn't
even know existed. Um and that will be leaving from 158 Canal Street um at the Canal Street Art Hub. Hope to see you there. Thanks. Thank you, Councelor Ali. Councelor Winslow. Yeah, I just uh want to thank
my uh neighbor Melissa Llant who's doing uh working and volunteering with friends of Malden Public Library for passing these things along. Um so come um coming up on December 7th 2 to 4 winter holiday concert at the Mald Public Library.
That's always a great time um in the um there. And they're going to have the Most Excite Opera do some uh singing as well as um all this in the historic Converse Art Gallery at the library. So, it's a really nice time and and it's, you know, what a wonderful place um to
hear wonderful music. It's it's a really special thing about Malden to to go there. So, and then um Saturday the 13th of December, 10 to uh two at the library. Um holiday book sale at Malden Public Library. Um the books $2 for h
hard covers. Um $1 for soft covers, children books, three to one. Uh I bought some used books. It was 250 over in over over in Somerville. So, this is a good sale. Come out, get some uh some books to read over the holidays. And um they're also looking for volunteers to
help out as well. Um so, come out for those events and uh and everybody wishing everybody a happy Thanksgiving. So, thank you. Great. Great. Thank you, Councelor Winsow. Uh Councelor McDonald. Hello. Well, yes, I do want to remind us all that tomorrow at 6 PM uh online
through live stream through UMA as well as in person at our senior center, we are having our public forum on the proposed um override paper. And I'm just going to tell you a little bit about how that's going to go to save me from
emailing you all. Um we will start at six o'clock. We're going to have a presentation from the mayor that will give a very, you know, brief highlights of what this is, what it means, what the proposal is, what we're asking for and and the reasons for that. Then we are
going to have the opportunity for a question and answer um from people who attend and there will be staff from the city there uh for folks who if their question is answerable or if it's something about the override vote itself or any of those questions. We'll answer
the questions we can. The ones that we can't we will um write down and come back to. Uh there will be a way to ask questions virtually live. It'll be like through a third party platform. and we'll explain that during the live streaming of the meeting. And if you want to submit your questions or
suggestions or whatever in advance, you're welcome to do that by emailing city councsil city ofmalden.org and Lisa is compiling those. So if you can't come, but you want to submit a comment, you can do it there. I just want to say clearly, this is not a public hearing where there's like a pro and then a con,
nor is it a back and forth session between questioners and members of the city council. The goal is to let people really have some public dialogue about it, get their questions answered, pose questions that they think should be answered. Um, so we have a real full hearing. Uh, not well, I'm going to
avoid the word hearing, but a full public discussion about these things because our discussion has been largely in the finance committee. Um, I really hope folks will come and attend or send their comments or watch later. Uh, I hope some of you will want to come um
and encourage people to participate and we will be meeting the following week in finance to review um where we're at in the process, but wanted to encourage everyone to attend and encourage others to attend and participate if you can. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Councelor McDonald. Councelor SEA, I don't have my light on. You keep going into this other box that's different from everyone else. I don't know what you did with your mic this this evening, but thank you though. I don't have any personal privilege. Okay.
Okay. Motion by councelor Ali. Do I have a second? Everybody. All right. I guess we have to call the role on that. Oh, come on. Councelor Councelor Cologne Hayes.
Councelor Condan. Councelor Crow. Yes. Council McDonald. Yes. Councelor Ali. Yes. Councelor SEA, Councelor Simon is gone. Councelor Spataphora has a thumbs up. Councelor Taylor,
Councelor Winslow, yes. Council President Lahan, yes. Good evening, everyone.