WEBVTT

METADATA
Video-Count: 1
Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=g3LVeJuG62Q

NOTE
MEETING SECTIONS:

Part 1 (Video ID: g3LVeJuG62Q):
- 00:00:03: Meeting Called to Order, Pledge of Allegiance
- 00:00:36: Approval of City Council Meeting Minutes
- 00:01:06: Public Hearing: Farm Road Pole Installation Petition
- 02:06:56: Testimony in Favor of the Farm Road Petition
- 00:03:47: Council Questions and Approval of Farm Road Petition
- 00:05:06: Public Hearing: Hudson Street Pole Installation Petition
- 00:06:14: Testimony in Favor of the Hudson Street Petition
- 00:07:02: Council Questions and Approval of Hudson Street Petition
- 00:08:56: Public Hearing: Glen Street Pole Installation Petition
- 00:09:46: Testimony in Favor of the Glen Street Petition
- 00:11:06: Council Approval of Glen Street Petition
- 00:11:39: Public Hearing: Fiscal Year 2027 Operating Budget
- 00:12:46: Public Comment: Firefighter Staffing Levels Concerns
- 00:16:06: Budget Discussion: Fire Department Staffing Concerns
- 00:18:01: Discussion and Referral of Mayoral Communication
- 00:18:50: Approval of Revolving Fund Spending Limits
- 00:19:40: Zoning Amendment Recommendation Accepted and Filed
- 00:20:14: Deed Restriction Request Referred to Urban Affairs
- 00:20:45: Concord Road Pole Petition Referred for Public Hearing
- 00:21:32: Hosmer Street Pole Petition Referred for Public Hearing
- 00:22:20: Taxi Delivery License Application Referred to Committee
- 00:22:51: Approval of Board, Commission, and Committee Minutes
- 00:23:24: Claims Referred to the Legal Department
- 00:23:38: Finance Committee Report, Operating Budget Approved
- 00:26:56: Personnel Committee Reports, Appointments Approved
- 00:29:35: Upcoming Urban Affairs Committee Meeting Announced
- 00:30:07: Discussion: Starter Home Zoning Districts Act
- 00:33:01: Council Discussion and Referral of Starter Homes Act
- 00:36:14: Meeting Adjourned


Part: 1

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Good evening everyone. I'll call the city council to order at 8:00 on Monday evening, May 18th, 2026. This meeting is being recorded. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

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republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. We have 15 items on this evening's agenda and I will ask the city clerk to please read agenda item number one.

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>> Minute city council meeting April 27th, 2026 and May 4th, 2026. Mr. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I'd like to accept and place on file the minutes. >> Motion's made and second to accept and place on file both sets of minutes. Any discussion on the motion?

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Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? The minutes are filed and the vote is 100. Agenda item number two. Now's the time continue public hearing on the petition of Mass Electric and Verizon to install one joint old pole on Farm Road beginning at a point

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approximately 540 ft southwest of the center line of the intersection of Cook Lane National Grid to install a 50-foot class H1 midspan pole between P28 and P29 on Farm Road. Pole will be located on city property. The new poll will be

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labeled P28-50, order number 26-1009731A. Additionally, we have a communication from city engineer Tom Deersio regarding recommended conditions. >> Okay. This public hearing be taken up in four stages. First with the public speaking in favor. Second, questions

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from the public. Third, public speaking in opposition. And finally, questions from the city council. We'll limit public participation comments to three minutes. I'll ask the we'll open the first part of the public hearing of the public speaking in favor with the applicant coming up to describe the project.

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My name is John Rupia. Address is 255. >> The microphone on. >> Thanks John. >> My name is John Rupia. I'm from 255 South Main Street in Hopedale. I have my

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colleague here to represent. >> I'm Carrie Lee. Um, also from 245 South Main Street in Hopedale. >> Nolan Angus, also from Hopedale. >> Thanks, Nolan. Carrie. Okay. You want to describe the project?

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>> Yes. So, the first one is for >> close to your >> Oh, sorry. Sorry. I'm really short. I know. Um the first one is for um an install of a midspan pole. Uh the reason we're requesting that is so that we can install a pole tarp recloser on that

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pole. >> The poles on either side already have equipment. So there's not enough space. >> Anything else? Curry Lee, that good. >> Um no, I think that's good. >> Any other members of the public speak in

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favor? Any members of the public speak in favor? Any members of the public speak in favor? Hearing none, I close that portion of the public hearing. Questions from the public. Any questions from the public? Questions from the public? Hearing none,

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I close that portion of the public hearing. Public speaking in opposition. Any members of the public speak in opposition? Members of the public speak in opposition hearing? None. I close that portion of the public hearing. Questions from the city councilors.

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Questions from the city councilors. Questions from the city councilors. Councelor Presiano. >> I just wanted some clarification. Thank you for being here. Um, so the poll it the current polls are overloaded right now with equipment and so you you're just installing another pole to add more equipment. Is that

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>> Yeah. So we need to install a pole topper closer. >> Okay. >> So um there's certain clearances that we need to cover and there's already equipment on either side. >> Okay. Um, so installing the midspan pole will give us we'll be able to put the pole topper closer up.

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>> Okay, understood. Thank you. >> Thank you, Council Presiato. Any other questions from the city councilors? Questions from the city councilors? Any questions from the city councilors? Hearing none, I close that portion of the public hearing and the entire public hearing. Councelor Fillo. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, councilors

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will note the city engineer had a chance to review and has recommending conditions uh for the petition. And with that, I move to approve with those conditions submitted by the city engineer. >> Motion remains seconded to approve the petition with the conditions identified by the city engineer. Any discussion on

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the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. 100. The petition is approved with the conditions identified by the city engineer. Agenda item number three. Now it's time for continued public hearing on the petition of Mass Electric and Verizon to install

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a one to install one joint old pole on Hudson Street beginning at a point approximately 236 ft southwest of the center line of the intersection of Bolton Street and Hudson Street and continuing approximately 22 feet in a northwest direction. National Grid is

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National Grid to install a 45 foot pole um class H1 midspan on Hudson Street. The new poll will be labeled P42-50 order number 26-1009733A. Additionally, we have a communication

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from um city engineer Tom Deersio regarding recommended conditions. >> Okay, this public hearing again will be taken up in the same four stages. Members, public speaking in favor, questions from the public, public speaking in opposition, and then questions from the city councilors. So,

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we'll limit comments from the public to three minutes. We'll open the first part of the public hearing with the public speaking in favor. Starting with the applicant, please state your name and address. Again, for the record, >> Nolan Angus from Hopeedale. >> Thanks, Nolan. Uh, again, this is very similar case. This is a new midspan

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pole, a pure midspan pole um in the the sense um just for the sole purpose of installing a pole topper closer. >> You good? Okay. Any other members of the public speak in favor?

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Members of the public speak in favor. Any members of the public speak in favor? Hearing none, I close that portion of the public hearing. Questions from the public? Any questions from the public? Any questions from the public? Hearing none, I close that portion of public

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hearing. Public speaking in opposition. And members of the public speak in opposition. Members of the public speak in opposition. Hearing none, I close that portion of the public hearing. Questions from the city councilors. Councelor

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Ducet. >> Thank you very much, Mr. President. Um, just for clarification, uh, what specifically is a poll topic closer? Is it a transformer or what is it? >> No. So, it is a form of advanced switch uh that helps improve reliability of the feeders in the area. So it helps

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decrease the chance of outages in the area and increase response time in case of an outage. >> Is it like a circuit breaker type response? >> Very similarly. Yes. >> Okay. So it's a box basically. >> Yes. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you councelor Ducet. Any other qu council or

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>> war? Thank you. Thank you for coming in force. We missed you the last couple meetings. Thank you Mr. President. >> Council Preiano. It's a hot topic. Um I I do have some some questions regarding like uh like

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future installments. Um is this something that um we would be seeing for um future service on different poles like adding mid mid midspan poles to introduce more equipment? >> Uh from my understanding, no. If there if the existing area allows for these

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new installations to go up without the need of a midspan pole, we will do everything on our power too. um we are limited to the certain orders of equipment that we need uh which is what calls for the need for midsband polls specifically. >> Thank you. I was just curious if we would see more of these like around the city. Thanks.

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>> Thank you, council president. Any other questions from the counselors? Questions from the counselors? Any questions from the counselors? Hearing none, I close that portion of the public hearing and the entire public hearing. Council Pillo. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, as we see again, uh, comments and conditions from

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the city engineer. And with that, move to approve with the conditions submitted by the city. >> Motion's made and seconded to approve the petition with the conditions identified by the city engineer. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? The petition is approved with

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the conditions identified by the city engineer and the vote is 100. Agenda item number four. Now it's time for public hearing on petition of Mass Electric and Verizon to install one joint own pole on Glen Street beginning at the point approximately 130 ft

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northeast of the center line of the intersection of Foley Road National Grid to install a 50 foot class H1 midspan pole between P4 and P5 on Glenn Street. Pole will be located on city property. The new poll will be labeled P4-50,

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order number 26-1009746. Additionally, we have a communication from city engineer Tom Depersio regarding recommended conditions. Okay. Again, this public hearing taken up in the same four stages. Public speaking in favor, questions from the public, public

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speaking in opposition, and then questions from the city council. So, I'll open the first part of the public hearing with the public speaking in favor starting with the applicant. And again, comments will be limited to three minutes on the public. Carrie Lee, name and address, please.

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>> Uh, name and address. Uh, Carrie Lee. Uh, it's 245 South Main Street, Hopedale. >> Thank you. >> Yes. This is also to install I know we sound like a broken record. Uh, midspan

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pole also for a pole top closer. >> Anything else? That's good. All right. Any other members of the public speaking in favor? Members of the public speaking in favor? Members of the public speaking in favor? Hearing none, I close that portion of the public hearing. Questions

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from the public. Any questions from the public? Questions from the public. Hearing none, I close that portion of the public hearing. Public speaking in opposition. Any members of the public speaking in opposition? Members of the public speaking in

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opposition. Hearing none, I close that portion of the public hearing. Questions from the city councilors. Questions from the city councilors. Questions from the city councilors. Hearing none, I close that portion of the public hearing and the entire public hearing. Councelor Fillo.

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>> Thank you, Mr. President. It is now my turn to sound like a broken record. Uh move to approve the petition with the conditions from the city engineer. >> Motion made second to approve the petition with the conditions identified by the city engineer. Motion's made and seconded. Any discussion on the motion?

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Seeing none, those in favor opposed. The petition is approved with the conditions identified by the city engineer in the vote is 100. John Kerry Lee and Nolan. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. >> Agenda item number five.

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>> Appreciate your Now it's time public hearing for on the proposed fiscal year 2027 operating budget in the amount of 222,882,585 which represents a 4.24% increase over the fiscal year 2026

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appropriation order number 26-1009740. >> Okay. This public hearing be taken up in the same four stages. First with the public speaking in favor. Second, questions from the public. Third, public speaking in opposition. And then finally, questions from the city council. And we'll open it up with the

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public speaking in favor. And again, we'll limit comments to three minutes. Any members of the public speaking in favor? Any members of the public speaking in favor? Any members of the public speaking in favor? Hearing none. Close that portion

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of the public hearing. Questions from the public? If you come on over, that'd be great. Thank you. >> Good evening. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Council President, and members of the city council. My name is Matthew Armore, and

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I live at 52 Chandler Street. I'm a lifelong resident of the city, and I've been employed by the city of Malbor my entire adult life. Currently, I proudly serve as a firefighter and I have the honor of being the union president for the men and women who make up your Malbor fire department.

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I'm here tonight on behalf of those men and women to address an issue that's been raised consistently for more than a decade. Firefighter staffing levels. The reality is simple. Maro has changed dramatically, but our staffing is not. Last year, our department responded to approximately 9,225

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calls for service. nearly a 50% increase in call volume since 2014 while still operating at the same staffing levels that we've had since the 90s. Just a minimum of 14 firefighters on duty citywide.

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This year, we have already seen a 5% increase over where we were last year at this time. Excuse me. We have no signs of slowing down. At the same time, Marvel continues to experience unprecedented growth and development. Nearly 2,000 additional housing units

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have been brought into the queue and are currently under construction or being being approved. Every one of these developments will bring additional residents, additional traffic, add additional emergencies, and an increased demand for fire and EMS. For over 10

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years, we have respectfully raised these concerns through the budget process. We have proposed solutions including incremental staffing increases, long-term planning surrounding the future Westside Fire Station. And yet, despite these efforts, there has been little to no meaning

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meaningful support or action taken to address this growing problem. Tonight, I'm simply asking the question to city leadership, when exactly do you believe is an appropriate time to seriously address the staffing at the Mal Fire Department?

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The need is not hypothetical. It's not years away. It's here. It's been here for more than a decade. At some point, this city has to acknowledge and the unavoidable reality that maintaining public safety in a growing community requires investment. That

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investment may come with difficult conversations, including discussions about taxes and funding priorities. But delaying these conversations does not make the problem disappear. It only increases the risk to both firefighters and the residents that we serve.

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We're proud to protect this city. We're proud of the work we do every day. But pride alone does not put enough firefighters on the streets to safely and effectively serve a growing mall. We're asking for leadership. We're asking for accountability. We're asking

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for a commitment to planning for the future before the future forces this issue upon us. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Matt. Well said. Any other questions from the public? Any other questions from the public?

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Any other questions from the public? Hearing none, I close that portion of the public hearing. Public speaking in opposition. Any members of the public speaking in opposition? Members of the public speak in opposition. Hearing none, I close that portion of the public hearing. Questions

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from the city councilors? Questions from the city council or >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um I'm on the fire department budget and Chief Goen had noted in his u correspondence on the

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budget that they are hoping based on these figures the department's ability to maintain its current minimum staffing model will require re-evaluation effective July 2026. So hopefully we'll be seeing communications from the fire chief as it relates to the staffing

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levels. You'll see in that same letter he talks about the 16 versus 14. At certain times the squad car I believe in uh the eastern station is not available due to the minimum 14 versus the minimum

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16. So hopefully there will be dialogue with the chief the finance committee and we can move forward to try to prevent overtime but more importantly support and prevent any accidents with the fire department. We don't want to

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stress out the great firefighters and staff we have. In my view, let's take a thorough look at this and move forward uh so we can have the appropriate staffing. And on another note, our residents deserve it. I am not for sure

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if and I'd have to look into it, but will their insurance go up if we're not properly staffed? So, those are the things I'd like to discuss in finance. Hopefully the chief will have dialogue and firefighters will have dialogue with us before the budget season to see what

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we can do to improve the budget. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Thank you, council. Any other questions from the counselors? Questions from the counselors? Any questions from the counselors? Hearing none, I close that portion of the public hearing in the in the entire

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public hearing. Agenda item number six, >> communication from the mayor regarding gear and transfer requests in the amount of $539,000 which move funds from and to various accounts for the department of public works, comproller, treasurer, city

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clerk, and legal department in addition to transfer requests totaling 3,100 $192,000 from free cash to open space stabilization and snow and Please, >> councelor Irish.

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>> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, motion to refer to the finance committee, please. >> Motion is made and seconded to refer to the finance committee. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. This item is going to finance and the vote is 100. Agenda item number seven.

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Communication from the mayor regarding reauthorization of revolving fund spending limits for the water and sewer revolving fund, parks and recreation revolving council on aging revolving fund and public safety revolving fund for FY 2027.

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>> Councelor Irish. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh seeing that these uh revolving funds are the same amount as the previous year, uh my motion is to approve the revolving fund spending cap for fiscal year 2027 for the four uh uh revolving funds listed.

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Please. >> Motion made and seconded to approve the four revolving funds for fiscal year 2027. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor opposed. All four revolving funds are approved and the vote is 100.

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Agenda item number eight, >> communication from the planning board regarding favorable recommendation and comments on the proposed zoning amendment to chapter 650 zoning to amend section 33 results way mixed use overlay district order number 26-1009683A.

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Councelor Roby. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Move to accept and place on file. >> Motion made second to accept and place on file with communication. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor opposed. Communication is filed and the vote is 100. Agenda item number nine,

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>> communication from attorney Aldo A. Cypriano on behalf of Mark E. Evangelist regarding request release of a lowinccome deed restriction on the unit at 64 Village Drive, Unit 4. >> Councelor Roby. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Move to refer

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this to Urban Affairs. >> Motion made second to refer to the Urban Affairs Committee. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? opposed. Motion carries. This is going to urban affairs and the vote is 100. Agenda item number 10. >> Petition to Mass Electric and Verizon to

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install one joint own pole on Conquered Road beginning at a point approximately 370 ft northwest of the center line of the intersection of McNeel Circle National Grid to install a 45 foot class 2 midspan pole between P74 and P75 on

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Conquered Road. Pole will be located on city property. The new poll will be labeled P74-50. >> Councelor Fchillo. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Move to set a date for a public hearing on June 8th and to refer to the city engineer. Motion made and seconded to refer this

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to the city engineer and we'll set a public hearing for June 8th. Motion's made and seconded. Discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Oppose. Motion carries. This is going to the city engineer with a public hearing of

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June 8th. votes 10-0. Agenda item 11, >> petition of Mass Electric and Verizon to install one joint old pole on Hosmer Street, beginning at a point approximately 190 ft southwest of a center line of the intersection of Brierwood Lane and Hosmer Street and

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continuing approximately 20 ft in a east direction national grid to install a 45 ft H1 midspan pole to be labeled P8-50 on Hosman Street. >> Councelor Fello. >> Thank you, Mr. President. moved to set a date for public hearing on June 8th and

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to refer to the city engineer. >> Motion made and seconded to refer to the city engineer and we'll set a public hearing date of June 8th. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. We going to send this to the city engineer with a

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public hearing date of June 8th and the vote is 100. Agenda item number 12, >> application for a taxi delivery license for from Nerand Gerard DBA Nan Private Transportation LLC, 88

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Essex Street. >> Council Fill. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Seeing that this is a new application, move to refer to the public services committee. >> Motion made second to refer this to the public services committee. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? It's going

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to public service and the vote is 100. Agenda item number 13, >> minutes of boards, commissions, and committees. >> Mr. President, >> Council Ducet. >> Thank you very much, Mr. President. Motion to accept and place on file the minutes of the boards, commissions, and committees. >> Motion's made in second to accept and

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place on file all the minutes. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, are those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. The minutes are going to be filed and the vote is 100. Agenda item 14, >> claims, >> Mr. President. >> Councelor Ducet. >> Thank you very much, Mr. President. Motion to send the claims to the legal

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department. >> Motion's made and seconded to send the claims to the legal department. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? Claims are going illegal and the vote is 100. Reports of committees.

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Councelor Irish. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Uh finance committee uh met on May 11th, 2026. The meeting convened at 6:30 p.m. Uh we had one item on the agenda that evening. Uh order number 26-1009740

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uh proposed fiscal year 2027 operating budget from Mayor Dumis uh in the amount of 222,882,585. Uh, Chair Irish read the April 30th, 2026 letter from the mayor uh, submitting the budget for review and

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approval in the amount of 222,882,585 uh, representing a 4.241% increase from fiscal year uh, 26. Uh the significant increase is primarily due to increased funding for the Malber public schools uh health insurance, Aset Valley

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Regional School, uh and the city uh health insurance. Uh the mayor indicated the projected tax impact of this budget would increase the taxes on the average single family house by $420. Uh the finance committee reviewed each

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department budget with the mayor and several department heads and proposed adjusting the mayor's budget by $510,000. On a motion by council or seconded by chair Irish, the finance committee voted 5 to zero to reduce the FY 2027 budget

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by $510,000 as listed in the below table. uh resulting resulting in an amended fiscal year 2027 municipal operating budget in the amount of 222 million $372,585.

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This uh represents an increase of $8,550,000 $8,550,744 or a 4.0% increase. Uh these adjustments are anticipated to reduce the mayor's projected increase to the average single family house tax bill by approximately

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$28. Um the meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Mr. President, that's the end of my report and I will be asking for a suspension this evening if it is okay with the city council. >> Motion remains second to suspend the rules. All those in favor of the suspension

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opposed. Suspension carries. The vote is 100. Councelor Irish. >> Thank you, Mr. President. uh move the recommendation of committee to approve the uh FY2027 municipal operating budget as amended uh

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in the amount of $222,372,585. Please >> motion made and seconded to approve the finance committee's recommendation of the budget which is a $222,372,585 budget. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed. The budget is approved as

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amended by the finance committee and the vote is 100. Council Orum. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Personnel met two different nights. They met. We met on May 11th, 2026 to review number 05-04-2026. Order number 26-10009744.

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the appointment of Tiona Brown to the Conservation Commission for a three-year term to expire on April 30th, 2029. On a motion made by Council Naven, seconded by Chair Orum, the committee recommends approval of the appointment of of Tiona C. Brown to the Conservation Commission

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for a three-year term to expire on April 30th, 2029. The vote was 3 to zero and we adjourned at 6:20 p.m. that evening. We also met tonight and just so the council knows and the president already knows I'll be asking for suspensions on

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both these appointments. Uh tonight we met at 7:30 to review uh order number 26-09728 the appointment of Dr. Sand deepep jubal to the board of health for a three-year term to expire on February 5th, 2029.

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On a ma motion made by councelor Ducet, seconded by chair Oram, the committee recommends approval of the appointment of Dr. Sandeep Juba to the board of health for a three-year term to expire on February 5th, 2029. The vote was three to zero. And tonight, we adjourned

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the personnel committee at 7:37 p.m. And Mr. President, I'll be asking for suspensions on both so we can get these people working on these committees as quick as possible if the council so wishes. >> There a motion made and second to suspend the rules for both reports. Any discussion or there's no discussion? All

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those in favor of the suspension? Opposed? Suspension carries for both of them and the vote is 10. Council or >> I would recommend the the appointment of Tiona Brown as recommended by the personnel committee on May 11th to the conservation commission. Motion made and

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seconded to appoint Tiona Brown to the conservation commission. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. Council, not councelor Brown anymore. Jonah Brown is approved to the conservation commission

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and the vote is 100. Council Orum. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I would ask that the council consider Dr. Sandeep Jubal as noted in the report to be appointed to the board of health through February 5th, 2029 for the board of health. >> Motion made second to appoint Dr. Jabal

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to the board of health. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, are those in favor? Opposed? Dr. Jabal is appointed to the board of health and the vote is 100. Any other reports of committees? Councelor Roi.

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>> Thank you, Mr. President. I just want to announce that urban affairs is going to meet on May 27th. We're going to take up the results way mixeduse overlay district and if they are amendable we can add on to it um the request from Mr.

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Evangelist to deal with the deed if it works for them. >> Any other reports of committees? >> Was that good? >> Okay, moving on. Agenda item number 15. >> Ordered that the city council discuss

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the Starter Home Zoning Districts Act enacted in 2023 to see if there's something we want to adopt and further discuss if we want to use MEEDC grant funds to bring in MAPC to help with zoning. Chapter 40 Y is an

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optional program that creates starter home zoning to help reduce barriers for creating smaller, more affordable starter homes for someone buying their first home downsizing and for smaller households. Although adopted in 2023, the regulations were finalized in March

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of 2026 under 760 CMR submitted by Councelor Roby. >> Councelor Roby. >> Thank you, Mr. President. So, as I said, this was approved several years ago, but the regulations took a while to come out. Um, I heard about this at a meeting

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of MMA uh on a committee that I'm on and it sounded interesting. I didn't want to bother actually submitting zoning change. I thought that it would be better off with us having a discussion to see if Marvel is a fit. This is a uh

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it's not mandated to adopt this. This is all by choice and there is a lot of information to consider and I thought having a conversation first if we wanted to consider it and then uh requesting funds from MEDC to be able to work with

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a planner uh either MAPC or another planner that could work on the language. Um it it is specifically starter homes. It is specific for the amount of land that you can have in a city that you can

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regulate as starter homes. The number of homes you can put on an acre is specified. Um, one of the things that I thought was interesting is that um, for the proposed development of more than 12 starter homes, not less than 10%

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of them shall be, and this is a little bit different language than what we have, it's they shall be affordable to and occupied by families whose annual income is less than 110% of the area media income. So, I looked up what that

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was and for a single person it's $114,350, which to me is still not what we think of when we're talking about affordable people, but this is talking about buying a house. Um, so it's not renting an apartment, it's a home. Um, can it work?

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Maybe. Um, but I I would like to start the conversation and I would move that we refer this to urban affairs to start that conversation. >> Motion made in second to send this item to urban affairs. Any discussion on the motion? Council Ducat. >> Thank you very much, Mr. President. Uh,

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this is intriguing. Um, I you know, the uh neighborhood that I live in is pretty much started as a bunch of starter homes uh back in the day. a little creative uh zoning and uh construction to get that done. Um my question is like are we

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talking about exist just in general right you know we talking about new property development are we talking about re you know redoing existing buildings to be more housing I mean those are the type of questions we're running out of property to put homes that's you know part of this

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conversation so I'm not sure how the zoning could be u but I think that might be worth looking into to see where where it makes sense to do this type of development. So sure, >> if I can respond, it is developable developable. I can't even say it. Land

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that can be developed. So it is not something existing that we're saying now all of a sudden is affordable. Um so I would argue that there is land. We've had tons of proposals for apartments. Could that

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land instead be part of the zoning that would allow homes? That's what we're hearing from the public. They want homes, not apartments. So, um, the conversation can delve into that. >> Council Orum, >> thank you, Mr. President. I concur with

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councelor Ducet and thank councelor Roby for her insight in bringing this to the council. Um, the part that I really feel is important is buying their first home, downsizing, that could be elderly, downsizing into a

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smaller home, which will make their home available to someone else. So I see that as a benefit. And the question I had was uh with the new regulations and new legislation in Massachusetts, accessory dwelling units are also being

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considered where you can put a 900 square f foot or less dwelling unit on your property and not have to meet certain zoning criteria. Is that encompassing that discussion as well? Council, if I may, to council Roby.

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Um, my understanding is there's language that you can add ADUs onto the property. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. >> Thank you, council. Council Ducet, >> thank you very much. Um, I I just want to also say like there are homes,

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houses, apartments, town houses, uh, garden style units. Um, so I as long as all options are on the table, I think this is good. Um I you know the the small houses suddenly become McMansions

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if considering the market as it is but you know condos and town houses and garden style definitely keeps the the market price lower. So thank you. >> Thank you councelor Dette. Any other councilors on the motion to refer this item to

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urban affairs? All those in favor opposed. This item's going to urban affairs and the vote is 100. Council Fill. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Move to adjurnn. >> Motion's made and seconded to adjurnn. All those in favor? Opposed? We are adjourned at 8:36.

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Have a good evening, everyone.