Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the December 15th, 2025 council meeting. Please join me to salute the flag to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Madame clerk, >> roll call of the members. Councelor Aenzio >> here. >> Here. Councelor Cogleandro >> here. >> Here. Councelor Janino >> here. >> Here. Councelor Gino SA >> here.
>> Here. Councelor Hass >> here. >> Here. Councelor Jermo is absent. >> Councelor Kelly is absent. >> Council McKenna >> here. >> Here. Council Novaski. >> Here. Councelor Zambo >> here. >> Here. And council president Sylvester >> here. >> Here. Quorm is present.
>> Approval of the journal of the regular meeting of December 1st. >> All in favor? All opposed? >> So ordered. Challenger item number three. The city council will award a certificate of merit to Pichy Cham of the River Police Department in recognition of his promotion from from
master sergeant to sergeant- major in the Massachusetts Army National Guard. So, I um I wanted to recognize Pachy for for an amazing an amazing accomplishment. Um, many people see it
as just an ordinary promotion, but to get to the rank of sergeant major in the military is the highest enlistment you can go as as an enlisting soldier. um the dedication, the time, the
deployments away from family. It's it's an amazing task, an amazing feat. And uh I I'm honored to be here standing next to you in acknowledge in acknowledgement of his extraordinary
service and dedication to leadership and his celebration of his recent promotion to the rank of Sergeant Major, the highest enlisted rank in the United States Army National Guard. Special recognition is hereby awarded to Sergeant Major Pichy Chum. Sergeant
Major Charm's distinguished career reflects an unwavering commitment of duty, discipline, and public service. Through his service with the Rever police department in his distinguished military career in the United States Army National Guard, he has demonstrated exceptional professionalism, integrity,
and leadership, serving as a role model to his fellow officers, soldiers, and the greater community. In witness whereof this certificate of merit is gratefully bestowed by the mayor and the city council of the city of Rivier, Massachusetts on behalf of its citizens this 15th day of December in the year of
our Lord 2025 in the independence of the United States of America 249th. Congratulations to our major. [applause] [applause] um for the the awards and everything else that the cities and the departments been uh
um supporting me. I'm really grateful and thankful. Um I'm always uh excited to be able to serve this uh city um to the best of my ability especially um bringing that uh values from the military and uh doing the roles and responsibility to uh be an off a good
officer within the city and I continue on doing my my job as best as I can and thank you so much. [applause] >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. will be placed on file. Calendar item number four. The city council will will award a certificate of
commendation to Doris Emparro Morales Suarez in recognition of her milestone 60th birthday in which she has lived with epilepsy her entire life. Further in recognition and support of the individuals and families affected by epilepsy like Doris and her family that the city council has declared the month
of November 2025 as epilepsy awareness month. [applause] Councelor home. [applause] Congratulations. >> She's a good hug. >> Yeah, she is.
>> Uh, thank you, Mr. President. >> Okay, we celebrating, Mom. Thank you, Mr. President, and to my colleagues for the leeway. Um, today we take a special moment uh to recognize Doris Sado Morales Suarez um who has
been fighting or has been diagnosed with epilepsy uh for 16 years. I know she doesn't doesn't show it, but uh and we're we're all very proud of her because she is the embodiment of resilience for the uh epilepsy community. uh 30% of our residents um uh
have this condition. Uh, and so I know it affects every single one of our lives and she's a testament again to the resilience and perseverance. Um, Forever. [snorts] [applause]
[applause] I'm um to everyone here present. I'm very grateful to you all because I had epilepsy since I was in my mother's womb. Um my youth was um not great because folks always um kind of threw me away
because of my condition. I was never not gainfully employed because again of the condition I was denied work. >> [laughter] >> My parents were uh victims of violence and they both perished. Um and then I
accidentally got pregnant, but I >> Okay. [laughter] Moments. Um, thank I'm I'm very grateful to life for uh allowing me to get to this moment. I'm very grateful to uh God for the strength and resistance that he gave
me uh to overcome all the challenges and to to get to 60 years, which not everyone gets to 60 years. >> Okay. Um I'm her daughter. Uh she's my life. I love my mom. Uh, epilepsy
uh is everything for me is married to me. I care about people with epilepsy because they alone, you know, they fighting alone. The people take care of these people. We are alone too. So a
moment like this is a lot to me because this mean someone care about ours, right? And this can be little simple but mean a lot for our fulfur community. And
thank you so much. [applause] >> [clears throat] >> Thank you guys. Thank you. [applause] [laughter] >> Thank you. Thank you. Can I go? >> Thank you, Lord. >> Oh my god, mama. I love you. Have a good
night. Congratulations. that will be placed on file. Shows those back-to-back awards that heroes come in different forms. >> Pursuant to rule 23 of the city council rules of order, the following motions or communications are reported out of
committee with a recommendation to be placed on file. Mr. President, >> councelor, uh, if just a point of personal privilege, I just want to recognize our, uh, councelor elect from ward one, James Muriel,
[applause] >> city councils Anyone placed on file? >> All be placed on file. >> Public comment pursuant to chapter 402 of the acts of 1965.
>> If anyone in the audience has anything they'd like to come up and say, resident, small business owner, business owner, please come up. You have two minutes. Your name, address, and what you'd like to discuss. [snorts] Anybody?
>> [clears throat] >> Okay, closing that. Legislative bench acknowledgements. Communication from the city clerk relative to the city council legislative bench. I'm just pulling up that communication. In keeping with the custom and tradition
of the River City Council, the city council shall honor three of its members by placing their names and years of service as members of the River City Council on name plates on the city council's legislative bench, which sits in the city council chamber behind the members of the council to reser receive special recognition.
City councilors must have served for a decade or more on the city council. As of today, 21 past and present members of the city council are on the legislative bench. Three city councilors will be honored during city council sign on December 15th by having their names and
years of service if fixed to the legislative bench. They are as follows. One, war 2 city councelor Irene Ovaski is recognized on the legislative bench with 26 years of service as a member of the city council. Councelor [applause] at Large Anthony T. Zambudo is
recognized on the legislative bench with 25 years and three months of service as a member of the city council. [applause] And last but not least, Ward One City Councelor Joanne McKenna is recognized for the first time on the legislative bench with 10 years and seven months of
service as a member of the city council. >> [applause] >> Congratulations. That'll be placed on file. Next up is acknowledgement of members of the Janino family who have served on the River City Council. We have Joseph Aenino,
Jessica Aenino, and now Christopher Janino. [applause] >> [applause] [laughter] >> speech. >> Um, and my ex sincere apologies for admitting this from the agenda, but acknowledgement of the H family who have served on the River City Council. Robert
J. Hass Jr., former mayor and city councelor, and Robert J. Hass thei third our current city councelor at large. [applause] Acknowledgement of our outgoing city councelor councelor at large Juan Pablo Hero. [applause]
Councelor, on behalf of the city council and myself, I want to say congratulations and thank you for your dedication and service. [applause] [applause] We'll get everyone to speak first. >> Okay.
>> Council Sorry. Thank you for the moment of privilege. Um, I've had the ple pleasure of serving alongside Juan on the city council for the past two years. In that time, we've collaborated on many projects and shared countless conversations about what's
best for our community. tonight as he attends his final meeting as the city councelor. I want to sincerely thank him for his dedication, his friendship, and his thoughtful approach to public service. He will be missed, and I wish him nothing but the best in whatever the
next chapter of his journey will be. Thank you, Juan. One more [applause] thing. >> Sorry. [applause] What are we doing? What are we doing? Point of personal privilege. >> I'll do it from the desk. It's for my seat of
>> want to take a picture of all of us. >> Yeah. >> Point of personal privilege. >> Speak your point. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Through to the members. Um, Mr. President, I sit here before you
uh not in spite of the American promise, but because of it. A promise that though remains a work in progress for many has been made possible to me by the hardworking people of the city of River. from the DPW worker to the River High
School teacher. A dream that our forefathers, both the ones that stewarded this land for millennia before the Mayflower arrived, um, and those who we proudly wear on our
city emblem could not have imagined. Now, my untimely departure from the River City Council is not in spite of that dream or that promise, but because of it. You see, my foray into public life comes as the result of my sense of duty to
that promise and its renewal. A sense of duty to a promise that is more about the journey than the destination. A promise that is unfinished, but that each generation has a duty to renew. Rooted in the values of unity, hard work,
entrepreneurship, and innovation that characterizes our city and our nation. Now there is a certain cynicism that is presently pervading and permeating our political environment.
A citicis cynicism fueled by the contempt that some multi-millionaires and billionaires have for the people that produce the labor that makes them disgustingly wealthy. a contempt for the nurse who took that blue line into Boston from Beachmont Station to care
for people who may very well have gotten her sick during a global pandemic. A contempt for the street sweeper and sanitation worker as to pay more money for their already skyrocketing healthcare. A contempt for immigrants
like me who are scapegoed for our economic wos. But in the truly revolutionary spirit of River, both the man and the city, we proved true to the American promise and to the
spirit of American renewal and democracy. We defied the trend in Rivier first with of course my election to the city council as the first immigrant to be elected to city government here and the
first formerly undocumented immigrant to be elected But we also defied the trend by setting in place ordinances that pri prioritize the preparation uh preparation in the face of human cause climate change and the preservation of our homes.
We defied the trend by adopting the most rigorous pro-worker ordinance in all of the commonwealth of Massachusetts. one that returns dignity to the worker of Riviera back to them. For the first time since our housing
boom began in Riviera, we finally built homes with some affordability to them. Now, this is a journey, a journey we took together. Each of those things, we did so almost unanimously every time. A journey to continuously work on our
city and the well-being of our working families. For those who remain in this chamber, the duty should be to fully safeguard the advances we have made as they are implemented because they are advances that we worked on as team Ru.
It was work that defied the division of our current political climate and proved that committed public servants can work together for working families no matter how differing our political views are. Tony Zambudo [laughter]
As for me, >> try to be great. [laughter] >> I love you. You know that. I wouldn't give you a of you if I didn't. >> As for me, I return, at least for now, to the picket line, which instilled in
me the passion with which I do the work that I do. but now with the hindsight and the insight of better understanding the needs of the average family in our city and the distinct honor of having served them from the River City Council
alongside each of you. To close, I want to first thank my wife who's recording this uh and is joining us right now. The amount of work that being an elected official brings is not one that is
burdened only on the shoulders of the elected official, but also on their families. And Crystal has been nothing but gracious with her time, with her love and her dedication, not just to me throughout this process, but to the
residents of our city of River. So, I'm very grateful to my parents, janitors that came here with not even two nickels to rub in their pocket who can't be here because they're still working two jobs or in my
mom's case caring for our child because child care is too darn expensive. Gracias. Gracias Porto sacrificio to each of you in this chamber from the clerks Joanne Ashley to all of you here
who have served as inspiration as [clears throat] you advocate for your parts of the city or bring your vision to what our city should be. I bring with you I bring you with me everywhere I go. I bring your experiences. I bring with
you me um the guidance that you have given me and I'm eternally grateful because only in America can a formerly undocumented immigrant sit here today in this here climate and say that they got the honor and the privilege to serve the
most beautiful workingass city in the entire country. Thank you Mr. President. [applause] >> [applause] >> one. It [clears throat] seems that we have an emergency public hearing request for a special permit. Mark, do you have that
filing? >> Yes, Madame Clerk. Um on we have an application um as an emergency request on behalf of S clause from 1,000 North Pole requesting a special permit from the city council to
allow for applicant to conduct a one night notfor-profit delivery within the city limits to facilitate the delivery of toys in various res to various residents locations within the community. Conditions of the special permit as follows. One aerial passage of
one sleigh, eight reindeer, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen to the Riviera airspace. Two, brief rooftop landings not to exceed 5 minutes per structure.
Three, exemption from st from standard parking requirements as reindeer do not fit in within marked parking spots. Four, no noise variance for sleigh bells jingling after 10 p.m. deemed essential to navigation.
And five, a seasonal waiver of leash laws as reindeer are reportedly well-trained and extremely festive. Merry Christmas. >> All in favor? All opposed? >> So ordered. Mr. President, Mr. President, counselor,
just a if I may, a little latitude. Um, excuse my voice. I lost it today. I'm just getting it back. So, everybody must have been happy with that happening. Um, but two things, one one joyous and one sad. Um, I do want to recognize and uh
hopefully get a moment of silence for what happened down at Brown Brown University in Rhode Island and also what happened in Australia during their Kaneka celebration. Uh, it's sad that we have to live like this and
we shouldn't have to, but there are people that don't care. But I just want to recognize and have a moment of silence for those we lost and I wish well those that were injured. Thank you,
>> Mr. President. Also, on two other things, um I'd like to um just recognize a couple events that are coming up this week. Um, tomorrow night at Costa Park down in Shirley A, uh, we're having a holiday light celebration and we'll
recognize the kids and the parents. Uh, Santa Claus will be there. We have hot chocolate and, uh, cookies and and Santa Claus, of course. I think I said that, but uh, please join us at 5:00. We'll be there till about 6:00
6:15 and um enjoy that holiday festivity and also uh on Wednesday night where the city once again after many years it's close to 50 it goes back to George Kala to have a manova on city
hall front of city hall on the lawn and that'll be lit at 4:30 on Wednesday night Wednesday afternoon um And we invite everybody to join us and uh help celebrate the festival of
lights and uh to invo to uh enjoy our um joyous time to remember what happened way back when. So thank you for the time, Mr. President. >> Mr. President, >> thank you. Councelor Councelor,
>> I'm uh give point of personal privilege. >> State your point. The city lost a great man this last week. I had the honor and the privilege of doing his eulogy. Philip Parado, a Korean War veteran, uh
past commander of uh the American Legion. Uh a wonderful human being who I happen to know from many, many years. I met uh many years ago at Liberty Market in East Boston. Some people don't even know what that is. East Boston.
>> He they know what East Boston is, but Liberty Market is long gone. But he was the store manager there, and I was a young kid working there. Very young, of course. But uh uh he he was a true gentleman and an honorable person. He
left there under circumstances because he wouldn't tolerate somebody not being honorable. Uh that's all I'm going to say about that except that we lost a real good man. Uh, and uh, uh, there's not many Korean War veterans left
anyway. Uh, but uh, I I'll miss uh, Phil and Parado and I think uh, the city will miss him too. So, if we can have a moment of silence for Phil. Thank you. Thank you. Back to the regular order of business.
>> Point a personal privilege for just for two minutes because everybody else did it. I just like to recognize we recognized uh elect ward one uh councelor uh James Mccurio, but we didn't acknowledge Rep. uh Turo and Rep.
Janino. So I would like to acknowledge them. Thank you. >> Now back to the regular road of business and acknowledgement of the 2025 outgoing city council president Mark Sylvestri. [applause]
So just real quick um I want to thank my colleagues um for supporting me through the year first for for voting for me and giving me your confidence. Um secondly uh s supporting me throughout the year.
I my advice if you have the opportunity try to run for president. It gives you a whole new outlook on a council seat. You get to build super strong relationship with the clerks. You get to see the seat from a totally different perspective.
Um, and I just want to thank you all, the residents of Reier, and um, wish us a happy new year and a merry Christmas, happy holiday, and thank you very much, [applause] [applause] >> Councelor. Mr. President,
I wanted to personally thank you um, and I'm sure I'm speaking for the entire council for your service as the council president. You led the council with professionalism and fairness and your commitment to the role and to our residents is greatly appreciated. Congratulations on this milestone and
thank you so much for everything you've done for us. [applause] >> Now I need a moment of personal privilege. Okay. >> Okay. >> Anyone else? >> Okay. Councelor,
>> I just want this quick moment. Buenadali Novo, merry Christmas and happy new year to everyone. [applause] >> That's it, right? Okay. Signed, die. Meeting is adjourned.