Beverly City Council Regular Meeting - September 2, 2025
Beverly City Council Regular Meeting - September 2, 2025
The meeting opened with a moment of silence for former planning board chair Ellen Hutchinson, followed by approval of minutes from June 2, 2025, and numerous referrals for grants, appointments, and licenses. The central focus was an update from Mayor Mike Cahill on the ongoing Teamsters Local 25 strike against Republic Services, now in its 62nd–63rd day, affecting trash and recycling collection. The council later voted unanimously to enter executive session to discuss pending litigation and did not return to open session.
Consent Calendar
- Approved minutes from June 2, 2025 (9-0).
- Approved Order 201, amending the 2026 city council meeting schedule to move November 16 to November 23 (9-0).
- Approved Order 207, accepting travel expenses for a PEI advocacy day (fully externally funded) (9-0).
- Received and placed on file orders 208 (Community Preservation Committee grant round 13), 209 (N192 replacement project update), 211 (May 2025 meeting summary), 213 (variant facilities site notice), and 214 (DEP license at 275 Hale Street) (all 9-0).
- Referred orders 210 (parking letter), 212 (National Grid petition), and various appointments/licenses to appropriate committees.
Discussion Items
- Mayor's Update on Republic Services Strike: Mayor Cahill reported the strike began in early July, with first mediation in five weeks occurring the prior Thursday. Republic provided no recycling pickup in July and has struggled with trash collection. The city obtained a DEP waiver to treat recycling as trash for two weeks (currently in second week) to clear backlog. A recycling drop-off site at Stanley Street is operational, with dumpsters serviced by Millennium. The city has not paid Republic since the strike started and is compiling costs (overtime for DPS/police, extermination services, etc.). Republic's draft July invoice included a 95% credit for recycling but the city contests it. Mayor noted $3.6 million annual contract cost, monthly recycling fee ~$10,000, and compost site management fee ~$12,500. Councilors discussed potential relief for ratepayers, but mayor cautioned it would likely be modest. Councilor Bowen raised promoting curbside composting; mayor agreed to collaborate on outreach.
- Subcommittee Reports:
- Finance and Property: Approved a child safety seat grant, a $225,300 mental health jail arrest diversion grant, and a $143,500 training grant (all 9-0 on council vote).
- Legal Affairs: Approved a peddler's license (Order 202), Class 1 motor vehicle dealer license for MAG Retail Holdings (McGovern Ford) (Order 203), Christmas tree vendor license for John De Vincenzo (Order 204), Class 2 motor vehicle dealer license for JJ22 Ventures (Beverly Car Care) with discussion about property history and compliance (Order 205), and handicapped parking ordinance amendments (Order 206). All were subsequently approved by full council (9-0).
Key Outcomes
- All routine business and subcommittee recommendations passed unanimously (9-0).
- The council voted 9-0 to enter executive session pursuant to M.G.L. c.30A §21(a)(3) to discuss pending litigation in City of Beverly et al. v. 623 Landfill Inc. (Republic Services), Essex Superior Court Case No. 2577CV00758, and did not return to open session.
- Next regular meeting scheduled for September 15, 2025.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, thank you. Hi everyone. Hello. Welcome back. Welcome back. This is our, of course, our first regular meeting back after a bit of a summer recess, although we did have the opportunity to be together for a special meeting as well. So welcome back. Welcome back to my council colleagues. Welcome back to Kim and the Bev Cam booth. And welcome back to those who are joining us here in the chamber as well. I always like to just go over our agenda briefly before officially calling the meeting to order so that we all have a sense of what's happening for the evening. So tonight uh we do have some discussion presentation from the mayor conversation about the uh republic strike. When we get to that part, I will ask for a motion to take the agenda out of order so we can have both that conversation leading right into an executive session at the end of the meeting so that folks are not waiting here for us to come back and forth from executive session. Um but we'll we'll take that up when we come to it. Then we do have just some routine business to get us back into the flow of our council year. We'll take a brief break for some subcommittee work. We'll come back to finish that up, and then as I said, we will have that conversation with the mayor and then uh executive session from which we will not return to open session. I'll repeat all of that at the end when we get to that point. So with that, I will officially call to order this regular meeting of the Beverly City Council Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025, 7 o'clock p.m. Ms. Kentley, please call the roll. Bowen. Crawley, Feldman, Houseman, Ratundo, Spang, St. Hilaire, Sweeney, and Flowers. Here. Thank you, Ms. Ken. Council Retendo, would you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? And I'd ask that we remain standing for a moment of silence for Ellen Hutchinson, who was our planning board chair, who recently died. To the flag of the United States of America. To the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. She also served on the planning board for many years. Certainly by her family and her friends, and then by our broader community. So we we hold Ellen's family and friends in our in our hearts at this time as well. And so thank you for that moment of silence. Uh graduated from Nemsee recently and received her CMC, and that's a big accomplishment, of course, for municipal clerks. And so Katie, uh congratulations. I think a round of applause and thank you. Again, our first regular meeting. Thank you. So with that, then I will take a motion now to take the agenda out of order, as I mentioned, so that we can take up that discussion in open meeting with the mayor about the Teamsters local 25 strike and delivery of services by Republic Services Incorporated, leading into a proposed executive session, both at the end of our time, so that we don't have folks waiting for us, as I said, to come and go from executive session. That first part of the conversation will be an open meeting, so folks can follow it on Bev Cam or here. Um if we do vote to have the executive session, that would be the final part of our meeting. So is there a motion to take the agenda out of order? All those in favor. Thank you. That carries nine zero. So we will return to those items. And now we will go to acceptance of minutes of previous meetings. We do have one set of meeting minutes that we can approve this evening.
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