Beverly City Council Regular Meeting – December 16, 2025
Beverly City Council Regular Meeting – December 16, 2025
The Beverly City Council held its final regular meeting of the 2025 term on December 16, 2025, at 7:00 PM in the council chamber. The meeting featured resolutions honoring outgoing Councilors-at-Large Hannah Bowen (now State Representative) and Brendan Sweeney, a public hearing on naming a recreation building, a public comment on land acknowledgements, several reappointments, and final passage of a traffic ordinance amendment. The council also approved minutes from prior meetings, accepted a donation for seniors, and discussed upcoming committee work.
Consent Calendar
- Minutes Approval: Approved minutes from six prior meetings (September 15, October 6, October 20, October 27, November 10, and November 17, 2025) with one abstention on the first five sets; all approved unanimously (9–0).
- Late File Acceptance: Accepted a late file (Order 295) – a $300 check and $460 in gift cards for the Council on Aging from McLean Middleton Professional Association, referred to Finance and Property.
- License Renewals: Approved 2025 motor vehicle dealer, lodging house, and taxi/delivery license renewals (Orders 292, 293, 294) via refer to Legal Affairs and subsequent unanimous committee votes.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Johanna Carney (323 R. Elliott Street, Ward 1; representing Beverly Social Justice Book Club) requested the council reconsider its 2022 vote on Order 23 and adopt a land acknowledgement at the start of council meetings. She read the city’s existing land acknowledgement statement.
Discussion Items
- Resolutions Honoring Outgoing Councilors:
- Order 290: Resolution congratulating and thanking former Councilor-at-Large Hannah Bowen (now State Representative for 6th Essex District) for her service (two terms, January 2022 – October 2025). Speeches by Councillors Spang and Feldman; Bowen expressed gratitude and optimism about local government, noting the “passing of batons” in civic work. Unanimous approval (9–0).
- Order 291: Resolution honoring Councilor-at-Large Brendan Sweeney for his service (one term, 2022–2025). Speeches by Councillors Rotundo and St. Hilaire; Sweeney thanked colleagues and his wife, noted the civility of the council, and encouraged continued collaboration. Unanimous approval (9–0).
- Public Hearing (Order 255): Recessed and reopened for input on naming the Beverly Recreation Office building in honor of Gail Jean Carmody (55-year city employee). Bruce Doig, Director of Community Services and Parks, spoke in support. No public speakers. Hearing closed and referred to Legal Affairs, which subsequently recommended approval.
- Ordinance Amendment (Order 288): Final passage of a change to Chapter 270 (Vehicles and Traffic) – amending the “Do Not Enter” time restriction at Kernwood Heights from Bridge Street to September 1 through June 30, Monday–Friday, 7:15 AM to 8 AM, to align with elementary school start times. Unanimous approval (9–0).
- Unfinished Business: Order 163 held for further information from the mayor’s office; no further action taken.
- Committee Reports:
- Public Services Committee (Chair not named) approved appointments/reappointments for Council on Aging (Wendy Kelly), Commission on Disabilities (Charles Budra Hall), Board of Health (Cheryl Silva, Rachel Morris), Parks and Recreation (Henry Pizzo), Beverly Airport Commission (Carl Ratalek, William Kosalan, Jason Roulette, Jesse Zuberic, William Kendrick), and received a letter from Paul Gentile on downtown bike/parking (filed). All 3–0.
- Finance and Property Committee approved reappointment of Frank Golden to Board of Assessors and appointment of Terry DeBlazy to Board of Assessors.
- Legal Affairs Committee approved renaming of recreation building, fire chief reappointment (Peter O’Connor), and all license renewals.
- Appointments Approved by Full Council: All reappointments and appointments recommended by committees were approved unanimously (9–0).
Key Outcomes
- Votes:
- Order 290 (Bowen resolution) – 9–0.
- Order 291 (Sweeney resolution) – 9–0.
- Order 255 (recreation building naming) – 9–0 (after committee recommendation).
- Order 288 (traffic ordinance amendment) – 9–0.
- Order 269 (Fire Chief O’Connor reappointment) – 9–0.
- All committee appointments/reappointments – 9–0.
- Next Steps: The next regular meeting is Monday, January 5, 2026, at noon at Beverly High School (swearing-in/inauguration). A financial forecasting report was completed and will be discussed in January.
- Other: Council acknowledged the start of Hanukkah and expressed condolences for the shooting in Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia. Meeting adjourned at approximately 8:45 PM after committee work.
Meeting Transcript
Kim's ready to kill you. You're ready? All right. Thank you, everyone. Good evening. Thanks for joining us here in the council chamber. It's always nice to see so many folks joining us. Thank you to Kim and the Bev Cam booth who's got us live and streaming so that folks can follow along from wherever they are and from whenever they would like to take a look at the meeting. We appreciate that as always. As is our habit, I'll run through what's on the agenda before I officially call the meeting to order so that we have a chance to all sort of be on the same page about what we have before us this evening. I do want to mention that we have scouts from Troop 4, Beverly Troop 4 with us this evening. I know you all were downstairs getting a tour and learning a little bit more about city government from Councillor Feldman. Is that right? Yeah. Well, welcome. It's so nice to have you with us. That's always a pleasure. And you should feel free to stay as long as you want. You also should feel free to leave whenever you need to, because we know you may have other homework and other things that you need to get to this evening. But thank you so much for being with us this evening. Um, this evening we have two different resolutions that we'll be presenting to council colleagues, both of whom have wrapped up or are wrapping up their term with us uh this evening. And so we have former city counselor at large and now state rep Hannah Bowen is here with us. Thank you for being here, representative. And of course, we'll also have a chance to honor our at-large colleague uh Brendan Sweeney, who's going to be wrapping up his term this evening. Thank you, counselor, and we'll have a chance to say more and to celebrate both of them with these resolutions. We also do have one member of the public who signed up to speak, and so we will take that public comment as we can when we get to it in the agenda, knowing that we also do have a 7:30 posted public hearing. Then we have some routine business to take care of, and then we'll be back to finish everything up. So with that, I'll officially call to order this regular meeting of the Beverly City Council, Monday, December 15th, 2025, 7 o'clock PM. Ms. Kent, will you please call the roll? Crawley? Here. Feldman. Houseman. Retando. Spang. St. Hilaire. Here. Malady? Here. Sweeney? Here. Flowers. Here. Thank you, Ms. Kent. Counselor St. Hilaire, will you lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, please? Pledge of the life of the United States of America.
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