The Boston City Council Committee on Human Services, chaired by Councilor Aaron Murphy, held a virtual hearing on June 29, 2026, at 10:32 AM to discuss Docket 0694 regarding the conditions, operations, and access of Boston Centers for Youth and Family (BCYF) pools. The hearing included statements from councilors, a presentation from administration officials, public testimony, and a community panel. Key issues included the prolonged closure of the Blackstone pool, changes to the Flarity Dolphins competitive swim team, reopening of the Hennigan pool, and overall pool maintenance and communication.
Start. Um, so for the record, my name is Aaron Murphy at large city councilor, and I'm the chair of the Boston City Council Committee on Human Services. Today is June 29th, 2026, and the exact time is ten thirty-two. In accordance with chapter two of the acts of twenty twenty-five modifying certain requirements of the open meeting law in relieving public bodies of certain requirements, including the requirement that public bodies conduct its meeting in public place that is open and physically accessible to the public. The city council will be conducting this hearing virtually via Zoom per the head um sponsor of this request. I don't know if council me here is on yet. I think she should be hopping on soon. This hearing is being recorded. It is also being live streamed at Boston.gov backslash city-council dash TV and broadcast on Xfinity Channel 8, RCN channel eighty-two, and FIOS, channel nine six four. Written comments may be sent to the committee email at ccc.hs at Boston.gov and will be made part of the record and available to all counselors. Public testimony will be taken at the end of this hearing. Individuals will be called on on the in the order in which they signed up, and we'll have two minutes to testify. If you wish to sign up for public testimony and have not done so, you can email our Central Staff liaison, Ron Cobb at RON.co B at Boston.gov for the Zoom link, and your name will be added to the list. So today's hearing is on Docket Zero Six Nine Four, in order for a hearing on the conditions, operations, and access of Boston Centers for Youth and Family Pools. This matter was sponsored by Council Mejia, myself and Councillor Pepham, and was referred to the committee on April first, 2026. An issue we have every year, and I know we've checked in, Council Flynn and I had one a couple months back, and I think it's important, especially now that the heat wave's coming and always good to check in and see where we are on this city asset. So if I am correct, in order of arrival, we have Councillor Flynn, Councillor Pepin, and Councillor Durkin. I think that's correct. And if more colleagues join us, I will add them to the list. I'm having technical difficulties. Can you hear me? I can, yes. Thank you. Thank you. And Council Makia is here. Um from the administration, we have Brian Ford, she chief of Operations, BPS. Thank you for being here, Brian. We also have Eddie McGuire, Director of Operations, and I believe it's Sam here from Ada. Sam Lovingson is here, who's the first deputy commissioner for PMD property management department, which we all probably remember. I think it's two years now. The pools BCYF falls now under property management, which has had a positive impact. So looking forward to hearing from them also. And we have some community panelists also who will come second. But before I turn it over to the administration, I'm going to call on my colleagues for any opening statements. I'll go first to the lead sponsors and then to council Flynn and Counselor Jerkin if that is okay with everyone. So Council Mahir, if you're good to go, you can start. Awesome. Can you guys hear me and see me? Uh yes, both. Okay, great. I just want to thank my colleagues for showing up. Uh if anything, if anyone knows anything about me, I've always been all about making sure that we are creating space for community uh to amplify their voices. We've heard a lot of concerns regarding some of the pools, closures, and decisions, protocols, policies, and procedures that have not been in place for effective community um processes, and so my hope is that in our time together, we can understand the how we go about making decisions like this, um, and the level of communication and engagement community plays um in this process. And I just really grateful to community for reaching out to our office and asking us to um create uh a platform uh for them to be heard, and I'm looking forward to working alongside the administration to set you all up for success as we continue to move through this work together. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Um Councillor Peppen. Good morning, everyone. Uh, I'm a pleasure to be here today to talk about this very important topic. I represent three very beautiful pools in my district, and I know that I get a lot of questions from my residents about just the access to them, the quality of the pools, if they're gonna be open this year.