Good morning, everyone.

For the record, my name is Liz Braden, City Council President, District Nine City Councillor and Chair of the Boston City Council Committee on Rules, Ethics and Administration.

Today is August thirteenth, twenty twenty-six, and the exact time is ten oh eight AM.

This hearing is being recorded.

It is also being live streamed at Boston.gov slash city dash council dash TV and broadcast on Xfinity Channel Eight, RCN Channel 82, Fios Channel Nine Six Four.

Written comments may be sent to the committee email at CCC.ra at Boston.gov and will made a part of the record and available to all councillors.

Public testimony will be taken at the end of the hearing.

Individuals will be called on in the order in which they signed up and will have two minutes to testify.gov for the link and your name will be added to the list.

Today's hearing is on Docket No.

Four Seven Five.

Erin Murphy and Councillor Flynn, and was referred to the committee on March fourth, twenty twenty-six.

Being we began this term with a collaborative rules process, uh multiple working sessions, and this hearing is a great opportunity to discuss the rules and ensure they're meeting the needs of the council and current practice.

This is a chance for us to step back, look at how the rule is functioning, and ask what improvements, if any, might help us operate more smoothly.

Every counselor has been a rule rule 15 at some point.

There's a share, there's a shared desire to make sure our rules are leading to excuse me.

Every councillor has been Rule 15 at some point, and there's a shared desire to make sure our rules are leading to a smooth, as smooth a council process as possible.

We've also been joined by Councillor Fitzgerald.

Um we'll start off.

Um I'd like to also introduce today's panelists, uh Alex Garonkas, who's our city clerk uh of the city clerk of the city of Boston, and Michelle Gulberg, who's the central staff director for the City of Boston.

Um we'll open up with two minutes opening statements for the for our colleagues.

Um counselor Flynn, since you're Councillor Murphy, since you're the lead sponsor, uh if you'd like to start.

Thank you.

Um thank you.

It's different to see you, Michelle and Clerk across.

But thank you for being here.

Like I said, I know since this is my fifth year on the council, we have had, and I think it's a productive thing to do, uh, meet during a term in the curly room talking through the rules.

I know when counselor Flynn was the president a couple times.

We just went through all the rules to kind of make sure we were in uh understanding of we're using them to the true intent and making sure everyone on the council feels as though the rules they're not supposed to be used against us, they're supposed to support us and help the work that we push forward.

I was telling um you, Clerk Trentis, that when I looked back, we filed this over five months ago, so sometimes the you know the intent then I had to remind myself why I felt the need to put it to a hearing.

Um there have been times where certain filings have been Rule 15.

I do just want to take a couple seconds of my time to make sure those listening in, it's clear what Rule 15 means, and but um there have been times where I felt even after speaking to the clerk and speaking to you, Michelle, that it still maybe had been pulled or didn't seem as though it was being consistently applied across the board.

So Rule 15 governs the filing of matters that are duplicative or of substantial similar matters already in committee or previously acted upon during that municipal year.

It provides that it shall not preclude filings whose content is on a different subtopic or for which a hearing or debate would not result in the same hearing or the same debate as a previous filing.

So of course there is open to interpretation.

Um the clerk is charged with placing on the agenda only the first file matter when filings are determined to be duplicative or substantially similar.

And in the case that brought me to do this, it was a women's history month resolution, and I did get a call at my house on a Friday morning from the clerk to say, you know, these are similar, and or and then we talked through and changes were made in time, and even though those changes were made, it was still Rule 15 and you know other things kind of snowballed after that.

But I'm they think it's important that consistency and clarity in this conversation.

I hope will get us to a place where people feel as though you know things are being done fairly.

100% agree that if something is duplicative, rules apply to everyone, you can't file it.

I also think there's a small, right?

It's a finite, it's not an infinite number of filings that we can work on on the council, and many times they are very similar in nature, especially when we all care about many of the similar quality of life issues.

So maybe it's a different intent or a different outcome we're hoping for, and they may seem similar, but I do think we should make sure we're using the rules to support each other and support the work that ultimately we're always trying to uplift the residents, not personally ourselves.

So looking forward to this conversation and thank you for both of you for being here for it.

Thank you.

Councilor Flynn.

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for your leadership on this issue, Madam Chair, and want to say thank you to our city clerk and to the staff director for the important professional work they do every day on behalf of the city council, but on behalf of the residents of the city as well.

I want to say thank you to Councillor Murphy for bringing this forward, including me as an original co-sponsor.

I think Councillor Murphy highlighted the importance of Rule 15.

One aspect of Rule 15 I just want to stress is having everybody be consistent.

Everybody knows the rules, everybody knows what to expect, ensuring that everybody is heard, everybody is respect, even when we disagree, we can give someone an explanation of why fifth rule 15 might be preclude that matter from moving forward and with an expl explanation that it's duplicative or very similar.

I think that answer with an explanation goes a long way.

So I'm just want to encourage my colleagues to continue to work with the chair, work with the city clerk with the with the staff director as well.

And this is an important city council hearing, one of the most important of the year, because it gives everybody an important opportunity to ask questions directly to the clerk, directly to the staff director, and they know these rules extremely well, and this is our opportunity to engage with them and want to encourage my colleagues to ask pertinent questions.

And this is the time to do it.

So we want to welcome all of my colleagues that are here.

I know City Council Fitzgerald is here as well.

Um thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you.

Um Suller Fitzgerald.

Thank you, Madam President.