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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

New Bedford City Council Meeting - October 22, 2026

Default View — Thursday, October 22, 2026

BodyNew Bedford, Massachusetts

SessionDefault View

DateThursday, October 22, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 35:05

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

1:16

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

1:18

It is Thursday, October 22nd at 701 p.m.

Unassigned speaker

1:23

in

Speaker 1

1:23

the New Bedford City Council Chambers.

1:26

We do not have a member of the clergy present, so at this time I will ask for a brief moment of silence.

1:43

Thank you.

1:45

We are led in the Pledge of Allegiance tonight by the councillor at large, Brian Gomes.

Speaker 2

1:51

Pledge allegiance 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.

Unassigned speaker

2:05

Thank you, Mr.

Unassigned speaker

2:06

President.

Speaker 1

2:06

Thank you, Councillor.

2:12

I am joined in the chamber by my colleagues, Councillor at Large, Ian Abrew, Councillor of Ward 2, Scott Pemberton, Councillor of Ward 1, Leo Choquette, Counselor of Ward 5, Joseph Lopes, Counselor at Large, Brian K.

2:27

Gomes, Councillor at Large, Naomi Carney, Councillor of Ward 3, Sean Oliver, Counselor at Large and First Vice President, Shane Burgo, and Counselor of Ward 4, Derek Baptiste.

2:38

I would like to note that this meeting is being live streamed and recorded.

2:42

City Council and Committee meetings can be viewed on the City of New Bedford's homepage under quick links, then meetings.

2:48

At this time, I will ask the clerk if there are any letters to be read into the record.

Speaker 3

2:52

Mr.

2:52

President, there are none.

2:53

Okay.

2:54

No letters present.

Speaker 1

2:57

All right.

2:57

We will be moving to our hearings portion of the agenda.

3:01

I will ask the clerk to uh op uh begin with hearing number one, please.

Speaker 3

3:06

Mr.

3:06

President, item one is a hearing from NSTAR electric company doing business as ever source energy, the location of seven FO polls and a guy anchor on Liberty Street.

3:16

This work is necessary to provide electric service to 230 Hathaway Boulevard 1A is the order.

Speaker 4

3:22

Motion receive and place on file and open the public hearing.

Speaker 1

3:25

Motion to open the public hearing made by Councillor Burgo, seconded by Councillor Oliver.

3:29

All those in favor say aye.

3:31

Opposed the eyes have it.

3:32

Good evening, Jessica.

Speaker 5

3:33

Good evening.

3:34

Uh Jessica Elder representing Eversource.

3:36

Uh thank you for having me this evening.

3:38

Uh first petition tonight is Liberty Street.

3:42

Put that there.

3:43

Ebosaurus has requested permission to install seven fully own polls in a guide in anchor within the public right away on Liberty Street.

3:52

Uh this work is necessary to provide electrical service to Hathaway Boulevard.

3:57

Um Eversource will coordinate with the New Bedford Police Department and establish appropriate vehicular pedestrian uh traffic control uh during the construction.

4:08

Police detail will be uh required.

4:11

Uh any area that's disturbed will be set to its original condition or better.

4:16

And approximately three to five days for the work to be done, depending on conditions.

Speaker 1

4:23

Thank you.

4:24

Colleagues, any questions?

4:25

Counselor Oliver.

Speaker 6

4:26

Thank you, Mr.

4:27

President.

Unassigned speaker

4:27

Uh

Speaker 6

4:28

thank you, Jessica for being in.

4:29

Is this for the um

Unassigned speaker

4:32

the

Speaker 6

4:32

school?

4:33

The electric uh is that for the electric bus parking lot, or is this for the school itself?

4:39

The school, from what I understand.

4:40

All right.

4:41

Um obviously school, you said that you were gonna uh coordinate uh with uh the proper authorities for the details and things like that.

Unassigned speaker

4:50

So I just want to make sure of that, and I just wanted to uh uh recognize what the scope of the project was, if it was for that parking lot or if it was for some a service at the school.

Speaker 6

5:02

So thank you.

5:02

That's all.

5:03

Thank you, Mr.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Engineering And Infrastructure█████████████████████████████████████37%

Procedural████████████████████20%

Public Safety███████████████15%

Budget Equity Analysis████████8%

Water And Wastewater Management███████7%

Fiscal Sustainability█████5%

Zoning And Land Use████4%

Surveillance Technology████4%

Summary of Proceedings

New Bedford City Council Meeting - October 22, 2026

The New Bedford City Council met on Thursday, October 22, 2026, at 7:01 PM in the City Council Chamber. The meeting was led by Council President Ryan J. Pereira, with 11 councilors present. The agenda included five public hearings for Eversource utility work, numerous mayor's papers for unpaid bills, appointments, a sewer abatement, an HDIP agreement, a zoning amendment, and a final reading of an ordinance on automated license plate readers (ALPRs).

Hearings

Hearing 1 – Liberty Street (7 FO Poles and Guy Anchor): Jessica Elder (Eversource) presented the petition to install poles and anchor to provide electric service to 230 Hathaway Boulevard (a school). Work estimated 3–5 days with police detail. No public comment. Council adopted the order unanimously.
Hearing 2 – County Street (40' Conduit and Handhole): Work to improve service to 485 County Street. Councilor Baptiste raised concerns about traffic disruption and police detail availability. Ms. Elder confirmed coordination with police and a two-day duration. No public opposition. Adopted unanimously.
Hearing 3 – Maple Street (One Handhole): Work on sidewalk to upgrade service to 69 Maple Street, about one day. Resident John Buck (71 Maple St.) expressed confusion that work may have already been done. Council clarified the hearing is for the permit to obstruct the sidewalk. No opposition. Adopted unanimously.
Hearing 4 – Purchase Street (48' Conduit): Work to improve service to 1265 Purchase Street. Councilor Baptiste asked about coordination with nearby Quest Center work. Resident Mark Parsons (42 Grove St.) thanked the council and stated the work appeared mostly completed. No opposition. Adopted unanimously.
Hearing 5 – Parker Street (35' Conduit for City Streetlight): Work to provide service to a lighting cabinet near Summer Street, about 48 hours. Councilor Baptiste requested work be scheduled after school drop-off hours due to a nearby school. No public comment. Adopted unanimously.

Public Comments & Testimony

John Buck (71 Maple St.) – Expressed confusion regarding the Maple Street handhole, stating work appeared already done. Council explained the hearing pertained to the right-of-way obstruction permit.
Mark Parsons (42 Grove St.) – Thanked the council and reported that the Purchase Street conduit work seemed mostly completed.

Mayor's Papers

M1-M12A – Unpaid Bills from FY2026: M1 (Water Enterprise Fund, $16,314.72 for lime and soda ash) sparked debate. Councilor Burgo moved to refer to the Finance Committee, noting 21 unpaid bills totaling nearly $73,000. After a roll call, referral failed 2–9 (Burgo and Pereira in favor). The order to pay then passed 9–2 (Burgo and Pereira opposed). M2-M12A (totaling $16,314.72 from various funds) were referred to the Finance Committee without objection.
M13 – Sewer Abatement: Request for Vicki Jorge (490 Purchase St., $374.53) was granted unanimously.
M14 – HDIP Tax Increment Exemption for 620 Belleville Ave: Proposed agreement for redevelopment of the Nashawena Mill complex into 47 apartments. Referred to the Finance Committee.
M15 – Zoning Amendment: Ordinance to reduce maximum building height as-of-right in the Mixed-Use Business (MUB) District. Referred to the Committee on Ordinances and the Planning Board.
M16-M19 – Appointments: Donald G. Rei (Housing Authority), Madeline Paiva (Library Trustees), Thomas P. Clark (Water Board), Eric V. LePage (Zoning Board of Appeals, alternate). All referred to the Committee on Appointments and Briefings.

New Business

Item 6 – ALPR Ordinance (Second Reading): Ordinance amending Chapter 2 to regulate automated license plate readers and location-tracking technologies. Councilor Burgo introduced an amendment to the last sentence of Section 1, inserting "inconsistent with the provisions of this section" after "used for any purpose" to correct a drafting error that would otherwise halt all city spending. The amendment was adopted unanimously. The amended ordinance then passed on roll call 8–3 (Carney, Gomes, Oliver opposed).

Key Outcomes

All five Eversource hearing orders were adopted unanimously.
M1 (Unpaid Water Bill) was adopted after referral to finance failed; M2-M12A referred to finance.
Sewer abatement (M13) granted.
M14 (HDIP) and M15 (Zoning) referred to respective committees.
Appointments (M16-M19) referred to Appointments Committee.
ALPR ordinance passed 8–3 after a unanimous amendment.
Consent agenda (street obstructions, disturbances, dumpsters, and board minutes) adopted unanimously.
Meeting adjourned at 7:35 PM.

Meeting Transcript

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. It is Thursday, October 22nd at 701 p.m. in the New Bedford City Council Chambers. We do not have a member of the clergy present, so at this time I will ask for a brief moment of silence. Thank you. We are led in the Pledge of Allegiance tonight by the councillor at large, Brian Gomes. Pledge allegiance 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. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Councillor. I am joined in the chamber by my colleagues, Councillor at Large, Ian Abrew, Councillor of Ward 2, Scott Pemberton, Councillor of Ward 1, Leo Choquette, Counselor of Ward 5, Joseph Lopes, Counselor at Large, Brian K. Gomes, Councillor at Large, Naomi Carney, Councillor of Ward 3, Sean Oliver, Counselor at Large and First Vice President, Shane Burgo, and Counselor of Ward 4, Derek Baptiste. I would like to note that this meeting is being live streamed and recorded. City Council and Committee meetings can be viewed on the City of New Bedford's homepage under quick links, then meetings. At this time, I will ask the clerk if there are any letters to be read into the record. Mr. President, there are none. Okay. No letters present. All right. We will be moving to our hearings portion of the agenda. I will ask the clerk to uh op uh begin with hearing number one, please. Mr. President, item one is a hearing from NSTAR electric company doing business as ever source energy, the location of seven FO polls and a guy anchor on Liberty Street. This work is necessary to provide electric service to 230 Hathaway Boulevard 1A is the order. Motion receive and place on file and open the public hearing. Motion to open the public hearing made by Councillor Burgo, seconded by Councillor Oliver. All those in favor say aye. Opposed the eyes have it. Good evening, Jessica. Good evening. Uh Jessica Elder representing Eversource. Uh thank you for having me this evening. Uh first petition tonight is Liberty Street. Put that there. Ebosaurus has requested permission to install seven fully own polls in a guide in anchor within the public right away on Liberty Street. Uh this work is necessary to provide electrical service to Hathaway Boulevard. Um Eversource will coordinate with the New Bedford Police Department and establish appropriate vehicular pedestrian uh traffic control uh during the construction. Police detail will be uh required. Uh any area that's disturbed will be set to its original condition or better. And approximately three to five days for the work to be done, depending on conditions. Thank you. Colleagues, any questions? Counselor Oliver. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh thank you, Jessica for being in. Is this for the um

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