Peabody Finance Committee and City Council Meeting - June 11, 2026
Peabody Finance Committee and City Council Meeting - June 11, 2026
The Finance Committee met at 4:00 PM, followed by the regular City Council meeting at 6:00 PM on June 11, 2026. The Finance Committee considered four transfer requests, all of which were approved unanimously (5-0) and later passed by the full City Council (10-0). The Council also adopted a $1.2 million bond order for roof replacements, approved routine license renewals, and referred several items to committees for further discussion. No public comments were made.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of the records from the regular meetings of May 14, May 18, and June 2, 2026.
- Banner request from Care Dimension (75 Sylvan Street, Danvers) approved.
- Block party requests: 28 Ravenwood Road to 16 Brentwood Drive (July 25) and 11 Hammer Road through 14 Hammer Road (August 15) approved.
- General license renewal for Extended Stay America (200 Jubilee Drive) for 2026 approved.
- Junk dealer license for Wallace Street Flea Market (20 Wallace Street) set for public hearing.
Discussion Items
Finance Committee Transfers (Subcommittee Report)
Councilor Peach reported the Finance Committee's actions on four transfers, all moved by Councilor Gamash and passed unanimously (5-0).
1. Transfer for Grant Matches Three projects were funded from bond premium reserve: cybersecurity for water treatment plants (total project $185,000; $50,000 grant, city match $135,000), and two dam upgrades at Winona and Spring Pond dams (matching FEMA funds: $106,400 and $55,125). William Paul, DPS Director, confirmed the cybersecurity work was to prevent hacking and the dam work was required by state inspections. Councilor Turco asked for a project overview. Motion to appropriate $135,000 (account 300-33015-57447-2026-411), $106,400 (account 300-33015-57447-2026-412), and $55,125 (account 300-33015-57447-2026-413) passed.
2. Transfer for Bike Path Easements $221,000 from sale of real estate for permanent and temporary easements for the bike path extension from Lieutenant Ross Park to the bridge over Route 1 under I-95. Kurt Bellavance, Community Development Director, clarified the route. Motion to appropriate $221,000 (account 270-33005-58116) passed.
3. Transfer for Fire Pumper Equipment $150,000 from free cash to equip two new fire pumpers arriving in August 2026. Fire Chief Dowlin explained that the equipment was purchased separately to allow competitive bidding rather than factory-installed options. A list dated July 10, 2023, covered the needed items. Motion to appropriate $150,000 (account 3000-54158-2026) passed.
4. Transfer for Cable Fund Expense $186,131.46 from Comcast fees (first quarter) to fund PAT TV (90% earmarked). Motion to transfer from receipts reserved cable fund to cable fund expense passed.
Bond Order for Roof Replacements
Councilor Gamash, co-sponsored by Councilor Peach, introduced a bond order for $1.2 million to replace roofs at South and West schools (capital projects). The order was previously introduced on April 23, 2026, and published on May 14 and May 28. Councilor Turco asked about the status of rescinding the original bond funding; Councilor Peach confirmed that the Director of Finance (Mr. Tanger) had filed the rescission paperwork, but it was awaiting finalization from municipal finance. The motion passed 10-0.
Subsidized Housing Inventory (Chapter 40B)
Councilor Manning Martin reported that the city's subsidized housing inventory stands at 10.56%, but a loss of 57 units in 2026 and 2027 would bring it to approximately 10.3%. He moved to refer item 7B to the Industrial and Community Development Committee for Stacy Burnson to present current data and pipeline projects, as falling below 10% could have implications. The motion passed.
Referrals to Committees
- Item 8A (petition) referred to the city solicitor.
- Items 7A, 7C, 7D, 7E, 7F, 8B, 8D, 8E, and late items 1-3 referred to the Finance Committee for budget discussion.
Key Outcomes
- All four Finance Committee transfers were approved by the full City Council on roll call votes of 10-0.
- The $1.2 million bond order for South and West school roof replacements was adopted 10-0.
- The subsidized housing inventory issue was referred to committee for further review.
- Multiple routine licenses and permits were approved.
- The meeting adjourned after all business was completed.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening. Like to call to order the finance committee meeting of June 11th. We have four items on our agenda this evening. The first item is a transfer of funds for um grant matches. Mr. Jingers is here to present on all of these items. Mr. Jenkins. Thank you. The first item is uh three projects. We're funding from bond premium reserve for projects, one's for cybersecurity and two are for um dam uh analysis and upgrades. And we'll police is here if there's further uh information needed. Do any committee members have any questions? Councilor Gamash. These are straight grants. Thank you, Mr. Paul. The the question they have is it's it's um it says bond premium reserved for project grant match match mass DEP cybersecurity. So these are projects that uh uh being funded by a grant. Uh for the record, thank you for having me this here this evening, William Paul, so at the Department of Public Services. Yes, so all three of these are water related. The first one is cybersecurity. Uh we have secured the maximum match for the first one. The max maximum match was fifty thousand dollars, but the project is 185,000. Uh the second two are funded from a different entity, those are funded from FEMA and the matches. Um I could do the math, but I think it's sixty forty is uh roughly the match for those. So these are the matches. Um but like I said on the cybersecurity, it's um what we're basically is 185,000 project, and we maxed out their grant of 50,000. So our our cost would be 50k. Our cost would be 50,000? No, this NASDEP's giving us $50,000 or wash. Yeah, so we're me we have to put in $135,000 to finish the project. But it's coming from a grant. It's gonna come from a grant, $35,000 from the city, or a total of $185 for that project. All right, thank you. Yep. Counselor Cherko. Sorry, well, if you could just come back up. Can you just give you very brief um mile high view of um each of these projects, what they entail? You know, spring pond dam, you know, if it comes up and questions what residents I'd just like to know what exactly we're doing to the spring pond dam. Uh oh. Absolutely. So um the cybersecurity is probably pretty much what it sounds like. That's for the two water treatment plants, and that's to update the computers and the software, and that's the cost for the programming to bring them up. Uh in respect to making sure that we have adequate cybersecurity on the plants so that they can't be um hacked into. The other two are very similar projects. We have several dams throughout the city. Uh these are the uh larger dams, spring pond and um Sun Tog, I believe is the two that we're looking at tonight. And those dams need to be upgraded. They need engineering work and they need construction work to bring them to make sure that they don't fall.
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