Hello everyone.

This is the school buildings facilities and maintenance committee.

It is March 23rd.

Pursuant to chapter two of the acts of art of 2025, the meeting of the city council will be conducted by remote participation.

We will post an audio recording, audio video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting of the City of Somerville on the City of Somerville website and local cable access government channels.

And with that, Madam Clerk, I ask for you to uh do roll calls so we can establish quorum.

Absolutely.

Councillor Scott.

Present.

Councillor Sae.

Here.

Chair Link.

Here.

All right.

With that, everyone is here.

So we do have Quorum.

All right.

And we'll go into a brief recess to allow the school committee to establish Quorum.

Thank you, Chair Link.

Very excited to have this meeting today.

It's 6.04, and I'll call the school committee's uh corresponding subcommittee on school building facilities and maintenance to order.

Established quorum.

I am here, Leron Bitone for Ward 7.

Liz Eldridge, are you here?

Present.

Great.

Laura Patone, are you here?

I'm here.

Excellent.

With all members present, the school committees subcommittee is now in session, and we'll turn it back over to Chair Link.

Fantastic.

And with that 30-second recess, we'll uh re-establish quorum.

All right.

Deja vu, Councilor Scott.

Still here.

Councillor Sae.

Here.

Chair Link.

Here.

All right.

With that, everyone has returned.

So we do have Quorum.

Fantastic.

All right.

So first we'll be taking things in kind of a reverse order, but to start with, let's just uh um approve the minutes from the December 8th meeting uh for when it was a special committee.

Uh and um seeing no objections, I'm gonna lay that on the table for approval.

Um so now we'll be working from the back um to the front.

Uh so we're gonna start with item 260267, um, which is a director, uh the director of public space and urban forestry conveying information regarding the Kennedy Inclusive School Yard Renovation.

And do we have someone to speak on that?

Good evening, Mr.

Chair.

Through you, Director, Intergovernmental Affairs Director Nash and Williams, uh, to report on this item.

Um Chairs, as you're aware, uh Intergovernmental Affairs reached out to both the chairs of the um school committee um as well as the council to let them know that the public space and urban forestry team was unable to attend this meeting tonight.

However, the memo that is attached to the item is pretty comprehensive and goes over the engagement process to date.

Uh the public space and urban forestry team is looking forward to putting this project out to bid soon so that construction can begin.

Uh, if there are any questions from the committee, I'm happy to bring those back to the public space and urban forestry team as follow-up.

Thank you very much.

Do we have any questions?

Uh so council site.

Uh, through you, Chair Link, uh, no questions, but I just want to take uh a moment to uh thank uh the administration, the whole team and the parents and everyone who was involved in this process.

Uh this is in my ward, and uh, really appreciated all the uh meetings that were hosted so we can hear from the school community uh about this project.

Um much gratitude to everyone and excited about next steps.

Yeah, I'm very excited too as uh that I think that the that school is especially important because it's where all of our um our you know programs like the the spring programs and all that are held.

So school uh citywide, it's uh really important school to have this great stuff on.

Um and seeing no further comments on my side, I'll leave it to you, Chair Department Chair Peton.

Thank you, Chair Link.

Um uh I per peruse the uh uh the attendee list here to see if anyone else uh from the school committee side has any comments or questions.

I I just want to commend uh PSUF for uh sorry, public space and urban forestry for um the tremendous outreach that they um accomplished in coordination with uh multiple interest groups and stakeholders.

Um this schoolyard is a is a first of its kind in the city.

A truly uh it will be truly an inclusive space um with a design meant to be used by every single student um, hopefully in our at the Kennedy School, uh, as well as uh neighbors and community members, um of whom require mobility assistance.

Um it it's really uh fantastic to see uh the investment, the investment in spaces that are truly meant for the most um uh not only the most vulnerable students in our community, but also um those with the biggest barriers to access.

So truly appreciate um all of the work that went into it.

And uh a term I I learned uh for the first time uh probably about a year ago was nothing about us without us.

And the process by which uh public space and urban forestry went about by coming to the table, listening to parents, students, educators, uh to find out all of the needs before uh engaging in a in a uh the design process and coming to conclusions.

I I understand that the final design really does reflect um robust engagement.

So I just want to I I think it's worth underlining and um I just want to share with that appreciation.

Okay, I'm gonna get off my soapbox and I see member Eldridge has uh a comment or a question.

Nope, I just wanted to echo how fantastic it is that we are working on intentionally inclusive spaces.

Um it's beautiful to see that work moving forward, had the opportunity to participate in the Special Education Parents Advisory Council and the um Sumerville Commission for Persons with Disabilities Roundtable, and pulling that together and um really making a space to intentionally elevate the voices of our uh families that are navigating the need for an inclusive playground is fantastic.

And I hope to see work like this just continue like this be the snowball effect of more and more work with collaboration because it was really truly beautiful uh to see that.

And so again, just wanted to also echo appreciation and um real excitement for what's in store when it comes to intense intentionally inclusive spaces here in Somerville.

Thank you, member Eldridge.

Uh Ms.

Barry, if you could identify yourself for the uh city councillors who are new to this meeting.

Hi, I'm Danielle Barry.

I am the facility safety and transportation coordinator for Somerville Public Schools.

And I also want to echo what Councillor Said said, school committee member member Baton and School Committee member Eldridge said about how amazing the community engagement was and how involved they incorporated student voice, families' voices, community voice.

It was it's been an amazing process, and we're really excited to get the work going um over the summertime.

So thank you.

Uh not seeing any further comments on our side, we will uh turn the meeting back over to you, Chair Link.

All right.

Um, so I think we can mark this one as uh work complete.

And um move to the next item, which is 260266.

Uh that the director of infrastructure and asset management conveying the uh strategic asset management plan report.

Thank you, Chair Link for your record, Richard Rach, Director of Infrastructure and Asset Management.

Um this is a matter that's been um of interest to both of these committees uh in the past, and in particular um school committee member Baton has uh asked a lot of questions about our asset management program, uh and uh how we assess risk and prioritize things.

And as I've uh told the the committees before, um asset management is a program that we've been working uh on for the past several years in earnest to really bring uh the city of Somerville uh you know into the 21st century and and world class in terms of of how we manage our assets, all of the assets, the roads, the sewer pipes, the water pipes, and our our school and municipal buildings.

Um, you know, because there's been interest, we we did publish um our strategic asset management plan um report, and and I thought that this committee would would like a copy of that.

Um so I'm simply providing it uh as a you know uh I guess not a courtesy, but just you know, so that you you have the the document um in your files.

Uh we are also progressing um with the next stages of that, which is the implementation of the uh enterprise management software.

Uh we selected OpenGov and we are in the implementation uh phase with uh that software vendor.

Uh we've been meeting with, you know, at this point is it's largely um the the superintendents, like the building superintendent, water, sewer, um, as well as all the folks at uh 311 and constituent services uh to get that um the that that program up and running.

You know, it essentially it will give all of our uh DPW and water and sewer uh workers in the field will have iPads.

Um they'll get their their work order assignments through that.

They'll be able to access um our databases so that you know they they have access to all the information on the assets they need as they they implement it.

So we're we're we're making some pretty good progress here.

Um and just wanted to share this as a document uh to show what we've been doing.

Thank you very much, Dr.

Rish.

Um I have a question actually.

Um so I was really glad to see this.

Um having selected open gov.

Um is there gonna be uh an opportunity to make a you know you're saying that you were starting with uh kind of it was gonna be rolled out kind of internally as uh as a platform.

Um is there gonna be some sort of public facing dashboard for that so that people can uh see what's happening?

That's a good question, Chair.

Yes, eventually, that that is the goal.

Um the the early stages are are more uh focused on on the DPW and backup side.

Um, but one of the reasons why we chose OpenGov, uh, frankly, as opposed to other vendors, is that their dashboard uh reporting um is you know significantly more elegant and and transparent than some of the other vendors.

Um so it isn't going to be a thing that gets rolled out in 26, maybe not even 27 or or until 27.

Um, but but that is what we're striving towards.

Um, at least in the in the interim, what our hope is that we go into budget season for next year, having already implemented this, the the department heads like myself, like uh uh commissioner um Weisman will have the benefit of those dashboards in our budgeting for for next year.

Fantastic.

I know that's been a long time request from uh the our residents here.

Uh I I'll I'll just ask one more question and then I'll I'll um see if other people would like to.

But um uh I was just curious um where so you know I know we've been it's been a long road uh in terms of like just doing the actual inventory.

Um so I'm just curious where for the schools specifically, like where how how well we've inventoried the schools at this point.

Um yeah.

In terms of uh all the mechanical equipment, that's that's come pretty far.

It's not in a consumable um sort of form right now.

It's really just like an access database.

But um OpenGov will consume that so that it will be um uh you know a little bit more uh uh accessible um to everybody.

But you know, in terms of the inventory of all the mechanical equipment, the HVAC, right down to the the pieces of um all the the equipment.

Uh we're we're in a pretty good position.

Fantastic.

Because yeah, that's I have to imagine that um you know the move from trying to go from um reactive to proactive really requires that to be complete.

Uh and you know, we see what happens with Winterhill when we're we're falling back on that one.

Okay.

Um let's see how uh do any of the counselors have any questions or comments here.

All right.

Um yeah, I just want to um thank Director Rach for the work on this.

Um you know, and it's clear this is a the strategic level, uh, which is getting your hands around the problem and getting the uh getting your your metrics in place.

Um the the detailed asset management plan.

I know that's it's mentioned in here.

Uh is that is that public already.

Um it should be.

Uh and I should know off the top of my head where it's posted, but I do not uh let me go searching for it uh and and get you the link for that.

All right.

Now it's just one of those things that I want to make sure that I'm uh up to date on so that when folks ask, hey, what the heck is going on with that build?

I'll be able to answer.

So appreciate it.

Thank you, sir.

I'm all set, Mr.

Chair.

All right.

Um I I guess the bet.

Um Chair Baton.

Uh I'm not sure if we thank you, Chair Link.

Uh I will just start off by saying I I did read all 45 pages of this um earlier today, and uh found it to be illuminating.

Um I want to commend you, Mr.

Raish and uh your team for assembling this this document.

And actually for the honest and transparent assessment of where you're at.

There was a uh a diagram, probably some 20 pages in uh indicating sort of where we're at right now and and where we want to be.

Oh no, it was uh maybe it felt like 20 pages, four pages in.

Um we're immature, yes.

Yeah, no, I mean then it's it it's that's not an indictment on on uh I think go one more.

It was page.

Uh maybe there it is.

Yeah, it was sort of like you know, here we are in the bullseye.

We wanna we want to expand out, we wanna be um more mature in in each of these areas, but but we're moving forward.

We're um kind of at an awareness level.

And uh boy, we'd love to get to industry leader.

Um but you know, hey, it's a process.

Um and you can't know where you need to go until you assess where you're at.

So, you know, I I thought this was actually a fantastic visual um for us to sort of know our our current status and know where we need to go.

Um and then the rest of the document sort of takes us through it.

All right, here's where we're gonna go in these different areas.

So really appreciated the clarity, the transparency.

Um and I am excited and seeing uh you know those those dashboards when we're able to sort of get into it, you know, and finer with a finer tooth comb.

Um, but that that's gonna come with that maturity.

So um anyway, just kudos, appreciate all this, and um uh look forward to seeing more.

Um I will I don't see any hands from my colleagues, but I'll give it a moment.

All right.

Not seeing anything.

Um, I guess I'll turn it back to you, Chair Link.

Ms.

uh Chair Pitone, this is Laura Pitone.

I apologize.

I'm on a phone, so it's a little harder to navigate.

Go ahead.

Um I speak through you.

Thank you.

First of all, thank you for the report.

I'm gonna ask a really dumb question.

Where was the report made available?

I didn't see it in my email.

I didn't see it posted on the thing.

Maybe we came from director raish and I just missed it.

I apologize because I found four memos that we received.

I can only speak for the city side.

It's attached to the city agenda.

Um that's why I missed it.

I I don't know how it how they make their way to the No, I mean obviously Mr.

Um Chair Batone had it, but I can't find it.

So it's I just can't comment.

Oh, it's on the drive.

Yeah.

So now we're starting to put things on the drive because before we were just putting them in email.

So okay.

Apologies.

That's fine.

No, it's no, no, that's great.

I'm thrilled that it's on the drive.

I just didn't know to look there.

So I always just to say is I'm excited to see it.

I'm sure if it's tracking in the direction of all the work that the city has been doing over the last several years to enhance um uh the asset management work, I'm sure it's fantastic, but I can't comment on it.

And that I missed where this stuff was located.

All right.

And uh member Patone, I I can also track through my email.

I had thought I sent this out.

Um I intended to.

I might have missed it.

I saw an email with four memos on it.

No worries.

We can I didn't know we were managing stuff in the drive again for this meeting because we used to not.

So it's great.

I'm thrilled.

So all I'm saying is that I don't know if people are willing to leave it open for another meeting.

I don't know what I'm gonna, I just wouldn't like to read it.

So that's all because I'm well, so Chair Link, if you're willing to keep this um open, uh I I'm happy to keep it open as well.

Sure.

That is not a problem.

All right.

Thank you, and back to you, Chair Link.

Thank you.

Uh so we'll um sorry.

So what is the what would be the official designation on this again?

Um so we would keep this in committee.

Just keep it in committee.

Okay.

So we'll just mark that as you kept it.

If I may, just briefly, the item is attached to or the document is attached to the actual item.

Um, so if you go here, it's not up here where the attachments are.

If you click on this over here, that is how I was able to pull that up on our side.

That's helpful to know where everything can be found.

Because I knew about the meeting minutes in the one, I mean the meeting information in one place.

I didn't know you had items attached to individual things.

So thank you.

Yes, it occasionally gets a little misplaced.

So yes.

Not a problem.

As long as I know all the places, I'm all set.

All right.

Then um, with that, we'll move to uh item 260241, uh, which is a resolution that the administration provides uh the committee on school building facilities and maintenance with regular updates on the Massachusetts school building authority process for the Winterhill and Brown schools.

Thank you.

Uh again for your record and Richard Race, Director of Infrastructure and Asset Management.

Uh we continue to move along through the MSBA feasibility uh phase.

Uh we've had a lot of interaction recently with the school committee.

Um our next submission to the MSBA uh is what's called the preliminary design program or the PDP.

Uh and there are two aspects of that submission in particular that have a lot of uh implication for the education um uh portion of of the building project.

Uh and so the uh while not a requirement of the MSBA process, um, we did elect to uh review those um uh portions with the uh with the school committee, um, partially at the assistance of Mayor Wilson, um, with the concurrence of uh Chair Ackman.

Uh and and those two components are the educational program, uh, which was largely um directed by and authored by uh the school administration, Dr.

Carmona's team, uh, with the assistance of our consultants, but it was very much driven by the educational vision of Dr.

Carmona and his team.

Um, and then more from the consulting side, uh, what's called the the space, the the space plan.

So basically mapping that educational plan along with the um the the student enrollment counts that the MSBA gave us to space, uh numbers of classrooms and square footage.

Um so those those two uh documents were our components were reviewed with the school committee.

Uh school committee voted to authorize chair Achman to sign off on those.

Um vote was uh seven uh for and two against.

Um so uh Emily is allowed to sign off on that.

Um the uh school building committee uh will be holding a vote on that as well um prior to the submission, and that'll uh go into um MSBA.

Uh the preliminary design program also has uh you know, sort of massings of uh of the the building for those two different enrollments uh with a few different configurations um that the architects are coming up with.

Uh one of the primary drivers that uh we gave them and and was part of their of Perkins Esman selection um is the the sort of passive house green building our our um energy standards and so the the layout of the building on the site has a lot to do with with sort of you know passive solar game.

And so that those are the things that we're sort of reviewing in terms of the massing.

So that's where we are right now.

Once this goes in, that gets reviewed.

And then the next major milestone and the next milestone is very important to make it onto the MSBA board schedule.

The PSR.

And that's where we really narrow it down to one option, one enrollment number, one layout, and a lot of detail on the you know how the uh educational services are provided in that building.

So that'll be the next major milestone after this one.

Thank you very much, Director Ash.

Um that was a uh really great update.

Um just so that uh I'm I'm clear on this.

So that means that we're um at this point, we're uh starting to kind of figure out how I know in the the last public meeting it was kind of a more just concept of uh these are the the potential massings and and like orientations of the building itself um or like design of the building itself, they're kind of on a very large scale.

Is this mean we're actually getting more fine-grained?

Um, or we're now figuring out like what the programming space would look like.

Uh to the chair, yeah.

I, you know, really the the content of this submission um that that goes into the MSBA right now is largely what you saw at that last public meeting.

You know, it's really the compilation um of those.

So there has been some advancement um on some of the detail, but we're we're still very high level at this point.

Um it'll be the next submission, the the August submission that that really um has a lot more detail on on the preferred um alternative.

Understood.

And at that time we'll so we'll have because there was three or four designs, or maybe four.

Uh well, technically there's um there's six.

Um but but to I I I don't um you know and M SBA requires us to also evaluate um just uh a repair and code update, um, which will not serve our purposes at all, but for whatever reason we have to document that and cost it out um as a base case, but it it will not serve our our needs.

Uh we also have to um do a renovation plus addition option, which we also know will not meet our needs, but it is a requirement.

So we we're carrying two other options by by rote, um, but they're not really um you know under serious consideration.

And does the uh this is just for my own edification.

Does the MSBCA um understand that those are those two options while required or are not feasible?

Yes, but we have to go through the process.

Yeah, I figured I yeah, I understand.

Okay, great, thank you.

Um any other uh no.

Uh so not seeing any other uh hands from the city council, maybe two chair to Tona.

Thank you, Chair Link.

Um Chair, uh sorry, Director Raish.

Um, thanks so much for uh this update.

I I have one late breaking addition to provide, which is um member green who serves on the school building committee, that the school building committee just voted right before this meeting began 10 to 2 to submit only the 925 seat proposals to the MSBA.

So that is uh hot off the presses.

Um was there anything else I wanted to ask about this?

Um I I got so excited to announce that.

Just uh just a point of clarification on the on the book.

Um that is our indication of the preferred alternative.

Um the submission still has to uh contain all of them, including the the 690 um enrollment options, but the the um this the school building committee is indicating a preference for the the 690, which may still come back.

The MSBA may still tell us continue to um uh explore the the other options.

Um, but there was the the um the preponderance of the of the committee wanted to give direction to Perkins Eastman to focus their efforts um and not dilute their efforts.

enrollment options but the the um this the school building committee is indicating a preference for the the 690 which may still come back the msba may still tell us continue to um uh explore the the other options um but there was the the um the preponderance of the of the committee wanted to give direction to Perkins eastman to focus their efforts um and not dilute their efforts um so that was sort of the the reasoning behind that and and also to provide clarity to the um to the community who you know want to have a clear indication of the directionality of the evaluation thank you for that clarification um appreciate it uh I did want to just uh provide a a brief addendum to uh uh this topic unrelated to the current status which was going way back in time to 2023 when we were first accepted into this process with MSBA uh uh Mr.

Rach I had requested um um maybe a month or two ago uh those initiating documents uh where msb a invited us into the process and um uh you went through your email and dug up those files and uh posted them on the um the public website so I just wanted to thank you for for doing that and just for the public record here note that those documents are now available uh and I believe actually attached to this item uh in this meeting so in case anyone's wondering what that item is and why it's there it's because we asked and uh Mr.

Rachel delivered so thank you for that are there any other questions or comments on school committee side seeing none uh chair link we'll go back to you thank you very much chair bitchon we are on uh item oh sorry so uh we will mark that uh work complete uh if I may uh chair link I I think this one we want to keep in yeah I just realized that's how I was saying it all right we're gonna keep this one in committee my apologies uh all right so um moving on to item uh 26-0134 uh the that the director of infrastructure and asset management and the director of the Office of Sustainability and the Environment provide a written report to this council on updates to measures and practices taken to assess monitor maintain and improve the physical environment in schools.

And uh Chair Link if I if I may just mention I neglected to uh include this on the school committee's corresponding agenda so we will not participate in this conversation however the memo that was attached to this document was received by the school committee back in January so we are well versed on this topic um and it should be fine on this so go ahead wonderful uh yeah to the chair you know much of uh what we've just been talking about you know the asset management plan uh and all that sort of our our strategic um way we go about this uh what we provided here for an update for this particular item uh is what we accomplished last year uh and and I should you know point out that this document is provided to the school committee on a um by in semi-annual basis semi-annual basis um consistent with uh the agreement with uh the SEU um and this is what was accomplished within the the past year um it it's it's the joint um uh contributions of IAM OSE which is the Office of Sustainability Environment and of course DPW um so just to to update the the committees uh on on what has been accomplished in the past year uh we provided that wonderful direct thank you um uh I'm curious though uh so I think about this I'm I was um recalling a uh an email this that we received uh that I I was made aware of I know we have this morning um about the edgerly school and um the uh the gym or for the HVAC uh that the there's maybe not um climate control there uh so uh maybe taking this as um bending this one a little bit but um you know I'm I'm curious is there uh and any updates there in terms of uh when they're gonna have climate control and the at the Lily school in the uh the gym uh to the chair you know we we meet regularly with SPS and and prioritize uh you know what our summer projects are and for this year the summer project uh to be prioritized is uh healy 208 um so that that's on that that's what we're and and last summer it was the uh in fill classroom at the Argenziano um I I suspect that our priority project for next year uh will be the the edgerly um air conditioning however I I uh you know while I think we will we will likely you know launch that effort as soon as we finish healy 208 um it will require uh an upgrade in the transformer

Um so that that's on that that's what we're and and last summer it was the uh in fill classroom at the Argenziano.

Um I I suspect that our priority project for next year uh will be the edgerly um air conditioning.

However, I I uh you know, well, I think we will we will likely launch that effort as soon as we finish Uly 208.

Um it will require uh an upgrade in the transformer, uh, which is something that we need to work with Eversource Energy on.

Um those are long lead items.

Um and so while I think we're gonna try to line this up for next summer, it is possible that we won't be complete next summer because of that.

Um, you know, the the lead times on those things are variable.

Um I don't want to take it, you know, be too pessimistic and say that it's impossible.

Um, but I do want to be realistic um on when we'll be able to deliver that.

Understood.

Thank you very much.

Uh council site.

Uh through you, uh link uh to director rage.

Uh so first my question about this document is so is this uh the format that was uh I see like these three three bullet points, right?

Um so is this how the city uh provides like this is like how every six months this is these there will be updates on these three different things.

That's correct.

Yeah, this and again this is this is in response to the SEU contract.

Um and it it laid out the you know the sort of three um topic points that we update um semi-annually.

Yeah, there's I'm asking it's because the item I put in is uh mostly around like updates like around school decarbonization, and this one has like more than that, right?

Okay, because some of the things uh and this is my next question is I see boilers replacement.

Um these boilers are gas powered, right?

Okay.

Because yeah, okay.

Because you know, seeing that on the report that's uh should be about school decarbonization is not great.

Um I just we don't want to give the impression that building new uh fossil fuel infrastructure is how we are going to achieve uh school building decarbonization.

So just to be clear, this one is a copy of uh the update to the SEU, not necessarily a direct response to the item you put in.

Through the chair, that's correct, but it was a responsive document in the interest of time, we turn this over rather than create a new document.

Yeah, uh just because it's uh we're discussing that item.

Okay.

Um yeah, thank you for that clay for this clarification.

And uh yeah, I just want to say uh I just want to thank you and uh everyone who is working on this, uh, the administration, the city staff, um, everyone um in the school community.

Um as you all know, this is an effort, you know, between that has started years ago between uh parents, educators, students.

Uh so it's great that we're seeing these updates that we know like we're working on these things, even in these times when it feels like achieving school decarbonization is impossible with everything that's happening at the national level and the state level.

So I appreciate that we are sticking to our goals to our climate goals, and we're doing everything we can.

Um so um and uh I will add that this is an important goal that we have as um district as a city that would be great to have this um not just like in one report, but somehow a way of tracking these things.

Um in like two and have two categories.

There's the sh there are the short-term goals and the long-term goals.

Um so that you know, when we you look at the short term, you feel like yes, we are achieving, we are doing things, right?

Um and also we making sure that we are uh we always keeping in mind our long-term goals.

So um, yeah, so I think this is how that's why I asked about like the format, and again, I understand this is just an update for the SEU.

Um, but my request is that we'll have something like that.

Where every time we complete something, we add it some uh we have been asking about this for a few years now.

I think uh the school community would like to have something like that.

Um, especially that this is we know that this is one of our top priorities, and we are doing the work to get there.

Um so they can make this request separately, but I know we haven't asked for like a specific format for this update, but um we can we can work on that.

Um I I will say uh thank you, Counselor Said.

I I believe um yeah, I agree with everything that you said there.

And I you know, I was really um with the uh project to decarbonize the um the um parking building uh over in um in ward seven.

Uh that you know it was really uh there's a point six.

Um but the the I I was really excited to see that and like I think that's a model um where we're seeing, you know, that yeah, we can do these things and actually, you know, what while it's money up front, um it does actually return the investment um where this very quickly the the solar ray that's gonna be put on there is gonna pay for both itself and other projects that are um you know there was deferred maintenance.

So I believe that you know we've got this like really wonderful um kind of model of how how we can do this.

And I'm I believe um Dr.

Newter is uh also on uh you know feels the same.

So yeah, I'm really excited about that.

Um seeing no further discussion.

Um I ask another question through you.

Of course, yes, sorry, I'm pretty sure.

Um through your chair link to director rage.

Um ask about the um if um there is any update about the power brush or the bro the broom sweepers to remove snow on rubberized playgrounds.

Do you have any have we looked into that?

Chair link.

If I'm if I may, I submitted a separate item on this through President Davis.

Um my hope is that this will be on the agenda next uh next meeting.

We'll hold that one.

Yeah.

Um cancel this was uh I believe this is your order.

Uh um, so uh what would how would you like it disposed?

Um I think we can mark it as uh we're completed Okay.

I do not uh expect a different update.

Um but as I said, um we'll work together on uh figuring out would be the best way of um a new order of communicating these updates and also keeping track of them and make sure they live somewhere.

Yeah.

Um yeah, so but for now we're completed.

Sounds good to me.

Great.

All right.

Uh thank you very much.

So uh with that, Mark, as we're complete, we'll move on to item 26-0109.

Uh, that the commissioner of public works provide a written update to this council and the school committee on the status of restoring hot water to all areas of the Capuano early education center, including areas uh uh including which areas are affected affected actions taken and an estimate uh and timeline for full restoration, which I believe is fully restored at this point.

But um I'll I'll leave that uh to um I think I saw interim director.

I may Eric Wiseman, uh commissioner of DPW.

Yeah, so uh thank you for your patience on this item.

We have uh restored hot water to uh all areas of the school.

It was um something of a whack-a-mole type uh issue where we thought we'd identified the issue, made a repair or replacement, and then just sort of worked our way through the system until it was fully resolved.

So uh the attached memo, I think goes through all of the steps we took.

Um but uh hot water is uh is restored.

And again, I appreciate your patience on this.

This was very important to me to get completed.

Thank you, Director Wiseman.

Am I correct when I was reading this?

So there's um that that on page one that's second to last bullet item there.

Um 15 crossed um hot and cold water lines.

Am I reading that correctly?

And that like that means that they were literally like they're the trick, uh Mr.

Chair.

Uh, I do have Matt Bennett, the building superintendent, who can explain the better than I can the actual physical crossing that happens there.

But yeah, my my sense is that there was an inefficiency with how the building was plumbed at the beginning that caused uh a lot of loss of heat.

Uh he can jump in if he has anything to add on that.

Uh through the chair, uh Matthew Bennett, superintendent of the building, the CPW.

You're you're somewhat correct um in your ascertain of what is the the issue was initially what we found is during the I believe it was 1999 renovation somewhere along the lines, hot and cold water lines actually were mixing with each other, uh creating the the inability for the the building to maintain hot water throughout.

So learning the the history in the in the past year or so apparently it's been an ongoing problem.

But as the the food service department ran ramped up each year, it would drain away from the domestic hot water.

So as like Eric said, the whack with the whack-a-mole theory was how we're going about it trying to resolve the least evasive and the the least expensive over the course of time.

And the mixing valves seemed to solve the problems in the majority of the building, specifically the the main area affected initially reported, but then it just started to matriculate down the building and a problem in each section of the wing.

So you know, as you see, that's we we changed 12 mixing valves, a balancing valve.

Uh we actually we found one tempering valve uh by utilizing the knowledge of um uh Stuart McKenzie, who is now a plumbing inspector who worked for DPW for a multitude of years.

Um realizing that they were there with a little bit of research working uh departmentally in between, and we shut it down and voila, we had uh the one last remaining room.

So it was frustrating to say at least on all of our parts, but but you know, trial and error.

We get we we'll get you there.

We don't give up.

Uh yeah, I I will say it's it's evident from this that that it was not something where anyone was uh twiddling their thumbs.

Uh there's a lot of work that um is very clearly documented here.

I really appreciate that.

And I'm I'm sure that the people um that were really pushing for this also appreciate being able to see um how much work went into this.

So thank you very much, uh, Chair Baton.

Do you have uh seeing no?

Um, sorry, Counselor Scott.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh I just want to say thanks for this memo.

This is a really good uh capturing of this.

Uh it can be a little hard to parse if you're not a plumber.

I'm not a plumber.

I know my limitations.

I can't sweat up a copper pipe.

Uh, but I do know that one of the most frustrating things in the world is a plumber is working on somebody else's plumbing.

So uh, you know, just couldn't couldn't say enough about how great it is that uh that all this really detective work and recognizing that all this detective work happens behind the walls uh and in the ceiling, and it's uh it's a lot to track down.

So I really appreciate the work here.

Uh I appreciate the summary here.

Uh probably know just enough about plumbing to waste all of our time for 45 minutes asking detailed questions about what happened, but I'm gonna spare everybody on that and just uh say thank you again to Mr.

Bennett and uh maybe I'll buy a cup of coffee sometime and pick your brain about it.

All right, thanks, sir.

Okay.

Uh you so uh seeing no further discussion, uh turn over to Chair Baton.

Thank you, Chair Link.

I'll pause for a moment to see if there's any questions on the school committee side.

Great.

Ms.

Barry.

Hi.

I through you, Chair, I do not have a question, but the school department wants to send their greatest appreciation to Commissioner Weisman and Superintendent Bennett for all their hard work in getting the hot water restored back at the Capoano school.

We really appreciate it.

And I will say that I truly appreciate all the communication that Superintendent Bennett had provided to the school department through this whole process.

Step by step, we were in constant communication.

So I really do appreciate that.

So thank you.

I see Ms.

Barry nodding her head there.

But just wondering if if something, you know, if there's any more detective work to do here, what the next step is.

Yes, Mr.

Chair, that is the best way to get this documented and get it uh in our hands.

I do want to mention that we have monthly meetings with the school department to go over their priorities.

So that's another avenue where uh items get elevated.

I would say anytime there's a like a perceived public safety uh risk or you know, something like that, I'd be happy to receive a separate communication on it as well.

Fantastic.

Thank you, uh, Commissioner.

Um and I'll say that was my that was my hope was what you were gonna say.

Um I do get messages a fair uh bit of the time about different facilities issues, and my number one is always, you know, please please make sure it gets reported to three on one.

So thanks for reinforcing that.

I'm not seeing any other questions on the school committee side.

So uh we will turn it back over to you, Chair Link.

Thank you very much.

All right, so um we can mark this one as we're complete and um move on to uh the next item 260107.

The commissioner of public works update this council on the maintenance issues at uh East Sam Rule, Capoano, and Edger Lee Schools.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh I think in the same memo, there's uh a responsive mini memo on this.

Uh specifically, uh the work we've done over the past fiscal year, as well as some uh planned work that we have coming up.

And uh I think it's worth mentioning that some of the language or the the work captured in the Capoano hot water memo is also captured in this memo.

So those aren't we didn't replace two hot water heaters.

It's all just the one.

Thank you very much.

Uh I don't think that I've got anything to add.

Um seeing nothing on the city council side, I'll turn it over to you, Chair Tony.

Thank you, Chair Link.

Um this is one where you guys had a little conversation uh and brought up the edgerly uh transformer issue and power supply to air handling.

I'm gonna stretch this item uh as well to bring that in um so we can have a little bite at the apple.

Um just for awareness and apologies to my colleagues for not having um put that on the agenda for our meeting.

Um if if this is something you'd like to speak on now, maybe a time as well.

Um just also for awareness, I did put this on uh through President Davis uh in the hopes that this will make our April agenda as well.

Um but I I did notice that the for upcoming projects we don't have the um anticipated uh project to uh uh address the heat um and air handling at the cafeteria and gym at the edgerly.

Um there is a known issue with the transformer there.

So um uh I I'm not sure if perhaps this is where we draw the line between infrastructure and asset management and DPW.

Uh and that's why it's not on this particular list.

Um so I I guess whoever wants to take that can.

So yeah, yes, I will say that that this is sort of the line of like a capital project versus a public works project.

Um I will say that we are that this has come up.

We recognize this is a priority for the school department, so we are working on a potential uh uh temporary measure, but not not ready for detailed discussion at this point.

More to come.

Hopefully.

Excellent.

And and I guess fair warning that it'll be on the agenda hopefully in April.

So um maybe we can have that conversation then.

Commissioner.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

We should have clarity by that.

Amazing.

Perfect.

All right, thank you so much.

Anything else from school committee?

Oh, is Barry, go ahead.

Thank you through you, Chair.

I just want to add that I've been in contact with um ISD, and we are going to have spring school building walkthroughs.

Um, I know that um counselor McLaughlin, I believe, addressed the rodent issue in some of these buildings on the east side of the city.

Um, so we are definitely going to be moving forward with having additional school building walkthroughs with ISD and DPW.

So we can report back on that as well.

Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Barry.

All right, seeing no other discussion, Chair Link, we'll turn it back to the city council.

Thank you very much, Chairman.

This brings us to the last.

Oh, it's sorry.

Um, so we'll we'll mark that as uh uh work complete, I believe.

Um, and uh then that'll bring us to the the last item on this agenda, which is 26-0102 that the commissioner of public works provide the city uh council a full-time equivalent analysis uh and recommendations for custodial staffing at each Somerville Public School, including distinctions between day versus evening shifts, disparities between school sizes, usage, and current custodial assignments.

Uh Director Weissman.

Uh thank you, Chair.

I um I added uh there's a separate memo on this, if you want to bring that up, please.

Um so uh thank you again.

Uh if you scroll down.

Um I started with a breakdown of the schools that we staff custodians for, as well as floaters uh and attached uh enrollment and area data provided by the school department.

Um so this just gives you a sense of what the world we're talking about here.

If you move along, I then uh broke it down by uh square footage per custodian and students per custodian at each of the schools that we staff.

Um so uh uh and I I put a like a median line on there to give you a sense of like uh which schools custodians serve uh more than the median in terms of square footage and which which serve less than the median in terms of square footage and the same uh for students per custodian.

Um so what you can see here is that the the brown uh has the the most uh area and student per custodian.

Um I gotta I gotta question some of the math here on that brown uh square footage per custodian uh need to dig into that a little bit now that I'm looking at it.

Um I think maybe something got duplicated there, but um yeah, you can see in terms of uh yeah, I'll have to look at that.

But in terms of custodians, uh I think we're we're right on students per custodian.

Um that the brown has the most students per custodians followed by the East, and then um in terms of the uh square footage per custodian, the highest are Argenziano uh or sorry, uh East Kennedy and Argenziano.

I'll have to, I think there might just be an extra digit in there somewhere.

Uh thank you.

Um turn direct commissioner Weisman.

Um the I guess my my question would just be the um you know, we're we feel that the seems like the feeling is that we've got enough custodians, but uh the I guess kind of going back to um what Ms.

Barry was um mentioning the we do have um kind of a rodent issue in some of the schools, especially in um or one of some like the the older building of elderly uh and then the you know the uh East, which is uh our our largest school.

So um and I I'd heard it from uh from a parent that um and I so this is I I can't speak to whether or not um you know it's this is heard third hand at this point.

Um but you know that it had been suggested that like the the rodent problem was just that like the kids were messy.

Um so I just want to make sure we're not resting on that as a as an idea because you know it's we're but schools where there's you know there's children as young as four.

Um and uh you know I wouldn't want to see um us blaming the kids like we know what the assignment is.

The assignment is that they've got you know small kids who are going to be messy.

We can't ask a four-year-old to be less messy, really.

Um so you know, I just want to make sure we're taking the the actual um, you know, making sure that these these places are getting uh cleaned appropriately so that we are um you know mitigating rodent um access.

Yeah, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um absolutely agree with you 100%.

Um I think that that is the benefit of the floaters, it is it allows us to shift staff around as necessary, uh respond to messes.

Um so like as we identify needs in the school, we'll we'll assign a floater uh as needed and and direct them to help support the cleaning in the schools.

All right, uh chair site, chair site counselor, excuse me.

Uh through your chair link, um to uh commissioner wiseman.

Uh thank you for providing us with this.

Um we um yeah, I see that for uh East looking at East here for the day custodian.

Are there's only one?

So there's a request from an East Parent after talking to staff.

I imagine that um staff they need help with uh especially after lunch is when they need additional custodians.

Um is there can we like investigate and see if uh this is the case so that because the evening uh custodians start at three.

Is that correct?

If there's any way we can have someone start earlier uh or help um since there's this is a need that was identified.

So specifically helping off to lunch.

Uh so through the chair, yeah, this is exactly how we would use a floater and then uh direct them.

Um it gets complicated when there's staff out uh and and we have to cover shifts.

But um, but yes, I I I acknowledge what you're saying that that that post-lunch period is uh is a time that needs a lot of cleanup.

Yeah, thank you, uh Commissioner, for the pointing to this.

Uh Counselor Scott.

Yeah, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I guess uh the thing that really jumped out to me about this is not so much the total area.

Kennedy's got a lot of area and pool and and a lot of but just the sheer number of students at the East Summerville and having that that balanced, I I see the balanced distribution here.

I appreciate the floaters are uh valuable, valuable resource, uh, but they're a valuable resource in manned all kinds of places.

And um, you know, I looking around this joint committee, I see a whole lot of people with kids.

Uh and it might you know, maybe my kids are unique.

Uh, but good lord, uh they make messes all the time, and it is unpredictable, both the uh uh timing, location, and scale of any particular disaster.

So uh you know, I I found myself a few years back wondering if I was just uh bad with toilets, because I realized I was having a toilet break on me about once a month, and it was uh only it was only later that I realized that I was responsible at that point in my life for something like uh uh over a dozen toilets.

When you got 738 of these kids, there's just going to be more incidents, uh, no matter how much they're trying uh to keep it together.

So um just given that I I keep coming back to uh the staffing on this on a per student basis.

It's you know, nothing about the facility or suitability of the facility, but just the fact that there are that many opportunities uh for an incident or an event uh makes it a basic certainty that there is going to be, and then God forbid there are two critical events happening at the same time.

You know, I know that's when a floater gets called in, but at some point when you've been managing emergencies for as long uh as one hardworking custodian on a day shift has been, uh your scale of what constitutes an emergency starts to distort a little bit.

So uh I'm I'm curious, you know, with these day custodian floaters, do we have uh a sense of how much time they spend at each facility, how much time is spent moving from facility to facility for these floaters?

Uh I do they have a default home base that they start the day at, or so I I guess I'm I'm asking operationally about this, because maybe the answer isn't we need a dedicated uh extra custodian there at the at the east.

Maybe the answer is well, we've got it, we're we're doing some operational changes to make sure we've got more resources available there uh on the default.

Like maybe uh maybe there's room at the East can that can be the floater's home base.

Uh I don't know.

But uh Mr.

Chair, I threw you that's the that's the question I'm trying to get at here is is understanding that um that floating resource piece of it.

So thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I I gotta admit I lost you a little bit on the toilet uh metaphor, but um the uh in in terms of the floaters, they start uh centrally and then they're sort of assigned to cover shortages, and those can be staffing shortages or operational shortages.

They typically stay in a building for their entire shift.

Um, but occasionally uh we use uh floaters to make deliveries of uh of materials or work on special projects.

So that's generally how the operational things look.

I think like when you talk about the enrollment numbers uh and um the you know, like the number of of um uh uh students at the East, one thing stands out to me is that the Capoano School has significantly fewer custodi uh students for the number of custodians they have.

So maybe we could look at shifting a student from the Capuano uh to the East Somerville school, but um sort of on the flip side of that, I think the Capoano population has additional needs because they're younger students, so it's possible that they'd be more messy.

Um just trying to think creatively about this.

Um yeah, I mean, mr uh Ms.

Chair, if I could, you know, I'm it's not I'm look, I'm not certainly not looking to take Capoano's only daytime uh daytime custodian.

No, I I wouldn't suggest that.

I was looking more at the night.

I I apologize.

I forgot.

I get it.

And and you know, the night is a time where things can be a lot uh more flexible, right?

Uh that is, I think an easier situation to manage than let's say the real time uh you man, you want to talk about something to make a good reality TV show, uh a ride along with the East Somerville custodian for a week of their shift would probably make for some gripping view.

Uh I I'm trying to figure out if there's a way uh other than just saying we need to push for another full-time day custodian uh at the East Somerville, uh, if there is an operational way.

And and I understand floaters having the floaters cover uh, you know, folks who are out for a day.

It is absolutely great that we've got that floating resource.

Uh I'm sure it also helps with uh overtime costs and uh, you know, maybe the fire department would like a word about how how to staff like that to work on overtime costs.

But um, yeah, I I really want to focus this uh this piece of the conversation on the daytime uh at East Somerville.

Um yeah, so uh at this time I don't feel the uh that we should add an additional custodian.

We're not to that point yet.

I certainly wouldn't turn down an additional custodian, but um I think that uh you know we we've arrived at this staffing.

Um it's certainly something we could look at in the future, but yeah, I'm not I'm not ready to request an additional custodian at this point.

All right.

Well, I think I got my answer, Ms.

Uh, Mr.

Chair.

I think I'm all set.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Uh so uh actually uh Council Say Palace talk.

Um through you, Chair.

Um how do I how do I say this?

I think if we are hearing from parents that um after lunch is when there is a need for an additional person, then my request is at least to uh investigate this to be there with the custodian uh for a week and see how is it going.

Uh and especially after lunch.

Like does East need a floater on a daily basis after lunch.

I know there are days when there's early release and um there are days where the lunch is like easy.

Um you know, they plan all their meals.

I don't know how it is anymore about when it used to be uh in the schools, Friday was more like pizza, like kind of straightforward thing.

Um so my request is can we please investigate this?

And if there is a need during lunch, shortly after lunch at East, then we assign someone to be there or you have a floater.

I understand that right now we're not ready to make a commitment to add the custodian.

Um but I would like to hear that we're going to look into this, investigate and uh take action.

But through the chair, I I don't have the exact numbers, but we've added a number of additional floaters over the past few years in the budget.

I'm sure counselor Scott uh recalls that.

Um, like this is something that we that we certainly have done in the past.

Uh we've uh I think you know, when um for example, when the edgerly opened up, we added a temporary uh custodian for that.

Uh so it is something we do, but we we don't take it lightly.

It's very, you know, it's a very serious thing to add a new position.

Um so yeah, um I'm happy to to entertain the possibility, but it's it's not something that we're in a position to ask for at this point.

Um thank you, Commissioner.

Um again for looking into this.

And uh we're budget season is starting, and uh if we identify real need here, the it is our role as uh city council as a school committee to make sure we uh meet the needs.

Um so if East needs that this is a call to my um colleagues here on both bodies to um do what we can do actually in this case.

Um thank you.

Sure.

And through the chair, if I may.

Um the other thing we can look at is the whether that we can have a staggered schedule or something like that to have um sort of overlapping coverage so that the day custodian has more support shifting somebody um to cover both shifts in some way.

Uh I imagine that that would have uh collective bargaining implications, but that does that's not a reason not to explore it.

Thank you because I was just gonna say uh thank you.

I appreciate you looking into solutions here.

Um but I think what we're hearing what's pretty clear is that basic need.

Uh thank you.

All right, thank you.

Uh so uh I guess my my only question is to follow up and maybe pull on some of the strings that people have been asking.

But um, so we've got four floaters.

Uh do they have um do the floaters have like a kind of a home base that they start from?

Um Commissioner Weissman.

Uh through the chair, uh I I know the answer for the night floaters better that they report centrally and go out.

Um I believe that you know, like if they have uh a pre-existing assignment, they'll go directly to their assignment.

Um but um yeah, they'll they'll they'll typically like work with the the custodial supervisors and uh go to their assignments from there.

So potentially we could just uh I'm obviously not gonna suppose that I know better than anyone else.

But I mean, I wonder if there's the possibility of having um, you know uh kind of a default where like you know, one or one floaters always starts at um you know at the east and then moves on if they need to get kind of semi-dedicated, if you would um great.

Uh and I I've also um I've got our our mayor um mentioning some some news to me that uh I guess um uh so Mayor Wilson's about to send out an announcement that um that you are not an interim uh commissioner anymore, uh Commissioner Wiseman.

So uh congratulations.

That's really fantastic.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

What a way to find out.

That is awesome.

Well, uh yes, so I know that uh the mayor Wilson has um spoken very highly of you, both in um in public and in private.

So I am sure that uh you're gonna continue doing an awesome job.

Uh, you know, making the city a better place.

So thank you very much.

Um thank you, Chair.

I'm could I'm I'm confident we can come up with a creative solution to to address this.

Great.

Uh and with that, uh Chair Baton.

Thank you, Chair Link.

Uh I want to also share my congratulations, Commissioner Wiseman.

Um thank you.

And I'm looking forward to continued work together.

Um I'll I'll pause a moment.

Are there any questions about the custodial staffing issue from my colleagues?

Uh member Eldridge, go ahead.

Thank you.

Uh congratulations.

And nice to meet you all in the same breath there.

Uh nice to meet you as well.

Thank you.

I'm hoping maybe um you can provide some context, or maybe someone else here um might be able to, or we can get some information and bring it back.

Um we've been talking a bit about this on the school committee end of things.

There's going to be a transition of a strand of the AIM program.

Um, our students that are navigating autism from Winterhill to the Argenziano School.

Um with that, there's been a lot of thoughtful work to support educators, administrators, and students.

I'm curious whether there's also plans or resources in place to support our custodial staff in that transition, um, particularly given the specific needs of the new student population coming into that building.

Um, but also thinking a little bit more broadly, I'm wondering about the full student experience in a building and how we're supporting all adults that interact with students day to day, including custodial staff, um, if there's any structures, trainings, or resources in place to help guide interactions and support our custodians as they're working within the schools.

Uh thank you for your question.

Uh so do you chair um the chair?

Uh so so this is somewhat new information about the the shift of this this strand to the Argenziano.

Uh it's it's been something we've been discussing internally from a facility standpoint, like a facility management standpoint.

Uh it's not something that's come up from a custodial standpoint.

This came to my um my attention very recently.

Uh so uh in terms of uh supporting our custodial staff, we would, you know, if there are recommended trainings, we would be happy to provide those.

Most of our trainings tend to be about uh safety, you know, uh worker injury, things like that, um, or technical trainings about materials or um equipment.

Uh it's not something that we've we've conducted in-house, but if there is guidance on that kind of thing, um, I would be uh happy to facilitate that with my uh my team.

I appreciate that.

Um I don't necessarily have any training suggestions in front of me.

I was just kind of thinking just for no, and I was I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to ask you to put you on the spot.

But um, it's something that I'd be happy to follow up with the school department on.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Sure.

Excellent question, member Eldridge.

Uh anything more.

All right.

So I have two questions, and I will um just start with one and we'll see if I there's any other questions for my colleagues.

But um uh first off, just really appreciated the data.

I love I I couldn't help myself.

I threw all of it into a spreadsheet and I can confirm that the uh the Brown School area um calculation was incorrect, but um uh you know it it's actually more exceedingly distracting to me.

I threw all of it into a spreadsheet, and I can confirm that the uh the Brown School area um calculation was incorrect, but um uh you know it it it's actually more exceedingly distracting to me, I apologize.

Oh no, me too.

It's okay.

Um, but it it's much more in line with the other schools.

Um it does have the higher students per custodian count.

Um but in doing that, I actually you know uh found also that you know confirm some of what you you concluded um that the students per custodian and the area per custodian is sort of an outlier at east.

Um and I I trust your judgment and conclusion, this is your department.

Um uh at the end of the memo when you conclude uh that at this time you don't feel you need any staffing changes, far be it from me to um second guess your your own determination there.

Um but but that does suggest that area and student per custodians is not a meaningful measure for assessing workload for the custodians.

Um and and I don't know what would be a meaningful measure uh to assess that, but um it seems that in this instance it may not be.

So my question to you, Commissioner, is what might be a more meaningful measure that we could look at um because we are getting these questions about, you know, hey, why does a school with almost 800 students have the same number of daytime custodians as a school with 230 students?

It it's a reasonable question.

Um thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I think you're absolutely right.

Um I I love looking at data and uh these things stood out to me.

Uh part of the reason that I I've hesitated to suggest a staffing change is that we've had uh a lot of turnover in our custodial staff um over the years.

Uh we've we're working on having a fully staffed custodial department for the first time in a while.

I'd like to see how we do with a fully staffed uh custodial team.

Um again, like I'm not saying that there is no room to shuffle staff uh around.

Um I'm saying that at this point I'm not advocating for uh a new employee.

Um but yeah, like I think that there's that there what one of the things that we're we're in active negotiations with um local three, so we are um talking about ways to be a little bit more flexible in terms of staffing.

Uh all of these are assigned custodians.

It would be nice to have you know different different opportunities to shift people around as needed.

Um don't want to, you know, talk talk too much about active negotiations, but um I I think it's like it's absolutely something that we could look at being more creative about.

I also feel that like enrollment um is dynamic.

Uh so yeah, it may it may be I um I'm not gonna say it's not the best um measure, or but it's not the only measure.

I think that there, you know, I hate to say that we're doing something because of the way it's always done, but I do feel like it's worth, you know uh understanding the situation before you go around changing things.

Um yeah, so so happy to look at the East in particular and see what our options are.

Um and uh see if there's there's ways that we can that we can correct that anomaly there.

Well said, Commissioner, and uh appreciate that uh humbleness about approach.

Um we certainly don't want to go in uh to a situation and sort of upset the apple cart and create more problems while we're trying to fix something that is seemingly working okay, but um, you know, might need some tweaks.

So anyway, appreciate that.

My second question um is about the high school.

I was surprised to see in this memo that uh we subcontract out uh or we contract out custodians at the high school.

Um I know we need custodians every day at the high school.

Um so that this surprised me a little bit.

Is is there a um a plan to transition off of contractors at some point?

Or you know what is the reasoning for for that?

Um I imagine it's more expensive.

So thank you, Mr.

Chair.

It was before my time.

Uh so I'm not 100% certain about the reasoning, but I suspect with a building as large as the high school that the thinking was that um by contracting out uh you insulate the city from uh responsibility to cover missed shifts and things like that.

So uh when we when you have a contractor, uh they have to take care of um like they're responsible for covering all of their vacancies uh so they can pull from their resources to staff.

Uh whereas you know, we would have to cover from like pull from a floater or from another school to cover that.

That's my guess.

I wasn't here when that when that arrangement was set up.

It's been many years.

Appreciate that answer, uh, commissioner.

And I would be interested in hearing um as you come up to the uh to the end of that contract, how you may consider uh changes to it at some point in the future.

Um certainly seems worth evaluating.

Uh seeing no other questions from my colleagues, um I will turn it over to you, Chair Link.

All right.

Um so thank you to uh Commissioner Wyson and uh we can mark this one as uh complete.

And that brings us to the end of our agenda.

So uh for there, um clerk, do we have uh do I is there anything that we need to actually do a roll call on?

For the minutes, yes.

Um the first item.

All right.

Uh so I guess let's uh so let's let's take the roll call for uh approval of the minutes for uh the school, the special uh committee for school building facilities and maintenance uh on December 8th.

Perfect.

All right, on approval of the minutes, counselor Scott.

Yes, please.

Counselor Saint.

Yes.

Chair Link.

Yes.

All right, that is all votes in the affirmative.

Uh Chair Link, we also have uh minutes on our side to approve, if I may.

Yes.

Um so I'll accept a motion to accept the report from the December 8th, 2025 meeting.

Motion to accept the report from the December 8th, 2025 meeting.

Did I get that?

You got it.

Is there a second?

Great.

Uh motion by member Eldridge, second by Miss Pitone.

Um uh member Eldridge, how do you vote?

Yes.

Member Pitone, how do you vote?

Yes.

I vote yes.

Motion approved unanimously.

And uh that concludes our session.

So I uh I believe we're adjourned on the school committee side.

All right.

Thank you.

Uh and uh motion to adjourn by Council Scott.

All right, uh an adjournment.

Councilor Scott.

Yes, please.

Council Saint.

Yes.

Chair Link.

Yes.

All right, with that, it is 7 32 p.m.

and we are adjourned.

Thank you all.