Okay, good evening, everyone.

I'm Ben Wheeler.

I use he, him pronouns.

I'm a counselor at large and the finance committee chair.

It is 6 p.m.

on the dot, and I'd like to call to order the Wednesday, June 17th, 2026 meeting of the Finance Committee of the Somerville City Council.

Pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, this meeting of the City Council Committee will be conducted via remote participation.

We'll post an audio video recording and a comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the City of Somerville website and local cable access government channels.

We are joined tonight by Clerk Delaney Fisher Cassial.

Clerk, could you please call the role to establish quorum?

That I can.

Counselor Link.

Here.

Counselor Stretzo.

President.

Councilor Hart.

Here.

Councilor Scott.

President.

Chair Wheeler.

Here.

All right.

With that, everyone is here.

So we do have quorum and it is 6.02 p.m.

Okay.

Welcome to the third night in our series of departmental budget hearings on the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, a night which we hope does not go as late as Monday nights.

Thank you to the department heads who are appearing tonight, to their staff members who've been preparing for budget season, and to all the counselors who submitted questions in advance or asking questions tonight for department heads and division heads to address, uh, both in the memos that we're going to be looking at here tonight and in this meeting.

As a general note, if I pronounce your name wrong or get your title wrong or use the wrong pronouns for you, please don't hesitate to interrupt me.

I want to get it right.

Here's how tonight's meeting is going to work.

For each department and division, if there was a departmental memo with responses to counselor questions, the clerk will display it on screen.

For the department, we'll first invite the department heads to give an overview of their department's role within the administration and its cabinet groupings and any changes for this fiscal year.

We'll then invite each division within the department to give a short overview of its work, its plans for this fiscal year, and any major changes.

And council members can then ask any follow-up questions or further questions we might have.

As a general guideline, we're looking for something like three or four minutes for the departmental overviews and something like one or two minutes for the division overviews.

So please don't feel pressure to give more uh more detail than that.

Uh after we finish discussing any department or division, uh, sorry, after we finish discussing the department as a whole, any counselor will be welcome to make a motion for a cut or to make a motion for a resolution suggesting additional funding.

Any such motions will be then tabled until cut night, which is Tuesday, June 23rd.

And then I also encourage anyone making such motions to speak with the council's financial analyst Mohammed Udin ahead of the 23rd.

Um, okay.

So agenda items.

We are going to begin with strategy and development.

And uh I believe that we will have executive director of strategy and development, Tom Galligani here.

I probably expect that we will also hear from Director of Finance and Administration Alan Inacio and probably many others.

Um I am seeing uh some of these folks in the committee room.

Uh welcome.

Please take it away and tell us about strategy and development.

Good evening, Chairman and members of the finance committee.

My name is Tom Galligani, and I'm proud to serve as the executive director of the expanded and renamed strategy and development department.

Tonight, we're introducing more than a budget.

We're introducing the next chapter in how Somerville plans for its future.

This year, we brought together planning, housing, economic development, mobility, public spaces, sustainability, anti-displacement efforts into one department because the challenges facing Somerville no longer fit neatly into separate boxes.

Housing affordability, climate resilience, economic opportunity, transportation, and neighborhood stability are all interconnected, and they need to be addressed together.

Our work touches the lives of our residents by helping people stay in-house, supporting local businesses, creating safer streets and public spaces, planning for neighborhood change, ensuring that growth benefits the entire community.

We're also doing this at a moment of fiscal constraint.

We have to make difficult choices, streamline operations, consolidate functions, and focus our efforts with new resources while protecting the services residents depend on both.

Over the next several years, our priorities will be clear.

Reducing and preserving housing, leading community centered planning efforts like Data Square and the Graph Boulevard, strengthening anti-displacement strategies, modernizing permitting, and continuing to invest in safer, greener, and more resilient public spaces.

At its core, this budget is about focus, aligning our resources around the priorities that matter most to some of the residents and positioning the city for the future.

We appreciate the council's partnership and we welcome your questions.

Thank you.

You are muted, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you so much.

That's why I just keep the microphone on usually.

Appreciate that, Vice Chair.

I have a side subject to just make a note about.

I do see an attendee with a hand up.

The format of this meeting is not one where we are inviting public comment.

But I encourage anybody who wants to make public comment to be communicated to the city and to the city council.

You can email public comments.

That's plural to public comments at Summerville MA.gov.

Um alternatively, you could email City Council at Summerville MA.gov, or you could individually email the members of this committee or me, um, and we will we will read it.

So we are interested in your comment.

It's not part of the format of this meeting.

Um just returning uh to strategy and development uh with Director Galligani.

Um do we have questions or comments from members of the committee about the uh the department overall and director Galligani, um will you also speak to the administration division and some sometimes on some of these departments where there's also the departmental administration sort of listed in the budget book as a division?

It's a little gray area of if you're talking about that too.

Um is that something you sort of consider you're also speaking to now?

Chairman, I I if we have questions about administration, I'd invite up uh Ellen and Asio, our director of administration finance.

But you know, maybe Alan can join us now, and we can prepare to answer general questions or administration division specific questions.

Yeah, please uh director and Asio.

Um uh feel free to join here.

And uh uh if you have any specific comments about the administration division of strategy and development, maybe now would be a good time to give those as well.

No pressure.

Thank you through the chair.

Um, happy to give you a brief overview for counselors who uh would like to get familiarized with the team.

Uh my team is primarily responsible for the financial oversight of administration support for all six OSP CD divisions.

In addition, my team manages the administration of the HUD community development entitlement programs, including community development block grant, home investment partnership, and emergency solutions grant programs.

We also administer the community preservation act program and provide compliance and oversight uh of state grants and other special special purpose funds across OSB CD.

Thank you so much.

And I'm sorry, did you state your name and title for the record?

You didn't.

Sure.

Uh Alan Inacio, director of finance and community development for SPC.

Thank you.

Just want to make sure.

Um, okay, thank you so much.

I see a hand from Counselor Scott.

Thank you for your patience, Counselor Scott.

Oh, no problem, Mr.

Chair.

Um I'm I'm here for a long time, not a good time.

Uh I would say uh just a quick question uh uh about the administration uh cuts that happened.

I know the um Lord, uh I forget Luis's title right now.

Uh and I'm embarrassed by that.

Uh the equity manager uh position.

Oh, I'm sorry, here it is.

Strategic planning and equity manager.

Uh no, that position was eliminated, but I saw also that a filled position for senior accountant was eliminated.

And I was curious about that because in previous years, it had been uh indicated that that was a grant funded position as opposed to a general funded position.

Uh so I'm curious, it was that grant funding redirected to a different position.

Uh what grant was funding that position and to what extent?

I mean, I can't tell if it was 100% grant funded or not.

Uh, I just wonder if you could give us a little bit more context on that.

Uh senior account position that was uh eliminated and what the grant funding, what the nature of that grant funding was.

Uh through the chair, yes.

We previously had two senior accountants and a procurement analyst.

Um, you know, reassessing our current workflow and sort of the drop off and grant funds and other compliance activity that's been dropping off over the last year.

Uh, we made the strategic decision that we could do that, and you are correct.

So the position was partially funded, and this will still essentially save us the equivalent of a full-time uh FTD because we will be able to redirect those funds to redirect the grant portion of that salary to across one or two other positions, either the existing finance manager and the procurement analyst.

Okay, so basically uh taking those uh grant funded portion, let's say it was half of that FDE, and then uh spreading that to others.

So ultimately it still led to the same amount of financial benefit to the city in general fund terms.

Okay, thank you.

I appreciate that.

Uh I'm all set.

Um Mr.

Wheeler, our chairman.

Thank you, Councillor Scott.

Any other questions or comments from members of the committee?

I wanted to ask just for oh, I'm sorry, I saw you unmute there, Council Stresso.

Thanks.

You are quick to the draw.

I love this.

Um yeah, wanted to have I had some questions about you know what I'm just gonna go into the structure really quick.

Uh to through you to the directors.

Um with this new structure and approach, what are some checkpoints of when you can determine whether or not or what modifications will have to happen um if this new structure of uh formerly OSPCD now uh strategy and development will work or not.

Thank you for the question, Black Sor.

The big picture, we had seven divisions within what was formerly called OSPCD, and we've added the Office of Sustainability.

And so that's become now an eighth division of OSP C D.

In truth, a lot of the work that uh we did and what OSE did overlapped, of course, there was a lot of overlap between the work of OSE and engineering and even uh facilities.

But there was a there's a really strong overlap that we think is only going to be strengthened by formalizing and having our director's sustainability in our room in our weekly directors' meetings and really increasing the amount of direct collaboration between again the eight divisions and our partner departments across the city.

So I think it's uh I think it's a natural fifth, and I don't think it's gonna take much adjustment because already the um the relationships have been nurtured over the last couple years.

That answers your question.

No, uh uh Mr.

Chair through you to uh uh director Galgani, thank you for that.

Yeah, that's um I appreciate that that detail.

Um will there be because I see some a lot of um OSPCD in my in my um there's a lot of a future planning, which is great, but then of course, like with Office of Housing Stability, you know, Office of Housing Stability and Housing, a lot of that it's already been enveloped in with OSPCD in the past, but um sometimes a lot of of work and approaches need to be more short-term, not just long term.

And I've always tussled with the the and and have kind of crossed my fingers to hope that that the short term of and you know where I stand on like small business support and and housing support, that that won't get overshadowed by the focus of long-term alone and long-term planning, is is of course extremely important as well.

Um but uh with this, especially with the budget season and the changes that uh we may have to tighten our belts with, etc.

Um can you give me some just thoughts on on where short-term support uh going into this uh with with the different departments?

Uh what that what if any approach will look like with this budget season with some of our short-term, more nimble um necessary needs of departments, what that would look like now.

Is that do you want me to go into further?

Is that is that a good asking clarifying question?

Are you speaking about our operational sort of uh goals and how we're going to mesh the eight together and what the short term looks like?

Are you talking okay?

Yes.

So I mean we thank you again in this fiscal environment over the eight divisions that now make up strategy and developments.

Um we've reduced the we've technically three layoffs.

We've had two positions that we're not gonna fill that were that were vacant, and there are two positions or one and a half positions that we're gonna move over to grant funds.

Um but a loss of five um folks is um you know in the short term is definitely going to be um create some some challenges as we really thinking about streamlining our work and integrating our work together.

It's gonna really force us to focus and to really figure out what's the most important things that we're working on and the things with the biggest impact.

But I I'm confident over the next uh you know two to three years, we'll figure out how to do our work a little smarter and more focused and really uh continue to just emphasize the things with the biggest impact.

But again, we we as I started to describe over the last six months, we knew this was happening.

We knew that OSE was going to be joining us.

The mayor was very clear about that on January 2nd.

So we've had five and a half months now to start to strengthen those ties and connect those workflows even stronger.

Um, Stephen Nutter, as soon as he's been hired, he's been part of our management team.

Um our all staff meetings, OSC has been a part of that.

Frankly, OSC has been part of a lot of our uh our functions as an organization.

Um typically we we'll do field trips in city field trips to get to know about the work that folks are doing all across the eight divisions.

And from the get-go, three or four years ago, we started including OSE because a lot of the work that they do is part of the work that OSBCD was doing.

So they've been uh you know extended family members, now they're going to be officially a family member part of the speech strategy in the battle middle organization.

Um yeah, if I could add some detail um to provide maybe a more concrete example, um, as Director Galligani was saying, while we're formally now taking on this uh more formal or official reord, uh a lot of the collaboration across uh OSP CD and OSC, OSB C D and IAM, OSP CD and HHS has been happening organically.

Um for the past several years, we've been working on joint projects where we co-funded them across departments, shared uh shared contracts with vendors, um, and and things of that nature.

Also, uh, from an administrative administrative standpoint, the city has a lot of standardized processes that are standard across all departments and divisions.

So, for example, working with OSC over the last six months and especially the last couple months, um, has been a relatively smooth transaction because you know, a lot of their team members and just us as a whole, we're we're just kind of uh merging standard processes across the city into one division.

Um, so from that standpoint, it's been as smooth as these things can be.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Director Suryu.

Uh Mr.

Chair through to the directors, thank you for that.

I'll I'll hop back in line.

Um, I appreciate your your answers.

Thank you, Councillor Casel.

Any other comments or questions for members of the committee?

Councillor Link.

Thank you, Chair.

Through you.

Um so I I am curious.

Uh, as for discussing this, I truly believe that this this makes a lot of sense.

Um, and there is like a lot of alignment.

Um I am curious though, because while there is a lot of alignment, um, there some of these things have always been a balance.

Um, you know, with our sustainability efforts, uh sometimes the more um more requirements we add, the harder it becomes for developers.

Um, you know, is that how are we ensuring that one department's um now that it's all together, then there's a bit of a loss of independence, maybe.

Um I'm I'm guessing here, I don't I do not know.

I'm not saying that that is true.

Um, so I'm just curious what the strategy is to for making sure that things remain balanced, um, and that you know uh one need or one push doesn't mean that another has to kind of just quiet down the departments that's quite thanks for the question.

Uh I think I like to think of OSE joining what was formerly called OSB CD as an opportunity to amplify the work that OSC has been doing.

There's really strong links.

I'm thinking I think the most uh the strongest link actually is between OSC and mobility is one of the you know one of the primary goals of the uh climate forward plan is to reduce emissions and to uh um improve mobility outcomes.

And uh so Brad's team, Brad Ross's team, and mobility and OSC have been working closely together, and again, they uh by working closely together, they amplify each other's work and they reinforce each other's work.

Having Stephen Nutter in our weekly meetings means that we're collaborating on a weekly basis instead of on a project by project basis.

So we have the opportunity to not only understand better in a big picture sense what OSE is up to and what their goals are, um, but we're able to troubleshoot and to integrate the work really from the get-go.

So uh and and frankly, everything is a balance.

I mean, we have eight different divisions, and not all the goals are in alignment.

I mean, um, I'm trying to think of a useful example, but uh uh encouraging development runs the risk of causing more displacement.

But by having Ellen Shachner in the room, like she's been in the room since she got here, um gives us the opportunity to really figure out how to make things worse.

And when we think about maybe an opportunity to upzone an area, as you know, perhaps uh the planning team is currently working on and probably will have done work on another areas of the city.

Um, we're able to have Ellen's eyes and ears on that issue so that we can get to a place where we know we want to get to as a community.

We know when we go out to the community, we're gonna get that feedback.

There'll be people concerned about displacement, but we're already workshopping them.

And so we think the way that we're set up, the way we've been set up, and the way we'll be set up in the future, um, really gets us to the right answer and to the right choices sooner than if we were a separate division here and a separate division over there and a separate department somewhere else in the city.

Is that answer your question?

Through the chair, it answers my question beautifully.

Um I really appreciate that answer.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councillor Link.

Any other questions or comments from members of the committee?

Seeing none, I'm gonna ask mine.

Uh, so you've touched on uh some functions that have been switched around.

Just to be clear about the administration division, are there functions that have moved into or out of administration in this reorganization?

Through the chair at the functional level, uh no, it's just been really integrating one more um division OSC.

And like I'm like I mentioned previously, um, it's has been really relatively straightforward because we're still working within the same internal controls and standard processes of the of the overall city.

Um so it's just really additional workflow, not necessarily uh changing functions.

Thank you.

And um I'd like to ask uh about the eliminated field position of the strategic planning and equity manager, Councillor Scott mentioned as well.

Um, is that the my question, which this might be the right division to ask, or maybe another one, uh, would be what's the type of work that having that position enables?

And is that work something that can continue?

Um so first is administration the right division to ask.

Mr.

Chairman, I think it's the right division, the right time to ask us um for OSPCD or for strategy and development.

But there's a you know, there some of that work that that position was and that function was undertaking is going to be shifted and going to be addressed in a different way through other departments.

So I I can take a stab at some of that.

Uh I can give you a sense of what that role was doing here in OSPCD and how that might be um uh refocused and amplified across the organization.

Um Luis, who many know uh the person who held that role, Luis Kishbay, he was uh doing a couple different things.

He was um education education, our team about inclusion and diversity.

And so he was uh during our all staff meetings, he was uh running seminars and teaching us and expanding our knowledge base.

Another part of his role was to work closely with divisions and their processes and to basically be a consultant within OSPCD and to uh help us think of think and work through our problems through an equity lens and to hopefully improve our processes uh so that that work would be uh um delivered with a greater equity focus.

And we were just starting to really uh test some of those uh some of those models and how we could actually make that work happen.

And uh that work is going to continue in the equity inclusion division within the pin's shop, I forget the name, operations and systems.

I forget the name, operations and systems.

Thank you.

Um, so that I believe is going to be much of the focus of that reform division is to do that kind of work.

Some of the work that we tested here in OSDCD and take it across the city.

So the work will continue.

It'll be done from a different perspective, more from a citywide perspective.

But some of the work that we were able to do over the last four years will certainly carry everything.

Thank you so much for that answer.

Just to clarify, was that the name of a division that you mentioned, operations or I didn't I didn't catch that.

I need to phone a friend because I'm not completely familiar.

I'm getting familiar with our new structure.

I don't have the entire organizational.

You're referring to it to a different department to uh operations and systems.

Okay, thank you.

Sorry, I was thinking we were talking about a division within strategy and planning.

No, thank you for saving me.

Uh me as well.

This these names are new for all of us.

Um okay, thank you.

Uh, I'm gonna go to Councillor Scott.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Just a quick one I'd forgotten about because it wasn't on the list that we were given uh positions that were eliminated, but I don't see uh the executive assistant.

Uh I think most people don't know, but uh office of OSPCD is as far as I know, the only department that had an executive assistant.

Is that am I missing it somewhere?

Uh Director Galligani.

Through the chair.

So uh again, as part of a larger review we've been doing um citywide of our overall operations.

Uh, to your point, we uh we came to the conclusion that that's not necessarily the the most reflective uh depiction of what that role was.

So the role was uh re uh renamed or repositioned for lack of a better term to the operations manager to better reflect that that position's duties across um across the OSP CD team.

Oh okay, so the person is still there, still sitting at the desk outside of Director Galligani's office, but the title change from administrative assistant to uh operations manager.

Correct.

Yeah, Veronica is still there, she's in the in the in the office next to me, but 90% of her work, 95% of our work is dealing with our operations as a whole.

And that's um we as many of you know, we made we we moved from the third floor of City Hall over to the Tufts administration building.

And that really got us thinking about really what the correct title is because what she did is organized our whole move and had to deal with everybody from and the big issues to the smallest issues and coordinate that move.

And since we've moved into the new space, that's really exemplifies the kind of work that she does for us.

She's not you know taking notes from me, she's not managing my schedule.

She's not you know, at my back and call for sure.

She is solving the bigger problems um from an operations perspective that the organization is dealing with.

Yeah, through through the chair to provide some examples.

I mean, Ronnie's in sharp.

Seriously, y'all don't have to defend it.

I'm just trying, I was just trying to understand.

I appreciate it.

Uh I uh there's a reason she's been in that chair forever.

Uh I know I know the good work that happens.

So uh I no problems here.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I just uh appreciated getting that clarification.

Uh I'm all set.

Thank you, Counselor Scott.

Any other questions or comments from members of the committee?

Seeing none, I think we will move on with thanks to mobility.

Uh and I believe for mobility, we will have director of transportation and infrastructure, Brad Rossin.

I don't know if that is still the title.

Good evening, committee.

Chair of the Director Alson.

That was the title back in 2019.

Since 2019, um, the position has been director of mobility.

So for the record, my name is Brad Ross, and I serve our great city as director of mobility division.

We are an eight-person team chair, and our mission is to advance Summerville's goals related to safe and sustainable transportation.

We work on community engagement, policy, planning, design, implementation, evaluation and programs, along with our closest partners in engineering, parking and DPW.

We are transforming some of those streets to improve safety and climate outcomes.

In 2025, we installed 70 traffic calming features, four miles of separated bike facilities, and 49 fair corners' treatments.

These investments chair are getting the desired results.

In 2025, Summerville recorded crashes decreased by 15% compared to 2024 and by 35% compared to 2019.

We also take pride in our outreach work.

Our staff engaged community members at 120 events last year, 40 of which were specifically geared towards priority populations, including youth, older adults, and people with limited English proficiency.

We are excited to continue our work of coalition building and project delivery.

A few major examples of our goals are listed in the budget book.

We have proposed a modest decrease in our professional and technical services line.

And I will call attention for the committee to a software line that moved from mobility division to Alan and Asio's administration and finance budget.

Same software will be purchased and used, but it's just moved from one division to the other.

Chair, I know budgets are tough everywhere, but we are hustling to bring in grants and continue center of those progress.

I would like to say a very quick public thank you to mobility staff, Viola, Adam, Justin, Kate, Greg, Lily, and Rishika for their incredible service this year.

Also like to thank our volunteer committee members, our interdepartmental and community partners, and you, City Council, for your ongoing support.

Happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you, Director Ross.

And members of the committee, any questions?

Oh, sorry.

Uh I let me do my thing and summarize these questions and answers real quick and remember my format.

Very briefly, uh, I'm going to go through these without full respect to all the information that's there.

So I encourage people to read them.

But just to get us up to speed, uh, a question was how much street design is done in-house versus by consultants.

The answer was mobility starts many designs in-house, usually to about 25% of the design work, then uses consultants for technical and bid documents on larger projects.

How much staff time goes to private development review?

Historically, about 25 hours per week.

This fiscal year is expected to be closer to 15 hours per week.

And how much is budgeted for flex posts and why use them?

Mobility typically spends about 25,000 per year on replacements.

Uh new installations tend to use project funds, and flex posts are a cheap fast safety tool.

Okay.

With that said, any questions for mobility from members of the committee.

Council Link.

Thank you, Chair.

Through you, not the question, just a comment.

Um, in this case, uh today I saw that there was um a report put out about um pedestrian deaths throughout the commonwealth.

And um there's one city that is not well, there's many, there's a few cities that throw on there, but one of them that isn't not on there is Somerville.

Um, so I just really uh want to applaud the the work because it's I mean, that it has not always been the case that we would not be on the list like that.

Um, and I know that there's still a lot of work to do.

Um we're not it's that that that effort just because we we made it through this year doesn't mean that we if we don't if we we let go now uh we won't have be on that list next year.

Um but I just really want to say that uh this to me it's a um it's an investment uh for saving lives and I just I'm so thankful that we have um such uh a great team keeping people safe.

Sure.

Thanks for the comments, Council.

How do you share related to our staff?

Thank you, Councilor Link.

Counselor Scott.

Uh thanks, Mr.

Chair.

I just uh just a quick one.

Um, and I uh I want to say that the addition of the comms position uh outreach, I know that they had different titles over the years, uh, has been uh a real win for uh for your department, in my opinion, just because I've seen how uh they're really getting out there and flying in the community and uh getting more engagement on projects that uh lead to less uh what I used to call unforced errors.

Um but that said, I mean, we heard the other night about how our uh frankly enormous comms department was absolutely essential to the operation of every uh you know, every department in the city.

Um so given that you do have these two commons positions in-house, I guess uh maybe it just might be helpful for uh what kind of what kind of role uh our comms department wasn't filling, makes those positions uh necessary for you.

Sure, through you.

I'm happy to quickly answer the question strictly from mobility's standpoint.

Councillor, again, thanks for the kind words.

We have transformed our outreach and engagement practice, in part in response to council and community desire to be more places earlier in processes to iterate more to meet people where they are at.

And as counselors will recall, we created our first outreach specialist position in mobility division several years ago, and we very quickly realized there was so much demand for that work that we had the opportunity to reconfigure a position a couple of years later and have a second one.

And we very quickly realized there was so much demand for that work that we had the opportunity to reconfigure a position a couple of years later and have a second one.

I will note chair that both of those positions perform specific and technical transportation functions, not just communications and outreach functions.

But the two really go hand in hand.

So folks are out on the street collecting you know hardcore transportation data as well as administering our 311 response frameworks, devising partnership opportunities with council on aging with our community based organization partners into the parking lot of partners like Soya.

So in terms of mind management philosophy chair um the idea of one trip counties is not where I'm at I encourage all of our staff to be cross-trained and develop skills as much as they want to in a variety of subject matter disciplines.

I expect our planners and engineers to be competent and confident in culturally competent outreach.

And I expect our average professionals to understand traffic signals, pavement markings and hardcore street design.

I hope that illustrates a little bit about the kind of a Swiss Army knife approach that we use in mobility division.

Absolutely sir I just uh I thought it might be helpful I appreciate you uh giving you the chance to to brag about your folks a little bit to be honest with you.

Um so I I'm all set in this share thank thank you counselor Scott Councillor Stresson thank you uh to you to uh our director of mobility and the mobility crew hi thank you for um all your work in our community um everyone knows who Brad Rosson is um and uh and that's great so I wanted to just ask uh as as you had mentioned Council on aging and then uh counselor Link was talking about a study I don't know if this uh same study was talking about but in the globe today again there was a a report uh just here's a statewide Massachusetts report that the pedestrians hit uh older pedestrians were hitting killed at a higher rate than those in other age groups people 65 and older accounted for 43% of the fatalities although they make up less than uh actually 19% of the state's population of course this is across state but this has been an ongoing issue that uh older residents have very much been bringing forward to mobility and to our city for a while and I'm hoping that we could really uh as a work going forward really reflect um that uh that approach of of pedestrian care and including uh with our older residents and and reading this article really of course brought a lot of thoughts forward and hoping that we can make sure that there aren't any um any any pedestrian deaths uh because as we have graphed together that um but I wanted to know uh on that what thoughts you have and I just want really quick just one few more because each one of these these pair these uh graphs in this article is really important so this uh really quick this age group has been overrepresented in each of the five years that walk Massachusetts has released this report uh more than 70% of the fatalities were on streets with speed limits between 25 and 35 miles an hour these are slow speed crashes and even in the community on the community path uh I've heard from residents that uh like not even just cars but the fast moving scooters and the fast moving um bikes electric bikes sometimes senior the senior population or not just even seniors residents have have felt concerned that they're going to get hit and hurt.

Now I know electric bikes and scooters that's a whole different bird and I know that that we've had conversations here in this but the ongoing link of all this is that uh we aren't yet addressing um aging in place when we talk about mobility I feel yet um and and was wondering if you had thoughts on that and going into this budget season uh what approaches would be different from approaches in the past you've you've had uh with our our senior population on that chair for you counselor thanks for the observations thank you for your consistent advocacy and your partnership helping us build connections with our older adult community um I'm delighted to report that just yesterday our staff were at the Ralph and Janning Center performing senior specific outreach uh a couple of weeks ago was at the COA at the TAB building uh a couple of weeks before that it was with a non-council on agent group that you all know called Mass Senior Action Council.

I know that in this day and age chair, bike mobility and bike safety can be easily used as a wedge issue to divide us versus them.

And I think that you all know from our annual reports from our work in the community that our traffic calming program saves lives, no matter who you are, how you get around.

Counselor Lynch shared a terrible crash report of two drivers in a terrible collision on a neighborhood street just a couple of days ago.

Our traffic calming is intended to reduce those risks, raised crosswalks and speed humps, great opportunities for slow moving pedestrians, whether they're young, younger folks or older folks to get across the streets safely.

And yet we acknowledge that plenty of community members feel that their interests and their lived experience have not been adequately represented in our work.

We're committing to proving them wrong, but we're going to do so from a place of humility and just showing up time and again to build trust and to build relationships.

So we look forward to continuing to partnering with you, Council Schrozer.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And going, if I may, on that, um, going forward into the year, because yeah, we've we've been talking about this for quite a few years.

So I definitely uh will be asking between now and next year for specific action items that have been implemented between this conversation and next year.

Because we have been talking, we have been listening, we've been hearing, we've been building those trust relationships respectfully, respectfully.

Um, but we all know that this is still we're still talking about the same things.

So I I would like to know uh and we can follow up what specific actions decide uh steps have been taken between this conversation and and next year.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councillor Schezo.

Counselor Link.

Uh thank you, Chair.

Through you uh I actually just that um just made me think of the one more thing that I wanted to say that I'm um I'm so happy with, which is uh Bow Street, uh, which has um which actually is uh right at Pro Pierce Way.

Um uh there are many residents there.

Um, but also uh I know I was talking with um Director Pulsoite, and um I learned that one of those spots uh is being converted, or actually, I guess it's two parking spots uh they're being converted so it's a fully accessible spot, which is something that is um unusual in in the city.

So uh having both a crosswalk there, uh, the all the shortened terms like that.

That is that's this is in my neck of the woods.

Um so it's an area that I'm very familiar with and has been a very unsafe place for pedestrians of uh all ages, types, and groups, and uh uh really um I think if we can do more of that all over the city, I think we'll be really really great.

Um you know, uh, to um my counselor at large's uh point um, you know, towards helping our our seniors as well as our as our kids.

Thank you, Councilor Link.

Any other members of the committee have questions or comments?

Uh seeing none, I'll go.

Um, so director, uh, I've really appreciated the in-person events that your office has thrown.

You mentioned uh all the work that goes into those.

Uh, I think they're a really rich experience.

They give an opportunity to look at plans and talk about uh the decisions behind them and to give feedback.

Uh, one concern of mine has just been that sometimes people don't know about them.

And then work begins and and then they learn about the project and and they they may have feedback.

Um, I know your office does some work to do outreach.

Uh could you just make some comments about the outreach that you do, and if there's any opportunities to let more people know about these great events.

Jared, thanks for the questions and thanks for your work to help get the word out, get more people connected to our resources.

A couple of things that I'll flag as process improvements these last few years.

Our staff perform physical flyering in neighborhoods to make sure the folks who are not online or not online as frequently as others have opportunities to get awareness of engagement opportunities and upcoming projects, just as part of their regular routines.

So, just earlier this week, uh some of our staff were out flyering in the Moon Square.

Um, we fly at small businesses and we do specific visits in the homes and to um uh senior housing buildings, for example, to make sure that we're bringing content to folks and not relying on them to connect through the web.

Um, we have a robust newsletter, as you all know.

We've got about 16 or 1700 subscribers.

That is a small fraction of our community, and yet an important one in terms of helping us get the word out.

Um, in-person events uh pop up and tabling.

Um, we were doing some of those just last night.

Um, and so again, intercepting folks as part of their experience on the daily just helps build that word of mouth awareness.

And chair, one of the things that I heard uh from Viola, who was leading a project on Summerville Avenue just the other day, is that she was tabling in Wilson Square just a couple of nights ago and had so many experiences where you try to flag somebody down.

You have to be entrepreneurial, you know how this is.

And somebody says, thanks, I'm aware I talked to you last time you tabled because we table at multiple stages of each project.

And I think that's an indicator of success that community awareness is starting to grow.

And yet we just know that there are 80,000 people in this city, and we are still only reaching a small fraction.

So we are constantly working on process improvements and ways to kind of broaden and deepen that message and that connection point for folks.

I hope that starts to answer some of your questions and kind of communicate our humility about the work ahead.

Thank you.

Counselor Hart.

Thank you, Chair Wheeler.

Um, and thank you, Director Rodson.

Um I want to piggyback on this on the same topic.

Um, I really appreciate all of the all of the outreach that you're talking about that your team does.

And I've I've seen it and um and all of the work that happens to bring a project to completion and fruition, which is fantastic, uh, moving our city towards safety.

I'm just wondering if you could talk a little bit about umpportunities after a project is constructed for you know, how does your team take in feedback?

Or um, you know, what is the the evaluation period and uh public public comment period for lack of a better word.

Chair through you, thanks for the question, counselor.

Um I'll try to be brief, but I want to uh uplift the importance of what you're describing and acknowledge that we're always trying to get better at post project evaluation.

One thing that we've really gotten good at is making sure that we are collecting traffic speed and volume data on streets where we intend to build physical traffic common, like speed hunts and raised crosswalks.

So we're able to benchmark performance and see you know what kind of behavior change we are able to achieve.

Our most recent annual key performance indicators report, which is available online.

We'll show you a couple of dozen streets where we've been able to do those pre-post studies and measure the reductions in travel speeds or travel volumes.

But there's another important component, which is project-based work.

And this is something that we are not as far along in optimizing, in part because our backlog of projects is so substantial that there's always pressure to begin the next one, get into that next engagement phase.

Um, so we do go out and we count cars.

We count parking utilization on streets that have been changed.

Um, we continue to take public feedback through 311 through our tabling and through our general emails on projects like Spring Hill, Western Washington Street, and many others that are now a couple of years old.

And we will always welcome those.

In our perfect world, we're gonna have enough staff band with chair to actually publish technical papers.

Um, many NAFTO cities around the country do exactly that a couple of years after projects are complete.

Summerville's not there yet, but that is our vision.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments from members of the committee?

Okay, seeing none, thank you for appearing before us tonight, Director Rossin.

Have a good night.

Next, we have planning, formerly planning preservation and zoning.

And I believe we will have director of planning and zoning, Daniel Bartman.

Hello, could you please uh state your names for the record and tell us about planning?

Hello.

Uh my name is Dan Bartman, and I serve as the director of the planning division for the strategy and development department.

To my right is Fiona Di Martino, their new deputy director as of a little over a month and a half.

Uh the planning division manages the city long city's long-range planning, zoning research and development practice and historic preservation projects, while also administratively supporting many of Somerville's permit granting authorities, such as the Planning Board, Zoning Board, uh, Urban Design Commission, and the Historic Preservation Commission.

A combination of responsibilities that are frequently divided between multiple departments and a much many more additional staff in comparable cities to ours.

This year's budget will allow us to make meaningful progress on finishing long-range the long-desired Davis Square neighborhood plan.

Uh begin the also long-desired uh future in field development along MassDots uh McGrath Boulevard project, for which we've just recently released an RFP.

Uh refining zoning to further advance the community's goals and develop the knowledge and skills of our staff to function more as an in-house consulting firm in the future.

I look forward to answering any of your questions.

Thank you, Director.

Uh, to briefly summarize the questions and answers that your office prepared.

Uh, is planning fully staffed?

The answer was basically yes, uh, as of May 2026 for the first time in several years.

Is long range planning one contract or several?

Uh it is several consultant supported projects using on call and project specific consultants as needed.

Who pays for ARC GIS and what is the training for?

Uh IT provides the enterprise license planning seeks custom setup and training so staff can do more of the analysis in-house, um, 3D analysis, fiscal and housing analysis.

And what's the status of the Davisquare neighborhood plan?

Uh the process, I guess, launched June 17th.

City staff are leading it with consultants only being used for technical gaps.

Um, is there anything you'd add to any of those?

Uh a press release went up this morning, uh announcing that we are uh forming a technical advisory committee for the Davis Square plan.

Uh and our summer voice page for that project uh was updated this morning to coincide with that press release.

Uh so a lot of new information online about Davis Square.

Great.

Thank you very much.

All right.

Questions for the committee.

Counselor Scott.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Director Bartman, always one of my favorites.

Uh I just I guess it seems like we're at the end of an era, and I'm not sure how to feel about it.

Uh I don't see any money in the professional and technical services line for the Union Square East Neighborhood Plan.

Uh is that is that did we in-house uh that effort or uh uh did we just say, you know what, uh we're gonna punt.

Uh no, we are we have no intent to put us.

I'm sorry, through the chair.

We have no intent to punt on the Union Square uh Union Square East uh was uh never finished as part of the Union Square neighborhood planning process.

It is included in the RFP.

That area is included in the RFP for uh the McGrath Boulevard planning study.

Uh that that study area includes uh land along uh McGrath from the Squires Bridge all the way to uh Broadway.

Um, and is inclusive of that of what we called Unit Square East in the Union Square Neighborhood Plan.

Um I mentioned a moment ago that we had released an RFP.

We have all of our responses in.

There were seven, very good responses.

Um, and we they are under review, and we hope to select uh a chosen firm uh I would hope within two weeks' time.

Um so we intend to launch that project within the new fiscal year, and that would be uh appropriate from our line item that's uh long-range planning in the budget.

Uh all right.

Well, you had 200,000 in the professional and technical services line last year for that.

Um so I guess the estimate has come down based on the bids that came in.

Uh nope, the bids that came in are higher, but the project will be at least 18 months long.

So this is reflective of uh a portion of that project for this time period.

Got it, got it, got it.

Well, uh better better late than never.

Uh it's uh an unspent dollar uh last year is I'm sure gonna roll into the next.

Um just to be perfectly clear though, in that RFP, you're saying it it reaches uh from McGrath all the way down to Allen Street as as part of that uh planning that that Union Square East uh neighborhood.

Yes, that is correct.

Oh, I'm excited.

Then may this be an end of an era that I can be truly excited about, Mr.

Chair.

Uh thank you.

I'm I'm all set.

Thank you, Councillor Scott.

Any other members of the committee.

I am seeing none.

Um, I had one question.

Uh the Arc GIS training, uh, so I I gather uh part of the idea is that this helps move expertise in-house and some of this project work in how in-house.

And that's promising to hear.

Um, I'm a big fan of us moving things in-house and building expertise for the long term.

Uh I'm wondering what analyses will planning be able to do in-house this year that it might not have previously previously been able to.

So uh, Mr.

Chair, there is a I want to say like about a six month process uh for onboarding the program.

Um essentially we have to load our zoning ordinance inside our GS Urban.

Um, and then there's a uh knowledge transfer that Esri provides to staff uh based off of this same implementation that they've done in dozens, if not a hundred hundreds of cities across the country uh about lessons learned and things that they've figured out that can be done uh through the implementation.

Um two of the things that we're or a couple of the things that we're really excited about is that we will be able to produce in-house 3D models uh of hypothetical urbanism or even the existing conditions of the city and model potential futures, not only uh through 3D visualization, but behind the scenes, that program will could also calculate things like fiscal impact, housing production, water and sewer needs um that we would normally have to do separately.

Like today, we already model future urbanism in 3D form.

We separately calculate fiscal impact, we separately determine housing impact, we separately determine water and sewer impact, and all of that will be now part of that software package and give us much more ability to calculate it on the fly, um, produce many more potential options, uh, understand pain points related to different size and scale of potential rezonings, for instance.

Um it will not only be useful for our department.

We are bearing the cost of this because we realize how much how much value we will add to long-range planning services.

Uh, but everybody in the city that is a GIS user will benefit from this from our onboarding of our of the zoning and building the analytical tools as part of uh Art GIS Urban.

Um it'll be used by every GIS user in the across the city will have access to that tool once we go on board it.

Exciting.

Thank you for that.

Any other comments or questions from members of the committee?

Seeing none, thank you so much for appearing here tonight.

Uh as well as you, Deputy Director DiMartino.

Uh, and have a good rest of your evening.

Thank you.

Uh okay, we will move on to public space and urban forestry.

And I believe we will have director of PCF, Luisa Oliveira.

Hello, Director Olivera.

Olivera.

Okay, there you go.

Sorry, it was muted, but it kind of sorry.

Is it now?

It's now good.

Okay.

Uh, my name is Luisa Oliveira.

She talks to me.

And I'm the director of public space and urban forestry.

We are a division of seven landscape architects and arborists.

And our mission is to plan, construct, and steward the public realm to promote environmental and public health through the city's network of public spaces and the urban forest.

Our core values include public service, environmental stewardship, progress, teamwork, and professionalism.

We work on policy construction and with our partners at DPW maintenance of our urban forest and our public spaces.

This past year we cut the ribbon on Somerville Junction Park, Ken Kelly Park, the participatory budgeting uh shade structure at the Capuano School, Central Hill Monuments, Quincy Street Pocket Park, and a number of pollinator plantings, including the one voted for through participatory budgeting.

In this upcoming fiscal year, we will continue to work on the Kennedy School Yard, Dilboy Natural Grass Field, Shore Drive Greenway, which is entirely funded from outside grants, the Art Farm, Davis Square Activation, and the Kensington Connector.

Every year we plant at least 350 street trees.

We proactively maintain our urban forest.

This year, over 1,000 trees uh received some sort of treatment in our young tree training or parks tree health program.

We work collaboratively with other departments on development review, green score review, and streetscape review as well.

I'm proud of the team that we've built and the excellence we provide residents of Somerville and our parks and urban forest, both of which are critical infrastructure.

Thank you, Director Olivera.

Uh to briefly summarize the questions and answers that were in the memo.

Um why was fiscal year 2026 spending so far below budget?

And for anyone who's not looking at right now, uh, there's two bars.

There's a blue bar for actual spending and a purple bar for the uh the total um allocated spending.

And the the blue bar looks like it's sort of just above halfway.

Uh and the answer was that most PCF projects happen in spring.

So funds are mostly encumbered and expected to be spent by year end.

And just to make sure I understand that, Director Olivera, uh, does that mean that um sort of as we speak in this, you know, this May, this June, we should be sort of essentially expecting that blue bar to be to be going up towards the top and uh you know, as more of the total funds are spent.

Absolutely.

We will um expend nearly all of the funds that we have.

Thank you.

I appreciate that clarity.

Uh and a question was is there fiscal year 2027 funding for a west side dog park?

The answer was no, a new dark park would require uh quite a bit of different things.

Doesn't mean that these are impossible, but it's not currently budgeted.

Uh some of the things that it needs are site identification, uh, acquisition, design, construction, and a funding package.

Um, anything to add to either of those.

Okay, thank you.

Uh any questions or comments from members of the committee.

Counselor Hart.

Thank you.

Thank you, Chair Wheeler.

Thank you, Director Olivera.

I wanted to ask um about, you know, as you say, the trees are and uh our critical infrastructure.

I wonder if you could just give us an overview of like what you see as the status of our our urban trees and the any particular threats.

Uh, you know, like how do you see our our status?

Uh through the chair, yes.

Uh thank you for the question.

We've made a lot of progress on our urban forestry program with uh, as you may have seen in the Boston Globe, our tree amigos, which include uh two of the planners in our office and also David Jackson, who is the tree warden.

And we now are really able to have plants that are planted every year, 350 street trees alone.

That doesn't include park and streetscapes.

We have preventative maintenance and enforcement of the tree protection ordinance.

And then we have uh emergency on the ground maintenance that's done through DPW.

Um the three, the tree amigos work very well as a team.

And I think uh in year, at least in the years past, the urban forestry program has really, really grown.

Uh, and we're able to do many things in-house.

There are threats to the urban forest always.

Uh climate change is is changing, what we can plant, what we should plant.

There are numerous pests that come up in addition to emerald ash borer.

We're looking at beech borer uh and a number of different weird things that we find on our trees, and we're always uh looking to uh inoculate them if possible.

We always have to look for dangerous trees or trees that are dying or dead to assure that uh they could never harm people or property.

So we do have a lot of challenges, but we've really come a long way.

Uh and I think our tree canopy has never been this well cared for.

Excellent.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Counselor Hart.

Counselor Strezzo.

Oh, you know, I was going to mention something about the tree amigos.

I mean, that's awesome.

But also through you, Mr.

Chair to our director.

Number one, I am requesting a cartoon illustration of that uh because I think that's warranted.

I would request T-shirts, but we are in a tight budget cycle.

Um, but you know, people donate t-shirts, whatever.

Uh all those things have to happen.

Thank you very much.

Thank you for all your work.

Thank you, Councillor Streso.

Counselor Link.

Uh thank you, Chair, through you.

Um so uh I I am uh a huge fan of the work that's being done um both in our our open spaces and with the trees.

Um, you know, I I benefit from just down the road for me is uh is the Prospect Hill Park, which is uh I get to see all the our residents enjoying that like almost 365 days a year, um uh even when it's less enjoyable in the winter.

Um for me anyway.

Uh but uh my question is about those actually to returning to the question of tree canopy.

Um the ward uh one is I think our the the ward that's got the the most need for improved tree canopy.

Um you know I I think about it a lot um lately that you know there's uh there was this wild um kind of finding that uh the more trees that the larger the tree canopy is, um, the larger life expectancy um is and the the lower it is, the inverse is also true.

Um so it really does seem like uh when we talk about environmental justice, that that's that's 100% part of this.

Um and you know, I worry with uh, you know, it seems like a lot of our tree canopy right now is um uh in ward one is um the 90 Washington street, which we maybe were gonna see some of that um potentially reduced.

So are are there plans to um to maybe start proactively um uh addressing the the tree canopy in ward one?

I was wondering if you could say anything about that.

Thank you for the question, Counselor Link.

Um tree planting and urban canopy is like other determinants of health, always lesser in communities that have been marginalized or poorer.

Ward one is no exception.

Ward one is also a uh tighter one, so it's very difficult to plant as many trees there.

Uh we try we do our very best.

We always prioritize planting trees in ward one because of the environmental justice major of that community.

Uh we have Foss Park, where they added the state added a number of different trees um recently, and we have um always try to add as many trees as possible.

As to your question for 90 Washington, while there are trees there, I would not say that they're the bulk of the tree canopy in ward one.

Um we have a lot of we have the least amount of trees in ward one, but we still have many trees in ward one.

Thank you.

Thank you, Counselor Link.

Uh any other questions from folks.

Um, just to follow up on the the tree amigos, uh, how many full-time equivalent positions do we have dedicated to tree health safety and maintenance?

So in my department, we have two.

We have two planners that are planning the uh planting of the trees and taking and uh enforcing the tree preservation ordinance as well as doing preventative maintenance or proactive maintenance rather.

And in DPW, we have a tree warden and a crew of three or four laborers and tree surgeons that are working uh to take care of the of the tree canopy.

Thank you.

Uh any other questions or comments from the committee.

Seeing none, thank you so much for appearing before us and have a great rest of your night, Director Oliver.

Thank you very much.

Okay, moving on to housing.

And I believe we will have director of housing Lisa Davidson.

Oh, did we lose?

Sorry, the the screen jumped around a bit, but I figure people are getting settled in the committee room, and we should have director of housing Lisa Davidson.

Hello, Director Davidson.

Hello, how are you?

Um my name is Lisa David, uh Lisa Davidson.

I'm the director of housing.

I'm here with Alana Gaffney, who is the deputy director.

Um the housing division is a 15-member team focused on creating, preserving, and ensuring access to affordable housing.

We encourage inclusion, how we oversee, excuse me, oversee inclusionary housing, home improvement programs, housing development funding, compliance or deed restriction restricted assisted properties.

The team partners with developers to develop high quality affordable units, supports homeowners with critical health and safety repairs, manage federal and local funding to advance affordable housing projects.

We also keep have key staff or city boards and collaborate with the Office of Housing and Stability to drive policies that strengthen housing affordability and stability.

Thank you.

I look forward to answering some questions.

Thank you so much, Director.

Uh, to briefly summarize the questions and answers in the memo.

Uh, how will layoffs affect housing staff workload?

The answer was that two vacant positions have been eliminated.

Existing staff will absorb income certifications, front desk work calls, and some administrative tasks.

What's the status of the rental wait list?

The consolidated rental wait list is now closed and not taking new applications.

How many households are on the wait list and how long is the wait?

There are 4,302 households on the list.

Housing cannot estimate wait time because unit availability varies.

What will this software upgrade that's mentioned in the budget fix?

Um, and the answer was that no uh CRW software upgrade is planned now.

Um and I'm trying to remember if I know, I don't think I know what CRW stands for, but um we I'll I'll give you uh second and moment to tell us.

Uh but there is work focused on testing and improving inventate invitation screening wait list and application functions.

And does the budget for this year change our affordability strategy?

The answer was no.

Housing will continue its current approach with housing stability, nonprofits, federal and local funds, and the affordable housing trust fund.

Um do you have anything to add to that?

And you know, I don't know if it if it's relevant, but uh I just didn't know what CRW stands for.

Yeah, CIW is the consolidated weight list.

Thank you.

Consolidated rental wait list makes sense.

Uh okay, thank you.

Are there any questions or comments for Director Anderson for the committee?

Counselor Scott.

Uh thanks.

Just a quick one.

Sorry, sorry, Director Davidson.

I had a little brain ache up there.

Director Davidson, please, Councillor Scott.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh, just a quick one.

Uh, I was obviously I'm not excited about losing uh losing staff there.

Uh, but I did was hoping you could give us a little bit more detail about what's meant by uh expediting the uh eligibility screening uh requirements.

So um I mean, I'd love it if we were uh relaxing our means testing across the board, but I know that uh establishing eligibility and verifying eligibility is a very labor-intensive process.

So what is what is changing that's anticipated to lighten that load.

So happy to answer that.

Uh the goal right now is the housing housing division is looking at right reducing the amount of uh pay stubs or the amount of documentation necessary to uh to to be determined income eligible.

Uh it's important to the housing division as well as the city to make sure that income eligible households are ones that are residing in these units, that we have very limited uh inventory of them.

So we want to make sure that the households are residing in the correct AMI, the correct eligibility tier uh for the affordable housing.

We're gonna reduce the paperwork.

Uh, we're reducing it from like two months worth of income certifications uh documentation to one month of documentation.

And then we're also going to streamline the income recertification process.

Um right now, I think the income certification recertification process, the property managers are doing the income certification.

The housing division is then looking at the income certification with uh as if we're doing the income certification all over again.

We're gonna stop.

We're looking to move towards a sampling system where instead of looking at 600 affordable uh recertifications, we're gonna start sampling them.

We're uh with the property owner managers asking for a certain percentage of those recertifications to ensure that there are eligible households residing in those units.

And when it comes to making sure that the rents are not exceeding the maximum allowable rents, we're gonna start asking for rent roles on a somewhat regular basis, haven't decided if it's an annual or quarterly basis.

We're still sort of working that out so we can make sure that the property managers are not overcharging the rents.

Uh I I appreciate that.

I guess um it sounds like the bulk of the savings in time is going to come from uh moving to a sampling-based approach here.

Uh, because I all right.

Uh thank you very much.

Um sorry for your loss.

And uh I'm all set, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Counselor Scott.

Any other questions or comments from members of the committee?

I'm not seeing hands go up.

Uh director, could you just speak briefly from a high level about you know how the housing office relates to the Summerville Housing Authority, to the Office of Housing Stability, to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and to the Community Preservation Act.

And here I'm hearkening back to, I think the very first conversation that you and I ever had.

Um yeah, so the housing division, I'm gonna try to put it in my terms the way I think about it a lot.

We really work with the bricks and water of the of the developments.

Like we're we're charged with working with developers and developing housing.

We're also charged with ensuring that the uh I Z, the inclusionary units are being distributed across the buildings and monitoring that piece.

The summable housing authority, the summable housing authority is a separate entity all together.

They work with uh subsidized units.

Those are people who are receiving uh rental assistance, they're living in public housing, they're living, they they have Section A housing choice vouchers, they're going through a completely different different screening process and all together.

They're off to the left somewhere.

The Office of Housing and Stability, to put it simply, the way I envision it, they always work, they work with the heartbeats.

They work with the people residing in the homes to help them with ensuring their housing stability that they're that if there is a housing crisis that they're working in helping to resolve those housing crises, as well as giving those support so they can maintain those housing.

We some of the housing division and OHS, we work very closely to make sure that we're aligned.

We both have the same goals.

We want to get people housed.

We want to make sure that the um that the most vulnerable are housed, but we're also looking at we're also looking at creating units.

The housing division is creating units.

So we're balancing creating affordable units as well as working with the developers that are working that are creating the private housing developments to ensure that they have the appropriate uh affordable units in that.

I hope that answered your question.

Thank you.

Absolutely does.

I really appreciate it.

Uh and I have uh another question going back to talking about the consolidated rental wait list.

Um I'm curious if it would be possible to publish or share periodic, maybe annual uh data on the movement.

And maybe this is something you already do.

I haven't gone looking for it.

Um the the movement of uh you know how many households ended up getting served uh and placed on this list um in a year where it is not closed, how many more were added to the list, uh, even if it's not possible to estimate individual wait times.

We can certainly share that data.

In fact, I think this is we just completed our first year of having the consolidated rental wait list up and running.

It started in April of 2023.

That's right.

Oh no, 20.

What year are we in?

Sorry, we're in 2023.

No one knows.

No one knows, Director.

So April and 24, 25.

We're getting closer, yeah.

Yeah, right.

All right.

Um, and we've opened the the wait list a couple of times in that period.

We'll be including that information and the annual report for the inclusionary program.

Thank you very much.

Thanks.

Counselor Link.

Thank you, Chair, through you.

Uh, I'm I'm curious.

You know, there's been talk um both in the community um and uh uh the administration about uh permanent supportive housing.

Is that something that your uh division would would be involved in?

Yes.

So the housing division has been working with a working group for trying to expand permanent supportive housing within the city.

And I say expand because we do have permanent supportive units in the city.

Um we've come up with a couple of hiccups, roadblocks uh with the federal government and their shift.

They they're shifting their housing priorities away from permanent supportive housing, away from the housing first model into more of the transitional housing or transitional trans on a transition transitional base, which is like up to 24 months.

Um as we were getting really getting our momentum up and having these great conversations with with our partners, then our partners were hit with trying to figure out how are they going to save what they already have with their permanent supportive housing.

Um, luckily, the Affordable Housing Trust Fund has been able to come in and fund the Summable Homeless Coalition.

They have, I think it I think it's nine to 11 units right now that they're working with their with their residents and trying to transition them off of permanent supportive housing and get them into your traditional set of affordable housing subsidized.

We're starting to restart the conversations.

We're just trying to figure out how are we going to fund it.

Thank you.

That that's uh I'm uh not at all surprised to hear that the current administration, federal administration has created some problems uh in helping support people.

Uh all right.

Uh yeah, thank you for for that work.

Um and I appreciate um and and look forward to seeing what we can figure out.

Thank you, Councilor Link.

Any other questions or comments from members of the committee?

I am seeing none.

So uh thank you so much for appearing before us, Director Davidson, and have a great rest of your night.

And that will bring us to housing stability.

I believe we will have Director of Housing Stability, Alan Schechter.

Okay.

Hello, good evening to the chair and the finance committee.

My name is Ellen Schechter.

I'm the director of the Office of Housing Stability within the Department of Strategy and Development.

With me is our deputy director, Bia Morrera.

And behind me is Jill Currier, our client services manager.

The Office of Housing Stability works to prevent the displacement of Somerville residents through the provision of comprehensive direct services, including advice, case management, rental and mortgage assistance, tenant organizing, housing search, and legal representation.

These services are provided annually to over 1100 Somerville households representing many more individuals, both by OHS staff and community partners, the community action agency of Somerville, Somerville Homeless Coalition, DeNovo Legal Services, and Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services.

These agencies are funded through our Protect by OHS through our Protect Professional and Technical Line item, excuse me.

So our PT line item has been used in a slightly different way than many other divisions that have tended to have more expert help with things internal.

Ours has been to obtain external services for the residents of Somerville that are needed to promote housing stability.

OHS is grateful for the budget that appears before you today, as it continues to provide OHS with the staffing and ordinary maintenance budget needed to provide high quality assistance to those facing housing instability.

In addition to providing direct services to residents, OHS creates programs and works to enact policies at the local and state level that promote housing stability in Somerville and throughout the Commonwealth.

As you know, most but not all tenant protection legislation requires authorization from the state legislature.

Because this is so difficult to obtain, OHS tries wherever possible to identify policy initiatives that this council can pass under its own authority, in addition to working on home rule petitions to the state legislature.

Currently, one proposed local ordinance, which you will be hearing about shortly, entitled Notice of Building Sale and one home rule petition we call an early leasing ordinance are before the council, and it is my understanding they will be heard on June 30th before the legislative matters committee.

OHS continues to attempt to innovate wherever we can, not only to enhance tenant protections for Somerville residents, but to enact laws and create programs that might be an example for cities and towns around the Commonwealth concerned about displacement.

I want to thank you as always for your critical support of OHS's work.

And I am here and available to answer any other questions that you have.

Thank you so much, Director Scheckter.

To summarize briefly the questions and answers in the memo.

Why do contracts do you contract for tenant outreach when staff also do outreach?

The answer was staff handle general outreach and communications.

CAS handles tenant organizing for building-wide displacement issues.

How will engagement and neighborhood services relate to housing outreach?

Housing stability will meet with engagement and neighborhood services to explore broader outreach collaboration.

What is Flex?

What is the Flex Fund?

A flexible anti-displacement fund administered by Somerville Homeless Coalition for needs that other rental assistance programs can't cover.

And what is Summer VIP, a voucher incentive program that helps tenants with Section 8 where other vouchers lease apartments by offering incentives to landlords and realtors.

Anything to add to any of those?

No, I think that's adequate.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, members of the committee.

Any questions or comments for Director Schechter?

Councillor Strezzo.

Thank you.

Through you to Director Schechtner.

I am thank you very much for all you do for our city.

I am delighted to always work with you in housing and community development and equity committee.

And uh your updates, very extensive on what's going on, is always really helpful to how to be most nimble and stay on the ground and most informed on what's going on in the city when it when we talk about displacement and our constituents' needs.

And I know you've you've been an incredible advocate and just a just a pillar of support in our community and keep Somerville as special as we are.

I wanted to ask about going into the budget season.

Um how are we with some of the contracts and with our with our uh some of our partners, such as Denovo and the Muni Municipal Voucher Program.

Um and are we going to be okay going into a new budget cycle and um changes throughout uh the city and the nation with funding?

Um, how are we looking with our with our with those um partners?

Through the chair, uh thank you, Councillor Strazzo, for I think that really important question.

And I think what I will say is right now I feel really happy and confident that we are going to be able to keep the robust um contracts and more importantly, the robust programs that we have that we absolutely could not could not prevent evictions without really ample legal services representation, rental assistance, housing search organizing, right?

What I will say to you now is a lot of the stuff that we have, the municipal voucher program, our um and our largest flexible rental assistance program have been funded off budget.

They're not funded through the general budget.

So I myself have been somewhat concerned about that.

Right now we have enough money for the municipal voucher program to go on at least through the beginning of FY28.

So we're not on that one yet.

But I'm really pleased to say that the finance committee just last night allowed me to roll over some funds that I had unspent from this year, which will enable us to fully fund legal services.

The reason we couldn't, even though it appears, even though our PT budget is up is uh a flat budget this year, we actually got 4% increases to be able to give slight increases to the agencies that we um that we contract with.

But the first five months of our legal services contract this year with de novo was paid through ARPA.

We then moved on to the general budget, but a level services budget really funded seven months of the year and not 12.

But last night, with the ability that you gave me to vote to roll over some of the funds that were on spent from this year, I can now fully fund the legal assistance program at the rate that it is, which is essentially three FTEs, one through Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services and two through de novo, all of which has been absolutely indispensable.

Um, every tenant that's facing eviction needs legal representation.

Um the second thing I would say, something that's going to be coming before you later at a different time, I believe, maybe on the 23rd, but the mayor did identify.

I was very, to be honest, very worried about my rental assistance program.

We have a large one that has been funded between 1.5 and 2 million dollars over the last since ARPA began to since 2021.

Um it was funded through free cash for the last several years for the last two years.

We don't have that kind of free cash available anymore.

So I was really concerned about how this would continue.

And I'm very grateful to the mayor.

This will be coming before you to vote and make this decision, but he has made made a recommendation that community benefits funding be used at a million dollars of that funding be used for this purpose so we can continue to have a robust rental assistance program.

It is also, I would note a mortgage assistance program.

While many, many more of the folks we help are tenants, we also are able to help financially some homeowners that are at risk of foreclosure.

So right now, with your help, and if that does pass, I would say that we have funding that we need this year to keep those really robust programs moving forward.

And I am very grateful to the mayor for seeing this all as a priority and to Alan Nassio and others for helping me figure out what the options were for funding going forward outside of the general budget, that it really helped this.

And our PNT budget was fully funded for everything else that was already funded through um, you know, through the general budget.

So that's where we are right now.

Um Mr.

Chair, through you to uh Director Schechter, thank you for those those details in that.

Um that is good to know.

I appreciate that update.

And as um I'm going to go on a limb and say that I would um feel confident that uh making sure our residents can stay in our community and in their homes are a collaborative um priority and value of of my colleagues.

So it's it's really good to hear this update.

And um, if I may, uh Mr.

appreciate that update and as um i i'm going to go on a limb and say that i would um feel confident that uh making sure our residents can stay in our community and in their homes are a collaborative um priority and value of of my colleagues so it's it's really good to hear this update and um if i may uh mr chair just really quick uh go on about um why this funding and what we're talking about and and especially in this budget season is is so important of the the pivot that's about to happen or that we're talking about when we talk about affordable um uh rent stabilization and or i'm sorry some of the the quick responses in funding that uh director schechter's talking about a lot of the emergency um levers that were implemented it happened of course with ARPA funds and we had that right there we had this uh and it was helpful and then as the ARPA funds have now officially vaporized elapsed the money some of it has come from pre-cash um when times were medium or toe for toefuir um but now we're we're a lot slimmer um and so we're gonna have to get really creative and really vigilant on how we're we're we're sustaining our residents our most um vulnerable residents right now in our community so these conversations are really important um I know that I personally will be supporting and helping however I can in my role as counsel and I look forward to the conversation going forward but thank you for that update uh director Schechter thank you so much thank you Counselor Strazo any other comments or questions from members of the committee I am not seeing any hands go up um and uh the questions that I had have been answered by the director and by by other counselors I appreciate that okay thank you uh thank you for appearing before us have a great rest of your night and we will move on to economic development and I believe we will have director of economic development Rachel Nedcarney we may also have deputy director of economic development Dana Whiteside hello welcome hello good evening everyone um my name is Rachel Ned Carney and I serve as uh director of economic development I'm here tonight with uh deputy director Dana Whiteside uh our nine member team uh has a mission to expand economic opportunities for some of the residents and businesses we do this work in three streams we uh business development real estate development and workforce development among our core services we support small businesses with permanent navigation uh develop incentives and public private partnerships for housing and commercial development and we connect residents with job trainings and our employers with job training partners Center's economic development division connects um the work of we're typically three disparate departments in Cambridge and Boston um we think this is very effective and efficient uh we find that it's been leading to really innovative and creative problem solving for our business community here in Santa the budget you see tonight for economic development continues um support for pro um our uh partner programs uh with our main street organizations uh youth programming at the high school and fabville which is our community maker space uh inside Summerville High School at consistent levels from last year happy to take any of your questions thank you so much director any uh oh sorry before I go to the committee uh to summarize briefly the questions and answers in the memo uh why have both a workforce development specialist and a workforce development coordinator the answer was that the coordinator manages jobs trusts grants and the specialist builds employer and workforce partnerships their different jobs is there enough work if jobs linkage payments have slowed uh and that's a reference to uh when there are new commercial developments uh there's a one-time fee per square foot uh called the linkage fee that goes to the affordable housing trust fund and the job creation and retention trust fund uh the answer was uh yes there is enough the trust still has about three million dollars it has 14 active programs and future awards to manage uh anything to add to either of those yeah thank you any questions or comments from members of the committee counselor link chair through you um just want to give a a shout out to the the good work that's being done um i had the uh the fun opportunity today to go um to the 50 uh seven central street studios uh they're at a ribbon cutting today um which was uh really it's a um it was a lot of work it sounds like for everyone including um your department directory and um you know the but the outcome um was is gonna be something that is gonna be felt for you know like you know double generations um where you know artists now have a permanently uh affordable place to to to do their work um which is gonna just we're gonna see that all around the city um and i think that that these kind of

Uh they're at a ribbon cutting today, um, which was a really it's a um a lot of work, it sounds like for everyone, including um your department, Dr.

Narcone.

And um, you know, the but the outcome um was is gonna be something that is gonna be felt for you know, like you know, like generations, um, where you know, artists now have a permanently uh affordable places to to do their work, um, which is gonna just we're gonna see that all around the city.

Um, and I think that that these kind of projects and programs others are maybe less obvious than some of the other work um that you do with uh you know other um innovative small businesses like for example bow street um and and um uh or sorry, bow market.

Um but I I really um I just really appreciate all of the work that you uh you and your team have been doing uh and I really look forward to seeing what new um wild things you can come up with to uh make summer real dreams happen.

Respond for one if I were to respond for one moment, I just would love to highlight some of the many people who are actually part of that.

Um the team today at the Weirum Cody did a great job of getting to most, but uh a few that weren't in the list.

Um so Dana Whiteside here next to me handle a lot of the back and forth.

Joe Thiel in the housing division uh has a strong background.

He's one of our lawyers, has a strong background in real estate, uh, really put together a lot of the detail back and forth with their legal team.

Um Inacio and Miranda Rubin on uh his team, they coordinated all of the CDBG contributions to that project.

CDBG is a big component because we are saving jobs uh by saving that building.

So there were a lot of folks who were involved across uh strategy and development um that were part of that effort and um really just want to highlight that it really took a big team to to make this happen and and really again creative innovative approaches.

Thank you so much.

Counselor Scott.

All right.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh two questions.

Um through you to the director.

Uh one of the one of the things y'all were working on last year uh was uh putting together a reflections memo on business support programs.

Um you know, there have been some different business support programs.

Uh one of the things that you said you're gonna do is uh prepare that memo and um start looking at external funding sources uh for a new small business support grant.

Uh what can you tell me?

Did that did I miss a memo on that?

No, you did not miss them out on that.

Um we ended up in collaboration with the rest of the ARPA team, really just funneling all of our answers to that through that work.

So there is a centralized um ARPA reflection that has been put together by the ARPA team.

Um and just looking at how the programs have gone overall.

Um I will say from our perspective, you know, the programs that we ran were very successful.

A lot of those businesses that we were able to support, especially the new businesses have them done been doing really well.

Um love to see when our business community gets uplifted in in the globe.

And um, I'll highlight one.

So narrative was one of our awardees for a new business um that opened during COVID, and they are thriving, and we're one of the top bookstores in the region.

So um we those programs were really very impactful.

Um, they are not things that we are going to easily be replicating because uh that was a uniquely flexible funding source.

Um but we have been thinking about what other funding sources might exist out there and continuing to seek out brands.

Um in the meanwhile, the main thing that we can do and we've been focused on is looking internally at our processes and permitting efforts.

So um our team that works specifically with small businesses have been really focused on uh working across the departments um to look at how our business and how our programs and uh permitting efforts work for the small business committee.

What is that small business going to experience when they come to City Hall and they want to make a change to their building?

They want to um change their menu.

How what does that experience look like?

And how do we help them be better customers of ours?

So when they show up at our door, um whether it's uh with fire prevention or at ISD's counter, that they show up prepared um and know what they need to do and um can uh reduce the wait time uh on both sides.

Uh so the business gets gets to the answer faster um and on on to onwards.

All right.

Uh I appreciate that.

Uh I guess my other uh I guess I need to go read the the ARPA wrap-up menu memo.

Um my other question was about um workforce development.

You know, last year, uh gosh, there were six positions.

Uh now there's only two.

And I understand grants in, but it seems like an odd uh I I can understand somebody from the outside looking at it saying, well, I guess we're not emphasizing workforce development.

Um what is the what is maybe you could give us a brief status and update on uh what the plan is to attack workforce development.

So uh through the chair, uh we have uh recently filled the vacant um senior planner position for workforce development.

Um we are very excited about that as an internal promotion.

Uh William Blackmer, who has been the workforce development coordinator is shifting into that senior planner seat.

Um we've also shifted the way that that the nature of the work.

So our goal really has been to re in response to feedback we've been getting from the ecosystem, and that one of the biggest challenges is how do we bring our work, how do we bring our employers here in the city into the ecosystem.

Our um we have a really strong network of training providers locally in Somerville, they're really connected with the city through the jobs trust.

Um, but what we are not really pulling in right now is the job at the end of the day, which is we want to see somebody go get trained and immediately get a job here in Somerville so they can stay in summer.

The goal of our senior planner for the next coming year is going to be to really focus on how do we get those folks to the table, make sure that we're engaging them on the short term, getting folks who've been trained into positions as well as the long term, really understanding what is the job market going to look like five, 10 years from now.

Um, that factors into the conversations we have with the CTE program at the high school as well as uh all the departments so that they know that they're teaching, teaching to what the job market is going to be looking for.

Um so we're really thinking about what those what those connections look like.

And then what we also hear often from the youth side is how do we make sure that our youth understand the range of jobs that could exist in the in their future.

Um so there's been a lot of really fruitful conversations lately with Chamber of Commerce and others to look at, you know, what are those exposure opportunities that we're we're creating and bringing those employer partners again to the table so that somebody who's a student at Somerville High School has the opportunity to go and visit Greentown Labs and get us a flavor for what it could mean to work in climate tech um when they graduate high school, college, graduate school, whatever it may be.

So that's really the vision we've we've laid out.

Um again, we've we're was it is it is a shift from where we were last year.

Um what we have been testing out under with the ARPA funding was a lot of direct service programming.

Um our finding really was that those programs are really valuable.

The post-secondary success program was phenomenally uh impactful.

Uh and we we do actually have a working group trying to figure out what the future of a program like that could be.

We know that that will not live in economic development in the future.

That really that kind of program would be much um better placed in our organization with more direct service um more direct service team like these services, um, our social workers and HHS uh or from within the high school itself.

So there is a group that's looking at that, trying to figure out what those models could be down the line and building from the success of the pilot that we ran for the last three years.

All right.

Well, I appreciate that.

That actually answered what my next question was going to be.

Um, but I guess uh the the pilot, the grant funded pilot there, you know, obviously there was a what was the what was the grant funding source on that?

Not to interrupt, but are we referring to the post-secondary success pilot?

Yeah, for real.

Okay.

Sure.

So um to the chair, the post-secondary success program launched under ARPA.

We were originally planning to run it for one year under ARPA dollars, managed to extend that for a second year under ARPA dollars, and then with a grant from the jobs creation retention trust, extend it a second time for a to serve a third cohort for a shortened period of time.

So in total, over 100 students were served by that program, which was originally scheduled to run for one year.

All right.

Well, and I guess that's gonna be a matter for the jobs creation retention trust to evaluate the success of the program and decide whether or not that's something they want to uh devote more money to.

And it sounds like you you've got the you're of the opinion that it might be more effectively uh operated out of a different uh management structure.

So I appreciate that.

Uh thank you very much.

Um Mr.

Chair, I'm also.

Thank you, Counselor Scott.

Counselor Hart.

Thank you.

Um continuing on the topic of workforce development.

I uh saw in the memo about the the engaging with transmedics will be a top priority.

And I'd love to hear more details about that.

I'm sure there's, you know, I'm still, I'm sure it's still in early stages, but I'd love to hear more about what you and your team are thinking about that.

So to give everyone a sense of where we are in Transmedics timeline.

Um, Transmedics is um has just recently pulled their first building permit with inspectional services.

Uh it is in the middle of the review right now.

And um that first permit is for enabling work on the building.

They need to do um a new elevator.

They've got some um prep work that needs to happen for that.

Then from there, they were will be applying to do the fit out of the building in two phases.

So do a second phase that's four floors, the Bivarium, their um central command center for all tracking organs as they move across the country, and two office floors.

Their third phase building permit will be for the rest of the floors.

That's all the manufacturing positions uh spaces, the um lab spaces that they'll be working from, and all the research space.

And that all of those building permits are anticipated in FY27.

So that has um that's of course tied to our budget as we look at our longer trajectory, um, but also when it comes to the workforce side.

So the um transmedics, when we sat down with them a couple of months ago, they had uh very recently uh been expanding their HR team um and their HR team was anticipating around now is when they're sort of like they'll be in a position to um start thinking about what the expansion hiring time frames will look like.

They we have not actually had a chance to sit down with them just yet on that topic.

Um, but they really said you know they needed these last six months just to get us a sense of where they are in their um the the three working with the 350 folks that they do currently have on staff um and gearing up for what the the adding of the 600 jobs is going to look like.

They'll be adding 600 jobs.

It will that will be phased, um, and that is over a period of years.

And so again, our work with the new senior uh newly named senior planner uh for workforce development will be to be really sitting down and having those conversations um in the next couple of months to understand again how we can support them, connect them with local training partners, the local universities.

Um, and so as many as possible of those new jobs can be filled with some of the resonance.

Thank you.

Thank you, Counselor Hart.

Any other questions or comments from members of the committee?

Uh seeing none, I have one.

Uh I was really excited to hear about this role in permitting reform for small businesses.

And I was curious to learn a little hear a little bit more about that, and if that's something that involves meeting with small businesses and with groups like Union Square Main Streets, East Somerville Main Streets, and Davis Square Merchants Association, where I have uh senior meeting with them myself uh to learn uh their members' member businesses perspective on on what's difficult for small businesses.

Good uh to you, Mr.

Chair, yes and yes, and um I would say the majority of our time in on small business learning is is internal first and foremost.

And a large part of that is that what we want to create are better tools for small businesses to really understand um what they need to do.

And a big part is that like our is that our team who focus on the small business perspective, need to understand what the processes are that a small business is going through.

We do have a small business permitting liaison who joined our team now, gosh, three years ago, and she is incredibly well versed in I would say 95% of the processes that a business would need to go through here in the city.

Um she does uh hands-on navigation on a weekly basis with small businesses as they navigate, changing signs, um, launching their business, trying to figure out how to be a food truck, all those different things.

But um what our goal really has been is to figure out now how do we take that information um that's in her head and in the department's heads across the entire city and and put it into some uh navigational documents.

So the first one that we are working on right now is temporary food licenses.

And so that is a partnership between economic development, the city clerk's office, um, and ISD help to to really look at, you know, what are all of the steps and do we have it written down in a way that we can translate into multiple languages and distribute out to the many, many people who um get tech temporary food licenses here in the city.

So the idea is to really work again, looking at all those features um about how we make how we make the make it easier for um how we reduce miscommunication, I think is really what we're looking at in that current navigation realm.

Thank you very much.

And I would just urge you not to let too much time pass between times that you talk to somebody on the sort of customer side of things, just in my experience.

I've I've made so many mistakes of thinking I'm understanding what things look like from the outside.

Um just my just my two cents with appreciation.

Thank you.

Any other comments or questions from members of the committee?

Seeing none, uh, thank you so much for appearing before us and have a great rest of your night.

All right, that brings us to sustainability and environment.

And I believe we will have director of the Office of Sustainability and Environment, Steven Nutter.

Hello, Director.

Hello.

Um thank you.

Um counselors, uh hello, my name is uh Stephen Nutter.

I'm the chief sustainability officer and director of sustainability and uh environment division.

Um, our team of eight develops and implements whole government policies and programs that minimize climate change impacts and greenhouse gas emissions, uh, build resiliency, increase equity, enabling a healthy and enjoyable environment for all people of Somerville.

Um I just want to uh get into that that the creation of the new strategy and development department, which we talked about a little bit about at the beginning of this uh of this session, we we integrate um into OSBCD, uh, and we become this new this new division from a climate perspective.

Uh this really deepens our connections with our peer divisions uh in economic development, mobility, public space urban forestry, housing and planning, um, all pieces of our climate solutions.

Um I would just uh comment that you know we're definitely coming into the family, and it feels really good just in general.

Um our new division can leverage uh OSB CDs existing channels to DPW and infrastructure uh and to engage earlier in the process, moving more rapidly from from planning to piloting to execution.

Uh that's something that we've heard from from the community, and it's also just time to do to do these things.

Uh, by bringing these related functions together under a single leadership framework, uh, we will improve collaboration, uh, streamline project delivery and align policy development and implementation with our climate forward goals, all 77 of them.

This reorganization reflects Somerville's evolving needs as a growing complex urban community, requiring consolidated approaches to environmental stewardship, justice, and workforce development.

Uh, we will continue to have multiple direct lines to the mayor's office.

Um, and this structure more effectively enables us to pursue transformative projects uh and identify coordinated external funding um opportunities, uh, which I will say is is already uh happening as uh in this year.

As a division, uh we've identified broad goals in the in the budget book uh to advance climate action and decarbonization efforts uh to build community leadership uh around climate action.

And I just want to speak for the entire sustainability environment team.

Um that I'm so grateful for both uh the administration and uh all counselors uh for your commitment to sustainability and environment.

Thank you.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you, Director.

So to quickly summarize the questions and answers in the memo.

How will layoffs affect sustainability and environment workload?

The answer was uh finance work shifts to the strategy and development finance team, residential decarbonization work will be integrated into existing staff work.

Who handles residential decarbonization now?

The sustainability and engineering uh environment director will directly steward it with the SE team and other divisions.

Why was fiscal year 2026 spending the low budget?

Some professional technical services projects were completed, but school organic waste, geothermal planning, uh EV maintenance, and the vacant decarbonization position were not spent as planned.

Does fiscal year 2027 include rollover of delayed work?

Some geothermal work is shifting to a regional approach, and the school kitchen waste pilot is not proposed for fiscal year 2027.

How will climate forward stay on track despite cuts?

The department says, or the division says the work will continue and integration into strategy and development should improve cross-division alignment.

Are any fiscal year 2027 projects expected to pay back more than they cost?

Yes, Dilboy and Trum Lighting has a 3.5 year payback.

And traffic and parking building decarbonization has about an 18-year payback.

Are any projects postponed to fiscal year 2028 or later?

Um there's not any mentioned, uh, no specific postponed projects, but the main change is uh rethinking the residential decarbonization strategy.

Uh anything to add on any of those?

No, thank you.

Thank you.

Members of the committee, any questions or comments?

Counselor Hart.

Thank you, Chair Wheeler.

And through you to Director Netter, thank you so much.

Um and I really um appreciated hearing about your goals uh for the coming year.

And you mentioned uh lead community leadership development.

Um so I really appreciate that.

Uh the human component of all of this as well as the built environment and um technology.

So I really appreciate that.

And I'm wondering if you could say more about that.

I'm wondering if if that includes programs like the climate ambassadors, I'm imagining, or you know, I'd just love to hear more about your thoughts on that.

Uh yeah, through you, Chair.

I sometimes I sometimes I say that we have 80, 80,000 people on our staff.

Um and that's because every single one of us is part of this uh is part of this environment.

We we are all involved in sustainability.

We're all involved in climate environment work.

Um and it's it's really important that there's ownership in the in the community of all of our work.

Um our systems are are generally not set up in place to uh to make the best choices.

And you know, so I think we need to continue to engage the community across the board, whether that's meeting someone at an event, whether they're uh on our newsletter, whether they uh become part of our uh amazing climate ambassadors program, which is I think we're going to approach about 175 alumni now uh with this last cohort that went that went through um to serving our on our climate action action uh climate uh action commission, which uh just is newly reformed.

Um, and we got um 49, a record 49 applications for 13 positions just to just to show the the uh the interest uh and enthusiasm around around climate work in the city.

Um and I and I and it goes down into uh uh climate clubs uh in our schools.

And so we want to make sure that we are connecting with um people of all different uh demographics of all different uh all different ages and really across the city, uh, no matter their living situation or or where they fall, how long they've been here, um engaging people in climate environment work is critical to everything that we do.

Wonderful.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Hart.

Counselor Scott.

Uh yeah, thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I uh I gotta say of uh all the reorganizations and restructurings and position changes uh in the budget this year, uh this department might be the one that makes most sense to me.

Um I think there's been some much needed changes in this department for a few years now.

Um, and you know, honestly, I look at um I look at departments a lot in terms of what they're delivering directly to the city.

You know, public space and urban forestry has uh really been uh committed to creating these spaces to changing the uh the lived experience of people's lives here in the city.

And uh it's certainly my hope that with this uh new structure and new leadership that we'll see OSCE uh let's say refocus on uh more direct impact and direct services.

Um look forward to uh what you have planned for.

Thank you, Counselor Scott.

Councilor Link.

Thank you, Chair, through you.

Um I was wondering if you could speak a little more to it.

So uh and that that last answer um uh you mentioned um or uh it was mentioned that uh there was a maybe a rethinking of the approach um for residential decarbonization.

uh let's say refocus on uh more direct impact and direct services um uh look forward to uh what you have planned thank you counselor scott counselor link thank you chair through you um uh i was wondering if you could speak a little more to it so uh and that that last answer um uh you mentioned um or uh it was mentioned that uh there was a maybe a rethinking of the approach um for residential decarbonization i was just wondering if you could speak to that a little more if i i understand maybe some of it's still in a gestational stage um but uh if you could just say a little bit about where it's at um i'd appreciate it yeah uh through through you chair i i can definitely uh talk a little bit more about it um you know resource decarbonization uh is one of our most important places to to put our efforts uh we're we're fortunate to become a uh a specialized code uh municipality uh we have a literally amazing zoning groundbreaking zoning uh you know that that that has a lot of sustainability efforts in it uh we have you know um many different ways to to affect uh new construction to major renovations um and and a lot of work that's happening around the uh at the state level as well um the state just implemented a new large building um uh emissions uh reporting ordinance uh we have about 331 buildings in the city that are over 2000 square feet uh so they have to report their emissions already uh to to the state um but i just said 331 buildings uh plus all the the new construction and renovations that's happening which is you know it's a portion of of all buildings across the city uh particularly residential buildings is actually you know it's a pretty it's a smaller portion um most people live in houses that don't really change a lot across time and uh even though we have really good mass save programs where a lot of people have been able to take advantage of that um there's just a lot of of people that we haven't been able to to reach uh for a variety of different reasons and so having a race residential uh uh uh residential decarbonization strategy um I think is uh is imperative when when it's kind of across the board so you know so luckily like we are right down the hall from the housing division you know we I we we go to the director's meetings with all the rest of OS OSBCD uh you know I have I have uh uh monthly meetings with with folks in in engineering um these these types of connections uh and and directly connecting back to Eversource is really going to be the thing that that that drives us at scale and so I think it's helpful actually to take a uh a year off and and and have a develop a a broader strategy that can uh we can kind of get those pathways sorted out and uh and really be able to scale up across time wonderful thank you um and then uh two more questions um if I may uh one just uh uh I'm wondering if there if you have if um you've heard any updates I know that the um at the Winter Hill school site uh they were beginning to do some boring and I know uh one of the reasons was to to see if geothermal was possible there um did have you heard anything about that I have not heard anything specifically about the outcomes of the borings uh at the winter hill school but um we we we we've been involved from uh from early on um and we're always looking at geothermal we actually carry over geothermal from from last year uh just to make sure that we have uh funds available to explore it across the city wonderful yeah hopefully the the hopefully there's uh something nice comes from that uh and then my last question um is just uh you know so Somerville is as is known for a city of having some pretty substantial um heat islands uh is there um do you have any strategy that in mind um you know for for how to to help reduce some of the those impacts yeah we have a few projects that are happening right now uh inside of the of the division around uh resiliency and specifically working with uh local uh community groups um on de paving and also creating community uh uh uh community community centers uh when we do have uh uh heat events um we're also we we've been we've been building stronger ties with emergency management um as well um so kind of like many other things within the climate and sustainability world it's it's really kind of across the board which is one of the reasons why I think having um a sustainable and environment division is really helpful because you know we're able to you know to work uh um inside and partner with with many other different parts of the organization wonderful uh thank you very much for your answers and I really appreciate the work that you do thank you thank you counselor link any other questions or comments from members of the committee I am seeing none so thank you so much for appearing before us tonight

local uh community groups um on debating and also creating community um uh uh community community centers uh when we do have uh uh heat events um we're also we've been we've been building stronger ties with emergency management um as well um so kind of like many other things within the climate sustainability world it's it's really kind of across the board which is one of the reasons why I think having um a sustainability environment division is really helpful because you know we're able to you know to work uh um inside and partner with with many other different parts throughout the organization wonderful uh future thank you very much for your answers and I really appreciate the work that you do thank you Counselor Link any other questions or comments from members of the committee I am seeing none so thank you so much for appearing before us tonight and have a good rest of your evening thanks so much and that brings us to the community preservation committee slash community preservation act and I believe we will have preservation act manager Roberta Cameron uh possibly other folks from strategy and development as well ooh we got a split screen going on there what if I talk to you if I talk to you will I show up on the screen yes yes okay all right I see up oh yeah there we go thank you very much I'm Roberta Cameron Community Preservation Act manager the Community Preservation Act program continues to invest in assets that are critical to the quality of life for all Somerville residents namely open space and outdoor recreation historic preservation and affordable housing thanks to the support of voters in November 2024 the CPA program budget has significantly expanded which allows us to accommodate some larger and more costly projects which have been coming to the community preservation committee which I'll call CPC for short for funding.

Significant examples this past year include the Kennedy Schoolyard and Blessing of the Bay Linear Park both of which just broke round last week as well as improvements to historic buildings owned by nonprofit organizations that provide a range of community services such as child care, food pantries and cultural facilities to make their old buildings which Somerville has more than its share of more accessible and functional.

Since the surcharge increase we have also been able to increase our annual allocation to affordable housing to the Affordable Housing Trust by about two million dollars we appreciate the city council's trust in approving the funding recommendations made by the community preservation committee as you know the CPC conducts public outreach and invites input from staff throughout the city and coordinates with plans carried out by our colleagues to help the committee identify the city's needs and recruit applicants for funding both from within the city and among community partners the CPC's annual community preservation plan update describes the findings from our ongoing outreach and coordination and provides more details about the CPA program and recent activity.

That's my presentation for you so I welcome your questions.

Thank you manager uh no uh no memo on this one so members of the committee anyone have questions or comments for manager cameron I am seeing none uh I want to just recognize uh in the budget book on the the CPC page it mentions uh decision to increase the community housing line from 50% of funds to 55% of funds uh I just want to to applaud that and also just to applaud the the willingness of the committee to adjust levels and to you know to respond to changing needs and and try things uh really really welcome seeing that thank you if there are no questions or comments then we will with much appreciation uh thank you for appearing before us and wish you a good rest of your night thank you okay that brings us to the end of the strategy and development department uh part of this hearing uh members of the committee uh does anyone uh wish to make a motion for any cuts or any uh resolutions for further spending at this time uh with the acknowledgement that that opportunity will also be before us uh on Tuesday the 23rd.

Members of the committee, does anyone uh wish to make a motion for any cuts or any uh resolutions for further spending at this time uh with the acknowledgement that that opportunity will also be before us uh on Tuesday the 23rd.

Sure, Wheeler.

Um apologies.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but did we perhaps skip the Somerville Redevelopment Authority?

I'm so sorry.

We absolutely did.

And I'm looking at my notes and it was right in between two pages, and I totally skipped it over.

Thank you, Clerk, uh, for saving my butt.

I appreciate that.

Summerville Redevelopment Authority.

Uh I believe that we'll probably have um it looks like we have Director Nud Carney and uh Director Galligani.

Uh please take it away.

Yes, uh so good evening, everyone.

Uh very quickly, the Central Redevelopment Authority is staffed by the Economic Development Division.

And um, their budget is pretty small.

It is really reflective of just the ums or Sally, I don't know what the call for the members who participate on that board.

Thank you so much, Director.

Um, I will also just acknowledge as an FYI.

Uh I am the council's representative to the summer redevelopment authority at the moment.

So I sit on it.

Any questions or comments from members members of the committee.

Uh seeing none, I just have a quick one, which is um I know the SRA projects around 90 Washington, certainly.

That is a major one now.

Uh in addition to that, uh, I'm curious what work, if any, is in the works in terms of the 299 Broadway uh winter hill area and the Union Square area that the SRA is also involved in, or as well as any other projects that might be on the horizon.

Uh that is a great question, Chair.

Um so 299 Broadway is proceeding with construction at pace.

Um they are uh rapidly wrapping up the site work.

Um and then it'll be shifting that later this year into you know full vertical construction.

So um keep your eyes peeled for some celebrations of more milestones on that project coming up.

Um the civic advisory committee will continue to be meeting with the development team, and we are teeing up a summer meeting um now to make sure that there is that touch point uh with the community.

Uh in urban in the uh Union Square Urban Renewal Project.

Um the sort of next site that is on everyone's radar is D4.3.

That is the uh project with COA.

Um and the um the redevelopment authority continues to check in with uh US2 um and now is as part of that project team um around that that site specifically, and then of course all of the broader sites in the area.

So we do expect some movement on D4.3 in FY27 in some way, shape, or form, still to be determined.

There's there's definitely many steps for every site uh within the Union Square Urban Removal area.

Thank you very much, Director.

Any other questions or comments?

Uh seeing none, thank you very much for that.

Uh please make sure to tell Ted Fields so he can make fun of me at the next SRA meeting for almost skipping it.

And uh with that said, I will return to my question, uh wrapping up strategy and development.

Uh are there any motions by any members of the committee?

I oh I counselor Scott.

Yeah, Mr.

Chair, uh unless we want to subject the council to the working conditions of Amazon drivers, I might suggest we take a brief recess in between sections here.

You read my mind, Counselor Scott.

I was going to do just that.

Uh for the sake of the overall time of the evening.

I think I might try to keep it a short one again.

Uh right now I'm seeing it's 8.14 p.m.

Um, so I would like to invite us to come back at the 20 p.m.

Uh and I think with that we are in recess.

Thank you all.

See you in a few.

Thank you.

Okay, do we have everybody back?

All right, Clerk, could you please take the roll call?

Yes, I can.

So this is to re-establish quorum after the recess.

Counselor Link.

Here.

Great.

Counselor Stretza.

President.

Counselor Hart.

Here.

Counselor Scott.

Present.

Chair Wheeler.

Here.

All right.

With that, everyone has returned.

So we do have quorum.

Okay, thank you.

Proceeding with uh the public works uh department.

Uh so we have here uh commissioner of public works, Eric Wiseman.

Um please, uh I see unmuting.

I believe we'll we'll also have director of finance administration Megan Hugenpower, um, and uh perhaps additional staff.

I will I do want to make one quick note before I hand the floor over to you, Commissioner.

Uh, that this overall item for the public works budget, uh, item 1.2 uh includes the entire public works project budget, including recycling and waste, which is not separately listed here, but which does pertain to this item.

Uh please take it away.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh thank you, members of the finance committee.

My name is Eric Wiseman.

I'm the commissioner of Somerville's Department of Public Works.

I've been with the city for nine years, but this is my first budget as DPW commissioner.

Uh DPW maintains the city's streets, sidewalks, parks, playgrounds, trees, schools, city buildings, street light fire alarm, and traffic leg systems.

We also oversee the city's fleet, snow removal, recycling and waste and custodial services.

Our department is made up of eight divisions.

Administration, electrical, streets and sidewalks, recycling and waste facilities, leak, grounds, and school custodians.

There haven't been any changes to our organizational structure.

However, the lights and lines division is now called electrical.

The highway division is now called streets and sidewalks.

The sanitation division is now called recycling and waste, and the buildings division is now called facilities.

I'd like to introduce operations director Ben Waldripp for some brief remarks on staff.

Hello, my name is Ben Waldrup.

I'm the DPW operations director.

I've worked previously for the city of Somerville in the Parks and Rec department as operations director, and most currently with DPW as the ground superintendent for the last five seasons.

I work with Commissioner Weissman and our divisional superintendents to manage train and oversee 144 positions throughout the Department of Public Works across eight divisions.

This past year we added 30 new employees throughout these eight PPW divisions.

We promoted 26 DPW internal employees into new positions within the Department of Public Works.

In FY24, we had 33 vacancies yard wide.

In FY25, we lowered that number to 24 vacancies yard-wide.

And ending FY26, we currently have 16 vacancies throughout our DPW, which we've worked tirelessly to fill with competent, hardworking, and qualified applicants.

Thank you for your time.

I welcome any questions.

And good evening.

My name is Megan Muckentholler, Director of Finance and Administration for the Department of Public Works.

I started in this position on June 1st after spending four years as a budget analyst.

And I worked closely with DPW throughout my time.

The DPW admin budget supports work across all divisions, including employee training in our clerical staff that processes over 11,000 invoices annually from over 300 vendors.

We look forward to your questions at this time.

Thank you very much.

And uh are there any uh particular comments or anyone um who intends to speak to recycling and waste specifically, DPW Commissioner, I'll be presenting uh the recycling and waste budget.

Uh the recycling and waste division, formerly the sanitation division oversees the hauling and processing of the city's recycling, solid waste and hazardous materials.

Although there are no staff assigned directly to recycling and waste, the recycling manager in the admin budget and the three sanitation inspectors directly support the division's mission.

I'll look forward to your questions on the sanitation budget or recycling and waste budget.

Thank you very much, Commissioner.

Uh there's one uh question and answer in this memo, which I'll summarize briefly.

Uh it asks, uh, what is the DPW jail diversion program?

The answer is it provides at-risk youth employment and training through partners like Broca and Power Corps, often on state-owned or non-DPW maintained areas.

Uh anything to add about that.

Um questions or comments from the committee about both DPW administration and recycling and waste.

Counselor Scott.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh, I just quick one.

Uh how many directors, commissioner.

Um the I I did have a question about Power Core, because I'm I'm very familiar with ROCA, but not Power Core.

Uh, do they pay their people?

Through the chair, thank you for the question.

Counselor Scott, uh Power Corps does, and they are fully funded through the Americor.

So that's all federal funding.

And that is a program that uh I've spoken with their project managers.

We actually met them at a ISA convention back in January.

They're looking at partnering with us, which wouldn't be until August.

That's when their work study would begin.

So they have a uh horticultural program that we would work with and a arborticultural program that we'll work with.

So uh they also have a building program that's in the preliminary build-out phase.

So we're potentially looking at adding that in with the building shop as well at facility shop.

Well, it sounds like uh I'm I'm shocked more cities and towns wouldn't want to take as many folks out of that program as they could.

Uh it sounds like a pretty good deal.

But and and just to be clear, none of these people are currently incarcerated.

These are uh folks who are uh involved in our criminal justice system, but uh are doing this instead of being incarcerated, correct?

So through the chair for clarification, Power Corps has no uh background with the law enforcement system.

A lot of those are from um, I guess tough backgrounds, but they're I think primarily based out of Roxbury in the Boston area.

So um it would provide employment for some of the employment and education for some of the young individuals coming right out of high school who have not been involved with any criminal activity or any discipline.

It would just be um kind of like a work study program for these individuals right out of high school, where ROCA is directly a jail aversion program.

Oh, okay, all right.

Uh appreciate that.

Um yeah, I had other questions, but then oh uh for director Waldrup, uh there was a lot of numbers that flew past me really fast.

Um I was wondering if you could hit those vacancy uh numbers again for DPW.

Through the chair, that'd be fine.

So we have 144 positions yard-wide at DPW.

Um currently only 16 vacancies through those 144 positions.

So comes to off the top of my head, I believe like 11 or 12 percent vacancies.

But the last two years, we had 33 vacancies and FY24 going into the budget, and FY25, we had 24 vacancies.

So we've put a pretty good dent in that number with only 16 vacancies currently outstanding.

Sure.

And uh, do you have that broken out by division?

I do.

I could give you a quick count on that.

Um, so the building shop, we currently have two positions, school custodians, there are four vacancies.

Rounds, there are three vacancies.

Fleet, we have one and streets and sidewalks, previously known as highway, is two vacancies there.

Or four, I'm sorry, four in streets and sidewalks.

All right.

Uh all right.

That's well, that that is a serious improvement.

Uh, one thing that we've talked about historically is uh doing recruitment and uh outreach to Somerville High School.

Is there any uh have y'all been doing any uh recruitment events for folks in Summerville High?

Through the chair we have, we have a program currently called Let's Get Working, where we've partnered with our CTE program trying to build a feeder system into DPW from our own uh internal students at Somerville High School.

We also have the mayor summer job program, which is in the summer months, but we're hoping that the summer jobs turns into a feeder program for let's get working and let's get working would turn into a feeder program for DPW.

All right.

Well, I appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Counselor Scott, Counselor Hart.

Thank you.

Excuse me.

Thank you, Chair.

Um, that those numbers also really stood out to me in terms of um bringing the vacancy rate down over several years.

And um I was just wondering, uh do you feel like the system uh that the work that's been put in over the past few years to get to this point is maintainable at this level, or is there still going to be a push um in the coming year for uh focusing on filling those vacancies and bringing that rate down even more?

Just wondering about through the chair, absolutely.

Yeah, our goal for next year is to have no vacancies uh at the time of the budget.

Um I think that's why the reclassifications that we proposed are so critical.

We need to have a ladder for staff to come into the department, get trained, and get promoted within the department.

Um confident that we will be the lower than 16 the next budget.

Through the chair, I will share too that we are currently interviewing for the majority of these positions, whether we have internal applicants or external applicants.

So um we have had interviews this week and last week.

A lot of these positions are moving forward, but right now we do have 16 vacancies.

We're I would say in the next month, we should be down to about 12, if I had to guess.

But we're hoping, like Commissioner Weissman said, this time next year, we're gonna be uh continuing that same trend as of filling these positions and keeping our employees once we do hire them.

That's fantastic.

I know with with such a large workforce, so many employees, I'm sure there's always going to be some turnover.

Um, but that's that's fantastic to hear.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Counselor Hart.

Counselor Link.

Uh on the well, thank you, Chair.

And through you, um on that point.

Um, do we have any numbers on retention rates?

Through the chair retention rate, I believe would be a HR directed question.

I don't have those exact numbers to share with you, but um, I will add in that a lot of these vacancies that we do currently have, um, it does turn into a domino effect and a shuffling effect, and we do promote within it does vacate positions, obviously underneath.

Um, so it does turn into kind of a juggling act on our end.

If there is say a foreman position that vacates, a lot of time there's internal movement where we'll have a special heavy bid into that, then a heavy operator bid into the special heavy and a PWL bid into that next higher position.

So um for employee retention, those numbers may look like attrition, but it is actually not.

It's just internal promotions and the next uh next employee would move up into the next higher position.

Sounds good.

All right.

Well, talk to HR.

Thank you.

Thank you, Counselor Link.

Counselor Spezzo.

Thank you.

Uh all my questions of Van answered.

I'm really excited to hear about the lowered um staff uh vacancies.

Very excited about here.

And I just wanted to commend you as well for the the continued work of of pushing to get those those positions filled.

And also I'm really delighted to hear about the promoting from within.

I think that's really crucial for continuity and also just uh positive morale.

It's it's a good sign.

And just wanted to say that.

Thank you.

Uh not seeing other hands up, uh, I have a question or two.

Uh first of all, um, I want to recognize the uh the improvement made around mattress recycling and that uh Department of Public Works uh made this uh policy change, this this rules change uh to require uh a you know purchaseable recycling ticket to be attached to a mattress to be picked up.

And it sounds like that saved 155,000 um for the the coming fiscal year.

So that that's an exciting change to see.

And I appreciate uh trying new things.

Uh I know that might be annoying to someone out there throwing away a mattress, but it's a cost that we shouldn't shift over to the city.

Um a related item I know that that that relates to waste and recycling is uh the uh charge now that businesses and and I guess apartment buildings uh above a certain size are facing for uh for recycling bins, you know, being picked up over the course of the year or something in the ballpark of $800.

And I know this is not everybody.

This is sort of a uh small slice, but um I just I just wonder if you could speak to that item.

If uh, you know, I I have heard from some that that cost struck them as as high.

You know, I I imagine it is an appropriate cost and reflects how much how much these things cost.

I just thought I'd get your perspective on that.

Yeah, thank you, Chair.

Uh, this was not an easy decision for us, but uh given the financial situation, uh we wanted to make sure that we could serve our key constituency, which is um you know, smaller household residential uh recycling and solid waste services.

Uh we found this to be a reasonable charge based on the costs of recycling uh and other recycling haulers and what they charge.

It wasn't meant to be an exorbitant cost, it was meant to be uh an affordable recycling option.

That being said, um if uh if businesses and or commercial entities uh would prefer to to go with a different um recycling company, they are free to do so.

But uh we found it was a reasonable way to uh to respond to changes that have happened in the recycling industry since the original recycling program started.

Thank you.

Uh and also I saw in the budget book page an item on piloting new, more robust curbside carts for residential collection.

I'm just curious if that's a reference to carts that that now we have piloted and that are already out there, or if there's um some other type of trash or recycling cart that we're looking into and how it differs.

Thank you, Chair.

There, yes, there is a uh new uh recycling part and uh for businesses and residents that will be rolling out uh over the next month or so.

Okay, thank you very much.

Um those are my only questions.

Any other questions from members of the committee?

Counselor Hart.

Just on that, um Chair Wheeler.

Uh, can you tell us a little bit more?

Like, are there any um improvements to the card or benefits from the new carts?

Uh I'm wondering about particularly, I know there's been a lot of discussion about rodent um and carts.

Through the chair, yes.

Um the cart is designed to be more stable, less likely to tip and and uh spill materials uh that might attract rodents as well as being um uh of a more rigid plastic that may be more difficult for rodents to truly.

Great.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Hart.

Uh any other comments or questions?

Right.

Seeing none, uh, thank you very much.

I imagine that we will continue to be seeing you as we go down this list of divisions.

Uh so let's move on to electrical.

Hello.

Hello.

Through the chair, my name is Jeffrey Bavier.

I am a superintendent of streets, sidewalks, and electrical.

I have been with the city for 22 years, superintendent for five and a half years.

Uh we take care of streets, uh sidewalks, repairs, potholes, snow removal, street sweeping, city trash and recycling.

We work with other departments this year.

We are working with mobility.

Uh installing flex posts on the Elm Beacon project.

This will keep uh work in-house instead of contracting it out.

Electrical takes care of traffic signals, street flights, and fire alarm systems.

Thank you.

I look forward to your questions.

Thank you so much.

Uh, to summarize uh questions and answers for electrical.

Uh, do in-house electrical projects require more electricians?

The answer was no.

DPW says currently fully staffed electrical positions can handle the work.

A question was, will special training be needed?

And it didn't directly say, but uh, it emphasizes that the team includes licensed electricians and a skilled signal maintainer.

Um anything to add to those?

No.

Thank you, Superintendent.

Uh okay, any questions or comments from the committee?

Counselor Scott.

Thank you, Ms.

Chair.

Good evening, Superintendent.

Uh just a quick one about lights and lines.

You know, I know we used to have Dagle uh as an electrical contractor.

I I forget who who it's been the last couple of years.

Um, but I know we used to lean on them a whole lot to get work done.

Uh I'm having a hard time remembering where that budget higher dagel used to come out of.

Uh and wondering how much we're we're leaning on our contractor these days.

Was that the repairs to lighting line?

To the chair.

The the current contractor is Pine Ridge uh technologies.

Um there are two lines that that uh we use for Pine Ridge for two separate contracts.

Uh the street light maintenance contract comes out of repairs to lighting, and the traffic signal maintenance contract comes out of repairs to traffic signals.

All right.

So it sounds like we're still uh still leaning on them, uh using them for all of our uh traffic signal repairs.

Uh but it looks like the budget for uh streetlight repairs has come way down.

Is that just because you're planning on being able to insource more of that work?

Through the chair, yes.

We'll be doing more new house work.

Wonderful.

And Ms.

Through the Chair, if I may.

Um a lot of that traffic signal work is uh like traffic signal upgrades or installation of uh preemption systems.

Where's we're actually doing more and more maintenance of the track of uh standard traffic standard traffic signal maintenance?

I've I've seen some of your guys down here in Union Square.

Uh thank you very much, Mr.

Chair.

To me, this is an extremely positive trend.

So keep it up, y'all.

Thank you, Councillor Scott.

Any other questions or comments?

Counselor Link.

Thank you, Chair.

Through you, um uh I believe I was directed to you guys um by the fire department.

Um uh curious about um the progress um on the uh on the smart signals, um, or the the which I think we just mentioned that a little bit, the preemption, um, so that uh you know the fire trucks can get through um to where they're going pretty uh quicker, I guess, uh when there's no sight lines and that kind of thing.

Oh are you able to speak to that at all?

Yeah, through the chair.

Um so we are working with the engineering department and lights and lines department with installing the preemption assistance throughout the city.

Currently we have uh I think six installed in the city.

We're installing the preemption assistance into the police department.

I mean the fire department, no, sorry, excuse me, I'll just slow down in the uh police department vehicles.

We have one installed already waiting to test it, and then the fire department will be installing their preemption systems, and as soon as they have one tested in their vehicle, then we'll test the systems all together before we continue the installation of them.

Fantastic.

And so if if all goes well, um, you know, is there uh how how quickly I guess our I guess what is what of the for the total, like is there a large I I have to imagine we wouldn't necessarily want this in every single just I might I imagine it might be cost prohibitive.

We might not want it in every single uh light, but um you know, is there is there a sense of like how big of a project this is, I guess.

So I'm asking.

Through the chair, we'll be working with the engineering department to determine what the best locations are for the preemption systems with the fire department and the police department working together.

Wonderful.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councilor Link.

Uh any other questions or comments?

Uh I have one sort of a follow-on about the fire alarm systems.

Uh I'm just curious about the pull boxes on the street, uh, the different ones that we still have and still use.

Uh, I see the repairs fire alarm item on the budget, and I'm just wondering, you know, overall if if that captures the annual cost for us of continuing to operate these pull boxes.

That does include the boss, but it also uh reflects us doing the repairs in-house instead of contracting it out.

Uh thank you.

And uh just curious how often those are used.

Um, I I did speak to assistant fire chief uh Sean Tierney about this.

Um, you know, if if people are still alerting the fire department uh using pull boxes to fires uh faster than you know, a call comes in uh sometimes, then I'm all for it.

And I you know just want to double check that we're you know monitoring that question.

And if the day comes, whether it's now or sometime in the future when the pull boxes aren't alerting us to any fires that that eventually we might shut them down.

Through the chair, I don't have the data on that.

That would be a fire alarm okay.

Yeah, Mr.

Chair, we would have to defer to the fire department on a matter like that.

We'll we'll maintain them as long as they uh they have to use it understood.

Any other questions or comments from members of the committee?

Uh seeing none, thank you very much uh for your work.

And I suppose we will see you about streets and sidewalks in uh a few items.

That brings us to facilities.

Uh I'm curious who will speak to us uh on this item.

Uh good evening.

Uh hello, my name is Matthew Ben.

I'm a superintendent of facilities of the DPW.

And I've been with the city for the last four years in that position.

The DBW facilities department oversees all aspects of building maintenance and custodial for 29 city buildings as well as uh as 11 school buildings.

The facility department currently consists of 12 persons, uh 12 trades persons, five supervisors and managers, nine city custodians, and 40 school custodians who respond to daily maintenance and occurrences in all city and school buildings.

This year we're really looking forward to the continuation of utilizing our amazing trades personnel to perform maintenance and custodial tasks in-house to ensure the summer will continue to provide fiscally responsible and efficient core services to the community in the long term.

Um my department will support and continue to work interpartmentally to achieve smoother transitions from project to project, contract to contract, and fiscal year to fiscal year and other poor two questions.

Thank you, Supervisor Bennett.

Uh, any questions or comments from members of the committee?

I'm not seeing a hand go up.

Uh, I had a couple of questions about you know, just looking through the budget book.

Uh, I saw that there was an overtime item and an overtime labor item.

It might not be the only place, but I was just wondering if you could help me with that distinction.

Um the chair.

Um they are essentially the same.

It depends on whether the employee is in a union or not.

So we do tend to transfer this between um overtime and overtime labor.

You'll see that the spend is coming out of the overtime labor line because it is for employees who are humanized.

Thank you.

Appreciate that.

Counselor Link.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh, just wanted to um, as the school building facilities and maintenance, um, we get to uh see some of the the work that you guys have been doing.

Uh uh keeping the the schools running.

Um, so just wanted to uh share the appreciation and I I hope that um we'll be able to continue counting on you guys to make sure that our kids are and teachers and staff are all comfortable and well cared for.

So thank you.

Uh not seeing another hand up, uh I have another question.

I'm really excited again to hear about uh moving this uh expertise and work in-house.

And I'm curious what contractor work uh is is being eliminated in terms of using contractors um so that we can be moving this in-house.

Uh through the chair.

That's an excellent question.

We continue to use um NHAC outside contractor, an electrical contractor, and plumbing contractor can enlarger um more um vital or emergency needs, uh, but typically my trades personnel that we currently have now um are energetic and they look for the challenge.

So hopefully we reduce all three of those to the bare minimum for many, many years to come.

Great.

Thank you very much.

Uh one question that I had about the sort of uh the budget for this coming year.

I you know, I notice for for a bunch of different divisions.

Uh there are you know some patterns of having uh having allocated funds, you know, in in fiscal year 2026 and 2025, and those not all being used, which is great.

Uh, but then you know, seeing seeing another large allocation, which you know, again, I'm hoping we won't need all of uh I understand the need for a buffer because uh you know you can spend less, but you can't spend more.

Uh for a few items, you know, just just looking through the list.

Uh I was curious.

You know, I saw a big increase in electrical costs um for the division, uh, as well as sundry maintenance supplies.

And I just wanted to ask about those.

Yeah, thank you, Chair.

Um, so what we did this budget is we really tried to uh match the budget item to what the historical spend was.

So you'll see some increases in uh the original budget that actually match uh where historically we've transferred funds.

Uh sundry sundry supplies is one that we were already sort of under budgeting and then um uh transferring funds into.

So we really wanted to have like a less wishy looking budget and have uh like lines be more appropriately sized for our historical spending patterns.

Thank you.

And oh, you mentioned electrical, that's a line where traditionally we funded uh interior building maintenance in a uh large part and then transferred funds from interior building into the different trades, RM categories depending on what is needed.

Again, we look at historical spending and try to align to what we get stored at least valuable.

Thank you very much.

Just to make sure that I'm sort of reading this correctly and understanding the different pieces.

So looking at the sundry maintenance supplies line.

Um, so I'm seeing that for fiscal year 2026, 280,000 was budgeted.

The the fiscal year 26 actual line says 189,000 in change, and then the fiscal year 2027 proposed is 350.

Am I understanding that maybe 189,000 of that 280,000 was used, but then more was needed to be appropriated for things that that really are sundry maintenance supplies, but maybe weren't categorized as such, or um, I just want to make sure I'm understanding the explanation.

Thank you.

Uh through the chair, we have a lot of spending still yet to come for sundry maintenance supplies.

We currently have 107,000 encumbered that we are planning to spend before July 30th.

Thank you.

Uh totally makes sense.

I appreciate it.

And I'm I'm glad to get up to speed with how that works and acknowledge that we're not quite to the end of the fiscal year.

So thank you for clarifying that.

Any other questions or comments from members of the committee?

Okay, seeing none, thank you so much for appearing before us, and we will move on to fleet.

And my apologies.

I uh I tried to look up directors and assistant directors.

I didn't do the search for uh superintendents and supervisors.

So uh I love to welcome people with their names and for um for the next few.

I will just have to learn along with everyone else.

Hello, welcome.

My name is Max Peteris.

I'm the fleet manager for the city.

I started June 2025.

As a fleet manager, I will see a plan for vehicle replacement, maintenance and repairs for all vehicles to meet the city operation requirements.

I look forward to your questions.

Thank you so much.

I'll just briefly summarize the questions and answers in the memo.

How is DPW fleet transparency being protected?

The answer was through purchasing controls, financial review, weekly budget meetings, purchase order reports, and weekly overtime pre-approval and reconciliation.

And is there an independent audit?

Um, and the answer describes uh internal controls and review processes, uh, but not a specific independent audit.

Uh anything to add on either of those?

Yeah.

Okay.

Any questions or comments from members of the committee?

Uh I'm not seeing any.

Uh I have uh two quick questions.

One is uh, you know, I'm curious about the, you know, I I know vehicles from the day they roll off a lot, they're always uh they're always getting older and and uh the clock is ticking on replacing them.

And I'm I'm curious sort of what the overall state of the fleet is and how much replacement liability we're carrying.

Through the chair, um we do have a really good amount of vehicles um that are aged.

Um we are in the process with paygo on replacing some vehicles um this fiscal year and next fiscal year on.

Thanks.

Um generally speaking, do you feel like that's kind of on schedule?

Uh does it does it feel like we're behind the eight ball on it?

Uh um through the chair, uh we are a little behind, but um, as maintenance are coming up, we are working on to keep the vehicles safe.

Um, and all um departments will have their vehicles with no concerns.

Thank you.

And I'm curious if oh, sorry, uh I heard something.

Is there any anything else to add?

Uh I'm curious about uh how electrical vehicle uh purchases and you know all the different things that are connected to that uh because there's charging infrastructure, there's plans for for how to maintain and who's going to maintain them, um, other operational needs.

I'm just curious how how that's being approached in general and you know, if it involves coordination with other departments and divisions.

Yeah, so uh thank you, Chair.

We do have a uh like uh a vehicle review uh process that we're going to be uh I think uh engaging with where we review um our purchase plans with the board and they make record uh recommendations to uh make sure that the vehicles are as efficient as possible given the the various operational needs of the city.

Uh you are right that there are infrastructure needs in terms of charging that need to be addressed.

So that is going to be something that we're going to be looking at over the next few years.

And um, I think uh those of you who are on school buildings and uh the school buildings facility maintenance committee will know that there are like some larger infrastructure needs in Somerville around electricity uh that sort of impact this discussion, but we are uh excited to electrify where it is operationally and infrastructurally feasible.

And at this time, uh sorry, one more point.

At the time, I believe has two electric vehicles, uh, and there are a handful of other electric vehicles already in use throughout this correctly.

Thank you.

Counselor Lake.

Thank you, Chair.

On that point, I'm just curious.

So uh as part of this review, like we'll so there's the charging.

Um, of course, there's the gas, which is significantly higher right now, anyway.

Um, but also uh as an owner of an electric vehicle.

Um, I know that like maintenance costs are um in my experience anyway.

I can't see speak for every car.

Um, have been dramatically lower.

So, like is that the kind of thing that that's going to go into the review as well?

Through the chair, yes, I yeah.

Okay, wonderful.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Link.

Any other questions or comments?

Seeing none, thank you so much for joining us this evening.

And we will move on to grounds.

How's it going?

My name's Ben Aldrip.

I'm the operations director, also ground superintendent.

Um, ground superintendent for the past five years.

So grounds division's primary focus is to ensure the functionality and safety within the city of Somerville's parks and green spaces.

The grounds division proactively maintains these public spaces with trash and recycling removal, event staging, seasonal flower and ornamental plantings, and all general landscaping and maintenance needs as well as snow removal.

The grounds division also houses our fields division, who oversees the upkeep for our athletic fields on both synthetic and natural surfaces.

Grounds also houses our tree crew, also known as the tree amigos and oversees our diverse and growing tree crop.

Since last budget, we've hired and trained six new grounds employees, and we're at a record number of staff positions in the grounds division.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Any questions or comments from members of the committee?

Councilor Scott.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh this is an evergreen question that I ask uh almost every season, which is you know, we've got all this expanded um green infrastructure and stormwater infrastructure.

Uh, you know, but the work that PCF keeps putting in, uh, and all our departments is more and more sophisticated.

And I know uh down here in Union Square, we when we did our community cleanup, it was uh dominated by those uh stormwater catch basins.

Uh in the past, we talked about uh in in-housing more of the maintenance that happens at Lincoln Park.

Um actually starting to maintain some of that infrastructure the city installs.

Uh I recall in the past you saying, well, we need another crew, another crew of three to take care of that.

Uh is that something uh that's under discussion about um how we can how we can bring some folks in on that.

And we do have a GSI contract that partners with engineering and PSAF.

And we also have a horticultural contract where we've partnered with PSAF as well on that to manage that contract.

Um we do have an in-house gardener, and we're working at cross-training some of our own staff, but for the time being, those are uh well-needed contracts that we have in place.

And Mr.

Through the Chair, if I may.

Uh part of the the work that we hope to uh to complete through the reclassification process, we'll get additional staff into the department that can support some of the gardeners work, which will directly uh help our ability to do some of that horticultural work, some of that green stonewater work, uh as well as help support the uh the tree crew's part.

All right, well, I suppose hope uh springs a term, uh Mr.

Wheeler.

This is uh this is the grounds department and the Red Sox from the late 90s.

There's always next year.

Thanks a lot, y'all.

Thank you, Counselor Scott.

I'm not seeing another hand.

Um I have a quick question.

Uh does grounds uh get involved with rodent mitigation and control at all.

Through the chair, we do uh to you, Counselor Wheeler.

The grounds division has partnered with some other divisions.

Um we've worked with ISD on some rodent eradication at Milk Road Cemetery at City Hall.

There's a new machine that we've been rolling out called the Borough RX machine, uh primarily run with the grounds division and facilities has helped out as well with that, along with ISD.

So uh pretty early in the rollout period.

We've been using it, I'd say for about two or three months right now, but uh we plan to continue implementing the borough RX and we'll evaluate it as we go through the summer and fall months.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments from members of the committee?

Seeing none, thank you so much for uh speaking to grounds.

Uh and we will move on to snow removal.

And I figure we're we're getting our this okay.

Uh are we getting the same lineup?

Yeah, yeah, sure.

Uh Eric Wiseman DBW commissioner.

Um I'll be presenting the snow budget.

Uh the DPW uses utilizes staff and contractors to de-ice plow and remove snow to maintain safety and operations during the winter.

We remove snow from city streets on sidewalks adjacent to city properties and from around schools.

I look forward to your questions on the snow budget.

Thank you very much.

Uh we have a couple of questions and answers.

One is uh why is the snow budget kept relatively low given that the budget can go up quite a bit?

The answer was saying that legally speaking, snow spending can't exceed the appropriation.

Uh some conservative budgeting preserves funds for other needs with deficits covered later by transfers uh or free cash.

A question was, is fiscal year 2027 lower than fiscal year 2026?

The answer was no.

Uh DPW uh is uh increasing the snow removal budget from 1.7 million in change uh in fiscal year 2026 to 1.8 million in change for fiscal year 2027.

Uh any comments on that.

Okay, seeing none, uh let's go to the committee.

Counselor Scott.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um I guess you know, obviously the the big chunk is that 3.1 million in removal.

That's uh for contractors, right?

The 803,000 is overtime to our own in-house guys.

Is that correct?

That's correct.

Okay.

Uh now I know we have to pull from a lot of different contractors.

Uh and I uh TZE used to be one of them.

Um I don't know if they're still doing it or not.

I heard uh we were hiring Charlie Zamuto's guys instead.

Um do we have a breakdown of who the contractors were and how much they got paid this year?

Uh, this year, yes, we do.

Would you like me to read them off or would you prefer it in the oh my gosh?

Let me pull up my typing finger, sir.

Uh I don't I wouldn't mind you sending it to me too, but uh yeah, I'm happy to do uh it's at your pleasure, Counselor Smith.

No, go for it.

Uh I'll I'll just ask is this uh a super long list?

Is it the shortish one?

Uh I think there's about nine contractors with various totals.

I'm happy to submit it as a memo.

I can submit it, uh submitted as a memo then and uh follow up on our uh offline.

Uh just always interested in uh in our contractor situations now.

So uh but I did see somebody shake the head and say uh we're we're not uh we're not doing business with Tim Zanelli excavating anymore on that.

We are not utilizing them for snow services.

I don't know if other departments use just curious, just curious.

Uh all right.

Um yeah, is there uh do you have kind of a breakdown of how many of those uh how many of those vendors are local Somerville vendors?

Because I definitely I know a few guys who are driving trucks, uh you know, a few bartenders that were driving trucks during the uh snowstorms.

Uh do we have a sense of how much of that is is even if we're not able to keep it in-house to DBW, how much of it is going to Somerville vendors.

I don't know that off the top of my head.

Uh a number of our vendors are local in various ways, have yards uh in and around Somerville.

Um, but I can tell you where they're based when I put that number together.

Great.

Sounds good.

And if I may, if you know anybody with the truck, send them my way, please.

All right.

Uh thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I'm all set.

Thank you, Councillor Scott.

Counselor Lane.

Thank you, Chair.

Through you.

Um I'm I'm curious um what the long-term strategy is uh regarding like so you know, this year we we made heavy use of some snow farms.

I like and that was the I know two big ones were the Holman site and 90 Washington.

Um and both of those have plans to be um activated as uh or built on and developed um in the near future.

So is there um what's the strategy the for how if we if we God forbid half another uh you know 2025 winter?

Uh where will that snow go?

But chair, thank you for the question.

Uh yeah, this is a big challenge for us.

Um we have been working with economic development and we even received uh a couple of leads from our own counselor Scott about some locations in Somerville to uh to store snow, which we will be pursuing.

We have a meeting next week to start to strategize about how to firm up agreements with those property owners.

It's good to hear.

All right, thank you very much.

Thank you, Counselor Lank.

Any other questions or comments from members of the committee?

Uh seeing none, um I want to just ask a question about snow removal um and you know our use of the snow removal dollars.

I I think this has gotten better in recent years, but uh I have heard from a number of residents with uh different mobility uh difficulties that um sometimes street corners uh are not clear of snow, and there's sort of a path that people make just by uh trapsing through over and over, but that can be just impossible to get over with um with uh a walker, even just uh if you're you know less than fully steady on your feet, let alone uh uh um wheelchair.

And uh I know that there are these uh these little snow cats that and I'm not sure if these are in-house or contracted that we use for plowing bike lanes.

Um I'm curious how we're approaching clearing street corners, if that's something that's kind of considered in the snow removal uh purview and and expected, um, and if it's possible to use any tools and including those little snow cats uh to help with that.

Thank you, Chair.

So snow removal on the corners is the responsibility of the property owners to do.

Um that being said, we do utilize our equipment on uh some enhanced enforcement areas, including Broadway and School Street, where we clear all corners.

We also clear all corners adjacent to all of the city's bus stops, and we do snow removal from the bus stops.

Um we clear all corners uh around city buildings on islands and uh in school drop off areas.

Uh thank you.

That makes a lot of sense.

And the last thing I want to do is make more work uh for our strapped in-house and uh contracting staff.

I do wonder if we have somebody already going down a bike lane, if it couldn't uh be that much trouble for them to to take a little a little detour.

But that's that's me saying it, not having to deal with every corner being a little different from every other corner and um and the added cost that such a contract would involve.

Um and thank you for for entertaining uh my musing on that.

Any other questions or comments from members of the committee?

Seeing none.

Oh, sorry.

Heard something, but I think that was not on purpose.

I'm sorry.

Somebody caught Excellent.

Um, thank you so much for uh addressing this item.

And let's move on to streets and sidewalks.

So I imagine we are going to get uh Jeffrey Barbier uh superintendent again.

I'm there.

Ready to go.

Hello.

Sorry, I didn't mean to didn't mean to interrupt you.

Uh do you want to give any intro to streets and sidewalks?

I already gave my intro the first time I was out.

You want me to do it again?

Fair enough.

No, appreciate that.

Uh I'll summarize the questions and answers real quick.

How much sidewalk work is projected for fiscal year 27 versus 26?

Uh so 3,251 linear feet were replaced in 26 uh as of June 15th.

And there are plans for 3,851 linear feet in fiscal year 27.

What's the cost of curb cuts versus raised crosswalks?

Uh, and for that, DPW refers to engineering's answer uh on this.

So we will talk to engineering about that.

Any comments or questions from members of the committee?

I am seeing none.

Um the one thing I wanted to ask about are uh do we know through our streets and sidewalks work um about ADA ramps and sort of how many are missing or how many might be non-compliant.

Uh, and if there are plans to to fix a certain number of those ramps this fiscal year.

Through the chair, yes.

We actually have a contractor that's coming in that we've been using for the last year.

Um ADA ramps, we took care of uh Kennedy School last year.

We took care of the Pottaho school last year.

We took care of um what else can we do?

I think those were the only two schools that we did last year.

Um, but the Potahall school, we went um uh Curtis Street all the way to North Street and took care of all the handy the ADA ramps there.

Uh we actually just finished up down here at school in Medford Street and starting fiscal year.

We're gonna be going Broadway and Cedar Street, take care of those ones also.

So, yes, we do have plans.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate that.

Uh, I'm seeing a hand from Councillor Hart.

Thank you.

Um, my question is in the budget.

It looks like am I correct in reading it right that street sweeping is uh outside contractor through the chair, yes, it is.

Okay.

Uh through the chair if I may, it's actually combination.

We do overnight street sweeping in the crosstowns and mains or in the crosstowns.

Uh, and then we do overnight sweeping on the mains on the mains.

Always get that mixed up.

Uh, and then we use a contract or the game.

And is that something that potentially could be brought in-house in in future years as well, or is that not feasible?

So uh thank you for the question through the chair.

Uh street sweeping is not a you know, I'm all for insourcing and brain work in-house.

Street sweeping is one that is uh because it's this um sanitary service.

We really prefer to uh place the liability onto the contractor.

What happened in the past when we add in-house resweeping services because it was this critical service that we provided on a schedule.

Uh, if somebody was out sick, uh we had to pull staff offer another job, so it might mean they couldn't run your curb setting program or your your cement finishing program.

So like putting that liability in the contractor makes them handle all of the staffing and covering absences and things like that.

And it also lets us not be responsible for maintaining the very expensive uh highly breakable pieces of equipment that involve lots of hydraulics and things like that.

So I think that it's really in the best interest of the city not to in-source uh this service and continue continue with the status model.

Thanks so much for that explanation.

I appreciate it.

Thank you, Counselor Hart.

Uh Counselor Link, I think I saw a hand, but it went down.

You're good.

Okay.

Any other questions or comments from members of the committee?

Uh okay, seeing none, uh, thank you so much for appearing again before us, superintendent.

Uh, and we will move on to school custodians.

Um, yeah.

Hello, please go ahead.

Sorry, our timing is off.

You go.

That's all right.

Yeah, I got you.

Don't worry, we're all the same.

Thank you.

Um hello, my name is Michael Bowler, supervisor of facilities grounds and custodians for the city assemble.

Our department is responsible for maintenance custodial operations in all city and school buildings.

We remain focused in providing efficient and cost-effective services while we're supporting our needs for our residents, students, and staff.

Thank you, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much, Superintendent.

Uh okay, members of the committee, uh, I am seeing a hand from John Link.

Counselor Link.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh, through maybe uh Commissioner Wiseman can see this one coming.

Um I'm curious, uh, have the contract negotiations um for uh the uh custodial staff um gone through.

And uh has there been any um any changes in the way that the uh the sort of staff will be um kind of staffing uh the different schools through the chair, I believe uh counselor link is obliquely referring to attempt custodian at the East Somerville school on a swing shift.

Am I reading that correctly?

Yeah.

So uh we have extensive conversations with the union.

Uh we are planning to have that position hosted over the summer and in place for the school year respect.

I don't want to uh speak out of turn about the contract negotiations, but we are very uh optimistic about extremely optimistic.

Great.

That all sounds wonderful to me.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Counselor Link.

Any other questions or comments?

Um I have a question.

It sounds like uh my colleague knows quite a bit more than I do.

Um, I I just noticed with several vacancies, uh, I was wondering if uh we're using a bunch of overtime to maintain coverage at the moment.

Rule the chair, we do some overtime, but not a lot.

We do have floaters that do fill in.

Depends on attendance.

Um, but we do, you know, again, if everybody's having a great attendance, then we have no problems.

But uh, we do have uh floaters that do fill in.

Thank you.

And Mr.

Chair, we are continuing to interview for those positions.

Uh we hope to have those positions filled by us with the book.

And we threw the chair, we do have two in progress right now of hiring to right now.

Wonderful.

I'm excited to hear about all the progress and you know that we've heard since the beginning of the presentation about filling vacancies.

Um it's a big deal, really.

And I would be remiss, uh, Mr.

Chair, if I didn't give a shout out to our recruiting team that's really supported uh that effort.

So thank you to that.

I absolutely echo that.

Thank you to the team.

Uh, any other comments or questions from members of the committee.

Okay, seeing none, uh, thank you so much for appearing before us, everyone.

Uh, that brings us to the end.

And I think I'm not skipping a division this time.

Brings us all the way to the end of public works.

And uh I will now entertain motions from any members of the committee for proposed cuts or proposed resolutions for additional spending.

Counselor Scott.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh, y'all can stop holding your breath.

Uh I've actually those who have uh been around long enough to see many me when I joined the council knows that I used to really hunt uh DCW's budget pretty and uh found found a few things over the years.

Uh but I will say that again the trend line on this is real strong.

I think we're making good progress.

It's always uh worthwhile to continue oversight, especially for a group uh that makes up uh such an enormous part of our city's budget.

Um so just to reassure the public that even though that might have gone faster than the uh the section before it and strategy and development, uh it's not for a lack of diligence uh on the part of uh uh both the administration uh or the finance committee here.

Things are things are looking at the BPW.

So thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Councillor Scott.

Anyone else?

All right, seeing none, we will move on to infrastructure.

And I imagine that we will start with director of infrastructure, Rich Raish, and probably also director of finance, Michael Richards.

Hello.

Please feel free to begin.

Sure, thank you.

Uh from your record, Richard Rach, director of infrastructure.

Uh, it is either supremely appropriate or the very definition of irony that structure is going last since we provide the foundational services without which we could not inhabit our 4.2 square miles.

We deliver clean drinking water, we provide sanitation without which we would all die of cholera.

We make sure that our buildings are safe to inhabit.

Essentially, without the services that infrastructure uh provides, we wouldn't be able to do any of the other things that happen for our municipal budget or for our citizens.

Uh infrastructure is uh comprised of uh what was infrastructure and asset management, uh, which was inclusive of capital projects for our municipal and school buildings, engineering for water, sewer, and roadway improvements.

Uh, we have integrated fully now under infrastructure with water and sewer.

Uh that was a uh sort of de facto arrangement for many years uh out of the past 10 uh and has essentially been the way we've been operating for the past nine.

Uh we've also under infrastructure integrated uh inspectional services.

Um there's plenty of connective tissue there as well.

Uh most of the uh uh permit reviews that happen for private development uh already went through engineering for the the site and utility portions of this development.

Uh and the uh capital projects also has extensive building uh knowledge.

So the integration of inspectional services into the infrastructure department makes uh all the sense in the world.

Uh so we're now operating uh under that umbrella.

Uh our uh administrative uh division looks very similar to what IAM had done before.

Uh we've got a couple of positions that that uh assist engineering capital projects, the construction liaisons are GIS experts uh and the uh asset management uh program manager.

Uh what is expanding now under the new cabinet structure uh is the finance division.

Um Michael Richards had been our uh finance director under IAM uh with the integration in water and sewer.

Michael's also taking over all of the duties for the enterprise funds.

Um that essentially eliminated one uh finance director position.

Uh and we are building out a more comprehensive team around Michael, and he can go into a little more uh detail on that.

Um, so with that overview for both infrastructure department and our administration, happy to answer any questions for the budget uh for IIM administration.

Thank you, director.

Uh there was a question and answer in the memo asking um why add a deputy director of finance and administration and a business manager.

Um you spoke partially to this.

Uh the answer given was uh talking about that infrastructure absorbed water and sewer administration and financial functions, the new roles centralized contracts, purchase orders, reporting, revenue analysis, permitting and cross-division business work.

Does that do you have anything to add to that?

Yep, I think uh Michael's uh memo summarized as well.

We essentially run a business within uh the city, uh the sewer enterprises water enterprise is uh essentially utility.

Thank you.

Uh any questions or comments from members of the committee for infrastructure administration before we move on to other divisions.

Uh I am not seeing any.

So uh thank you.

And let's move on to capital projects.

Chair.

Oh, oh, I'm so sorry, I switched away and I didn't see your hand.

We're not moving to capital projects.

We are still on administration, and you have the floor, Councilor Hart.

Sure, thank you, Chair.

Just uh uh quick question in the overview um section.

I just noticed the um the discrepancy kind of between the actual expenditures over the last few fiscal years versus the budget.

Does that also have to do with the reorganization?

Uh to the chair.

Uh uh very many of almost all of our projects are aligned with the construction calendar, uh, which is aligned with the um uh the sort of annual calendar, not the fiscal calendar.

So almost always what happens uh, and and you will see this on your next agenda.

Uh we will have a whole bunch of appropriations out of our budget into a stabilization account, and then um out of that stabilization account back into uh a fund by which we can continue those projects.

So we almost always underspend um if you just look at what that annual budget is because we we sort of bridge uh fiscal years.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Hart.

Uh any other comments or questions about administration before we move on.

Seeing none, let's move on to capital projects.

I'd like to introduce uh director of capital projects, Ralph Henry.

Hey, good uh through the chair.

Good evening, everyone.

Uh my name is Ralph Henry, which you just pointed out.

Uh, I'm the director of capital projects, been in the role now for about three years.

We handle all the major infrastructure building improvement projects that you would see throughout the city.

We have a staff of uh five that uh primarily project managers basically.

And um, throughout all of our projects, we work very, very closely with uh colleagues over the Department of Public Works, ISD, Office of Sustainability, and of course procurement who without even have contracts to go out and get executed.

Um happy to entertain any questions you might have.

Thank you very much, Director.

Uh any questions or comments from members of the committee.

I'm not seeing a hand go up.

Um, so uh I have a question.

Uh, and uh I did have the chance to send a version of this to to Director Raish earlier.

Uh this is there might not quite be a question here, but I'll I'll try to find one in here.

I I was just curious to try to get an overall understanding of some of the larger items in our ongoing five-year capital investment plan.

Um now that was uh formulated in 2023, and I know you know things change year to year.

I also know there are it.

This is not a a case of the same amount being spent every year over those five years.

Some of these were all spent and done entirely already, and some are entirely you know, going to be done.

Uh, but I just wanted to go down this list, see if I'm you know, sort of getting this right and if I'm missing anything.

Uh so here I'm just attempting to focus on the items above 10 million dollars in that five-year plan.

Um, so I just wanted to list these invite uh any comments or perspective uh on them.

So uh first there's the 1895 uh former high school building.

Um that was uh assigned 95 million uh in that five-year plan.

That's the the biggest ticket item by far.

Uh, that uh that plan did include 63 million dollars for fiscal year 2026.

So I thought I'd just start by checking is was that 63 million or so spent?

Is that is that something that we're kind of still facing a need for in the future?

Uh to the chair.

Um, I I think this is a good advertisement um opportunity for uh the new charter.

Uh one of the things that passed with the new charter is that uh the mayor now has to submit to the city council for approval every year by November 1st and uh updated capital improvement or investment plan.

Um council will there have its own public hearings and we'll need to issue uh an approval of that CIP in December of every year.

Uh there was no requirement uh for that public betting of the capital investment plan prior to the charter.

Um as a result, with no stick there, we went three and a half years without updating the CIP.

Um so the CIP that you find uh online right now is very stale.

I mean, the data date on it is about four years old um because it had to be developed before we even presented it three and a half years ago.

So that's a four-year-old plan.

Um so that to answer your your first question here, and then happy to give updates on on these specifics, uh, which is also to say stay tuned.

In November, we will have an updated capital investment plan for everybody.

Um, but the 1895, um, that project never got off the ground.

Um, unfortunately, there were some complications around it.

Um, and because that um, you know, multi-million dollar projects uh never got off the ground, we did have to get into that building and do some make safe and asset preservation work.

Um so uh, you know, about 18 months ago, there or thereabouts.

Um Ralph and his team did a lot of work to uh to preserve that asset.

We were at a at a point at which the roof was caving in, it was raining indoors, uh, and we were at we at risk of that building going the way that the Homans did, where it had been abandoned for so long that it was uh a danger uh to anyone around it and have to get knocked down.

Um so we did that asset preservation.

We are hoping that at some point between um you know our our fiscal capability uh and uh political will that we will actually be able to do that project because it's very important for uh delivery of municipal services that we get that run bundle.

Um, so there's a very long way of answering your question.

That in fact, no, that money has not been spent on the 1895.

Thank you.

That's hugely helpful context.

I deeply appreciate it.

Um so you know, in appreciating the staleness of the CIP, uh maybe uh I won't attempt an exhaustive list of of all these items above 10 million.

I eyeballing it, I think there's about 10 of them.

Uh, but maybe I'll just ask about a couple of the other bigger items uh and for just a brief update.

Um so to the chair, the ones on the the Boynton Yard stiff.

Um that is very much tied to the pace of development in Boynyards.

Um so some work has happened, um, some expenditures have happened, but not quite at the rate that we were projecting four years ago.

Um community space investments, uh it's a recurring street and sidewalks, the recurring street and sidewalks, we have uh been progressing every year um at the projected uh burn rate.

Uh Spring Hill sewer separation, that project completed and the uh C the general fund portion was expended.

Uh the recurring building improvements, uh, we have been proceeding with those.

I mean, that's the the sort of things that you hear us report out, like the um Argenziano in fill classroom, a lot of the work at the Edger Lee um to facilitate uh Winter Hill being there.

Um, you know, those those are the types of things that we've been doing uh with those and and the burn rate on that is essentially what we had projected.

Um the fire station rehabilitation program is another one that's stalled for uh financial reasons.

Um Clarendon Hill Diff, uh, which is support of the um affordable housing down on Clarendon Hill, that did proceed.

Um and Arc Farm is uh still proceeding.

Um design on that is happening in parallel with the completion of construction of the Pauper Street Glump station.

Thank you so much for all that context.

Uh the only one of these that I'd like to go back to is the fire station rehab program.

Is there reason for concern that we have not been able to get to those items?

Uh through the chair, I mean, I think uh as with almost all of my buildings, uh all of our buildings.

I think the uh the phrase I heard the other night was long in the tooth.

Um the uh fire stations are also long in the tooth.

I don't think we can defer that work very much longer.

Um so it's something that we'll we will be taking a very hard look at as we resurrect the CIP.

Thank you.

I appreciate all of that detail.

Uh any more comments or questions from anyone about capital projects.

Seeing none, let's move on.

Thank you so much uh to engineering.

Okay, Brian Pulsroid, our director of engineering.

Thank you, Rich.

Welcome.

Um committee.

Uh Brian Polstoite, Director of Engineering.

Uh, I wanted to give a shout out.

Uh Kevin Roach, our uh uh deputy director of services is here with us tonight.

Um the engineering division is currently composed of 13 dedicated professionals.

Our role is to evaluate, construct, and protect city infrastructure as it relates to city streets and utilities.

We are improving the quality and reliability reliability of our water system, reducing flooding, improving regional water quality, improving multimodal streets, and managing mitigation of our construction impacts by third parties throughout the city.

This work requires our high level of subject matter technical expertise.

But the key to our success here is not just our technical expertise that we have within the department, it's our department's ability to collaborate and communicate with other departments and divisions throughout the city.

In particular, our relationship with our uh joint divisions and infrastructure, water and sewer, capital projects, ISD uh are critical to how we are able to accomplish the goals uh that we do.

Uh and also our uh great colleagues in strategy and development, public works, parking, communications, police and fire are all groups of individuals and professionals that we work with on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

Uh and lastly, I want to shout out to my team's amazing ability to manage and negotiate.

Where we often talked about how much we work with our colleagues in the city, uh, but we are also really focused on working with our colleagues outside of the city.

And that includes uh managing and negotiating with consultants, contractors, uh those that we've hired, but also those that developers have hired.

Uh and then lastly, but honestly, some of the most rewarding is working with our constituents uh to make sure that we are using our technical expertise to make sure that the city is better for them and that their projects and goals are also succeeding.

Uh so we enjoy building better Somerville with you all.

Uh and we are really looking forward to this year.

Thank you so much.

Uh I will move to our questions and answers briefly.

Is Highland Av uh temporary paving funded this fiscal year?

The answer was no.

Street paving is capital funded, not in engineering's annual operating budget.

How much sidewalk work is expected?

So engineering managed 2.1 miles in uh I guess fiscal year 2025.

Uh maybe I'm confused about this, and has 2.7 miles under contract, though not all may be done this year.

What's the cost of curb cuts versus raised crosswalks?

Uh so two curb cuts cost about 20,000.

A raised crossing costs about 35,000 plus possible uh drainage costs.

Um, if there's a need to put drainage on either side of the raised crosswalk to a sewer below, that could be 25,000 to 50,000.

What is the timeline for GPS traffic preemption?

Uh and so this is carried over from a question for fire alarm.

Uh 21 intersections should be operational by summer's end, which is exciting.

Uh fiscal year 2027 funding adds 10 to 15 more, likely uh around union and Davis, um, or maybe union two Davis.

Anything to add on any of those?

Um, I think one thing that I want to highlight about this is of the four questions that we had, three of them are in collaboration with other departments.

It is it it it this is just like the council and the committee are just illustrating how important it is that we are integrated with so many great departments in the city, and that we can't accomplish this stuff without everybody working together.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Any questions or comments from members of the committee?

Councillor Scott.

Uh thank you, Ms.

Chair.

Maybe I missed it, but um while I appreciate the dry humor in the first response there that uh in the memo.

Um I guess the question is uh what is going to happen with repave and highlight.

Well, thank you for for getting that because it's a good thing for us to talk about from time to time.

Um the streets that we plan every year, uh come out and we discuss them every November uh or October, depending on when we can get the bond authorization running through, and we bring it to this committee, in fact, to discuss the the next year's street reconstruction.

Um I I wouldn't want to ruin whatever surprises that we have for you in November by talking to you now about them.

Uh, but we do go through a serious list um of reviewing the streets that we have and need to be paving.

Um it is based on a very long analysis.

Uh and when we have a completed five-year plan, which does include the analysis of Highland, uh, we will deliver that uh when we have it completed and correct for you.

All right, sir.

Uh no, I I recall I just uh felt like I might might as well, since a board three counselor is not on this committee.

I'm sure he would appreciate me uh putting in the putting in the request.

Uh thank you, Ms.

Chair, I'm all set.

And I'll just add on that comment.

Word three, word five, word six.

There's uh there's quite a few words that I think would be interested in the answer to that question.

Councilor Hart.

Thank you.

Um I since I know that um uh stormwater is a big and increasing issue.

I have I've read in some places that uh street level um stormwater infrastructure can be very useful, especially in dense cities like Somerville.

And I'm just wondering what are the barriers to um doing more of that.

Um I know that there is I have seen some more in the Eastern or Union side of the city, but I don't believe there's anything planned as part of the West Broadway reconstruction project.

Um, which seems like maybe a missed opportunity there, but I'd love to hear from your perspective.

Yeah, sure.

So through the chair, um the the you know vegetative bump-ups that you'll see as green stormwater um infrastructure interventions at street level um are actually much more dependent on tie-ins to subsurface um than they are the surface war.

So where you see them constructed uh is coincident with where we're doing sewer separation um or sewer work.

Uh so they they went in in the Spring Hill area um with the Spring Hill sewer separation.

Uh we put one down at the uh end of it's a sterling or fair tax.

Um uh when we did some sewer work there.

Um it it's it's more uh associated with the sewer and drain work than the circus work.

So we don't generally include it with the roadway um stuff, which is just focused on um multimodal transportation.

Um there are we we aspire to put them in with as great frequency as we can, but there are a lot of logistical challenges to to getting them in, um, not least of which are uh service connections to each one of the houses, the gas, water, and sewer.

Um the existence of tree roots, um, believe it or not, installing these things too close to the trees can damage the tree roots.

And we wouldn't want to offend the tree amigos by hurting one of their uh trees uh and putting these things in.

Um so that there are a number of reasons why we we don't get to do them uh as with as much frequency as we like, you know, for Spring Hill sewer separation, for example.

I think we started um in the neighborhood of 60 potential uh sites uh for those bump outs.

Uh and in the end, I think we only constructed about 11 um because we we hit so many of those barriers to implementation.

They're just very difficult to get in in our uh dense urban environment.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

Thank you, Councilor Hart.

Any other questions or comments from members of the committee?

Well, I would like to say I'd like to recognize that in your updated report on engineering in the city, you mentioned that the uh Emros sewer separation project in Winterhill and Ten Hills, as well as the Morrison Ave tank and sewer separation are going to be a big focus in this coming year.

I just wanted to express some appreciation because I've heard from a lot of people in those two areas about the immense problems from flooding and the way that lakes form in the street in some spots after heavy rain and basements flood, as well as the sewer over overflow issue into the Mystic River.

So thank you for prioritizing this work.

I know it it's multiple year long work and uh long overdue.

And I deeply appreciate that it is being done now with um with care and a plum.

So sorry, no question.

Uh I also wanted to comment that um with the uh the GPS uh smart traffic light rollout.

Um I'm very excited about that.

Uh I noted in the fire department's presentation that fire response times have been essentially flat for the last four years, at least in the single number uh measurement approach, which I know doesn't capture everything, but uh they've been between three minutes, 35 seconds and three minutes 45 seconds.

So I'm curious how will the city evaluate whether uh preemption is improving emergency response times.

Um thank you for the question, Chair.

Uh that has been a topic that we've been working with both uh mobility and the fire department on uh because there is a lot of concern about uh safety improvements in the streets uh with a potential negative impact to response times and uh and and working on the EVP project, uh emergency vehicle preemption uh to facilitate their movement through the signals in our city, uh allow us to moderate any potential increase in response time.

So we're working with the uh the fire department and analyst right now uh to understand what their uh response times are on key routes that we're currently um implementing the EVP program so that once we have it uh uh turned on and operating, we can observe changes both before and after that on those corridors to assess the differences, um, but also to uh evaluate and fine-tune and potentially improve the EVP system.

Um it's not just a switch that we turn on, it is it is a tool that we have to operate correctly, and we need good feedback uh so that we can operate that tool correctly and efficiently.

Um, and that requires a ton of collaboration with the fire department.

And I really have to hand it to um both uh Chief and Deputy Chief for really supporting us uh in getting the right program and the right tools together to do this.

Thank you.

Councilor Link.

Thank you, Chair.

Through you um, just a curiosity question.

So um we're returning back to the topic of sidewalks.

So I know on um on Walnut Um not too long ago, uh, we were able to uh get a bump out around a very large tree that had basically taken over um the entirety of the sidewalk nearly.

Uh and I know that there's a few other places in in Somerville where we have had that happening.

How much does a bump out cost?

Um this this really reminds me of the question about the um the the rays crossing, and I I highly uh thank you for asking that beforehand, and I could put the information down, and I don't have that information off the top of my head.

It would be wrong for me to make it up.

Um, but I can absolutely get that information for you.

It's it's pretty straightforward.

It's just the data's not right here at my fingertips.

Totally understand that.

Uh I would be pretty crazy if you didn't know.

Um thank you very much.

Uh thank you, Counselor Link.

Any other questions or comments?

I I have one which I wasn't sure whether to ask mobility or to ask you, but um, you know, I know in in the course of the collaboration between your two divisions, uh, there's been a lot of trying different uh infrastructure around street safety, uh, both in terms of car management and in terms of forms of bike lanes.

And you know, I know there was uh the sort of innovative uh use of the slightly raised uh bike lane in that Spring Hill Summer Street project.

I know there's been um you know some uh some sort of new ideas, at least new to Somerville, like the mini rotaries along Eastern Pearl Street, and you know, with with all these things, there's uh there's people who are fans, and there's people who aren't.

I'm curious about you know, in the course of your department's learning, uh you know, with a lot of appreciation for what I've heard from you so much um uh so many times about the importance of of learning from projects.

Uh what is your department finding uh that you want to sort of keep and uh and continue using and use in further projects from these different various um various projects you've done.

And I'm sorry to I I should have given you this one in advance too.

So this is this is fine.

Um I I this is a fun conversation, and it probably greatly exceeds the scope of the budget conversation.

Uh so absolutely happy to pull you aside on the street someday and and discuss how we go how we think about these long-term design.

But really quickly.

Trying new things is essential, especially in emotional multimodal transportation system.

The transportation is not just a hard science, it's also a social science, and we're learning new things about how we interact with the street and each other on the street every year.

And it is important that we are following the latest lessons in news.

Um, we rely so heavily on mobility to um to help us and and broaden our vision on this.

And we work together, and I think like our project managers are amazing because we're regularly trying things that are just new to the area, so that we can learn how to do it, revise it and figure out what's the best way to go forward.

And then the key is figuring out what are the things that we can repeat.

The goal is not to be a prototype every time.

The goal is to find a consistent detail that we can repeat year after year after year.

Um, so that's the end goal on all of these um uh new ideas is to find what repeats and works well for the city.

But happy to go into more detail, but I think that's good for you.

Thanks.

I appreciate the the description of the approach.

Uh and glad that that's an approach that you're bringing to these projects.

Thank you.

Any other questions or comments for engineering?

I am seeing none, so thank you for appearing before us and have a great rest of your night.

Whatever, however, much is left of it.

And uh we are getting close here.

Um so next we have inspectional services.

I'm Kevin Klein, the interim director of inspectional services.

We have 28 employees, 27 full-time, one part-time.

We handle building, plumbing, electrical weights measures, and zoning.

Um reorg, we had help, which we work closely with them, fire prevention and engineering at times also.

Um happy to answer any of your questions.

Thank you so much.

Um, I'll begin by just summarizing these questions and answers.

Uh, what staffing supports the permitting overhaul is a question.

The answer was uh the inspectional services will use interdepartmental collaboration and uh improvements to processes and platforms, not uh clearly new staffing plan.

A question was what changed for short-term rental enforcement?

Uh and the answer was that short-term rental enforcement is moving to public health.

Uh and public health, I guess has 45,000 for short-term rental identification software.

Uh anything to add to those.

Uh no.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Uh, any questions or comments from members of the committee?

Counselor Link.

Thank you, Chair.

Through you, I'd like to ask the uh kind of the same question I asked for the um the health inspection, um, which is uh I I've I've heard from business owners, you know, that the one big challenge can be um with these different all the different like kind of disparate versions of inspection that uh one challenge is that sometimes a uh something gets checked off as being okay over here um in as far as like the building inspection, but then the health inspection, it turns out.

So for example, like oh a sink in this corner is totally fine in terms of the building inspection, but actually when it comes to uh a health inspection, it turns out that it cannot be there.

And now you know the business owners left scrambling to try to move something uh, you know, maybe across the room or into a whole different room, and of course, all the plumbing and all that, and then the the delay that that might cause.

Um so uh and I'm sure that that does not happen every time, but I'm I'm I it does happen sometimes.

Um I'm curious, like how um, especially uh with the I I understand that you're still kind of working on all the same space, but um, what processes there are to try to mitigate those circumstances um as uh infrequent as they might be, they still are I would assume pretty devastating to some um new businesses.

Yeah, that's a good question.

Thank you for that question uh to the chair.

We try to try to communicate as much as we can with the health department and obviously with the like plumbing and health go along in restaurants and stuff, try to get it done as quick as we can and communicate and not have people wait.

We are definitely working on a way to continue our good service to the public.

So if we get something like that, try to get on it right away.

And we're very sensitive to getting these businesses back up and running and not shutting down.

So I hope that answers your question.

Uh yes, it does.

Um I I think that's yeah, I don't um hopefully uh we'll see that yeah, if I continue to be true.

Um and then my uh my my last question would just be so there's there's now we heard from the communication department.

Um, that there's uh a lot of help that they're trying to um do with businesses to help help them get up and running uh and understand that the processes better of getting all the licenses and the permits.

Um and uh I'd heard from uh another business owner that they're uh the the risk of having like a um uh an architect who maybe just or um just adds in something like you know, some some seating uh where there maybe doesn't even need to be seeding and how that could potentially send um send that business, even though they don't intend to like have that feature like down a whole nother path of um of requirements in terms of permits uh and in terms of licenses.

Uh is that something that uh your um your department is is working with the or will be working with the the communications department to kind of help um catch early on so that people don't end up uh so potential businesses don't end up you know getting uh paying a lot more and spending a lot more time on something that they didn't even really actually want accidentally.

Yeah, excuse me for the chair.

Again, these are specific situations where we try to in the plan review and when they come in and we meet with their plumbers and their architects and their contractors, we try to get those points across.

So those both situations are very rare, but they do happen.

And we just try to give them as much service and clear that stuff up so it doesn't cost a lot.

Yeah, we're very sensitive to getting business open, especially after COVID and all the parking things and the bike lanes and stuff where we don't want people to take a big tape at all.

So we're trying to handle these specific situations as fast as efficient as we can.

I appreciate that.

Yeah.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Counselor Link.

I'm not seeing other hands.

Uh just to follow on uh what Counselor Link said, I just want to echo that uh I've heard from a few different people who've uh who worked on building projects that uh sometimes in uh in dealing with inspectional services, they've said, hey, I you know, I I like working with each individual person I've worked with, but sometimes I'm hearing sort of contradictory things, and it seems like uh different people in inspectional services aren't necessarily communicating with each other about the status of the project, sort of before communicating with me or or after.

Um and I'm I'm curious because I know there's there's lots of different formats.

I know there's different formats um that have been tried uh in your in your division.

Um, but I'm curious if there are any processes that inspectional services is trying that uh you know specifically involve setting up simultaneous communication uh among you know people responsible for different elements of the process about a single resident or a single developer or you know, single clients permitting process.

Some of the bigger developers, we do have them in once a month.

Um, as far as complaints come in, if they come in and complain, please give them my expansion because I'm never too busy to put out a fire or answer a question, or someone doesn't feel like they're getting service right to me.

No problem.

I mean every day.

And again, that kind of thing is we're sensitive to that and our reputation.

We we feel like we have a good one, but you can always always room for improvement.

I I so appreciate you taking that reputation seriously and you know uh saying, you know, sort of the buck stops here and for people to reach out.

Uh and and I'm always I'm I'm always interested in, you know, how can the processes, the day-to-day processes be set up so that the sort of the the structure uh itself is helping is helping surface issues um rather than you know, kind of you know requiring going up going above the process to somebody else or um you know relying on uh somebody sort of going above and beyond.

Well, not only that, we want people to be comfortable in coming to ISV and not feeling like it's uh gonna get scolded or something.

It's plenty of that, it's plenty of guys that need to be scolded, but again, we want people to be comfortable coming in, getting their questions answered, and again, very sensitive to that.

Thank you.

I in turn in terms of uh overall staffing.

Uh I've I've heard from people in the past that uh inspectional services didn't quite have the staffing levels that it needed, uh given the the huge volume of inspection needs in the city.

And I'm just curious if you're staffed enough to be responding to to that volume that that's coming every every year, every month, every week, every day, or if we're running into backlogs.

Well, the chair, I believe we do.

We have two new building inspectors, so one of them's still in the office, uh, but we have a lot of guys, and that's another another thing trying to do is a succession and people coming in and filling it because end of the year, a lot of people have to be the vacation time, so we're making sure people have fill-ins and they're passing their knowledge off to the younger guys.

Um, so it's going well.

So I'm very confident.

Thank you.

And then my last question at this late hour is uh, you know, the the budget book page mentions some permitting reform work, uh, which is always uh a very welcome thing.

I know that's a priority for the mayor that I've heard spoken about.

And I'm just curious, um, you know, is there anybody in particular that you might say within inspectional services is kind of you know owning the permitting reform work, you know, day to day.

Well, we chair we've had a lot of discussions with the new mayor, they've been positive and great, but working on a lot of things with him now that the reorg is coming and July 1st is coming, and we have um some plans that we are working on.

So we're gonna be in stages, and we're always open to speeding up the processes and getting some of the robots out and really uh making that happen.

So again, have any problems, definitely call me.

Thank you.

Counselor Scott.

Uh thank you, Ms.

Chair.

Uh this is just a bit of curiosity, but uh in the past, inspectional services has published uh the numbers of calls for service in a calendar year.

Uh and you know, some of those are going to be uh building permit reviews, building permit inspections.

Uh a lot of them are going to be complaints, right?

That's somebody saying, Hey man, my my unit uh doesn't have a work in sync.

Um, do you do you have those uh off the top of your head or a top line number there uh for total inspections and reviews?

Uh do you have that with you?

Chair, I've not do it.

We have to pull the data.

Yeah, we can pull the data and get back to on that.

Um that shouldn't be a problem.

So we don't have that with us.

Yeah, I mean, just for uh for my colleagues, you know, back in uh back in calendar year 24, it was 37,000 calls for service.

Uh not for nothing, but what's what's the total uh total number of inspectors uh in in ISD?

There's uh through the chair, we have seven billing inspectors, we have uh four electrical inspectors, three plumbing inspectors, um, and we have commissioner.

Um so right now we've down one plumbing inspective because I'm in acting director, but we um that's pretty much what we have.

14 guys for 37,000 calls a year.

Uh is quite a lot.

Uh I just want to put it out there uh in terms of uh comparable volume of work done by different departments, and uh y'all, y'all are truly facing the flood.

Um so I appreciate that you you feel like you're you're able to stay ahead of it, but um you know, this is part of what we do as a city council, part of what I feel like we ought to do as a responsible government.

Uh look at uh who's out there uh helping our residents, and uh you know, I I say it uh frequently, but inspectional services is uh the primary law enforcement agency in this city.

You are enforcing uh all kinds of laws that uh make a difference in people's lives every day.

So uh thank you very much for that.

Uh I'm all set, Mr.

Chair.

Thank you, Councilor Scott.

Any other comments or questions from members of the committee?

I am seeing none.

And so thank you so much for appearing before us at this very late hour.

I hope you have a good rest of your night.

Thank you very much, and we appreciate hearing the complaints and hearing from you guys when your constituents are complaining to you.

So again, please reach out to us anytime.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

All right, and that brings us to our last division of the night.

Water and sewer.

Uh and I will just start by recognizing that we've heard a bit about water and sewer tonight, and the council also got a chance to hear quite a lot about way water and sewer uh recently, at recent meetings.

Um, so that's all context to say if uh if this uh deliberation is a bit brief.

It is not because of the lack of the tremendous importance.

Please uh proceed, director.

Thank you, Chair.

Uh again, my name's Michael Richards, director of finance and administration in my pastly uh water and sewer department joined here by Neil Biner, interim director of water and sewer.

Uh as the chair mentioned, we had the opportunity to speak with the council last Thursday to present our rate proposal for FY27.

At that discussion, we present a lot of the operations and background of what we do and how those rates fund our operations uh and our expenses within there.

Uh we talked a lot about our successes with overhauling policies and procedures, implementing structure as much needed with this department.

Uh we've had a lot of great success there, and we look to continue to translate that success into FY27 uh as we continue to modernize and professionalize the department.

Uh some of those quick roles that we're looking at are to fully integrate Q alert for our customer service team to better serve the constituency and also get some some more accountability uh in those requests that we're receiving and processing.

We'll all be also be moving our permitting system online to citizen serve to align with the other departments in the city rather than having the paper copies and paper checks and uh kind of an updated system we've been working with here.

Uh more systems that we're talking about or meter replacement program will be completed shortly.

We'll look to eliminate those uh estimated bills that so many constituents have had confusion with here in the past as we uh fully update our systems.

And finally, we have a goal, a lofty goal to reinstitute a full lien program for the city to um recoup some of those uh that revenue that's been lost to us that hasn't been able to, we haven't been able to receive due to our billing mistakes.

So, with that for FY27 budget, some of the highlights and the changes that we're seeing here are we've significantly cut our professional technical line, as we are effectively fully staffed in our administration uh and we're able to eliminate the need for a temp agency and temp hires.

So we're very excited about that.

Uh we're having we'll have a significant increase to our postage and printing and mailing lines.

Uh, these were typically just used for sending bills out, and as part of that lien process, uh, we'll we'll look to implement a delinquency notification system.

So to let these folks know that when they're behind on bills, we're aware of it, and we've had those dedicated mailers out that we hopefully increase our revenue and our receipts.

And finally, we had a pretty significant increase of the sewer vehicle repairs line.

This was effectively cut last year as just a budget measure.

Uh, but as we're getting more staff and hopefully uh staffing up here and get folks back in the field, that sewer vehicles repair line in particular is very necessary to fund the operation of our factory truck.

As when that breaks down, that's not something we simply throw up on the jack.

Uh, those are very costly repairs, and we need to be prepared to do that to be able to get that vehicle back in the field.

So, with that in mind, I'm happy to field any questions you may have.

Thank you.

Members of the committee, any questions or comments about water and sewer?

Counselor Scott.

Yeah, Mr.

Chair.

Uh, so understood, you know, this sits in uh enterprise fund.

Um, but I must be missing it.

Uh I can't find the same budget page that I would expect to find for this.

And I know in past years it has been left out.

Um so could you help me out?

Where am I missing this?

That is populated.

Um we'll confirm with the budget to make sure that hasn't been locked or hidden, but that should be available to you through the budget.

I think in under non-departmental budgets and other funds, there's water enterprise fund and sewer enterprise fund.

Uh yeah, I don't see it there right now, but I might not have refreshed my page in a couple days.

Uh let me let me give it a refresh and see if I can see it.

Sure, I'm also seeing it.

It's uh it's one two three dot one three.

Yeah.

Yep.

No, it just came in since the last time I had loaded that page.

So uh and there's uh a lot of info on those two pages.

Sure, absolutely.

Uh so uh not for nothing.

Um I thank you.

Did we have a memo on this one?

Um I do not believe so, no.

I don't think that there were questions submitted by counselors.

Okay.

Uh well, can I just ask uh again one of these evergreen uh questions?

Uh, how are we doing on uh on the vacancies in water and sewer?

Chair, thank you.

Uh this has obviously been a long-standing issue for the department and for the industry.

I I recall hearing this question when I've in my other capacity as the IAM finance director and watching these proceedings in years past.

It's it's been a as I said, a longstanding issue.

Uh, this past year we did have the opportunity to create the the laborer position below the those SHMEO and HMEO positions.

Um we are having some success in hiring those.

We hired an individual a few weeks ago and early returns are great.

Um seems like someone that will be with our department for a long time and will grow into some other roles.

Uh, with some of those uh industry-wide challenges that we've talked about in the past, even with the labor position, we are struggling with that as we've offered uh a job to a number of candidates that have either turned it down to take opportunities elsewhere that perhaps pay more than the city, or we've had recently uh instances where they're unable to pass the pre-employment screening after the offer has been accepted.

Um so we we continue to work with our recruitment team in HR, and they're still out there pursuing this.

Um not without challenges.

And sorry if I could just interrupt uh to clarify the title SHMEO.

Is that senior heavy motor equipment operator?

Special heavy.

Sorry, say that again, please.

Special heavy special heavy motor equipment operator.

Thank you.

Uh appreciate that.

Uh uh back to you, Councillor Scott.

Thank you, Ms.

Clerk.

So when I look at the when I look at the list of positions here, I see one laborer position.

Uh I still see a bunch of schmeos, but um uh I only see one laborer position.

I thought there were more than one that was created there.

Through the chair, thank you for that question.

So they are budgeted as SHMEOs to allow for that flexibility.

Uh when we post these, we have the labor positions posted.

We have SHMEO positions posted if there are qualified candidates that apply and are accepting and have the requirement necessary licensure, they may apply for that SHMEO position.

If not, we have that labor position as a fallback.

So we're budgeting for three total SHMEOs this year, but it's vacancies.

Uh with the the understanding that if there are folks that don't qualify for that licensure and they can fill that labor condition, and we have that that um covered.

And we have one laborer currently hired.

Uh, are all three of the SHMEOs still vacant?

Through the chair on the water side, that's correct.

We have two SHMEOs filled on the sewer side.

All right.

Well, uh, thank you.

I appreciate that.

This is um I know there's a a lot of fix that needs to be done down there.

And let's say I'm uh as I said the other night, I'm inclined to give you all grace based on your track record and what you've done in the places.

Um, but uh the as you know, the attention is heavy.

Yeah, in some ways, man, I I don't I think they set you guys up putting you last tonight.

Um, but uh Mr.

Chair, I'm gonna peruse some of the rest of this that just loaded in and I'll uh I'll I'll pass it on.

Thank you, Counselor Scott.

And uh with so much appreciation for someone going last, I'll say we're we're all going last too up here.

Uh are there any other comments or questions for water and sewer from the committee?

Seeing none, uh much appreciation for coming and speaking to us at 1018 p.m.

I hope you have a good rest of your night.

Okay.

Uh we are at the end of infrastructure.

Uh are there any motions from members of the committee?

I am not seeing any motions, and so uh we will move on.

Uh we do have one item of unfinished business.

Uh thanks to the learning curve for me about the different uh different designations.

Um so I believe this is the last time that we're still dealing with the three or four days lead time of my understanding the distinction between laying on the table and keeping committee.

Uh so this is uh Councillor Strezzo's resolution that the collective salaries of licensing commissioners be increased to $15,180, with the chair receiving $5,180 and licensing commissioners two and three receiving five thousand dollars each annually.

Uh and this item is kept in committee.

Hey, sure, Wheeler, just real quick.

I am not seeing that on the agenda that is posted.

This is the end of what I am seeing.

Oh, great.

Sorry, I thought I checked that to double check that it was on it, and I'm I'm phantom remembering that.

So uh please let the record uh show that I am correcting myself.

That item is not in order, it is not on the agenda.

Thank you, Clerk.

Uh okay, and that brings us to the end of tonight's agenda.

Clerk, can you please confirm that there are no items to address before we adjourn?

Yes, absolutely.

And I did also just refresh and pull up a new copy of the agenda, and we are done for the evening after our journey.

Beautiful.

I appreciate that.

Do I hear a motion to adjourn?

I see us so moved by Counselor Link.

Uh could the clerk please call the roll on adjournment?

Yes, we can, and look at that same day.

Counselor Counselor Link.

Yes.

Great, counselor Streso, yes.

Counselor Hart.

Yes.