See You in September: Council Will Address Five Resolutions by Smith

When the City Council reconvenes in September, there will be some leftover items that the councillors will need to address. “We been trying to work on these issues since June,” Councilor Stephanie Smith said of five resolutions she has filed, but which have yet to be taken up by the council. The five resolutions that will appear on the agenda in September deal with a wide range of issues. They are: C036022 Resolution/s/ by Councilor Stephanie V. Smith: That the Director of the Board of Health and the Administration provide a written response in two weeks as to what is the plan for the ARPA funds for $300,000 through the MA Dept of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (accepted by the City Council in April). C036222 Resolution/s/ by Councilor Stephanie V. Smith: That the Administration provide the cost-benefit analysis of outsourcing the Wellness Center vs. keeping it in house, as well as the breakdown of the current contract, e.g., approx. how many people are outsourced today, what are the job responsibilities of these outsourced personnel, the number of free offerings (if any), the detailed cost breakdown of the $340K (invoices if possible), the return of funds (if any) Everett is getting due to the hours being reduced 15 hours per week from the contract, and any activities the city is subsidizing. C036322 Resolution/s/ by Councilor Stephanie V. Smith: That the Procurement Director come before the City Council at the first meeting in September to explain the process for bidding for Senior Meals delivery. C036422 Resolution/s/ by Councilor Stephanie V. Smith: That the Administration comes before the City Council at the first meeting in September to provide an update on the Pope John disposition. C036522 Resolution/s/ by Councilor Stephanie V. Smith: That the Administration provide an update on the hiring of a Recreation Director which has been open for over 2 years. In business that came before the council at its August meeting,  councilors failed to change the language in the linkage fee ordinance.  Councillors sought to reduce the time that developers would have to pay the fee from seven years to three years. DeMaria said he vetoed the change because, “It lacked clarity on which buildings (to include).” Matt Lattanzi, the city’s Director of the Planning & Development Department, said that the linkage fee only starts being paid when the person pulls an occupancy permit, not when the developer pulls a building permit. Councilor-at-Large Irene Cardillo said that since no developer was grandfathered, it would be unfair to require the developers to shorten the time to pay the linkage fee. Councillor Stephanie Martins offered a possible solution, suggesting that the “change should be made going forward.” However, the measure to change the ordinance required a supermajority of eight votes. Councillors John Hanlon, Al Lattanzi, and Irene Cardillo voted against the ordinance change, resulting in a vote of 7-3 in favor (Councilor Jimmy Tri Le was absent), thus leaving the existing ordinance intact.