##VIDEO ID:ulb0wtuPGo4## feary you know they never know I think he he [Music] [Music] so really are that area land it timean fore soe spee I feel like I nobody in forever I know right that's how I like what okay we're good is I here she oh know happy New Year happy New Year ready ready [Music] ready for [Music] hi hi happy New Year happy New Year oh my go I'm freezing all right this should be fast fast right every time we that I didn't even say it I know I know um coun ly sounded awful I talked to her on the phone she said she might zoom in she's she sounded sound really not good look like she is zooming in because those are the two out of the three that I specific just from the top of my water how funny is this so we're done and so it's all perfect I just saw I'm like where go qu K with the Superman glasses on good oh theem yeah but I mean it's not they're not going they're he not going to he going to S another Emil they need to update the report yet know no it's it's here here um but he need to he going to update the report and then you're going to present you look very nice that's a beautiful suit oh thank um sorry um I know if it's appropriate or not but just cut my eye these two minutes are the ones that are done um these ones are like literally 90% done but they're not done have have you see the before that we get from Zoom no I'm going to have say you okay I want to help out laugh for for the minutes okay great in English yes there's two on quoting around one in English one in Spanish everybody oh supp sorry the ones that those things you handed out one was in English one was in Spanish yeah I put one for each on every yours okay let's start I'll get a five so is um took the easy way out um I man okay let's go C is here not yet um I believe we [Applause] have good evening and welcome to the regular meeting for the L City Council today is Tuesday January 7 2025 uh pursuing to chapter 20 of uh the pursuing to chapter 20 of the act of 2022 this uh meeting will be hyate allowing participation both in person in the city council chambers and remotely The Zo link for anybody that requested was uh provided through the city clerk office this meeting will be uh transmitted uh through the L city council Facebook page as well as the L city council you YouTube page we have an albe on soon today roll call Madan cler councelor Levy I don't know if she that thumbs up is her saying pres she has no voice assuming that that's what it means noted as present in remote ccil yes Council Lon pres Council Del Rosario is noted as absent Council Santiago present Council marmel present councilor Selena Reyes is noted as absent Council Infante present council president Rodriguez present uh please join me for the moment of silence now the pledge of alleg i al to the flag of the United States of America and the repblic stands indice all councilors I would like to um have a motion to approve minutes from the special meeting on October 16 2024 as well as well as October 21st 2024 there is a motion uh made by councilor president Infante second by councelor Santiago um any questions uh Madame CL please call the rooll um roll call for the acceptance of the minutes is um councel marmel yes councilor Santiago yes I'm sorry it should Council R is noted as absent counc M said yes Council Santiago yes uh Council delar is noted as absent Council Lon to accept the minutes yes Council llant yes yes yes Council Levy she say yes noted as yes Council vice president in fonte yes and council president Rodriguez please call the RO for Council arriz Council Ares president president thank you councilor and Council would like to vote for the minute to be approved yes okay please not not have V now we're going to p uh we going to continue with public participation counselors um we have two people that have signed in and the first person that we have is H Malik name and add for the record please 53 Chester Street good evening honorable members in this important New Year's we the citiz and place to support Lawrence police officers Union Lawrence Police this Union of Pride and honor with the impactable leadership by honorable Chief Bonia doing excellent job to protect our citizen we are united to support Lawrence police officers and seniors officers Union thank you for excellent job Lawrence is a beautiful city because of our hardworking DPW worker we support our DPW employees and Leadership that deserve the best pay RIS we support our great Inspection Department employees and the union thank you for excellent job we must hire more inspector Lawrence Public School with the impecable leadership by honorable superintendent RF Guerrero on the road to become the best public school in the nation in this new year we pledge to support our teachers and their youth ion Lawrence teacher thank you for excellent job happy New Year please help our homeless people lawence always strong Lawrence always unite we are united to support of all the union from fir Fighters DPW police and teachers with the Laurentian pledge in this great New Year support our police officers Union pray for the safety of all police officers pray for the first responder Lawrence always is strong Lawrence always unite Lawrence police officers deserve the best support and we we wish the best happy New Year for all our union members thank you thank you the next person that we have is uh Rich Russell uh councelor Russell name address for the record please good evening uh Council his name is Rich Russell 34 cross street I apologize for my voice I got a frog there somewhere I hope that all had an enjoyable holiday season wherever it was spent I hope Santa was good to all of you possibly giving you an updated dictionary that defines the word no saying it is not intended as a slap in the face of other elected or appointed officials it could refer to an idea that might be not of a benefit to its citizens a neighborhood or the city in general similarly similar words could be said about the word yes just remember other brains other people have brains in their heads that that were nourished at taper stuck together at times through real life experiences I know the uh the Lawrence PD is severely understaffed but it would be nice if more effort was put into traffic enforcement particularly at sou Broadway in shadik street where the yellow lights are ignored by motorists traveling on shat Street attempting to to turn left ahead North on South Broadway better coordination of the timing of traffic lights of the above mentioned intersection and the intersection of South Broadway and miramac Street might alleviate some of the issues another uh issue the city council might want to look into is getting an exemption from the mgls that would allow Lawrence to install traffic violation cameras to allow ticketing of red light and stop sign Runners at some intersections I don't know if this would fall into home rule petition category or not but the council has some had some pretty good success in the past with the manner of replacing the mayor after Dan Rivera resigned more recently changing the methods of selecting our school committee something to think about now would be a good time thinking about creating a new decibel defined noise ordinance has anyone bothered to read the contract uh that the parking vultures operate under if I'm not mistaken page 24 of their contract states that all of their vehicles will have roof-mounted flashing lights why should the citizens be required to pay parking fines defined by a contract when the parking meat of vultures are not even compliant with the entire contract uh lastly what is the status of the citizens advisory committee for the selection of the next police chief I leave you with these points to ponder and thank you for allowing me the time to express them all right uh these uh names are going to be submitted for the record uh thank you everybody that participate now we are going to uh councilors if you don't mind we have a a few things on the old business we have uh people present here um before we continue with the public hearings I think it will be um important to just go straight to Old business and um and continue Madame uh Madame vice president Infante um well first of all we need to uh we need a a motion to suspend rule 11 to pull those items from committee one uh at the time so the first item that I would like I'm looking for motion is item 58 324 which is the appropriation transfer of 36,000 from stabilization reserve for litigations to judgement accounts so councilors can I get a motion to suspend rule 11 rule 11 to allow the discussion for item 583 d24 any and a motion on the table properly properly second discussion discussion plan was was there a uh did the committee actually meet or did they never meet the committee didn't meet thank you did not meet did not meet any other discussion questions uh on this on this motion uh all right at this point we need six vot counselors uh so this time I'll call the questions all as uh Madame CL please call the RO councelor Levy coun yes I don't know I mean that's I'm noting a positive from Council Levy remotely um counc plant no council Lon yes Council Del Rosario is noted as absent councelor Santiago yes councelor marmo yes councelor Selena Reyes yes Council vice president fonte yes council president Rodriguez I vote Yes uh motion carries so now we're going to entertain at this level um item uh 583 uh 24 which is the appropriation transfer of $36,000 from the stabilization Reserve uh from litigation to judgment account uh we have the attorney Newton here the city solicitor so attorney please explain to us a little more about this item sure I just do do a little background on this uh I know you've seen me a couple of times this year normally I do not appear in front of this board for settlements normally what happens is that you put in my judgment account are least 250 to 500 ,000 and I draw from that I don't need to go before you to draw from that um but last year um because of proposition 200 proposition what is it 2.5 they uh we had to um take the money out of my judgment account and put it in a stabilization account so that uh two so that the two and a half we would fall under that so I have no money in my judgment account so I need a transfer from here to this particular case is a case that we are trying um trying to set actually we have settled it's just now appropriating the funds um this is a case in which uh I can give you rough facts is that um one of our police uh officers was training uh their dog and the dog got loose and bit people so we are settling with the people that have have been bit so there there is no I mean I know a lot of times that was I believe Council Del Rosario was saying you know why are we settling this cases well that the dog bite isn't absolute liability case um we have taken these people wanted upwards over $100,000 and we've gotten this down to 36,000 so I would appreciate it if you would approve the transfer of the money so that I can fund this councilors any questions in regard to this matter uh no questions I hear no questions so um at this point I'll call Madame CL please call the RO I don't have a motion on the table the motion was motion to approve that is exactly there's no motion U the table there is a motion to approve properly second any discussion on the matter uh I hear NN so Madame CL please call the roong council Rees yes Council Mamu yes councilor Santiago yes Council Del Rosario is noted as absent Council Lan yes Council llant yes Council Levy I see your hand going up thinking that's a yes Council I'm noting you as yes remotely Council vice president infon yes council president Rodriguez yes what's the count it's um 8 to one well one absent eight in favor all motion carries thank you very much Council thank you so the next item on the old business we have item 584 24 which is the authorization to spend 500,000 uh par Grant from uh eoea as award uh to uh the Community Development Department for renovation uh to the compion park uh councilors I'm looking for a motion to suspend rule 11 to pull from committee motion to suspend rule second there the motion on the table properly second discussion I Hear n all uh please Madame CL please call the r Council Council Levy I'm starting with you H yes did she say like w she talked [Music] um I say yes oh you say yes thank you counselor yes no counil L on yes Council Del Rosario is noted as absent Council Santiago no Council M yes Council Rees yes Council vice president fonte yes council president Rodriguez I vote Yes the six is needed six we have six we got six okay uh motion carries so now we're going to entertain that uh motion to be able to discuss this item councelors was motion to approve there's a motion to approve for item 584 uh 24 properly second um and we are going to expand an opportunity to um friend that is here with us um can you give us a little background on these uh on these funds and how you planning on spending it I sure good evening councilors Susan Frink um from the Community Development Department so in July the city in um cooperation with groundwork Lawrence submitted an application to the state for a park grant for phase four renovations to Campo and common our application was successful and we rewarded $500,000 which is the maximum um um Grant award so this grant um will be used in conjunction with capital Improvement funds I have submitted a request to the cafo um and he is preparing a capital Improvement plan which will be brought before you for approval please keep in mind that we need the capital Improvement funds in order to get our reimbursement under this particular grants we held a meeting in July before the application was due we it was well attended by the public and elected officials and the plan Renovations came out of discussions held at that meeting the plan Renovations include um renovations to the stage and the surrounding circular asphalt area which is a huge heat island we' like to install a water feature and additional seaing and some tree plantings the project timeline would be for us to do design work in the current fiscal year and begin construction on July 1st and this is a relatively new requirement from the state that requires us to actually start construction on a specific date I'm also presenting um the resolution which is a typical document for the state um for the park rant projects and what the resolution does it states that we have the authority to apply for this Grant and we will allocate other funds for this project so you'll notice that the resolution has a commitment of $883,000 in either CIP or free cash funds this is the figure that was in the Grant application I believe that we will need more funding than that but we don't want to commit to the state to more than we put in our application I think a more accurate number which is what I've put into the CIP request is $1.5 million it's going to be a very expensive um Endeavor there's a lot of cement work that needs to be removed and the removal is very um costly um so I'm requesting that you approve this tonight and I'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have all right councelors this is a a a a a grant that is a reimbursement Grant can you explain a little more on that it is a reimbursement Grant the city has to front the funds and then we get reimbursed 70% of the cost of the project okay up to 500,000 up to 500,000 correct all right councelors what's the motion I mean uh qu there's a motion to approve any other questions Madame Vice pres infant oh oh um thank you Cil president um is the design available Su we haven't started the design yet okay um do you repeat I know you mentioned it at the beginning can you go over uh the design plans for the center of the par so we we're looking to um we're going to demolish the existing stage um the existing stage is not ADA Compliant in any way shape or form um it's if you've ever tried to climb up the stairs it's it's a little dangerous um so we would put together um a plan that would have an ADA Compliant um stage area we' like to have some sort of a shade structure covering it for the um for the performer so they're not out there baking in the Sun and would also like to sort of soften that um cement area that's where the old um Fountain used to be um The Waiting pool it's very hot if you're sitting there watching a performance so we like to make it more welcoming um so there may be some other shade um some so maybe some of those Sal um shade structures nothing has been um finalized but something that could alleviate some of that um that beating Sundown on you when you're trying to enjoy a a performance and you mentioned um seatings uh yes okay um we need more seating than than just those few benches that surround that circle area um the um recreation department does put out some sort of um water feature during the summer and it seems that there's a lot of mud um involved I don't know if they're using the the hydrants to to do that and by having some sort of water feature in that area where the cement is I think it would be more hygienic to have something there for the kids oh thank you you're welcome thank you C pres any other questions Cel plan thank you very much uh three council president to miss Fink so I a lot of that stuff I actually happen to like that that old 1970s where the used to be a body of water there's cement there now it's more like a little oven and we don't need that right there especially uh in our city we need more cooling uh the question I've got is regarding the The Bernstein stage yes uh we we tend to not call it the Bernstein stage even though former city councilors before us many years ago actually named it after Leonard Bernstein and I would hope that um since it's been forgotten over time because there's been no signage there that we correct that and put some signage there and have some money for that design feature so we can acknowledge one of our more prominent individuals internationally and nationally who made quite the name for himself uh having been born in Lawrence many years ago so hopefully the bernin stage can get that name back again I'll make definite note of that perhaps we could even have a history um there to you Mr President uh I want to know through this through this renovation is included the playground no no because this area we receive a lot of phone call because uh the playground have a lot of rock is not safe safety for our children and also they mention is to D this kind of area you're planning in mind to renew the park on the future we are always on the lookout for other grant opportunities I know that's something that the mayor wanted us to um take a look at so I'm certainly on the lookout for other funds that we could do that the the safety surface definitely needs um some love in the in the existing playground thank you canel Santiago hello and I would like to know if do you consider it for this renovation uh Park this is a lot of money I would like to know if you consider it the special needed kicks in in this project well special needs would be addressed more towards the stage so making it accessible for um special needs performers um yes because my question come because uh there are a lot of kicks we special needed and we have many campaign about it and and we don't have enough playground for them or I don't know if he we are not thinking on on on the on those kicks that's why I I ask well I I'm not to be disrespectful but I disagree with you we do have um amenities for um accessible um playgrounds at both um staro dunan and currently under construction at oconnell so there are amenities that have been either installed or are currently under renovation for um the handicapped children but that is always something that I keep in mind going forward when I'm working on these Park projects is is there an opportunity for amenities for um handicapped individuals so I want you to know that that is always in my mind thank you any other questions president Council assant thank you through you council president I'm not sure miss Mrs SP if if this matters or not but you did mention in your in your verbal presentation that in the resolution you had it's a it's it's supposed to say that that there is $800,000 that the the city is going to um commit yes I'm looking at the resolution now and and I don't see that here so I don't know if that matters or not if it should be there if it doesn't then no worries but I just wanted to point that out do the wrong it's the very last page of the submitt okay okay I I was looking at the page you were for the yeah okay thank you thank you uh any other counselors uh a counselor plan yeah one really quick question um when we I know this is just about of money um I'm not sure we're going to have a chance to take another look at this after the money's already been allocated and approved so just the common has special languages I understand it in the I'm not sure where to be honest with you um but in listening to our Lawrence historical commission uh they have been perpetually fighting for the common to make sure that its initial um requirements that were deed to us by the Essex company when the city first when Lawrence first became a municipality is honored so I just want to make sure that what we're doing here doesn't go against the charter essic Charter that was done many years ago so could you comment on that sure um I'd be happy to um members of the historic commission were at our public meeting they did voice their opinions um they will get an opportunity the Prospect Hill historic commission has um prview over the campon common so we will need to go before them um um for a vote before we can actually start construction so they will be on board with us as well as M we have to another something else to take into consideration is that we haven't approved the um the allocation for the second money which is going to be part of that uh part of that uh the this the second round of money that it's come for different Renovations um so once we get that we probably should be able to see some type of design on this project sure absolutely I'd be happy to come back with the design yeah that way we can have all uh minor things uh and bigger things that we worry about about the and there will also be another public meeting once we've gotten the design a little more finalized um all right any other questions I Hear No so at this point I'll call the questions so uh Madame CL please please call the r please Council Rees yes Council mam yes Council Santiago yes Council Del Rosario is noted as absent Council Lan yes Council llant yes Council Levy yes thank you Council CC vice president Inon yes council president Rodriguez I vote Yes motion carries thank you counselors uh thank you now let's go uh with item 5862 24 which is the contract renewal for first assistant City attorney Kelvin uh fley so councilors I will I'm looking for a motion to suspend rule 11 to pull from committee motion to suspend rule 11 second discussion there's a motion to suspend rule 11 properly second discussion plan did the personal committee have a chance to meet prior to the meeting we did not they did not thank you uh any other questions I hear none uh but this time Madame Clair please call the rooll councilor Levy yes I say yes yeah yeah just say yes thank you Council uh Council app no council Lon yes Council Del Rosario is noted as absent Council Santiago yes Council um Council M I apologize can't read tonight no Council Selena Reyes yes Council vice president infon yes council president Rodriguez I vote Yes now uh that is 6 to 2 one right1 yes uh councelors I'm looking for motion for this item to be able to discuss motion there is a motion to approve can you hear a second second uh properly said second um discussion so let expend an opportunity to uh the city solicitor to U uh tell us us on why we should be approving um the renewal of the contract good evening councilors again it's my pleasure to be here this evening um it's hard to believe that it's been a year uh since I was here regarding Mr Foley as you may or may not remember uh I was alone for a year and a half in the city attorney's office uh we had advertised for a first assistant uh during that period of time we had no good candidates then Mr Foley came along um at the time that Mr Foley was appointed I said to this board and I I've said a couple of times that it would save the city money by having inhouse attorneys that we were paying millions of dollars to outside attorneys um and I said that I would make sure that that got cut down um I'm happy to report that in the year that Mr Foley has been here we have not referred one case outside involving litigation um obviously Personnel matters and stuff have been refer referred out but nothing involing litigation I have with me a two-page summary of the work that Kevin's done over the past year I'm not going to read it all I'm not going to bul you but I'll give you some of the highlights um the city was sued in a wrongful death case against the senior center um this case was dismissed we paid zero um we had a lawsuit brought against the mayor and the City attorney personally um this case was dismissed nothing uh we've had defended the case of administrative bodies including the mcad Civil Service Labor Relations uh we represented the police he's defended the city in the zba in planning cases he assisted the City ISD in bringing housing court cases we' have not brought housing court cases in some time but thanks to Mr Foley we're now bringing enforcement to make sure that the uh housing for the people of Lawrence are now up to code uh we respond he has been handling the post which is a new commission which um involves the police um one of the big things he's done is he become almost like a mini expert regarding the four years and the response as a matter of fact during today's um mayor's meeting uh the city clerk uh gave him a shout out he wasn't even present saying how much help he's been to the city clerk's office and handling those it's it's amazing how many we get those in a day I believe that today my office alone got five foyers uh just it seems to be the wave of it um but I can go into many other things that he's done but I think I'd rather let him talk for himself if you have questions for them uh this is a one-year contract we're looking to extend it for one year and I would uh hope that you would vote in favor but I present Mr yes uh before before he take the mic U few things that I would like you to clarify from these sure so in terms of the benefit just just tell us what is the differ between the previous year and this year uh I seen they have 15 SI days uh 12 vacation days three personal days and so far so on so any difference between last year and this year the difference is that the pay would go up to $135,000 okay from his pay currently and he would get two more sick days besides that it's the exact same contract he gets the same amount of personal days he gets the same obviously the sick days add up and I hope I said vacation days he gets two more vacation days but everything in here is it's a duplicate of a contract that he currently has just slight increase in the raise and a slight increase in vacation days besides that it's the same one that he's currently serving on so we see a difference between last year and this year so uh three um three days when it comes to sick and 135 three days when it comes a sick I'm sorry I misspoke sick days are the same he gets the same sick days no matter what that's that's by um okay everybody so is three three three days when it comes to probably vacation or personal vacation days right and personal days are the same everything else and then this the previous salary uh see it was 130 it's now 135 okay um he's in the that the um the salary goes to 148 so he's not near the the top so it's about 3% increase about it yes uh counselors any o any questions before we allow Floyd to uh askil president councelor um Lon uh is the um Assistant Attorney first Assistant Attorney allowed to do work that not outside his work for the city and and and you're going to understand my question next it so it's it's the same as me it's the same as anybody if you were my sister and than and you needed a will done on a weekend I could do that um he cannot represent anybody in court he the 9 to5 Monday through Friday no he he works for the city obviously it's not night of I works for but you know if there was something that could be done that didn't require any Court work he could do it but not if it involves the city in other words like I said it's simple things like you know can he get paid for doing that job yes but why are we paying for his uh license is that part of every contract for attorneys you have to pay for the renewal of this his licenses we annually have to pay for our license and since his job would be to work for the city of of Lawrence they pay for the license they pay for my license they pay for the second attorney's license we also pay for certain um memberships for instance the Lawrence Bar Association the and the um Essex County Bar Association we get a lot of Education out of those so the money comes back uh tenfold but it seems conflict uh a little bit of conflict there that and maybe this is not his case but the city is paying for his licenses but uh but it looks like that any Assistant Attorney will be allowed to practice after uh 5:00 p.m or during the weekend uh and I know it's in the contract I know but it it's kind of just looks like a conflict just so you know it it's again if you're doing something for family uh he he he closed a practice of 14 years you you 17 years I apologize you you can't do that on weekends and nights you just can't do it you attorneys have a hot enough time attracting clients if they can work 9 to5 if I meet you I mean during the past year besides family members I haven't done I'm here tonight till 9:00 I you know I can't schedule anything the mayor if I were to say on Thursday I'll meet you at 6 o'clock the mayor can call me and say I need to see you at six o'clock so you really can't have enough to practice it it says it but it mostly has been used to sure he he he could I would love to address that it's a such a great question I have not done Kevin Foley MERS of the council Mr President M Council I haven't done any private work since um since I took the job here in Lawrence and I have no intention of doing so and and as a City attorney has has offered you know I certainly had the ability to but I must tell you it's been a great relief to tell people I don't do private work anymore because everybody calls me say I well so I I have to say it to all my friends and my family I'm not doing any private work whatsoever even though I could do it um I I I choose not to do it I think I'm I'm at that point in my career too where I want to sort of pull back a little bit from all that because when you're in private practice there's people after you all the time to do everything especially if you have someone who's knowledgeable so I've been very helpful with people in terms of referring them to to people who can handle different things but it's been a great relief for me personally to say I don't do that anymore but maybe you might want to call so and so and so and so and um and and stuff like that and I don't take any referrals for doing any of that either I I just say you know let me know how you may go but if you know maybe someone else could help you do it but that's a great question so I have not been doing any of that work through you consultation Just for future uh references and we understand and thank you for explaining that uh for future uh uh attorney um first assistant C's attorney uh could it looks like that that could be a conflict of interest in the future just for for Best Practices but thank you so much for explaining good I think you will find out that most on chair office it's yeah we have a family life too so there is no time if if you work for the city you that's what you work on thank you so much thank you council president all right councelors any other questions councelor councelor M through you council president and um it's to uh notify our uh clerk I had uh can I reconsider my vote because I was under the assumption that um I was voting on item 585 um to to you know to suspend the rules so I was a little confused not that it's a big deal um it is a process to reconsider so we're going to have to reconsider entire boat and then go back and do this and do that to suspend the rules so it is within the same the same meeting so we need to make a motion to reconsider and this and that and it's like we we go now but if you want to I mean we can stay it on the record yeah allent coun thank you I I want to quickly say thanks to my colleague councilor lzone for that for the question that she asked um attorney Foley and attorney hen because I recall a year ago um the private practice was was a big concern during the the Personnel committee meeting and it's and it's refreshing to hear that you kept your word to what you said to us that that night and and I thank you for that and and thank you for your work because I've worked with you a few times and I know here you're working hard thank you well it was a lot of work closing down the practice it it took a lot of work but uh I've been grateful I I cannot believe how fast the past year has I can't believe I was here a year ago November in front of the council you confirmed me it seems like the the year went by so quickly and besides some of the nice comments from U attorney hooton I've really enjoyed the opportunity you know not only to interact with with the council and the mayor's office but every Department I I think I've I've been in contact and had and helped or assisted or been had some interaction with every Department in the city during the past year and uh and I hope in some way I've helped them uh resolving issues and doing things and moving things forward because that's what I'm here to do is to assist the city in any way I can I've also want to tell you that i' I've thoroughly enjoyed working with attorney hooton working with Attorney Carol Garcia who's in our office uh staff uh Rachel Batista and suaga who's who's kind of on a part-time basis now I think it's a really good team it's something that I think attorney hooton was sort of had a vision when he advertised for the first assistant City attorney and uh we were lucky enough to get Attorney Carol Garcia and and together I think we've been able to really work off each other's energy to try to do the best to represent the the city and for me with the type of work that I did as an attorney in the 17 years I had my own practice it's really a culmination of all those things that I've done local permitting and litigation and appearing in front of the various forums the Superior Court The District Court the land Court the housing court you know and the various state agencies the alphabet soup really of uh state agencies mcad and Civil Service I have a civil service hearing tomorrow in Boston in fact and so it's been a it sort of reinvigorated me but I certainly did not have the energy to do anything outside of outside of that and it has been a great it's been great for me to be able to say no to people very tough for Kevin P Foley to say no to anybody Tim knows that very very tough for me to say no when someone asked me to do something and so uh this has been a great uh chance for me to to do something uh here that it uses my my skills and my background and to serve the city so with that I'll I the Council has any questions for me thank you um attorney attorney I think that this might be a question for you can you remind me of um why the contract is on a one-ear basis uh it was a request of the mayor do you recall the the reasoning behind it I do not I just run it by the mayor and the mayor again I I my end result is to have everything run smoothly so if somebody says this is what I want that's what I do okay thank you Council BL thank you so uh would you mind providing Mr hooton would you mind providing for the council the two-page list of accomplishments I think that's important that we have that as part of the record and I wouldn't mind seeing it as well I can make a copy of it thank you um cuz I think that it's important that we have an opportunity to see the work uh that um that's going on in the office specifically what Mr Foley has been doing and while this is all about Mr folit this evening and I'll be supporting it um I do want to commend you attorney hooton uh from what I'm seeing upstairs in your office between you and attorney Garcia and attorney FY there seems to be the right word to use with Synergy I can see it I think you're working on behalf of the city and doing the city and it's residents through its municipality a great service so kudos to you as as you're leading that team and I think you've got some good team members as well that are supporting what you're trying to accomplish so thank you for all that you do appreciate it and Mr Foley appreciate what the work that you've done and it's it's I I don't know where councilor infon was Council vice president infon was going with the question but um I I wouldn't mind if this was two-year contract for example but it's not I don't think we can amend it here but very grateful for that thank you because as an attorney sometimes you don't always get a thank you because of the nature of being an attorney sometimes you say things to people or you tell them something that they don't they really don't want to hear um but um you know they're not always happy with what they hear from you but they appreciate the fact that you're being straightforward with them so a lot of times um you don't get that sort of a thank you so I'm very grateful for that councelors any other questions in regard to this matter I I hear no questions so at this point I will call the Madame CL please call the role to approve that was a motion to approve motion to approve yes um Council Rees yes Council marmel yes Council Santiago yes Council Del Rosario noted as absent Council Lan yes Council lant yes Council Levy yes got you um noted as yes remotely Council vice president Inon yes council president Rodriguez I vote Yes Mo and Carries congratulations is okay iach of course do not appreciate thanks for the oh no you earned it was counselor can I get you to sign that and I do want to thank councilor Levy for not coming here and getting us all sick I hope she feel better Tim turn I'm just GNA this right back to you counselors we have uh item 585 24 we have that committee we need to discuss this item at this uh at this level otherwise it's going to be approve going to be automatically be approved due to the 30 days so councilors can I get a motion to suspend rule 11 to pull item 5852 24 which is the appointment of Dem mocari as a planning director so we need to finish the BS our business at this level otherwise it's going to be appointed automatically um motion to suspend rule 11 second there a motion to suspend rule 11 properly second discussion C Madame Vice pres inant thank you through you coun uh to you uh council president um as as the chair of the Personnel committee I did get uh a message from the administration about this item and they wish to table this item until further notice well it's either table withdraw or or withraw or something without okay so so then just so uh council president um under your guidance as as you just mentioned then we would have to withdraw this item um with no pre predes until uh the administration gets back to us Cel plan is there a motion to withdraw no there's a motion to suspend rule 11 uh uh to pull from committee I I've been voting no on the first one for several reasons you're probably why is the plant voting against us on several reasons I just I wasn't going to explain except this is now I have to because of this particular situation but um I I I I understand why the committee didn't meet but I think it's important that I think it's important that we make every effort to and that we don't bypass the committee the Committees are important the part of our process and it was more I didn't think the thing was going everything was going to pass anyway but I think it's important that for the symbolism anyway at least one be one person who said I don't agree with that and so that's the reason why I voted no on that and yes for the ultimate vote at the end on this particular case our backs are against the wall a little bit because we as the council president explained to us we have 30 days that we have to go ahead and vote or El it goes in automatically I don't like back ending into things I think it's important for the person that is in front of us that we take a vote one way or the other on it and it appears that we're going to do it on this particular one because I don't like that I'll be voting yes to set it up out of the committee because the alternative it's going to pass so I'll be voting yes that's the explanation thank you no problem thank you Council lant any other questions in regard to this matter pleas Madame Clair please call the RO this is the motion to pull it from committee councelor Levy yes thank you councelor Council lant yes Council Lan yes Council Del rar is noted as absent Council Santiago yes Council mam yes Council Reyes yes Council vice president Inon yes council president Rodriguez I vote Yes so now councilors I'll entertain a motion uh to withdraw with without PR so moved there's a motion to withdraw without prejudice butly second discussion on the matter um I Hear No so at this point I'll call the questions uh Madame CL please call the RO Council Rees yes counc counc mam yes Council Santiago yes Council Del Rosario is noted as absent councel Lon yes Council lant yes Council Levy yes thank you councilor uh Council vice president fonte yes council president Rodriguez I vote yes thank you now we're going on top of the agenda councilors we're going straight to public hearings uh item 5772 24 the removal of Handa parking located at 83 mon Street um Madame cler please read the notice sorry document number 577-2445 7.m in the city council chambers 200 Common Street Lawrence Mass pursuant to chapter 2 of the acts of 2023 and in accordance with the recently revised city council rule 2 this meeting will be hybrid allowing participation both in person and remotely to accommodate any participant with health considerations that prevents them from participating in person to receive access codes for remote participation please contact the city clerk at eileen. Bernal cityof lawrence.com or 978 620 3230 the meeting may be viewed on Facebook and YouTube the purpose of this hearing is to gather testimony information and public input concerning the proposed amendment to the revised ordinances of of the City of Lawrence to be further amended by deleting the following subparagraph to section 10. 36. 340 of the municipal code handicap parking Trenton Street East Side from a point 28 ft north of buswell Street to point 48 ft north of buswell Street persons wishing to be heard shall be afforded the opportunity uh public hearing is now open anybody from the public that wishes to speak public hearing is now close motion uh councelors what's the motion motion to approve there's a motion to approve properly second any discussion on the removal discussion Council thank you so um council president for the last couple of me I'll be voting in favor of this but the last couple of meetings we hav not had anybody doing translation services I'm not sure why we haven't had anybody and I think it's important that the council understands why we're not having anybody and then the people that we represent fortunately I don't think anybody's here who needs it but should they have been we don't have anybody so can you give us an update or tell us why we don't have translation services sure we we actually haven't been we were not able to renew the contract for the previous vendor and we are in the process of getting bids uh or the city is in the process of getting bids for the translation services when do we expect that we will be able to continue having the trans transtion service I'm sure all of us would be interested in finding that out we will continue having the translation services uh we don't have any specific date I'm I'm working uh uh with the different departments to be able to accomplish this and be able to have at least somebody that is uh uh the goal is to have somebody that is permanently in the meantime we're going to try to get somebody temporarily hopefully within the next for the next uh 2 me we probably miss the translation services but hopefully uh we're going to have it before that and my last question on this is there I'm not was there a reason why we're not going forward with the translation services with the pre with the current or previous vendor I'm not aware was there did that person not want to do this anymore what do we know why we're we're looking for somebody new we are in the process of getting bids for the uh for the services it doesn't answer the question um is it did the contract expire yes oh contract there was a contract and expired that's as simple as that thank you all right uh any other questions in regarding to uh to the removal I Hear No so at this point I'll call the questions amadan CL please call the rooll councel Levy thank you councelor um counil plant yes Council Lan yes councelor Del Rosario is noted as absent Council Santiago yes Council marmo yes Council Reyes yes Council vice president yes council president I vote Yes all right we going uh to the committee reports uh the communication from the mayor City officials City attorney there is none committee reports budget and finance committee there is no report housing committee there is no report ordinance committee there is no report personal committee there is no report Safety Committee there is no report Committee of the hall there is no reports uh we went already over to all businesses um any table any table matters that we would like to discuss tonight councelors all right I hear no so we're going straight to new business so so I um z124 uh 25 the proposed ordinance uh C4 uh 160 uh probatory period um the attorney hton send us out this is going to this is going to go to uh the ordinance committee item 0225 uh rule allowing Proclamation um citations to be uh here when introduced uh we have we have the three signature from counselors and the petition for these um and we are going to be discussing this item that U allowing rule I believe 26 January 21st on January 21st but what was the rule number um the last one is 26 27 well I think the City attorney was proposing to just amend rule four to add the language into rule four he thought that was appropriate so we are we are going to be adding language to rule four or at is discuss discussing the opportunity to allowing um language to be add on rule four so that's going to be discussed on next next meeting um 0325 handicap parking uh 17 bot Street this is going to go to U ordinance committee ID on 0425 handicap parking on 1018 chest uh Chester Street uh ordinance committee item0 425 handicap parking 248 saling Street uh ordinance committee it C 624 um C 625 handicap parking at 30 30 W Street uh this is going to ordinance committee is0 725 handicap parking on 143 Parker Street ordinance committee 0824 uh no parking any time Broomfield Street between uh kennet uh to Lenox and Lenox uh this is going to ordinance committee 0925 amending Mar Street resident parking uh near river work this is going to ordinance committee item 1025 uton street resing parking uh this is going to ordinance committee item 11:25 uh Camp evangelistica June 13 to June uh June 13 July 12 August 9 September 12 this is going at the companion Park this is going to ordinance committee and 8 1225 install 2J uh j o Paul and lowest Street near hbur Street this is going to ordinance committee councilors uh this is all new business everything is going to ordinance so we're going to start with the I think that we already schedule ordinance for uh for the next meeting it's next Tuesday next Tuesday which is 7 o'cl the 14th the 14th on my birthday um at 7:00 p.m. ordinance uh we have no business for any other committee unless we want them to meet um councellors you can propose a new date all right um uh with that said we do we have the the three signature yes three or five signatures okay perfect no councelors any other matters all right I'll will entertain a motion to adjourn toj second there is a motion to adjourn properly second any discussion I Hear n mad CL please call the ro oh is not longer online all those in favor please say I I any nice ni have it thank you counselors thank you for