Thread by @DerrickAndADog, #SomervilleMA City Council thread. Let's start with some drama. The $250k taken [...]

#SomervilleMA City Council thread. Let& #39;s start with some drama. The $250k taken from SPD was redirected to Social Racial & Justice. A executive office project. Later, it was moved to City Council. But now...

https://twitter.com/DerrickAndADog/status/1282076261330952192

1/?">https://twitter.com/DerrickAn...

https://twitter.com/DerrickAndADog/status/1282076261330952192

Now that it& #39;s been moved to the City Council, it is revealed that it only needs to be $120k. (my read of the budget pdf)

Let& #39;s be clear. It was $250k under @JoeCurtatone & #39;s control, but $120k when sent to City Council.

Cool. Cool cool cool.

2/?

Item 1: A public hearing on construction. TC Systems submitted plans to trench through an ADA-compliant crosswalk, which @JTforWard2 notes isn& #39;t a simple repair. (Many of our ADA crosswalks *aren& #39;t* compliant due to them being installed wrong.)

Won& #39;t be approved tonight.

3/?

Finance committee reports are being approved. An annoying process thing: meeting minutes cannot be posted publicly until the city council approves them. Which means that up until this point, the public hasn& #39;t seen the minutes.

4/?

@JTforWard2 takes the opportunity to highlight how this budget season stood out:

- Finance largely tackled in committee, not all as-a-whole.
- Huge public engagement (that& #39;s us!)
- Other praise for how hard the councilors worked.

(As a reminder, S& #39;Ville CC is part-time)

5/?

Now the revised budget (really just the original budget plus a memo) is before the councilor. @JTforWard2 says it looks all in order. (no mention of the reduction of $250k to $120k for civilian oversight committee)

6/?

@Maryjorossetti has some questions out to Health and Human Services Director Kress that hadn& #39;t yet been answered. D. Kress isn& #39;t here.

Apparently the numbers don& #39;t add up, and - with no explanation - Mary Jo intends to get to cutting.

7/?

Apparently, H&HS and/or budget can& #39;t get their story straight. Conflicting explanations, including directly from Mr Mastrobuoni (budget director) vs a memo from the very same day vs the explanation from H&HS previously.

@Maryjorossetti is not having it. Moves to cut.

8/?

The demand for accuracy in budgeting and the expectation that folks answer - with clarity - when City Council has questions... is bumping up against the discomfort of making cuts from Health & Human Svcs.

9/?

3 Councilors vote in favor of the cut -- with the intention of holding the administration accountable to precision and correctness -- and 8 vote against it -- with the intention of supporting H&HS during a pandemic.

10/?

@Ward5Mark praises the administration for their participation in the budget, putting it in contrast with prior years which were far worse (more combative and less engaged.)

It& #39;s nice to be reminded of slow but incremental progress by those who& #39;ve been around a while.

11/?

@lancedavis joins the thanks for the adminstration. And highlights that City Council will have a budget. $250k he says.

Uhm. Uh oh. Either I& #39;m wrong, or he hasn& #39;t yet seen that it& #39;s only $120k.

This is what can happen when details are shared less than 24 hours ahead.

12/?

Everyone is thanking @JTforWard2 (finance cmte chair), other councilors, and the administration.

Budget season is hell. I can understand the victory lap. Everyone (so far) seems very happy with the result. I& #39;m curious to see if anyone speaks with a different tone.

13/?

Apparently it& #39;s "amazing" that the city reinvested budget cuts into the services that the City Council recommended.

(again, perspective of how bad it had been in the past)

14/?

@KatjBallantyne kindly takes her colleagues aside and encourages them to be more patient when working with the administration. Kindly. I read this as an authentic desire to take the high road, and to steer the administration/city-council relation towards more collab.

15/?

@somershade1 and @mmastrobuonii clarified the $250k vs $120k thing.

$120k is the estimate of what the administration intended to do. The actual budget to City Council is $250k.

Phew. I am SO GLAD to be wrong. Being wrong is nice.

16/?

Also, the revised budget was passed, and we& #39;re quickly doing all the procedure *stuff* of actually passing the stuff necessary.

17/?

This mostly consists of the clerk having to read each item. "Requesting the appropriation of $_____ to fund ____"

18/?

Now that all the finance stuff is done, back to normal business.

19/?

@KristenEStrezo put a resolution forward for the Director of Inspectional Services to report on it& #39;s implementation plans for enforcement of Tenant Notification Law (new to 2020, and relevant to upcoming mass evictions).

20/?

A flurry of resolutions and requests for information from the administration on a variety of community services concerns (incl. diversity and pay disparity in E911 and 311 services) by @KristenEStrezo .

21/?

Today I learned about https://www.somervillema.gov/childrenscabinet

22/?">https://www.somervillema.gov/childrens...

I was half listening and if I heard correctly, Councilor Davis *(jokingly) moved a resolution for Mary Jo to "give & #39;em hell", related to eversource being non-cooperative (SHS building related?)

CC is about to go to summer recess, so special permits will be hard to get.

23/?

Oh look, the Mayor still hasn& #39;t come to explain what it means to have a declaration of racism as a public health emergency.

(hint: it& #39;s symbolic and good PR. It doesn& #39;t mean anything in practice)

24/?

Several committee reports (and verbal recaps) including an issue on the Appointments & Personnel Committee related to irregularities or lack of transparency in who gets put forward for promotions and whether it opens the city up to labor law risk.

25/?

@JesseForWard4 puts forward a resolution for city council & mayor to jointly draft a letter to the Constables: decline any request to aid in an eviction.

As a reminder there& #39;s an upcoming wave of mass evictions. It& #39;d be nice if our appointed officials didn& #39;t partake.

26/?

@KatjBallantyne wants to know what& #39;s up with @TuftsUniversity re-opening (in person) in September. Particularly given Somerville& #39;s objection to lots of the reopening that& #39;s happening right now.

Several other councilors agree: "WTF?"

27/?

Final bit of business: City Council summer recess.

"People can use it in any way they like. I already have a bunch of community meetings lined up." @MattForWard1 uses his vacation to do more work.

oh wait.. one other weird thing.

28/?

Apparently it& #39;s routine (or ritual) to take a vote to RECONSIDER all financial items previously voted on. They all vote yes to reconsider, and then they later vote no to change their vote.

I believe this preempts any possible later intent to reconsider.

29/?

fin.

30/30.

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