Watertown City Council
Monday November 27, 2023
Clickable Transcript Printable Transcript Agenda
The order of items in transcripts appear in the chronological order in which they were taken up. Some Agenda items may have been skipped.
5. A.
John Gannon from the Watertown City Council issued a proclamation to honor Watertown Scout Troop 30 and PAC 30 for their significant contributions to the local food pantry through their annual "Scouting for Food" drive. The proclamation traced back the history of the Boy Scouts of America and its foundational values, highlighting the tradition of serving the community, which is vividly epitomized by the scouts' food drive activities. Under the evolving Scouts BSA program, now inclusive of all genders, Troop 30 and PAC 30 have consistently organized the largest one-day food drive in Watertown, significantly contributing to the fight against food insecurity. Notably, under the leadership of individuals like Dian Hao and Ethan Ho in previous years, and Caitlin Devlin in 2023, the scouts managed to collect record-breaking amounts of food for the Watertown Food Pantry. The proclamation, endorsed by Council President Mark Sideris, concluded with a collective expression of gratitude from the community, acknowledging the scouts' efforts in addressing food insecurity.
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Section 4
Paul Wheaton expressed concerns about obstacles in accessing his driveway due to the Highland Ave project and criticized the appeals process as being unfairly predetermined. Eloida Thomas suggested the need for a standardized template for meeting minutes to enhance clarity and compliance with council rules, and opposed the idea of a transfer tax, viewing it as financially burdensome. Alyssa Wang criticized the winter parking ban for disproportionately affecting renters, low-income individuals, and those with mobility issues, highlighting the personal hardships it causes in terms of safety and convenience. Jean Dunoyer also voiced opposition to the winter parking ban, describing it as inequitable and calling for its reconsideration or abolition to ease the burdens it imposes on the community.
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7. A.
Colleen Doyle introduced herself and provided an update on her activities since starting her position with the City of Watertown a month and a half ago. She highlighted her efforts in learning about the city's operations, policy development, modernizing processes, preparing for collective bargaining, focusing on recruitment strategies, reworking the onboarding process, and implementing an exit interview process. Doyle requested a $115,000 funding for the salary line item to help implement recommendations from a personnel study and emphasized the need for an assistant director to focus on recruitment and an HR systems administrator to modernize department functions. She also requested additional funds for contracted services and staff development, including diversity, equity and inclusion training, harassment and discrimination training, and potential wellness initiatives. Doyle outlined her future plans for FY25, focusing on further training and staff development, leveraging training programs offered by the city's insurance provider, Maya.
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8. A.
Vincent Piccirilli presented a report during a Watertown City Council meeting summarizing the outcomes of a committee meeting aimed at drafting fiscal year 2025 budget policy guidelines. The committee, consisting of council members and city officials, aimed to synthesize councilors' input into actionable guidelines for the city manager, focusing not on the merit of requests but on their clarity, completeness, and relevance to the operational budget or capital improvement program. The meeting led to recommendations for deferring certain requests for further discussion, specifically a real estate transfer tax, an increase in the personal property tax exemption, and discussions on Canalunga Park. The committee unanimously recommended adopting the drafted fiscal year 2025 budget guidelines, which emphasize cost savings, revenue identification, and priority program enhancements, particularly in education, climate and energy plans, infrastructure, human rights, and cultural events. A discussion followed regarding a proposed amendment to the language on grant applications, seeking to clarify the encouragement for departments to pursue a wider scope of grant opportunities; however, the amendment was eventually withdrawn. Concerns were also raised about the staffing for implementing the climate and energy plan and the consideration of a real estate transfer tax, with opinions diverging on the appropriateness and timing of addressing these items given concurrent state-level discussions.
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8. B.
At the meeting chaired by Palomba, with Bays as vice chair and Gannon as secretary, the committee convened to discuss the reappointments of Dr. Domicic Amirtharaj to the Board of Health until February 2026, and David Leon to the Affordable Housing Trust until June 2025. Dr. Amirtharaj, an internal medicine specialist, expressed his keen interest in public health and local government, advocating for an expanded role of the Board of Health in addressing opioid addiction and substance use disorders, in addition to continuing efforts in rodent control. His reappointment was unanimously recommended. David Leon, who has over 23 years of experience in real estate finance and development with a focus on affordable housing, shared his enthusiasm and the positive dynamics within the Trust, as well as the ongoing efforts to identify potential affordable housing sites with the assistance of MIT data tools. He also emphasized the importance of staff support and expressed a wish to discuss increasing affordable housing requirements in developments. Leon's reappointment was also unanimously recommended. The meeting concluded with a unanimous vote to adjourn at 6:45 PM, with minutes prepared by councilor Gannon.
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8. C.
The Committee on Human Services held a public meeting on September 14th to discuss the development of a citywide rodent control program and review an updated draft program. The meeting was called to address the ongoing rodent nuisance in Watertown, with testimony from residents and presentations from city officials including the interim director of the Watertown Health Department and directors from DPW. Concerns raised included insufficient rodent traps at construction sites and the effectiveness of "smart traps" that use electricity to euthanize rodents, offering real-time data and proving more efficient than traditional bait traps. The health department is leading the rodent control efforts, advocating for a strategy combining education, enforcement, and proactive measures like pre-construction meetings with contractors to implement rodent control. The city is also finalizing a comprehensive rodent control plan, involving various departments and a newly formed working group. This plan aims to amend regulations, enforce legal remedies against property owners contributing to the problem, and educate the public. Progress was commended by councilors, who emphasized the need for diligence, especially with new construction projects. The meeting, aiming to improve the rodent control effort, adjourned at 8:45 PM.
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8. D.
The section elaborates on the discussions and outcomes from committee meetings held on January 30, February 13, April 3, and April 20 in 2023, mainly focused on the adoption of a short term rental ordinance and an ordinance requiring closed captioning on public facing televisions in Watertown. The committee, comprising chair GANNON, vice-chair John Airasian, and secretary Lisa Feltner, agreed on limiting short term rentals to "Limited share" and "Home share" options to maintain the essence of a sharing economy. Key recommendations include restricting short term rentals to owner-occupied primary residences, defining a primary residence, limiting the number of guests, prohibiting commercial events, establishing an application and registration process, and setting forth regulations such as an inspection checklist. Despite the comprehensive draft ordinance and regulations finalized, Councilor Gannon voted against the recommendations due to concerns over allowing up to ten renters, fearing it might lead to non-residential use of properties. Additionally, the committee reviewed and updated a draft ordinance to require closed captioning on public facing televisions, recommending its adoption unanimously after making some clarifications and definitions. The discussions will be followed by a cleaned-up version of the proposals for further examination by the city council.
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10. A.
George Proakis, representing the City of Watertown, requested the support for Marsha Serra's new appointment to the Environment and Energy Efficiency Committee, with a term expiring in 2025, and the reappointment of Brian Heveson, Ellen Menounos, and Laurie Murphy. He sought approval through the standard process involving committee review and council approval. Sideris, responding to Proakis, discussed with Councilor Piccirilli about the ad hoc committee on climate and energy, which usually would handle such matters instead of the public works. Sideris proposed that the appointments be reviewed by the Climate and Energy Committee.
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10. B.
Proakis shared plans to alleviate overcrowding in city hall by utilizing the recently purchased Parker Annex Building, detailing a multi-phase strategy to reorganize city departments for more efficient use of space. Initial steps include relocating the public buildings and IT department to the Parker building. Future plans include making the third floor of the Parker building the permanent location for the IT and health departments, converting space formerly used by the Knights of Columbus and a physical therapy business for city use, possibly relocating the city's food pantry. At city hall, plans aim to consolidate finance divisions on the first floor and repurpose vacated spaces for departments like human resources and constituent services. An extensive reorganization will eventually see community development and planning moving to the Parker building, enabling further redistribution of spaces within city hall. Proakis also mentioned considering the future of the Phillips School Senior Center site for potential redevelopment into a new facility that could integrate senior and recreation programs. Concerns about lacking employee breakroom spaces were raised, to which Proakis responded with assurances of addressing this issue in both buildings.
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Section 11
During the announcement, a three-day planning event for the Watertown Square plating effort was mentioned, starting with a kickoff meeting at the former Sasaki building, including daytime events with designers and specific topic meetings, concluding with a presentation of design scenarios. Following the planning event, further meetings in the new year will refine the ideas towards intersection design and zoning efforts. New personnel announcements included Ari Sky joining as the chief financial officer, bringing extensive municipal finance experience, and Lara Bari accepting the position of Constituent Services Director to lead the 311 program, with her background in customer service and call center work. Additionally, the city received a free cash certification amounting to $322,330, which will be discussed in budgeting conversations.
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Section 13
Piccirilli discussed the next steps following the adoption of the fiscal year 25 budget policy guidelines, emphasizing the need for council members to rank them and return their rankings by December 5th for further organization and submission to the manager in December. Sideris shared information about two upcoming events at the Commander's Mansion: the annual tree lighting scheduled for Saturday at 5:30 PM, highlighting its growth and popularity among families with children, and the inauguration of elected officials set for January 2nd at 7:00 PM, noting the venue change and promising additional details to follow, while urging the public to save the date.
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Section 14
During a public hearing, a discussion took place concerning various community concerns and suggestions. Libby addressed the issue of a presentation on the reorganization of the Parker building and town hall not being visible on Zoom, to which Sideris responded that it would be uploaded to the city manager's website as soon as possible. Alyssa Wang spoke about the negative impacts of the winter parking ban, suggesting alternatives like a ban only during snow emergencies or on one side of the street to better serve the community, especially its vulnerable populations. Elodia Thomas raised issues regarding the lack of meeting room space in the new Parker School and the poor setup of the third floor, which affects the quality of meeting experiences for those watching from home.
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