Welcome to a new year, and what a year it’s been so far! The focus of this post is local politics, though, and the meeting last night was the first chaired by freshly minted President Christine Madore. (She knocked it out of the park, by the way. The meeting ran smoothly and efficiently under her gavel.)
Councilor Dominguez was absent. All other councilors were present.
There were no hearings, so the meeting commenced with appointments and reappointments. As always, we thank the committee and board members serving the city for their efforts. If you are interested in getting more involved, consider applying for an appointment.
The first vote of the year was to authorize the sale of Parcel B at 20 Franklin St. According to the terms of the bid, the purchaser cannot build on the parcel and must remediate the land. Councilor Dibble requested that the council stipulate a “no build” deed restriction in their vote. The city solicitor provided some suggested language so the vote, the bid, and the deed will all match. The matter passed unanimously. There are still a couple of things that will have to happen before the sale: The Conservation Committee needs to review the sale and the Planning Board needs to formally create the Parcel.
Money Matters: The Council voted to approve vacation and sick time retirement buy backs for two retiring city employees with the schools ($36,768). They also voted to approve $20K to the Mack Park food farm program. Dibble asked if the project went out for bid. Mark Park organizer Kerry Murphy confirmed that it had, and local outfits Maitland Farms and HomeGrown Urban Abundance Gardening won the bid.
There was some discussion around the $7K requested for servicing and inspecting Council on Aging vehicles. Dibble wanted to know why the vehicles were being serviced by private facilities and not city workers. He moved to send the matter to the Administration and Finance (A&F) Committee. Councilor McCarthy suggested that the Council approve the amount and then discuss the long-term maintenance plans, because seniors depend on that transportation. Councilor Turiel mentioned that the employee responsible for servicing the vehicles retired, and COVID created some problems in hiring his replacement. Dibble concurred with McCarthy’s suggestion; the matter passed and was sent to A&F, co-posted with the Committee of the Whole for more discussion.
Two donations were accepted: Tropical Products donated $1,425 in grocery gift cards for Salem families in need. Cummings Properties donated $1K to the Fire Donation fund.
Almost everything else was routine: traffic (Beaver St. is one-way; parking on Dodge); public guide licenses approved. BUT, we are excited that the City Clerk is picking up a project that was sidelined by the pandemic. City Clerk Ilene Simons will be working with Turiel to review software that can modernize council business and processes. The aim of investing in new software is to make the materials more accessible to all…and we’re all for that!
Thanks for tuning in! I’m looking forward to a productive 2021.
Respectfully submitted,
Jen Lynch