City Council — June 11, 2026

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen.

Today is Thursday, June 11th, 2026, 7:00 PM, in the New Bedford City Council Chambers.

Tonight we are led in prayer by Deaconess Donna Britto of In the Name of Jesus Church.

Good evening.

Thanks for inviting me.

Happy to be here.

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, Savior Jesus, Holy Spirit, as we come upon the beginning of summer, we thank you for the warmth, light, and energy this season brings.

We are grateful for the beauty of our community, its parks, its waterfronts, its neighborhoods, and for the people who make it vibrant and strong.

Bless this city council with wisdom, patience, and unity as they make decisions that shape the lives of our neighbors.

May their discussions be guided by fairness, compassion, and a shared vision for the common good.

We ask for safety and joy for all who live, work and visit here during these summer months.

Protect our children at play, our workers in the heat, and our first responders who serve tirelessly.

Let this season be one of growth, not only in nature but in understanding, cooperation, and hope.

May the City Council's work here today plant seeds that will bear fruit for years to come.

And we ask this in Jesus' mighty name.

Amen.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Thank you.

Colleagues, before the pledge of allegiance, I would like to at this time ask for a moment of silence.

We, uh, uh, a colleague of ours lost, uh, their grandmother.

So if we could have a moment of silence for Maria Saud Betancourt, please.

Thank you.

We are led in the Pledge of Allegiance tonight by Councilor at Large James Roy.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Absolutely, Councilor.

I am joined in the City Council chambers by my colleagues, Councilor-at-Large Ian Abreu, Councilor of Ward 2 Scott Pemberton, Councilor of Ward 1 Leo Choquette, Councilor of Ward 5 Joseph Lopes, Councilor-at-Large James Roy, Councilor at Large Naomi Carney, Councilor of Ward 3 Sean Oliver, Councilor at Large and First Vice President Shane Burgow, Councilor of Ward 4 Derek Baptiste, and myself, Ward 6 City Councilor and President Ryan Pereira.

I would like to note that this meeting is being live streamed and recorded.

City Council and committee meetings can be viewed on the City of New Bedford's homepage under Quick Links, then Meetings.

I would ask the clerk at this time if there are any letters to be read into the record.

Mr. President, we have one.

It's from Councilor Gomes.

Dear Council President Pereira and honorable members of the council, I am writing to inform you that I'll be unable to attend the city council meeting on Thursday, June 11th, due to a prior personal commitment.

Please read this letter into the record to make my colleagues and the public aware the reason for my absence.

Sincerely, Brian K. Gomes, Councilor at Large.

Second.

Motion received and placed on file, made by Councilor Lopes, seconded by Councilor Roy.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

We'll begin with hearings.

Without objection, I will ask the clerk to read items 1 and 2 together.

Mr. President, item 1 is a hearing from Enstar Electric Company doing business as Eversource Energy for the location of approximately 208 feet of conduit in William Street.

This work is necessary to provide— to improve the infrastructure of William Street.

1A is the order.

And 2 is a hearing from NSTAR Electric Company doing business as Eversource Energy for the location of approximately 18 feet of conduit to proposed handhole and sidewalk area for 152 William Street.

This work is necessary to provide service for that address.

2A is the order.

Motion to receive and place on file and open the public hearing for items 1, 1A, 2, and 2A.

Motion to open the public hearing made by Councilor Burgo.

For items 1 through 2A, made by Councilor Burgos, seconded by Councilor Baptiste.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

Good evening, Jessica.

Good evening, Mr. President, members of the City Council.

Jessica Elder representing Eversource.

So this plan, um, this petition that we're, we're, uh, petitioning, uh, sorry, uh, it's here on William Street.

It's down by the area that the— that is under construction.

It's work order number 23419435 on William Street.

Apparently, the customer was tearing down a building, and during the demolition, the building foundation, the Eversource duct package that was located in the sidewalk collapsed.

So we're requesting to install 132 feet of conduit plus 76 in the right-of-way on William Street.

The— we will not be going in the exact same area, um, but, uh, the duct package was removed, and as a result, um, the replacement had to, um— we have to relocate the secondaries, um, so that we can maintain the electric service in the area.

So I don't know as far as time, I'm guessing You know, we got quite a bit of conduit.

I know the area is busy.

We'll definitely, definitely require a detail.

I'm guessing with the amount of conduit going in and, you know, the area, 3 or 4 days at max to complete the project.

Colleagues, any questions for Jessica?

Councilor Baptiste.

How you doing, Jessica?

I'm well.

How are you?

Good.

So it, um, did— will the, the neighbors be aware of the construction going on?

Will it, will it stop traffic?

Will you need to have any detours in that area at all?

As far as anything being closed, I know because already the, the, uh, the duct has been, uh, affected.

All right, so there's no— nobody's going to lose any power or any service.

And if there were, they absolutely will send out notices.

All right, no problem.

And you're going to make sure you have a detail up over there?

Absolutely.

Oh yeah, I saw.

I know how busy it is down there.

Just, just make sure that like they, they, um, get in touch with the businesses around the area to know that the work's getting done, just so if it just, you know, there's a disruption in traffic up over there that they can be aware of to make their, um, customers aware what's going on.

Thank you.

I yield.

Thank you, Councilor Baptiste.

Anybody else?

Councilor Abram.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Uh, Jessica, good evening.

Um, just to piggyback on what the Ward 4 councilor said, he's absolutely correct.

And so not only perhaps for this time, but going forward, if we could really try to make a conscious effort to engage the businesses of that certain area, because we get those calls a lot as councilors— hey, I didn't know the work was happening and it's disrupting my business.

Some of that stuff's inevitable, it will disrupt their business, but they can fix things and they can adjust things if they know.

So just maybe going forward, try to weave that into some standard operating procedures if we can, at the very least.

So thank you for that.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, Councilor.

Anyone else?

Okay, seeing that this is a public hearing, if any member of the public wishes to speak on this item in favor, they can speak in favor of this item.

Any member of the public wishes to speak in opposition, Speak in opposition.

If anyone would like to be recorded in favor, be recorded in favor, or be recorded in opposition, be recorded in opposition.

All right, seeing no, no members of the public wishing to speak, colleagues, a motion to close the public hearing made by Councilor Burgos, seconded by Councilor Lopes.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

Your pleasure, colleagues.

Motion to adopt orders 1 and 2.

Motion to adopt orders 1 and 2 made by Councilor Abrams, seconded by Councilor Baptiste.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

Moving on to mayor's papers, I will ask the clerk to read item M1.

Mr. President, M1 is communication from the mayor to the council.

Submitting an order for the transfer of $750,000 from inspectional services, personal services in the amount of $110,000, facilities and fleet personal services in the amount of $236,000, recreation and parks personal services in the amount of $80,000, elections personal services in the amount of $88,000, health personal services in the amount of $120,000, solicitor personal services in the amount of $28,000.

Zoo personal services in the amount of $43,000 and police personal services in the amount of $45,000 to City Utilities purchase of services.

M1A is the order.

Refer to Finance.

Motion has been made to refer the item to the Finance Committee by Councilor Carney, seconded by Councilor Burgo.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

That's okay.

Councilor Carney, would you like to speak?

Yeah, no, it's okay.

Okay.

Yeah.

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

The item has been referred to committee.

I'll ask the clerk to read item M2, please.

Mr. President, M2 is communication from Mayor Mitchell to the council submitting an order for the transfer of $480,000 from stabilization fund to fire personal services.

M2A is the order.

Motion to receive and place on file and adopt the order as presented.

Motion to adopt the order as presented, made by Councilor Lopes, seconded by Councillor Roy.

Anyone on the question of adoption?

I'll ask the clerk to call the roll.

Councillor Abreu?

Yes.

Councillor Baptiste?

Yes.

Councillor Burgos?

Yes.

Yes.

Councillor Carney?

Yes.

Yes.

Councillor Chauquet?

Yes.

Yes.

Councillor Lopes?

Yes.

Yes.

Councillor Oliver?

Yes.

Yes.

Councillor Pemberton?

Yes.

Yes.

Councillor Pereira?

Yes.

Yes.

Councillor Roy?

Yes, yes, item passes 10 to 0.

I'll ask the clerk to read item M3, please.

Mr. President, M3 is communication from the mayor to the council submitting an order for the transfer of $164,000 from facilities and fleet personal services to fire personal services.

M3A is the order.

Same course of action.

Second.

Motion to adopt has been made by Councilor Abru, seconded by Councilor Lopes.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

I will ask the clerk to read item M4.

Mr. President, M4 is communication from the mayor to the council submitting an order for the transfer of $85,000 from stabilization fund to facilities and fleet purchase of services.

M4A is the order.

Referral to finance.

Motion to refer the item to the Committee on Finance was made by Councilor Carney.

Second.

Second by Councillor Pemberton.

Anyone on the question?

Roll call.

Roll call vote on referring the item to finance.

Councillor Abrams?

Nope.

No.

Councillor Baptiste?

Yeah.

Yes.

Councillor Borgo?

Yes.

Councillor Carney?

Yes.

Yes.

Councillor Choquette?

Yes.

Yes.

Councillor Lopes?

No.

No.

Councillor Oliver?

No.

No.

Councillor Pemberton?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Ferreira.

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Roy.

No.

No.

Item passes 6 to 4.

Without objection, we'll now take items 5 through 7— M5 through M17A— without, uh, altogether.

Without objection.

All right, I'll ask the clerk to read them into the record, please.

Mr. President, M5 is communication from the mayor to the council submitting an order for the transfer of $53,000 from police personal services to veterans Other charges and expenses.

M6 is $7,200 from police personal services to tourism personal services.

M7 is $3,600 from police personal services to licensing personal services.

M8 is $18 from police personal services to other intergovernmental assignments and charges, first purchase of services.

M9 is $140,000 from fire purchasing services to Fire personal services.

M10 is $109,000 from Police personal services to Police other charges and expenses at $37,000 and Police capital outlay in the amount of $72,000.

M11 is $70,000 from Recreation and Parks purchase of services to Rec and Parks other financing uses.

M12 is $67,000 from Airport other finance uses to Airport personal services in the amount of $23,000.

In the airport purchase of services in the amount of $44,000.

M13 is $14,000 from veterans purchase of services in the amount of $7,000 and veterans supplies in the amount of $7,000 to veterans other charges and expenses.

M14 is $8,000 from veterans purchase of services to veterans personal services.

M15 is $12,000 from zoo personal services to zoo purchase of services.

M16 is $8,000 from council, other charges to city council purchase of services.

And M17, Mr. President, is $7,850 from MIS, other charges and expenses to MIS personal services.

Motion to receive and place on file M5 through M17A and adopt the order as presented.

Motion to adopt the tran— uh, the adopt the orders of items M5 through M17A.

Made by Councilor Lope, seconded by Councilor Abreu.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

I will ask the clerk to read item M18, please.

Mr. President, M18 is communication from the mayor to the council submitting an order that in accordance with Mass General Law Chapter 44, Section 53½, the revolving fund under the control of the Community Services Department known as the Adult Social Day Program Revolving Fund whose revenues collected, an amount limited to be spent estimated at $300,000, is hereby authorized for FY27.

M18 is the order.

Motion to receive in place and file the communication and adopt the order as presented.

Second.

Motion to adopt the order made by Councilor Lopes, seconded by Councilor Lobergo.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

I will ask the clerk to read item M19.

Mr. President, M19 is communication from the mayor to the council submitting an order that in accordance with Mass General Law Chapter 44, Section 53E½, the revolving fund under the control of the Department of Facilities and Fleet Management known as the Quest Center Revolving Fund, whose revenues collected and amount limited to be spent estimated at $271,500, is hereby authorized for FY27.

M19A is the order.

Same question of action.

Motion, motion to adopt made by Councilor Burgo, seconded by Councilor Abreu.

Anyone on the question?

Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

I will ask the clerk to read— Mr. President, without objection— oh, sorry, we already— I was going to have them read M20 through M25A together.

Thank you, Mr. President.

M20 is communication from the mayor to the council submitting an ordinance amending Chapter 2, Section 2-47, establishing the Department of Health and Human Services.

M20A is the ordinance.

M21 is a communication from the mayor to the council submitting an ordinance amending Chapter 2, Administration, relative to Article 9, Human Rights Commission; Article 10, Council on Aging; Article 13, Commission for Citizens with Disabilities; and Article 16, Division of Community Services; Article 20, Department of Facilities and Fleet Management; and Article 21, Public Infrastructure Department.

M21A is the ordinance.

M22 is communication from the mayor to the council submitting an ordinance amending Chapter 12, Health and Sanitation, Article 1 in general by adding Section 12-11, Oversight of the Department of Health and Human Services, to the Board of Health.

M22A is the ordinance.

M23 is an ordinance amending Chapter 15, Licenses and Permits, Business Regulations Article 1 in general by adding Sections 15-15 and 15-16 relative to the licensing board.

M24 is an ordinance amending Chapter 18, Sections 18-9 and 18-10 relative to parks and recreation.

And M25, Mr. President, is an ordinance amending Chapter 25, Sections 25-1-25-4 and 25-10 relative veterans.

Motion received and placed on file M20 through 25A and referred to the Committee on Ordinances.

Second motion to refer items M20 through M25A and refer them to the Committee on Ordinances, made by Councilor Burgo, seconded by Councilor Carney.

Anyone on the question?

Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

I'll ask the clerk to read item M26.

Mr. President, M26 is a communication from the mayor to the council submitting a proposed Housing Development Incentive Program tax increment exemption agreement and resolution approving a tax increment exemption for the redevelopment of the vacant Holy Family Elementary School located at 91 Summer Street into 44 condominiums.

M26A is the Housing Development Incentive Program and M26B 6B is the resolution.

Motion to refer to the Committee on Finance made by Councilor Abreu, seconded by Councilor Pemberton.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

I will ask the clerk to take items M27 and M28 together without objection.

Mr. President, M27 is communication from the mayor to the council.

It's meaning the reappointment of Diane Berube of the Bedford, Massachusetts, to the Park Board.

This term will expire in May of 2031.

And M28 is a communication from the mayor to the council submitting the reappointment of George M. Rivera of New Bedford to the Park Board, and this term will expire in May of 2031.

Motion received and placed on file.

Waive Rules 38 and 40 and grant the reappointments.

Second.

Motion's been made to waive Rule 38, Rule 40 and grant the reappointments on items 27 and 28 by Councilor Burgos.

It was seconded by Councilor Oliver.

Anyone on the question?

I'll ask the clerk to call the roll.

Councilor Abreu?

Yes.

Councilor Baptiste?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Burgos?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Carney?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Choquette?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Lopes?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Oliver?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Pemberton?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Pereira?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Roy?

Yes.

Yes.

Passes 10 to 0.

Items passed 10 to 0.

I will ask, without objection, if we could waive the reading of item number 3 on new business and take no further action.

So we'll put out a committee.

Second.

Motion's been made by Councilor Burgo to waive the— of the— waive the reading of item number 3, take no further action.

Um, seconded by Councilor Lopes.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

I will ask the clerk to read item number 4, please.

Mr. President, item 4 is a written motion from Councilor Lopes requesting that the Mitchell administration work with the members of the New Bedford City Council to establish a voluntary municipal employee health insurance opt-out program.

Motion to receive and place on file and refer to the Mitchell administration and the Committee on Ordinance.

Motion to refer the item to the Mitchell administration and the Committee on Audit, made by Councilor Lopes, seconded by Councilor Burgos.

Anyone on the question?

The chair recognizes Councilor Lopes.

Thank you.

So I've been here for a little while.

This is the 3rd time I have filed this motion, and I have filed it for the 3rd time, and every time we're having an economic crisis in the city, and every time the administration sends their director that does an actuarial and say there's no value to the city in having other people take their benefits from their partner if they don't need to take health insurance from the city.

Now, I would love to get the administration to say, if we only had 400 people that did this over the last 10 years, what would have saved the city?

But you know what?

We don't know that answer because we never took a shot at this.

Other communities in the Commonwealth, other communities in New England and across the country have this option.

It doesn't have to be where everybody— if you work for the city, you've got to take the city's health insurance.

If your partner works private sector, public sector in another area and provides comparable insurance, take your partner's insurance.

And the city gives you a health holiday at the end of the year.

Normally in December, they give you a check for $5,000, as they do in Somerset and in Seacong.

You just saved the city on a family plan between $13,000 and $20,000.

Think about that.

If you do a multiplier of $15,000 by 100 people, you don't got to close a fire station in the North End.

You don't have to close an engine company.

You don't have to try to bargain and say we're going to go from 3— from 4 to 3 people on an engine company and affect the safety of the entire city.

A little forward thought would save the city how much money over 10 years if we just gave people the opportunity to take their spouse's insurance?

It doesn't mandate you take your partner's insurance.

It's an opportunity for you to take your partner's insurance, get $5,000, and save the city taxpayers.

What is that number?

We don't know because we haven't done a study, because every time the gentleman comes in says this is foolish and we don't need to do a study.

Why?

Because the person on the 3rd floor thinks he's the most intelligent person in the Commonwealth and decides that he can make decisions without having input from anybody else.

True effective government is when each branch of the government works together for the benefit of the community and the taxpayers.

This is an opportunity for the city to save money.

It doesn't have to be every person takes it.

You opt in for a 3-year period, because that's what most communities do.

You have to opt in for 3 years unless there is a situation in your house that something happened— a death, a divorce, a partner loses his or her job— and then you're allowed in at the next enrollment period.

This is the ability for the city to save money, to save taxpayers money.

But also a means to save a fire engine, to save an engine company, but also to keep the men and women of the New Bedford Fire Department with 4 pieces to an engine and a ladder.

We saw what happened in Fall River, and what did Fall River do?

They realized they needed to go from 3 to 4.

This is an economic opportunity that we need to evaluate and ideally adopt.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilor Lopes.

Anyone else?

A motion's been made to refer to the Committee on Ordinance and the Mitchell Administration.

It's been made and duly seconded, I believe.

Yeah, by Councilor— Councilor Berger already seconded it.

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

I will ask the clerk to read item number 5.

Mr. President, item 5 is a petition of indemnity agreement, 10 and 8th LLC at 278 Union Street in Bedford, Massachusetts, for the permission to encroach onto city property with a canopy which is approximately 45 feet long, 4.5 feet wide, and 14 feet deep.

Said canopy is attached to the building approximately 13 feet from ground level.

Motion to receive in place on file and adopt the order.

Motion to adopt the order made by Councilor Lope, seconded by Councilor Baptiste.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed, The ayes have it.

I will ask the clerk to read item 6.

Mr. President, item 6 is a communication from the city clerk to the council submitting an application for the renewal of a private livery license on behalf of Tanya DePina, doing business as Comfort Transportation LLC, at 47 Lauren Drive in New Bedford.

The term of the license is from July 1st, '26 to June 30th, '27.

Motion to grant the renewal made by Councilor Abrams, seconded by Councilor Baptiste.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

I ask the clerk to read item 7.

Mr. President, item 7 is communication from the clerk to this council submitting a petition from Anna Thomas in Fall River, Mass., doing business as All Things with Anna at 127 West Rodney French Boulevard, New Bedford, requesting— requesting a waiver of residency in accordance with Section 15-38 of the city code.

To obtain a license to deal in junk, old metals, or any other secondhand articles.

Motion to refer the item to the Committee on Licensing and Permits made by Councilor Abreu, seconded by Councilor Pemberton.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

I will ask the clerk to read item 8.

Mr. President, item 8 is a communication of demolition from the New Bedford Historic Commission to the City Council regarding the building demolition review of 535 Brock Avenue, Map 011, Lot 0056, which is a circa 1840 to 1854 carriage barn later converted to a 2-story residence.

The Coffin Holland House is a contributing resource to the Hazelwood Park National Register site.

The building is significant in its association with the Joseph Holland estate, which later became Hazelwood Park.

The building experienced a significant fire decades ago and was boarded up and fenced off to deter ongoing vandalism and long-term deferred maintenance, in addition to the fire damage and collapsed roof, does not make the building a good candidate for restoration.

The demolition of the Coffin-Holland House removes a dangerous safety hazard from a public park, and the planning for the reconstruction of a similarly scaled and architecturally sensitive building on the footprint of the house has been ongoing.

In light of these findings, the New Bedford Historic Commission has determined determined that the building at 535 Brock Avenue, known as the Coughlin Holland House, is historically significant but is not preferably preserved.

Motion received and placed on file and referred to the Committee on Appointments and Briefings.

Motion to refer the Committee on Appointments and Briefings, made by Councilor Burgos, seconded by Councilor Carney.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

I'll ask the clerk to read item number 9.

Mr. President, item 9 is communication the Community Preservation Committee submitting the CPA annual budget for FY27, the committee administrative expenses and community preservation projects in fiscal year 2027.

Motion received and placed on file and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Motion to refer to the Committee on Finance made by Councilor Burgo, seconded by Councilor Lopes.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed?

The ayes have it.

Without objection, we read items 10 and 11 together?

Without objection, we'll take items 10 and 11 together.

I'll ask the clerk to read.

Mr. President, item 10 is communication from Councilor Burgo submitting a copy of a letter sent to the members of the Historical Commission requesting that they convene a meeting to review correspondence relating to the historical significance of the property abutting the United House of Prayer and the surrounding neighborhood, and to determine whether the area warrants further historical review and consideration.

Item 11 is a communication from Councilor Burgo submitting a copy of a letter sent to the planning board requesting that they consider postponing final action on the proposed housing development on the parcel of land abutting the United House of Prayer property until the historical commission has completed its evaluation of its potential historical significance and determined whether the site and surrounding area may be suitable for the establishment of a historic district.

Motion to receive and place on file items 10 and 11.

Motion to receive and place on file items 10 and 11, made by Councilor Burgos.

On the question, the chair recognizes Councilor Burgos.

Thank you.

I just quickly wanted to, uh, explain, uh, what's been going on a little bit about, uh, the plot of land, uh, by what most people commonly refer to the Daddy Grace's Church.

My colleague from Ward 4 as well as my at-large colleague from Clara Street.

Did I get that right?

We have been attending a number of neighborhood meetings, which I can't say the developer has.

I'm sure my colleagues can appreciate how significant it is when a developer comes into a neighborhood.

Oh, and my colleague from Hussey Street.

Perfect.

When a developer comes into a neighborhood and doesn't meet with the abutters, doesn't even try to understand the community.

And that's really the most egregious act, I would say, that has taken place here.

And so this letter really to our Historical Commission as well as the planning board is more so an opportunity to give the community a voice that they had not gotten in the original planning process.

I'm thankful again to my colleague from Ward 4 who has been a huge partner in giving the community in Ward 4 a stronger voice throughout this process as they've been left out of it.

Hopefully they'll be able to get some kind of feedback from whether or not the Historical Commission or the Planning Board in terms of future ways that we can make sure that they're included in the process that other neighborhood groups often get that we don't see in Ward 4.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councilor.

Anyone else?

Councilor Baptiste.

Thank you, Council President.

I just want to piggyback on what Councilor— the councilor from Purchase Street just said, what's going on here is, you know, there's a lot of neighborhoods in the city of New Bedford that have historical significance that don't get recognized if they're not in certain areas.

And I think that with Ward 4, South End and West End, we have such a significant historical history in the city of New Bedford that is overlooked and got redlined out.

So when you look at a lot of historic things in our community, you know, it was redlined out and pushed out so that we want to do some research on the historic significance that these plots have in our neighborhoods, that, you know, that these stories hold, that the, you know, the people that come from there hold deeply before developers come into all our neighborhoods and just keep building because a train's 1.5 miles away and they're trying for the betterment of the neighborhood, which nobody in the neighborhood will be able to afford an apartment there or a condo there.

So, you know, we want to make sure that we don't just preserve just our South End and West End, but throughout the city, the significance that, you know, that neighborhoods in the city have.

That get overlooked and overshadowed for one area.

So thank you.

Thank you, Councilor.

Thank you.

Anyone else?

All right, motion received and placed on file has been made by Councilor Burgos, seconded by Councilor Baptiste.

Anyone else on the question?

Last time, all those in favor say aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

I'll ask the clerk to read item 12.

Mr. President, item 12 is a communication from the Department of Environmental Protection Waterways Regulation Program, providing public notice of the waterways application by Robert B. Orr to construct and maintain a vehicle access ramp and associated piles on a licensed revetment and containment— contained filled tidelands within the New Bedford Fairhaven designated port area at 302 Herman Melville Boulevard in the city of New Bedford, in and over the waters of the Acushnet River.

Motion to receive and place on file made by Councilor Abrams, seconded by Councilor Lopes.

Anyone on the question?

All those in favor say aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

We have tabled items, colleagues.

Mr. President.

Oh, Councilor, I'd like to move to take, uh, the 528 report, um, the 528 amended order, and the 528 amended act from the table.

Motion has been made to take 52826 report, 52826 order, 52826 acts from the table by Councilor Roy, seconded by Councilor Burgo.

All those in favor of removing from the table say aye.

Aye.

Opposed, the ayes have it.

We have items now before us.

I'll ask the clerk to read the items.

Mr. President, I'm— first item is a report from the Committee on Ordinances recommending the City Council adoption of an order as amended and an act as amended for the recall of elected officers in the City of New Bedford.

The second is an order as amended referred to the Committee on Ordinances on March 14th, 2024.

And the final is an act as amended providing for the recall of elected officers in the City of New Bedford, which is referred to the Committee on Ordinances on March 14th, 2024.

Motion to adopt.

Motion to adopt made by Councilor Bergo, seconded by Councillor Abreu.

Anyone on the question?

The chair recognizes Councillor Roy.

Motion to refer to committee.

Actually, you know what, I withdraw.

I withdraw, and I'm going to speak on the question.

Okay.

All right, so Mr. President, I'm going to be voting no to adopt this order tonight in its current form, and I want to explain why.

So this act came to us At its core, this proposed recall law essentially sets up a 3-part process.

First, residents must gather enough signatures to— just to trigger the official recall paperwork process.

Second, they must collect roughly 10,000 signatures in 45 days while also satisfying satisfying ward distribution requirements.

Third, they must win a recall election with a majority vote in favor of recall, with turnout equal to at least 15% of all registered voters.

And, Mr. President, anybody who's ever collected signatures, worked on campaigns, or even casually observed municipal elections in the city already understands how high these barriers are.

We haven't had a 15% turnout in a regular municipal election in this decade.

Special elections are historically even lower turnout affairs.

And the second signature requirement is extraordinarily high as well.

In fact, the proposed ordinance requires more signatures locally in 45 days than statewide constitutional officers need to access the ballot.

So this ordinance already came before us with major structural problems.

Now, to be clear, I wasn't on the council when the ordinance committee first worked on this proposal.

But during that process, the committee increased the affidavit signature requirement despite testimony that this threshold was already higher than what exists in most Massachusetts municipalities.

And the committee tripled it.

So last month, I moved to fix both the signature and turnout requirements to something more reasonable.

Those efforts went nowhere.

And now here we are.

Mr. President, not only did the committee leave the already unrealistic requirements in place, it also narrowed the window during which an elected official may actually be recalled.

On paper, those changes may seem small, 1 month at the beginning of a term, 2 months at the end.

But for city councilors serving 2-year terms, those changes dramatically shrink the practical window in which a recall could ever happen.

In reality, we are talking about a narrow period between roughly May and October in the first year of a councilor's term where residents would need to file the highest initial affidavit threshold in the state, collect more signatures than are required for some statewide offices, and then win a low-turnout special election while somehow reaching a turnout percentage that this city rarely achieves in regular elections.

So at some point we have to ask ourselves, is this process— if this process is this difficult, what is the actual purpose of creating it?

Because this ordinance does not meaningfully empower voters to hold officials accountable in extraordinary situations.

Passing this ordinance and claiming it strengthens democracy borders on the absurd.

I cannot support creating the appearance of accountability while designing a process that is practically impossible to use.

So I'll be voting no on adopting this order.

But, Mr. President, before I yield, I'd like to give you and our colleagues another opportunity to hear and address these concerns back in committee.

And with that, I move to refer this amended order and amended act to the Ordinance Committee.

So we have a motion made to refer the items to the Committee on Ordinances.

Is there a second?

I'll give a second so we can have a vote on it.

I understand that, but let's— let's roll call vote.

I'm not— so the motion has been made to refer to the Committee on Ordinances by Councilor Roy, seconded by Councilor Abreu.

Roll call vote on referral to the Committee on Ordinances, unless anyone would like to speak on referral.

You want to speak on referral?

Yes, I wanted to speak on my motion to adopt, but I get— oh, but referral to committee takes precedent.

Yeah, so I'll just wait.

Okay, very good.

I will ask the clerk to call the roll on referral.

No, I'll speak now.

Okay, Councilor Virgo, just in case.

Yeah, because I know obviously the order of operations has failed here because there's a learning curve for people that are new.

Typically you make the motion to refer first if that's your intention.

You don't do a big speech on a motion to adopt if that's what you want to do.

Also, if you wanted to amend, you could have done that.

And I know obviously our colleague, Mr. President, mentioned that— because I have to address you, not our colleague, but to our colleague through you— they were on the council, they were in committee.

They could have asked questions, they could have inquired, they could have done the hard work of doing all these things and talking about statistics that they're bringing up.

None of that was done.

I don't know why it wasn't done until now.

What frustrates me is this is work that has, of course, yes, as was mentioned, done in a previous council.

It's been years and years bogged down in committee and worked on.

I think it was strategic that it was mentioned that, oh, we tailored it for elected officials.

Not elected officials.

Obviously, we know here in the city of New Bedford multiple elected officials have different term limits, and based on that, it makes sense to have the way you can pull papers to recall someone altered in that sort, because we see surrounding towns like Fall River, for example, spending thousands and thousands of dollars every year on ridiculous recalls that don't result in what the people of Fall River or whoever want.

And that's why we put in these protections, not only for the people of New Bedford, but the tax— the ratepayers, but also, yes, the elected officials that have to be bogged down by sometimes nuisance recalls that really aren't warranted.

And that's why we have certain thresholds in there, because if someone in— whether in this chamber, in the corner office, in the assessor's office, in the school committee— does something so egregious that they need to be removed from office, I would hope that not only 15% of the people— of, of the people in our, uh, city show up to vote, more than 15% would show.

We shouldn't make it so easy to undo an election.

When I've spoken to this particular colleague I gave the example of individuals like us who might have radical ideas.

When we're attacked on the radio, people will say, hey, let's go collect these signatures.

We also want to have— he mentions dispersing those signatures over the wards.

We do that because then I could go to, let's say, Ward 1, and they really hate Councilor Burgos up in Ward 1, then I'm going to get all of my signatures there.

No, we have to make sure— I'm an at-large councilor.

We want to disperse it.

All of these things could have been cleared up in committee when this councillor, the councillor who spoke before me, was in the committee.

But he didn't ask any of those questions then.

Instead, he'd rather sit here and point the finger at all of us and pretend as though he was— this was forced down his throat.

It wasn't.

He just didn't understand, one, how to make a referral to committee apparently until after his grand speech, and two— Point of order, Mr.

Chair.

Point of order, Mr.

Chair.

The, the councillor from Purchase Street is speaking in personalities, and, and he's describing my actions in, in ways that I find inappropriate.

I withdraw my comments.

Thank you.

The point that I'm trying to make here is the work has been done.

If the councillor from Hussey Street would like to make any changes, he can do a motion to amend at this time.

Before we do a motion to adopt.

If he can get a second, then we can debate that.

But I assume he hasn't done the work to do that, and that's why it will be upset— upsetting for him.

So with that, I hope that my colleagues will not refer it back to committee because they know we've done the work, and that they will approve the motion to adopt.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor.

Anyone else on there first?

Councillor Roy on this first.

This is on Another motion.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Um, so I just wanted to address some things I heard.

Um, the— I, um, the work in the Committee on Ordinance wasn't done because the folks in the Committee on Ordinance didn't want to do the work.

And, um, also I heard something mentioned about the distribution I personally don't have a problem with the distribution requirement in the proposed ordinance.

It's the amount of signatures I have and the turnout in the election.

And yeah, that's all.

I just want to remind everybody on this council what really went down.

Thanks.

Okay, thank you.

Anyone else to speak on referral to committee?

Okay, seeing none, I will ask the Clerk to call the roll on referral.

Councilor Abrum?

No.

Councilor Baptiste?

No.

Councilor Bruggo?

No.

Councilor Carney?

No.

No.

Councilor Choquette?

No.

No.

Councilor Lopes?

No.

No.

Councilor Oliver?

No.

No.

Councilor Pemberton?

No.

No.

Councilor Pereira?

No.

No.

Councilor Roy?

Yes.

Yes.

Fails one to nine, Mr. President.

Item fails one to nine.

Mr.

Chair.

Yes, Councilor.

Motion to amend the proposed act in order.

I want to amend the act by striking the language eighteen hundred in Section three A and replacing it with six hundred, and by striking the language three hundred in Section three A and three B and replacing it with one hundred.

I'm so glad.

I prepared myself with my written motions on my papers today.

But with that, so the— okay, so we have motions to amend the numbers.

Do we have a second?

Second by Councilor Choquette.

Councilor, could you repeat your amendment?

Sure.

One time.

I move to amend the act by striking the language 1,800 in Section 3A and replacing it with 600 And by striking the language 300 in Section 3A and 3B and replacing it with 100.

Okay, thank you.

Any other clarifying questions, colleagues, on the amendment before us?

It has been made and duly seconded.

I'll ask the clerk to call the roll on the amendment.

Anyone on the question?

Excuse me, Mr.

Chair.

Yeah, I would like to be on Councilor Roy.

So, um, 1,800.

1,800.

It was 600.

It was 600 when this ordinance, proposed ordinance, came down from upstairs, and the committee on ordinance, um, in this councilor's opinion, arbitrarily changed it to 1,800.

Just let me read, um, a couple of requirements that other municipalities in Massachusetts have.

Lawrence requires 100 voters for the initial affidavit.

Salem requires 15— I mean, excuse me, 500 affidavit signatures citywide, with 50 from each district.

Taunton requires 500 affidavit signatures citywide, with 50 from each ward.

Pittsfield requires 500 signatures for mayor and at-large recalls.

Attleboro uses approximately 400 affidavit signatures citywide, with district requirements, and Fall River only requires 10 voters to begin a recall affidavit.

This amendment brings New Bedford closer to the practices of comparable Massachusetts municipalities.

And like I mentioned earlier, former Solicitor McDermott told this committee that the— excuse me, told the Ordinance Committee that the proposal already set, quote, set the bar higher than most other municipalities.

And this was before the ordinance committee increased the thresholds even further.

A recall mechanism should function in practice and not merely exist on paper.

It's this council's opinion that 1,800 signatures at the outset set is far too many signatures, and I think that 600 signatures is appropriate because it keeps us in line with multiple municipalities across the Commonwealth.

Thank you, Councilor.

Anyone else on the question of amendment?

I'll ask the clerk to call the roll on the amendment as proposed.

Do we need to hear the amendment again or we're okay, councillors?

Okay, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll.

Councillor Abreu?

No.

Councillor Baptiste?

No.

Councillor Burgos?

No.

Councillor Carney?

No.

No.

Councillor Chaucaire?

No.

Councillor Lopes?

No.

No.

Councillor Oliver?

No.

No.

Councillor Pemberton?

No.

No.

Councillor Pereira?

No.

No.

Councillor Roy?

Yes.

Yes.

Mr.

Chair.

Yes, Councillor.

I would like to make another motion.

Okay.

I would like to move to amend the Act by striking the language 15% in the first paragraph of Section 3D and replacing it with 10%, and by striking the language 15% in the final paragraph of Section 3D and replacing it with 10%.

Okay, the motion to amend striking 15 and, and inserting 10 in 2 different places as, as described by Councilor Roy.

Is there a second?

All right, seeing no second, the motion before us now is to adopt the order and act as presented.

Mr.

Chair, I'd like to make another motion.

Okay.

I would like to move to amend the act by striking language— by striking the language 15% in the first paragraph of Section 6 and replacing it with 10%, and by striking the language 15% in the final paragraph of Section 6 and replacing it with 10%.

Councilor, just for a point of clarification, I apologize.

It was— I did 2 different Yeah, that's what I figured.

I thought so, but I just wanted to clarify.

Can you repeat it one more time?

I'm sorry.

I move to amend the act by striking the language 15% in the first paragraph of Section 6 and replacing it with 10%, and by striking the language 15% in the final paragraph of Section 6 and replacing it with 10%.

All right, thank you, Councilor.

Thank you.

Is there a second on this?

Okay, hearing no second, the motion before us is now to adopt the order and act.

Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a final motion.

Okay, Councillor.

I would like to move the— to amend the act by striking the language 4 months in Section 2 and replacing it with 3 months, and by striking the language 8 months in Section 2 and replacing it with 6 months.

Motion has been made by— to amend by Councillor Roy.

Is there a second?

Okay, hearing no second, the motion before us is on adoption of an order and the act.

It's been made and duly seconded.

Anyone on the question?

From the, uh, Councillor Burgill.

Chair recognizes Councilor Ferraris first.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

Mr. Vice President, at this time I, I rise to I urge my colleagues to vote for the recall petition.

One of our founding documents, the Declaration of Independence, states, governments long established shouldn't be changed for light or transient causes.

But when a cause is needed for change, we should enact that change.

And that— our government is set up to allow that.

And one of these ways is through the legislative body in conjunction with the administration to put forward a reasonable change to the charter, our core founding document here in the city.

While the councilor from Hussey Street made valid points, I do believe such grave change in introducing the first recall petition in the city of New Bedford's history should warrant strict guidelines to eliminate frivolous decision-making— decision-made recalls.

Recalls should be there for grave errors in character and grave errors of crime.

I urge my colleagues to put forward this order.

Much like there is no recall petition now, This recall petition could be changed and amended in the future if it is not working.

But the fact is, there is nothing on the books now, not one thing.

And I just urge my colleagues to put this forward and vote tonight to adopt this— or to drop this act of a home rule petition to change our charter to allow us to introduce the first recall petition petition.

It is a petition that is not perfect, but most of what happens in government is not perfect.

And what we should be looking to do is introducing this, seeing what happens over the next few years, and then councillors in the future making decisions, trusting councillors in the future to make decisions in the best interest of the residents and citizens of New Bedford.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President.

Thank you.

Anyone else on there first for a motion to adopt.

Seeing none, oh, chair recognizes Councilor Abramis first.

I'll be very quick, Mr. First Vice President.

I think the councilor before me, the council president, I, I, I— he struck a chord with me when he said that because he was— I was thinking it here in my seat, and he is correct.

Um, you know, frivolous, you know, frivolous recall petitions are what's concerning to us, and it could be, uh, I don't like the motion that this one filed, so file the paperwork.

I don't like a vote that this one took, so file the paperwork.

What we should be focusing on is that we're talking about heinous acts.

And when we— when, you know, the council from Husley Street, he referenced Michaela McDermott when she was here, and I asked her, appointed, if you remember, I said So in other words, the way this is written right now, if a constituent or some group, if they don't like anything you may have said on the council floor or a vote you took, they could start the process and try to— the petitioning to get you out of here.

And she goes, yeah.

So what about high crimes or misdemeanors?

Or what about even an arrest or incarceration?

I said, how do you reconcile that?

Because even if you are arrested, That's not a conviction in a court of law.

We, you know, here in this country, we are innocent until proven guilty when it is adjudicated in a court of law via conviction.

How do you figure this all out?

It's a balancing act.

But that's why I think that the way we have it is okay.

And like he said, the councilor before me, it's not perfect.

No ordinance or law in government is perfect.

But we can always take it back.

We can tweak it as time goes on.

We're in 2— we have 2-year terms here, guys.

2-year terms.

And by the time we take our seat in January and we have to pull our papers again the following spring and you're in the campaign mode and then you're campaigning for reelection, you're already on the ballot.

You're already going through that process, right?

So you take your seat in January, you're a new councilor, you get sworn in, you have that entire year And then right off the lickety-split, the following January, we're into an election year, and then papers come out later on that spring.

So you're already back in the crux of it.

So that's where my mind is going with this.

Um, it's not perfect, but it's something we can work on, and we can go forward with it for now and see how it plays out.

But we've got to get something on the books.

It's been bottlenecked way too long, and no fault of our own.

We've been trying to do our homework on it.

We've been having a repartee with the administration and some stakeholders, but now's the time to act.

It really is.

And with that, I yield.

Thank you, Mr. First Vice President.

Thank you.

Anyone else on there first?

Anyone on there second?

Seeing none, I'll ask the clerk to call the roll on the motion to adopt.

Councilor Abrum?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Baptiste?

Yes.

Yes.

Councilor Bruggo?

Yes.

Councilor Carney?

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Chauquet.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Lopes.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Oliver.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Pemberton.

Yes.

Councilor Pereira.

Yes.

Yes, Councilor Roy.

No.

No.

Passes 9 to 1.

Motion to adopt and take up consent made by Councilor Abrams, seconded by Councilor Pereira.

Anyone on the question?

Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

Any opposed?

The ayes have it.

Motion to adjourn made by Council President Pereira, seconded by Councilor Pemberton.

Anyone on the motion to adjourn?

Seeing none, all those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The ayes have it.

We are adjourned at 8:06 post-meridian.

God bless everyone.