Minutes of the Regular City Council meeting held on November 24, 2025

CAMBRIDGE CITY COUNCIL MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS, CHAIR REGULAR MEETING TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS NOVEMBER 24, 2025 5:30 PM, SULLIVAN CHAMBER

1 MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Good evening. A quorum being present, I call tonight's October 20th Meeting to order. The first Order of Business is the roll call of the members present. Deputy Clerk? INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Vice Mayor McGovern? INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Present. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Present. Councillor Siddiqui? INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Present. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Present. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Present. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Present. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA WILSON: Present INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Present. Councillor Zusy? INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Present. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Present. You have five members recorded as present, and four recorded as absent. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Thank you. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Stand if you can and pause for a moment of silence. MEETING PARTICIPANTS: 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. (Pause) (Gavel) MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Pursuant to Chapter 2 of the Acts of 2025, adopted by the Massachusetts General Court and approved by the Governor, the City is authorized to use remote participation at meetings of the Cambridge City Council. In addition to having members of the Council participate remotely, we have also set up Zoom teleconference for Public Comment. You can also view our meetings via the City's Open Meeting portal or on the City Cable Channel 22. To speak during Public Comment, you must sign up at www.cambridgema.gov/publiccomment. You can also email written comments for the record to the City Clerk at cityclerk@cambridgema.gov. We welcome your participation and you can sign up until 6:00 p.m. Please note that the City of Cambridge audio and video records our meetings and makes it available to the public for future viewing. In addition, third parties may also be audio and video recording our meetings. We now turn to Public Comment. Public Comment is being made in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 30A, Section 20G, and City Council Rules 23D and 37. Once your name is called, please take -- come to the podium and/or start speaking. Please give your name and address and the item that you're speaking to for the record. Individuals are not permitted to allocate the remainder of their time to other speakers. (Recording of meeting starts at approximately 5:40 p.m., during Public comment.) UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: When I take a look at how this was done, it was done in a very cold- blooded, very calculated kind of way that did not take into account for any of the humanity of the people that

2 we are supposed to serve in this city. I have lived here for 45 years. I have always wanted to live here. My parents had a store here. They always wanted to live here, but they couldn't afford to live here either. And the thing is, I could live somewhere else and not do what I do for a job and go and do something else. But I refuse to take a look at the people who are out here on the street here, some of whom are profoundly, mentally unwell from being out on the street. And what are you doing to them now by pulling this through? I have to say that I am very, very disappointed that the person who was appointed to handle the executive nature of governance in this city decided to do this, and to do this in a very, very cold-blooded way. There are better ways to assess this. There are better ways to go about this. Yes, we all are struggling with what is going on with the Trump administration, every last one of us. But this is not the way to deal with things. I really consider that this has been a form of panic, and it is not well thought out or well-engineered. I'd like to see this go back to the drawing board and take a look at this in a very real way in March and do it very effectively. We have the time to do it, utilize that time instead of panicking. Thank you. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CITY COUNCIL NAOMIE STEPHEN: Our next speaker is Nancy Ryan, followed by Cathy Hoffman, then Lee Farris. Nancy, three minutes, please go ahead. MS. NANCY RYAN: Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I thought that perhaps other people would have laid out a little more of the information before I spoke, so I will do it. On Thursday, November 20th, our City Manager decided to, quote unquote, "restructure" several of the Commissions that have served to protect and expand care, rights, justice, and fairness. That includes abruptly laying off the three full-time person staff of the Women's Commission and one of two staff of the LGBTQ Commission, the only staff member of the Peace Commission, and a couple of other people. I'm the most familiar with the Women's Commission, as I was Director of the Women's Commission from 1980 to 2006. Between us, Kimberly Sansoucy and I have served the Women's Commission as Executive Directors for 46 of its almost 50 years. Never have I seen in my time in the City workforce this kind of behavior by management, and I'm deeply disappointed. The laying off of the seven staff members of these Commissions was conducted under the banner of restructuring but was done in darkness and brought to the staff members with no warning. This is not the way Cambridge carries out its missions to bring care, fairness, equality, justice to the people. We cannot accept unilateral termination without cause. And we need to protect the reputations of the people who were let go so that we assure the public that they are not being let go because of any cause. I want to thank the founding mothers of the Cambridge Women's Commission, whom I had the privilege to know when I took the job back in 1980. In 1976 and '77, they deeply valued having a strong Commission to fight for women's rights without political interference. And so, they inserted into the ordinance, that remains in force, that the Manager has to consult with the Commission before making any changes in the Executive Director's position and that was not done. So, the City's ordinance was violated. The Women's Commission cannot continue its work with one Executive Director split among three Commissions. Let's be honest with each other and not try to fool the public. Our community values of care, fairness, justice, and equality are not being met by this process or the outcome of these layoffs. We hope these actions can be remediated, and we can remember that we have norms and values about how we treat workers, how we treat our community volunteers, and how we treat each other. And finally, I ask that you not Charter right this order. Thank you. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CITY COUNCIL NAOMIE STEPHEN: Our next speaker is Cathy Hoffman, followed by Lee Farris, then Caitlin Dube. Cathy, you have three minutes. MS. CATHY HOFFMAN: Hi. Cathy Hoffman, following Nancy Ryan, as I have for four decades.

3 There are not many areas within City government that formerly promote or even allow community participation. The Commissions with volunteer Commissioners embodying the concerns of diversity, meeting community concerns, are examples which do. From the inside, 21 years as Director of a robust Peace Commission back in the day, I know the chain of commands. Commissioners interview and recommend staff positions for hiring, or did, and the City Manager chose. The City Manager also had the final say over Commissioner appointments. In any case, the context was collaboration. Participation from students -- from citizens, is crucial for democracy, for our values, and for our city. The termination of seven members of Commissions and other staff with five minutes notice, no cause and no explanation, is chilling. There have been rumors of the need for evaluating and restructuring the Commissions for a while, and there may be good reasons for doing so, but this does not signal reevaluation. A draconian protocol, which eliminates staff and restructures quickly and drastically, the shock doctrine, may be attractive to some corporate settings to avoid disgruntled employees, but it has no place in a people-facing operation like a City with staff whose service is exemplary. When people all over Cambridge could be much more, participate in participatory budgeting, they do not expect the outcome to be made behind closed doors by City administrators. For example, to have one Director, as amazing as she is, replace a three-person capable Women's Commission staff, a Peace Commission Director, and the GLBTQ Coordinator, seems both daunting and disrespectful. To bring in new Program Coordinators, who would need to be hired, is also not helpful to continuity of work. As important, however, is transparency and involvement of the community. A restructuring of a community-involved part of the City should involve Councillors, Commissioners, and the community's most effective, if the Commissions are to mean anything. I hope having heard the outcries from those who have heard about this, the decision makers will reconsider this hasty move, at the very least to extend the tenure of the staff to enable the work in progress to be completed, to care for the relationships they have built, some over decades, and to have some time to find their footing. We also need some reassurances that this kind of termination, a sudden meeting and then being locked out of computers within minutes, will not be City policy. Thank you. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CITY COUNCIL NAOMIE STEPHEN: Thank you. Our next speaker is Lee Farris, followed by Caitlin Dube, then Mara Murray Horwitz. Lee, you have three minutes. Please go ahead. MS. LEE FARRIS: Good evening. I also am speaking about the Late Policy Order and the Manager's decision to fire seven staff involved with the Commissions. I'm very disturbed by these sudden firings. I don't understand why the layoffs are taking place in these com- -- in these particular Commissions at a time when the federal Trump administration is attacking women, immigrants, and LGBTQ people, and trampling on human rights. These positions should not be the first places where staff are eliminated. I also want to say I support the points made in the Late Policy Order from Councillors Nolan, Siddiqui, Sobrinho-Wheeler, and Wilson. Appreciate their doing that. Given that these staff positions are already funded through the current budget year, and that there has been no input from the City Council on reorganizing the Commissions, I ask -- excuse me, (clears throat) -- I ask Manager Huang to reinstate the laid off staff for a reasonable period and enable a transition which respects the staff people's work and the community projects that are already in process. Make sure it's clear that no termination was based on cause. And then, I think we need a reassessment of staffing needs, including a general evaluation of the Commissions and staff that includes Commission members, along with a more transparent process on the restructuring of the currently independent Commissions. And we certainly shouldn't see these kinds of sudden

4 unilateral terminations without cause. In my own working life, I have several times experienced a layoff due to downsizing or lack of funding, but I've always been given two weeks' notice, at least, so that I could wrap up my work, which is more beneficial to the organization and more humane to the working person. I think it's wrong and counterproductive to lay people off in the manner that has been done. And I hope that the Manager will find a way to undo what he has done. Thank you. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CITY COUNCIL NAOMIE STEPHEN: Thank you. Our next speaker is Caitlin Dube -- Dube? I'm sorry if I'm mispronouncing that, please tell me. MS. CAITLIN DUBE: I'm Caitlin Duby. I live at 395 Huron Avenue, and I'm here to speak on the Late Policy Order 161. I'm also a Commissioner on the Women's Commission, and I'm here to express my unequivocal alarm and deep outrage at the sudden layoffs of the entire staff of the Women's Commission. Under no circumstances should this decision have been made, and certainly not in this way. The Women's Commission does the work of reminding the City how to treat people, uplifting the values of care and community that are an essential part of both process and outcome. As a Commission, we are legally charged with acting as a centralizing force on women's issues in Cambridge, and taking such action as the Commission considers appropriate to ensure the equal status of women. This is such a moment. The abrupt dismantling of the staff who carry out this mandate is not an internal administrative decision. It is a direct threat to the safety, equity, and well-being of women and gender expansive people across the city. When the City's own actions undermine the very infrastructure designed to protect women, we are obligated by ordinance, by principle, and by history, to respond forcefully and publicly. The manner in which these women were laid off is appalling, inhumane, and unacceptable. The abruptness, the lack of transparency, and the absence of basic respect shown throughout this process have caused real harm, not only to the staff directly affected, but across the City's workforce. Decisions approached in this way sow fear and anxiety, especially among those who have dedicated their careers to equity, safety, and public service. No employee should ever be treated this way. This action was carried out abruptly, without consultation, without transparency, and without any regard for the harm it causes to our community, to our partners, and to the people who relied on the Commission's staff every day. It undermines nearly five decades of gender equity work in Cambridge. It destabilizes services for women, girls, survivors, and gender expansive individuals. It dismantles relationships, institutional knowledge, and the trust that simply cannot be replaced or covered by other departments. We reject entirely the narrative that the Commission's work will continue unaffected. This is simply not true. The City Manager's actions also violate the requirements of the City's own ordinance governing the Commission. Under Cambridge Municipal Code 2.88.050, the Executive Director of the Commission is appointed by the City Manager with the advice of the Commission and shall have adequate staff assistance to fulfill the Commission's mandate. By eliminating the staff required to carry out that mandate, and by bypassing the Commission in a process where advice is legally required, the City Manager has acted in direct contradiction to both the letter and the intent of the ordinance. The Women's Commission is a sacred and integral part of our city's past and present. It is people. It is relationships built over years. It is the labor, much of it invisible and emotionally demanding, that supports women, sustains programs, and holds together a community safety net that the City has repeatedly claimed to value. To eliminate every staff member and simultaneously claim the work will be uninterrupted is simply misleading, minimizing, and insulting. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Ms. Dube, thank you for your comments. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CITY COUNCIL NAOMIE STEPHEN: Thank you. Our next speaker is Mara Murray Horwitz, followed by Caroline Maggio. Mara, three minutes. MS. MARA MURRY HORWITZ: Thank you. My name is Mara Murray Horwitz. I live at 441

5 Franklin Street, and I'm also a member of the Women's Commission. First, I want to express my gratitude to Councillors Nolan, Siddiqui, Sobrinho-Wheeler, and Wilson, who submitted the Late Policy Order to which we are speaking tonight. And, like many others, I want to express my deep concern and outrage at the recent layoffs, and my concern for the future of the Women's Commission. There are several things that concern me. The abruptness of the layoffs, without any meaningful transition plan, I see as both disrespectful and wasteful. As others have said, this, under the banner of restructuring or efficiency, I think is actually counterproductive. Can any of us imagine being a longtime civil servant, showing up for work in our nineteenth year of service, and being told on that day that it is our last day, then going to your office and finding IT already wiping your computer? I don't think any of us wants to work in a place like that, and that's how we've treated some of our most loyal servants. I truly cannot come up with any excuse for that kind of conduct. Second, this restructuring has laid off the entire Cambridge Commission on the Status of Women's staff, and in doing so has essentially destroyed their work, their work which has been built on decades of institutional knowledge, deep and diverse relationships, and trust earned over time. There's a narrative that's been shared in the emails and communications that this work will continue uninterrupted, and we know that that is not true. Also, as others have stated, there's been a total lack of transparency and disregard for people and their work in this process, not to mention violation of City ordinances. I find this incredibly disturbing. It echoes of what's happening at the federal level and DOGE, and I do think that we should expect Cambridge to be setting an example across the country, not following those bad examples. And I believe that we should hold people in positions of power accountable. Therefore, I want to echo what others have said tonight, that I do think the City Manager needs to explain the reasoning for these layoffs, and this terrible transition plan, and do whatever he can to repair the damage. That includes collaborating with the Commissions and the volunteer Commissioners to come up with better transition plans and then respecting the people who have served the City by giving them a reasonable period of transition. Thank you for your time. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CITY COUNCIL NAOMIE STEPHEN: Thank you. Our next speaker is Caroline Maggio, followed by Phyllis Brethols, then Heather Hoffman. Caroline, you have three minutes. MS. CAROLINE MAGGIO: Okay. So, I want to start first at why I'm here. So, I live in Cambridge, on 39 Kirkland Street, and I've been living in Cambridge for 10 years. I'm a caregiver to my mother and my dad who have dementia. I'm a mother. I'm a Professor and I'm a Scientist. I serve on the Commission of the Human Rights and the Women's Commission. I volunteer because I care about this city and the people who rely on this work. I give my time because Cambridge has always said it values openness, fairness and treating people with respect. That is why the sudden layoffs of the entire Women's Commission, as well as the staff in the Human Rights Commission, have hit so hard. I'm an advocate of women's rights, and we serve a Commission that doesn't lay off women. It wasn't the decision; it was how it happened no warning, no conversation, no plan. City employees woke up to the news that their jobs were gone, and the community woke up to programs suddenly shaken. And I want to say something plainly, the City of Cambridge is not a private company, we are not Biogen, we are not Pfizer. It is a public institution; it works for the people who live here. Whatever the situation may have been, transparency is not optional. You owe it to the residents to explain major decisions before they happen, not after the damage is done. What concerns many of us is how familiar this pattern feels. We've seen it all at the federal level. Fast decisions, little explanation, no space for the public. That approach has already weakened the trust across the country. Cambridge should not be copying that. That is not what we say we are. We are Cambridge. We need to lead by example. These are staff who support survivors from sexual

6 brothels, girls, families, and community partners every day. These are women's issues. These are women about menopause, about women not having the right -- right resources to have even for menstrual cycles or information for birth control. Okay. Removing everyone at once with no transition leaves these programs and relationships hanging in the air. That is not how Cambridge is supposed to operate. This is not our city. This City has always prided itself on listening before acting. But this moment shows something different, a decision made too fast and hastily without the openness the community deserved from the start. We want answers, and the City needs to hold accountable, and City Manager needs to explain the layoffs and acknowledge that there is a lot more to the Commission than just adding it to a job for someone else. There is a lot that goes into these Commissions and to prepare for it. The same way we volunteer our time, we expect Cambridge to do the same for us. Thank you. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CITY COUNCIL NAOMIE STEPHEN: Thank you. Our next speaker is Phyllis Bretholtz, followed by Heather Hoffman. Phyllis, you have three minutes. If you can unmute yourself, please go ahead. MS. PHYLLIS BRETHOLTZ: Okay. Phyllis, 65 Antrim Street. So, as a former member of both the Cambridge Rindge and Latin staff for 29 years, and the Arts Council, and the Women's Commission, for multiple terms, I need to say that I'm calling specifically in relation to this Late Order 161 that I find deeply troubling. Given the City Manager's general language about creating a safe and transparent environment, I find the actions he has taken last week deeply troubling, and in sharp contrast to everything I believed the City Manager stands for. In fact, I was so delighted when he was appointed that I brought him flowers. Now, I'm puzzled and troubled by actions that are neither transparent nor creating a safer environment. And, in fact, from talking with a few people in other City offices, they do not feel safe enough to express themselves for fear of being the next to be targeted. So, the timing of this, the approach, the sort of ruthless and inhumane approach has left me, and many others, just sort of reeling. And I am echoing the statements made by each of the previous speakers. I thank them all and to Councillors, Nolan, Siddiqui, Sobrinho-Wheeler, and Wilson, for your support for moving forward in a more thoughtful and measured way. I thank you very, very much. Thank you. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CITY COUNCIL NAOMIE STEPHEN: Thank you. Our next speaker is Heather Hoffman. Heather, you have the floor, three minutes. Please go ahead. MS. HEATHER HOFFMAN: Hello, Heather Hoffman, 213 Hurley Street. I want to thank everybody who spoke before me. I agree with every word that was said, and I don't have to repeat them. What I will say is that this, to me, proves what I have been saying about the City for a long time, which is that, first of all, following the ordinances is generally considered unnecessary. There is only one, maybe two ordinances, that are really, really wholly (INDISCERNIBLE 0:22:12 written/read), and must be followed at all times, and the -- those were not implicated here. Additionally, what I have seen is a pattern of this City Manager in hiring people at high salaries to insulate him from people like me. So, why -- why would any of us be surprised that people who actually work with people, residents of the city, would be the first ones to go? I hope that -- that we fix this, and that we undo it, and that we think long and hard about how we treat the people who actually do help the residents of this city. And then with respect to transparency, I'd really like to talk about Gold Star Mothers Park and all of the other parks in the city that are suffering from the fact that Cambridge has an extensive industrial past. I want to read one quote. This is from Page 19 of the public packet. I have no idea what it is for you guys. "Current policies and best practices for routine soil testing. The City's current approach to soil testing in

7 parks is risk-based and event-driven. Testing is conducted when new construction or renovation involves soil disturbance or off-site disposal". Funny thing, Linear Park involves extensive soil disturbance. It is located in one of the most contaminated areas in this country, contaminated with asbestos all over the place. Part of the site is actually the subject of an AUL. And yet the City could not move fast enough to jump on cutting down trees where we -- we were told they wouldn't, and presumably getting to disturbing that soil, and then discovering how much asbestos there is in it. For shame. EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE CITY COUNCIL NAOMIE STEPHEN: Thank you, Heather. Please email the remainder. Your time has expired. Madam Mayor, that is all that were signed up to speak. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Thank you, Ms. Stephen. This concludes Public Comment, the hour being 6:02. Pleasure of the City Council? On a find a motion by the Vice Mayor to close Public Comment, Madam Clerk, please call the roll. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Public Comment is now closed on the affirmative vote of nine members. The next item on our Agenda is the Submission of the Record. We do not have any minutes for this meeting. We also do not have any Reconsiderations. So, we'll move to the City Manager's Agenda. What is the pleasure of the City Council? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: It is Number 3. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Pleasure of the City Council? Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: 1 and 2, please. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: That takes all the items. So, we're going to go from the City Manager's Consent Agenda to the City Manager's Non-Consent

8 Agenda. The first item is (clears throat) -- excuse me, Number 1. This pulled by Councillor Zusy. It reads as follows: A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to the Awaiting Report Item Number 2560, which requested a comprehensive report on Gold Star Mothers Memorial Park. This was pulled by Councillor Zusy. Councillor Zusy, the floor is yours. COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Thank you so much, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to -- I attended the City's presentation at Miller's River, October 16th, and I want to applaud City staff for their presentation there. It was very, very thorough, and thoughtful. And I feel as though they've come up with an excellent and responsible response to a very difficult discovery, and a discovery that's going to happen in industrial cities, right? Things -- we learn bad news like this. It's just it's part of running a city, and a city that was very industrial. The goal is to open up parts of the park as soon as possible. The people really wanted to open up the basketball court, and there was also a request to open up the Tot Lot, and I think those are great ideas. It seems like there's very little contamination in the Tot Lot. And if you seal the basketball court area, it sounds like it'll be fairly safe. So, again, I want to applaud the City for their work and for that presentation. And I just wanted to share something that wasn't in the report that I found really fascinating at the meeting on the 16th, which was one of the health experts, one of the consulting health experts, said that kids -- kids will only be contaminated if -- if they're one and two, and exposed three days a week, 30 -- what, 30 weeks a year, with wet mud, and have 100 milligrams that go underneath their fingernails that end up on their face, their forearms, legs, and feet. So, that was actually very helpful for me to hear because before I heard that, I'd heard people were really concerned about kids being contaminated at the site. But it seems -- even though there are bad things at that site, it seems as though unlikely that kids -- or our kids have actually been impacted in negative ways at this -- at the site because they may play at the park, but they would not have that level of exposure. So, that -- that was a relief for me. Thank you, and I yield. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Zusy yields the floor. Pleasure the City Council? Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Thank you, Madam Mayor, through you. I had a couple questions on this one. Thank you for this report back. I was just trying to address some questions I had gotten from residents around risks at other parks, which the City sort of talks through how testing is handled during capital projects, and also outside capital projects. Just, I guess, first I wanted to get a sense of if there is contamination in other parks outside of capital projects -- and the question I got from residents when -- when this came up, is how do we know there's not contamination in -- in other projects? And if we're not really testing outside of capital projects, are there risks to kids or -- or others if they're just running around in these parks and there's contamination in the soil? And could someone speak to that a little bit? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mr. City Manager, do you want to speak to this, or do you want to go to Mr. Nardone? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Yeah. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mr. Nardone, the floor is yours. COMMISSIONER OF DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS JOHN NARDONE: Thank you. Through you, Madam Mayor. Councillor, it's a great question. And I think the way I can answer it is, you know, this is pretty common practice in Massachusetts. And when you look at our parks in Cambridge, the risk factor is really underneath everything, right? So, when we talked at the community meeting, it's really about what we have in the park today. And so, if you have

9 a layer of sod, if you have -- in a softball field, if you have clay, if you have sand, we have rubber surfacing, asphalt, those are all things that are covering up whatever contaminants are there. For somebody to actually get exposed to those contaminants, as Councillor Zusy had said, we had talked through that in our meeting, someone would actually have to dig down into that soil, that contaminated soil, if it is in fact contaminated, and then they actually have to eat that soil three times a week for up to 30 weeks to even possibly get exposed to it. So, the risk factor is fairly low if we're not disturbing anything, which is why the practice is, when we're going in to do a major construction project, or even if we're doing a minor construction project, we're going to remove a lot of soil. It makes a lot of sense for us, obviously, to do that. It happens in some of our other projects where we just -- we have a small stockpile of soil. And if that soil doesn't look right, or if it smells like it has oil in it, or if it has different factors, then we'll act on it in that same way. But I -- you know, again, there is -- we were driving leaded vehicle cars up into the 1980s. So, the idea that lead is in the soil in Cambridge, I would say, yeah, it's probably pretty likely in most places, including your backyard and other places. But, again, if we're not disturbing anything, if we're not disturbing that protective layer, we don't think that going out and testing soil just for the sake of testing soil is actually a good practice, because we could end up with now we've disturbed that soil, and we're in the same situation we are now with Gold Star Mothers Park where, in general, we feel the park is safe. I think the likelihood of you breaking your arm in most of our parks is it's more likely than getting exposed to anything, if that answers the question. COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Thank you. That's super helpful. Thanks for talking me through that. The one other question I had, in that vein, was the response mentions that outside of capital projects we might be doing environmental testing for parks when on-site conditions, such as odors, unusual fill, or visible staining, warrant investigation. I just wanted to ask if you could talk a little bit about that more, and if it's a question of how we're making sure it's not just the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. I imagine there's some parks and neighborhoods where people might be spotting things all the time, and asking folks to check them out, and parks in other neighborhoods where folks, you know, just don't have time to report things all the time. And so, just asking how the City is deciding what warrants investigation of City staff or regularly in parks deciding, or that's relying on residents to make those complaints. So, if you could talk about that a little more. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Commissioner Nardone? COMMISSIONER OF DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS JOHN NARDONE: Yeah. Through you, Madam Mayor. So, I don't -- I -- maybe we -- it was written up the wrong way, but that's really when we're in a park, or in another City property, and we're doing excavation and we see a soil that doesn't look the way it should or doesn't smell the way it should. If somebody sees something in their parks or somewhere else on City property and they think it's a little funky, they should absolutely call us and report it, and we'll go out and investigate it. But that -- the response that we -- the way it's written up is really about when we're in a park, even if it's for -- say we're replacing a swing set in a park. If we come across some soil that just doesn't look right, that's what would trigger us to test that soil as well. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Got you. Thank you. And then the last question here was just the expectation for when remediation would be done, and the park would fully reopen, and just trying to clarify that. I think at one part it said '26 or potentially '27, which is, you know, a little ways away. I'm trying to get a sense for residents who are wondering when is this going to be done, when is this going to be reopened, are we looking at like summer 2027, are we looking at fall 2026, do we have any sense of a timeline there? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Commissioner Nardone?

10 COMMISSIONER OF DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS JOHN NARDONE: Yeah. Through you, Madam Mayor. That's also another great question. That's a little bit of a moving target. So, when you do find contaminated soil, like we did, we need to go through a regulatory process. So, that means reaching out to DEP and EPA. They need to evaluate the situation and then get back to us after we file paperwork with them. That process, that evaluation process can take a significant amount of time. With the government shutdown recently, the EPA stuff actually got pushed back even further, and we were really nervous about that timeline. We were fortunate last week to actually get a Zoom meeting with both DEP and EPA, and they have indicated to us that they'll try to work with us on moving quickly on evaluating what we put in. But there's a lot that is going to have to go into doing this. So, even once we have, you know, our stuff back from the regulatory agencies, we still have a design process to go through. We are essentially going to be tearing apart this entire park, digging it down and putting it all back together. So, there's a design process we'll have to go through. We are hoping by -- to stock construction work by the -- hopefully, the summer of 2027. If that can be pushed up at all, we'll -- we happily will do that, and hopefully it doesn't get pushed past that. But right now, we're hoping for construction to start in 2027. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Thank you. That was all the questions I had. I yield back. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler yields the floor. Commissioner Nardone, just for people that are viewing, and some of the Councillors here, who is with you today? COMMISSIONER OF DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS JOHN NARDONE: Yeah. Thank you, Madam Mayor. So, I have Kevin Butel. He's our Supervising Engineer who's actually in charge of -- he had started with the court project, but he's in charge of the Gold Star Mother's Park. And we also have Sam Lipson from our Public Health Department with us as well. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Thank you very much. Councillor Nolan, the floor is yours. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Thank you. Through you, Mayor Simmons. Thank you to my colleagues for asking the questions on my list about timing, about -- as Councillor Zusy mentioned, about the assuring people about the safety of this, which doesn't mean that it's not an important thing and appropriate steps to take. I did want to -- there were two other points from the memo, and I'm very appreciative of this extensive memo that I just wanted to talk about, which is this. Many of the contaminants were tested. Some of them were above, some are below, we closed it. But can you speak a little bit to this question, no evidence of contaminant migration or groundwater? Because I know that's something we always think about in any kind of site to make sure that it hasn't gone elsewhere. So, that is there's been no evidence of that whatsoever. Is that the correct reading of that? COMMISSIONER OF DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS JOHN NARDONE: Through you, Madam Mayor. Councillor, yeah, good question. So, we -- as part of our work to do testing, we put in groundwater wells. We tested the groundwater wells. We mentioned that in our community meeting, and we got the test results back. And I -- that's what we're referring to in our response, is that we found no contaminants in that groundwater. So, there is no evidence that it actually spread off site. We had some inquiries from some residents that live close by that get groundwater in their basements

11 and other places, and they had a real concern about that. And I think this answer is just to say we're not seeing that as part of our testing in our groundwater wells. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yeah, thank you. That's why I asked to make sure -- COMMISSIONER OF DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS JOHN NARDONE: Yeah. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: -- that we are all on the record. Is it possible, as the design review comes in -- and again, the timing, it would be great if all of this could be cleared up before that, -- that we could save time by building up, and go above some kind of threshold? Or is it clear that we are going to have to reconstruct the entire park by going down? Because my understanding is it's pretty deep in the site, which is why the safety issues are something that we can assure and talk to our residents about, that the health to -- the risk to public health is different than one might think if it was friable asbestos flying around or something, this really is contained. Is it possible that it might be an easier project if we could build up? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Commissioner Nardone? COMMISSIONER OF DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS JOHN NARDONE: Yeah. Through you, Madam Mayor. So, Councillor, the next item that's up is the appropriation, and that'll talk about getting a designer on board to help us through that whole process. But because there is contaminated soil there, we have to remove that soil. So, we are going to have to dig, no matter what. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yeah, thank you. And finally, you mentioned the in the memo recommendations for establishing a citywide standard. Is that something that you would -- are working on, or would be looking to the Council to help move on? Or is that something that the City itself would be doing in consultation with the State level, federal level, City level folks, and experts? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Commissioner? COMMISSIONER OF DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS JOHN NARDONE: Yeah. Through you, Madam Mayor. So, Councillor, I think if you read through what our proposal is, it's very similar to what we're doing now. But maybe it's establishing a policy, though. So, if you come across any of these situations, as some of us move on and new engineers come on board, they understand what our policy is and when it's appropriate to test. And, obviously, we discuss a lot of this with our State agencies, and if they change their practices, we would adjust ours as well. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yep. Thank you. It's just, you know, since you said recommendations, I wanted to follow up on that. So, thank you. I yield, Madam Mayor. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Nolan yields the floor. Councillor Azeem, do you want to be heard on this? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: No, thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Pleasure of the City Council? Commissioner Nardone, or Mr. Butel, or Mr. Lipson, is there anything you would like to add to the Council's deliberation on this matter? Any more information that we should know? COMMISSIONER OF DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS JOHN NARDONE: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I think we laid it out pretty well on the response. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Very good.

12 Hearing -- having a full discussion on this matter, I'll entertain a motion to place on file. On motion by Councillor Zusy to place on file, roll call, please. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: The matter is placed on file by the affirmative of nine members. Thank you, gentlemen. The next item is Number 2. This was pulled by Councillor Zusy. It reads as follows: Transmitting a communication from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to the appropriation of $1 million from the free cash to the Public Investment Public -- Public Investment Fund Public Works Department Extraordinary Expenditures Account. Each fund will support the removal of stockpiled contaminated soil and initiate the design phase for the remediation and reconstruction of the Gold Star Mother's Park. This is pulled by Councillor Zusy. Councillor Zusy, the floor is yours. COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Thank you, Madam Chair. I heartily support this appropriation. Again, I can't tell you, I think there were probably 80 people there at Millers River on the 16th. Gold Star Mothers Park is a very, very important park in East Cambridge. It's their largest open space, right? There's the Tim Toomey Park. But it just -- it's a very important park in a community without a lot of open space. So, this project is really, really important. I had -- I realize that this first $1 million is just the very beginning, and we hadn't realized that we were going to have to do such an extensive redesign of Gold Star Mothers Park. So, one of my questions is, do we have any sense for what the overall cost of redoing this park will be? This is, again, not an anticipated expense. And then my other questions are where will the contaminated soil go, and can it be remediated? Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Commissioner Nardone? COMMISSIONER OF DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS JOHN NARDONE: Thank you,

13 through you, Madam Mayor. Great questions, Councillor. And it's a good question about where those soils will go. Once we get a contractor on board, and once we have our information from our State agencies, there's various spots where this stuff is transported to which makes it extremely expensive to remove, aside from it being contaminated. So, we will find that -- find out more about the actual locations where it'll get dumped once we get further into that process. Your first -- I forgot what was the first one --. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: I also wondered if it can be remediated -- MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Remediated. COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: -- or is it just like poisonous soil forever? And then I just wondered if you had an overall sense for the cost of the larger design -- project now? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Commissioner? COMMISSIONER OF DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS JOHN NARDONE: So, the con- -- the soil itself, depending on what the chemical is, and -- and the majority is really lead, there is -- there is some substances that you can mix with that soil to make it more easily transportable, and it may be able to go to a different landfill, depending on how it gets classified. So, there is some hope there that, yes, we could maybe save a little bit of money by doing some onsite mixing of that soil and then getting it offsite. As far as the overall cost of the park, I mean, I think it's very preliminary for us to be thinking about it, but we have been thinking about it, and, you know, again, this is very ballpark, but we are -- assuming that given the size of the park, and the fact that we are going to be remediating the entire park, a $10 million range is not out of the realm of possibility. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Zusy? DEPUTY CITY MANAGER KATHY WATKINS: Madam Mayor, if I could just add one thing, if that's okay. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Assistant City Manager? DEPUTY CITY MANAGER KATHY WATKINS: Just -- thank you. Just in terms of the funding. So, one of the things as we're going through and, you know, looking at the capital budget, and we talked a little bit about this at the Roundtable a week or so ago, and trying to, you know, get the growth of the capital budget more in line with our overall operating. So, at the same time that we're trying to push down operating, we're also looking at moving in Gold Star Mothers Park into the bond schedule. And so, that means that other projects will get re-scoped or delayed or, you know, not be proceeded with. But we do see that the Gold Star Mother, given that it is a closed park in Cambridge, is obviously an extremely high priority. And so, you know, we're looking to fund this initial design effort and initial cleanup effort with free cash so that can continue to proceed. And then in terms of the overall construction, we'll look to work that into the bond schedule again, while also working to, you know, reduce the growth of capital more in line with the overall operating targets that we've been talking about. So, that is also something that's going on sort of concurrent with this. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Zusy? CITY MANAGER YI-AN HUANG: And through you, Mayor Simmons, I think just -- just to -- MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: City Manager, you wanted to add something? CITY MANAGER YI-AN HUANG: Yeah, just to re-underline that. I think this is not an incremental expenditure. I think what the Deputy City Manager is really underlining is that we'll ultimately be spending the same amount on capital year over year going forward. We're just going to have to push some other things out. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yeah, understood. I just wanted to be able to anticipate that.

14 And again, I think this is a very, very important project. I thank you for all the work you've done there so far. And I feel as though you've communicated really transparently with the community, and I applaud you for that. Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Did you get your answer on the remediation? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: (No audible response.) MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Did you get your answer on the remediation of the soil? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: I did. I -- well, I didn't expect that answer that you were going to mix it so it would be less contaminated per square foot. I didn't know if stuff -- if there was some way to remove the lead from the soil. But this makes it less concentrated, right? Yeah. So, I did. Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Are you -- and are you now yielding? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: I do yield. Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor yields the floor. Further discussion? Councillor Azeem, do you want to be heard on this? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: No, I do not. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: I'm all set. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Thank you. Hearing -- with no further discussion, to the City Manager, any closing remarks? Anything from you, Commissioner Nardone? (No audible responses.) MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Then on a motion by Councillor Zusy to accept the appropriation and then place the City Manager's Agenda item on file, roll call, please. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And the roll -- the appropriation is approved, and the matter placed on file by the affirmative vote of nine members. Thank you, gentlemen. The last item on the City Manager's Agenda is Number 3. This was pulled by Councillor Nolan. It reads as follows: A communication transmitted from Yi-An Huang, City Manager, relative to Awaiting Report Item

15 Number 25-56 regarding an update on roading control citywide. The floor is your -- the floor is yours, Councillor Nolan. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Thank you. Through you, Mayor Simmons. Thank you to the staff for this report. This is based on a Policy Order that, you know, I think every year or so there's a Policy Order related to rats and rodents because it's an ongoing issue. It continues to be something very challenging for residents across the City. There's construction, there's houses, there's just -- it's everywhere, and we know that and I know we've been trying this for a while, and I know we have Mr. Power is a rat czar, or I don't know what your official title is. And certainly, my neighborhood has used it. There's been a range of things. This is a -- we had asked for a rodent control update. I have a couple of questions on it. It mentions nine tons are collected through the residential food waste collection. I'm curious as to what we know about what percent of the actual food waste. Do we have any sense of how much of it is actually going into that food waste collection? And related to that is how will the Zero Waste Master Plan, which will include an expansion of food waste, hopefully, to larger residential buildings and commercial affect this effort, because part of the reason the Zero Waste Master Plan is wanting to expand it is because of the rodent control, and the issue related to how that attracts rodents and rats. So, I'm curious as to the status of what we think the impact of that would be, is my first question. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mr. City Manager, do you want to lead off, and would you please introduce who is sitting at the table for the Councillors and for people that may be viewing? CITY MANAGER YI-AN HUANG: Yes, thank you so much. We have Inspectional Services, Mr. Tuccinardi. And Dave Power --. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: You said that very fast. Mr. Tuccinardi, correct? CITY MANAGER YI-AN HUANG: Yes, that's correct. And Dave Power, who is our rat czar. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And who's going to start off? Commissioner Nardone, the floor is yours. COMMISSIONER OF DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS JOHN NARDONE: Through you, Madam Mayor. I'm sorry, I may have missed that question. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor, would you please repeat? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. So, the question is related to the food waste collection. We've done a good job, where the report says that there's nine tons, I think, per day are removed through the food waste collection. And we have talked about, in the Zero Waste Master Plan, expanding that to larger residential buildings, if possible, and also particularly commercial, because that is one of the banes of all of our existence, where commercial folks right now do -- don't have as much of the food waste collection. So, I'm curious as to, one, how effective we think that food waste collection at the residences is, does that nine tons a day represent 90 percent of what we think is food waste, or is it 10 percent or --. And also, what are the expected steps to expand that food waste collection to the commercial and residential? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Commissioner? COMMISSIONER OF DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS JOHN NARDONE: Through you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, Councillor. So, we still have a ways to go, Councillor, as you know. We actually recently did a waste sort, and I want to say we probably still have 30 percent food scraps in our trash itself and our recycling. So, we need to get better at that. I know we had met with the Health and Environment Committee earlier this year, and one of the recommendations we have is to try to make food waste mandatory. So, just after the first of the year, we're hoping that we'll have some ordinance changes coming in front of the Council to start to make that happen. And then that would include some larger buildings and commercial establishments, as you mentioned. So, we're in

16 the process. We're going through our ordinances right now. We're looking to see where we need to make some changes and make some recommendations to Council. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Thank you. Because that was one of my questions, because the original Policy Order that led to this report specifically asked for recommendations for refuse and litter ordinance changes. So, I'm glad that's in process. It's not -- the report doesn't mention that, but it's clearly one of the important things that we need to do and work with the Council on. I wondered about two elements related to our attempts. The smart pipe, in 2023 it said 1,381 kills; and then in 2024, it plummeted to about one quarter of that, less than 400. So, I'm curious as to what we know about that. I would hope it's because there are fewer rats, but I don't believe that would be the case. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And you, Mr. Power, did you want to speak to that or Mr. Tuccinardi? PROJECT COORDINATOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DAVID POWER: Yeah. I -- Through you, Madam Mayor. So, the smart pipes, they faced some challenges with the technology. The communication is within the sewers to try to get that information out and then to the contractor, where they collect the information and then give it back to us. So, what was happening was there were some signal troubles. So, we did end up with a lower number. Also, they've had some technical problems with the units themselves, and they've been slowly taking those offline to get repaired, and then we're just waiting for them to either get back into the cycle, or we will probably end up moving those over to additional smart boxes instead of the pipes. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mr. Tuccinardi, do you have anything to add? (No audible response.) MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Thank you. That's sad to hear because that number from 2023 was impressive, and I would have hoped it went up just like it did a little bit with the smart boxes. Does -- are we doing the CO2, which is --. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And you're asking that of Mr. Power? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Mr. Power or Mr. Tuccinardi. It's one of the methods that we've talked about in the past of -- and I know having been to a meeting in the -- at Harvard Square about this issue, one of the folks there talked about how it's a really effective way that you find -- you put a little candle in it or a match, so that you can know where the -- all the exits are, because if you plug -- you have to plug all of them up, and then if you put CO2 in it's a humane way to kill the rats. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mr. Power? PROJECT COORDINATOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DAVID POWER: Yes, through you, Madam Mayor. Yes, we -- the contractor, we both -- the contractor we use for Public Works, for Inspectional Services, and we do have a unit that DPW operates from time to time, for carbon monoxide, which is CO. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Monoxide, right. PROJECT COORDINATOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DAVID POWER: That's okay. And there is CO2 also available through the contractor when it's appropriate, and whether it's too close or too much of a risk to be close to a structure, they have to go to CO2, which is considered less of a risk. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Thanks. I didn't see that mentioned in the report. So, I'm -- unless I missed it. Final question. The fertility control that we've been all hoping would actually help; we're doing in conjunction with Somerville. That's been talked about since, I think, 2022, 2023. The last report I had was that

17 it started in the summer of 2024 and would be finished by early spring or summer of 2025. Do we -- it's now the fall, close to winter of 2025. So, what's the status of that and when will that report be out, and do we have any sense of whether it's working? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mr. Lipson? ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIRECTOR SAM LIPSON: Through you, Mayor. I'd like to respond, if I could. We have five sites that are -- just a couple of them closing down now. That is, we're going from the fertility control bait to a post-treatment peanut butter bait, which is meant to give us a baseline. So, that's one way we try to see how effective the Evolve, this product that controls fertility, was during the treatment period. We are doing this with Somerville. Som it's really a two city match. We have a high school in Somerville, as well as the CRLS campus. We've got a couple of residential sites in both cities, Hoyt Field, and the area right around it in Cambridge, and Lincoln Park over in Somerville. And then we have Harvard Square. This is an area we call the Seawall, which is a very dense block part of Winthrop Street, where there are many, many restaurants and there's a great deal of activity. So, we kind of deliberately picked a really tough location. So, they're -- they didn't all go online at the same time, so they're not all coming offline, as far as the study is concerned, at the same time. We'll -- the residential areas, Hoyt and Lincoln Park, are probably not going to terminate until the spring because we want to get a full 12 months of data from every site. We want to try to correct for seasonality because we know that rat activity varies quite a bit by season. So, we don't have the data yet. We're working with our data team at the Public Health Department. There are so many uncontrolled variables in a study like this, and it's one of the reasons you don't see a lot of studies like this in an urban area, because there are many conditions that can affect rat activity. So far, it's not looking very impressive, to be honest. This isn't a big surprise. We really, really did want to get good data, and we really are glad we did the study. But what we anticipated was that there's a fluidity of population, that rats from one area will move into an adjacent area if opportunity exists. So, it's very hard. You don't have a controlled boundary around the area you're studying. So, for every degree to which you may have been effective, you may then create a new niche for a neighboring community to come in. People have pointed out that this kind of control might work very well on a farm, or in a prison, or in a very isolated institution that - - where you have a population that isn't intermixing. We'll see. We're going to try to come out with as many good narrative observations as we can. And if we have to say we don't see this as being a highly effective tool unless you can control the immediate area and the population from moving in and out, then we will conclude that, but we're not quite there yet. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yeah, thanks. So, it sounds like we're a year behind where we thought we would be. It was supposed to be in summer -- it started in the summer of 2024 for one full year through this summer, but it's now going to be a whole another year. That's really what I just wanted to understand because that was what --. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIRECTOR SAM LIPSON: No. No, we're finishing up right now. We've already stopped using the Evolve bait. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Okay. I thought you said we won't get the results until next -- until summer of 2026. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIRECTOR SAM LIPSON: Different sites came online at different times. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Okay. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIRECTOR SAM LIPSON: So, the sites around the high school came on first. So, we -- we'll have a full year of data and we're just shutting those down now. The sites in the residential areas, they took a lot longer to get started. So, it'll just be March or April until one year is transpired. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: I'm just trying to understand --

18 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIRECTOR SAM LIPSON: Yeah. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: -- the timing -- ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DIRECTOR SAM LIPSON: Yeah. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: -- based on when I see a report, and say, we'll get the report now, and I just wanted to understand where we're at in that. So, some of it will be here and some of it will not. And I think we all would agree if it's not working, then let's not do it again. And let's be glad that we did a study, and let's go back to carbon monoxide or smart boxes or smart pipes, or whatever it is that we can, because this is a desperate need within the city. It's not just a ick factor. It's a public health factor. It's a really important concern that residents across the city share. So, again, thanks for the report, and I look forward to the follow-on, including the recommendations for changing our ordinance so that we can continue to attack this. And I thank the work of the rat team. We'll probably be calling you again from my neighborhood whenever we see them. But again, it's something the entire city shares and it's a really critically important conversation, particularly as we have more construction around the City. We know that leads to a lot more rat activity. Thank you. Mayor Simmons, I yield. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Nolan yields the floor. Pleasure of the City Council? Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Thank you, Madam Mayor, and through you. Thank you for sharing the memo and the update. I too want to just agree, like if we are recognizing that this study is just not efficient and not giving us kind of what we sought out for, that we pivot and go back to something else. I definitely want to emphasize the urgency around the quality of life and just quality of care around homes, and people's living situations. I do wonder though, and my question really leans into, you know, yes, we live in a city, there's going to be activity, but to what magnitude and degree, right? I mean, right now, I've heard from residents who are like their homes have been taken over, right. And so, to what degree do we say, as a city, kind of enough is enough, and we have to try to tackle this the best way we can by like throwing out everything, like everything that we can to mitigate the activity as best we can, recognizing there's a lot of moving pieces as to what your colleague just mentioned. So, you know, more education, like how do we -- you know, we're doing all these, you know, food waste initiatives, and things of that sort, which also, again, enhance kind of what the activity looks like. So, we're doing some things that may be impacting kind of the outcomes. So, what can we be doing proactively to try to mitigate and make sure that people are not like at risk and in danger, especially within their homes. But I also think about even our unhoused community who -- those who are sleeping outside or maybe in tents, who are also greatly impacted as well. So, what can we do? How do we make sure that we're educating our community? And I'm curious if there is a lot of activity, how might you say to the public, if you're seeing things, if there's an increase, who should I be reaching out to as well? So, I'm sorry, that was a very loaded couple questions there, but if you can --. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mr. Power? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: -- if you can, thank you. PROJECT COORDINATOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DAVID POWER: Through you, Mayor. Thank you. That was very good points. So, the -- I mean, one of the things in the report was mean, one of the things in the report was talking about SeeClickFix and getting the reports to us so that we're aware of where a -- an outlier problem is and then we can address it. Inside a structure, we should definitely be alerted to that right away and they can call us at Inspectional Services. If it's a landlord situation, we can get involved with the landlord, if needed. If it's a private property,

19 we can certainly help them, get them on track through the Private Property Rodent Control. The other factor would be -- for reducing the possibilities, would be to really look at our smart box data, where we do have smart boxes, making sure that we're being as efficient as possible with those, making sure they're catching something. If they're not, we have to move them somewhere where they are. I believe we have more smart boxes coming online, the first of the year, through Participatory Budgeting 10. So, we'll have additional smart boxes out there. We can, again, identify more areas that have the potential. Right now, it was schools in CHA with the first 50 that came from Participatory Budgeting. That was in the report. And those have been showing very good numbers as far as catches go. So, I think we're starting in the right direction. I think adding more to that and just keeping a really good eye on the data will be very effective. But, absolutely, people just need to let us know when there's a problem in their area. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Thank you. And thank you for sharing all that. It's definitely important that we continue to talk about it and that people are able to utilize the SeeClickFix as a way to just share and inform when they see some activity and what's going on. Yeah, that's all for me. I yield. Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Wilson yields the floor. Councillor Azeem, Councillor Siddiqui, do you want to be heard on this? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: No, thank you. COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Mayor Simmons, I'm good. And I'll raise my hand if I'd like to be heard. Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Thank you. Mr. City Manager? CITY MANAGER YI-AN HUANG: I think maybe just the last thought would be for people to definitely continue to reach out. I think Dave does get calls, but I think the earlier we hear about things, the quicker that we can start to address where there is some overflow or there's a problem with a dumpster. And I think Packet page 25 is probably, you know, when I attended the Rat Academy, I think you really got me convinced. There's only so much we can do to ultimately control our rodent population through attacking it. A lot of it is really just about supply of food, and where there are nesting sites. And so, the more that we're able to understand where there's a concentration of nests and go after those nests where there's a concentration of food that isn't in a big belly, isn't in a dumpster that can close, we -- if we can get on top of those, that's what's going to have the most impact. I think these rodents are, as I understand it, reproducing faster than we can possibly catch up. And so, you know, a lot of the information that's coming out of the smart boxes is more understanding where there's activity, as opposed to actually actively killing rats, and that's what we need to get ahead of. And so, the partnership with the community is really key. And I have thought about whether we should be doing more marketing campaigns so that we can get more people in our community aware that they really have to be partners with us, be in touch, tell us where they're seeing activity. And, you know, a lot of this is really about coordination, as much as it is about us throwing in more smart boxes or more traps. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Thank you, Mr. City Manager. One quick question. Where rat infestation seems to be extraordinarily pervasive is at Ford University Park. Residents have had to move out. They're literally moving. The rats are so pervasive. They're literally moving furniture. Over here -- up here, down here on West Street, where the -- it's a large multifamily unit. The address is on Harvard Street, but they put their garbage in not the best way, I might say, early, bagged. And I can understand what you're saying about what we need to tell people. They need to complain. But complaining is great, but you want -- people want resolution. And I know, I don't know if many of my colleagues may have heard from people from these -- from West Street or for Ford University place, but it's really, really, really a

20 problem. And it seems to be so pervasive for University, I wonder if you just start over, you know, move everyone out and do something different because they can't get any relief, no matter what people do. They close the holes, they bait, they help people with temporary living accommodations, and it's just, not enough. And I can't imagine what it's like to live in those kinds of conditions. So, I don't think just having people tell us we have a problem. We have to come back -- come up with some solution, particularly in these particular instances. So, where are we, to that degree, where are we at getting those kinds of answers where people can actually live in their residences? I mean, I understand rats are a real problem. It's a real problem when you're living with them. Mr. Power? PROJECT COORDINATOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DAVID POWER: Yes, Madam Mayor. Very good points. We are aware of both of those locations that you named. We were involved probably a little bit later than we could have been, only in that we didn't get that same outreach to get involved. But once we were aware of it, we had -- we gathered together both the property owner, property management, -- MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mm-hmm. PROJECT COORDINATOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DAVID POWER: -- any local experts, plus the contractor that was doing it. We interacted with them to make sure that they were doing everything they could. There were --. So, o to go to the point of when there is a problem, -- MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mm-hmm. PROJECT COORDINATOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DAVID POWER: -- determining what is exacerbating that problem is the key. So, with the Ford University, the trash system, and the way they were handling the trash needed to be corrected. Doors being left open needed to be corrected. So, all of those things are getting much better. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mm-hmm. PROJECT COORDINATOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DAVID POWER: I don't -- you know, they're not perfect yet. Again, there's a lot of moving parts. So, we are working with them and staying involved. I'm fairly sure that we're free of activity within units. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mm-hmm. PROJECT COORDINATOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DAVID POWER: There is still some activity around the building, which we are working with local businesses, local institutions, to try to make sure that all of those other situations are addressed. There's a lot of moving parts with -- especially with trash storage outside. That's not, you know, excusing it. It definitely needs to be addressed. We are certainly trying to help out with that. And the for- --. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And not to belabor it, but is it residential trash, or is it the restaurants that are close to it? PROJECT COORDINATOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DAVID POWER: In that situation, it's a combination of both. It's the residential trash from the building itself and nearby business. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: I just want to bring your attention to it again because it's a huge problem, and if it is exacerbated in any way because of the restaurants, maybe -- and I'm restaurant friendly, as someone who never cooks, but this -- we have to do something because -- I mean, families and their children are being terrorized. PROJECT COORDINATOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DAVID POWER: Understood. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: So, I would like -- you know, maybe we can get a report back, particularly for that location, in a month or so, because I would love to see some more aggressive actions being taken.

21 Further discussion? Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just one thing that you brought up that just really got my memories going here, my thoughts going, is really, again, just thinking about what are the tools that the landlords are using? So, like what kind of bins and how safe, or how -- how they are able to just keep things compact. So, I'm sure, again, going back to even the Rat Academy and stuff like that you all offer, just how many other opportunities do you have for the community, and for landlords or business owners or whatever, to get involved and know more about how to -- what tools to be used during this time, and how to partner with the City on -- in certain areas, if they are a multi -- a big building, what kind of new trash waste systems can they maybe implement? How often are you all offering those services and resources? And is that even posted on you all's website, even if it's not going through a training and academy, but just where are the resources that someone can have, or go to, so that they can best mitigate on their own, but making sure that their residents or their businesses are, you know, I guess in compliance is maybe the word, but just up to par, up to scale in using of certain tools that could be accessible to them. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mr. Power? Mr. Tuccinardi? Either. PROJECT COORDINATOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DAVID POWER: Through you, Mayor. So, I think our website has some good details on, you know, Get Rid of It Right, and things like that on the Public Works website. Certainly, I think we can always do more, especially in the outreach vein. And I've been taking notes and its certainly something we can start planning on doing more of to make sure that there's information brought to everyone, instead of them having to go look for it. So, duly noted. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mr. Tuccinardi? INSPECTIONAL SERVCES ANTHONY TUCCINARDI: Through you, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to add that when we find an issue with the larger property manager, we'll educate them and try to get things to Dave, and to try to, you know, get their trash under control, their rodent control -- yeah, you know, to send us their reports to make sure that they're baiting the proper way. And, you know, we follow up with them. But our outreach to those larger property managers has been, over the last few years, much, much better. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Well, that --. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Through you. That's really good to hear. And just to not belabor this any further but just wanted to add the urgency on this University Park units. And again, that while one or two units may have been, you know, kind of like solved, the issue has now moved on to the next unit. So, it's just, you know, it's -- it's moving along. And I think to the Mayor's point about how the work of Inspectional Services, and like how can you maybe speak to the landlord, like, does it mean let's move everybody out? Do this over, so that all the units could be safe and maintained and protected, and so that people can be moving in and feel good and safe in their homes. Thank you. I yield. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Wilson yields the floor. I mean, just in conclusion, if I may, to Mr. Power and Mr. Tuccinardi, particularly for West Street, I think the property manager is a part of the problem where they just turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the resident because the abutter is just one or two people. I don't know if it's a fine, because I think it gets -- if you hit someone with a hefty fine, you know, they'll see God and Buddha. So, how do we do that? How do we make people pay more attention? And maybe that's the way to do it because something has to be different. It's just -- as this one particular individual is saying, you know, you -- I can't use my backyard. And it's

22 not the re- -- it's the not the homeowner. It's the management company and/or the property owner. I think the property owner is an absentee property owner, relying on a management company that's not overseeing the appropriate disposal or practices around disposal. Because what we're hearing is, you know, if trash day is on Thursday, you're not supposed to put your trash out before Wednesday. It's not supposed to be -- particularly if it's in a bag, and that's not what they're doing. So, I -- give Council more information about how we can bring more pressure on management companies and property owners that are not complying, because it's just not fair for us to have to hear it, and then say to the resident or property owner we're doing the best we can, because they're living with it. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Madam Mayor, thank you. I hope this isn't completely out of order. Just a separate question. It's actually not for ISD or our rat czar, but for the City Manager. And I don't -- I don't have a Policy Order. I don't want to bring one. But just separate from rats, I think our second biggest thing that's out there right now is all over North Cambridge is coyotes showing up. And I'm just curious if, without a Policy Order, if just Animal Control could send us all just a little update on what --. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: So, Councillor Toner, not to be a stickler for the rules, -- COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: I know. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: -- but the coyotes are not in front of us. COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: I understand. I just wanted to get it out there. Or maybe the coyotes can come by and eat some rats, so. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Eat some rats. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: There you go. There you go. I like that idea. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: But all under minimal control. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: So, we're not talking about coyotes because it's not in front of us. Now, the -- my colleague wants to suspend the rules, and then we will take it up. Okay, very good. But he can bring it through it as a Policy Order. We can talk about Wiley Coyote. All right. If there is any further discussion on this item? Hearing none, on a motion by Councillor Nolan to place on file, roll call, please. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons?

23 MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Thank you, Madam Clerk. And the matter -- COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Madam Mayor? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: -- City Manager's Agenda item is placed on file by the affirmative of nine members. Yes, Councillor Wilson? The floor is yours. Can I discharge these gentlemen? This is not anything --? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Not all of them. COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Not all of them, but yeah. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Not all of them, okay. COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Outside of the City Manager. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Not all of you, but those of you from an Inspectional Services, thank you. And from the Public Health Department, thank you. Council- -- so, Councillor Wilson, if -- are you going to ask, because I was going to ask, if we wanted to bring the Late Policy Order -- COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: That's exactly --. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: -- before --. So, Councillor Wilson wants to move suspension of the rules to bring forward Late Agenda Item Number 161. The first item is to remove suspension, and the second will be to bring the item forward. So, on suspension, Madam Clerk. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And the rules are suspended on the affirmative vote of nine members.

24 On bringing the Late Order number 161 before the City Council, roll call, please. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have nine members recorded in the affirmative. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And Policy -- City Manager's Agenda Late Item -- not -- this is not the City Manager's Agenda, excuse me. Late Policy Order number 161 is now before us. This was pulled by Councillor Wilson. Councillor Wilson, you have the floor. COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Thank you, Madam Mayor, and through you to Mr. City Manager, and also to my colleagues. I just want to -- I want to appreciate my colleagues, and being a co-sponsor on this, but really wanted to turn it over to the City Manager to actually just open up with his remarks and thoughts around kind of where we are. Again, this has been a huge shock to the community as a whole from what we're obviously hearing through Public Comment, and to us as colleagues, to us as the Council. I think in the spirit of kind of the discussions, and what we've been having throughout budget season, talking about our Commissions, everything, there was a lot of discussion around this. And I think what has felt a little bit like a blindsight is the rapid, or I would even say hasty, decision that was made, but also one that seemed to have little process, and at least open, transparent communication and process. Again, as the Council, we have had a Policy Order, and I think it's in the tabled area that kind of talks about this, right? So, there could have been more opportunity for additional discussions, conversations, and really thinking about how we move forward as a community and in thinking about our Boards and Commissions. So, I'd like to turn it over, through you, Madam Mayor, to the City Manager to please discuss, explain. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Before you do that. Councillor Wilson, as is often our -- I would say, tradition, it's not a part of the rules, Councillor Nolan is the lead sponsor. I don't know if she wanted to make some introductory remarks before I turn it over to the City Manager? You can say no.

25 COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: I'm happy to just --. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yield? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Well, I just wanted to explain why this is before us, but if Councillor Wilson thinks it's better to -- okay. COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Please, I mean -- MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: (INDISCERNIBLE 1:19:43) COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: -- yeah, through you, Madam Mayor, to my colleagues who are co-sponsors on this, please. Definitely yield to any opening remarks and -- COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yeah. COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: -- statements that folks have, but definitely just wanted to turn it over to him. Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Thank you, Councillor Wilson. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes and thank you. And thank you, Councillor Wilson, for moving suspension to bring it forward. I think it's important that we have the staff here. As you -- as Councillor Wilson noted, this came as a shock, I think, to the community and to the staff, and to the Council. So, first of all, it's important to have it, I think, before us. The Policy Order acknowledges, just to be very clear, that staffing decisions are the City Manager's authority. We're clear about that. The reason, though, for this Policy Order is the way that this was done and a number of issues related to this decision. The City Manager letter on goals, which we all have as we anticipate the review, is -- notes how important and appreciated, quote, "collaboration with the Council" is. And that is particularly why this decision did not model collaboration or transparency or fairness. If it was a budget decision, then we should have discussed this in the context of the budget. If it's a streamlining discussion, it could have been in a collaborative discussion around streamlining. The message, I think, to the City staff as a whole, and to the community volunteers, we heard from some of them who serve on Commissions, that the message was not, again, in the spirit of collaboration and fairness and transparency that we hold up as models of our values as a City. And I will note, I have been clear, and publicly, and I think people know this, that I am not opposed to some reductions in staff. I'm -- I've said it privately and publicly that I am open to it. I could support some, including very specifically in some of these Commissions, the Peace Commission and Women's Commission. However, this announcement was still very disappointing because the Council goals itself include that we have, as one of the goals, recommendations on Boards and Commissions. As Councillor Wilson noted, there's a Policy Order on our Agenda. And again, it wasn't passed, but it's been sitting there on our Agenda with the idea that this is clearly something that Council is very interested in doing, is reviewing all Boards and Commissions. The spirit of that goal is that it was not only about non-staff members of the Commission, but that included all staff members. And yet, there was no recommendation coming forward, which is again, was what the Policy Order asked for, to say, why would this have happened prior to us understanding what the process was for making recommendations? Clearly, there should have been, I think, Council notice, public notice. I know there's sensitivity. There could have been Executive Session. It is also something that it could have been just, hey, we're in the middle of this process, we are going to make this decision. And it is a hard decision. I have certainly heard well, the Council would have been -- made your jobs harder. We're elected to do hard jobs. We could have had those discussions, I think, as a Council, and as a community. And I would also say best human resources practice is not actually this method for professional staff. This kind of laying off is usually for someone who is being fired for cause. It's not a professional level staff, to think that they cannot handle disappointing news.

26 So, that's why we brought this forward at this late date. And as noted again in the Policy Order, this is in the context of one of the City Manager goals is a review of Boards and Commissions, and it would be really helpful to have all of these items discussed and sent to the Council prior to that evaluation so that we have full understanding. So, that's -- I just want to under- -- make people understand generally Late Orders don't come before us, and yet this is very timely given what happened. And none of us even knew this until after the deadline noon on Thursday, or we probably would have had a chance to review it before. So, thank you for that. I yield for now, Mayor. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Nolan yields the floor. Councillor Azeem, you want to speak on this item? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to echo and support, and just, you know, second what my colleagues have said. I think that, you know, obviously the Council has had a lot of difficult conversations this year about the budget. And like within that context, like efficiency sounds really great when you talk about it in the abstract, but when you talk about specifics in terms of like layoffs or restructuring, like that's a very difficult conversation and one that should be handled with a lot of grace. I just had a few questions. I just wanted to ask rather quickly -- or rather, just one question, and then just continue with my comments. I think that the biggest concern that I've heard has been around, you know, when were people notified? And then, how does like severance and such -- like, you know, did people just lose their jobs like right before the holidays? So, I was wondering if you could just talk about those two things briefly, and then I'll continue my comments. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Azeem, are you yielding the floor? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: I was just asking for the City Manager, if he's still there. Sorry, I can't see the room. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Okay. So, Mr. City Manager? And then we'll -- , and then I'll inquire of Councillor Siddiqui, if she wants to be heard, or Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler. But Councillor -- not Councillor, Mr. City Manager, if you would like to take the floor. CITY MANAGER YI-AN HUANG: Sounds good. Through you. Maybe I'll defer to Rae Catchings, just to talk a bit about, you know, what was offered to people. HUMAN RESOURCES CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER RAECIA CATCHINGS: Thank you, Mr. City Manager. Through you, Madam Mayor. So, we provided somewhat of a runway. While the news itself was delivered on Thursday, -- MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mm-hmm. HUMAN RESOURCES CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER RAECIA CATCHINGS: -- many of the staff are actually getting paid through January, with benefits going through the end of January, and then actual health benefits go through the month of February because of our rules around people separating. So, again, while it does sound and feel abrupt, there is a little bit of a soft landing here. It just, obviously, feels very jarring. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: Thank you. I didn't know that. So, that's helpful information to have. I would say in general like my comments are that, A, I just wanted to first thank the Commission, and all the employees that work there, for all their great work. And then, also just to say that, you know, these are hard conversations and hard for a City where, you know, this doesn't make too much of an impact on the budget, it's probably more an efficiency than to place in a

27 budget, and also it hasn't been done in the City for a long time. And so, if we're going to have conversations about layoffs, like just, you know, bring the City Council along, like as Councillor Wilson said, like this was around a Policy Order that did pass. And then, to me, at least, I don't know if this was true for all my colleagues, like it was just like a very surprising phone call we had gotten after the decision had been made. And, you know, as I'm sure this -- as I'm sure that this is a difficult conversation for you, Mr. City Manager, it's also a difficult conversation for City Councillors to defend, especially if we were not part of the conversation or even knew that this was upcoming. You know, I didn't realize that restructuring of the Commissions might come this soon or was actually actively happening. And so, I think that keeping up in the loop more in the future and like from this posture to just filling is in on exactly what happened, would be really helpful. Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Azeem yields the floor. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler, did you want to be heard? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I would, briefly. I mean, I think there's -- some of the other Councillor spoke to the points I had, but I think there are multiple parts to this. One was, you know, how the decision was made. I think, you know, Councillor Nolan spoke to the fact that the Charter does put staffing decisions like this in the hands of the City Manager, but there were part of this that are -- were, you know, really difficult, including that there are ways for the Council to weigh in about departments through the budget process and others. Those -- those weren't sort of taken here. And I've had to explain to folks who sort of expect their elected officials to have a say in things, that know that the Council wasn't consulted on this. We found out, you know, the same time as the public did about this. There was a question -- yeah, I think questions around the rationale for these. They happened at the same time as we were finding out about loss of funding from the federal government wasn't a -- you know, it wasn't a response to those budget cuts, but I don't know if that was really communicated. You know, it wasn't a response to federal tax on DEI, but the rationale on sort of what was it was just not really clearly stated to the public. And then I think the final, and maybe the biggest part, was the way that the layoffs were carried out. I think it was just a really jarring experience for someone to come into work one day and be told that today is your last day and go home and you're not going to be coming back. And I think there's really a conversation there about how we are handling decisions like this. You know, at the end of the day, this is how our Charter is set up. You know, we discussed Charter changes last year, some of them that would have given Council more power over these did not pass, so, you know. But even if this is not a violation of the Charter, I think it's -- you know, as folks said in Public Comment, maybe not in line with the spirit of the ordinance. And so, this, you know, Policy Order is clearly asking for answers to these questions and sort of, you know, demanding some accountability. So, with that, I yield back. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Council Sobrinho-Wheeler yields the floor. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Thank you. Can you hear me? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: I can barely hear you. COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Barely? Okay. I will try. I agree with a lot of what's been said. You know, I think we've heard since Thursday from members of the public. We've also heard from other City staffers who, you know, have questions. And so, I think in thinking about this over the last few days, you know, I think we really wrote this

28 Policy Order not to say that we don't sometimes have to make hard decisions, but because those decisions have to follow a process. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: (INDISCERNIBLE 1:29:29) COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: And I think we do need some, you know, answers around that, and both the decision-making process and the actual communication and carrying out of it. And as is mentioned, there's so much going on in the background. You know, just last week we were talking about the budget. You know, we have been doing all this Board and Commission work. We've talked about all the DEI attacks by Trump. There's a lot that's been happening in the last few months. And particularly because these are public-facing positions, you know, where these layoffs occurred, it makes sense about why people are reaching out. And I really think the first step is to get the answers about how we got here in the first place. But most of my colleagues have covered it, so I'll yield. Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Siddiqui yields the floor. Councillor Nolan -- not Councillor Nolan, excuse me. Councillor Toner? And it might be good if the Solicitor takes the table just in case there's questions that we want to ask. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Thank you, Madam Mayor. I just wanted to add, you know, a couple of questions so that when the team explains it. I -- there's no good way to do a layoff, but I'm just curious, and I -- the term is not best practice, but what is a traditional practice when you're having to make these difficult decisions on the process by which you inform people, and then how they leave. I mean, I've had the unfortunate situation of being laid off myself from a position, and it's pretty fast and, you know, to the point. So, just -- I'd be curious as to what your experience has been. Is this sort of the norm? You know, I definitely don't think this has anything to do with DOGE or things happening at the federal level. I think the City Manager made some decisions about restructuring staff. But I too got phone calls from people who work with these staff that were a bit surprised. So, just in your comments if you could talk about the practice. And I'm -- you know, I don't think any of us here thinks or is expecting layoffs. Because people are talking about now everybody on staff is afraid they're going to be laid off. I don't know that that's necessarily true, and I don't think we're in a situation where that's going to happen going forward. But I also get a little concerned about this kind of Policy Order because are we going to do this every time someone is? So, I just want to put that out there. Thank you, Madam Mayor. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Toner yields the floor. I just wanted to have a question of the Solicitor, if she doesn't mind taking a seat at the table. And my question is about the City Charter, because there is some conversation, just so that we have a baseline of understanding. When it comes to employment, what is the roles and responsibilities of the City Council, if any? CITY SOLICITOR MEGAN BAYER: Thank you. To you, Madam Mayor. Under the City Charter, the City Manager is the Chief Executive and is responsible for personnel decisions, and it's not within the purview generally for the Council to be involved in personnel matters. So, there are instances, such as this Policy -- this Late Order that's before the Council, where there are also questions about ordinances and Commissions that are established by ordinances, and that area is within the purview of the Council, even though the gen- -- generally the day-to-day personnel decisions are not. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: So, Madam Solicitor, just so I'm clear, because I just want -- this is a framing or a frame of reference for me, and maybe for my colleagues. So, when we talk about the roles and responsibilities of the ordinance to the Council, it's around the

29 substance of the ordinance and what it lays out in terms of mission, but it kind of -- does it stop, at the employment? I'm just trying to get -- because it seems to be a little -- I think from what I'm hearing, is that some people are interpreting -- I just want to make sure it's right or wrong -- that because there is some interaction from the Council relative to what I think is the mission of the -- some of the Commissions, that that indeed means that we also have some jurisdiction over hiring decisions. And I just want to clear up that gray area. And the other one, while I have the floor, is because there was some conversation about having a Executive Session, but if we have no purview on hiring would an Executive Session be something that we could indeed do. So, I just wanted to ask that, if I could. Thank you. CITY SOLICITOR MEGAN BAYER: Yes. To you, Madam Mayor. In terms of the ordinance, specific ordinances might have -- specific ordinances that have established various -- MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mm-hmm. CITY SOLICITOR MEGAN BAYER: -- Boards and Commissions might have different language about what the Board or Commission's role is in the involvement of the Executive Director. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mm-hmm. CITY SOLICITOR MEGAN BAYER: As the Council knows, there are ordinances on the books that are outdated, and are not followed in practice exactly as how they're written. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mm-hmm. CITY SOLICITOR MEGAN BAYER: So, some of that may come into play here as well. And the Council generally has an interest in adherence to the ordinances that the Council sets, as well as considering whether there are ordinances that would benefit from possible amendments. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mm-hmm. CITY SOLICITOR MEGAN BAYER: On the question about Executive Session, I would like to look into that a little bit more. It -- both because with the Council not having a role generally in day-to-day personnel decisions, -- MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mm-hmm. CITY SOLICITOR MEGAN BAYER: -- is there the ability to go into Executive Session to talk about any of these issues? And also, the Executive Session purposes are pretty narrow, and there is an Executive Session purpose. And I think it's purpose number one that does relate to the character, reputation of an individual, or discipline or dismissal of an individual, but not -- we can't use that, for example, with hiring decisions. You can't use it to talk about qualifications of an individual. But I want to go back and look at that more closely to see if that -- this discussion would even fall under that Executive Session purpose. And I don't think any of the other Executive Session purposes would possibly encompass this discussion. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Thank you, Madam Solicitor. I mean, that's important because under MGL, Chapter 39, Subsection 23B, it does -- it says to discuss the reputation, character, physical conditions, or mental health, rather than the professional competence of an individual. And so, it does seem like from reading this, our ability to weigh in through the -- through the Executive Session is prohibited. That's what it sounds like, or that's what it seems like. And the only reason why I raise it is because there are individuals that are seeing that as an outlet, and I don't want people to be -- the Council, nor the citizens, to be misinformed or confused, for lack of a better way of saying it, around the ability to use Executive Session in this context, and I think it's important. I mean, what -- if the Council could -- if -- could do it, and I would really look to your advice on this, Madam Solicitor, is through one of our Committees. It could be Government Ops, it could be Finance, to

30 discuss this, if we can. Because if I hear you right, and this is not taking a side on this Policy Order, at all, but just want to know what is the -- what are the guardrails or what are the parameters through which we can have these discussions. Because I don't want anyone walking out disappointed because the Council didn't do thus, and so -- or the Council takes policy actions that are not within our purview. So, I just think it's important for us to know that. So, it would be helpful if you could get back with that particular -- so to lay that particular issue to rest. With that, I'll yield the floor and turn it back to you, Mr. City Manager. There's a couple of questions that were put to you. I don't know if you have them all but do your best to start out. The floor is yours. Oh, I'm sorry, did you --? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: I had some questions or comments too, but I can wait until the --. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: If you want to say them now so that he has the plethora? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Okay. Thank you, Madam Mayor, through you. So, I guess one question I had, and not just me, I think others have asked this and it's brought up before, is the -- the why now timing of this, right? That, you know, this is not like people were let go for cause, or that people were let go for performance. It was a restructuring, which, you know, may be -- turn out to be the right thing. And I know people put a lot of work into this, and I don't think this was done without a lot of thought, even if I have questions about it, and not a hundred percent sure how I feel about whether it will work. But, you know, these -- as people have said, these were positions that were -- that are funded to the end of this Fiscal Year. They're not, according -- Mr. Manager, according to you, that, you know, these were not budget decisions to try and save money in the budget. So, there was no immediate financial need to do this. And then just -- obviously, the timing of this particular time of year, but, you know, why not have waited until -- you know, why not have waited until March, and said, you know, we're not going to be funding these positions in Fiscal Year '27. You know, you have -- there's three more months left in the Fiscal Year, you know, you can stay to the end of the Fiscal Year and transition, get all your ducks in a row, and pass things on to, you know, the new Executive Director. Which again, you know, there's no good time -- as you say, Mr. Manager, there is no good time to do something like this, but there are better times, I think. But obviously at the end of the day, you know, people are still going to be upset about it. But I think there is sort of what's feeling kind of icky to a lot of people is just that these folks showed up to work and then by the end of the day they were told they -- and these are people that have worked for the City for 20 years, you know, or just about, and they've given so much of their life to the City. So, I guess my question is, you know, why was it so important to do this in the third week in November instead of waiting. And then the others are just sort of comments about, you know, I know that this is maybe the way in which these kinds of things are typically done, to Councillor Toner's question. I would like us to be better than the norm, you know, in the way in which we do these kinds of things. And so, I hope we're thinking about this, if this -- we end up in this place again. And then, Madam Mayor, your question about the -- to the Solicitor's question about the ordinances, and that sometimes the ordinances are not always being followed and practiced in the way in which they were written, maybe because they're 50 years old and we haven't looked at them. That is probably something we need to deal with, as time consuming as that is, because when it does come up, people go back and they look at the ordinance that was passed and they say, well, wait a second, you know, you didn't do this, right? And then if we need to change ordinances to bring them up to date, then that should be a Public Ordinance Committee process where people get to come and say, you should do this or you shouldn't do this, and then the Council updates, or not, the ordinance. So, you know, I just want to throw that out there, is that I think that's a lot of work, but I think it's important work that we need to look at so that we're not inconsistent, right? And that we're not setting this up for people to be thinking that we're supposed to be doing one thing, when in reality we're not doing that.

31 And so, I guess a question, Madam Mayor, through you to the Solicitor, to put on your list is, you know, there has been this question brought up that in the Women's Commission Ordinance in particular, it does say that the hiring of the Executive Director, the City Manager is supposed to consult with the Commissioners. I don't know if that's a statement that's in all the other Commission -- all the other ordinances as well, it is in that one. And I do want to say, I want to thank Nancy Ryan for mentioning that, the women who held this together. My mother was one of them, and I got an earful from her today. She's watching on TV right now. She was one of the founders of the Women's Commission. So, I heard quite a bit about -- and she actually brought that up too. Like, wait a minute, did the Commissioners know about this? And so, I guess my question to -- through you, Madam Mayor, to the Solicitor is, is that -- did we violate that in some way, or did we not dot all the I's in that regard and should this have been discussed with the Commissioners beforehand. Thank you, Madam Mayor. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Vice Mayor yields the floor. Councillor Zusy, do -- seeing that everyone has had an opportunity to speak, would you like to have an opportunity to speak before the City Manager answers? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: I would, but I'd like to hear back from the City Manager first. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Very good. Very good. COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: A very good question. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Thank you very much. Councillor Zusy yields the floor. Mr. City Manager, the floor is yours. CITY MANAGER YI-AN HUANG: Thank you. Through you, Through you, Mayor Simmons. You know, I think I appreciate just the opportunity, and I think it is an important conversation. In terms of, you know, how we got here, I will say one of the things when I first arrived was we kind of had a lot of departments all reporting out directly to the City Manager. And when I was having conversations, I was finding out that, you know, in reality, what's really tough about that is a lot of departments were then not actually having a lot of management, and not really being connected into the central City administration. And so, over the course of the last couple of years, we've really been working through a more organized organizational structure. And in fact, we've made really significant investments in equity and inclusion and went from really having just one person working on equity and inclusion, to bringing together the different parts of the organization under one actual department. And I think this is also something that I've sort of experienced as I've had conversations with folks, where there's a lot of focus on the City Manager making every decision that's happening in the City. And I want to say that there's no evasion of accountability. And, you know, I end up sitting here every week, and I support the decisions that we're making, and I defend them, and that continues to be the case. But also, I want to acknowledge that department heads are managing across a billion dollar budget and, you know, -- and thousands of employees. And so, the work that's actually happening in the City, more and more, is happening through leaders that are then managing teams day-to-day, week-to-week. And so, you know, ultimately -- and I think it'll be helpful to just have Deidre, our Chief of Equity and Inclusion, walk through the rationale and Rae, our Chief People Officer, can talk through some of the HR practices, because I think there's a lot of questions around those areas. But ultimately, we are depending upon our department heads to think about the structure of the teams that they have, the people and the positions, and to sometimes make really hard decisions. And I want to acknowledge -- I mean, there is real impact when we make these kinds of decisions, and that's been part of the conversation we have been having for a number of weeks and months. And so, you know, I think this conversation is really important. I would just say, like, this is hard. And I think this will come out as we answer some of these questions. But also, the other thing that I've been really committed to is making sure that we're able to have these

32 conversations. And there is some division in terms of what the City administration is responsible for, the decisions we have to make, the day-to-day operations that we're running and the teams that we're managing. But I also recognize Councillors are all out there defending the same decisions and having to answer for them. And so, I'm open for us to continue to talk about this, and talk about how we can do better, get some feedback. But I think it will be helpful to just talk through, look, how did we end up here? What were the decisions we made? What's the actual HR context behind this? And I know it sort of feels very shocking and hard to go through this, but I think it will help to have the conversation. So, maybe before we jump into questions, what I would say is to have Deidre walk through some of the rationale of how we got here, and then Rae can talk through a little bit of the process and why it was carried out in the way it was. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: I would just say this, Mr. City Manager, and I'll yield to my colleagues, is this the proper context? Is it the proper time and place to be doing it, as opposed to in a Committee Meeting where we usually tease out these things? So, I'm -- again, I'll yield to the body if they want to dip their toe in the water on it. But a full conversation -- this does not -- doing something at 7:30 -- I think it's 7:30 -- 7:28 at night, and this is a very serious conversation. But, again, I'll yield to my colleagues if they want to hear some part of this, but I think the more appropriate place is in a Committee, Government Ops or Finance. So, Councillor Wilson, I'll yield to you and then give the floor back to the City Manager. COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Thank you, Madam Mayor. And through you to -- or I guess to you or, I guess, or to the City Manager. I think, yes, we need to have the conversation. I apologize. I thought this was going to be one of our shortest meetings of the year, and I was really anticipating that, and I think this is really unfortunate that our meeting has now been extended for all of us, but this is important for us to actually dive into, and I think it's also important for the community to be a part of the dialogue. And while it would have been better for us to have gone through this in a more -- in my opinion, a proper channel would have been to have this in a Committee, brought to, because it was on the table. We could have had the lengthy conversations and really fleshed out some of the thinking, the processes, etcetera. But now we are here and now this Late Policy Order is before us. So, I think we do not delay the conversation, in my humble opinion. I think we do need to move forward. But the other thing that I'm curious about specifically is in regards to layoffs and our City norms around layoffs. So, we have not had a layoff in this City in over 30 years. So, the fact that we have moved into this motion and to this mannerism of behavior and pract- -- behavior, I don't -- I would hate to call it a practice, but into this behavior seems very corporate-like, and does not seem community, public servant, you know, pol- -- like that kind of etiquette, in my opinion, in terms of how we would actually move and think about our colleagues and employees, especially front-facing employees who are on the ground doing the work. So, I'll yield, but that's where I'm at with it. Let's continue the conversation. Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Very good. So, Councillor Wilson yields the floor. City Manager? Again, we can certainly start the conversation. I don't think that we'll answer anything today. I think it -- this con- -- the conversation, given what I've heard, probably needs a little bit more thoughtful -- a thoughtful opportunity to talk more about it. But I will yield the floor. Ms. Brown, Director Brown, the floor is yours. CHIEF OF EQUITY AND INCLUSION DEIDRE TRAVIS BROWN: Through you, Madam Mayor. Thank you, everyone. This is a very tough moment for all of us, and one that I've been very thoughtful about and have been thinking about for the past two years. As we came together, department -- the Department itself started to grow, I started to think about where we could find efficiencies. And I was looking broadly at efficiencies, thinking about administrative tasks that we were doing, and if we were -- who was doing them and how were they being done. And I brought that to the Council meeting when questions were being asked about efficiencies, and I had done the due diligence to find

33 out where administratively there were things that we, again, were all doing. After identifying that, and taking a page out of the feedback that was given during the last Budget Hearings, because I sat through each one of the Commissions and heard your feedback there, I started to look more deeply at -- from the Commiss- -- one Commission, to the next Commission, to the next, what administratively are we doing that's the same? And there were quite a few similarities in the work that was being done. And I thought about how we could take that out of the Commission's hands, posting minutes, or scheduling meetings, or doing the copy work that needs to be done, supporting event planning by taking care of purchase of goods and services, things like that, and consolidating all of those, thinking about who in our organization, because we have more resources now, might be better suited to do that. So, in thinking about that, I reached out to partners in HR and in Strategy to think more about how do we do this in a more effective way and a more efficient way. So, nothing at all related to budget or cost savings at that point at all. We were thinking through just how we work more collaboratively, how we work more efficiently and effectively. Also looked at one of our Commissions, the Human Rights Commission, which is a composition of Human Rights, the LGBTQ Plus Commission, as well as CIRC. And back in 2021, a former City Manager brought those all together, and they have been working under one Executive Director for several years now, and it seems to be working very, very well and efficiently. And so, taking that as a model also and bringing that back to my thought partners and thinking that through -- also through City Manager, we started to devise what could be a plan for working more efficiently and effectively across all of the Commissions. And we talked about what are those roles and responsibilities that we need in order to be effective, in order for us to sustain these Commissions. We identified some of those and know that we've worked on job descriptions related to those also. But again, this exercise began close to two years ago and very thoughtfully through just understanding where there was overlap, where there was redundancy, and trying to find a better pathway forward for efficiency and effectiveness. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Thank you, Director Brown. Ms. Catchings, did -- is there anything you would like to add? HUMAN RESOURCES CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER RAECIA CATCHINGS: Yes, through you, Madam Mayor. I think some important things to consider, as we have this conversation, is we also wanted to do it within our existing footprint in terms of the number of staff, the number of FTEs that are allocated. So, that's sort of one of the guardrails that I think is important to point out. The other one you asked about, why now and why not any other time in the year. When we sort of think about the fact that this is a phased iterative process, when we think about what has to happen first so the other sort of dominoes can fall, and we can set the team up for success going forward. We had to start somewhere. And when we think about the runway for preparing for next year, when we have to start to talk about where our program dollars and how they will be allocated for functions that are happening within the Commission, the staff that need to align with that, this was where we are in terms of the runway needed in order to be successful when we -- as we start to think about the iterative process for next year. And so, you know, if -- starting that later would have gave us less of a runway. And so, we just had to kind of draw a line in the sand and figure out where we could go as early as possible, thinking about the thoughtfulness and the engagement that we needed to do from sort of the internal decision makers and stakeholders that really have to think about how we continue the work. And so, it was more about having the runway available to us as we think about the planning and programming moving into the next year. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Ms. Catchings yields the floor. Director Brown, the floor is yours. CHIEF OF EQUITY AND INCLUSION DEIDRE TRAVIS BROWN: I also wanted to add that as we were thinking about this model, we thought about the work that's being done and where we could group the work that the Commissions -- and the work that they were doing. And so, we started to look at where there was

34 commonality. We already had HRC and Carolina Almonte, who is the Executive Director also for PRAB. We thought about can't have her working on five different Commissions. And so, how do we sort of tease those out, and we thought thoughtfully in a conversation with her about that work and we landed with LGBTQ Plus, the Women's Commission, and the Domestic Gender-Based Violence Prevention Initiative all under one, with an Executive Director, also having a Program Manager who is responsible for ensuring that the programming is done, and execution is done, so that we are able to deliver on all of the programs that we have presently so we would not be losing anything from what is already done, we'd still be collaborating with Commission members going forward for all of the Commissions that are a part of these separate areas now, these different work streams. So, very thoughtful, again, in how we were thinking about doing all of that and ensuring that we do not have a gap in services that are being provided. And now that we're in the new location, we're all together and have announced to residents here in the city where we are, we've had visitors who've come in -- just to come in, and others who've come in to receive services from us. So, that was a part of the thinking also. Thank you. Through you, Madam Mayor. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Thank you, Director Brown yields the floor. Ms. Catchings, is there more that you wanted to add? HUMAN RESOURCES CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER RAECIA CATCHINGS: Through you. Only that we haven't talked much about the Disabilities Commission, and I know Chief Brown was mentioning that they're also under the OEI umbrella. Just for technical reasons, they are still going to be housed at 51 Inman, but they are very much still a part of the OEI shifts and restructuring, moving to report from DHSP over to Chief Brown. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Okay. Thank you. Mr. City Manager? CITY MANAGER YI-AN HUANG: And I think -- through you, Mayor Simmons. I think it maybe a little bit helpful, right, just since there's been a number of questions about the abruptness and, you know, how ultimately --- and I think these are just incredibly challenging circumstances when there is an involuntary separation. But I know a lot of the feedback has been about how it's felt incredibly disrespectful to have that news and then have people end their employment, versus having a transition period in the organization, and I think it might be helpful for us to just talk that through a little bit. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Ms. Catchings? HUMAN RESOURCES CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER RAECIA CATCHINGS: Right. Thank you. Through you, Madam Mayor. It is -- I mean, we've talked about it here today where there's never an easy way and never an easy route. And so, there are a number of ways that people do layoffs. There are a number of ways that people communicate. We tried to design a plan that did include grace, did include dignity. We asked, you know, the floor to be clear for folks who might have experienced this conversation, so they did not have an audience when they walked out of the room. I mean, we paid an incredible amount of attention to detail in terms of transitioning folks. I think we weren't able to necessarily solve for every problem in terms of you just physically walking by someone in the hallway, but we did try to stagger this in a way that does allow people to move about their, you know, workspace, and close out their things in a way that is not embarrassing and there is no audience to sort of watch them do this. But to the point of kind of understanding that there is no, you know, perfect way to do a layoff, we did sort of practice, you know, again, trying to stagger and doing their conversations in person or giving folks the option to do them virtually if they -- if they so chose to. And so, there were a number -- I'm losing kind of the rest of what you wanted me to talk about. Oh, yes. And so, typically what would happen is once a notification is delivered, it is really tough to

35 then somehow try to do a transition plan that includes a person who is actively working and talking about the work that they would be handing off. And so, one of the best practices is, in fact, to -- while it might feel abrupt in the moment to tell someone this is no longer a body of work that they have to worry about, it does, in fact, allow the rest of the team and the Manager who's doing the internal planning to go ahead and facilitate that process and move on. It is really hard, and a gray area, to have somebody who is going to be separating to still be in the environment, not only for themselves, but for the staff that is behind. And so, a clean break is usually what is recommended. And while it is a clean break in terms of them physically being in the office, we did provide somewhat of a soft landing thinking about how their employment is going to wind down into the future. They're just not actively involved in that planning because of how difficult those ongoing transition conversations can be. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Thank you. Ms. Catchings yields the floor. Councillor Zusy, did you have a question? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: More, I have a com- -- some comments. So, it's really --. Through you, Mayor Simmons. It's really good to hear your explanation, because, again, what I was most concerned about was, again, the process. Because I just think with terminations, especially with staff that have been working for the City for almost 20 years, or 17 years, I guess 19 and 17 years, it just seems like there could have been a gentler way, if there had been more of a public discussion about --. I actually applaud you for doing the restructuring, and I told this to the City Manager earlier, because I've always been concerned about -- I feel like the work that you do, that all the Commissions have done is very, very important, but it's a like $7.6 million investment. You know, we've just learned we're going to lose $8.4 million in housing. You know, there are going to be people that are hungry, they're not going to get fuel assistance. So, I think the responsible thing for the City to do is to make the hard decision to promote efficiencies, to do consolidations, and unfortunately, that will probably require a series of layoffs so that we can take care of the most vulnerable. We've talked about the importance of caring for the most vulnerable. We're not going to have money to do that unless we become more efficient and cut things out of our budget. So, I appreciate the difficulty, how hard it is to restructure, and how hard it is to lay off committed staff that's been doing extraordinary work for the City for almost decades. But, yeah, and my question, along with my colleagues, has really been more about process, because I wonder if you couldn't have just said, you know, look, the writing's on the wall. We are going to be, you know, $10, $20 million short. We're going to have to be doing some cutting back. We're going to need to close down some positions in the next couple of months. But to give people six weeks to close out projects, to pass on the knowledge. I mean, obviously, these employees that have been working for the City for, again, almost decades, are really committed to their work. So, they want to make sure that it continues. So, they're invested in it, heavily invested. So, I just -- I guess I question whether terminating them immediately, even though it's clear that it's not because of cause but because of restructuring, is actually the best way to do it. And as I told the City Manager, it reminded me of the Boston massacre at the Museum of Fine Arts that happened in 1999 when there were senior curators who had devoted often 30 or 40 years to building collections, developing connections with collectors. They had committed their lives to their departments at the MFA, and they and 16 other staff members were escorted out of their offices never to return again that day in 1999. So, I think I understand the clean break, that a clean break, while it may not seem like it's kind, it might - - I guess I'm not -- I'm not convinced. I just think maybe giving people six weeks' notice or to, you know -- some notice might actually benefit the City more and be more respectful to staff members. But, again, I'm really glad that the City Charter makes it clear that it's the City Manager that's ultimately responsible for our budget. You're responsible for balancing our budget, Yi-An, and I appreciate you are doing the hard work to do that and making the hard decisions ultimately to do that. And I think it's very important that there's also a buffer between the City Manager, who manages the

36 staff of 3,700, and the City Council, because when we -- we can't be -- we're thinking about things that concern the whole city. I mean, as you are, right? But ultimately, the staff of 3,700 is yours. So, I feel like to meddle in the City Manager's employment decisions is problematic and probably won't best serve the City because we tend to be political, and we have constituents and people that vote for us and we don't want to hurt people's feelings. But, ultimately, somebody's got to be there to draw the line and say, look, we've got to make sure our people are fed. We've got to make sure they've got fuel. We've got to make sure they've got housing. And the only way we can do it is by cutting back some places. So, I guess I trust that you're doing that work thoughtfully, and I appreciate that you're doing that work. And I think, sadly, there will be other layoffs that will be -- I know you don't want to talk about it. But I just think to be responsible, we're going to have less money, we're going to have a lot less money. We're going to lose federal grants. We're going to lose a lot of State funding. We're going to have less commercial revenue. We're going to have to be working smarter, and that's going to mean doing some layoffs. So, this is the first set of layoffs, and so it's even harder than the others. I mean, something I'm surprised by is like if I was in charge, I -- and maybe you're already doing this -- but I would have come up with like a whole restructuring plan. I know you're looking for City departments to cut two and half percent, but I really would have thought of the overall plan, and maybe enacted it at one time, rather than to do it like department by department. So, I question that. But anyway, as to this Policy Order. So, let me just say I am thankful for the work of the Commissions. I am thankful for your work, City Manager Yi-An Huang. I'm grateful to you for, again, making the hard decisions that will keep us fiscally -- a fiscally sound City to maintain our AAA bond rating. I'm grateful for all of these things. With this Policy Order, I -- like I respect the intention of it, but I am worried about our meddling in the City Manager's affairs with the ordered. I think, again, as Councillor McGovern said, it would have been nice to have been brought a little bit more into the loop so that we could have defended your decisions to residents that asked us, because I think we all got calls, and residents were really concerned and disturbed. But I think, ultimately, this is your work, and we need to trust that you and your staff will do it well, that you'll do it thoughtfully, and you'll be considering the best larger interests for the City. So, I guess I won't be supporting this Policy Order, but I'm really grateful for it because it's initiated this conversation that I think has been really important to have. And, again, I -- before I had even heard about this Policy Order, I had reached out to the City Manager and shared some of these thoughts. And I had my assistant reach out to Rae Catchings, hoping to set up a meeting to better understand like why we did things the way we did. But I think we -- I think we do need to think about -- again, I do think we need to rethink about how we lay off people. But I think -- I think the restructuring will in the end be -- serve the City, and we need to learn to we need to -- we need to engage the public in thinking about efficiencies. I've recommended that there be town -- the City Manager hold Town Meetings. I think residents will have ideas for other places where we might find greater efficiencies. I'm just always impressed with what good ideas the public has. And I just -- I just ask you, and I know you're trying to do the best for the City to be thoughtful, to be -- I know you're doing what's best for the City. Thank you. That was a long ramble. I yield. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Zusy yields the floor. Mr. City Manager, did you want to say anything else before I go around the rest of the room? Okay. Then Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Hi, yes. And I apologize, I have to sign off, but I wanted to just say something really quickly, which was I think the point of the Policy Order was not have -- not to have a deep, deep discussion now, but to give staff some time to get back to us in writing so that we can all have some

37 of the facts before us. I disagree with Councillor Zusy here. This is not about meddling in, you know, the City Manager's affairs. It's about Council oversight and transparency. I think there is more nuance here because our work does overlap with Boards and Commissions, and so it's not clear cut. And I also think it's a red herring to conflate this with, you know, more layoffs for budget reasons. This has been stated by the City Manager on the record, and he could state it himself again that this was not done for budget reasons. So, I do think we should not, you know, say that we need to do this in order to then help, you know, lower income people. I think we should stick to what's actually related to this issue. And I think it's frankly dangerous to then now say that there will be potential -- you know, more layoffs and other things. I think we really should stick to this moment in time. And I hope that the City Manager, if there are more things that are going to happen in the budget, we'll have those conversations and have a process behind that. So, that's all I wanted to say, but I hope that we can pass the PO and have some future conversations as it relates to the questions before us. Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Siddiqui yields the floor. Councillor Azeem, do you want to be heard on this? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: No. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Vice Mayor? And then Councillor Nolan. VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Thank you, Madam Mayor, through you. As far as the Late Order, I agree with what Councillor Siddiqui said in terms of, you know, this -- I read this order, and I'd like to -- I have an addition I'd like to add to it at some point, and I'd like to be added to it as well. You know, I actually appreciate, in some ways, the political restraint by the authors of the Order, because the Order could have read, and I think in previous years -- previous years may have read, the City Council directs the City Manager to reinstate these positions, right? Which would have been maybe overstepping our bounds in that regard. But it doesn't say that. It basically wants, I think, a report that probably just puts in writing much of what we've talked about already here tonight. But maybe people aren't watching, it's not online, there's -- it's hard to disseminate to the public. Basically, just to put into writing, you know, answers to these questions that people have asked, and I do think that's an appropriate thing for us to do, you know, without meddling. I mean, whether I like the decision or I don't like the decision, it's -- as we've all pointed out, it's not this Council's decision, for better or worse. And in some ways I think that's better, and sometimes I think that may be worse. But getting information that the public is requesting is our job. And so, I think the Order is totally appropriate. And again, like I said, I'd like to be added to it. I don't know if you want me to -- I can wait until later to bring forward my addition to -- oh, it's right -- look at that, it's right there. Thank you. (SHOWN ON SCREEN) I just wanted to add, because one of the other questions that people have asked a lot about is, how is this work going to actually continue, right? You had three people on staff in the Women's Commission. Now you have one person who's an Executive Director who is overseeing a few other Commissions. How is that work going to continue? And I know that you mentioned that we're going to have these Program Managers. I may have sort of missed that in the earlier discussion and the announcements, but it -- that wasn't something that was -- I was -- was sort of at the front of my brain. So, I think adding, you know, in this report, to talk about, you know what is this new structure going to look like to ensure that the work actually is going to continue at the level that we all expect it to continue? And that what are these Program Managers, what are their job descriptions? How are we going to ensure that, you know, -- that, again, that the work is going to be supported. So, I think that would be important to just come. I know that's something people were concerned about too. So,

38 that's why I put that up there. But -- and I would like to be added. I do think it's an appropriate Order. Thank you. I yield. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: The Vice Mayor yields the floor. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Thank you. As you said yourself Mayor Simmons, and Councillor Siddiqui, the point of the Policy Order was partly to have the conversation, you know, in the next -- before the next two weeks. But as Councillor Wilson said, it is important enough, and it is before us. But I think this is a both-and. We're having some of the conversation, but I think we still need some answers that were not provided tonight. And one of those questions, I think, is when it was described as this whole process, as we know, and as I've said, and we've all said, the Council has been very interested in this, you know, for the last two or three years. But who is the we who decided this? Because the City Manager, in discussing this with me, said that the Strategy team was not involved, which to me was a failure. That's why we have a Strategy team. It should be in the context of what's the entire structure of the organization. We know the Council wasn't involved, staff wasn't involved, the Commissions themselves weren't involved, and the community wasn't involved. So, I really think that's a question that would be important to answer. I also do take issue with the idea that this is the best way to handle a transition. In experiences I've had working with organizations and nonprofits, the transition when you have layoffs is, hey, there may be another role for you in the City, let's talk about this. So, for those seven people, it doesn't sound like that happened. It wasn't a process by which we sit down and say -- it's happened to people I know in my family, and also organizations that I was consulting to, and we always sat down and said, hey, if there's another role, and it may be a demotion, it may be, but we're at least going to talk to you about open roles. That would have been compassionate and good practice and best practice. Not being able to even say goodbye doesn't make any sense whatsoever to me. And I also wonder, given that the City Charter that we passed, if it was done in a way that once the -- now that the election is certified, it is in place, says explicitly that any administrative Order, which includes any proposal to change a department, could only happen after the City Council held at least one public hearing on the proposal and that community is involved. So, I'm just curious as to if that -- that didn't happen here, but I thought that the Charter was already in effect. And if it's not in effect, then it raises even more questions for me about why this level of organization reorganization would happen, when in six weeks from now, it would definitely have been something that the Council would have been at least apprised of, and the community involved in. So, that raises even more questions for me that I really hope to get answered as we move forward. And again, I can -- I'm public that reorganization makes sense, that some reduction makes sense, that we have lots of areas where -- that we could reduce staff. That, I understand. And yet this doesn't seem to be the way to do it, or the process by which people were let go doesn't seem to be best practice. It's not in line with -- you know, I just came back from the National League of Cities, and I just can't imagine that this, as case study, would be viewed as best practice. It would be viewed as local governments must bring the community together, and this is not something that happened with that. So, I do hope we pass the Policy Order. And to Mayor Simmons' point, and Councillor Siddiqui, I hope we have another chance to have this discussion because I think these are really important issues. It's not even the specific question of individuals, but it's really how this moves forward because it may happen again in the future, given what we're facing, for different reasons. So, again, those questions I hope to get answered and we're able to go forward. Thank you. Mayor Simmons, I yield. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Nolan yields the floor. Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: I'm just hoping we can move to the vote. I have to leave in a few

39 minutes and would love to be present for it. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Azeem yields the floor. Further discussion? Councillor Wilson. COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Madam Mayor, thank you. I just had an additional question in regards to the restructuring, and I'm curious about while the individuals who -- you know, I want to be mindful of the humans, the bodies, the individuals who are now are no longer a part of the City and the work that they -- that they added, right, to our city fabric, and really thinking about the work and recognizing that maybe I think the Women's Commission specifically may have had some events that they were in planning for next month. And so, really curious as we talk about the -- you know, hope to have no disruption and making sure that we're continuing with business as usual, what might that how might that -- how might that actually come into play? So, I just want to make sure that as we're making really difficult decisions, and, you know, decisions that may be in the purview of the City Manager, and who he appoints to make those decisions, it's a decision that does impact our community as a whole, right? And so, I want to -- while I want to appreciate the level of work that you all, especially you, Chief Brown, in having these conversations, or thinking this through for the last two years, the amount of work that goes into the thought process there -- and especially with you, Ms. Catchings, like just really thinking about, you know, it does sound like thought was put into this. I'm not going to say it was the great or best thought, right? But -- because at the end of the day, it does sound like, or feel like, people in our community were let go without any understanding to this happening, right? And so, with that, it also just speaks to how did we get here? And if this has nothing to do with budget, then we abs- -- there could have been more thoughtfulness into how we let people go, right? And just saying, you know, especially because we sought out -- you know, we approved the budget for FY26, it could have been -- you know, and again, I'm not the person on the ground, I'm not in any of you all's shoes, but I'm on this side, right? And in these shoes, we now have to answer to the public in a way that you all don't. And the unfortunate piece is that, for us, we also don't have any purview to say reinstate these people, as much as I want to. But the question that I do have is now for the extra work that is on these individuals who are now the Executive Directors of this work, are they now being compensated at a higher rate for now having to do more work? So, through you, Madam Mayor, I would like to have that answered. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Wilson yields the floor. The question on the floor is --. COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Madam Mayor, I didn't yield. I'm just asking a question. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Okay. Councillor Wilson has a question. You're speaking -- asking it of the City Manager or of Chief Brown? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Whoever feels that they are best to answer. Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: We'll start with the City Manager. HUMAN RESOURCES CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER RAECIA CATCHINGS: I’m happy to take it. Through you, Madam Mayor. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Okay. Ms. Catchings? HUMAN RESOURCES CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER RAECIA CATCHINGS: Yes. So, the initial iteration of the org structure that was out does include a layer of Executive Directors, and so for some it is a promotional opportunity, and they are being compensated for the work that they are doing at the higher level working with Chief Brown. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Thank you. And then my second question is just in regards to a conversation in regards to -- I think just speaking

40 specifically around additional layoffs, many of my colleagues have talked about this, other people in Public Comment have, are we anticipating more layoffs right now? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Mr. City Manager? CITY MANAGER YI-AN HUANG: Through you, Mayor Simmons. You know, I think -- I will acknowledge there are definitely some staff conversations where there's a lot of concern. I think we've been really clear as part of the budget process that we are not looking to meet this year's budget with layoffs. And so, I think we've been pretty clear that this is a set of work that was about restructuring the team in a way that made sense for the program's effectiveness, efficiency, and would have happened regardless of where we were in the budget process. Now, I think the challenging message as well is that I think we are trying to say that -- and I think this is, you know, there's a lot of process feedback I think that we're getting from tonight, and I think we'll have another conversation. But, ultimately, what I feel like I've heard from the Council is a willingness to review existing programs, review existing structures, and make some changes. And I think we've sort of said that means that if there are staff changes, or position changes, then we're willing to have those conversations and make those decisions. And so, it's -- I think, honestly, it is a message where we are saying, look, staff are doing important work. And this is the hardest part about the conversations we're having, because I've said this a lot of times in the Chamber and said we have people that are running things that are appreciated in our community. Any change that we make in staffing is going to be really difficult. And here we are, and it is really hard. And so, you know, I think I just want to acknowledge, like, yes, as we go forward in this budget process, I don't want to say, like, this is what we're going to see. We don't have additional layoffs that we are working on, just to put that to rest. But as we do this work, whether it's for FY27 or FY28, and I think we've said we should be willing to look at our programs and to review them, and if we need to make changes, then we should be willing to do that, versus taking that off the table and saying, we're not going to change anything that results in position reductions. I wish that there was like a cleaner way to say that, especially in this moment. But certainly, I think we'll process this, you know, if the Policy Order passes, and we can also have more of these answers and talk a bit about how -- you know, how we go about this. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Thank you. My final question is just -- sorry, last two. I'll make them very quick. But the one thing is just in regards to while we think about there are employees here that are both union and non-union employees, and I'm really curious about how that thinking comes into play. And then my final question is just as we think about moving forward and the morale of our City employees, right? I've had too many calls over the weekend from many employees about am I safe? What does this look like for me? How could this be done? And I'm just really curious and quite, you know, just taken back because I'm like I don't know, right? And I don't know. But I feel like as we continue to move forward, and we want to think about holistically how we create a community that is thoughtful, that is caring, that is -- you know, while yes, difficult decisions do have to be made, but how can people be more brought along? How can we make sure that the work is done in a tactful way, in a way that actually respects people for the work that they actually -- and not just respects them because you gave them a severance, but actually respects their dignity around the work that they have been able to do for the amount of time that they've been here with the City, and then thinking about how do we close them out in a way that actually gives, again, respect and dignity to the work that they have actually done, and how we are able to continue it forward. Because I'm really concerned about the two events that are coming up in just a few short weeks with the Women's Commission. And while I believe, you know, things may continue, to what magnitude, when you don't have the people who were actually at the table doing that work continuing the project.

41 So, if you can just answer the two questions, and I'll yield. Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Wilson yields the floor. Mr. City Manager, or -- do you want to -- Chief Brown? The floor is yours. CHIEF OF EQUITY AND INCLUSION DEIDRE TRAVIS BROWN: Through you, Madam Mayor. Thank you for the question. What are we going to do for these next events? We've already begun the work to learn more about the plan that was laid out for those, and Shemeka Gregory has been in contact with all of the key stakeholders that are part of that. She has reached out to Commission members to hear from them. She's heard from a few of them, waiting to hear from others so that we can finalize this plan. We're taking hold, doing the work that we generally do, and are moving forward with that. I am aware of a later event also that's going on. So, we -- a part of all of this also is for us to work collaboratively. I said this when -- in the last -- in the Budget Hearing. We have more resources now. So, we're able to do more work. And so, we can pull on each other because we're not all a hundred percent all the time. So, we're putting our arms around the work to ensure that it continues. We're going to be posting for the positions that we've identified so that we can quickly get people into those positions. And anyone is welcome to apply for those positions, anyone, if they have those qualifications for those positions. So, we are already in the mix and already boots on the ground to ensure that those programs go off as we normally do with excellence and ensuring that the audiences have -- are included, they have access to the programming, and it is one that meets the needs that have been identified. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Thank you. And to the union or non-union? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Ms. Catchings? HUMAN RESOURCES CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER RAECIA CATCHINGS: Through you, Madam Mayor. Maybe I could use some more clarity on the question around union or non-union. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Thank you. Through you, Madam Mayor. So, just in respect to is there anything for -- like will decisions -- could decisions be being made that are in line of folks either being union or non-union? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Ms. Catchings? HUMAN RESOURCES CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER RAECIA CATCHINGS: So, if there are decisions that impact our unionized workforce, there is a number of engagement levers that we engage in, in terms of either talking with the union reps specifically or having what we call impact bargaining sessions that are outside of main table. And so, there are forums for us to address union -- impacts or decisions that could impact our unionized workforce. And we haven't had to do that yet. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Very good. COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Thank you. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: All right. So, we have two -- we have a -- I'm going to conjoin these two amendments. We have the amendment from the Vice Mayor to be added to this Policy Order, and we also have a line that I think what -- was on the screen. Did everyone see it? Some of you would have seen it. I'd would like to entertain a motion to taking them together, adding the Vice Mayor and that one line. Hearing no objection. On a motion by the Vice Mayor -- UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (INDISCERNIBLE 2:32:40) MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: I'm sorry? The --. On a motion by the Vice Mayor, I'll entertain a -- have a roll call.

42 INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: (No response.) MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Did he leave? INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have eight members recorded in the affirmative, and one recorded as absent. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: The amendment passes on the affirmative vote of eight members. So, now what we have before us is the Policy Order as amended. Is there any discussion? The only thing I want to bring up, I want to -- I do want to thank my colleagues for bringing this Policy Order forward. It does speak to what has happened and doesn't speak to what we're going to do going forward. And so, I will -- I'll look to maybe sitting down with the Vice Mayor and one other member to maybe ask -- put together a Policy Order that speaks to that. But if there's no other discussion --. Yes, Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: I just want to reiterate that I really have valued this conversation. So, I'm really grateful that you -- that this Policy Order was submitted. And, again, I just -- again, I really am eager for the City to be thinking more about process, and how it handles future layoffs, because I think -- I think that's really, really important. But again, I'll be voting against this, not because I don't value the discussion, but because I don't want to appear to be meddling with the City Manager and his staff and department heads and making employment decisions for the City. Thank you. I yield. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Councillor Zusy yields the floor. So, the -- again, we're going to be voting on this Policy Order as amended. You've heard from --. Councillor Zusy, you do make some very good points. Again, my concern -- and that's why I struggle with this Order. I do certainly support the intent, but I think the conversation that should be had is what are we doing going forward? We -- if people want to have more in-depth information, absolutely. But, for me, it's more important is how do we then collaboratively work together going in the direction that the City Manager, whose purview, and jurisdiction this is, moves this

43 forward. So, having said that, I will call for the roll. On a motion by the Vice Mayor to adopt as amended. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: No. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: No. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: No. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: No. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: No. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: No. And you have five members -- MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Close. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: -- recorded in the affirmative, three recorded in the negative, and one recorded as absent. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And the Policy Order is adopted as amended on the affirmative vote of five members, three voting no, and one being recorded as absent. Thank you. And thank you for your time and your talents on that issue. We're going to move now to Policy Orders. There is only one. What is the pleasure of the City Council? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Move to adopt. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: On a motion by Councillor Wilson to adopt the Policy Order, roll call, please. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson?

44 COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have seven members recorded in the affirmative, and two recorded as absent. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And the Policy Order passes on the affirmative vote of seven members. We now go to the Calendar, Unfinished Business. I would just ask respectfully that we pass over. I don't think there's any- --. Very good. So, we'll pass over the Calendar and Unfinished Business. UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: (INDISCERNIBLE 2:37:06) MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: I'm sorry? Oh, okay, thank you. I think the next items before us are Applications and Petitions. What's the pleasure of the City Council? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Move to adopt. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: On a motion by the -- Councillor Wilson to adopt the two Applications and Petitions. Roll call. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have seven members recorded in the affirmative, and two recorded as absent. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: The Applications and Petitions are adopted by the affirmative vote of seven members, two being recorded as absent. We'll move now to Communications. What's the pleasure to City Council. COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Place on file. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: On a motion by Councillor Wilson to place the Communications, all seven of them, on file. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call.

45 INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: (No audible response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have seven members recorded in the affirmative, and two recorded as absent. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And the Communications are placed on file on the affirmative vote of seven members, two being recorded as absent. We move now to Consent Resolutions. What's the pleasure of the City Council? On a motion by Councillor Wilson to adopt the Resolutions and making them unanimous upon adoption. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons?

46 MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have seven members recorded in the affirmative, and two recorded as absent. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And the Consent Resolutions are adopted by the affirmative vote of seven members, two being recorded as absent. We move now to Committee Reports. What is the pleasure of the City Council. COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Accept and place on file. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: On a motion by Councillor Nolan to accept the reports and place on file. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have seven members recorded in the affirmative, and two recorded as absent. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And the matter is adopted by seven members -- on the affirmative vote of seven members, two being recorded as absent. We move now to -- I've lost my place -- Communications and Reports from other City Officers. What is the pleasure of the City Council? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: (INDISCERNIBLE 2:39:53) MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: On a motion by Councillor Wilson to place the Communication on file. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: (No response.)

47 INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have seven members recorded in the affirmative, and two recorded as absent. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: The matter is adopted on the affirmative vote of seven members, two is being recorded as absent. We move now to Late Resolutions. I think there are three? UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Four. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: You have four Resolutions, Madam Mayor. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: There are four Late Resolutions. We'll suspend the rules to take up the Late Resolutions. On a motion by the Vice Mayor to suspend the rules, roll call. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have seven members recorded in the affirmative, -- MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: The rules are --. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: -- and two recorded as absent. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And the rules are suspended on the affirmative vote of seven members, two being recorded as absent. There are four Resolutions, and the Vice Mayor makes a motion to bring all four of those Resolutions

48 forward for discussion and adoption, making them unanimous upon adoption. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have seven members recorded in the affirmative, and two recorded as absent. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And the four Resolutions are in front of us on the affirmative vote of seven members, two being recorded as absent. The Resolutions are as follows. There's one, two, three, by the -- being brought forward by the Mayor. O One is on the passing of Mary Ellen Baker. The other is on Calvin Gilkes. And the last one is on the Reverend Dr. Robert Avon Bennett, Junior. This is a particular note, those that may remember Marceline Donaldson from 43 Hawthorne Street, this is her husband. They are very active members of Trinity Church and he has recently passed. The last one, and with Councillor Wilson's permission, we can waive the entire -- the entire reading, but it's around bringing recognition around the Michelin Guide and the restaurants in Cambridge that were honored. Discussion? Hearing none. On a motion by Councillor Wilson to adopt and making them unanimous on adoption, roll call. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan? COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes.

49 INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have seven members recorded in the affirmative, and two recorded as absent. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: And the matter is adopted by the affirmative vote of seven members, two being recorded as absent. We move now to Late Policy Orders. Are there any? INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: There are not. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: The -- we have actually discharged the Late Policy Order. We move now to Announcements. Are there any, other than having a nice Thanksgiving? Councillor? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Madam Mayor, just to announce that the one Policy Order that was on our Agenda tonight was that there'll be no meeting on the 1st. Just wanted to make sure that we -- MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: The 1st, or the sec- -- it was --. COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: The 1st, December 1st. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Didn't we --. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yeah. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Wasn't that part of the Agenda? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Right. I just wanted to announce that -- MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Oh. COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: -- again for the public because we didn't actually review it. We didn't discuss it. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Thank you. Thank you. Any other announcements? Mr. -- Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just as referenced earlier, the City Manager's evaluation. I'm hoping people can get me their feedback and input on November 30th so that I can work on creating the composite document for us to discuss at a later date. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Other announcements? Hearing none. COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: (INDISCERNIBLE 2:43:56) MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Oh. COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Move to adjourn. (INDISCERNIBLE 2:43:59) MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: On a Motion by Councillor Wilson to adjourn. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Councillor Azeem? COUNCILLOR BURHAN AZEEM: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Vice Mayor McGovern? VICE MAYOR MARC MCGOVERN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Nolan?

50 COUNCILLOR PATRICIA M. NOLAN: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Siddiqui? COUNCILLOR SUMBUL SIDDIQUI: (No response.) INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Absent. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler? COUNCILLOR JIVAN SOBRINHO-WHEELER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Toner? COUNCILLOR PAUL F. TONER: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Wilson? COUNCILLOR AYESHA M. WILSON: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Councillor Zusy? COUNCILLOR CATHERINE ZUSY: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. Mayor Simmons? MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: Yes. INTERIM CITY CLERK PAULA CRANE: Yes. And you have seven members recorded in the affirmative, and two recorded as absent. MAYOR E. DENISE SIMMONS: The meeting is adjourned. (Gavel.) (The Cambridge City Council Regular Meeting adjourned at approximately 8:25 p.m.)

50

51 C E R T I F I C A T E I, Kanchan Mutreja, a transcriber for Datagain, do hereby certify: That said proceedings were listened to and transcribed by me and were prepared using standard electronic transcription equipment under my direction and supervision; and I hereby certify that the foregoing transcript of the proceedings is a full, true, and accurate transcript to the best of my ability. In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this 2nd March 2026. Signature of Transcriber