The big news from last week's meeting was that the City Council voted unanimously to approve the Mayor's request to double the senior property tax exemption from $500 to $1,000. This exemption is for homeowners over the age of 70 who meet certain financial eligibility and residency requirements. For more information regarding the requirements and application process, please call the Assessor’s Office at 508-821-1011.

The ordinance to remove the residency requirement for Assessors and the fee waiver ordinance were both passed from a second reading to a third reading. The FY2022 Budget was approved for final passage from a second reading to be ordained.

Of great significance at this meeting was the presentation we received from the Southeastern Massachusetts Regional Emergency Communications Center (SEMRECC) about joining their regional 911 district. Joining this regional 911 district will enable the City to provide the best quality 911 services to our residents now and in the future. I encourage all to go back and watch this portion of the meeting to hear the full discussion on this topic.

The City Council awarded the last available retail marijuana Host Community Agreement to Herbal Logic LLC, which will be located at 284R Winthrop Street.

The revised marijuana ordinance and Department of Human Services Revolving Fund ordinance were both approved for final passage from a third reading to be ordained.

Happy Father's Day! A delayed weekly update from last week's meeting due to a busy past few days.

The City Council voted to transfer $16 million in free cash to the Stabilization Fund, bringing the balance in that account to $28 million.

A hearing was held on proposed changes to the City's Housing Development Incentive Program (HDIP) Zone. As a program, HDIP provides Gateway Cities with a tool to develop market rate housing while increasing residential growth, expanding diversity of housing stock, supporting economic development, and promoting neighborhood stabilization in designated areas. The program provides two tax incentives (one local and one state) to developers to undertake new construction or substantial rehabilitation of properties for lease or sale as multi-unit market rate residential housing. The changes that were adopted included adding the Saint Mary's Primary School and the medical building behind the Old Colony History Museum to the existing HDIP Zone, as well as creating new Zones for Reed & Barton and Whittenton Mills.

Several ordinances were passed from 2nd to 3rd reading and 1st to 2nd reading, including the FY2022 Budget.

The two main substantive actions taken at this week's meeting were two different ordinance proposals.

The first was an ordinance to eliminate the residency requirement for the position of Assessor. This is an outdated requirement that may have made sense when the position was established but no longer serves a valuable purpose. The position of Assessor is one that requires a high level of expertise and specialization. Removing this requirement will allow us to have a larger pool of qualified candidates for these positions moving forward, which will help ensure that the Assessors Department is in the best position to carry out its duties on behalf of our residents.

The second ordinance was to allow for fee waivers, which came about as a result of the Union Block housing project downtown requesting a fee waiver. When this ordinance was first discussed in Council of the Whole, we came to a consensus to advance a proposal that would allow for fee waivers under certain circumstances, including for nonprofits, houses of worship, educational uses, municipal uses, and affordable housing. The Law Department sent us a draft ordinance on May 24th that accomplished this objective. On June 1st, the Law Department sent a new draft that would allow for fee waivers that were deemed to be in the public interest to be determined at the discretion of the City Council. This proposal was much more broad than what we had discussed and agreed to previously; it did not establish any specific circumstances and did not outline any guidelines for this process. For that reason, I voted against advancing the proposed ordinance. If the ordinance passes, however, I will vote once again to approve the fee waiver for the Union Block project due to its significance as it relates to our downtown revitalization.

The main news from this week's meeting is that Mayor O'Connell presented the FY2022 Budget to the City Council. Budget hearings will occur over the next 2 weeks. The budget presentation can be found on the City's website here.

Several ordinances were voted on, including the Department of Human Services Revolving Fund ordinance.

Several orders were ordained for final approval, including the bond authorizations totaling $59.5 million for Waste Water Treatment Facility and sewer upgrades and the $2 million bond authorization for County Street.

I will post the schedule of next week's events once it becomes available. This will include a budget hearing, regular meeting, and charter meeting.

Many different things going on at this week's meeting!

The Ordinance Committee advanced a proposed ordinance to create a Human Services Revolving Fund. This fund will allow the Department of Human Services to deposit fees that it collects at its events and activities to use to cover the expenses of future events and activities put on by the department.

In marijuana news, the City Council approved a new Host Community Agreement for HTC Trinity for cultivation, manufacturing, and delivery at 491 West Water Street. An extension was also granted for the Host Community Agreement for MassMedicum at 300 Revolutionary Drive.

The City Council unanimously approved a transfer of $1,500,000 from the City Hall Stabilization Account to the Public Safety Stabilization Account. This is the next step in moving forward with the plans for a new Public Safety Complex. This transfer of funds will help cover initial costs for an assessment, feasibility study, and architectural and engineering costs.

$4,000,000 was also transferred from retained earnings in the Water Enterprise Account to fund much needed water main improvements. This is consistent with the practice of making sure the infrastructure under a road is replaced and upgraded before paving the road. This transfer will fund water main improvements on First Street, Everett Street, Silver Street, West Weir Street, and Third Street.

Lastly, the revised marijuana ordinance that we have been working on for several weeks was passed from a first to second reading.

A day late due to yesterday's exciting announcement about the proposed update to the City Charter!

The City Council wrapped up committee work on the regulation/application for all future marijuana Host Community Agreements. In addition, we put the finishing touches on the revisions to the marijuana ordinance. The revised ordinance will be on the agenda for a first reading next week.

The Department of Public Works and their consultant BETA gave a presentation regarding the Pavement Management Program. This included details about upcoming work in the City and what we hope to achieve with the $5.4 million investment we are putting into our roads. This presentation will be posted on the City's website.

Lastly, several orders for bond authorizations were passed from a first to second reading. This included $2 million for County Street sidewalks, and the remaining $59.5 million was for different projects to upgrade our Waste Water Treatment Facility and sewer system.

This week's meeting was busy! Most notably, the City Council reviewed and advanced a proposed draft ordinance to address off-road recreational vehicles, including ATVs and dirt bikes. In addition, the City Council approved the Mayor's request to transfer $2 million from the Stabilization Fund as a much needed down payment for the repair and maintenance of our roads.

The main topic of discussion at this week's meeting was the $200,000 fee waiver for the Union Block housing project downtown on Main St. It is the opinion of the Law Department that the fee waiver vote is null and void because there is no provision for the waiver of these fees for this purpose in the ordinances. As a result, the City Council voted to advance a proposed ordinance to allow for fee waivers under certain circumstances, including for nonprofits, houses of worship, educational uses, municipal uses, affordable housing, and possibly small businesses. Doing so will allow for the fee waiver for the Union Block project to be validly granted.

Bracts & Pistils was granted their marijuana delivery courier license at 144 West Britannia St. (Reed & Barton). A courier license allows a third-party company to deliver marijuana purchases from dispensaries to consumers.

There was an excellent presentation for Mental Health Awareness Month and Children's Mental Health Awareness Week to launch the #MakeItOK campaign. It was the biggest audience we have had at a meeting since returning to City Hall. Thank you to all who participated!

At this week's meeting, the City Council approved the transfer requests to get the Elections Department up and running for the remainder of this fiscal year.

We also met in Executive Session to discuss the latest Bask lawsuit against the City Council for denying an extension to their Host Community Agreement. The City has engaged outside counsel for this matter, Attorney George Field. This lawsuit comes despite being quoted in the last Taunton Daily Gazette article on this matter saying that they are in the business of growing, manufacturing, and selling cannabis, "not litigating licenses." Although some believe that Bask may win this suit because they were granted a special permit by the Land Court, the legal premise for denying a HCA is much more ambiguous than that for denying a special permit. There is currently a case pending before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) regarding HCAs, Mederi vs. City of Salem. I eagerly await the decision of the SJC in this case and hope that it further clarifies the authority of cities and towns to make the decisions that are in the best interest of their residents.

The City Council approved Mayor O'Connell's appointments to the Taunton Redevelopment Authority (TRA). Reviving the TRA will help spur revitalization in the City, particularly in the Weir and the Whittenton.

A quiet meeting this week. More information and thoughts about the Aries gasification proposal to come later this week.

This week's brief updates. Please note I have asked that the presentation given by Parks, Cemeteries, and Public Grounds and Economic and Community Development be posted on the City's website. Both departments are doing great work and it deserves to be showcased!

This week's updates include a few regarding marijuana-related business, as well as an important update about public input.

The City Council had a lengthy discussion about proposed revisions to the marijuana ordinance. Many of the revisions are meant to tighten up the language in the ordinance and clarify the processes in place. Discussion also centered around limiting the number of Host Community Agreements for retailers to the number of available retail licenses, establishing a 1,000 ft buffer zone around our social equity licensees, and having a separate discussion and creating a new ordinance to address marijuana delivery specifically. These revisions will now go back to the Law Department to be drafted.

LMCC's request for an amendment to their Host Community Agreement at 30 Sherwood Drive to add manufacturing and delivery to their operations there, in addition to cultivation, was approved.

On public input, the City Council accepted the recommendation of the Law Department to transition to in-person public input with a pre-registration system. This is a HUGE win because "going back to normal" would have meant no standing agenda item for public input. People will have differing views about whether this is too much or too little, but I think it is a good compromise and it is surely more than we had before the pandemic.

A busy meeting for our first week back in-person!

This week's updates:

The City Council voted to have the Law Department initiate the process of auctioning 100 Arlington Street. This comes after a party approached the City with interest in obtaining the parcel for development. This is a contaminated property and the successful bidder would have the opportunity to participate in the Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) Program sponsored by the U.S. EPA to access funding to clean up the property. A final vote on allowing the parcel to be auctioned is scheduled for next week.

The Conservation Law Foundation gave a presentation elaborating on their letter regarding the public health and environmental concerns related to the proposed Aries gasification facility. I encourage everyone to watch this part of the meeting, and I will post the information that was provided once we receive it.

The City Council unanimously approved an appropriation of $226,000 for repairs to the Hopewell Pool. These repairs will ensure the long-term viability of the pool, and they should be done just in time for this summer's swim season.

The City Council approved the two ordinances that have been going through their three readings over the past few weeks. We have streamlined the requirements for non-retail businesses with overnight hours, and the number of recreational retail marijuana licenses will increase from 5 to 8.

Lastly, the City Council will be resuming live, in-person meetings beginning next week, as will the other City boards, committees, and commissions.

At this week's meeting, Aries gave another presentation about the proposed gasification facility focused on the permitting process and community impacts. They also attempted to respond to the CLF letter. Next week, CLF will be giving a presentation to the Public Health & Environmental Affairs Committee about their letter. I made a motion for Aries to send the City Council the studies they mention (but do not explicitly cite) about PFAS destruction.

The full presentation from this week's meeting can be found here: https://www.taunton-ma.gov/.../aries_taunton_council...

The Mayor announced the exciting news that the City's plan for a regional vaccination site has been approved by the state's Department of Public Health. Vaccine clinics will be hosted by Taunton, Fall River, Attleboro, and Somerset, while surrounding cities and towns will provide assistance, including Berkley, Dighton, Freetown, Seekonk, and Swansea.

The approved regional plan will include vaccine clinics on the following days:

Mondays: National Shrine of Our Lady of LaSalette (Attleboro)

Tuesdays: Holiday Inn (Taunton)

Wednesdays: Somerset High School or Somerset Fire Department (Somerset/Swansea)

Thursdays: Bristol Community College (Fall River)

Saturdays: Holiday Inn (Taunton)

More details will become available as the cities and towns involved work out the logistics and as doses become available.

This week's updates:

The City Council met in Executive Session to discuss the Taunton Police Supervisory Personnel Association contract and ultimately approved it. This contract represents give-and-take on both sides and I applaud the Union leadership, Police Chief, Law Department, HR Director, and Budget Director for getting it done.

The Assistant City Solicitor provided an update on the casino. The Interior Department has withdrawn its appeal in the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe's land-in-trust case. The issue now reverts back to the Interior Department's Bureau of Indian Affairs to make a determination regarding the land-in-trust.

The City Council voted to de-certify the Boston Globe's Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Agreement. The Boston Globe was not in compliance with the terms of the agreement, and it has also been certified by the Department of Revenue as a manufacturing corporation exempt from personal property tax.

Lots happened at this week's meeting!

On the Aries gasification facility:

I appreciate the state legislative delegation expressing similar concerns about the project and look forward to having them in for a discussion regarding the project and solid waste issues in general.

I was not satisfied with the Law Department's attempted response to the CLF letter and the state delegation's letter. At the February 8th meeting, I asked if the City had engaged an independent expert in reviewing this project and the answer was no. The Law Department claims that the sources in the CLF letter are not relevant because they are not about the gasification of biosolids specifically, but the fact of the matter is that there is little to no literature on biosolids gasification. The Law Department's letter fails to cite any sources of its own that support the claim that this facility will not have any negative public health or environmental impacts. The public health of our community should not be subject to the uncertainty of this technology.

At this week's meeting, the City Council voted 8-1 to appropriate $366K for a new administration building at the Taunton Municipal Airport to match the $6.9 million grant awarded by the state for this project.

I voted in favor of this appropriation, as it represents an investment in the success of the airport. If we want to increase the economic development and educational opportunities provided by the airport, then we have to make this type of investment on the front-end. It is not often that the state kicks in 95% of a project's cost, so we are paying $366K toward a $7.3 million project that will significantly contribute to the long-term viability of the airport.

At this week's meeting, the City Council voted 5-4 to increase the number of retail marijuana licenses from 5 to 8. I voted in opposition.

To recap my thoughts on this matter:

-8 retail marijuana facilities could very well oversaturate the market and undermine the ability of our smaller businesses to succeed.

-The revenue argument is a red herring. There is only so much revenue to go around. At some point, the City will just be getting the same amount of money divided amongst more businesses.

-I believe the more responsible approach is to start with 5, see how the market plays out, and determine if an increase is warranted based on whether the market can accommodate it and whether or not it will actually bring in more revenue for the City.

This change requires an amendment to the ordinance. Therefore, it still has to go through three readings, which will include public advertisement, before going into effect.