Weekly Transcript Round-up: Councilors go to the 'Green Sheets', hunt rats, ask for School Budget preview, look at 'Civil Gideon'

Check out the highlights from the January 31, 2024 Boston City Council meeting

At this week’s City Council meeting:

• Fearing a “fiscal cliff” the Council wants an update on the Boston Public Schools budget, which is traditionally released in early February.

• More parliamentary maneuvering over the $13 million counter-terror grant, and the result was a lot of switched votes - BPI breaks down the vote changes.

• Councilor Ed Flynn takes another swing at a new office focused on exterminating rats.

• Freshmen Councilor Ben Weber makes his maiden speech on hearing order for right-to-counsel for tenants facing evictions - NYC’s experience shows potential pitfalls.

You can read the transcript for the meeting on Legislata and watch the video of the meeting on YouTube.

COUNCIL’S WAYS & MEANS CHAIR WANTS SCHOOL BUDGET PREVIEW

Council Vice President and District 4 Councilor Brian Worrell¹ put on a third hat, Chair of the Council’s Ways & Means Committee, for a hearing order calling on the Boston School Committee and Boston Public Schools to provide a budget preview.

Councilor Worrell said that BPS is “confronting a fiscal cliff” with the end of COVID-era federal funds, and wanted to give his colleagues “an opportunity to collaborate with the administration to help influence and bring our constituent voices to the table.” His call for the Council to have a larger role in the creation of BPS’s budget was echoed by many of his colleagues. District 2 Councilor Gigi Coletta² highlighted that when the Council’s new budget power was being written, language that would have offered the Council a larger role in the BPS budget was removed.

Councilor Worrell’s speech starts at the 1:06:10 mark in the transcript.

4 NEW COUNCILORS & 5 SWITCHED VOTES PASS COUNTER-TERROR GRANT

This week, the Boston City Council finally accepted a $13 million counter terror grant, after rejecting it in December. Approving this grant without a committee hearing required going into the ‘green sheets’, a parliamentary maneuver that Gayla Cawley at the Boston Herald explains in her excellent article. A different parliamentary manuever last week was blocked - check out BPI’s round-up last week for those details.

Reading the transcripts from December 13, 2023 and January 31, 2024, the biggest change was that all the ‘no’ voters switched their votes or were defeated in last fall’s elections. Here is how the votes broke down on the Council and among the 4 new councilors and 5 councilors who switched their votes:

From left to right: the results of the two votes; the 4 new councilors and how they voted; and the 5 councilors who switched their votes

There was an extensive debate between Councilors before the grant was voted on, starting at the 2:28:15 mark in the transcript:

• District 9 Councilor Liz Breadon³ criticized “inadequate policies and procedures.” She voted No in December and Present in January.

• At-Large Councilor Julia Meija⁴ said approving the grant in this manner would “set the stage for creating further mistrust in this body.” She voted No in December and Present in January.

• Council President and At-Large Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune⁵ told the Council many of her questions had been answered and “this is a grant that we review every year, and there will be opportunities to ask further questions.” She voted No in December and Yes in January.

SECOND TIME THE CHARM FOR FLYNN’S RAT CZAR?

District 1 City Councilor Ed Flynn⁶ is taking another shot at creating a stand-alone office of pest control. Last April, District 1 City Councilor Ed Flynn filed a hearing order to examine whether a “dedicated position and office on pest control would allow us to better address the issue” of rats in Boston. The order got a lot of attention at the time but the hearing on a stand-alone pest control office was never held. Checking the ‘green sheets’ from the last Council meeting of 2023 shows a hearing was never held.⁷

With the start of a new Council term this year, Councilor Flynn has filed an ordinance creating an office of pest control. In addition to changing from a hearing order to an ordinance, the committee the matter was referred to is also changing. The ordinance was referred to the Government Operations Committee, chaired by District 2 Councilor Gigi Coletta.

Councilor Flynn begins talking about his ordinance at the 16:42 mark in the transcript.

COUNCIL TO HOLD HEARING ON RIGHT-TO-COUNSEL FOR TENANTS FACING EVICTION

Freshman District 6 Councilor Ben Weber⁸ gave his maiden speech on Wednesday about a hearing order that he was offering. The hearing would explore how to establish a Right-to-Counsel pilot program for tenants in Boston facing eviction. These programs are often called ‘Civil Gideon’ after the constitutional right to an attorney in criminal cases.

This is an issue that has been covered both locally and nationally in recent months:

• Boston Globe columnist Yvonne Abraham wrote a column about the issue in January 2024.

• The New York City program providing these services was cited in both the hearing order and Councilor Weber’s speech - it has faced issues that any proposal in Boston would have to address.

Councilor Weber’s speech starts at the 35:26 mark.

CORRECTIONS: Two corrections were made to this piece after it was emailed:

1. The vote total to accept the counter-terror grant held on January 31, 2024 was wrong in the first graphic - it read 11-0-1. It was corrected to 11-0-2.

2. The chair of the committee that the pest control office hearing order was referred to in 2023 was wrong - BPI listed the chair as Councilor Liz Breadon, when it was Councilor Kenzie Bok. The incorrect information was removed.

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1. Councilor Worrell is Speaker 5 in the Council meeting transcript

2. Councilor Coletta is Speaker 12 in the Council meeting transcript

3. Councilor Breadon is Speaker 11 in the Council meeting transcript

4. Councilor Meija is Speaker 7 in the Council meeting transcript

5. Councilor Louijeune is Speaker 0 in the Council meeting transcript

6. Councilor Flynn is Speaker 2 in the Council meeting transcript

7. Page 83 of the Agenda Packet for the December 13, 2023 City Council meeting

8. Councilor Weber is Speaker 4 in the Council meeting transcript