Government Operations Committee meeting – Feb 29, 2020 - MINUTES

Date: Wed, Feb 19, 2020, 10:00am  (Sullivan Chamber)

Committee Members Present: E. Denise Simmons, Quinton Zondervan, Timothy J. Toomey, Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler
Committee Members Absent: Marc C. McGovern
Other Councillors Present: Mayor Siddiqui, Councillor Carlone, Councillor Nolan

The Government Operations Committee will meet to discuss extending the contract of City Manager Louis A. DePasquale beyond January 2021.

Meeting called to order at 10:02am.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 2:03
Good morning. The hour of the meeting having come, I will call this meeting to order. I am Denise Simmons, Chair of the Government Operations and Claims committee. Here present with us today are Councillors Zondervan, Sobrinho-Wheeler. We have with us Nancy Glowa from the Law Department. Also in attendance is Mayor Siddiqui, Councillor Toomey, Neal Alpert from my staff. I thought I saw somewhere Patty Nolan, has she left us? Oh, Councillor Nolan, and of course, our clerk, Anthony Wilson. I'll begin by going over - and I do want to welcome Councillor Carlone. Members of the Government Operations Committee are Councillor McGovern, Councillor... I can't read my own writing... Toomey, Zondervan, myself and McGovern and Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler. Councillor McGovern is away, this happens to be school vacation week and so he's away with his family, so please let the record show that he is an excused absence.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 3:13
I want to thank everyone for coming to this morning's meeting of the Government Operations, Rules, and Claims Committee. The call is as follows: "the Government Operations Committee will discuss extending the contract of the City Manager, Louie A. DePasquale's contact beyond January 2021." On February 3, 2020, as per his contract, Mr. DePasquale formally notified the City Council in writing of his wishes to enter into discussion to extend his contract as City Manager. Just for people's information, he first assumed this role in November 2016. And after a search process that was led by an outside consultant that saw the City Council review the candidates in the City Council at that time. There was a very strong pool of candidates and the City chose to appoint Mr. DePasquale as our city manager.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 4:09
I can only speak from my own personal experience by saying I've enjoyed a productive working relationship with Mr. DePasquale over the past few years, working to making his office open, accessible, and collaborative. Mr. DePasquale has demonstrated a willingness to put his own stamp on the office, to think creatively and to strive to do what he thinks is in the best interest of the city. And in those incidents where his office has been met with criticism, he has shown a willingness to listen and the desire to find common ground. In those instances where Mr. DePasquale and I have not always seen eye to eye, I've appreciated his willingness to work with me to see if we can make an adequate compromise.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 4:51
Certainly, the past few years have not been without challenges to the city, to the city manager, and to the city council, but I believe we're in a solid position to start discussing how we will address tomorrow's challenges and opportunities together. So, the city manager having met the requirement of notifying the city council in writing of his intention to extend his contract, the city manager's request is now before the Government Operations committee. You each have a copy of the city manager's letter dated January 30, 2020 in front of you. In the coming weeks, this committee will request that Mr. DePasquale provide the details of what he envisions his contract extension to look like. Starting with today's hearing, I would also ask the members of the Government Operations committee to start discussing what we think of this extension and what Mr. DePasquale's contract would look like. I also just want to remind everyone -- am I speaking loud enough for everybody? Okay.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 5:48
I will also like to remind everyone here that the role of the Government Operations committee in this process is to establish the parameters of the discussion for the city manager's contract extension. This committee does not vote on the contract. in terms of finality, or make the ultimate decision in the matter. That has to be voted by the full Council. We merely are charged with determining what the details of the contract extension would look like. And then we would send that to the full Council for the Council to vote up or down. In a moment, I'm going to open the floor for discussion. That will then be followed by Public Comment. And so I believe there's a sign up sheet for people that want to speak on the record. And that time allotment for speaking on the record is three minutes. We would ask that you do not engage in personalities, direct all your comments to the Chair, and through the Chair you speak to the entire body. At that time, after Public Comment, we'll go back to the committee - we do have to take at least one vote this morning, and that is to just to accept the letter that is in front of you. Because what happened at the City Council meeting, when it came through the portal of Communications, it was forwarded to this committee. This committee now has to accept it. That would be the only vote that we will probably take today. With that I would like to open the floor for discussion. Councillor Zondervan, would you like to begin?

Councillor Quinton Zondervan 7:14
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you for those opening remarks. I certainly have also found Mr. DePasquale to be a pleasure to work with. And I am interested in how this process moves forward. And, in particular, there are two questions on my mind. One is how do we initiate a formal evaluation of his performance? And second, how do we initiate a search for city manager, and I believe both of those things could and should happen, regardless of whether we ultimately decide to extend the city manager's current contract. I think we should have a transparent process and we should have a formal evaluation of his accomplishments, and areas that we would like to see improvement. And I also think that given the likelihood that he will, if we extend this contract, only serve for two or three more years, that we should have a further discussion about the search process for finding the next city manager to lead our city. Thank you.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 8:48
Thank you. Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler.

Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler 8:50
Thank you, Madam Chair. When I think about the city manager's contract, I think of it in two parts. The first part -

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 8:57
Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler, may I ask if you'd speak just a little bit slower, and more deliberately, because people, I can see the look on their face. A little slower and louder. So as someone said, "would you ask the committee to articulate better?" Not to say that you should, but I'm going to try and, I would ask everyone, just for the record. We're using a different software. And that software, if we don't articulate well, doesn't capture what we've said well. So we're going to try to practice doing that. Very good. Thank you, you have the floor.

Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler 9:29
Thank you, Madam Chair. When I think about the city manager's contract, I think about it in two parts. The first being sort of the executive role in government - how responsive is he to the council, how well is he in carrying things out? And on those parts, I think he has been quite responsive. Great to work with. The much larger part though, is carrying out the policy goals of the Council. I was looking at the City Council goals. Before this meeting, Goal One -increase access to affordable housing for all income groups; Goal Six, make it easy to move safely through the city, especially by sustainable modes of transportation, pedestrian access bike access, so what I think of on things like that; Goal Eight, ensure that Cambridge remains an innovation hub that integrates businesses of all sizes into a thriving ecosystem, and things like that –

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 10:21
I lost you at Goal Six, I'm sorry.

Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler 10:24
Sure. Goal Six - make it easy to move safely through the city, especially by sustainable modes of transportation, transportation; Goal Eight - ensure that Cambridge remains an innovation hub that integrates businesses of all sizes into a thriving ecosystem. And Goal 10 ensures that these budget allocates resources responsibly and responsively. On things like that, I think, municipal broadband and the lack of progress we've made there. So that's I think, the much larger part I think of when I think of the city manager's contract. I was also looking at the the city manager's contract that was adopted in 2016, I believe, before the meeting, and in Section 2.3: "the city shall review and evaluate the performance of the city manager at meetings scheduled by the government operations committee." So that was my question, just if there have been any evaluations since then. And then if not, or if so, even, I think before we can consider an extension of the city manager's contract, we've really got to conduct an evaluation as the council - probably even just beyond this committee - to allow other folks to weigh in, and to decide if that's the route we want to go down or if there's another route, we want to go down.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 11:37
Thank you for your comments. Ms. Nolan, do you have any comments? I realize you are not a voting member, but you are present and we'd like to hear from you.

Councillor Patricia Nolan 11:48
Thank you, Madam Mayor - or Madam Chair. I'm excited to be here, I realized this is one of the most important decisions we can ever make as an entire Council. And in my short term here, and in my long service on School Committee, I certainly have seen many of the ways in which the city has moved forward. The questions I have echo part of what was already said by Councilors Zondervan and Sobrinho-Wheeler. Those of you - Madam Chair, yourself, who have served on the School Committee - know that there's a very clear process laid out for the review of the superintendent, which is what I would love to have us, if we haven't done that in the past already, to build on that. Reviews are critically important for good management and good governance. This isn't just about "oh, this is where you need to do, this is where you're failing." It really is wow, these are the goals you set up. This is where you succeeded. Here's ways in which we can celebrate what it is that you did. I also believe it would be really helpful, if we haven't done it in the past, to do a full 360 review, which for someone like the city manager would include people who work in the city, those of us who are his bosses, but also outside elements. I know we did that on School Committee - reaching out to the institutional partners, to the business community. So I would love to see that process to help all of us understand as we move forward, and to fulfill the terms of the contract, actually have done it.

Councillor Patricia Nolan 13:21
My questions related to the letter include a really clear focus on what the specific plans are moving forward to address these? For instance, as the Council itself, before I got on, has expressed very clearly, a desire to address the equity issue of the digital divide, which has been ongoing for more than a decade. I know the school's talked about it a lot, in our schools. But the City, it's another issue to really move forward on something I believe the Council has already pushed forward, which is to take the next steps to see if municipal broadband - which ends up saving people across the city money in the long term - that's an example where what's mentioned as a digital equity study, I'd like some more specifics on what's the commitment going forward to the specific ways in which we'll address some of the issues that are outlined which the safe streets, the biking, the affordable housing. And another comment: as we move forward on the Tobin Vassal Lane project, as the Council also recognizes that we're now working to see if we can make that project even more beneficial to the city by working to acquire the armory, it really needs a full court press to the state to understand if it's even possible, because that would give us the possibility of expanding not only a little bit of open space, but an Early Education Center, which I know this council has gone on record for wanting for a decade. I don't like that Somerville beat us to it 15 years ago with the Capuano Center, and also put affordable housing in an area of the city that needs it. So that frames for me the ways that I'm approaching this decision that we'll be making as we move forward. And I'm glad the process is started now so that we have plenty of time before the end of this contract to understand where we're going.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 15:09
Thank you for your comments. Councillor Carlone? Please speak loudly for our audience.

Councillor Dennis Carlone 15:18
Oh, I usually don't have a problem with that. Yes, I will. Following on my fellow councillors' comments, I think the world of our manager as a person. I have found him extremely responsive and very tight with money, which is his background. I think as far as in his letter, he mentions he's going for the rating with the different companies and that it would be important to say that what his future is. I mean, he is going to be a manager for at least another year, and likely beyond that. And I would simply say: "Review is in process. We've started the review. And obviously, he's number one." But this is what bothers me, and I've had these same discussions with Louie, and some cases with other councillors. We have City Council goals - that was brought up by Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler - and the number one is affordable housing. And half a percentage point of the budget goes toward affordable housing. And there's no way that our number one priority is being properly funded if it's half of 1%. After that is education and employment, and I include in that pre-K, and I realize Louie's only come on in the last two years. I'm disgusted when I think about the lack of pre-K. And here's the reason why: we cite in the letter that we are the most successful financially based (and I've talked to Louie about this) city in the state. I actually think we might be in the country. And the reason is Brookline (which I believe is a AAA), Boston (which I know is a AAA), and Somerville use 99-plus percent of what they're allowed to tax. And I know taxes are a dirty word. We use 68% of our taxes that we're allowed to tax. So "Dennis, what are you talking about? You're going to just make everything crazy." Our taxes are three quarters of Boston. They're 50% of the suburbs, if not a third of the suburbs; our taxes are very low. So what does this mean? 20 million more in the budget is $140 more per average house. $103 a week will gain us 20 million more, and we can't even get there. I know, Madam Chair, you proposed 20 million more for affordable housing - either a year ago or two years ago, I don't recall now - the whole Council agreed. It didn't go up.

Councillor Dennis Carlone 18:42
When I discovered this information about how much we tax versus other cities, we got it up $5 million. Councillor Zondervan and I went in to talk to him. Who knows if we're going be wealthy 10 years from now? When I moved here in the early 70s, Cambridge was in terrible shape. Things can change. And if you don't use the funds that are available, we've left a billion dollars on the table. I'm not saying we should use even a third of that, but we've left it on the table over the last eight years. And if you got it in your pocket, and there were issues, transportation, affordable housing, environmental, pre-K, what are we waiting for? And that's the part that disturbs me. And I've told Louie this. As a person, I can honestly say I love the guy. As a manager, he's open to us anytime. I brought up a couple of issues that are difficult and we've talked about them, and he's tried to resolve them. I give him enormous credit for that. But when it comes to budgets, and city goals, we're not doing it. And that's the part that disturbs me.

Councillor Dennis Carlone 20:11
I suspect we will want him, including me, to be manager. But that part's got to change, as far as I'm concerned. What are we doing here? The goals are supposed to be based on the Council's - the budget's supposed to be based on the Council's goals. It's not. Thank you.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 20:32
Thank you, Councillor Carlone. Councillor Toomey?

Councillor Timothy Toomey 20:34
Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess we all have different perspectives on what Council goals have been achieved and not achieved and how even Council has not achieved their goals of affordable housing. So you're talking about affordable housing, and yet voted against the Housing Overlay, which would have provided thousands of more units of affordable housing there. So yes, we all have different perspectives on how this is laid out. We are, and everybody here admits, we're the envy of the country with the services we are providing to our residents. Are we perfect? Absolutely not. Is there more that we can do? Absolutely. But there is a point that I've seen in the past. And it happened probably about 10 years ago when there was all of a sudden a sharp increase in West Cambridge taxes. And there was - talk about a revolution coming out of that neighborhood about increasing the taxes then. So it's a balance. And I think the manager has done an admirable job, with the Council and the administration, to have that balance and providing the great services, but at the same time, maintaining the financial stability of the city. And I'm looking forward to more discussion on the pre-K. I think that's extremely important. But at the same time I'm looking at that, I want to make sure that when we do with the pre-k that it's income based, because what I'm afraid of is wealthy families from outside the city are going to say "Wait a minute, I don't have to be paying $30,000 a year in childcare, I can send my kids free to the public schools." So they're going to force out low and working class tenants in the city. So that's a discussion I think that has to be pursued.

Councillor Timothy Toomey 22:15
So there's an evaluation I think is important that we start that as soon as possible. To Councillor Zondervan's point about simultaneously having a search for new city manager while we're discussing whether we're going to extend the city manager's contract, makes absolutely no sense to me at all. I don't know who would apply to a position that's not vacant. Either we renew it or we don't renew it and then you start a search process. But to do two simultaneously, I think just sends a terrible signal to prospective candidates that might want to come to the city, but would be saying "Why would I apply if there's a possibility that the current manager's contract is going to be extended?" A lot of people don't want to put their names out there to jeopardize their current positions and let their current employer know that they're going to apply for the position. So I think it would be best to do an evaluation, as always very transparent, that we do in this council. And with public process, public input. And then the council, that's our decision, that's among the most important decisions that the residents elect us to do. And I think that should be the process. I think, today, the manager has submitted his intentions to seek an extension. I think it would be appropriate for the Chair of the Government Operations Committee to meet with the City Manager to see what the parameters are of what he possibly is looking for the extension or renewal. And then come back to the committee and then we can come up with a process to conduct an evaluation and back and forth between the public, the Council, and the City Manager. But this is our most important decision. And when you look at these accomplishments - and I know Councillor Nolan mentioned the Tobin - there's no other community in the state that's building three brand new schools for our kids for the greatest education possible. There's still inequities in the system, there's no question about that. And the new mayor and the new school committee are really delving into that. But at least in my strong opinion, you cannot spend every single penny that we have. I think that would just jeopardize a lot. And I actually just asked Mr. Kale for a list of the highest residential people who pay in taxes, and I would venture to say that some people are paying upwards of 100 grand on residential taxes. So you're hitting the middle class when you raise the taxes. So it's a delicate balance and I think the Manager and his staff and the Council have done an admirable job of trying to keep diversity in the city. So a lot of challenges facing us. And I am looking forward to the evaluation process and listening from the manager, listening from the public, and go forth. But I just don't see the the wisdom of conducting a search process for a position that's not vacant. That's my opinion. Thank you.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 25:40
Thank you Councillor Toomey. Before I open the floor to public comment, I want to see if there was anyone – our mayor has not spoken. I want to give the opportunity to see if she would like to speak before I hear from anyone else. So if you don't mind demuring - Madam Mayor.

Councillor Sumbul Siddiqui 25:56
Thank you. I wanted to allow the committee members and others to speak before I did. I think we have a few paths forward. I think that per the contract, some kind of evaluation is necessary. And, you know, I think the solicitor's office can work with us on that. And you as chair, how does an evaluation get done? What questions are we asking? You know, what's the data that we're looking for? Right. And I think this goes back to goals. This goes back to other things. And I think we've individually had conversations with the city manager on different things, and I think he'd be happy to probably talk about the things, and he's laid out a few things that he's passionate about and some things that you know, we have a right to ask about. So I think we can move forward in that process, I think with regard to the search, I think we have to - I wasn't involved in that search for the city manager in the past.

Councillor Sumbul Siddiqui 27:09
But I think what comes up about searches in general, is - I think the big question is like: what are we looking for? And who do we want? Right? And I think those are meaty questions. And I think it doesn't have to be this formal. I'm not thinking of it as a formal search process, in particular. I'm thinking that the Government Ops committee would set up parameters around what a future search looks like, and reflect on lessons learned from the past search. And think about what a future city manager - who we want that person to be. So I think that's how I was thinking about a search and that doesn't necessarily - it can happen after a potential extension, if that's the will of the City Council. So those are just my general thoughts. I am not a voting member of this committee. I am eager to follow what the community does and support you in whatever way I can.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 28:19
Thank you. Councillor Zondervan, you have the floor.

Councillor Quinton Zondervan 28:21
Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to respond through you to my colleague, and appreciate the mayor's comments. I perhaps didn't explain myself correctly, I was not suggesting that we do a search and renew the manager's contract. I completely agree with my colleague that we should decide to extend the manager's contract or not. And in addition to that, if we do extend the contract, then as the mayor suggests, we should start having a conversation about what a search would look like. Because that's - if we do a two year extension, that, you know, search takes at least a year. And so that gives us about a year to, to really build up to that and set the parameters and have a real conversation about what we're looking for. So I think it is appropriate regardless of whether we renew this contract or not to have a conversation about what a search would look like, and how we would structure that and when we would initiate it.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 29:28
Thank you, Councillor. Are there any other people that wanted to make comment before we open public comment? Hearing none, we will now move to Public Comment. And I just want to remind folks, Public Comment is this process where anyone that is signed up can speak to any item which is on our agenda, which is just a discussion about the idea of this city manager, extending his contract. Each individual should open by giving their name and address for the record. Direct their comments to the chair, please avoid personalities, and the amount of time allocated to each speaker is three minutes. So I will - our able Clerk will be keeping the time. Our first person who has signed up to speak is Charles Schmidt, followed by Michael Goodman.

Christopher Schmidt 30:26
Christopher Schmidt 17 Laurel Street. Thank you very much for your time and for having this meeting. I have been active in Cambridge politics for the past several years, having gotten involved in Cambridge politics after hearing and seeing the city manager's reticence to move forward with the outcome of the Universal Broadband Task Force. Over the course of 2017, the city manager chose not to respond to seven different policy orders. And as I have participated in Cambridge politics over the past two years, what I have found is that the idea that the city manager will respond to a policy order seems to be kind of up in the air at any given time. You know, how long it will take, what the response will be - I have been continually disappointed by the types of responses, we see, the timeliness of those responses, and the city manager's commitment to that outcome. I'm not in the city administration. I'm not on the council. I have not, you know, had the opportunity, like many of you have, to interact with the city manager directly in the same way. But as a citizen attempting to stay informed of what is going on, how the city is meeting our goals, and what the city's plan is to meet those goals, I feel the city manager has done a poor job of communicating those issues back to the public; has done a poor job of meeting the demands of the city council, and has done a poor job as has been raised in a couple of different cases, meeting the council's priorities. When we look at issues like equity, one of the council's key goals. I think that the city has not done as well as it could. And, of course, as a member of Upgrade Cambridge and municipal broadband being one of the focuses that brought me into this area, you know, no progress has been made on the issue of municipal broadband despite a unanimous recommendation from the task force to move forward, despite a straightforward set of steps to move forward. And I have seen relatively little, you know, evaluation of that lack of performance in the city manager's actions over the past several years. So I think this was raised several times by members of this group, that evaluation is important as I'm doing my own self evaluation at work every six months, I have to tell my bosses how I think I'm doing and I haven't seen that type of self evaluation. I would expect that from anyone who I think is working on my behalf, and I think the city manager is attempting to work on my behalf. And so I would ask the council to really be looking at that and in your position, I think I would have a hard time supporting the city manager's for an extension of his contract. But if that is the path is going to move forward, I think a much more serious evaluation of how the city manager is meeting those goals and how his performance is, versus the city council's request, is important. Thank you very much for your time.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 33:16
Thank you for your testimony. Michael Goodman, followed by Alan Green.

Michael Goodman 33:25
Hi, my name is Mike Goodman. I live at 237 Franklin Street apartment 811. So I have a prepared statement. So sorry if I drift around, but I also like, I kind of don't - I'm trying to catch on, but like some of the wonky details, I'm sure other people will cover. I just want to raise a couple of points. I just want to think about the people living in this city right now who are - they're struggling and suffering and think about the material conditions. I know it does seem like from, what I'm picking up on, we do seem to be doing okay financially and there's so many ways that we could improve people's lives. I know, at least one city councilor is new this term who campaigned partially on, you know, making some material improvements. And that kind of points me to the second issue I wanted to raise, was that I think to a lot of people, maybe not to people in this room here, but I think to a lot of people in general, the way our city government works can be confusing. I know it was confusing for me till very recently, even though I've lived here for like six or seven years, I think a lot of people don't understand just how important the city manager is for an unelected position. So, going back to what I said, like I know we elected one new person making some of these ideas for better housing, transit, municipal broadband. That's just one person. I'm hearing other people talk about schools. I hope that the council, regardless of whether the city manager gets renewed or we have a new one, I hope, it seems to me like the policies in the past have been a little too restrictive in terms of like, making the commitments to make these improvements and I feel like the people of this city would really like that to happen. All right. That's all. Thank you.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 35:28
Thank you for your comments. Our next speaker is Alan Green, followed by Ben Simon.

Alan Green 35:38
Alan Green, 82 Fifth Street. Madam Chair, earlier a member here mentioned having some sort of criterion or method for determining whether or not the city manager's contract should be extended. And with that, also, the need for transparency. As I stand here, I don't see that being possible because I don't vote for the city manager. I'm a resident here, I have no part of that process. That is all with the City Council. So I would like to see a method where we can vote, and we can decide, we determine the criterion. And that's all transparent. Beyond that, I participate sometimes on internet forums where people talk about issues in Cambridge, the neighborhood, whatever neighborhood it might be. I don't really write too much with that. But there are people who write a lot. And sometimes people - the things that they write - I disagree with almost every time they write something. In one case, one such individual wrote a rebuttal of something that somebody else wrote. And that individual, put some maps of how people from Cambridge voted in the last election for the City Council. And in spite of what his argument was, I looked at those maps and I found them very interesting, because it showed every single candidate that ran - I don't know how many candidates, there were like twenty or something - so, what I learned is from the people who were actually voted into the council seat, six, around six out of nine, definitely were voted from specific districts or areas. And so what I would say is that we need to change our system of government here. We need to have a mayor who's accountable, who's voted by the people. We need to divide up the city councilors salary amongst the councilors and the mayor and have it so that the City of Cambridge the people are voting for that mayor, and that's the mayor who's in charge. If it's the default that people are voting district by district, we need to make it a district based system. So I'm in essence saying we should not extend this contract. Thank you.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 37:42
Thank you for your testimony. Ben Simon, followed by Richard Crushnick.

Ben Simon 37:49
Hi, Ben Simon 67 Bishop Allen Dr. I have prepared a statement. In his time as city manager Louis A. DePasquale has run the city frugally, like a business, bringing in huge amounts of tax revenue from commercial development and keeping spending relatively low. But there is an extremely ugly cost to this system. By constantly driving rents higher, all this commercial development is displacing many of our most vulnerable residents and destroying many vitally important businesses. It seems like every week there are more stores closing, formerly affordable buildings being luxurified, and neighbors gone. Again, this is not an accident. This is a predictable trend caused by a city planning style funded by gentrification. We can reverse these trends, but it will not be possible without a radical shift away from the style of governance practiced by our current city manager. And we can look to other cities across the country and around the world that are dealing with some of the same problems for inspiration. In Seattle, socialist city councillor Kshama Sawant is fighting to pass a progressive tax on the richest businesses in her city in order to build thousands of permanently affordable, city owned social housing units. We could raise taxes on our local 1%, Harvard, MIT, big tech and Big Pharma, and do the same and much more. Along similar lines, Montreal is now using the right of first refusal to purchase private buildings that are up for sale to make into social housing. In Baldwin, Florida, the disappearance of affordable grocery stores led the town to open and run its own city owned grocery store. Meanwhile, central square is already an affordable food desert. And if a republican town can do this in Florida, why on earth can't the so-called People's Republic of Cambridge? But grocery stores of course aren't the only casualty of our current system. From EMF to Green Street, the so called "cultural district" is losing art space after art space. Faced with a similar problem, Vancouver opened a city owned art space that provides affordable spaces to over 20 artists last year. Of course, it'd be very easy to keep funding our city through luxury development. We don't have to anger the powerful by raising their taxes, and those that we harm like this won't be here very long to complain. But if we want to live up to our values as a city, I urge you to hire a city manager with the courage and vision to help build a Cambridge that truly lives up to our stated values. And this cannot be done unless social spending is vastly increased and funded by progressive taxation instead of displacement driving development. And it's already been noted by previous speakers, but I just wanted to reiterate that this is an inherently undemocratic position. And as you are, you know, our elected, city councilors are elected, are actually accountable to us, we are really looking to you to take this matter seriously. And make sure that we're not just, you know, keeping this guy in because that's what we're doing. Thank you.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 40:49
Thank you for your testimony. No clapping please. I ask that you honor the decorum that is called for in this room. The reason why we discourage clapping, hooting, screaming, booing - it's so that everyone feels comfortable, whether they are for or against. We want everyone to feel equal in their ability to give their opinion. And so it always feels good to say "atta person" to someone that says something that you like, but it may also discourage someone that might have a dissenting opinion. So I would respectfully ask that you not make commentary verbally or non verbally. Thank you.

Richard Crushnick 41:35
Richard Crushnick, 20 Oak Street. I wanted to echo the comments of Dennis Carlone and Ben Simon. I agree with some of the things Ben suggested that other cities are doing, not all of them, but the general idea that Ben is presenting, I also agree with. I find it - Dennis is not suggesting that we spend every available penny. He made a suggestion that we might consider spending $20 million out of the billion that we've left on the table, which isn't exactly trying to spend every penny that we can spend. I think to say that the city is making great strides, great progress in maintaining the diversity of the city is sort of a sad joke. I mean, the city's demographic statistics demonstrate how from 1960 to 2010, the city lost - the percentage of the city that were families was reduced by half. The percentage of the city that was zero to 19 years old was reduced by half. The percentage of the city that are 20 to 40 years old was increased by some astronomical number, they are now half the city's entire population. The city is rapidly becoming a homogeneous city of highly paid 20 to 40 year olds and their young families. So don't tell me that the city is doing a great job of maintaining the diversity in the city, because it's not. And it can easily afford to do so, with minimal, minimal impact on the taxation of people. So I think it's absolutely crazy to renew the city manager's contract because we know exactly what we're getting if we do that. And it's not what the city needs and can very easily afford to make really profound improvements in maintaining the diversity of the city and making it more affordable. Just because we're spending more money on affordable housing, doing everything that the developers and MIT and Big Pharma want, drives up land costs so high, as long as there's infinite demand, you know, is the way the market is performing, that we're still displacing more people than we're keeping. Because the 80% of the market units drive land costs up so much that it displaces more people than the 20% that we're keeping in. And if you can't count --

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 44:37
Mr. Crushnick your time is expired, and I thank you for your testimony. Lee Farris, followed by Heather Hoffman.

Lee Farris 44:49
Good morning, Mayor and councillors and Madam Chair. Lee Farris 269 Norfolk Street. I ask that this committee not take a vote yet on extending the manager's contract, and that instead the committee work to put in place a process to review the manager regularly with public input, and using criteria based in part on the council's priorities. I also ask that at the same time, the committee work to put in place a process to conduct a true nationwide search, including what the committee is looking for, what Cambridge is looking for, and that that also be open to public input. I do not think we had a true nationwide search last time. I agree with the councilors who are saying that the council priorities should be used in evaluating the manager. And I agree that affordable housing, broadband, and many of the other things that folks have brought up need to be part of that evaluation process. I want to push back on the fact that the manager, during Envision, which I was appointed to the housing task force, or working group on, the manager promised to discuss taxes and the tax base and the ratio of commercial to housing development. Because we were told during the Envision process, we could not make a recommendation on the proportion of housing to commercial because we weren't in possession of the facts about how that would impact taxes. And the manager promised about a year and a quarter ago to deliver that information. He has not. And I think that, in terms of being able to govern the city, that's one of the most important things that needs to be understood and the manager has therefore continued the policy of the prior administrations that there has to be in any new development area 60% commercial and 40% housing. We are never going to be able to house the people that we need to house, whether affordable or market, if we continue with that policy. So that's just one example where the manager has not come through on promises. I think the point about trying to get an understanding with the manager or an agreement about when a policy order is made to the manager, how long does he have to respond, would be really helpful in terms of better governance. Thank you.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 47:44
Thank you for your commentary. And for anyone that has written comments, please leave them with our clerk. They'll be made part of the record, or if they're received by 12 o'clock midnight tonight, they can be part of this record, there's a box somewhere, I can't see from here. Thank you, very good. The next speaker is Heather Hoffman fall by Saul Tannenbaum. Thank you.

Heather Hoffman 48:24
Heather Hoffman, 213 Hurley Street. And I want to talk about what kind of manager we need to take us into the 21st century. For about 40 years, because as was observed, Cambridge was in terrible fiscal shape, our policy has been shaped by getting money. It has not been shaped by figuring out how to make this a good place to live in, for the people who don't have a lot of money, or for people who have some money, but not enough, like me. It's been shaped by figuring out how Cambridge can drag money into its coffers. And we don't look at much of anything else. We talk about a whole lot of other things. But, you know, by their work, we shall know them, and our works are getting money. We don't have a vision beyond that. Now, lots of us - that's why the city council has goals - lots of us think about vision. And I'm old enough to remember George H.W. Bush talking about "the vision thing" and how he didn't have it. Did that make him a bad person? No. It meant that that's not what he was good at. And what I see all over the place, and in the City of Cambridge, and just throughout this society, is people being put into positions where the gifts that they have are not what's needed for that position. And I personally think that that is a disservice to everybody. Think about serial entrepreneurs. They're people who have a great idea, they are able to turn their idea into something to build a business. And then most of them leave because their gift is building a new thing. Not keeping an existing thing going. Well, what we need at this point, because we all know that our city is hurting in a whole lot of ways, is someone who can figure out how to have a vision that goes beyond the checkbook. And if you think that the current city manager is that person then you should definitely extend his contract. But what I see –

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 51:24
Ms. Hoffman, your time has expired. I thank you, if your testimony is written please leave it in the box. Saul Tannenbaum, followed by Carolyn Magid.

Saul Tannenbaum 51:39
Hi, I'm Saul Tannenbaum, 16 Cottage Street. Madam Chair, councillors, I'd like to address the city manager's request for extension and that letter, which I found really quite shocking. First, I'll just pose a question: Should the manager actually be representing that his contract is an element of the city's financial stability? Shouldn't he be representing that he's built a team and systems that would keep the city financially stable, regardless of what happens to him? I mean, after all, he's not going to live forever. So, you know, I mean, I think that just with the starting assumption, the council should look really skeptically at this letter. The second thing I would add, is to contradict Mr. Simon who says the city is run like a business. The city isn't run like a business. There's no measure of efficiency or effectiveness. The city manager's reluctant to spend a dollar, but from all appearances, he doesn't care whether that dollar is spent well, whether it's getting you the results it's opposed to, whether the services are efficiently delivered, or effectively delivered. Whoever is the next manager of this city - that should be fixed. I mean, there's no other half-billion dollar a year enterprise that would not run without metrics of its health. That's just simply shocking. The other thing that's shocking is what my friend Christopher Schmidt mentioned: this city manager is uncollegial. It may well be that he's a great guy behind closed doors. But I was watching the number of policy orders that went unresponded to at the end of last year - it was close to 100. That's just ridiculous. Either you guys are asking too much, which I don't think you are, or the city manager is incapable of responding. The primary example of that is municipal broadband, where he simply cut off the fact-finding process. He simply stopped it without talking to anybody, and without responding to policy order after policy order. He's never come to the council and explained his decision. He's said things to many of you behind closed doors, some of which are contrary to known facts. And the real question is, you know, why has he done that? Nobody knows. I mean, I've talked to councilors, and they asked me why he's against municipal broadband. I don't know. I mean, that's really you know, your job. I don't think any single issue should be the determinant of the contract situation. But the fact that he is so grossly uncollegial on its face should figure large and how and if you extend his contract, thank you.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 54:34
Thank you for your testimony. We have Carol Magid, followed by Timothy Flaherty.

Carolyn Magid 54:44
Hi, thank you for having me. I'm Carolyn Magid. I live at 71 Reed Street in North Cambridge. I, first of all, I agree with the more negative view of how well Cambridge is serving low and middle income people that's been expressed by many people here. In fact, it seems to me it's hard to miss that that's true. Secondly, I want to agree with the need for review. And in particular, I like the 360 review, that would involve all of us in the in the review process. And that the review should be based on goals. I also agree with Councillor Carlone on the commitment to using more of the budget to meet needs, including for affordable housing. And I agree with Ben Simon and some others who have suggested that we should be looking at social housing models, and not just market based solutions. And finally, and this is a point that other people have made and will probably continue to make. We need a manager who will agree to follow the directives of the Council. And I think if this manager won't agree to do that, in principle, then he should not be reappointed.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 55:56
Thank you. Thank you for your testimony. Tim Flaherty, followed by Charles Franklin.

Tim Flaherty 56:04
Good morning my name is Timothy Flaherty, I live at 103 Fresh Pond Parkway with my wife and my nine year old son Timothy, who is the fifth generation of Flahertys to live in this city. I grew up in North Cambridge. This is an excellent city, maybe the best run city and the United States of America. I've lived here my entire life. It has a triple A bond rating, three new public schools, fantastic improvements of Fresh Pond, excellent town-gown relations, an incredibly talented staff. Excellent city services. This morning I was late taking out the trash barrels, and the trash hauler came and helped me; that doesn't happen in Wellesley. This is not happening by mistake. And there's one parallel there's one common denominator, his name's Louie DePasquale. Someone remarked about equity. As many of you know, I worked in the cannabis development here in Cambridge over the last couple of years and because of that perspective, I work very closely with many of you, and with Mr. DePasquale and with other members of the city staff. And I can tell you on both sides of the of the political spectrum, registered marijuana dispensaries and economic empowerment applicants, Mr. DePasquale was absolutely transparent, collaborative, working with Ms. Glowa and other members and he was even handed, thoughtful, and fair throughout the process, irregardless of the political consequences. I want to give four specific observations that I've made as to why a national search will never find someone better suited to be the city manager then Louie DePasquale. Number one, I would take my son before the basketball program was terminated at the Y - in the dead of winter, Saturday mornings, without parking, and I would park behind city hall where I wasn't supposed to park, I would see one car there at 7:45 am. It was Mr. DePasquale on a Saturday morning. Two: my son, who isn't much of an athlete but wants to play with the other kids, I would take him down to the Tobin field. It's legendary, Mr. DePasquale's commitment to West Cambridge Little League. When you have a son who isn't an athlete but wants to play with the other kids, and doesn't know what to do and won't listen to his father, you will thank your lucky stars for the man raking the infield, in his spare time, who walks over and takes your son by his hand and teaches him how to play baseball. That's our city manager. Three: go to St. Peter's on a Sunday morning at 9:30 am, and you will see him in the pew with his wife religiously, and I use that word, specifically, religiously, because he's a man of faith. That's a decent, excellent character that he has. And four: lose a friend as I did recently, just around Christmas, tragically, who happened to be a low level laborer at the City Water Department, and then go to his wake and see the people there. And suddenly you see your city manager standing in line to offer a few words of comfort to his family –

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 59:06
Mr. Flaherty, your time is expired. But if your remarks are in print, we would respectfully ask you to submit them to the Clerk and will make them part of the record.

Tim Flaherty 59:14
They're not in print. Thank you for the time, I urge you to please extend his contract. Thank you.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 59:19
Our next speaker is Charles Franklin.

Charles Franklin 59:31
Morning Council, thank you for having this hearing. I'm Charles Franklin. I live at 160 Hampshire Street. I think a lot of the criticisms I've heard today have been fair, so I don't want to rehash any of them. So I'm going to keep my comments short. Someone who is very rarely told no will never respect you. So I think that just very well describes kind of the last council session. And in terms of doing things in free time, I wasn't going to say this but now I'm now I feel the need to because of other comments. When the Caribbean festival was canceled, and we had a march and we marched to Union Baptist, it was seven o'clock and our police commissioner was there, thanks to him, but the city manager was not there. And it was his decision to cancel it. And we had a whole church of people who were sad and angry that their important -- some people who come to this city to this country once a year to see their family, to show their culture canceled last minute and the man made the decision could not be there because no explanation was given. It was 7pm. What was he doing? He wasn't running the city at 7pm. That was unacceptable. I'm sorry. I wasn't going to say that. But I remembered when I was walking up here. I was like, No, no, no, he's not going to get away with that. It's on the record now. Thank you.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:00:51
Thank you so much for your testimony. There are two other individuals who signed saying they were not sure if they want to speak I will call their names and Invite them to speak if they wish. Not sure was Shelly Wortis still here, would she like to speak?

Shelly Wortis 1:01:17
Yeah. Shelley Wortis, I live at 106 Berkshire Street in Cambridge. And I agree with a lot of the comments that were made earlier. And specifically, I think we do need to look ahead at what the search process will be, and to consider how to evaluate the city manager before extending his contract. When I look at the city's goals from 2017, they're not very specific. Things like "deepen our commitment to sustainable use of energy" and "strengthen our capacity for resilience." What does that mean? How are we going to measure whether the city manager in his position was able to do that when we have this extensive commercial over-development that's led to so much displacement in the city. And then you look at a goal like "make it easy to drive safely through the city, especially by sustainable means of transportation." Look at how much traffic has increased in the city. Is that leading to sustainable transportation? And is it easy for people who live here to travel safely through the city? "Ensure that Cambridge remains an innovation hub that integrates business of all sizes into a thriving ecosystem." Specifically, what is an ecosystem? Don't the people who live here constitute part of that ecosystem? And how has all this commercial overdevelopment in this city led to a thriving ecosystem? So I would just suggest that the council review its goals and make them much more specific before you (a) search for a new city manager or - first of all, you know, look at this city manager and consider whether or not to extend his contract. Because in my mind, these goals, don't really do it for the residents of Cambridge. Thank you.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:03:46
Thank you for your commentary. There was another person that signed up as "not sure." I'd like to call their name and invite them to speak if they so wish. Ms. O'Hare?

Carol O'Hare 1:04:00
Thank you. I will be brief. I agree that the city has just too much focus on that rainy day fund for the rainy day that is the catastrophe that we have all that money stashed away for, and not enough money spent on pre-K education. That is just one example of the obsession about saving money and it's not surprising because the current city manager was the longtime finance manager. I do think that there isn't enough time to do a nationwide search and that the city should focus on the goal - follow Councilor Quinton Zondervan's suggestion, and that is do both, which is to evaluate and to consider what you're going to do when you do a nationwide search. Thank you.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:05:22
And thank you for your comments. Although it is not a part of our rules, it is our custom to ask if there's anyone that didn't sign up that would like to speak. I would like to offer that coming forward if you would give your name your address, and please, the amount of time is three minutes. Thank you.

Fritz Donovan 1:05:41
Thank you Madam Chair, Fritz Donovan 42 Irving Street, Cambridge. A veteran of the city since I arrived as a deer in the headlights in 1955 as a freshman, and I'm enjoying it well into my 80s now. What we have here is essentially the Battle of the budget. That usually is a term applied when there isn't enough money to go around. In this case, we have - I think the last estimate I heard was 340 million dollar cash reserve uncommitted. So it changes the picture somewhat. I take pleasure in ending as this round of comments on the same note that Councilor Carlone brought up, which is essentially that it's a matter of goals. For centuries budgeting has been done piece by piece, looking at the current expiring budget, estimating whether individual items have to go up or down or be left alone and then going forward with a new budget with minor modifications. But along came a thing called "zero based budgeting," which is absolutely brilliant. It says, You start with a budget of zero. And then you reveal your, your goals. You establish ideal goals with vision and creativity, then you formulate a means to achieve them, then you allocate resources to do it. And Budget B may bear no relation, whatever, to Budget A. It probably won't if Budget A is a traditional budget, piece by piece, up a little down a little. Our budget is relatively static. We desperately need to move funds into affordable housing. We need to come up with an affordable housing plan that does not destroy our environment, does not disregard design and so forth. I think the last time around, failed because it didn't meet those logical things. But what we need is vision. We need creativity. We need somebody who can do that. So I would say before you even start looking at Manager DePasquale's performance, you start looking at your goals. You establish the goals, you prioritize them, and then you and then you compare what you have with what you need, and then you act accordingly. Thank you.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:08:16
Thank you for your testimony. Is there anyone that would like to come forward and speak? Please do so, give your name and address for the record/

Phyllis Bretholtz 1:08:31
Good morning, and thank you for extending the time. I'm Phyllis Bretholtz, I live at 65 Antrim Street. I agree with virtually every comment that's been made so far in terms of the need for transparency in evaluating the city manager's performance level. I feel it's really important for residents to have some involvement in all of this process. I think we have sacrificed a sense. The word that I haven't heard very much this morning is the word community. And I feel strongly that by building so much commercial development and micro units, we are guaranteeing that there is no place for community. We need families to have community. That means housing that's affordable, that's large enough to both hold and be available to families, that have play space for children. As a former veteran of teaching at the high school, I feel that the future of our schools we have beautiful new buildings, but if we don't have the families, and the early childhood education, to cultivate and make room for these families, we're going to lose much of our sense of community and we're at risk of doing that. I want to reiterate my deep, deep disappointment at the loss of all of the artists space. There is some tragic irony in central square being designated a Massachusetts Cultural Center. And now we have lost so many spaces where artists can work and perform. We have virtually no more easy access to any kind of public space where artists can perform and show their work. And finally, I would like to, there was someone who commented on the structure of the city and the involvement of citizens at all level. And in talking with a number - I've lived here since the 60s, and in talking with a number of city councillors who were on the city council in the 60s and the 70s, it seems in talking with them and my own observation, that the city council had much more power in terms of making decisions, and it now appears that the city council really has to have the approval of the city manager for almost anything going forward, rather than having the power invested in the city councilors whom we have voted on. And it seems a real reversal. And it happened kind of gradually. So it's difficult to say at any one point where or how it happened. But this is my observation. Thank you very much. And I will write some comments that I will then submit before the evening.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:11:32
Is there anyone else that had not signed up and would like to speak? Please do so by giving your name and your address? Thank you so much.

Alice Heller 1:11:41
Hi – Alice Heller, 22 Corporal Burns Road. I want to not repeat all that's been said, though I echo a lot. I want to represent some neighbors who have question the timing of this important meeting and illuminate the fact that I think a lot more people would be here if it wasn't morning meeting. And feel that constituents should be involved in the decision to view the city manager's position. So a couple quick points, jumping down, I agree the committee should have a review and process before voting on renewing the city manager contract. I agree that we need a vision beyond the checkbook. I've personally been involved in groups and we are very disappointed in the inaction regarding issues regarding to climate change, deliberate absence of the pedestrian bridge in the Alewife area that was again promised was actually in documents and now taken out. And yeah, bottom line, I agree that we need a manager who follows the directive of the Council. So thank you for your time.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:13:12
Thank you for your comments. Is there anyone else that would like to speak that did not sign up? Hearing none, I will entertain a motion to close public comment. On a motion by Councillor Toomey to close public comment. All those in favor say aye. Opposed? Ayes have it and public comment is now closed. I want to turn back to the council to see if there any further comments from the council. Councillor Zondervan?

Councillor Quinton Zondervan 1:13:38
Thank you, Madam Chair, and my thanks and appreciation to the members of the public who did manage to attend, despite the early hour. Obviously it's a very weighty decision that's before us. And, you know, we've heard a lot of comments about what isn't working in our city and also some comments about what is working in our city. For me personally, the really big question is what is coming down the road? What does our future look like? And having worked on climate change, in particular for a long time, as well as wealth and income inequality, I think those are two really, really big issues that we are facing that will make our future very different from the past. And because of that difference in that challenge, I think we have to be very deliberate about who we put in charge of managing our city, managing our budgets, and really driving the priorities in how we spend our tax dollars. So for that reason, I think we have to be really thoughtful about the process that we're going to follow going forward. So I have a couple of suggestions, actually, three motions that I would like to introduce.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:15:17
Before we introduce any motions - the purpose of this meeting was basically to accept the manager's letter, which is a procedural matter. And I want to get some ideas what folks wanted to do like going forward. So if you wanted to do your suggestions, and I would collect all that information, and then push it back out to the council in order to put together a process? Thank you so much.

Councillor Quinton Zondervan 1:15:44
Thank you, Madam Chair. That's fine with me. So three suggestions: One, to evaluate or goals, our council goals, because I think they could definitely use a refresh. Second to initiate an evaluation of the city manager's performance since the beginning of his contract. And third, to initiate a conversation, perhaps in this committee on how we will conduct a nationwide search for city manager, again, regardless of whether we do that starting immediately or after a year or so, into the current manager's contract, we can never be too early in discussing how we would conduct such a process. So those are my suggestions. Thank you.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:16:40
Thank you for your comments. Members of the committee? Councillor Sobrinho-Wheeler.

Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler 1:16:46
Thank you. I had a point of information.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:16:49
Please keep your voice up.

Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler 1:16:50
Thank you. Yeah, I had a point of information that hopefully the clerk could help us answer in that what would accepting the city manager's letter mean, and what would not accepting it mean? I'd like the council to have done an evaluation of the city manager before we take formal steps towards extending the contract. And that may make sense to do that before we accept the letter.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:17:11
Thank you, Councilor. So what I believe: accepting the letter is just putting the letter taking it out of where it is, which is communications, which were forwarded to the council. It formally puts the letter before us because quite frankly, I don't think to get the letters formally before us, and that I'm asking for this vote on the advice of our color. But you did ask of our solicitor, so I'll grant the floor to the solicitor to respond to your query. I thought you said the solicitor...?

Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler 1:17:47
Whoever makes more sense to answer it.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:17:49
Then I apologize. I misheard. Thank you for that clarification, Mr. Clerk.

Anthony Wilson, City Clerk 1:17:58
My understanding is that accepting the letter will make it part of the city council's formal record that the city manager has requested an extension of his contract. I don't believe and I would defer to city solicitor that it wouldn't necessarily impact how the city council goes forward with whatever process it takes in terms of the selection. But the letter would be in the record is the document in many ways initiating this conversation.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:18:29
Are you satisfied with that response?

Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler 1:18:32
I would, I guess, double check with the solicitor, since the clerk seemed to defer to the solicitor.

Nancy Glowa, City Solicitor 1:18:38
Thank you, and through you, Madam Chair. Yes. I think that it's just a procedural matter of accepting the letter that has been submitted. I don't think it means anything about the process to be followed one way or the other.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:18:51
Are you satisfied with the answer?

Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler 1:18:53
I am, thank you.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:18:56
Thank you. Other members of the committee? Councillor Nolan, we'll hear from you.

Councillor Patricia Nolan 1:19:02
Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a comment to build on what we're all talking about in terms of ensuring that goals are included. I certainly hope and would work very hard to ensure that any goals are smart goals. There's lots of evidence and research to suggest that if you don't have a SMART goal - smart standing for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based. There's different ways that those SMART can be used, but they basically are in the category of that - what I said, SMART is the acronym for those kinds of goals, with the idea that if the goals are not smart, there is no way to tell if they're achieved. So I hope that I recognize, I believe, the current council goals may not be smart. The goals for the city manager may not currently be smart. But I would advocate very strongly and hope that we would move forward with any kind of smart goals ensuring that we have specific measurable goals, in particular to ensure that we all know - the great thing is, if you meet them, then you can celebrate. And if you don't, then you say, oh, how do we adjust to ensure that we can meet them next time?

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:19:02
Councillor Carlone?

Councillor Dennis Carlone 1:20:21
Thank you, Madam Chair. I totally agree with Councillor Nolan. And just for a quick summary of the past. When I came on to the council in 2014, there were no goals in our book for the whole term, which I couldn't understand. And some of us got together and said we should have goals and we tried to make them as specific as possible, but as you can imagine, in a group of nine people, they were neutralized in some way. But I totally support your statement. And we tried to do that in the last round actually calling out number of units and affordable housing. But that was taken off the table, but I support doing such a thing. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:21:15
Thank you for your comments. Any other comments? Hearing none, next steps: so the Committee on Goals and Claims having voted to accept the letter. The letter is now a part of the record and can be responded to in like. Second: I'm initiating to the members of this committee to submit to us --

Councillor Quinton Zondervan 1:21:44
Madam Chair, point of order. We did not vote to accept the letter yet.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:21:48
I thought we did, I apologize. Okay. So I had some clarity from the clerk. You're asking that we vote to accept the letter to present it to the city council. Is that the correct vote? Which is a procedural vote.

Anthony Wilson, City Clerk 1:22:10
Just for clarification, I believe this letter was submitted to the city council as a communication through Councillor Simmons, and then the council referred it to the Government Operations committee. Therefore, the vote for the committee would be to refer the communication back to the city council with a recommendation to accept the communication.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:22:34
So I'm going to go back to that. And thank you so much for your edification. So there's a vote before us by a member of the committee, Councillor Toomey, would like to put forward a vote that we accept - or was it you? So if there's no discussion, then I would accept a vote by Councillor Toomey to accept the letter from the city manager. Discussion?

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:23:05
Hearing none. On the matter - All those in favor say Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. The next step, I would like to take the information that we've gathered here to bring back to you at another meeting to comment on a number of issues that were presented on the floor from the committee, after which we could then decide how to go forward. Discussion? Excellent. So if if you would like to render - this is to the members of the committee in particular – your thoughts? We'll also take in any mention of your comments. So again, I want to say to those that testified, if you want to have your comments on the record, if you submit them by midnight, then they'll be a part of these minutes that will go forward to the council. But for the members here, of course anyone but I'm speaking specifically to the members should render their thoughts to me so I can then pull those together working with the city solicitor and the clerk to come back to this to this committee.

Councillor Patricia Nolan 1:24:23
When you said anyone here if you want your notes to be part of the record to put them in the basket, if someone testified in public comment, don't those get reflected in the minutes of the meeting and therefore will be part of the public record? Or are you suggesting if you didn't get a chance to finish your comments, I'm just trying to clarify what's on -

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:24:42
Let me just say it again. If you misunderstood, which I understand happens, others might. We often ask if your comments are written that you submit them electronically. Of course, your comments go into the record by testimony. But if you also have comments that you didn't have an opportunity to write that and you would like to have them in written form in the record, if you have them to the clerk, date stamped before midnight, it will be part of the minutes that go forward to the council.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons 1:25:20
Hearing no further business under this committee, I would like to entertain - on a motion by Councillor Toomey to adjourn, all those in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it. The meeting is adjourned, I want to thank all for your attention.

Meeting adjourned at 11:25am

1. A communication was received from Councillor Simmons, transmitting a letter from City Manager Louis A. DePasquale, who is serving formal notice of his desire to enter into formal negotiations with the City Council to extend his contract with the City beyond January 2021.