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Votes at a glance: Boston City Council passes repairs, appointments, donations and personnel waivers
Summary
During its March 5 session the Boston City Council approved a series of routine and substantive items including appointments, an in-kind donation, preservation restriction, an accelerated MSBA repair submission and two home-rule petitions seeking age waivers for police applicants.
The Boston City Council on March 5 approved multiple items on its agenda by roll call and suspension votes. Most measures were routine referrals, confirmations or single-action orders; several required roll-call tallies and are summarized below.
Key approvals and outcomes
- MSBA accelerated repair submissions (docket 0459): The council approved a motion authorizing the city to submit statements of interest to the Massachusetts School Building Authority’s accelerated repair program for a list of schools. Roll call: 12–0 in favor. The related core-program submission for Madison Park Technical Vocational High School (docket 0458) was left in committee pending a Boston School Committee vote.
- In-kind donation for BCYF Mattahunt Community Center (docket 0591): The council suspended the rules and passed a measure authorizing the city to accept an in-kind donation (lockers, bookshelves, desk) valued at $1,800 from the Windsor School for the Mattapan BCYF Mattahunt Center.
- Preservation restriction for Shirley Eustis outbuilding (docket 0592): The council suspended the rules and passed an order accepting a preservation restriction on the Shirley Eustis outbuilding at 4244 Shirley Street in Dorchester. Supporters said the Community Preservation Act funds at issue require signatures by March for the purchase to proceed.
- Confirmation of Monument Square Landmark District Study Committee members (dockets 0593–0603): The council suspended and confirmed a slate of appointments to the Monument Square Landmark District Study Committee; members had previously been confirmed under a different committee name and were reaffirmed under the corrected title.
- Appointments, reports and communications filed (dockets 0604–0610): Notices from the mayor and administrative reports were placed on file, including the appointment of Sally Gloria to the Boston Retirement Board and Dr. Elsie Tavares as chair of the Boston Public Health Commission’s Board of Health.
- Home rule petitions (dockets 0611 and 0612): The council passed two petition orders asking the state legislature to adopt special laws to waive the police department’s maximum age requirement for two applicants, Giselle Mello (0611) and Jonathan Telfort (0612). The motions passed after roll calls (0611: 9 in the affirmative; 0612: 10 in the affirmative). Sponsors said the petitions were intended to expand recruitment of veterans and other experienced candidates.
- Recognitions and cultural items: The council passed resolutions designating March 5 as Crispus Attucks Day in Boston (docket 0623), and adopted other cultural observances and civic-designation items.
What remained in committee and referrals
- Madison Park core-program submission to MSBA (docket 0458) was held for committee action pending the Boston School Committee vote.
- A set of hearing orders and home-rule petitions were referred to relevant committees, including proposals on zoning-board reform (0613 referred to Government Operations), regulation of transportation network companies (0615 referred to Planning, Development and Transportation), and guidelines for filing council resolutions (0616 referred to Rules and Administration).
Several councilors who spoke repeatedly urged more background briefings on departmental impacts before some policy-level votes; others argued the council should use floor votes to send immediate moral and political signals to state and federal policymakers.
A full list of adopted items and their outcomes follows in the actions array.
