Boston City Council Looks At Appointments, Commissions, DACA, Extreme Weather & More

City Council President Michelle Wu publishes notes from Boston City Council meetings. The Boston City Council considered the following items and more at their September 13, 2017 meeting:

Appointments: Mayor Walsh made the following appointments:

• Richard DePiano, Temporary First Assistant Collector-Treasurer and Anthony Dello Iacono, Temporary Second Assistant Collector-Treasurer, for a period of 60 days
• Board of Appeal: we confirmed the following people
  • Anthony Pisano, Bruce Bickerstaff, Eugene Kelly, reappointed until July 2018
  • Kerry Walsh Logue reappointed until November 2019
  • Tyrone Kindell, Jr., reappointed until October 2018
  •  Mark Fortune, reappointed until June 2018
  • Mark Erlich, reappointed until September 2019
• Zoning Commission: we voted to confirm David Marr, Jill Hatton, and Elliot Guerreroasas members until May 2020

Boston Boards and Commissions Home Rule Petition: The Council voted to follow Councilor Flaherty’s recommendation to pass the Mayor’s Home-Rule Petition that would help the Administration fill more board and commission seats. The legislation would allow the Mayor to appoint members to vacant or expired seats on certain city boards and commissions if the relevant nominating entity fails to submit names for the Mayor’s consideration within 90 days after being notified of a vacancy or expiration of a member’s term. The proposed legislation was amended to include a Council confirmation requirement for all boards and commissions, as well as a residency requirement for nominees. A full list of the city boards and commissions to which this would apply can be found here.

City Response to Extreme Weather Events: Councilor O’Malley called for a hearing to examine the City’s responsiveness to extreme weather events, as they are likely to increase in frequency as climate change continues. The goal is to provide a public opportunity to evaluate the City of Boston’s preparation, physical protective infrastructure, and local response for preparing and reacting to a catastrophic weather event. The matter was assigned to the Committee on Environment & Sustainability for a hearing.

Right to Charge Ordinance: I filed an ordinance on the “right to charge” for Electric Vehicle owners. This ordinance would codify the rights and responsibilities of residents of Boston who wish to install electric vehicle charging stations on their properties and barring condo or homeowners associations from banning or unreasonably burdening the owner doing so. As I mentioned, this in no way is meant to hold back our advocacy for complete streets and improving other modes of transportation such as cycling, walking, and public transit. We need to make it possible for car owners who are looking to switch to electric vehicles to access the necessary infrastructure to reduce their emissions in this way. The matter was assigned to the Government Operations Committee for a hearing.

Resolution on DACA: The Council unanimously adopted Councilor Jackson’s resolution opposing the Trump Administration’s decision to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Boston has a long history as a home to immigrants from hundreds of different countries, and the thousands of DACA recipients living and working in Boston currently. The U.S. Congress has six months to come up with a legislative solution before the Administration fully revokes DACA. Several Councilors spoke eloquently on the importance of protecting these youth who have known no other country as home, and who are our coworkers, friends, students, family and neighbors.
 
NOTE: Our next two Council meetings will also be held in Fanueil Hall, but due to scheduling conflicts they will not be held on the usual Wednesday. Our next meeting will be 12:00pm on Tuesday September 19^th.

Upcoming Hearings/Working Sessions (Watch at www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/live.asp)

• Thursday, 09/14 at 1:30PM, Docket #0199 policy briefing related to a key topic in early education & childcare, specifically transitions from early education to kindergarten. (Healthy Women Families & Communities) [Piemonte room, 5^th Floor City Hall]
• Tuesday, 10/03 at 2:00PM, hearing on an order authorizing the City of Boston to adopt Community Choice Energy (Environment and Sustainability) [Ianella Chamber, 5^th Floor City Hall]

For complete notes on Boston City Council meetings, visit MichelleForBoston.com or sign up to receive these notes automatically each week by email.