Minutes
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TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 17, 2026 President Letterie calls the meeting to order at 6:30 PM ROLL CALL Present: Councilor Costigan, Councilor Tassinari, Councilor Millar, Councilor Romano, Councilor Dimes, Councilor Reardon, Vice President Swope, President Letterie PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Councilor Romano MINUTES Motion by Councilor Dimes to Approve the Minutes of February 3, 2026, as circulated. 2"4 by Councilor Tassinari Passed Unanimously GENERAL INFORMATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Town Council President State of the Town PUBLIC HEARING- Each motion was discussed by the Chair of the Finance Committee, Councilor Tassinari Each motion was voted on by the Finance Committee with a Positive Recommendation Public Hearing Opened e Town Council Appropriate Retained Earnings in the Ferry Enterprise Fund $20,000/Cover Cost FY26 Discussion Public Hearing Closed Public Hearing Opened © Town Council Appropriate Retained Earnings in the Rink Enterprise Fund $20,000/Extra Ordinary Repairs Discussion Public Hearing Closed Public Hearing Opened e Town Council Vote to Appropriate Certified Free Cash Discussion Public Hearing Closed PUBLIC COMMENT Rob DeMarco P6-Wants to thank all on the Town Council and all have his support 100%. Discussed Precinct 6 and very happy we have had the candidates step up for this position. Ask any that are not appointed to consider staying on a committee or within our government. Jack Dowd P4-Directs his remarks on the Massport Pilot Agreement and how important this is to the Town. He has suggested that this agreement be put forth to a negotiator and not the Town Council. Celeste Ribiero Hewitt P1-Would like to see less of individual attacks. Believes that someone who is tuned into our government can negotiate a contract. Would like to see more of a granular language in the State of the Town Report I would like to see more year to year where we are in terms of progress towards our goals. Erin Barcelio P4-Thanks, Councilor Reardon, for his help on a certain matter. TOWN COTINGTY MEETING AATATITES EE DDITADV 17 VAX DAOT1 COMMITTEE REPORTS Finance Committee-Councilor Tassinari reports on the meeting and all (3) motions that were referred to in Public Hearing was voted with a Positive Recommendation from the Committee. FHBC Update: Construction still under way. Town is aware of a hole in the fence and is fixing this to make sure of safety and security. If anyone sees anything you think might be wrong, please make Town aware immediately. Ordinance Review Committee-Has completed meetings and will submit their recommendations to the Town Council SCHOOL DEPARTMENT REPORT Town Council President reports meeting last Monday and there are still negotiations being reviewed. The schools appreciate the help of the DPW to get the schools open. UPDATE POLICY MAKING COMMIT TEES- None up to date TOWN MANGER REPORT-Please see attached copy of report. Discussed with EOHLC, the fact that grants that were not listed are also being restricted. There has been a consultant hired for the review of the Massport Pilot Negotiation Vice President Swope asks if there is some kind of a schedule of what is reviewed in the Town Council Meetings? Several items might be discussed but not sure of follow ups...can we make this more concrete? Ask where we are at the EOHLC Meetings? Town Manager states no direct answers and will review and get back to them. Councilor Tassinari asks about the FY27 Budget...would like to include the Retained Balance Earnings and availability of amount. Councilor Millar has been asked about the blue lights and asks how different areas get prioritized. DPW Director Calla states there are 150 streets in town, up to date 95 have been done...Schools, Town Buildings, Narrow Roads...Fire Apparatus and where problem areas are. His past experience of snow removal has helped him with what should be prioritized. The reason the blue lights were left on was not only for safety but needs a parking ban so roads can be cleaned. If blue lights are on, there is a parking ban, and cars do have to move. Streets are updated daily. Councilor Romano asks about the earmark funding for the Fire House. Councilor Dimes thanks the DPW and NE Mosquito for their dredging and hard work. OLD BUSINESS Motion by the Finance Committee with a Positive Recommendation that the Town Council Appropriate Retained Earnings in the Ferry Enterprise Fund $20,000/Cover Cost FY26 No 2"4 Needed ROLL CALL Councilor Costigan Yes Councilor Tassinari Yes Councilor Millar Yes Councilor Romano ‘Yes Councilor Dimes Yes Councilor Reardon Yes Vice President Swope Yes President Letterie Yes Motion Passes TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES FEBRUARY 17, 2025, PAGE 2 Motion by the Finance Committee with a Positive Recommendation that the Town Council Appropriate Retained Earnings in the Rink Enterprise Fund $20,000/Extra Ordinary Repairs No 2" Needed ROLL CALL Councilor Costigan Yes Councilor Tassinari Yes Councilor Millar Yes Councilor Romano — Yes Councilor Dimes Yes Councilor Reardon Yes Vice President Swope Yes President Letterie Yes Motion Passes Motion by the Finance Committee with a Positive Recommendation that the Town Council Vote to Appropriate Certified Free Cash No 2™ Needed Discussion Council President discusses Free Cash as we don’t know year to year what it will be. There are no guarantees. To set aside 10% prior to stabilization funds helps with costs not expected. DPW Director reports we are close to $300,000 with the snow removal so far this year. Operating budget is close to $70 Million. Councilor Tassinari reports of Council President reporting on the funding in the stabilization and ending balances and have 13-13.5%, which is very good. Very good for our town bonding. This is a good policy that was put in place. Councilor Costigan Yes Councilor Tassinari Yes Councilor Millar Yes Councilor Romano —— Yes Councilor Dimes Yes Councilor Reardon Yes Vice President Swope Yes President Letterie Yes Motion Passes Council President reports on the EOHLC Meeting, basically there was a summary of the transcript. He believes it was a healthy meeting and seemed very receptive to discussion. When you’re putting a plan out, you will either receive a letter from the state of approval or non-approval. The secretary stated they would look at how many plans the town wanted to submit. Vice President Swope admits into the record, what could be accepted with MBTA 3 being compliant. It is understood there were consequences for not complying with MBTA 3A but now with the children and public safety grants being denied, it could be substantial and affect children and after school programs. This, along with public health and safety, should not be affected by our zoning compliance. P6-Update-Town Council President reports this will be reviewed and hopefully voted on at our next meeting. Martin Finn, Danny Floyd, Michael Gillespie and Kevin Morales NEW BUSINESS Appointments Council President appointed Sheryl Howard & Jamie Montesano to the Fire House Reuse Committee, Michale Gillespie to the Citizens Finance Committee. If the Town Council would like to challenge these appointments, please refer to the Charter. TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES FEBRUARY 17, 2025, PAGE 3 Motion by Councilor Dimes to suspend Town Council Rules & Procedures 2A and change the March 2026 Town Council Meetings from March 3" & 17" until March 10" & 24¢ 2™4 by Councilor Millar Motion Passes PUBLIC COMMENT Mark Sennot P2-Requests copy of streets to be addressed for snow removal as to not uproot people who may not be aware their vehicle must be moved in the morning. DPW Director states that some streets are obvious that cannot be parked on and there is stil] a parking ban on that residents must be aware of. Celeste Riberio Hewitt P1-Understands that if there are certain criteria to meet to comply with MBTA 3A, could this be shared. Confused about how a town wide vote would affect the EOHLC, more information would be appreciated. Lee Foley P6-Would like pavement cleaning as it seems there is a safety issue, especially with bus stops. Steve Rogers P1-Discusses the Rink Enterprise Fund and the importance of this. He has been the Hockey President, and they have issued closed to $9,000 in awards. The beauty of our rink is that 90% of our users are from Winthrop. This is unique for the community to have so much use within our community. It takes good management to run this rink, and it is something to be proud of. He would like to discuss applying for grants for next year. Tom Derderian P3-Tree Warden. Money doesn’t grow on trees, it grows trees...a Go Fund Me raised funding to plant trees and this has been very appreciated. There are more needs, a watering truck is needed...and might need some muscle to help plant these trees... John Morgan P4-If anyone in the town sees a sidewalk, crosswalk, etc. not shoveled, call the Building Inspector and they will decide if non-compliant or up to the town to clean. It is up to the homeowner and business owner to make sure their area is cleaned. Jack Dowd P4-Discusses the $48,000 amount of money funded for the engineering for Tileston, was this awarded? As far as Massport agreement is concerned, it was not on the agenda, believes because he mentioned it, he feels then it was mentioned, please put it on the agenda, this will be very important to our community with funding. Ask who the consultant is? Diane Sands P5-Asks if there is a follow up date with EOHLC. Referred to losing a court case, which case is this? Would Town consider joining the exemption case, if not are we considering one ourselves? Discusses being disrespectful in the meeting and a comment can be made without being disrespectful. Erin Barcellos P5-Biweekly invites her group to the bridge on Saturdays. PUBLIC RELATIONS / UPCOMING EVENTS Committee Openings: Board of License-Board of Appeals Vice President Swope asks all to read Carol Mietzch article in the Transcript discussing the school’s issues. Will be having a P4 Neighborhood Meeting and the last Wednesday of each month she will be having a Listening Post Meeting and welcomes entire community. Council President reiterates the school is not in negotiations with the Town, it is with the schools only. TOWN COTINCTT, MEETING MINTITES FERRTTARY 17. 2025. PAGE 4 ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn by Vice President Swope at 7:45pm 2"¢ by Councilor Dimes Motion Passed Unanimously Public Documents used in the meeting are available at Town Managers Office. Documents Used in this Meeting: Handwritten Notes / Committee Openings Documents Roll Call Log Written Motions / Verbal Motion Respectfully submitted. Denise Quist Town Clerk Council Clerk TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES FEBRUARY 17. 2025. PAGE 5 TOWN OF WINTHROP OFFICE OF THE TOWN MANAGER Town Hall, 1 Metcalf Square, Winthrop, MA 02152 Telephone: 617-846-1077 Anthony Marino Town Manager Town Manager Report 2-17-2026 The Revere Street TIP project continues as they work on switching over to the new traffic lights and installing solar controls on the streetlights, so they go off during the daytime hours. The curb and concrete work will resume in the Spring of 2026. The Fire Station demolition work continues as most of the auditorium has now been demolished. They will continue to remove debris and clean the site for the next few weeks. Also, the design plans for the new fire station are moving forward and we will be planning a public meeting for input during the month of March 2026. Senator Edwards, Rep Turco, Council President Jim Letterie, Town Manager Tony Marino, and Town Attorney Jim Cipoletta met with Secretary Augustus and his team, along with Margot Hurley from the Attorney General's Office, to discuss Winthrop’s 3A status and next steps now that the lawsuit has been filed. Winthrop asked several questions regarding 3A compliance which are listed below: 1. 3A’s impact on existing condominium documents, as the proposed 3A district from the Planning Board includes Condo developments at Seal Harbor and Governors Park. 2. We inquired about the language the EOHLC includes in its district approval letters and how it could be interpreted to mean the EOHLC can make changes whenever it chooses. 3. We discussed what a ballot question could look like if Winthrop decided to put a 3A- compliant district forward to the voters, and we also asked whether we could add. language to the ballot question that would allow us to retain our right to object to the 3A regulations at a later date. Margot Hurley stated that her office would have to work with Winthrop’s Town Attorney and the Elections office to approve any ballot language. 4. Lastly, we inquired about the lawsuit and whether, if we were to lose in our defense, and we were forced to implement 3A, we could still use the district we originally brought forward to create our 3A overlay district at Seal Harbor & Fort Health, and Governors Park. We did not receive direct answers to any of these inquiries, but the EOHLC said they would get back to us after discussing it with their internal stakeholders. Another topic of discussion was the grant restrictions and potential refusal of upcoming grant applications. Council President Letterie asked about the 21st Century grants for the schools, which he felt should not be included in any withholding of grants, as it would be unfair to punish Winthrop students over a state-mandated zoning provision that Winthrop has not adopted. Public safety and public health grants and earmarks were discussed, and we insisted that Winthrop should be allowed to apply for and have the same opportunity as 3A-compliant towns, as these departments should not suffer or be denied resources over a state-mandated zoning, provision that we have not adopted. « Work continues on the FY27 Budget as the finance team compiles the budget and capital plan requests from our Department Heads. We look forward to working with the Town Council and the Citizens Advisory Committee on Finance during the upcoming FY27 budget cycle. « After reading the article and editorial in the Boston Globe, I want to assure everyone that our Harbormaster is the Police Chief in Winthrop and not the employee that the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department has assigned to our Harbormaster Office, as the article incorrectly states. We value our relationship with the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department at the Harbormasters office as well as other departments in the Winthrop Police Department. This arrangement has been beneficial to Winthrop and Suffolk County as it provides valuable resources that improve the safety and security of our waterways and all the Cities and Towns in Suffolk County. « The dredging work at Fishermen’s Bend is complete and special thanks to Northeast Mosquito Control for permitting and completing this project along with our DPW crew who hauled the material off site. Please reach out to me should you have any questions about any of the items listed above. Thank you. Anthony Marino Winthrop Town Manager