Minutes
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TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES OF MARCH 24, 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 Finn Council President Letterie Recognizes the towns newest Council Member, Martin Finn Precinct 6 MINUTES Motion by Councilor Romano to Approve the Minutes of March 10, 2026, as circulated. 2™4 by Councilor Dimes (1)-Abstain-Councilor Finn Motion Passed PUBLIC HEARING National Grid Installation Pole 22 Pauline St. Discussion- This agenda item is under new business and will be referred to the Public Health Safety & Works Committee for further discussion PUBLIC COMMENT Marci Hamilton P2-Discusses the past Town Council meeting of which it was stated that the Town Council does not run day to day operations of the town but points out in the Charter that the Council does appoint board. members and accepts or declines recommendations by these boards, so does feel the “hold the purse strings to the town”, she would like the citizens to understand this. Continues on the DPW needing more employees, the Schools Union Negotiations, the Grants that we are not being allowed and ask the Town Council to revisit the Climate Commissioners report of the hot spots in the town. Mark Sennot P2-States it is his opinion that the Town must take Girdlestone, Tileston and Pleasant St. as a separate issue of the $5 Mil project. They need immediate attention. Jack Dowd P4-Discusses the Exemption case, not issued from the town, of MBTA 3A. Discusses the study of Girdlestone Rd. flooding issues and if this plan is completed why, it is not on the town website. Asks where this money is coming from and states that the Council President stated there would be an Override. Council President explains the difference between and override and potential debt exclusion and what his statement actually referred to. CORRESPONDENCE None COMMITTEE REPORTS SCHOOL DEPARTMENT REPORT School Committee report...2 major topics were the ongoing negotiations. There is another negotiation meeting tomorrow evening. TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MARCH 24, 2026, PAGE 1 Grants, and potential grant losses. FY26 we have not received and not eligible for specific grants and though small in scope, all funding matters... Due to not being in compliance with 3A the town is not eligible for Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) grants ($17,000) which Council President finds it ironic we have a governor running for re- election and she is taking the safety of our children, after school programs at risk, making a point of MBTA 3A. Our town has always received this grant. The Town has lost the $9,950 Century 215 enhancement grant for students with IEPs. The Town has lost the $20,000 Century 21% summer learning grants. The Town has received these grants in the last two years. This is used by HS Students to help with employment. Potentially in FY27, 21% Century potentially applies for a 3 yr. grant which in the past, the town has been awarded. This is close to $140,000 annually ($420,000 in total) If the town does not receive this grant, we will not be able to apply again for another 3 years. We have been informed that due to not being in compliance with 3A, another $69,910 dollar grant supporting students behavioral and mental health will not be able to be applied for. The state continues to add more and more grants that were not originally included in the MBTA 3A Compliance as for not being eligible to apply for.... We have made our comments clear to the state, our state senator, state Rep. Turco and he is working on this. Rep. Turco may be able to help with $100,000 grant. The State as well as the Governor has claimed that any FY27 grants that are posted by DESE and any community not in compliance will not be able to apply for these grants. These grants, both competitive and discretionary posted by DESE, are designed to support educational mandates required by the Dept. of Education. This is not a grant that the town chooses to apply for a any project, (discretionary) the grants are supporting mandatory programs and most of these grants are federal money that has come from the federal government to the state to be distributed to the cities and towns and the state has taken ownership and has chosen not to fund. We will continue to work with our state reps. UPDATE POLICY MAKING COMMITTEESS Please see attached report. TOWN MANAGER REPORT Please see attached Town Manager Report The Towns response to the MBTA 3A lawsuit has been answered and sent to the Town Council for review and will be posted on the town website for public review. There have been some questions on the Christmas tree in French sq. that is due to come down tomorrow which was delayed due the weather factor. Currently, there are discussions about the Tall Ships coming in July and they ask the Town Council and community to consider this celebration and looking for ideas to help with our town’s celebration of our countries 250 years. Council President thanks the Town Manager and encourages all to read the towns answer to the MBTA 3A Lawsuit. TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MARCH 24, 2026 PAGE 2 Councilor Costigan asks about an issue on the old middle school of the memorial tree and when will this be moved? Town Manager replies soon and will contact family about the re-dedication of this tree. Councilor Tassinari has a question on a running tally and impact of grants that the Town has not received and this town will have to find budgeting elsewhere and would like to remind the Council that it was them who decided not to comply with Mass General Law, we are the ones deciding to break the law and now our children are getting hurt. Councilor Millar thanks the Town Manager for the copy of the lawsuit and he is still pushing for an exemption for the town and some of the answers that he started reading through is directed to this and he is very grateful. Asks if there is any infrastructure damage on the old middle school wall that i is still standing connected to the gym. Town Manager reports the wall is structurally fine. Councilor Swope reports that we fought so hard for the exemptions and agrees with Councilor Tassinari of the harms that are being caused by the state. Every harm should be noted in our legal case. This being election time, does the Governor want to bring this on herself? Councilor Dimes asks about the town working with vendors on the plantings. Town Manager reports that we’ve outsource and found pricing was higher. The Town Manager reviewed and found we can buy at a cheaper rate. Councilor Romano asks about Yirrell Beach report up to date. Town Manager is reviewing and will have updates. Town Manager Marino makes it clear that the Old Middle School Gym is not open for any type of use until further notice. Town Council President reiterates that the current grants that are being denied were not part of the original denials in the beginning of not being compliant with 3A MBTA and the Governor is making the decision of affecting the health and safety of our children and public safety. They must come to the table and discuss these denials with communities. OLD BUSINESS None Town Council Appropriate Retained Earnings in Waterway/Harbormaster Enterprise Fund/Repair & Maint. Floats- Council President refers this to the Finance Committee Town Council Vote to Modify General Funds Budgets for FY26- Council President refers this to the Finance Committee Amendment to Add New Ordinance 8.37.00-Land Disturbance and Erosion Control Council President refers this to Rules & Ordinance National Grid Installation Pole 22 Pauline St.- Council President refers this to Public Health Safety & Works Committee Town Council vote to Approve Video Recordings of Committee Meetings to be Posted Council President refers this to Rules & Ordinance TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MARCH 24, 2026 PAGE3 Town Council President has appointed Assistant Town Manager Cheryl McCormick to the North Suburban Consortium Board Town Council President has appointed Councilor Dimes to the CAPIC Board PUBLIC COMMENT Tim Duplin of the Tree Committee has been asked to speak on the issue of the trees at Town Hall. The question of who has jurisdiction of who cares for them. He is under the understanding that if a tree is to be cut down, there should be hearing. He understands between a Tree Warden and Committee they should be making decisions on trees as for planting, cutting down etc...he would like to see the town be more concerned with these trees as they are an investment for our future. He does not believe people should be telling the committee what should be done with any trees. He would like to work with the DPW Director. He also comments on the new High School and asks that the lights on the new sign be corrected. Marci Hamilton P2-Comments about the local emergency action plan be brought up to date. She has asked several times and would like to see these updates and funding available for any emergencies. After listening to the meeting about all the grants that we have lost, she comments that the Town Council has the ability accept the recommendation from the Planning Board. Asks the Town Council to please reconsider their votes on no to 3A. Jack Dowd P4-Comments on a shirt he is wearing about his grandfather who fought in WWII and comments when we do the Pledge Allegiance to the Flag, we are pledging for the freedom that we have due to these people who fought for our freedom and sitting is unacceptable. A small gesture of standing to our Pledge should be done. Mark Sennott P2-Addresses Girdlestone, Tileston and Pleasant St. Remarks the citizens are not ready for any increases. Discusses the cost several years ago and how this should have been done. Again, asking for this project be done separately. Discusses that the PPYC infrastructure should not be paid for by the town during discussions about the easement. Diana Viens P2-She is calling to correct remarks made on 3A. Children being taken advantage of is a ridiculous remark and untrue. People mention the $1.2 Million that we lost, yes, it should be included in our suit. The Climate Grant, we should have received. The state is out of money. If anyone has a problem with trees, please just follow the ordinance. She was surprised to hear the state was withholding money that was earmarked for the new firehouse, and this should definitely be reviewed if this is money was promised to us. Tom Derderian P3-Tree Warden...we need the trees to be watered and is looking for funding for this and hopes this improved. Mark Sennott P2-Regarding the water main breaks, will this be reflected in our water bills for unaccounted water? We should not be responsible for this cost. Erin Barcellos P5-Comments that the evening has been interesting. Would like to remind everyone that they say we are a welcoming town and should feel comfortable, please think if this is a true statement? TOWN COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MARCH 24, 2026, PAGE 4 PUBLIC RELATIONS /UPCOMING EVENTS Annual Rabies Clinic-April 11, 2026, at the Town Landing Harbormaster Building 10-12pm Town Council President Office Hours in Town Council Chambers: Thursday March 26" 4-6PM Vice President Swope-Listening Post Meeting- Wed. March 24, 2026, 6-7 PM Commission on Disability-Staying in Your Home Presentation - Center for Independent Living-Sr. Center 3-25- 26 1:00PM Sat. April 4, 2026 / 9AM there will be an update meeting on the Revere St. Tips Project March 30, 2026, WHS Baseball Diamond Dedication to Jim Evans April 1, 2026, Ingleside Park Diamond, dedication to Charles Domenico ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn by Vice President Swope at 7:50pm 2"4 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 MARCH 24, 2026, 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 3-24-2026 ¢ The Revere Street TIP project will continue as the 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 next project update meeting will be held on Saturday, April 4, 2026, at 9:00 am at the Senior Center. This meeting will include a review of work progress to date and what to expect as we enter the final phase of this project. e With the Old Middle School and Auditorium work now complete, we are working on getting the stormwater pipes moved to accommodate the new fire station structure. Plan design continues, and we will hold a public hearing on the design in early April 2026; date and time to be announced soon. e We have a meeting scheduled with MWRA to discuss upcoming plans for the arrival of the Tall Ships in July 2026. We have some plan ideas from the last time the Tall Ships came to Boston, and we will coordinate with MWRA to ensure we take full advantage of their prime viewing location at Deer Island. We are also looking for ideas to host a 250" Anniversary Celebration of America in Winthrop. The Town Council President and I were discussing the possibility of hosting an event from July 11th to 16th to coincide with the Tall Ships’ visit to Boston. We are looking for a few Town Councilors to volunteer to help with ideas, community outreach, and event planning. e FY27 Budget and Capital Plan work continues as we look forward to presenting the FY27 Budget to the Town Council and Citizens Commission on Finance in April. e The DPW was able to complete approximately 500 linear feet of Coastal Dune at Yirrell Beach. We will set up another meeting in the next few weeks with the neighbors who have staircases down to the beach to plan and identify the five entry points authorized in our Beach Management Plan. We are working with a vendor to get the plantings installed on the coastal dune before April 1, 2026. We plan to install additional coastal dune materials after Labor Day and finish the project next February/March 2027. e Work continues on our new Dispatch center for Metro North Regional Emergency Communications Center (MNRECC) at the McKinley School in Revere. The MNRECC portion of this project will be $19 Million dollars. MNRECC will apply for grant monies for the coming fiscal year (FY27), apply for a bond for the remaining portion of the project, and then apply for State 911 grant funding to cover the yearly principal and interest payments. This work and the new dispatch center will host our dispatch services for Revere, Winthrop, and, most recently, Chelsea. State 911 has assured us that they are committed to this project, and we anticipate long-term savings with the addition of Chelsea and, hopefully, other communities to our Regional Dispatch Center. The City of Revere will host a ribbon cutting on Friday, April 17, 2026, at 10 am for any Town Councilor who would like to attend. Please contact me directly if you have any questions about the items listed above or any other concerns. Thank you. Anthony Marino Winthrop Town Manager amarino@winthropma.gov UPDATE POLICY MAKING COMMITTEES 3-24-26 Winthrop Board of Appeals Lot 190, Otis St. The Applicant seeks a permit to construct a two and a half story single family structure to be constructed on a lot that consists of 4000 square feet. This is in noncompliance with respect to minimum lot size requirement. Winthrop Planning Board 210 Winthrop St.