Chelsea held a City Gala on July 9, and tonight the City Council is asked to formally accept the money that paid for it. The request from City Manager Fidel Maltez lists 23 sponsors and a total of $22,750. It is one of four donation orders on the agenda, and together they say something about who is writing checks to the city this year.
The gala list
Under state law a city cannot simply pocket a gift; the council has to vote to accept it. Maltez’s letter, dated September 9, calls the gala “a tremendous success and it is something the City would like to make an annual tradition,” and says the sponsorships “will be used to fund our annual fireworks on Chelsea Day.” Chelsea Day was Saturday.
The largest sponsor was Global Partners at $5,000. New Boston Investment gave $3,000. Three gave $1,500 each: Wulf’s Fish and Boston Provisions, Bunker Hill Community College, and Eastern Salt Company. Five gave $1,000: Ellis Assisting Resources, the Joseph J. Corcoran Company, East Cambridge Savings Bank, Colwen Hotels, and Josh Kraft, who ran for mayor of Boston last year. Eight gave $500: Cataldo Ambulance, Metro Credit Union, Montes Jewelry, Kayem, Nidia Peguero Homes and New Fed Mortgage, Golden Cannoli, Highland Park, and Margolis Pharmacy. Five gave $250: Brown Jug, Dr. Deb Wayne, North Suffolk Community Services, Bella Isla, and 212 Gallery.
Several of the names do business with the city or before it. Cataldo Ambulance staffs city events. Bunker Hill Community College’s Chelsea campus sits inside the West Chelsea overlay district the council created in June. Eastern Salt Company, which operates from 37 Marginal Street, is a party with Eastern Minerals to the 2007 agreement that created the city’s Neighborhood Improvement Fund; Eastern Minerals gave $10,000 in June to the police department’s Build the Base youth camp. None of that is improper, and the order does not suggest it is. It is the reason the law makes the council vote in public.
The Denver trip
A second order accepts donations toward the June trip to Denver, where Chelsea won its fourth All-America City designation. Global Partners again leads the list, with $4,920 for delegation t-shirts and hoodies. A shuttle company gave $2,325.54 in transportation. The rest of the list is in-kind with no dollar value assigned: airport parking from PreFlight, stress balls from MGB and Healthy Chelsea, tote bags from La Colaborativa, pencils from the public library, photography by Matt Frank, hoodies from Chelsea Opportunity Academy, challenge coins and koozies from the police department, and “People of Chelsea” photo books from Darlene DeVita.
The donations sit on top of the $53,000 in free cash the council appropriated in April to send about 30 people to Denver, a sum the Ways and Means subcommittee said “may seem excessive given the City’s fiscal situation” before recommending it anyway. Maltez’s letter says the National Civic League “encourages participating communities to pursue donations, as a way of creating city-wide support for the competition,” and that if Chelsea competes again “we will seek donations and support as well.”
Two gifts to the police
The third order accepts a vehicle worth about $4,000 from Todisco Towing “to support the police department’s undercover operations.” The City Manager’s cover letter is captioned “Todisco Towing Donation to Chelsea Fire Department”; the body of the letter, and the order itself, say the car goes to the police. The letter thanks Todisco for its “continued generosity to the City of Chelsea.” The packet does not say whether Todisco does towing work for the city or its police department, which is the question a councillor might reasonably ask before accepting a car for undercover use from a tow operator.
The fourth accepts 100 tickets, valued at $8,228, to the Patriots’ August 13 preseason game against the Colts. The letter says the police department secured the tickets “in connection with our Build the Base work and incredible youth engagement efforts.” The Patriots are owned by the Kraft family.
All four orders are filed by Councillor Norieliz DeJesus, who as Ways and Means chair introduces the council’s financial orders. They will likely be sent to her subcommittee before a final vote. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at City Hall.