Chelsea’s eleven councillors have taken roughly 45 roll-call votes in 2026. All but three were unanimous among the members in the room. That is the first thing the record shows: on the budget, the zoning overlays, the eminent domain takings, the union contracts and the free cash transfers, the council votes as one. The second thing it shows is who does the work between those votes, who is missing when they are taken, and where the three real splits fell.
What follows is built from the roll calls, the orders and the subcommittee reports in the council’s own packets and minutes from January through the September 14 agenda. It is a record, not a rating. Each councillor’s biography, published last week, is linked from their name; the pieces linked below cover what each has done in office this year.
The scorecard
| Councillor | Seat | Orders filed | Meetings missed (of 14) | Roll calls missed | Dissenting votes | Chairs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jimenez-Rivera | At-Large, President | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Conference, Rules, Charter Review |
| DeJesus | District 3, Vice President | 40 | 2 | 7 | 2 | Ways and Means, Housing |
| Recupero | District 6 | 21 | 2 | 7 | 1 | Aging and Veterans |
| Robinson | At-Large | 10 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Senior member |
| T. Garcia | District 4 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 1 | |
| K. Garcia | At-Large | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 | School Committee delegate |
| Hines | District 2 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 0 | Arts, Culture and Recreation |
| Taylor | District 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | City Manager Evaluation |
| Santagate | District 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Public Safety |
| Teshe | District 7 | 1 resolution | 6 | 20 | 1 | Planning, Development and Transportation |
| Brown | District 8 | 2 resolutions | 2 | 10 | 1 | Vice-chair, Aging and Veterans |
“Orders filed” counts orders, zoning petitions and resolutions introduced under the councillor’s name on 2026 agendas. For the President and the Ways and Means chair the number is inflated by role: the President files the administration’s budget, zoning and contract orders, and the Ways and Means chair files every financial order, so most of their totals are the City Manager’s business carried under their names. “Meetings missed” counts the 14 council meetings this year with a legible attendance table in the minutes. “Roll calls missed” counts recorded roll-call votes where the councillor was marked absent. “Dissenting votes” counts roll calls where the councillor voted no or present against the majority.
The three splits
Three-family homes in R-1, April 27. Councillor Recupero’s petition to allow three-family dwellings by special permit in the city’s single-family districts and to cut minimum lot sizes from 7,500 to 5,000 square feet was defeated 2 to 6. Recupero and Tanairi Garcia voted yes. Taylor, Jimenez-Rivera, Hines, Santagate, DeJesus and Robinson voted no. Kelly Garcia voted present. The Planning Board had recommended denial 5 to 1 a month earlier, for the second year running, saying the change would alter the intent of the district without a community process.
The inclusionary housing fee, June 22. Councillor Hines’s floor amendment setting the developer buyout fee at $275,000 per affordable unit and adding 30 percent and 50 percent of median income tiers passed 6 to 5. Yes: Recupero, Jimenez-Rivera, Hines, Tanairi Garcia, Kelly Garcia, Santagate. No: Taylor, Teshe, DeJesus, Brown, Robinson. All eleven then voted for the ordinance as amended. This was the year’s only split on a question of substance that the whole council voted on.
How fast to move, March 30 and April 6. When City Manager Fidel Maltez brought his original inclusionary rewrite to the Conference subcommittee, Teshe moved to continue the meeting until a revised proposal came back. Taylor objected. The motion carried 7 to 2, Taylor and Robinson opposed. A week later, on the school bus camera order, Taylor alone moved to send it to committee, lost 1 to 8, and voted present on the order itself.
Patterns worth knowing
Two councillors write most of the council’s own agenda. Strip out the administration’s business and Recupero, with 21 orders, and Robinson, with 10, account for more than half of what individual councillors have asked for this year. DeJesus filed three accountability orders of her own in February. Hines, Kelly Garcia and Tanairi Garcia have filed three or four each. Taylor, Santagate, Teshe and Brown have filed one or two.
The dissenters are Taylor, Robinson and Brown. On the two occasions the council has divided on substance, and on the Dec. 15 vote to consider Community Preservation Act grants one at a time, the same three names were on the short side. DeJesus joined them on the inclusionary fee, and in December voted no on three CPA grants, including the only no vote against a rental assistance grant to The Neighborhood Developers.
Attendance is uneven. Jimenez-Rivera, Santagate and Robinson have not missed a meeting or a roll call. Teshe has missed six of 14 meetings and 20 roll calls. Brown has missed two meetings but ten roll calls, because he has left before the end of others. The full attendance table is published separately.
Who runs the meeting. Most council business passes “under suspension” on a voice vote, and the clerk records who moved it. Recupero has made 32 such motions this year, Teshe 27, DeJesus 22, Robinson 17 and Taylor 16. Hines and Tanairi Garcia have made none.
Two members work for the same organization. DeJesus is director of youth programs at La Colaborativa, and Tanairi Garcia runs its food pantry. La Colaborativa is the city’s largest community organization; in June the council accepted a $15,000 grant from it to the Recreation Department, and its tote bags went to Denver with the All-America City delegation. Both councillors’ biographies note the connection. Nothing in the record suggests either has voted on a matter involving their employer, and the minutes record no recusals.
What the record cannot tell you
Chelsea’s minutes record motions and votes, not debate. A councillor who argues for twenty minutes and then votes with the majority leaves no trace. Subcommittee reports are fuller but still summaries. Nothing here should be read as a measure of effort or of influence over the administration, which mostly happens off the floor. It is a measure of what is written down, which for a legislative body is the part that counts.