The Chelsea City Council met for under an hour on Monday, September 21, and the only money it actually approved was $939.20 worth of ice cream. Every other dollar figure on the agenda, $40,438.51 in leftover World Cup money, $12,505.14 in unpaid bills from prior years, and a $270,599.66 shuffle of capital money into the City Hall parking lot, was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means without a vote on the merits.
The council did confirm 17 people to city boards and commissions, sent the city’s rodent program to a full-council subcommittee, sent the Forbes site’s new owners an invitation, and adopted a resolution telling the state to reopen public comment on the Mary O’Malley State Park pier. Nobody signed up for public comment, for the second meeting in a row.
The city has not posted minutes for this meeting. What follows comes from the Chelsea Community Cable recording, checked line by line against the agenda and the 83-page packet.
Who was in the room
Nine members answered the roll. District 4 Councillor Tanairi Garcia and District 7 Councillor Manuel Teshe did not. Councillor-at-Large Kelly Garcia, who is Tanairi Garcia’s sister, asked for the floor before the moments of silence to explain: her niece has been hospitalized for about a week, and her sister’s husband had a stroke that evening. “I ask that if there are any constituents from District 4 that need anything, I am more than happy to support and step in,” she said. “She’ll try her best to be here at the next meeting, but I ask for grace during these difficult times.”
Teshe’s absence was not explained on the recording. He has now missed more roll calls than any other member this year, which we wrote about after the September 14 meeting.
On the two roll calls taken in the middle of the meeting, the clerk announced eight in favor, none opposed, three absent. On the final roll call of the night the clerk announced seven in favor, one opposed, three absent. The automatic captions on the recording do not reconcile with that last tally, so we are reporting the clerk’s announced totals and the one vote nobody disputes: Councillor Todd Taylor said out loud that he was voting no. The minutes, when they appear, will settle the rest.
Three moments of silence
Councillor-at-Large Leo Robinson asked for a moment of silence for Kevin G. Murphy, who spent 65 years in the Suffolk County court system, rising from the mailroom to assistant Clerk of Suffolk Superior Court and then to Clerk Magistrate. He died on September 14 at 83. His wake was that afternoon at the Welsh Funeral Home and his funeral was the next morning. Our notice is here.
Robinson also named Robert “Bobby” Fee, who died on September 18 at 91. Fee was an All-American at Chelsea High School, class of 1953, played at Indiana University, and in 1954 caught the winning touchdown in the North-South Shrine College All-Star Game at the Rose Bowl. He came home, ran more than 30 marathons, and coached football and girls’ track at Chelsea High. His services are this Friday and Saturday. Our notice is here.
District 8 Councillor Calvin Brown asked for a moment of silence for Jean Chapman, who spent her whole life in Chelsea and was a longtime supporter of the Governor Bellingham-Cary House. District 5 Councillor Lisa Anne Santagate asked for one for Priscilla A. Montefusco, 87, who worked at the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, then at the Chelsea police front counter, the City Hall treasurer’s office and the Engine Four polling place, and who is survived by daughters in the Benson and Buckley families. Our notice is here.
A certificate for a police officer who was not there
The night opened with a certificate of recognition for Chelsea Police Officer Joseph Barker-Santiago, introduced by District 6 Councillor Giovanni Recupero and adopted by unanimous consent. Barker-Santiago did not attend. “I don’t know why Mr. Santiago didn’t come, but that’s okay,” Recupero said. “He can receive this later. He earned it.”
The citation credits his work keeping businesses in compliance with city ordinance, notes that the licensing commission has praised him for fairness and responsiveness, and records that he served on the honor guard that presented the colors at a Boston Celtics game on April 7, 2023, the first time the Chelsea Police Department was given that honor.
Brown said the officer helps restaurant owners who speak a second language work out what City Hall wants from them. Santagate added that he works school traffic at the high school complex in the mornings.
Communications from the City Manager
212 Chestnut Street (26CM118). Accepted and filed under suspension with no discussion. City Manager Fidel Maltez’s letter says the city has met with several developers about turning the municipal parking lot next to the Tobin Bridge into affordable homeownership housing, and that an RFP will go out “over the next few months.” The packet contains a draft of that RFP, which offers the land for nominal consideration of $0. We published the draft terms before the meeting.
Rodent abatement (26CM119). Referred to the Subcommittee on Conference, which is the whole council sitting as a committee. Maltez asked for the meeting himself and said the city wants to move “beyond simply responding to individual complaints.” The discussion ran about seven minutes and was the longest of the night. Full account here.
Ice cream, $939.20 (26CM120 and 26F48). Adopted on a roll call, eight in favor, three absent. Eastern Minerals Inc. paid for ice cream that the police department handed out at the Chelsea Day celebration on September 12. Under G.L. c. 44, section 53A½, the council has to vote on gifts before a department can take them.
World Cup money, $40,438.51 (26CM121 and 26F49). Referred to Ways and Means. Council Order 26F04 set aside $125,000 for FIFA World Cup community events. Maltez wants what is left spent on programming in Chelsea Square instead, building on what his letter calls the Fiesta Football Series. Nobody asked what the other $84,561.49 bought.
Prior-year bills, $12,505.14 (26CM122 and 26F50). Referred to Ways and Means. Three invoices: $4,863.46 to Liro GIS for FY26 sewer mapping, $7,541.68 to ATCO for HVAC maintenance performed in April and May 2025 and never invoiced until May 2026, and $100 to Independent Newspaper Group for a legal ad. This is a smaller list than the one the council saw on September 14. What changed and what dropped off.
Parking lot transfer, $270,599.66 (26CM123 and 26F51). Referred to Ways and Means. The money moves out of two FY27 road accounts, $96,058.82 from annual roadway and sidewalk improvements and $174,540.84 from roadway safety and traffic control enhancements, and into the FY25 City Hall and Senior Center parking lot paving project. Maltez’s letter says the paving was held up by construction of the microgrid battery storage system, that asphalt prices have risen since the estimate was written in the fall of 2023, and that the lot is in worse shape than the city thought. A state winter recovery grant and a Fair Share earmark freed up the road money. Background here.
The argument about Ways and Means
Brown moved the World Cup order to Ways and Means. Santagate asked whether a committee was needed at all, given that the money had already been appropriated once and this was only a change of purpose. Council President Roberto Jimenez-Rivera answered that financial orders do not have to go to Ways and Means, that they have to be read twice, and that the council can send them to a second reading instead.
Brown objected that the president was undercutting a motion already made. “I’ve already moved it to Ways and Means and you’re saying we don’t have to move it to Ways and Means,” he said. Jimenez-Rivera said he was answering Santagate’s question and had not ruled anything out of order. “We are moving forward with your motion as made,” he said. All three financial orders went to Ways and Means.
Committee report: who gets told about new development
The Subcommittee on Housing and Community Development met September 14 on Jimenez-Rivera’s order to expand abutter notification for new development and zoning changes. He stepped down from the chair to present it. The current rule reaches direct abutters and owners within 300 feet, which in a city with Chelsea’s lot sizes can leave a household three doors away with no notice at all.
The committee made no recommendation. Jimenez-Rivera will work with the planning department on options and costs and then reconvene. Taylor asked that the law department be in those conversations, not just planning, because adding requirements to a state notice scheme “can very easily open yourself up to civil lawsuits.” Recupero pressed for a plain statement of direction and got one: the intent is to increase the number of notices, not reduce it. Brown said developers used to knock on doors themselves and the council is trying to get closer to that. Our earlier piece on the 300-foot rule.
Seventeen appointments confirmed
The appointments and reappointments in 26CM110, held for a second reading on September 14, were confirmed on a roll call, eight in favor, three absent. The full list, and the awkward few minutes where the council asked the appointees to stand and introduce themselves without a rule telling anyone how that works, is here.
New business
Forbes site (2662). Sent to the Subcommittee on Conference on Kelly Garcia’s motion. She wants GreenRoots, Mass Audubon and The Neighborhood Developers to present their plans for the 17-acre waterfront parcel to the council and the public. She said she toured the site recently with other councillors and worked with GreenRoots as a girl taking water samples. Mass Audubon bought the Forbes property for $8.36 million, which we covered on September 16.
Mary O’Malley State Park pier (26R25). Adopted, seven in favor, one opposed, three absent. Taylor was the no. The resolution urges the state Department of Conservation and Recreation to reopen public engagement on the pier restoration before final design, to evaluate raising the pier and seawall for sea level rise, to restore the boat ramp and floating dock, and to study a Boston Harbor water taxi connection. The debate, and Taylor’s standing rule against resolutions.
Help reading a lease (2663). Adopted by unanimous consent. Recupero’s order asks the city manager to look at whether the city can help residents understand what is in their residential leases. Taylor, who does not often agree with Recupero, seconded the idea at length. What the order does and does not do.
Announcements
Robinson wished the city’s Jewish residents a happy holiday. Recupero said a city park was closed for an event and pointed families to the park near Eastern Minerals off Marginal Street, which is open. Santagate announced an overdose vigil on Thursday, September 24 at 6:30 p.m. in Chelsea Square “for us to remember those whose lives have been cut short by addiction.”
District 2 Councillor Deron Hines used his announcement to flag the Walmart delivery depot proposed for the Home Depot plaza on Webster Avenue, which returns to the Zoning Board of Appeals in October. “Anybody who wants their voices to be heard regarding this matter,” he said, and then, pointedly, “also anybody who is interested in having this company come, if you want to advocate on behalf, please also attend this meeting.” More on the depot.
The meeting adjourned shortly after 8 p.m.
What happens next
Three money orders sit in Ways and Means. The rodent program goes to a full-council conference meeting that has not been scheduled. The Forbes presentation goes to another one. The abutter notification order goes back to the planning department. The Walmart depot goes back to the Zoning Board of Appeals in October. If you have a document or a date we should have, write to [email protected].