Chelsea Police Chief Keith Houghton will reach the state’s mandatory retirement age of 65 in May 2027, and City Manager Fidel Maltez plans to set up a community committee to help pick his successor, according to a letter in the packet for Monday’s City Council meeting.
The packet for the October 19 meeting, which starts at 7 p.m., also brings the council the first look at Market Basket’s master plan for the Mystic Mall site, a proposal to take street sweeping in-house, $570,712 from the city’s first-ever linkage fee payment and the two votes that set up this year’s tax bills.
Choosing the next police chief
Maltez wrote that he will reach out to “a broad range of community stakeholders” to form a Community Police Chief Selection Committee, which will review every application and interview the candidates it decides are qualified. Its finalists will go to a second panel made up of the fire chief, department heads, Maltez and two city councillors, which will interview them again and make a recommendation to Maltez. He would then negotiate a contract with the person chosen.
Maltez wrote that he wants the new chief in place early enough to work alongside Houghton before he retires, and praised Houghton’s “steady, thoughtful, and community-driven leadership.” The letter does not give a timeline for posting the job.
Tax rates
Maltez is asking the council to hold a public hearing on November 16 and then take the two votes needed before tax bills go out by December 31. He recommends keeping the residential exemption at 35 percent, the most state law allows, which lowers the bill for people who own and live in their homes, and again shifting the maximum share of the tax levy allowed by law onto commercial, industrial and personal property, a 175 percent shift. The orders, filed by Council President Roberto Jimenez-Rivera, come before the Conference subcommittee’s October 27 presentation on taxes and property values.
Market Basket’s plan for Mystic Mall
Maltez sent the council the “DSM Site Study,” dated September 2026, which Market Basket’s real estate arm prepared with LT Development and The Architectural Team under a 2024 agreement with the city. It covers the roughly 30-acre property bounded by Everett Avenue, Spruce Street, Second Street, Carter Street and the MBTA tracks. The study says it is not a definitive plan or a commitment to build.
Its main concept puts two five-story buildings, about 55 feet tall, on the parking lots along Second and Carter Streets: one with 72 apartments and one with 90, each over 12,000 square feet of ground-floor retail and two levels of parking, with one space per apartment. A third, smaller retail building would go near Spruce Street. The study lists earlier improvements as a liquor store, a bus stop and shelter, a ride-share area and a connection to the commuter rail station, and names contaminated soil, poor soil conditions, easements and existing leases as limits on what can be built. “We will work aggressively to explore how this master plan can advance a development vision that benefits Market Basket, the City, and everyone in our community,” Maltez wrote. Our earlier report on the plan.
Street sweeping
The city pays a contractor to sweep streets six days a week, and that contract ends in December 2027. Maltez wrote that a new one is expected to start at more than $400,000 a year, in part because of uncertain diesel prices. The Department of Public Works proposes doing the work itself starting in January 2028, with a $350,000 Elgin Pelican sweeper, one new full-time position and 12 hours of overtime a week, for about $135,000 a year in labor. The city would replace the sweeper about every five years. The DPW estimates average savings of $2.2 million over 15 years, and says winter sweeping on days without snow would no longer cost extra.
$570,712 for social services
Maltez is asking to spend $570,712 from the Community Impact Linkage Fee, which large developments pay to the city, to keep social service programs running after their federal pandemic relief money (ARPA) runs out on December 31. The money came from the development at 295 Eastern Avenue and is the first linkage fee payment the city has received since the council adopted the fee. The letter does not list which programs would be funded.
Also on the agenda
- 911 dispatchers’ contract: raises of an extra 1 percent for fiscal 2026 and 1.5 percent for fiscal 2027 for dispatchers in NEPBA Local 192, plus a one-time retention payment in fiscal 2028 “due to the transition of the 911 regionalization.” Maltez puts the three-year cost at about $166,000. A contract for 911 supervisors in Teamsters Local 25 is also up for a vote.
- Draft fiscal 2028 capital plan: Maltez calls it “very lean and conservative” and says it slows spending on public buildings. The list includes $1.755 million for roads and sidewalks, $1 million each for public building renovations, an annual park project and Chelsea High’s heating and cooling system, $775,000 for Mill Creek, a $650,000 chiller for the high school and $277,000 for police cruisers. All 27 projects.
- Road money: $116,942.80 from the state’s ride-hailing surcharge for sidewalk and road repairs, and $26,546.88 in unpaid bills from past years.
- Library accessibility: In answer to an order from Councillor Kelly Garcia, Maltez wrote that a consultant is assessing the library for people with disabilities and families with young children, with bilingual community forums this fall and a final report in December.
- John Ruiz statue: Artist applications are due November 5, a design is expected in February and installation at John Ruiz Park is planned for fall 2027. Our report.
- Island End River: a corrected land taking that keeps a truck turnaround easement for a neighboring business, which the city says it left out by mistake last year.
- New order: Councillor Giovanni Recupero asks the city to deal with construction equipment, vehicles and trailers left on city streets overnight.
- Second readings: Kelly Garcia’s order for a 70 percent Chelsea preference in the new citywide affordable housing lottery, and a slate of board appointments. Jay Adams is nominated to the Community Preservation Committee.
Photo: Chelsea City Hall. Daderot, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.