Chelsea has received its first payment under the linkage fee it charges large developments: $570,712, from the project at 295 Eastern Avenue. City Manager Fidel Maltez wants to spend it on social services that federal pandemic money pays for now. That money runs out December 31. On Monday night the City Council did not approve the request. It sent the request to a conference committee of the full council after Councillor Todd Taylor asked whether the fund would become “the slush fund for nonprofits.”
What the city manager asked for
Maltez’s letter asks the council to let him spend “up to $570,712” from the Community Impact Linkage Fee fund “to support eligible social services and programs currently funded through ARPA,” the American Rescue Plan Act. The council adopted the linkage fee in 2022. Under it, qualifying large developments pay into a fund for community needs. Maltez called the 295 Eastern Avenue payment “the first linkage fee payment received by the City” since the policy was adopted. He wrote that the ARPA-funded programs “have provided important assistance to Chelsea residents” and that their funding “is scheduled to sunset on December 31st of 2026.” The letter does not say which programs or agencies would get the money.
“Not just a carte blanche permission”
Councillor Calvin Brown moved to send the order to the Ways and Means Committee. Taylor objected. “I think that this is something that concerns more than just Ways and Means, so perhaps we can move it to a subcommittee on conference so everybody gets a chance to weigh in on this,” Taylor said. “This needs a little bit more detail and structure, I would say, and not just a carte blanche permission.”
Taylor went on: “Apparently we’re going to have more money coming into this fund, and is this just going to be the slush fund for nonprofits? So we just need to figure out exactly what’s going on, how much and what the rules are to this.” Brown changed his motion to send the order to conference, and no one objected.
Councillor Giovanni Recupero asked whether there would be a public hearing. Council President Roberto Jimenez-Rivera said the public cannot comment at a conference committee, but residents can speak at any regular council meeting before the order returns for a vote. Recupero also asked how many years the fee would be paid. Jimenez-Rivera said his understanding is that “it’s one time payment.” More money would come into the fund only if other developments pay the fee. No date has been set for the conference committee.
DeJesus steps aside
The order was listed on the agenda under Vice President Norieliz DeJesus’s name. Before the clerk finished reading the letter, Jimenez-Rivera said DeJesus was recusing herself “due to her employment.” The clerk said the order had been put in under her name “before she knew that the order could potentially relate to her employer.” It does not name any agency, the clerk said, so recusal “was not required.” But “given that her employer is very likely going to be an agency that could receive funds,” she was advised to step aside “out of an abundance of caution.” Jimenez-Rivera said the advice came from the city solicitor. If the order ever names specific organizations, the clerk said, “then it would be problematic.”
Background
We first reported the request in our preview of Monday’s council packet. The full discussion is in our transcript of the meeting. Nine councillors were present. Councillor Hines was away at a wedding, and Councillor Tanairi Garcia was out for a family health matter, Jimenez-Rivera said.