The Chelsea City Council will hold its public hearing on this year’s property tax rates on Monday, November 16, at 7 p.m., and the same agenda asks councillors to create a city pest control technician job, act on Community Preservation Act grants and take up a rewrite of the city’s rules for scooters and e-bikes.
The city posted the agenda Thursday morning. It settles a question left open in the record: the council’s October 19 minutes listed the tax hearing for November 19, while the city manager’s letters said November 16. The agenda puts the hearing on Monday’s meeting at City Hall, 500 Broadway.
The tax hearing
Two orders are up for the hearing, both introduced by Council President Roberto Jimenez-Rivera. Order 26F53 adopts the minimum residential tax factor for fiscal 2027 with a 1.75 shift onto commercial, industrial and personal property. Order 26F54 adopts a 35 percent residential exemption, which goes only to owners who live in their homes.
The city’s assessors project that the two votes would raise the bill on a median owner-occupied single-family home by about $280 and on a median two-family by about $577. The full table, with condominiums and three-families, is in our report on the projected bills. Residents who want to speak on the rates can do so at the hearing, which comes before the regular public speaking period on the agenda.
A pest control technician for the city
City Manager Fidel Maltez has sent the council a letter on creating a pest control position inside the Inspectional Services Department. The order that goes with it, number 2682, would authorize him to establish and fill the job of Pest Control Technician as a union position under SEIU.
The job was not in the budget the council adopted for fiscal 2027. The order says any money needed this year would come back to the council for a vote after the state certifies the city’s free cash, and that starting with the fiscal 2028 budget the administration would look for cuts elsewhere to cover the cost. The agenda gives no salary.
Rodents came up at the council’s last meeting too. On November 2, Councillor Kelly Garcia withdrew an order on developer-funded rodent control because a committee meeting on the city’s rodent program was already pending, as we reported.
Scooters and e-bikes
Under new business, Councillor Leo Robinson has filed order 2683, which would revise Section 16-79 of the city code, the section on the operation of motorized skateboards, scooters, e-bikes and other motorized recreational vehicles. The agenda does not say what would change, and the text of the revision was not posted with it.
Police laid out a 90-day scooter enforcement plan to a council committee in September.
Street sweeping and overnight parking on Broadway
The manager has also answered order 2677, which the council adopted on November 2 at the request of Councillor Lisa Santagate. That order asked him to look at changing the 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. street sweeping schedule on Broadway and holding off meter enforcement until 9 a.m., so that metered spaces could be used for overnight parking. His response is listed on the agenda. Its contents are not yet public.
Also on the agenda
- Community Preservation Act grants. The Community Preservation Committee has sent its funding recommendations, and order 26F65 asks the council to act on the grant awards for fiscal 2027 projects. The list of projects and amounts was not posted with the agenda.
- Downtown Broadway. The Traffic and Parking Commission has reported back on what it approved November 4, including its recommendation on altering the street layouts for the Downtown Broadway reconstruction. Order 2673 covers portions of Broadway, Bellingham Street, Marlborough Street, Sixth Street, Washington Avenue and Chestnut Street. Our account of that commission meeting is here.
- Board appointments. Two nominations the manager sent on October 28 come up for a second reading: Brian Hatleberg for the Zoning Board of Appeals and Jordan Hakes for the Conservation Commission, each for a three-year term ending November 30, 2029. The Zoning Board turned down a Walmart delivery depot this week. A new letter from the manager asks for approval of more appointments; the names were not posted.
- Exercise program grant. Order 26F64, introduced by Councillor Norieliz DeJesus, would accept $15,000 from Mystic Valley Elder Services for an exercise program.
- Minutes. The minutes of the November 2 meeting are up for approval.
What is not posted yet
As of midday Thursday the city had posted the two-page agenda but not the meeting packet, which carries the manager’s letters, the Community Preservation Committee’s list and the text of the scooter order. We will update this report when the packet is posted.
Next
The council meets again on Monday, November 23, at 6:30 p.m., in a special joint meeting with the School Committee. That agenda has one item of business: a review of the city’s financial condition and its revenue and spending forecasts with the city manager and the superintendent of schools.