20220502 Special City Council Minutes City of Beverly
Special City Council Meeting
Public Meeting Minutes
Monday,May 2,2022, 6:30pm
Julie Flowers, City Council President, called the meeting to order at 6:30pm. City Clerk, Lisa
Kent,took the attendance by roll call.
Members Present: Hannah Bowen, Steven Crowley, Kathleen Feldman, Scott Houseman, Estelle
Rand, Todd Rotondo,Brendan Sweeney, Julie Flowers
Members Absent: Matthew St. Hilaire
Sweeney led the pledge of allegiance.
Flowers opened the floor for Councilors to speak about scheduling committee meetings and
referred to Councilor Rotondo who asked for the meeting.
Rotondo spoke about the Council retreat back in March and how the Council agreed to go back
to meeting every 2nd and 4rh Monday for Committee meetings. Realizing this has not been a
typical time with so much going on,but having the meetings at staggered times on Mondays for
any committee who wishes to meet should be the way to go. It does not always have to be the
Committee of the Whole; it's a choice by each Councilor whether or not they are able to attend.
There are a lot of meetings going on through the week, as well as person things. Committing to
Monday nights has always been the normal, besides COVID times and remote meetings.
Rotondo said he understands budget season is different and there will be 2-3 meetings a week,
but as normal we agreed to do Mondays. There is a reason that we have subcommittees. They
report back to the Council so that we can make a decision after they have discussed and made a
decision on the matters before them.
Flowers.and Feldman agreed. Feldman said that Mondays work best for her as well. There are
many things going on in the City that as a Ward Councilor I need to attend on other nights. A
subcommittee is put together to divide and conquer,trust each other and value the work each
subcommittee does. We can't keep this schedule up.
Bowen agreed this schedule is not sustainable. Understanding bigger public conversations need
to happen at times,but sticking to Mondays and doing remote meeting for appointments like
Public Services has done in the past on other night works out well.
Rand appreciates this meeting and agrees aside from the Charter review meetings coming up and
budget season,2nd and 4d`Mondays staggered for each committee is the way to go. I think the
Chairs of each committee will respect if another committee has something big and needs more
time on those Mondays. We can stagger the times.
Houseman stated traditionally Monday meetings were staggered on the 2nd and 4ch Mondays.
Staggering them allows other Councilors from other Committees to attend meetings if they
choose to. Budget season is different,we schedule 2-3 a week throughout the season. We need to
use the City Clerk's Office and Council President to help with scheduling.
Flowers agreed. We all want to work with the City Clerk's Office to schedule so that there is not
conflict with the times. It is important to start closing things in subcommittees and sending them
back to Council to vote on so we can get ready for next season.
A motion to adjourn was made and seconded. A vote was taken, and the motion carried(8-0).
The meeting adjourned at 6:54pm.