Massachusetts State House Employees union organizer Morgan Simko appeared before the Somerville City Council to advocate for a resolution in support of the union’s efforts to allow collective bargaining for its members.

By Cassidy Beek

The Somerville City Council Meeting was called to order on Thursday, August 24, by Ward 3 City Councilor Ben Ewen-Campen. Topics included the unionization efforts of the State House staff, an update from Mayor Ballantyne on the Winter Hill School and a discussion about the Armory building.

The first item approved was a resolution by Ewen-Campen in support of the Massachusetts State House Employees union. Morgan Simko, one of the lead organizers of the union, was present to speak on the resolution. The purpose is to acknowledge state legislative staffers’ right to decide whether they want to collectively bargain with their employer.

“We expedite workers unemployment claims, bridge the gap that often exists in our Health Care Systems, provide civic engagement opportunities for our communities and we draft legislation that has quite literally saved people’s lives,” said Simko.

The council then approved items ordered by Ward 1 Councilor Matthew McLaughlin. The first ordered the Chief of Police and the Director of Health and Human Services to conduct compliance checks on establishments serving liquor to prevent over-serving of alcohol.

McLaughlin mentioned the program Somerville Cares About Prevention (SCAP) which aims to prevent adolescents from getting involved with drugs and alcohol. McLaughlin advocated for the adoption of one of their programs for Somerville, which hires volunteers to visit liquor stores and see if they will be served alcohol without a license.

Orders for the Commissioner of Public Works, Director of Health and Human Services and the Director of Inspectional Services to conduct daily inspections of liquor stores were approved. The orders seek to ensure cleanliness outside of the properties and fine business in violation.

Mayor Ballantyne conveyed a communication on the Winter Hill Community Innovation School situation. School is set to start on time at the two new Winter Hill locations. The Edgerly Education Center will welcome grades 1- 8 on Wednesday, August 30, and the Capuano Early Childhood Center will welcome Pre-K and kindergarten students on September 5. Work is currently underway at Edgerly with final construction finishing and cleanup still ongoing.

Ballantyne thanked the teams involved that worked tirelessly all summer to ensure a safe learning environment for the children of Somerville. “In 9 short weeks we mobilized countless resources to move over 430 students and staff to two new buildings. We have brought in an Emergency Management Consultant to set up an incident command center and built a team of over 30 people from a dozen different departments, running task forces, managing food and nutrition, transportation and mobility recreation, after school programming, communication and finance, and of course renovation and construction,” said the mayor.

Tours will be provided for Edgerly families on the evenings of Monday, August 28, and Tuesday, August 29, to get a sense of the new space.

While the last nine weeks have primarily been focused on safely moving students to new locations, the city has also been assessing the Winter Hill Community Innovation school at Sycamore Street. The engineers and architects have completed their broader structural evaluation of the existing Winter Hill building and are currently using the data to prepare conceptual designs, including renovations, additions or total reconstruction. Ballantyne said their finished reports are expected by September.

To review the timeline for the continued work, watch for updates on the Winter Hill website at somervillema.gov/whcis.

The council then shifted to the regular order of business by approving to reappoint Kimberly M. Wells to the position of City Clerk for a three-year term.

One order by Councilor At-Large Jake Wilson requested the Director of Mobility work to install wayfinding signage on the Community Path, including freeway exit style signage on the Community Path Extension as some segments limited access. Wilson also ordered the Director of Mobility to update the council on plans to expand bicycle parking in the city with a focus on Davis Square and Union Square, including using intersection daylighting space for bike racks. Ewen-Campen agreed with the demand for additional bike parking spaces in the city and added the high school to this list of places in need of bike racks. Following Ward 5 Councilor Beatriz Gomez Mouakad’s addition of Ball Square to the list, the order was approved.

Lastly, Gomez Mouakad discussed an order for the Director of the Arts Council and Director of Economic Development to take the steps outlined within, relative to the Armory building. Gomez Mouakad initiated the order as she felt the Directors of Arts of the Arts Council and Economic Development must immediately engage The Arts at the Armory and other Arts tenants in the planning process for the Armory building and include them in the master plan advisory committee.

Also discussed was a resolution by Gomez Mouakad for the administration to report to the council on the usage of the Armory building by existing tenants, city tenants and the vacancies within the building. Full transparency was solicited on the issue, including assessments on the tenants that currently reside, how the space is being used and the fees collected. Councilors At-Large Willie Burnley, Jr. and Kristen Strezo and Councilor Ewen-Campen also signed on.

“I feel optimistic that we can do right by Arts at the Armory and all the other important tenants in the Armory and give them a long-term home,” said Ewen-Campen, agreeing with Gomez Mouakad.