Hiring of Somerville residents, members of minority groups, and military veterans for the ongoing Union Sq. development project took the focus at the latest Land Use Committee meeting.

By Jim Clark

At the latest meeting of the City Council of Somerville’s Land Use Committee, an order was put forward requesting that the Director of Economic Development update this Council on the implementation of the Union Square Covenant, which includes local and veterans preference in hiring.

Ward 1 Councilor Matthew McLaughlin sponsored the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development’s Director of Economic Development Thomas Galligani to speak on the matter.

“As most folks know, the city entered into a covenant with the SRA’s master developer and the city’s master developer for the Union Square development project,” Galligani began. “Way back in 2017, in conjunction with a rezoning of the Union Square district to allow for the developments that are contemplated.”

Galligani went on to explain that the covenant has a number of different stipulations, most of which relate to development impact fees that the developer would contribute to the city, based on performance with each phase of the project.

“But there was one item that specifically mentions hiring several residents and veterans,” Galligani continued. “And that is Section 5 of the covenant, and it basically says that the city should inform US2, our developer, and instruct them and their contractors and subcontractors to do best efforts to hire workers that are local and then also workers that are veterans.”

Galligani then introduced two others who were present at the meeting who would be speaking on the matter, Greg Karczewski, who is part of the development team from US2, as well as Jennifer Mancia, Economic Development Specialist at the Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development (OSPCD), who coordinates all of the office’s workforce development efforts.

Karczewski provided an overview of what US2 has been doing to develop a diverse workforce during the current phase of development. “What we found in the process of constructing these first buildings is that building up a workforce that include women, minorities, local residents and veterans takes diligence and commitment and resources, and we like to commend our contractor partners, community partners and labor partners, who have worked with us diligently throughout the process to build the diverse and representative workforce,” Karczewski said.

Karczewski went on the explain that US2 has stressed the importance of these efforts to its contractors and continues to do so. This includes hiring 20 percent of the workforce from qualified Somerville residents, 20 percent from people of color, and 8 percent from qualified women. Karczewski acknowledged the need to increase the number of veteran hires in the ongoing project developments.

Jennifer Mancia reviewed OSPCD’s programming practices. According to Mancia, the team oversees funding and programming that leads to foundational post-secondary support in the form of the adult high school diploma program, digital literacy, career navigation services, among others. The several specific industries that are served were mentioned. Mancia emphasized that none of the above-mentioned efforts could be achieved without partnerships.

The Committee thanked the participants and placed the item on the table marked work complete.