Appropriating funds to further the construction of a sound wall along I-93 at the Mystic housing developments was among the top items of business addressed by the City Council’s Finance Committee at their latest meeting. — Photo by Bobbie Toner

By Jennifer Purcell

Last Tuesday, Somerville’s finance committee held a meeting to discuss and approve several grants that had previously been requested for approval by Mayor Ballantyne. The meeting lasted about two hours as a variety of topics that would ultimately lead to the betterment of the community were discussed.

MassDOT sound walls

The primary topic of discussion brought up by Committee Chair Councilor At-Large Jake Wilson was Order #23-1234, requesting to accept and expend a $250,000 grant that would go towards the construction of sound walls along Interstate 93 around the Mystic housing developments. Ward 4 Councilor Clingan expressed his support for this cause, noting that there has not been proper coverage for residents living around I93. In regards to the changes that would result from this, he stated that a tunnel noise would be created if these walls were to be constructed as the noise from the passing vehicles would bounce off of them. When asked for a timeline from Councilor Kelly, it was stated that while a timeline has not yet been established, such studies usually take between 9-12 months to complete.

As a resident of the community himself, Chair Wilson concluded that this change is long overdue and very much welcome, thus recommending it for approval.

Unpaid Invoices and Grants

Chair Wilson proceeded to invite Karin Carroll, Somerville’s Director of Health and Human Services, to speak on several of the subjects at hand. It became evident that several of last year’s invoices had been left unpaid, and she requested to pay them on behalf of the rest of the Health and Human Services Committee. Additionally, there are several grants that she has been hoping to get approved. These invoices and grants were as follows:

• Requesting $3,867.08 using funds from the account for Medicaid billing services. This invoice had been sent to a retired staff member and no one else had been notified.
• Requesting $2,684 using funds from the account for The Throne Depot for portable restrooms, as the invoice came in larger than they had initially budgeted for.
• Requesting a $300,000 grant from the Department of Public Health, a grant that will aid in tracing COVID-19 by funding an epidemiologist who will monitor data trends in Somerville and several nearby communities.
• Requesting a $61,710 grant from the Metro North Regional Employment Board, an annual grant for the YouthWorks summer program.

All four of these requests were approved by the committee without question or further concerns.

Somerville Police Department Grants

The Somerville Police Department had several requests for the committee. The first Item that Captain Jeffrey DiGregorio wanted to address was the pending application for a $13,616.79 grant that would fund helmets with hand-free headsets for officers on motorcycles in order to make them less prone to accidents. However, when asked about the whereabouts of the documentation regarding where the grant funding will be coming from, the Captain did not have an answer and agreed to look into that further before the committee made a decision. Additionally, they requested $75,000 to upgrade their emergency operations center (EOC), which had the same outcome.

The SPD’s final request was to be granted $513,421 in order to replace seven of their police vehicles. Their current vehicles are about four years old, and Captain DiGregorio stressed that police vehicles need to be replaced much more frequently than standard vehicles as they are used more often and need to be in good condition at all times. Councilor Kelly and Councilor Scott both expressed concern because this Item would reflect a 100% increase in the police department’s ordinary maintenance spending, alongside the fact that several other vehicles have already been requested but haven’t been received yet. Upon holding a Roll Call at the end of the meeting, it was revealed that four Councilors were in favor of this Item whilst Councilor Scott opposed it.