GREEN SHEETS: Preview of 06/10/26 Boston City Council Meeting
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GREEN SHEETS: Preview of 06/10/26 Boston City Council MeetingEthics allegations against Weber complicate already contentious budget process; There 54 dockets on today's agenda; Few details on budget amendments outside Weber's package
The focus at this week’s meeting will be on the Council’s vote on Mayor Wu’s $4.9B FY27 Operating Budget and any budget amendments. Ways & Means Chair Ben Weber wanted to vote on the budget and his amendment package at last week’s Council meeting on June 3, but the Council decided on a 10-3 vote to push the vote off a week, to today, June 10. As a result of last week’s vote, on Monday the Council held a 7th budget working session. While it clocked in at 5 hours, making it the longest one yet, it accomplished very little. There was an effort to hold a straw poll on a proposed budget amendment by Councilor Julia Mejia, but it took more than an hour and only elicited yes or no answers from a handful of Councilors. The session was held virtually, and you can read the transcript below - the transcript was produced by Zoom and is presented without edits: The only important new information that came out that budget working session was about Ways & Means Chair Ben Weber’s ethics issue. This ethics issue emerged last week when community activist J.L. Smith claimed that Weber’s wife worked for a non-profit that received City grants and called for him step aside from the budget process - read the Boston Herald for more. Smith made more allegations since Monday’s meeting, and on Tuesday morning was given a platform by Jimmy Hills, who hosts the on-line talk show Java with Jimmy, to talk about them - Smith starts at the 31:00 minute mark of the show. On Tuesday evening Weber called new allegations a “smear” campaign - the Boston Herald has more. Java with Jimmy has quite a bit of reach: Mayor Wu is a frequent guest, including today at 12 PM. At Monday’s working session, Weber proactively addressed the ethics issue, and as a result the public learned 6 things:
A number of Councilors said they had amendments that were not included in Weber’s package, but there was no meaningful discussion about them on Monday. That means the meeting on Wednesday is likely to be quite long. There were also no answers at the Monday meeting for Councilor Culpepper’s concerns that the letter from CFO Groffenberger seemed to say that the Wu administration opposed a number of pulls that are in Weber’s amendment package - find the letter & read more about IT in BPI’s preview of Monday’s working session and the Boston Herald also covered it. The CFO’s criticism of the pulls is important because if the Mayor opposes some of Weber’s pulls, then she could veto the package. That makes the vote count for amendments at today’s meeting very important: the Council only needs 7 vote to pass a budget amendment, but needs 9 votes to override a mayoral veto. In this preview there will be the docket number, along with the page numbers and a short description of the docket. You can follow along in the agenda packet: First up is “COMMUNICATIONS FROM HER HONOR, THE MAYOR,” which are items being sent to the Council by the Mayor that will see follow-up hearings before being voted on by the Council. Docket #1181 (p. 11–12) is a request for Council approval of a $1M grant - the Cummings Community Safety Grant - awarded by the Cummings Foundation and administered by the Office of Human Services. The grant funds the Community Safety Initiative, Public Health Initiative, Community Events Initiative, and Youth Engagement Initiative. Docket #1182 (p. 13–14) is a request for Council approval of a $3,220 grant from MassHire Department of Career Services, administered by the Office of Workforce Development, to fund employment training, career counseling, and job search assistance for disabled individuals at Boston’s MassHire Career Centers. There are no “PETITIONS, MEMORIALS AND REMONSTRANCES” this week, so Next up is “REPORTS OF PUBLIC OFFICERS AND OTHERS,” which are items the Council is being informed about, but is not able to vote on. Docket #1183 (p. 15–16) is a routine notice from the City Clerk regarding Mayor Wu’s actions on papers from the May 20 Council meeting. Docket #1184 (p. 17) is a communication from the Boston Retirement Board that Dennis C. Callahan was elected to serve as Trustee for a term ending January 15, 2027. Docket #1185 (p. 18–20) is a communication from Councilor Flynn requesting written protocols from the Fire Department, Police Department, and EMS for responding to emergencies at Boston Housing Authority developments when an elevator failure is ongoing. This follows the case of a double amputee disabled veteran who was unable to access his apartment during a 22-hour elevator failure and was forced to sleep outside South Station overnight - read more about that incident in the Boston Herald. Next up is “REPORTS OF COMMITTEES” which are hearings that were held prior to 9 AM the Monday prior to the regular meeting. Dockets #0796–#0800 and #1037–#1040 (p. 22–45) are eight confirmations of appointments and reappointments to the Back Bay Architectural District Commission, Boston Landmarks Commission, and Fort Point Channel Landmark District Commission. The Planning, Development, and Transportation Committee recommends that all eight ought to pass. Dockets #0741–#0754 (p. 43–48) are 14 FY27 revolving fund authorizations, which are required by state law for self-sustaining departmental funds. The Ways & Means Committee recommends they all ought to pass. Two are new this year:
Docket #0733 (p. 82–118) is the main event for this meeting: the FY27 Annual Appropriations and Tax Order. Weber’s Ways & Means Committee recommends it ought to pass in an amended form. Weber’s proposed amendment package is worth $8.8M: $7.6M in inter-departmental transfers and $1.2M in intra-departmental recommendations. Weber’s package this week is different from the package he offered last week: there were $225k worth of investments removed, and $250k moved from a budget change to a recommendation. Weber’s ethics issue caused the $1.1M in changes for Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Advancement to be removed from this package, though they will be offered in another package offered by Ways & Means Vice Chair FitzGerald.
The $7.6M in new spending is paid for with $3.9M from the Execution of Courts Special Appropriation with the remaining coming from BCYF, Public Works, and scattered personnel lines across dozens of departments where vacant positions exist. The $1.2M worth of recommendations has no legal weight, and based on recent Council discussions, it appears the Mayor rarely if ever follows them. There will likely be other amendments offered on the floor: Councilors FitzGerald, Flynn, and Mejia all indicated at Monday’s working session that they had additional concerns not addressed by Weber’s package. FitzGerald in particular has a package of $7M worth of cuts that he proposed back on June 2, but which was not discussed in any detail at the working session this week. Next up is “MATTERS RECENTLY HEARD-FOR POSSIBLE ACTION,” which are dockets that had hearing between 9 AM on Monday and the beginning of since the last regular meeting, but there is nothing in this section. Next up is “MOTIONS, ORDERS AND RESOLUTIONS,” which are legislative actions from City Councilors. There are 11 dockets in this section, and 3 are worth watching. Docket #1187 (p. 121) is a hearing order from Councilor Pepén about the Resident Parking Permit Program, which the docket claims:
This is a docket to watch because a number of recent issues - including Councilor Durkan’s proposal to abolish the parking minimum abolition, the new White Stadium no-gameday parking zone, and the focus on the Parking Meter Fund in the FY27 budget debate - has thrust the City’s parking management into the spot light. Docket #1192 (p. 128) is a 17F request from Councilor Flynn for data on housing units, asking specifically for:
Docket #1194 (p. 130) is a resolution from Councilor Pepén asking the Council to go on the record in support of the rent control compromise announced last week between Homes for All, the committee behind the rent control ballot question, and 4 major developers and institutional apartment owners. The compromise has not been endorsed by any of the real estate trade groups, and some - like the Small Property Owners Association - have rejected it. The remaining sections are “PERSONNEL ORDERS” which is legislative action required to keep Council staff on payroll and “CONSENT AGENDA” which are for recognition from the Council of events like birthdays and anniversaries. Boston Policy Institute, Inc is working to improve the public conversation - help us by following BPI on YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
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