Northampton City Council Meetings

This was a sure- fire too long (5 and a half hours)  agenda with some pretty controversial and high impact items, unless  President Jarrett did not expect any Council discussion nor public comment.  There was a lot of the former, mostly about rent control,  the zoning petition at Hawley and Phillips and a postponement on the  Ordinance Amendment reducing new development  parking and increasing bike spaces .  I was one of the commenters  on the latter, as were three eloquent  tenants of the Lumberyard.  We all thought it a very poorly thought through change that would have negative knock on impact and hoped there would be further study and more community input.

Bill Newman, a member of the Reparations Committee spoke on his opinion that the committee should extend but  implement the report's recommendations.   Renika Montgomery-Tamakloe, also on that committee, felt otherwise.

Several placements of  National Grid--Verizon heard comment by abutters but were passed with  a 7-1 vote. Then a lot of consent items-- committee appointments (do most residents know how to apply to be on a committee? Do we need our committees to be all 'experts' or should we have a healthy mix of voices?) 

Director Nardi presented a very fast review of the FY '25 Quarter 4 financials. The city realized a $6.5 million surplus this year. When Director Nardi was  asked by Councilor Klemer, "There's people out there saying..."  whether $2 million could be used for schools, Director Nardi said, No.   "....it's a necessary part because as we support our operations we also want to make sure we have funds to support our infrastructure... we also want to refill  the reserves as we use them and we want to have cash on hand for any financial emergency or natural disaster or anything else that may arise that's what free cash is for."   6.4 million dollars?

Early voting dates will be available to city residents for primary voting.

Ordinances on parking for South Street, Bedford Terrace and a 4 way stop for State and Trumbull (yeah! Years in the making!) passed. 

An easement at the new Habitat for Humanity housing on Bridge Rd was queried by Councilor Rothenberg asking if there was a prior agreement to make that a playground. That was news to most, including Director Misch.

25.251 Citizen's Petition to Amend Chapter 350.4 Zoning Map to Rezone Parts of CB-Side to URC, the Phillips/Hawley construction, seemed to raise some sensible questions about the odd timing (years) between these two plots being zoned for business. Director Misch said Form Based Code adoption was the key and the early  petition commenters had asked for the plot to be retuned to its prior designation under the old URC setting.  This precedent setter which I believe flies in the face of the oft cited but oft ignored Sustainability Plan was denied 8-1. 

Reparations, after a hot debate in the last Council Session over whether to extend its term or not  was suddenly a popular unanimous vote to extend.

A Rent Stabilization petition was also popularly heard  despite the arguments presented earlier by Director Misch et al  in favor of  'attainable' housing  and denying the impact of  high end housing on comparable rent hikes.  Rent Stabilization petition (which has to be granted at the state level)  to be heard at Council in person in two weeks. I've heard there will be a parade. And Jugglers. 

The ordnance change allowing developers to reduce parking for cars under the suggestion that this will save developers so much money they will want to build little parks and house amenities, and reduce rent although that is not mandated in the ordinance change. Anyone wanting to know a little more about the history of rezoning might want to catch some of  the great North Street Association video of  two Planning Commission Meetings in September 2012 where much discussion was held. Just press the button. 

The Northampton Reparations Committee presented its final report but there was a great deal of controversy shared by members of that group over whether their work was done, which included some bitterly heated remarks from some members about others, including a council member  who some felt seriously inhibited the forward movement of the mission. Council voted to extend the Committee's charge for an additional year as well as accepting their report of progress thus far.

The Council voted 10-0 to add $116,711 of potential  state allocations to the school budget.  

The mayor also found $101,000 idiscovered by the city IT director inside the schools’ own budget where there were duplicate line items and unused tech contracts. That cash now goes to teaching staff to restore 2 NHS staff and the garden program. There may be more once 'free cash' is verified this autumn.  Of the 3 plans considered by the school committee, the  FY '26 budget is still $539,000 below level services, which mean maintaining staff and programs at FY'25 levels. Staff attrition, non renewals and retirement or leave positions filled by new staff at the very lowest salary levels will result in ongoing challenges.  There was no call to do a closer look across city departments to ascertain if there might be similar oversights or potential savings on line items. 

Each councilor made a long statement about how and why they were going to vote on the FY '26 budget. Some statements were very long. Some were circuitous. Councilors Maiore and Dubs eloquently shared their concerns and rationale about a budget that does not address the ongoing school district crisis. The final vote on this part of the city budget  was 5-3 (Maiore, Dubs and Rothenberg) as Councilor Jarrett could not vote on  budget which includes a contract with Pedal People. The budget vote requires a 2/3 majority so the budget did not pass, however it will go into effect irregardless on July 1, 2025 as required by state law. 

Budget presentations by:

1. Fire and Rescue
2. Police
3. Department of  Public Works
4. Central Services
5. Climate and Project Administration

Each department felt their budgets reflected full funding within the parameters of the mayor's allocation in terms of their real need to maintain essential services for FY '26  with the exception of Fire and Safety which appealed for additional staff to complete full shifts. DPW has the funding but is challenged in finding employees to staff open positions.