Maldden alld a Vol. 29, No. 17 den AADD -FREEStay Safe! Stay Home! We'll Get Through This Together! CTE CAT AT www.advocatenews.net Published Every Friday Neighbors Helping Neighbors Community Art Show 617-387-2200 By Christopher Roberson Malden Neighbors Helping Neighbors organizers Meera Krishnan and A.J. Kumar with Kabelo, 2, and Raja, 2 months. See page 5 for story and photo highlights. (Advocate Photo by Tara Vocino) Council conflict delays rental assistance By Barbara Taormina W ith a proposal to fast-track the city’s emergency rental assistance program on the table, city councillors took a hard stand on rules about setting the agenda, which led to this week’s meeting being adjourned with nothing being done. Just after roll call was taken, Councillor-at-Large Stephen Winslow explained that several items on the agenda came in after the 10 a.m. deadline on Thursday, and the agenda itself was not available two business days prior to the meeting as required by the council’s rules. “This agenda came out very late and in an unusual manner,” said Winslow, adding that the council needed to vote to suspend its rules, preferably for each item on the docket, to move forward. Still, Winslow and Ward 6 Councillor David Camell, Ward 3 Councillor Amanda Linehan, Ward 4 Councillor Ryan O’Malley and Councillor-at-Large Debbie DeMaria voted against a blanket suspension of council rules related to the agenda for the rest of the meeting, and instead the council voted unanimously to adjourn. But there were some tense exchanges among councillors before they decided to call it a night. City Clerk Greg Lucey said the staff in his offi ce worked hard to get the agenda out by Thursday, which met the state’s Open Meeting Law requirement of publishing agendas 48 hours prior to the meeting. “Kudos to the people who stayed late Thursday night to get it done,” said Lucey. But Winslow said the council had tighter rules than the state in order to let all councillors have input on what is on the agenda. “It’s one of the most signifi cant things I can do as a councillor,” he said. “This is not respectful of my role and the role of at least four other councillors who had no input on the agenda. It’s an aff ront to our procedure, and it’s out of order.” Other councillors felt the importance of items on the docket, particularly the rental assistance program, trumped the need to meet agenda deadlines. “The City Clerk’s offi ce has been running with a skeleton crew,” said Ward 2 Councillor Paul Condon. “We should be able to suspend rules for this entire docket, move forward and stop wasting the public’s time.” Ward 5 Councillor Barbara Murphy proposed suspending the rules so the council could do the business that people elected them to do. “There are many things on this docket that are going to help our constituents, and to be going through this tonight is absolutely disgraceful,” she said. “If we are unable to suspend the rules and move forward with this meeting, then I move that we adjourn this meeting, which will unfortunately leave many of our residents in dire straits,” added Murphy. But that’s what the council voted to do. Although six councillors voted to suspend the rules and move forward with the meeting, suspending rules requires a twothirds majority of the council. Several hours after the meeting ended, the fi ve councillors who voted against suspending rules released a joint statement explaining their votes. “We fi ve Councillors take seriously our role as protectors of the public’s right to offer comment at Council meetings, of the Council’s right to do business transparently in committee, and to follow our own rules and ordinances. We do not support a meeting agenda that is posted outside the legal timeframe, without input from half the body, and with docketed items in blatant violation of our own rules,” they wrote. DELAYS | SEE PAGE 2 he 10-vehicle fl eet of Malden Trans, Inc./Everett Taxi will be back on the roads of Malden, Everett and Melrose next Tuesday, April 28 following a three-week hiatus dictated by the COVID-19 virus. Owner Lester Morovitz, who has made numerous donations to local city and charitable organizations during the past fi ve decades, was compelled to close his family’s iconic transportation company on April 6. “We felt that there was going to be a 14-day period that was going to be bad,” said Morovitz, speaking of the surge expected from the ongoing pandemic. His initial plan was to remain closed until April 20; however, Morovitz said it would be prudent to wait until April 28. He said that going forward, each vehicle will have a partition separating the passenger from the driver and that a government-certified sanitization spray will be used after each trip. “It disinfects almost immediately,” he said. In addition, Morovitz said all T of his drivers will be required to wear face masks. “Safety is fi rst E Friday, April 24, 2020 Malden Trans/Everett Taxi to reopen on April 28 Lester Morovitz Owner of Malden Trans/Everett Taxi and foremost,” he said, for the customers as well as the drivers. The company’s hours of operation will be from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Sunday. “Everything shuts down after 6 anyway,” said Morovitz. In addition, Malden Trans/Everett Taxi also provides service to the River’s Edge Luxury Apartments, Logan International Airport, South Station and the Black Falcon Terminal. The last time the company closed was for 24 hours, following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963. * Mulching * Spring Clean-ups * Trimming & Maintenance NOW BOOKING NEW CUSTOMERS! Call 781-321-2074
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