THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 2022 Page 3 Councillors dispute trash fines By Adam Swift A motion by Ward 1 Councillor Joanne McKenna to give residents a little more leeway with extra trash in the week after Christmas turned into a larger discussion about overall trash fi nes at Monday night’s City Council meeting. McKenna asked that Mayor Brian Arrigo request the municipal inspections department not issue trash violations during the Christmas holiday week. “During Christmas holiday week, I just think we should give the residents a present and not ticket them because their garbage can is over fi ve inches,” said McKenna. “I had a senior citizen call me about this, and he said his garbage – he only had one barrel and he was putting the extra stuff he had, the overfl ow, in this barrel and he got a $25 ticket. I’m just asking the city to overlook during Christmas holiday and New Year’s holiday for the overfl ow.” Serino said he has also received similar complaints from residents about fines due to trash overfl ow during the holiday season. “I think we should grant a reprieve for that week because it is a major overfl ow,” said Serino. Councillor-at-Large Dan Rizzo said there should be more discretion by the city when it comes to issuing trash fines overall. “We used to have a major, serious rodent problem here in the city, and we went through a lot of diff erent measures – but these are our own residents,” said Rizzo. “I think we can implement a little common sense. If someone is running out with the last bag and the trash is coming today, and it’s popped open a few inches, come on, I mean, let’s give our own residents a break.” Ward 3 Councillor Anthony Cogliandro said he would supJOANNE MCKENNA Ward 1 Councillor port the no-ticketing policy for every week the city has a bulk, overfl ow pickup week. Ward 5 Councillor Al Fiore said one of the biggest concerns he heard from residents during his campaign was about the city balancing the budget on the backs of the taxpayers with $25 fi nes at a time. “Now I understand the reason behind doing it, but I don’t think rats understand the diff erence between a warning and a fi ne,” said Fiore. He added that he will be going through the city ordinances and making amendments for the city to issue warnings instead of fi nes for issues such as the trash overfl ow. “It’s really been a problem for the residents of the city; it creates a lot of frustration. I don’t think it’s right, and I think we need to look out for our own,” said Fiore. Ward 4 Councillor Patrick Keefe said he agrees with McKenna’s motion, but took exception with Fiore’s contention that the city was balancing the budget through a series of $25 fi nes at a time. “What I do want to say is that there was almost a full year of amnesty on this program before they really started truly enforcing it,” said Keefe. “We had a serious rat problem Baker secures contract for 26M rapid antigen tests O n Tuesday, the Baker-Polito Administration announced an order that was placed with iHealth to supply the state with 26 million rapid antigen tests over the next three months. The tests will be prioritized to support K-12 schools and childcare settings. The agreement allows for shipments of tests to arrive on a rolling basis in the Commonwealth, but the Administration warns that the timing and – we had a serious rodent problem – in our city; it’s not gone away, but it has definitely subsided. I don’t think we are building the budget on the backs of $25 tickets; I hate to say it but that is political fodder; I hope we are not going to be dealing with that all year.” Fiore in turn took exception with Keefe’s characterization of his motives. “I’m very disappointed in Councillor Keefe and I hope we can end that here; you’re better than that,” said Fiore. Joe Lake, the DPW general foreman, said he supports giving some leniency during the holidays, but added that trash has become a major issue and that the city has spent a lot of time trying to resolve the rodent issue. “We got it resolved with the barrel program, a very energetic barrel program that cost the city a lot of money,” said Lake. “I agree with Councillor Keefe. 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