Ward 5 July Newsletter
 Welcome to Fiscal Year 2021. We made it through budget season, with some unexpected changes.
My monthly newsletter for Ward 5 will update you on what's coming before the council, decisions that we've made, and what's happening in the ward.
City Council meetings are still online (or you can call in) and public comment is encouraged. You can find instructions on the agenda for each meeting. The next meeting (and the only regular one in July) is Thursday, July 9th, at 7 pm. Questions? Please reach out.
In this issue:
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Ward 5 gathering on Zoom
Please join me this Sunday, July 12th from 4 to 5 pm for my first Ward 5 get-together o n Zoom. This will be an opportunity for questions and answers and to hear concerns and ideas. Before COVID-19, I had planned monthly gatherings around the ward, and I've missed having the opportunity to meet face-to-face. Click this link to register:
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Police budget decisions
This past month, the council received thousands of emails, calls and texts about the police budget, and the role of policing in Northampton. We heard some 9 hours of public comment and had meetings that went until 2 and 3 a.m.
On Thursday 6/18, the Northampton City Council approved a 10% cut to the police budget for Fiscal Year 2021.
Our police are a crucial piece of public safety. They take personal risks to protect others and I have great respect for that. I do not see the decision to reduce funding as being anti-police, but rather an adjustment of budget priorities and a push to change the way we do public safety.
This was not an easy decision. I considered many different viewpoints, did extensive research, and did what I thought was right. Here's why I supported this cut:
- We are in a period of an economic contraction, many unknown additional costs due to COVID-19 and a likely decrease in state funding. The costs for personal protective equipment at the schools should they reopen in person are estimated to be $1.6 million, plus additional extensive retrofitting to the buildings.
- I have looked at the size of our force in relation to many other cities with college students and tourism, and at the distribution and types of calls for service. Our force size is larger than average for our population, and we will have a decreased student population and tourism due to COVID-19. I believe the funding we still have will allow all the core safety functions of policing to remain in place.
- Approximately $850,000 is now available to fund other needs in our city including education, social services and infrastructure. Meeting human needs helps reduce the need for policing.
- We are in a period of time where many people are rethinking how we do public safety. Alternatives to policing for responses to mental health issues, addiction, domestic violence and working with the unhoused have been found to lead to better outcomes, often at reduced cost. Although the council can't reallocate funds, the Mayor can, and freeing up funds makes room for that. I encourage you to ask the Mayor to put funding for this fiscal year into these programs.
- I have heard from hundreds of city residents, many from my ward, who have concerns about policing in Northampton and want us to find alternatives. We now have more resources available to study these alternatives.
Some have asked, why didn't you just wait to make a cut until we knew exactly what would replace police services? I made a judgment, and I think other councilors did too, that institutional change just wasn't going to happen unless we pushed the issue. This was the moment to start that push.
Special thanks to the many people who helped me research this issue.
For more about my thinking leading up to the decision, please see my website. For next steps and thoughts on reform, read on...
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Northampton Policing Review Commission and other next steps
I have been horrified by the murder of George Floyd and by violent actions of police toward black and brown people around the country. The protests we've seen across the nation and here in Northampton demonstrate the built-up anger and frustration at the continued oppression, on top of centuries of systemic racism that deny people of color economic security, safety and respect.
I have been listening to people of color – mostly black people, who describe what it is like to be policed in Northampton. Followed, with an officer’s hand on their gun. Stopped for picking a blackberry from the side of the road. Called “Hey Boy” and questioned. Followed through town in their car to their destination - an experience most white people I know don't have. Many white people I talk to in town think that our police department is doing just fine on these issues, and it is clear to me that we are not.
To address these issues, the ones described in the previous section, and others, the Council is considering the proposed Mayoral/City Council Policing Review Commission. I am hopeful about this commission and appreciate that it is a collaboration between the executive and legislative branches. At our Tuesday 6/21 meeting, Council members and the public suggested many additions, including domestic violence work, meeting human needs to reduce the need for policing, studying police liability insurance and ending qualified immunity, and stipends for members of the commission to make it more accessible.
It is still in draft form so please comment on it to me, and to the the Council President and the Mayor. At the council's next meeting on July 9th, we'll be voting on a resolution to participate in this commission.
Historically, commissions like these don't have a great track record at producing change. Continued public pressure will be needed to guide it in the right direction and to ensure we actually take action on any recommendations.
The City Council should still independently move forward. Councilor Maiore and I will be asking one or more of our standing committees to explore the legislative options we have, and once we have a clear idea of the make-up of the commission, may propose a City Council Select Committee to fill in the gaps.
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Open Meeting Law
The Open Meeting Law in Massachusetts requires that most meetings of public bodies be held in  public, and it establishes rules that public bodies must follow in the creation and maintenance of records relating to those meetings.
On June 25th the Council responded to two complaints (#1, #2) that alleged the Council had violated the Open Meeting Law in its June 18th meeting. In order to violate it, a quorum of councilors (5 of the 9 councilors) would have had to communicate about an issue outside of a public meeting. The complaints alleged that councilors had contacted each other during a recess of a council meeting. Seven councilors made statements that they did not, which refuted the claims. Once 30 days have passed since the complaint was filed, the filers may appeal to the Attorney General's office if they are dissatisfied with our response.
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Conflict of interest and voting on the General Fund
The conflict of interest that I have as a worker-owner of Pedal People caused unforeseen complications this past month. Before I even decided to run for office, I talked with the State Ethics Commission to determine the implications of the pre-existing contract that Pedal People has with the Central Services Department to empty public trash & recycling from bins in Northampton and Florence. At that time, it was understood that I would have to recuse myself from voting on the issue, but I learned this past month that it isn't possible to separate out this line item from the rest of the General Fund budget in the final vote. As a work-around, we managed to separate it so that I could deliberate, make amendments, and vote on the adoption of everything but this item, but in the final vote for the General Fund budget I was unable to participate. In order to better represent my constituents, I am committed to resolving the issue of voting on the General Fund by the time of next fiscal year's vote, in June 2021.
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Outdoor dining
At our June 4th meeting, we enacted an order which I supported to temporarily suspend several ordinances to allow the use of parking spaces and the public street for outdoor dining, to help restaurants reopen during COVID-19. (The Gazette has better pictures).
My spouse and I ate out at La Veracruzana for our one year anniversary last week. I appreciated the expansion of the public space into the street, and it felt great to be back in downtown. The sanitizing and distancing procedures were followed.
At the June 4th meeting, I raised concerns about equity, as it should not be a requirement to buy something to eat in the public space. People are allowed to remove their masks to eat, but only when seated at monitored restaurant seating. It isn't feasible for the city to provide public table and chairs and sanitize them between each use. I asked for the regulations to be updated so that a picnic in the park, properly distanced, would be permitted. As of now I have not seen any changes to the regulations to permit this.
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Disqualifying contractors who make, design or maintain nuclear weapons
 During the previous term, the Council and the Mayor initiated the process of bringing Northampton into compliance with the United Nation's Nuclear Ban Treaty. On July 2nd, the Governor signed a bill into law which permits Northampton to disqualify a bidder or vendor who participates in the design, manufacture or maintenance of nuclear weapons. Thank you to our state representatives and to NuclearBan.us for their advocacy!
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Thank you for reading! I welcome suggestions and feedback. Please be in touch, and invite others to subscribe. You can call or text me at 413-320-4700, or e-mail ajarrett@northamptonma.gov.
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