City Council

Citation to Cobblestones on their 20th anniversary of opening in Lowell. Councilor Rourke motion that city join FEMA’s Community Rating System. This helps residents in flood plain get reduced rates on flood insurance. Several people speak in favor of it. Passes unanimously. Mayor Elliott motion re improving pedestrian crossing of…

The City Council held a special meeting to review City Manager Kevin Murphy’s proposed FY15 budget. After three hours of questions and discussion, the council adopted the $333,987,477 budget in its entirety. The council cannot add to the budget or shift money within it but can only make cuts. Only…

Summary: The City Council adopted the City Manager’s FY15 Budget as proposed without any changes. The budget amount is $333,987,477. Meeting begins at 6 pm. Councilor Mercier mentions letters from electrical provider to residents about switch in electricity supplier. Assures everyone this is nothing to be concerned about. Budget session…

The City Council formally took up City Manager Murphy’s FY15 budget at a public hearing at Tuesday night’s meeting. When the mayor asked if anyone wished to speak in favor of the budget there was silence. Before he asked if anyone was opposed, Councilor Kennedy jumped in and suggested that…

Mayor Elliott introduced Hannah York, the new City Auditor. She says she’s delighted to be here and everyone has been wonderful, especially the staff in the Auditor’s Office. Public Hearing on Proposed FY15 Budget Councilor Kennedy congratulates City Manager Murphy on the budget document but says because it proposes a…

I’m still recuperating from knee surgery so my own participation in the week’s political activities was limited but here are some observations from the sidelines. Nancy Pelosi visits Lowell Early Monday morning, Nancy Pelosi and ten Congressional colleagues rolled into the parking lot of Middlesex Community College as part of…

Budget Matters The City Manager’s proposed FY15 budget will be presented to the city council at this coming Tuesday’s meeting so there will be much to scrutinize there because the allocation of funds will show the priorities of the new administration for the coming year. A budget-related matter came up…

Moment of silence for Ed Trudel, former Lowell Special Events Coordinator who died on Saturday. Lowell Green Building Commission award for “green building excellence” to Chris Gleba and Kris Erikson, owners of an 1895 property at 48 Epping Street that was recently renovated. Vote authorizing CM to execute a lease…

Excuse my delay in posting but this morning I was at the Greater Lowell Veterans Council Memorial Day service – look for a blog post about it later today. Here are my observations of this week in Lowell politics: Customer Service Tuesday’s council meeting was pretty sedate until the final…