Mimi Parseghian looks at the agenda for this coming Tuesday’s Lowell City Council meeting, which begins at 6:30 pm and will be televised live on LTC channel 99 and streamed live on LTC’s website. And if you can’t attend the meeting in person, or watch it live, check back here tomorrow night right after the meeting when I’ll post my City Council meeting notes. From Mimi . . .

This week’s Lowell City Council agenda is similar to last week’s.  Discussion of the 10 motion answers from last week was postponed to this week.  I believe that decision was made so that the meeting would be completed prior to the announcements of the unofficial election results.

Here is the link to last week’s post for a quick refresher.

There are two new items of interest.  One is a 37-page report of the FY 2018 budget spending from July 1st through October 31st.  The Administration did not provide an analysis or commentary, which may indicate that the figures to date are on track.

The second agenda item which is of great interest to me is a response to two motions, one from City Councilor Jim Milinazzo requesting information “open and hold over seats on Boards and Commissions” and one from City Councilor Rodney Elliott requesting the City Manager to “provide a list of vacancies on Boards and Commissions.”

Nine (9) of the Boards/Commissions have a total of 18 vacancies. The two vacancies on the Animal Advisory Committee will be addressed at this week’s meeting.

Seven (7) Boards and Commissions have a total of 9 individuals on “hold over” status. That means that the term of a previously appointed member has been completed and that member has been neither reappointed nor replaced.

In his memo to the Council, City Manager Kevin Murphy wrote ”The City website has been updated to include the current title, member name, term expiration date and a point of contact for all of the City’s advisory bodies. This will be an ongoing process as individuals are added and removed.“

In addition to updating the website, the City should begin an advertising campaign to promote serving on these various Boards. It is a great opportunity to expand the pool of residents who may want to volunteer and participate in local government. One of the goals should be to have the makeup of these Boards reflect Lowell’s demographics. The plan may need to have an educational component as well as some recruiting. I am looking forward to the discussion.

There are only 3 Council motions on the agenda:

City Councilor B. Samaras Requests City Manager Investigate and  Report on Any Problem Activities in the Vicinity of Kirk and Merrimack Streets as well as Merrimack and Central Streets.

Mayor Ed Kennedy Requests City Manager Install a Four-Way Stop Sign at the Intersection of Havilah and Remington Streets.