City Council

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…

Vote for New Auditor Hannah York appointed new City Auditor by a 9-0 vote. In subsequent vote, councilors direct mayor and city solicitor to meet with Ms. York and negotiate employment agreement. There’s no start date, however, councilors mentioned she would have to give two week’s notice to her current…

For the second consecutive week the Lowell City Council meeting was lacking in drama which is a good thing. A big part of that I believe is attributable to Kevin Murphy. Between his legal background and his experience as a state representative, he seems able to take issues packed with…

COMMUNICATIONS City Manager gave a brief report on his meeting with leadership of UTEC to hear their side of the story. It was a fruitful meeting. He will now meet with Superintendent Taylor. Hopefully will get the City-UTEC relationship back on track. VOTE Authorizing the City Manager to execute a…