February 8, 2006 GAC Update

The Council met on Monday and approved a process for the City Manager’s contract evaluation, voted to re-file the Concord-Alewife Rezoning petition and received a transmittal from Mayor Reeves assigning chairs and members to the Councils committees.
 
Plans for two GAC sponsored events in March have been finalized. The GAC/Women in Business Executive Speaker Lunch with Lesley University President Margaret McKenna will be held at the newly renovated Sheraton Commander Hotel on March 8 and the March 28 GAC meeting and luncheon will feature a presentation on the Concord-Alewife planning process and rezoning petition by City staff.

Next week the City Council meets in a round table session to discuss the plans for the West Cambridge Youth Center the City is building at the site of the West Cambridge VFW.

February 6, 2006 City Council Meeting

Council Adopts Format for City Manager Contract Evaluation
The Council adopted a format for evaluation of the City Manager’s contract. Councillors will have until February 21 to meet one on one with the Manager. Each Councillor will be provided an evaluation form which they can choose to use as they wish. The Government Affairs Committee will hold a public meeting on February 22 at 5:30 p.m. to discuss the Managers performance and evaluation. The Council will then consider the matter at its February 27 meeting. The format established has been used in the last two Council evaluations of the City Manager’s contract.

City Manager Robert Healy’s current contract ends on August 31 of this year and under that contract he must inform the City Council by February 28 if he would like to continue as City Manager and the Council has until that same date to determine whether it will offer a new contract. According to a recent report in the Cambridge Chronicle the Manager has indicated he would like to stay. This Council’s evaluation process is led by Councillors Sullivan and Toomey who co-chair the Government Operation Committee.

Concord-Alewife Petition Re-filed
The Council voted to re-file Concord-Alewife rezoning petition. Expect the Community Development Department, the Planning Board, and the Council to begin a process soon of looking at the recommendations in the current petition and looking for input on the proposed changes. Chamber members with interests in the Concord-Alewife area should check these weekly GAC updates for news on this process, attend the March 28 GAC meeting and luncheon, and contact me at tsmith@cambridgechamber.org or by phone at 617-876-4213 to let me know you have an interest in this process.

Mayor Reeves Announces Committee Appointments
Cambridge Mayor Kenneth Reeves announced his committee appointments on Monday. He has increased the number of committees that have co-chairs rather than a single chair and increased the number of members of the Public Safety and Human Services committees. As these changes require changes in the Council rules several orders were adopted amend the Council rules. The committee assignments are:

Committee Members
Ordinance Murphy (Co-chair), Sullivan (Co-chair) - committee of the whole
Finance Sullivan (Chair) - committee of the whole
Government Operations and Rules Sullivan (Co-chair), Toomey (Co-chair), Decker, Galluccio, Murphy
Health and Environment Decker (Chair), Galluccio, Kelley
Neighborhood and Long Term Planning Simmons (Chair), Kelley, Murphy
Housing Galluccio (Chair), Davis, Decker, Kelley, Simmons
Economic Development, Training, and Employment Decker (Chair), Murphy, Toomey
Public Safety Sullivan (Co-chair), Toomey (Co-chair), Davis, Galluccio, Murphy
Human Services Decker (Co-chair), Galluccio (Co-chair), Murphy, Simmons, Toomey
Civic Unity Simmons (Chair), Decker, Kelley
Public Facilities, Art, and Celebrations Murphy (Chair), Kelley, Simmons
Transportation, Traffic, and Parking Kelley (Chair), Davis, Toomey
Cable TV, Telecommunications, and Public Utilities   Davis (Chair), Murphy, Sullivan
Veterans Decker (Chair), Kelley, Sullivan
Claims Toomey (Chair), Decker, Sullivan
University Relations Murphy (Co-chair), Sullivan (Co-chair), Davis, Decker, Simmons

Councillor Sullivan had served as Finance Chair in the Councils previous to his election to Mayor. Both of the co-chairs of the Ordinance Committee are new which has been the practice of the last several City Councils. Councillor Decker replaces Mayor Reeves as Chair of Economic Development, Training, and Employment. That committee will meet this Friday at 9:30 a.m. in the Sullivan Chamber to hear a presentation from a nonprofit consulting organization called Global Community Initiatives www.global-community.org.

The rule change to increase the membership of the Public Safety Committee is available at http://www.cambridgema.gov/cityclerk/PolicyOrder.cfm?item_id=10080.

The rule change to increase the membership of the Human Services Committee is available at http://www.cambridgema.gov/cityclerk/PolicyOrder.cfm?item_id=10081.

The rule change regarding committee co-chairs is available at http://www.cambridgema.gov/cityclerk/PolicyOrder.cfm?item_id=10082.

For a listing of public meetings, visit the Public Meetings link or the Public Meeting Notices area of the City of Cambridge Web site.