Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: That's time to check in with Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch for a weekly City hall update. Good morning, Mayor.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: Good morning, Joe.
[00:00:06] Speaker A: And welcome to December indeed.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Here we are.
The clock stops for nobody.
[00:00:14] Speaker A: That's right. The calendar flips if folks still use paper calendars. I don't know, But it is here and so is winter. But this time at least we're dodging the snowflakes.
[00:00:30] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm happy with the forecast. Let's hope it holds.
[00:00:33] Speaker A: Indeed.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: But eventually we get it. We are prepared. But I prefer not to spend the money.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: I can't blame you. And I prefer not to not to shovel personally.
[00:00:42] Speaker B: Right, right.
[00:00:43] Speaker A: But we are ready. I saw the snow fighter during the Christmas parade with no plow on it, which was nice.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: Well, there's always a plow in the underbelly too, you know.
[00:00:52] Speaker A: Ah, just in case.
Speaking of holiday activities. Wow, what a, what a weekend that started back on Thanksgiving Day.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: Yeah, it was quite a weekend.
Unfortunately with the parade, we ended up with a little bit of rain, but you know, it didn't dampen anybody's spirit. But yeah, we were mobbed Friday night for the turning on the lights at the Hancock Adams Common. A lot of positive feedback.
Saturday was jammed up at Pageant Field, of course, seeing Santa once again. And then Sunday, the parade was, was excellent. I, I just want to take a minute and thank everybody that's involved in all this. Joe, this. There's a lot of hands involved. I know. For example, Friday, not only Friday night, but the hanging on the lights, you know, whether it's Wollaston, Quincy District, whether it's some of the neighborhood, you know, tree lighting programs, it's usually the city that hangs those lights.
You know, our traffic and parking department, our public buildings department, the forestry division of the park and Department of Natural Resources.
I mean, everybody works very, very hard to make sure that, you know, things look great for families around this time of the year. It brings a lot of joy to people, particularly in the days we're living.
And certainly the police keeping us safe from all the, at all the events, did a fantastic job and once again, our band looked terrific in the parade. I know I'm biased, but boy, they were so impressive. There were a number of nice bands in there, but they say Quincy north was in a league of their own. Really terrific.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: Well, and the judges agreed. They won best overall band as well as four other first place awards in the parade. Yeah, so they are really having a stellar last couple of years at the Quincy.
[00:02:46] Speaker B: Did you notice the floats, Joe?
[00:02:47] Speaker A: I did notice the Floats. Absolutely. Some of them looked very familiar.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: Yeah. But with a little twist to them.
[00:02:54] Speaker A: Yes. A little holiday cheer to the floats that we first saw on Flag Day for a lot of the historic locations and activities throughout the city. Yeah.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: Yeah. In fact, I got a lot of comments about the Wally and Strand with the Maquis being It's a Wonderful Life. So thank the guys for touching the floats up, getting them ready for the parade. It really looks great.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: Absolutely. And I'm assuming those will make appearances in the years to come.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: Well, I'm not so sure. At some point we have to retire them and take our trailers back.
But, you know, there'll be other. There'll be other thoughts going forward and some of the parade stuff. But again, people involved in building those thank them as well. Terrific stuff.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: Yeah. And nice this year, too, to honor two of the longtime volunteer float judges.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: Right.
[00:03:50] Speaker A: Creating a new award in their honor.
[00:03:53] Speaker B: Yes. They've been doing it for a long, long time. Decades. And gosh, I remember them because I've been building floats for years. Not recent years, but in my younger years.
CYO floats, CO Club floats.
And come across these ladies.
We were both. Well, they were both. And I was much younger back then.
But no, that's. That's. You know, that's the labor of love. Every incoming, doing the spreadsheets and looking at every float, putting the points together. And in coming up at the system whereby we award the floats their prizes. So we appreciate their work.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: Yes.
Congratulations to Kathleen Burgess and Jane Johnston. Nice work on their part, for sure.
And it's not over yet. Mayor. The skating rink opened yesterday and the General's Bridge and Park tree lighting's coming up on Sunday.
[00:04:48] Speaker B: Awesome. And a number of others are coming up Sunday, too. I think Krausnick.
I think Quincy Point.
Not sure about Adam Shore, Stafford park, the island of Flags. I mean, you know, we're a city of neighborhoods, and a lot of the neighborhoods take pride in having their own tree lighting ceremony, which is. Which is awesome. So spread out, spread the cheer. A great time of year.
[00:05:12] Speaker A: Yep. There's a good chance there is a tree lighting near you.
[00:05:17] Speaker B: Sunday.
Actually, we will have a speaker Sunday. Very brief remarks, but a. Paul Brown is a police officer. He served in the Marine Corps. His oldest son is currently serving in the Marine Corps. So the whole point of the General's Bridge tree lighting is to acknowledge and support those currently serving.
And, you know, Paul will be able. He's been on both sides of that, so I'm sure he'll have some.
Some good remarks. That connect to what it's all about and that's honoring our men and women who currently serve from Quincy and beyond. I mean, we're not, we certainly it's about Quincy, but if folks in the communities around us that want to join us are certainly welcome.
As you know, the deal, Joe, we sat at five.
We invite people to put the names on ribbons who are serving.
We put the ribbons on the tree.
There'll be a song or two and, and some hot chocolate and cookies, I'm sure.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: Very nice. Sunday, 5pm Generals Bridge and Park.
And of course, Sunday is also Pearl Harbor Day. There is a ceremony on board the USS Salem at the Quincy Shipyard 10am Sunday morning for folks to enjoy as well.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[00:06:29] Speaker A: Mayor, can we talk a little bit about some city issues, including public hearing coming up next Monday night regarding the property tax rates for next year. Anything you could share with us about.
[00:06:41] Speaker B: That right now they're still crunching the numbers, so I can't give you any heads up, but it's coming quickly now. There's a lot of moving parts to that including, you know, getting whatever the free cash deficit surplus is certified.
The values, you know, the state has to approve the values, the new growth, what the new growth number would be and how that fact is in the tax rate. So there's a lot of pieces to it. I know John Rowland from the assessors works hard on it. Paul Della Baba, Director, Municipal Finance as well as my chief of staff, Chris Walker kind of pulls it all together. But yeah, it'll be, it'll be annual, you know, hearing is Monday night. We go through this every year. Every city and town in Massachusetts essentially goes up every year under Prop 2 and a half. That's how we raise revenue to keep things going in our city. So as I mentioned before, there'd be a modest increase.
But you know, I always say it and it's true. You know, we outperform most municipalities in every area of service. So it does cost money to do that. So, you know, look, look forward to Monday night getting that, getting that done. Appreciate the city council's involvement on that.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: Yep. Public hearing at 7pm in the Great hall and then a vote on the rates taking place after that as well.
Had a chance to tour the new public safety complex this past weekend and I wonder if you could bring us up to date on where that stands.
[00:08:14] Speaker B: Did you try out the cell block, Joe?
[00:08:17] Speaker A: I did. I did step in one, one of the cells and yeah, that's the last time I want to do that.
[00:08:27] Speaker B: Well, for those that Enjoy cell blocks. They're certainly more updated, more cleaner and state of the art compared to the old building. But that speaks to the whole building. I mean, as you know, Joe, we've talked about this for a number of years. The old station was built back in the 20s. Addition in the 80s. Addition I think was one of the worst city projects ever.
It never, nothing ever worked right. It looked horrible.
A lot of money was spent back in the 80s for that and it is what it is. But we have built a beautiful facility that has all the bells and whistles, meets all the standards of today, both from the public's perspective, but also from the first responders perspective.
We get the firing show. You saw the firing range in the lower level.
Our police officers have to be certified every, I don't know if it's six or 12 months in firing there, you know, their guns and make sure that they're up to date on training. So all those pieces matter. There's training rooms, beautiful new 911 center, state of the art, which will help the response times even more. So that's exciting.
We hope to be moving in after the first of the year. You know, there's still work to be done outside and as you know, Joe, the old building will then set to be worked on with the remediation of asbestos and so forth. And then hopefully by the springtime that building will be gone and some nice landscaping to finish off the corner. So good stuff. It's been a while, but it's been a big project. As you know, we moved Father Bills, moved the animal shelter, rebuilt Broad Street.
So it's been a public works project as much as a public building project.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: Yeah, I know the initial thought was sometime in November, but what slowed that down?
[00:10:20] Speaker B: Well, at that point, you know, with the weather closing in, there was no urgency to get in there.
So we want to make sure everything is commissioned, everything is working well. There's no hiccups, obviously, specifically with the new 911 system and all the pieces that go with that, you want a smooth transition. So it was. I didn't want to rush anything at that point. So we'll probably do a public dedication when the weather breaks in the spring anyway, they'll be able to get in and still work on the punch list items in the building for a few months.
Those things that need to be addressed, whether it's, you know, somebody moving furniture, chipping paint in the hallway or other things around the building, that takes a little time as well. But you know, both chiefs are excited about it. They know, they're looking forward to years of service in this building. So it's really, really handsome as, you know, a handsome building driving by. You know, you do these projects every 50 to 100 years. This building is built for 100 years, so it should look good.
It's built quality and being around a long time. So again, a lot of people involved in this project, a lot of subcontractors. The contract, of course, was Suffolk construction. Number of city people, engineers, clerks, superintendents, making sure the thing was built to standards.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: Yeah, to that point. Speaking of, I was interested to see that the fourth floor, the top floor, will remain unfinished but roughed in for future expansion.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: That's correct. Yep. We thought about that, talked about that. And as you know, we lift the whole. The new building is up much higher than the old building because of the floodplain issue around there. The old buildings, the flood all the time.
I should say only when it randomized.
But this building, it looks so much more imposing because it's up out of the floodplain.
But yes, the space up top, that top floor, it'll be, as you know, as the departments continue to serve and whatever needs may be, they'll have some room to grow.
So that's always a good thing.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: Yeah. And also stunning views up there as well of the town river and the bay beyond. It really was quite interesting perspective. Yes.
[00:12:38] Speaker B: Mount Wallace, which is a pretty view as well.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
Always good to talk to you, Mayor. Appreciate the update.
[00:12:44] Speaker B: Same here, Joe. Enjoy the day.
[00:12:46] Speaker A: Yep, you too.
[00:12:46] Speaker B: Bye.
[00:12:46] Speaker A: Bye.
