Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: How are you today, Mayor?
[00:00:01] Speaker B: Doing fine, Joe. Good morning.
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Beautiful, bright, brisk, breezy November type day for election day.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Today it will take the sun.
It is November, so could be a lot worse.
[00:00:14] Speaker A: Absolutely.
Hang on to those, those voter signs out at the polls.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: Yeah, you're not kidding. It's really blowing up.
[00:00:22] Speaker A: Have you been, have you been voting yet?
[00:00:24] Speaker B: They have not. If you go later in the day.
[00:00:27] Speaker A: Very good. What is your. Where is your voting location now?
[00:00:30] Speaker B: My entire life I voted at one precinct was six precinct two.
[00:00:35] Speaker A: And that is the.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: It's. It's at North London High now. It used to be at Knights of Columbus and they combined them.
[00:00:43] Speaker A: Ah, very good. Yes, excellent. All right, look forward to you there.
So your feelings about the election. I know you're not on the ballot today, Mayor, but a lot of folks suggested today's election kind of a referendum on your administration. Do you think that's true?
[00:00:58] Speaker B: No, there's probably some truth to that, but I find it a fascinating dynamic when you, when you come under the midterms like this. I would hope that someday maybe we do four year terms with councilors and we have one election every four years because you look at the turnout, Joe, it continues to go down traditionally over the years and I don't know, maybe if we combine them all into one every four years, School committee, council and mayor, maybe that would drive the turnout and, you know, tears goes by so quickly. I remember my two year terms as mayor and it felt like it went by like overnight, just crazy. So maybe it was time to look at that stuff. But anyway, I guess this could be some truth to that.
I'm certainly proud of the record of the administration. I think we have an incredible story.
When you look around and I know we've talked about it, Joe, but we're on our fifth new school and seawalls and parks and public safety headquarters, you name it. Pick the category. Pipes and roads.
We're getting the job done for the voters and that's what it's all about. So, you know, it's easy to throw hand grenades in and toss bombs, but at the end of the day, council's been a good partner in getting this stuff done for the people of Quincy.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: Can we talk a little bit about.
Since last we talked, there's been a proposed amendment to the mayoral salary that's taking effect in 2028. And can you talk about your thought process behind that decision?
[00:02:27] Speaker B: Yeah, I get sick of hearing about it, quite frankly, Joe. It has been dominating the discussion.
You know, it takes away from other issues and Other important topics that we'd like to address. So you know, thought maybe put it to bed hopefully and move on to other issues. So you know, we picked a halfway point between the law recommendation of the outside company and what I'm making today.
And as a reminder to people out there, I am not receiving any raise right now. It continues to get reported in newspapers that not our local paper, the Quincy sun, but the number of them certainly insinuate that I'm getting it today. And that's not the case. So at the end of this term, Joe, 20 years as mayor, I will have received one raise in 20 years.
I think that helps put in a little bit of perspective. So but anyway, you know, people, as I said, it's been the dominant discussion politically for some time and I wanted to take that off. And whoever the mayor is, next term, January 2028, will receive the new salary. So I intend on bring an order into the city council to make it the new number, the 225 and then to do subsequent 3% raises, only remaining, you know, three years of that term.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: So there's been suggestion that there has not been enough public input into this process of elected officials salaries. Do you agree with that?
[00:04:00] Speaker B: No, you know what, I don't agree with that. I think the reality was that we had a company come in, we were very open about it. There were public discussions, there was public discussions at the city council. That's their role.
So I think it was talked about quite a bit and of course it's been talked about quite a bit since. So it is what it is. I go back, I look at the years and Macaulay attempted raises, Jim Sheets and over the years and it always seems to be really problematic no matter how it's handled. So you know, I think there's this slant attitude toward electives which is very different than any others. We've talked about it before, Joe. I mean it's the contracts, the Tom managers, the town administrators get, city managers. There's no controversy at all. It's amazing. It's only when the name is on the ballot that seems to trip the outcry on salaries. So you know, it's an important job.
You know, we're the seventh largest city in Massachusetts, 14th largest in New England. It's the mayor CEO role, make decisions every day. It's a $500 million budget, almost 3,000 employees, a lot of responsibility with that. So I think the 225 is still a bargain for the, for the voters of Quincy.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you if you decided yet if you're going to run for reelection in 2027.
[00:05:26] Speaker B: I have not, Joe. I know over the years you do ask me and I usually make that decision about a year out way too early and you know, the decision is made on really about family obligations and what's next and all those kinds of things. So some of the controversial issues I've been dealing with of late, really we have no bearing on my decision whether to run again.
We'll figure that out a year or so up.
[00:05:52] Speaker A: Okay.
I guess I should ask you, are you publicly endorsing any candidates today?
[00:05:58] Speaker B: No, I haven't publicly endorsed anybody. I'm certainly rooting for some people.
And you know, I certainly, as I mentioned, think that the city council should be proud of their record of delivering for the people of the city. I think they've taken some unfair shots from some of the opponents. It always amazes me, particularly with a couple of certain people that run a lot, is how much they're critical, but they never offer solutions in all their years of public involvement.
I think people want to hear solutions. If you're going to offer or throw bombs and. Okay, what is your solution? I said the last election, Joe, you might remember it, and I repeat it again with the criticism last, the last election of the projects we were doing, I pushed back and in the previous two elections was the same thing. It's okay. What would you not do? Tell me what project you would not do. I never get an answer on that and I think that's true of many of the candidates running today against some of the city council and comments. Okay, then what project would you not support? I think that's a fair question. If you think that city council is spending too much, the mayor spending too much. Okay, then what would you not do for projects? So I, I think it's important the public, you know, when they were weighing the decision who to vote for. Okay. It's not just what you're against. What are you for?
[00:07:26] Speaker A: You mentioned the potential for a four year term for a council. So would that require a charter change?
[00:07:33] Speaker B: Yeah, that would be a charter change. I mean, you know that there's a couple of routes on charter changes. One is by petition, one is by home rule petition. So, you know, we'll see what happens. It's just a thought off the top of my head, but we'll see what happens.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: To that end though, do you think the city charter does need to be kind of re examined in total?
[00:07:52] Speaker B: I think there are Process issues that should be updated and changed perhaps more in line with some state law in some areas. You know, for example, Joe, if you know, we saw it happen a number of years ago when city council Brian McNamee was reelected on the ballot but he died before he was sworn in. And it creates a chatter issue, ended up in the courts. It was a little messy.
The runner up, Bill Harris eventually received the nod. But you know, that happened for the mayor, to the mayor example, suppose you didn't have a candidate and against the mayor and something happened in between that's not addressed in the chatter. So I think there are process issues that need to be examined and probably updated.
I'm not talking about change in the really intent of the charger or the meeting or the balance of power in the government. I'm not talking about getting into that stuff. But I think there's a lot of process issues that need to be addressed. Sure.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: Looking ahead, Mayor, it's Veterans Day is right upon us.
[00:08:58] Speaker B: Here it is and we have a city that's proud of their veterans and we look forward. I haven't looked at the weather that far ahead, but we hope we have a good day for Veterans Day.
Police officer Tommy Lester is going to be our speaker this year. He was distinguished career in the army for a number of years, five or six years he served as a medic with the Rangers.
We saw a lot of, a lot of stuff and looking forward to his remarks.
But it's a day to honor our veterans. Those who have gone before us, particularly those that continue to serve.
A lot of Quincy people that are serving around the globe should always remember that. Yeah.
[00:09:41] Speaker A: Right On Veterans Day, Tuesday, November 11th parade and then the ceremony up at Marymount park afterwards and we will have that right here on QATV as well for folks.
[00:09:51] Speaker B: Excellent.
[00:09:52] Speaker A: Did Ryan, quick question, Mayor about the public safety complex. Any update there?
[00:09:58] Speaker B: Actually I walked the outside yesterday checking out the grounds and all and we still got a little ways to go. So holding off on any kind of a date on dedication. But you know, the gradual slow and move in and then of course the old building will come down as part of the project. So there's not a whole lot of room right now to do anything on the on the site.
So we're talk to the Chiefs. We'll figure that out going forward. But we're running out of time with the weather as well. But we'll figure something out.
[00:10:31] Speaker A: Is the whole statue controversy holding it up at all?
[00:10:35] Speaker B: Not at all, no.
Very good.
[00:10:38] Speaker A: Appreciate your time as always, Mayor there's.
[00:10:41] Speaker B: A controversy about the statue.
We must keep our sense of humor.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: Joe, where are the statues, by the way?
[00:10:50] Speaker B: They're on a ship.
[00:10:51] Speaker A: Oh, they are?
[00:10:52] Speaker B: They are. Yep.
[00:10:53] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:10:53] Speaker B: Making their way this way from Italy.
[00:10:58] Speaker A: Oh, from Italy.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: We will. Yeah, we'll talk more about that next week.
[00:11:04] Speaker B: Sounds good. Enjoy the day. Thank you.
[00:11:06] Speaker A: You too, Mayor. Bye.
[00:11:08] Speaker B: Bye.
[00:11:08] Speaker A: See Mayor Thomas Cook. Our weekly City hall update here around AM Quincy.
