The Medford City Council meets Tuesday, November 10 at 7 p.m. with a resolution to approve a joint press release that, for the first time in a council document, puts the total cost of the new Medford High School “just below $700 million,” a resolution demanding answers about the reported sale of Cataldo Ambulance Service, the mayor’s request to restore $269,295.81 to the Law Department budget before the tax rate is set, and the Fire Department’s first filing under the city’s surveillance ordinance for a drone it already owns.
The details below come from the four-page agenda and the 72-page packet posted on the city’s CivicClerk portal. The meeting is in the Council Chamber on the second floor of City Hall, 85 George P. Hassett Drive, and on Zoom, Comcast channel 22, Verizon channel 43 and medfordtv.org. Written comments go to ccmembers@medford-ma.gov.
The high school: “just below $700 million”
Paper 26-199, from Council President Zac Bears and Vice President Emily Lazzaro, asks the council to approve a press release to be issued jointly by the mayor’s office, the council and the School Committee once both elected bodies sign off, and to schedule a presentation on the project’s finances for the February 2, 2027 joint meeting of the council and School Committee. The resolution’s preamble says the Medford High School Building Committee finished its review of the project scope on October 6 “and has reduced the estimated cost by $150 million since the first estimate of this chosen option.”
The draft release, dated “November X, 2026,” says the city “will release the final tax impact estimate for the debt exclusion in February,” after schematic design is complete and Suffolk Construction, the city’s construction manager, has produced final cost estimates. It gives the current numbers: a total project cost “just below $700 million,” with the state paying an estimated $226 million through the Massachusetts School Building Authority and the city an estimated $474 million, to be repaid over 30 years through a debt exclusion that voters would have to approve.
The release makes the case for a new building rather than a renovation. It says the existing school is more than 50 years old, that a plumbing failure closed it for a time “several weeks ago,” that burst heating pipes periodically close sections of the building, and that students “wear winter hats, gloves, and coats in their classrooms.” It says more than half of the school’s students are in vocational programs and that six or seven programs carry a wait list each year. The building committee, it says, looked at more than 29 renovation options and concluded that bringing the current building up to code would cost about $478 million, with no state reimbursement because a code-only project would not meet the district’s educational needs.
The city lists ways it could soften the cost: dedicating new property tax growth from development, setting aside money now for future debt service, maximizing the property tax exemptions state law allows, and grants and private fundraising that school staff and the project team have already applied for. The calendar in the release: joint council and School Committee hearings on November 30, January 20 and February 2; a School Committee meeting January 25; a council meeting March 9; building committee community forums November 19, March 4, May 13 and June 2; and building committee meetings November 16, December 14, January 7, February 1, February 10, February 22, March 22, April 14 and May 31. The city’s Financial Task Force, which has been meeting on the funding strategy, is listed as Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn, Chief of Staff Nina Nazarian, Bears, Lazzaro, School Committee Vice Chair and building committee Chair Jenny Graham and School Committee member Mike Mastrobuoni.
The Cataldo Ambulance sale
Paper 26-200, sponsored by Councilor George Scarpelli, Councilor Anna Callahan and Bears, says “reports and discussions have emerged regarding a potential sale of Cataldo Ambulance Service,” the city’s primary emergency medical and transport provider “under negotiated agreements with the city.” It asks the administration and public safety officials for “a formal update and comprehensive analysis” covering three questions: the legal and contractual effect a sale would have on the city’s active agreements; whether those contracts contain assignability clauses, performance guarantees or change-of-control provisions; and what the administration is doing to keep service levels, response times and local staffing intact.
The resolution adds a fourth item: an update on businesses “that have complained that Cataldo Ambulance is using their private parking lots as bases of operations due to the continued lack of a fixed base of operation for Cataldo in the City of Medford.” It asks for a written response or an appearance at the council’s next regular meeting. The packet contains no documents about the sale itself.
$269,296 to restore the Law Department budget
The council cut the Law Department’s request at its October 27 meeting and gave the mayor one more month of funding, as reported in the story linked below. In a letter dated November 5, Lungo-Koehn now asks for a supplemental fiscal 2027 appropriation of $269,295.81, split $127,803.44 for salaries and $141,492.37 for ordinary expenses, “to fully restore the balance of the proposed Law Department budget originally presented on June 4, 2026,” to be raised from the tax levy (paper 26-202). She notes that the tax classification hearing is scheduled for November 17, that once the council votes the tax rate the city “will no longer be able to raise and appropriate any further funding in FY27,” and that Nazarian, who would answer questions, is not available November 17. Approving the money before then, she writes, “would also avoid a scenario where we leave up to $269,295.81 unlevied.”
Stabilization fund requests, old and new
Two mayoral papers draw on the city’s reserves. Paper 26-133, first filed July 9, is still pending as to its second part: $35,000 from the General Stabilization Fund for an executive search firm to hire a new police chief, which the agenda labels “Request 2 – Police Chief Search.” The July letter explained that free cash is not available at that time of year and that “small amounts out of this fund will not impact the City’s bond rating.” Human Resources Director Lisa Crowley and Police Chief Jack Buckley were to attend for that item.
Paper 26-201, dated November 4, asks for $85,000 from the Capital Stabilization Fund for schematic drawings and a phase one feasibility study for the Recreation Center rehabilitation, $71,000 from the same fund for repairs and weatherproofing at fire headquarters, including window replacement and resealing, and $24,476.44 from the General Stabilization Fund “to fund repairs at the old police station given a flooding event.” The letter puts the Capital Stabilization Fund balance at $11,182,980 and the General Stabilization Fund at $5,960,000 before the vote, with the $35,000 search request still pending. Facilities Director David MacIntyre will be available for questions.
The Fire Department’s drone
Under communications from city officers, Fire Chief Todd Evans submits the department’s unmanned aircraft system standard operating procedure and a surveillance impact report under Ordinance 877, the city’s surveillance technology ordinance (paper 26-197). The aircraft is an Autel EVO Max 4T XE with wide-angle, zoom and thermal cameras, to be flown by a licensed, department-certified pilot at structure fires, brush fires, hazardous materials incidents, major crashes, missing person searches, rescues and fire investigations. The chief’s October 28 letter says deployments “will be incident-driven” and that the program is “not for routine surveillance or monitoring of the general public.”
The impact report says the only cost was the purchase of the aircraft and accessories, with no subscriptions, and that the department “shall not retain any photographs or video recordings of any incidents or training missions.” The feed goes live to incident commanders; the department says it does not have the hardware to store hours of footage and that anything recorded would have to be kept five years as part of an incident report. The only record kept is the FAA-required flight log, listing the date, purpose, duration, pilot and crew of each flight, which the department says it will make available on request. The 44-page operations manual, dated June 11, 2026, is attached in full.
Hearings and the rest of the agenda
- Vacant properties zoning: a public hearing on deleting section 94-7.5 of the zoning ordinance, which covers vacant and foreclosing properties (26-196). The Community Development Board voted 6 to 0 on September 16 to recommend the deletion, on the condition that it take effect at the same time as the new general ordinance on vacant buildings, Chapter 10, Article 8, which does not take effect until August 4, 2027, “so that there is no gap in regulatory power.” Board members present were Chair Doug Carr, John Anderson, Sean Beagan, Page Buldini, Dina Colagerro and Ari Fishman.
- National Grid: a grant of location hearing for 60-157 Fulton Street (26-195).
- Veterans Department: Scarpelli asks the administration for an update on “the recent vacancy in the Veterans Department” (26-194). The paper gives no further detail.
- Winter help: Bears’ resolution 26-198 invites residents to the Mutual Aid of Medford and Somerville free store on November 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the East Somerville Community School, where donated winter clothes and coats are free, and to the city’s Winter Preparedness Event on November 19 from 5 to 7 p.m. at City Hall, with a winter clothing giveaway, energy bill check-ups, a vaccine clinic, MassHealth and Health Connector help and heating assistance information.
- Committee report: Callahan reports on the Public Works and Facilities Committee meeting of October 21 (26-172 and 26-182).
- Records: the records of the October 21 special meeting, the October 27 regular meeting and the November 2 special meeting were passed to Lazzaro for review.
- Public participation: resident Andrew Dall is listed to speak; his handwritten petition, filed October 28, is in the packet but is only partly legible in the scan.
- Unfinished business: the 2026 and 2027 city messenger appointment, tabled since January 6 (26-003), and the ordinance updating the Commission for Persons with Disabilities, approved for first reading July 14, advertised July 30 and eligible for third reading since August 4 (26-063).
The council roster on the agenda is Isaac B. “Zac” Bears, Anna Callahan, Emily Lazzaro, Matt Leming, Liz Mullane, George A. Scarpelli and Justin Tseng. Residents who want to speak without Zoom are asked to e-mail LSiegel@medford-ma.gov. The tax classification hearing follows on November 17; the next regular meetings after that are December 1 and December 15.
Earlier coverage: the October 27 meeting, where the council cut the Law Department request to one more month.
