Monday, May 4, 2026, 2 p.m. (Boston time), Boston City Hall, 1 City Hall Square, Boston, MA 02201
Hearing on Dockets #0733-0740, FY27 Budget: ISD, Property Management, PFD
The Ways & Means Committee, chaired by Councilor Weber, held a budget hearing on docket 073320740, an overview of the FY27 operating budgets for the Inspectional Services Department, Property Management Department, and Public Facilities Department, sponsored by Mayor Wu and referred April 8, 2026. A panel led by Chief of Operations Diane Irish presented each department's FY26 accomplishments, FY27 initiatives, and budget reductions, including ISD's proposed $25 million budget. Councilors questioned the panel on rodent control interventions, school and community center facility conditions, City Hall accessibility projects, permitting modernization and times, short-term rental enforcement, rental registration and inspections, fines collection, summer event costs, and the municipal electric vehicle fleet. No votes were taken, and no public testimony was offered. The hearing was adjourned after councilors thanked the departments.
2:27 and.
4:30 the.
5:18 Good afternoon.
5:21 Uh, again.
5:23 Uh, let's see here.
5:27 Thank you for being here on uh
5:28 it's star wars day.
5:29 It's MAY the 4th.
5:33 Um hold on, let me bring up the
5:34 opening statement.
5:37 Uh, so I am ben weber.
5:40 I am the chair of the ways and
5:42 means committee and the
5:44 district six city councilor.
5:45 There you go.
5:46 Um.
5:50 Today is MAY the 4th.
5:54 Um, the exact time is 2:05
5:55 P.M..
5:58 Uh, this hearing is being
5:59 recorded.
6:01 It's also being live streamed
6:05 at boston.Gov/city council tv
6:07 and broadcast on xfinity
6:09 channel eight, rcn channel 82
6:11 and fios channel 964.
6:13 The council's budget review
6:14 process will encompass a series
6:16 of public hearings beginning in
6:17 APRIL and going through JUNE.
6:19 We strongly encourage residents
6:20 to take a moment to engage in
6:22 this process by giving
6:23 testimony for the record, which
6:25 they can do in several ways.
6:27 One, they can attend a hearing
6:29 either in person or virtually
6:30 and give testimony.
6:31 Check out the, uh, hearing
6:35 schedule on our website at
6:36 boston.Gov/council-budget.
6:39 Uh you can also attend we have
6:41 two listening sessions uh oh no
6:42 session left.
6:42 sorry we have one listening
6:45 Uh the fourth of four on
6:47 thursday, MAY 26th at 6 P.M.
6:49 You can give uh again at our
6:50 hearings.
6:51 you can give testimony in
6:53 person here in the chamber via
6:54 zoom for in-person testimony.
6:56 Please come to the chamber and
6:58 sign in on the sheet near the
6:59 entrance or virtual testimony.
7:01 You can sign up using our
7:03 online form on our
7:04 council budget review website
7:06 or by emailing the committee at
7:09 six m at boston.Com or by
7:11 emailing chris mitchell on
7:16 that's chris ma dot c h a
7:17 n@boston.Gov.
7:18 When you're called to testify
7:20 please state your name and
7:22 residence or affiliation with
7:23 an organization and limit your
7:25 comments to two minutes in lieu
7:26 of testifying one of our
7:27 hearings.
7:28 You can also submit written
7:29 testimony which you can uh,
7:34 send to sequim@boston.Gov.
7:37 Lastly, you can submit a two
7:38 minute video of your testimony
7:40 through the form on our website
7:41 for more information on the
7:42 city council budget process and
7:44 how to testify, please visit
7:46 the city council's budget
7:48 website at boston.Gov
7:50 council dash budget uh in
7:52 person testimony uh will be
7:53 taken following the first round
7:55 of questions from our uh
7:58 counselors um again so you can
7:59 sign up on the sheet where you
8:00 walk in if you want to testify
8:03 publicly or email our director
8:04 of legislative budget analysis
8:08 christian cho on at kkr I s h m
8:13 a dot khou n@boston.Gov for the
8:14 zoom link and your name will be
8:15 added to the list.
8:17 This afternoon's hearing is on
8:20 docket number 073320740.
8:23 An overview of the fy 27
8:24 operating budget for the
8:25 inspectional services
8:28 department, property management
8:29 department and public
8:30 facilities department.
8:32 This is one of several hearings
8:34 or series of hearings on the fy
8:34 27 budget.
8:36 These matters were sponsored by
8:38 mayor michelle wu and were
8:39 referred to the committee on
8:41 APRIL 8th, 2026.
8:43 This afternoon I'm joined by my
8:45 colleagues in order of arrival
8:46 councilor flynn,
8:47 councilor murphy,
8:48 councilor culpeper,
8:49 councilor santana and the vice
8:50 chair of the ways and means
8:51 committee councilor fitzgerald
8:54 and councilor breadon I yeah
8:56 councilor breadon um I have
8:59 received uh a letter of absence
9:01 with some questions from uh,
9:02 councilor collette as a part
9:05 of um we waves are opening
9:05 statements in these budget
9:06 hearing so we're going to go to
9:08 the panel which I'll introduce
9:10 now we're joined oh sorry I use
9:12 um the updated list people
9:15 should have received uh which
9:15 was printed out.
9:18 We've got chief of operations
9:20 diane irish the executive
9:21 director for the public
9:23 facilities department carlton
9:25 jones uh, we've got
9:26 inspectional services
9:27 department commissioner
9:28 tanya del rio.
9:30 Uh, we have the commissioner
9:31 for property management eamonn
9:34 shelton and we have uh, first
9:34 deputy commissioner for
9:36 property management sam
9:36 levinson.
9:40 Uh and uh taylor uh, sorry, uh
9:42 basler uh, the assistant
9:44 director of administration and
9:45 finance from the public
9:46 facilities department.
9:48 so, uh, I'm just going to hand
9:49 things over to the panel.
9:51 Uh, if you have coordinate
9:52 among yourselves, how do you
9:53 want to do this?
9:55 Uh, I guess diane, you're going
9:55 to get us started.
9:58 Thank you, mr chair.
10:01 Um, yeah, we do have a plan.
10:02 Um, first of all, I'd love to
10:04 know if there is a star trek
10:05 day, so please inform me.
10:06 So that's.
10:08 This is this is MAY the 4th
10:09 that will happen again.
10:11 You know, MAY the force I don't
10:14 know if anyone who does uh did
10:15 somebody approached me this
10:17 morning on my way to the subway
10:18 and said happy star wars.
10:19 And I said what?
10:20 And they said it's MAY the 4th.
10:21 you learn something new
10:22 every day.
10:22 Yeah.
10:23 uh, but um, next year thanks
10:24 .
10:25 Um, and continue to be honored
10:27 by mayor all to be able to
10:28 serve in this position and work
10:30 with these amazing colleagues
10:31 who will talk to you about
10:32 their respective departments.
10:34 And it's truly an honor to
10:36 every time we have the
10:37 council.
10:37 opportunity to come before the
10:39 We understand the council's
10:41 role and you know, we certainly
10:42 appreciate these opportunities
10:43 to to speak to the council and
10:45 speak to the members of the
10:46 public about the work that we
10:47 are all charged to do.
10:48 Um.
10:51 Yeah.
10:52 okay.
10:55 Before I turn it over, um go to
10:57 the next slide to to have each
10:58 department we'll begin with
11:00 public facilities and um
11:01 executive director carlton
11:04 jones to talk about and go on
11:04 to the other departments.
11:06 But I just do want to share
11:07 that in addition to the work
11:08 of each um, individual
11:11 department, the cabinet does a
11:13 lot of work across um city
11:16 cabinets and different agencies
11:18 on things like we've done the
11:20 city wise facility condition
11:22 assessment, uh, land audit and
11:24 now we're working on a citywide
11:26 leed assessment lease
11:28 assessment to work with all
11:28 city agencies.
11:30 Um, I think it's also important
11:32 to highlight the work that we
11:33 do with uh, state of good
11:34 repair steering committee,
11:36 which is something fairly new
11:37 that we talked about in the
11:38 past in the past that we needed
11:40 really good data to understand,
11:42 uh, the condition of our
11:44 facility so we can avoid, um,
11:47 you know, unexpected things and
11:48 unplanned capital projects for
11:49 example.
11:50 So we have that data now we've
11:51 done that work.
11:53 We are working with all city
11:55 agencies who have key and
11:56 custody of city properties to
11:57 make sure they're you they're
12:00 using a um central database and
12:03 a work order system and we're
12:04 making sure that we're
12:05 factoring in the conditions
12:06 of our facilities in our
12:08 capital planning, uh, in
12:09 addition to coordination that
12:11 we we do with with all
12:14 departments who have pools, um,
12:16 property management, um,
12:18 because we have to make sure
12:19 that we have as many pools
12:21 available as possible in
12:22 addition to this coordination
12:24 on major events like this
12:25 summer's world cup and sale to
12:26 50.
12:27 But I'll stop there and if
12:28 there are any other questions
12:31 that you um that come our way
12:32 outside of the department's
12:33 happy to answer those but for
12:35 now we'll turn it over to
12:36 captain jones.
12:39 Okay.
12:40 thank you, chief irish.
12:41 Uh, good.
12:42 Afternoon, CHAIRMAN Weber city
12:43 .
12:44 Councilors uh.
12:45 Again carlton jones, executive
12:46 director of the uh.
12:48 Public facilities department.
12:49 and I'm here with my, uh,
12:50 assistant director
12:51 of administration and finance
12:52 taylor butler.
12:54 And we're here to answer your
12:55 questions after a brief
12:55 presentation.
12:58 Uh, so I'd like to start off
12:59 with just kind of an
13:00 orientation so the public
13:01 facilities department, uh, we
13:03 support other city departments
13:05 ,uh, in the planning, design,
13:06 construction and major
13:07 renovations of city buildings.
13:10 Um, for the fy 27 through 31
13:12 capital plan, uh, the public
13:13 facilities department will
13:16 manage 27% of that plan in
13:17 terms of our work, uh, our
13:19 workload for that same time
13:21 period will cover 88 projects
13:22 again in collaboration with
13:23 city departments.
13:26 Um, our most.
13:27 Notable oops.
13:28 I think you were ahead of me.
13:30 The slide on the up there is
13:32 ahead of my slide anyway, um,
13:33 I'll just continue.
13:34 I happened to be on slide five
13:35 with that I'll catch up the,
13:37 um, public facilities
13:39 department uh, works with major
13:40 city departments such as bp's
13:42 public, uh, boston public
13:42 schools.
13:45 Uh the library department, um
13:47 pcu as well as police fire and
13:48 the rest.
13:49 Okay.
13:52 So I know that my apologies.
13:58 Just getting used to the
13:59 clicker.
14:02 Okay, so fy 26 accomplishments
14:04 uh, in this fiscal year we've
14:05 had four uh, ribbon cuttings
14:05 that.
14:09 I think there's a delay or
14:10 something I might.
14:10 Be double clicking.
14:11 There we go.
14:13 I'm just gonna put it right
14:14 here now I'm just.
14:16 Because I must be hitting it
14:17 twice.
14:18 Um, so we have four ribbon
14:20 cuttings as you can see here,
14:21 uh, the carter school,
14:23 henderson upper school yard, uh
14:25 ,pj kennedy elementary and the
14:26 roberts schools.
14:27 So we're very happy to get
14:30 those uh, open and uh, in the
14:31 use of the uh school department
14:33 this case uh, we also had
14:35 groundbreaking as you can see
14:36 here that we had two
14:37 communities groundbreaking is
14:39 the bcf grove hall community
14:40 center, which happens to be the
14:42 first purpose built uh,
14:44 community center that, um,
14:45 we're building in the city
14:46 of boston as well as the north
14:48 end community center.
14:50 Uh, we have two libraries the
14:51 chinatown branch library and
14:52 field's corner branch library
14:55 and the ems seaport station.
14:56 Um, I'm happy to report that
14:58 the uh the last two the fields
15:00 corner branch and seaport
15:01 station those were open this
15:02 summer.
15:03 Uh, we also have the grove hall
15:04 community center, which is
15:08 scheduled open in 2028 and the
15:09 .
15:11 Other one which.
15:14 Is the sorry, I got.
15:15 my slides off.
15:16 Um, let's see the field square
15:17 I mentioned that chinatown
15:18 branch in 2029.
15:21 Uh, so uh also notably uh.
15:23 Uh the public facilities
15:24 department uh reopened the 26
15:26 court street building, uh,
15:27 which is home to the public
15:28 facilities department and many
15:29 other.
15:30 City departments.
15:35 Okay.
15:35 I am double clicking it's fast.
15:38 so, uh, public facility
15:39 departments received several
15:40 awards.
15:42 Um, notably the jazzy quincy
15:44 upper school um, had three
15:46 awards that were uh, presented
15:47 to it having to do with its uh
15:48 built environment.
15:50 It received the green building
15:52 of the year award uh leed
15:53 platinum, which is the only
15:54 school and the first in the
15:56 state building that received
15:58 leed platinum um as well as a
15:59 commendation from the boston
16:00 society of architects for the
16:01 educational facilities.
16:04 The roxbury library received
16:07 the uh 2024 harleston parker
16:09 award uh that was announced in
16:11 2025 and that was a 2024 award.
16:12 Uh, you can see here also the
16:14 carter school, the construction
16:16 managers association
16:17 of america, the chapter choice
16:19 award city hall plaza has
16:21 received the 2025 boston
16:22 preservation alliance award
16:24 along with the curley community
16:25 center also receiving the same
16:26 award.
16:29 We have three major ongoing
16:30 initiatives that I'd like to
16:31 present.
16:32 to you.
16:35 Three major ongoing initiatives
16:36 uh, increasing the applicant
16:38 pool and better diversity.
16:39 So that's a major initiative
16:40 of ours.
16:42 Uh, we historically have heard
16:43 that, um, there's certain
16:44 suppliers and bidders who are
16:45 unable to.
16:46 Access public facilities
16:47 department projects.
16:49 So we're working to, uh, figure
16:51 that working with the supplier
16:52 diversity office to figure out
16:53 how we can actually increase
16:54 that applicant.
16:55 Pool to increase supplier
16:56 diversity.
16:57 We're actually at the last.
16:59 Stages of hiring a senior
17:01 project manager for trade and
17:03 supplier diversity, uh, so that
17:04 we have someone internally as
17:05 well as working with the
17:07 supplier diversity officer
17:08 office to ensure that we are
17:10 moving steadfastly in that
17:11 direction trying to increase
17:13 the number of uh in the
17:15 minority and women business
17:15 enterprise firms.
17:17 Uh, who bid on our projects and
17:18 have qualified.
17:20 In terms of process improvement
17:23 uh years ago in 2023 in fact we
17:25 started um we were working on a
17:26 system called then called
17:26 builder.
17:27 It's now called trimble.
17:29 Um, this is a.
17:31 Uh a software project.
17:33 and product that we're able to
17:33 use to keep all of.
17:34 our.
17:35 Project information contained.
17:37 Uh, we are able to report off
17:37 of it.
17:39 Uh, we were able to, uh, look
17:40 forward to project scheduling
17:41 and the like.
17:43 So it's helping us move from a
17:45 paper process and paper driven.
17:46 Um.
17:48 environment to pretty much
17:50 all electronic, which is great.
17:52 Uh, so we can look for things
17:53 and call up plans in the like
17:55 and then the last one is
17:56 operational transparency.
17:59 This is where uh, in 2025 we uh
18:00 with support from the
18:01 operations cabinet, uh, we
18:02 created a project dashboard
18:03 which I'll I'll go into a
18:05 little bit more detail in a
18:07 moment but basically allows
18:08 residents to view updates for
18:09 capital projects.
18:12 Um, we've heard numerous times
18:13 that people really don't know
18:14 what's going on.
18:15 So this is a way for folks to
18:17 not only have access to what
18:18 our project information is.
18:20 Um, but we uh this this is not
18:23 a static, uh, display
18:23 of information, but it's
18:24 monthly updated.
18:25 So when our project managers
18:26 update.
18:26 their projects.
18:28 It actually feeds our dashboard
18:29 so you can get relatively real
18:31 time information on our.
18:31 Project work.