City Council

City of Salem, Massachusetts “Know Your Rights Under the Open Meeting Law, M.G.L. c. 30A ss. 18-25 and City Ordinance Sections 2-2028 through 2-2033.” The City Council Committee on Government Services co-posted with the Committee of the Whole met in the Council Chamber on _May 12, 2025 _______________________ at _______6:00 PM_________ for the purpose of discussing the matters(s) listed below. Notice of this meeting was posted on __________________May 6, 2025 _________________________ at _______9:38_ A.M.__________________ (This meeting is being recorded) ATTENDANCE GS: Varela (chair), Harvey, Merkl, Morsillo, Stott. COW: Prosniewski, Hapworth, Cohen, Jerzylo and Watson-Felt (Zoom). Also, Lisa Cammarata, HR Director & ADA Coordinator. ABSENT WERE: COW: Davis SUBJECT(S) #300 (2024) Data around the count of marriages performed at City Hall_____________________________________________ #206 (2025) No new weddings or marriage ceremonies in City Council Chambers during City Hall business hours, including 45 minutes prior to the opening and closing of City Hall, without prior approval of the City Council________________________ #207 (2025) Creating a policy concerning the use of the City Council Chambers as well as reviewing the Salem Code Ch. 2 Sec 10 – Use of Council Chambers Varela – We have 3 items on our agenda. Start – with 206. Stott – Fairly straight forward, no new wedding or marriage ceremonies in the council chambers effective immediately. I added 45 mins before and after business hours because there are still people working in the offices. I added a line requesting a list of what has already been schedule so far. Has that been provided? No? So, I am going to assume that none are scheduled. Merkl – I appreciate that we are having a separate conversation about weddings in the chambers because they are very private. The problem with them being in the chamber, because there are ADA compliance issues. Blocked doors, etc. Creating troubles with allowing staff to get through. Someone from the public that wouldn’t ask people to move. It creates an uncomfortable situation. Once they book it, they say there are 3 people and 9 show up. The city staff would have to monitor the event because the council is not in attendance. We won’t be complying with ADA laws. We already have a discrimination complaint. I am talking about during working hours. We are not here to oversee it. I am hoping we can have these scheduled outside of working hours. Varela – We need to be mindful of our ADA compliance. Morsilo – There a couple of things going on. One is the use of the council chambers. We need to have a written policy on the use of the council chambers and a policy for weddings at city hall. The layout of the room is a problem. We need to discuss the purpose of this room. We can’t get rid of any of the furniture, so it is hard to have access. If we could get new furniture, then we could make it more accessible. We need a policy to be written, and I have some volunteers to work on this. I would like to ban weddings in this room until we can come up with a policy. Cohen – I support Stott’s order. I don’t feel comfortable walking through someone’s wedding. I have less mobility challenges than most and I can’t walk through a wedding. There is no accessibility. Instead of scheduling a wedding for 2pm on Thursday, schedule it at 1 on a Friday. I don’t feel comfortable asking the city staff to move furniture. I think this is appropriate. Varela - My plan is to vote on each order. Hapworth – Lisa, as ADA coordinator, is this room ADA accessible. Cammarata – Yes, it is ADA accessible. We want a 36” width path at minimum. We would need to take steps to make sure that it is all the time. Now it is but we need to always keep pathways clear. Sometimes the pathway is blocked. I think we could get something that would look better and make sure there is accessibility. Hapworth – I think it is inevitable that weddings will happen in this room. We have ADA concerns. We need to keep it in compliance. Has the city clerk asked you if her weddings are ADA compliant? Lisa – Yes. We have talked about moving things. We need something that is classy. I have walked by, and the door is shut which is not ADA compliant. We need signs that the door needs to always be open, and it needs to be enforced. Hapworth – Does ADA have anything to say about walking through a wedding? Lisa – That is a good question. Who wants to crash a wedding? If I need to get to the other side of the room, then I need to be able to go through. It is not necessarily ADA, but it has been a problem. Hapworth – Where do you get the ADA compliant info? Lisa – Sometimes I reach out to the Mass Office on Disabilities (MOD) and IHCD because they did our transition plan. I google; I look at regs. etc. I am not saying that the person must own all of it, but we try to be better than the minimum, and we are making the area accessible. Hapworth – I don’t want to stop someone from having the events that are happening in the room. If the mayor wants school kids to visit that shouldn’t have to be scheduled through the clerk’s office. Or swearing in ceremonies, should be able to happen in this room. We just need to keep the room ADA accessible. Harvey – The table is moved back for today, but if we are in here for a regular meeting, and it is moved up then we aren’t in compliance, right? Cammarata – No, it wouldn’t be in compliance. Harvey – We don’t know what the occupancy is of this room. If someone wants to get married here, then we need to allow them to, but we need to be sure that it is ADA compliant all the time even during reg council meetings. We shouldn’t be allowing the Boy Scouts to have a ceremony in the chambers and tell others that they can’t get married here. If we allow it for one group, then we should allow it for all. This is a public building. Cammarata – We need to be better enforcers of being compliant. We may need to put something up that is immovable. Reg council meetings or weddings – it doesn’t matter. Prosniewski – A lot of what you said makes sense. If we are going to make it ADA accessible, then it needs to always be that way and it could be expensive. Is there money? Cammarata – There is ADA funding for stuff like this that is in the ADA violation account that I would need to get approval to use. We have helped with unified sports, the lift at the concession stand at FRP, the high school, etc. That money can’t be used for one individual, but it can be used to benefits those with disabilities. Prosniewski – I agree with Morsillo that this space needs to look good and be reconfigured. I agree with Harvey that it is a public space and should be available. Merkl – it is the public that is my concern, and I am circling back to the weddings. It is intimidating that you’re walking through the space. There have been over 100 weddings in the chambers during working hours in the last 7 months. The oversight would be a heavy lift. The atmosphere is important and shouldn’t be intimidating. The public wouldn’t feel comfortable walking through a wedding. I think we absolutely need to create a policy. Once we put a policy in place, we need to follow it. Anyone can get married in the building at any time, so if they can’t get married in the chambers, they can still get married in the clerk’s office. Cohen – I am uncomfortable with a lot of this dialogue. I don’t think a lot of the furniture or anything else in this room is accessible. At some point I will need to use a wheelchair, but I asked about where I could sit if I were a council member and I was told that I would be able to sit in the back. Weddings are different than other public events. The people that are officiating are getting compensated and the other events, the staff is not getting paid for their time. We could just say if they want to get married in the chambers, then give them a certain time. We could say everyone that gets married in the chambers, will get married on Thursdays at 4:45pm or on Fridays at 12:45pm. Stott – I don’t think it is the responsibility of the people that need accessibility, to ask for the accessibility. I don’t think we should use ADA funds to make the chambers a wedding venue. I think we could use ADA funds to make the room more accessible not just to the public but to the council members. These chairs are not only uncomfortable, but they aren’t accessible. There was one day that we moved the furniture around. This is just about weddings in council chambers during business hours. Right now, only the city clerk can oversee weddings. I think this is a very simple resolution that will work for now and we can change it at any time. I want to make a motion that the order to pause marriages in council chambers be recommended for approval by the whole council. Seconded by Morsillo. Cammarata – My idea is making this room accessible at any time for anyone. Not just for weddings. Public comment – Alfons Wright – 23 Nursery St. - I think the underlying issue is the lack of ADA compliance. I think that you are trying. I want to talk about public access. You are not banning weddings; you are just going to frame it in restraint. Judith Reilly - I would like to echo Mr. Wright’s comments. Morsillo – It is embarrassing that our own city solicitor, who relies on a wheelchair, doesn’t have access to this room. We need to fix this. Merkl – Could you repeat the order that we are voting on? Stott – Yes, #206 (2025) No new weddings or marriage ceremonies in City Council Chambers during City Hall business hours, including 45 minutes prior to the opening and closing of City Hall, without prior approval of the City Council. We could remove the second sentence regarding marriages that have already been scheduled, since we don’t think there are any that are currently scheduled. Merkl – I think we should remove the note about with prior approval of the council. Stott – I would leave that in just in the off case that she might have one scheduled already or if someone important comes in, like Prince Harry? It would require full council approval, so I could go either way on that. Cohen – I would leave it in because we aren’t eliminating them altogether, just during business hours and 45 minutes before and after. Merkl – Maybe it would be clearer in case there was one that was booked. Prosniewski – Is the reason because it is not ADA accessible? Why wouldn’t we make it so no weddings until we are accessible and why aren’t we taking steps to make it ADA accessible? Morsillo – The accessibility issue is 2-fold. There is an accessible issue but there is also the intimidation, crashing a wedding issue. Everything else that is in this room is a public event, but a wedding is a private event. I think we just need a policy in place. This will light a fire, so we get it done faster.