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 Public Health, Safety and Environment co-posted with the Committee of the Whole______________________________________________________________________________________ met in the Council Chamber on _March 12, 2026__________________ at ______6:00_______P.M. for the purpose of discussing the matters(s) listed below. Notice of this meeting was posted on ___ March 2, 2026_ at ___ 2:10 PM__________________________________________________________ (This meeting is being recorded) ATTENDANCE PHSE – Hapworth (chair), Davis, Holappa, Flynn & Smith. COW – Turowski, Prosniewski, Merkl, King, Sydoriak, Varela. City – Dionne & Jodoin. ABSENT WERE: None #64 Ordinance Amendment relative to Gas-Powered Leaf Blowers. Davis – This has been a resident led effort for this ordinance. A lot of the concerns are related to pollution and health issues, carbon emissions, air pollution, respiratory issues, occupational health issues, noise pollution and noise in general. We discussed this last year, and I have had many discussions with residents. There were no amendments made last year and there were many discussions on the exemptions for the city/city departments which we will discuss more today. There is also a seasonal component as well which has led to different opinions. Hopefully we will be joined by a councilor from Cambridge that worked on a similar ordinance for her city. Hapworth – As written, the ordinance does have a carve out for DPS and Salem Fire. I would like to get a picture of how gas leaf blowers are used in the city in case there is an amendment to remove the exemption for DPS and/or Salem Fire. Jodoin – When we use our backpack blowers (battery), it is mostly for a safety concern, like cleaning the streets during haunted happenings. We have loaned them to the fire department when we had the brush fire in Salem Woods. And just like fireworks, the backpack blowers do the same thing for getting crowds out of certain areas. Our blower path was specifically designed by the police department to get everyone moving towards the train station at the end of the night. Dionne – We use the backpack leaf blowers to manage forest fires. We used to use brooms but now we use the blowers, and we just purchased 4 new blowers, and we have borrowed the 2 that DPS has as well. We have weed whackers and gas edge trimmers that are just as loud. If we exempt the fire department, then we should exempt outside departments including mutual aid and DCR forestry services because they come in to help and use the same equipment. Merkl – Technology of the batteries is an issue because they don’t last long enough. It is a barrier for public safety departments. Seasonal ordinance is easier on the businesses and that is the way other towns have done this as well. I also talked to local landscapers that had to get the battery blowers because other towns require it already. We also talked about the workers’ health. Holappa – What is the rationale for Memorial Day to Labor Day focus? Davis – There are many other communities that are only banning during the summer months. There are a lot of residents that are home during the day and outside with their kids or in their yard. That is where we get a lot of complaints about the use of gas leaf blowers. Holappa – We need to be more specific as to what the exemptions are for the city and not just have a blanket exemption. Varela – After looking at what other communities have done with the seasonal ban, is this about an environmental concern or a noise concern? If this is strictly an environmental concern, then the gas blowers should be banned outright and not seasonally. Ray is a landscaper so I would like to know how many batteries you need to use over an 8 hour shift if you had 3 leaf blowers and 10 properties to clear? Jodoin – A battery lasts about 20 minutes. It would take about 18 batteries. Varela – I don’t think the technology is there for this to passed because small businesses won’t be able to afford enough batteries and they will have to hire more people to rake. Flynn – I don’t think there should be an exemption for the city, and I don’t think we should pass this ordinance at this time. Holappa – I appreciate that this will be expensive for businesses. How long will it take for the technology to get to where we need to be? Jodoin – We have been watching the technology, and it has not gotten better for commercial use in the last 5 years. Technology is better for homeowners but not for the commercial. Battery life has gotten better for residential but not for commercial. You can use one battery to blow the leaves in your yard. Smith – I have done a lot of research on this. There are batteries that last from 30-60 minutes but using it on one property as opposed to ten, makes a difference. There will be issues with charging them on the fly and keeping the batteries in hot vehicles. There are MassSave rebates that residents and the city can get. My main concern is with enforcement. Once the complaint is made and someone gets out there, the job is done? Who do you fine and how do you fine them? Most of the landscaping companies are owned and/or staffed by Latinos. You have made a new way to make a negative interaction between brown people in our community and the police. I don’t think we should create more dissension. Most of the other communities are more affluent and aren’t dealing with a lot of the same issues that we must deal with in Salem. King – I don’t think there should be a blanket exemption for the city. In general, one of my biggest concerns is costs. Those businesses that do comply, it will be expensive. I also think that we need to push the start out several years beyond May 2026 so those businesses and the city can replace the gas leaf blowers with electric as needed and not all at once. Davis – I really appreciate the concerns and comments. One of the conversations that I had with Chief Miller was that there would be shared compliance with other departments when there is a complaint. I don’t expect enforcement will be easy. The phasing out compliance for certain groups is because it will be easier for some to comply like a homeowner rather than a business. I think that we can still work on this and get a consensus. The Cambridge ordinance carves out specific instances where the city/fire is exempt from using the electric blowers, which will be helpful to review. Turowski – I am all for something that will help our environment. I wonder if the landscaping businesses are having similar difficulties with storing electric leaf blowers in hot cars. I think if the city employees will be using some other equipment because they are doing different jobs there may be a reason to have a carve out for those particular uses, but we should specify what those uses are in the ordinance. Public Comment – I have been working on this ordinance with various city councilors since 2022 and I am hopeful that it gets moved through this time. Gas leaf blowers are detrimental to those using them and to the environment. Other equipment isn’t blowing everything up into the air like the leaf blowers. I think there should be a carve out for certain uses including emergencies, but I think there should be an outright ban all year. I chaired the PHSE committee last year when this was brought up and there were a lot of concerns with this proposed ordinance. There is a reason that this was discharged because none of the concerns from our meeting was addressed. Our Director of Sustainability said that this would make a negligible impact on the environment. Take the green ordinance that was passed last July and extend that to all properties and not just for new construction. More than 95% are existing buildings that we don’t account for greenhouse gas emissions. The proposed ordinance says that will be enforced but it doesn’t include any procedures. If you talk to the people that are going to enforce this, they are not going to do it. If a company decides not to work in Salem because of this ordinance, then people will be losing jobs. Why is it ok to use it in October but not in July? If we ban gas leaf blowers, they should be banned all year. All the communities that have this are affluent. Smith – Motion to leave it in committee and seconded by Flynn. 5-0. On the motion of C. Smith, the meeting adjourned at 7:40P.M. ________________________________________________________ (Chairperson)