Mayor Mitchell has submitted a loan order to the New Bedford City Council to appropriate $3,975,000 “for the purpose of making critically-needed repairs to City-owned buildings including, but not limited to, projects for the repair and renovation of public safety facilities, general office space, and roads and infrastructure and all costs incidental and related thereto.”

The City Council will take up the loan order at this Thursday’s official session.

06.13.2019_LOAN_ORDER_-_CAPITAL_IMPROVEMENT_PROJECT__$3_975_000.00

Mayor Jon Mitchell presented the annual “Mayor’s List Award” to the top ten academically ranked seniors in the New Bedford High School graduating Class of 2019.

This year marks the seventh annual Mayor’s List Awards in celebration of the outstanding academic achievements of the top ten graduating seniors at New Bedford High School. The ceremony was also an opportunity to learn more about the graduates’ career goals, their chosen fields of study, and where they plan to pursue their post-secondary education.

The 2019 Mayor’s List Award recipients in order of class rank (with their chosen colleges noted) are:

1. Rachel Pereira (Wellesley College)
2. Meiling Zhao (Georgia Tech)
3. Liang Xu (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
4. Anna Lin (Boston University)
5. Tyler Rose (Duke University)
6. Joshua Correia (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
7. Taryn Padilla (Western New England University)
8. Bridget Rose Carroll (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
9. TaShawn Arabian (Brown University)
10. Sofia Bibars (Providence College)

Mayor Mitchell will hold neighborhood office hours for the month of May on Thursday, May 30 from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. at Brigham Corner Seafood and Pizza, 1 Brigham Street.

Mayor Mitchell announced he would set aside time each month to hold office hours in city neighborhoods so that residents could meet with him outside of normal business hours and in their own neighborhood.

In his State of the City last year, the Mayor announced that a new format of office hours would be established, inviting residents to join him at local restaurants in different neighborhoods of the city. Food will be available at the office hours.

City residents are invited to attend the neighborhood office hours to meet with Mayor Mitchell directly and share their concerns and ideas, as well as a bite to eat. The sessions are open to all New Bedford residents, no advance appointments are required and meetings with the Mayor will be done on a first come, first served basis.

Current New Bedford School Committee member John Oliveira has pulled nomination papers with the intent to run for mayor. He has until 5pm on August 30 to turn in at 50 valid signatures to be officially placed on the October 1st primary ballot.

Mr. Oliveira has had some public confrontations with Mayor Mitchell and New Bedford previous Superintendent of Schools Pia Durkin. In November of 2017, he was served with a no-trespass order and ordered to stay off all New Bedford school properties after incidents with Pia Durkin. In January of 2018, the New Bedford School Committee in a 6-1 vote issued a more restrictive no-trespass order against Mr. Oliveira. He was the lone no vote.

Veteran candidate Michael Janson, Russell Dearing, Iean Morgan, and David Pimentel have also pulled nomination papers with the intention to run for Mayor.

Current New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell has yet to pull papers, but he usually pulls them as the deadline draws near. He has yet to confirm his intention to run for re-election.

This will be New Bedford first ever 4-year mayor term as voters approved the move from two years in 2017.

Mayor Jon Mitchell and Police Chief Joseph Cordeiro announced significant investments in the New Bedford Police Department at a press conference Tuesday afternoon at police headquarters.

The announcement included 11 new police cruisers, an investment of approximately $566,000 in free cash, or unused funds from the previous fiscal year. With 43 front-line cruisers purchased since 2014, the New Bedford Police Department has replaced its front-line uniform vehicles with these significant investments.

The Mayor and Chief, joined by Ward 1 City Councillor Brad Markey, also highlighted the $7.6 million approved by the City Council to upgrade and replace the City’s public safety radio communications, including fiber infrastructure, design, and implementation. In addition, the Police Department has invested more than $100,000 in other equipment, purchasing portable radios, including with an equipment grant, as well as 40 active shooter kits. These kits contain ballistic protection for officers facing crisis situations and medical kits to render medical assistance to treat victims of these incidents.

There are also significant investments, both planned and underway, for Police Department facilities. The City Council has approved the construction of the South End Public Safety Center, the first new fire and police station built in the City in decades, which will break ground later this year. An updated sally port, the structure used for secure entrance to the department for individuals in custody, is currently being constructed at police headquarters at 871 Rockdale Avenue. The formerly used sally port was open to the elements and had become inoperable due to outdated gate equipment; the new structure will be a secure, drive-through facility with a remodeled booking area on the interior of the station to improve officer safety.

“Public safety is the first priority of city government, and that includes investing in equipment and facilities to give officers the tools they need to do their jobs,” said Mayor Jon Mitchell. “Replacing aging police vehicles, updating our communication system and providing upgraded facilities are all necessary investments for the Police Department.”

Mayor Jon Mitchell presented his Fiscal Year 2020 City Budget before the New Bedford City Council on Wednesday, May 8, 2019.

The $356.5 million General Fund spending proposal continues to reflect pressure in nondiscretionary areas, including state mandated school spending, pension costs, employee healthcare, and public safety payroll obligations subject to binding arbitration. In all, 86.5 percent ($308.4 million) of the $356.5 million budget is predetermined by nondiscretionary costs; 13.5 percent ($48.1 million) remains to fund City government operations outside these areas.

City finances remain tight despite New Bedford’s modest but steady economic growth and marked improvement in business activity, property values and employment. According to the Massachusetts Office of Labor and Workforce Development, employment in the City increased by 2,357 jobs, or 5.4 percent, between 2017 and 2018, and by 5,809 jobs, or 14.4 percent, since the beginning of 2012.

Mayor Mitchell noted in his accompanying letter to the City Council: “As you know, I have resisted raises in collective bargaining agreements that I believed were unaffordable, even when the state’s binding arbitration law put the City at a disadvantage. The Commonwealth has complicated this process by not meeting its statutory funding obligations and continuing to impose requirements that serve as roadblocks to effective reform. In addition to the binding arbitration process, some significant examples include limitations placed on pension and health care management, as well as the state’s failure to meet its commitments to fund the school system foundation budget and to provide its legally-established levels of support for charter schools.”

“These constraints have made it more difficult to ensure that the City remains on a fiscally-sustainable path while providing the reliable and effective services that our residents expect,” the Mayor wrote. “Our ongoing efforts to improve efficiency and operational readiness have produced a lean organization where the most advantageous efficiencies have already been implemented. Nevertheless, we must continue on this path in order to move New Bedford forward.”

The Mayor elaborated on the key factors driving the City’s FY 2020 budget:

• Modest Revenue Growth Has Not Kept Pace with Costs: Despite a growing local economy, baseline revenue growth remains insufficient to maintain pace with increases in the prices of goods and services, as well as the various other costs of doing business. For example, completion of the transfer of firefighter positions from the expired federal SAFER grant will cost the General Fund an additional $500,000 in FY 2020. Collective bargaining agreements with the City’s four bargaining units will be up for renewal in FY 2020.

• Mandated Education Costs: The FY 2020 budget under consideration by the Massachusetts Legislature takes some welcome steps to alleviate pressure placed on New Bedford taxpayers to meet the mandated funding requirements for education. Nevertheless, the State-mandated level of net local support to operate the City’s school system will continue to rise: the local share of School Department operating expenses required to meet Net School Spending requirements will increase by about $1.3 million from FY 2019 to 2020. At the same time, the City’s net obligation toward charter schools will total $15.7 million, an increase of nearly $1.7 million.

• Healthcare and Pension Costs: Employee benefits costs will continue to place an increasing strain on overall finances. Projected increases in medical claims and the City’s pension assessment will require $2.7 million in additional support.

Mayor Mitchell also noted in his letter that the City recently received its third consecutive Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers’ Association, and has advanced fiscal transparency efforts through the City’s Open Checkbook initiative, the development of the first-ever Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), and the implementation of NB Compass, the City’s new online dashboard.

The Mayor concluded, “The development of the FY 2020 budget has been greatly aided by the active engagement of the City Council, utilizing the mechanisms that we have built together to ensure that everyone’s priorities are heard, and that the City’s core needs are addressed. The City Council has consistently demonstrated its commitment toward effective fiscal oversight, and I look forward to continuing our partnership in the weeks ahead.”

“New Bedford is on a roll. As recently as 2012, the city was still reeling from the Great Recession, with unemployment rate over 13%, a crime rate well above average among America’s cities, precarious finances, absentee landlords running neighborhoods, a port stumbling as a result of the crash of the ground fish industry, a directionless school system that had been placed under state monitoring the year before, and neglected city buildings and roadways.”

“We can stand here today and take pride that through the collective efforts of our residents, businesses and city employees, New Bedford is staging one of America’s most remarkable urban turnarounds.”

The City’s Economic Turnaround
“There are some six thousand more city residents working today than in January 2012, and an unemployment rate that stands today at 4.7%. Our business park is now full, the port is humming, and small business have sprung up everywhere.”

Making Neighborhoods Safer
“New Bedford is a palpably safer city now. According to the FBI crime data, violent crime has fallen over fifty percent since 2014 – here, too, among the sharpest drops anywhere. Our goal is to get to the point when residents of not just most, but all neighborhoods can take their safety for granted, so that parents even in historically struggling neighborhoods can let their kids out to play, and seniors can sit on a park bench without thinking twice about it.”

Turning Around Our Schools
“It wasn’t that long ago that people looked at the city’s four-year high school graduation rate hovering around 60%, and said, that’s just the way it’ll always be. To my mind it was unconscionable to write off children like that; they deserved better from us. Thanks to the work of school administrators, the non-profit sector, and many adults in this building, the state announced that the graduation rate has now climbed to 76%, the highest ever recorded here. That’s a whole lot of New Bedford kids who have a much better shot to make it in the world. This is an achievement that should fill everyone in this room with pride.

“I’m tremendously confident in our school leadership. Superintendent Thomas Anderson has set the right tone from the start. His standards are appropriately high, but the focus of his work is to enable administrators and teachers to develop the capability to reach those standards. He has everyone working together”

“Meanwhile, I will continue to fight for more school funding as I did last week when I testified at the state house to change the state’s school funding formula. This is an important discussion happening at the state level, and New Bedford will continue to be in that fight because our kids deserve the same chance at a great education as children in affluent school districts.”

Economic Growth and City Finances
“The Regeneration Committee under the leadership of Tony Sapienza and Gerry Kavanaugh has been critical in this effort. The committee has brought together the business leadership of Greater New Bedford and has worked closely with my administration to develop and execute an economic development plan. Few cities in America have this kind of formal mechanism to collaborate with business.”

“We will make every effort to expand the tax base by encouraging the development of underutilized parcels of public property. This is why the municipal golf course redevelopment project is important. The project was put on pause because of state supreme court decision that complicated the land transfer, but it is now moving forward again.

Transformation of the Port of New Bedford
“According to a recent analysis funded by the state, the Port generated some $11 billion in direct and induced economic activity, and supports nearly seven thousand jobs.”

“We’re in the midst of a physical remaking of the port the likes of which the city has not seen perhaps since the whaling era. Thanks to funding from the Baker-Polito administration, the deeper dredging of channels and berths will bring the harbor to its authorized depth for the first time since the 1950’s. [And] we will build a new major port facility thanks to a $15 million federal grant that Senator Ed Markey helped us secure a few months ago which will give us even more room to grow.”

Roads and Infrastructure
“With the completion of major infrastructure upgrades like the long awaited renovation of the Elm Street garage and the rebuilding of Union Street, we’ll usher in more restaurants, shops, and other development still.”

“As much as we want our city to look good, we also want it to work well. That’s why, with the city council’s support, we’ve increased annual road maintenance funding by nearly 75%. We’ve spend millions in fixing up city buildings, of which there are now some 96, and retrofitted them to be more energy efficient. It’s also why we’re investing tens of millions of dollars to make sure the city’s drinking water is safe and affordable.”

New Bedford Mayor Mitchell submitted a loan order to the City Council, appropriating $2,266,968.00 for Accelerated Repair Projects at the John Avery Parker Elementary School and Trinity Day Academy.

The loan order will be taken up by the City Council this evening at 7pm.

The 43-page report can be read here:

Communication-Loan_Order-Accelerated_Repair-School

Testifying today at the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Education’s hearing on funding legislation, the mayors of Brockton, New Bedford and Worcester explained that they are not close to being able to meet the constitutionally required standard of providing all students with adequate education opportunities.

Referencing the Foundation Budget Review Commission’s findings, the Mayors explained that not only are they unable to meet the adequacy standard defined by the Foundation Budget in the 1993 Massachusetts Education Reform Act but given the significant changes in the economy and the resulting expectations for schools they are far from meeting any kind of an adequacy standard for 2019.

“The student achievement gaps in our state are significant and widening, and the fault lines are geographic,” said New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell. “The cities of Massachusetts, especially the urban centers outside of Greater Boston, are home to a disproportionate share of the state’s high needs students, and struggle to find the resources necessary to provide these students with the education they deserve. The state needs to fill that void.”

The mayors cited the Supreme Judicial Court’s explanation that an adequately educated child must have “sufficient oral and written communication skills to function in a complex and rapidly changing” society, sufficient “academic or vocational skills” to compete in the job market, and “sufficient understanding of governmental processes to” be civically involved.

“Our public school system is what creates a level playing field of opportunity for all students growing up in the Commonwealth. Today that is no longer the case,” said Mayor Bill Carpenter of Brockton. “The disparity in resources available to students growing up in Gateway cities versus their counterparts in the more affluent suburbs is not only unfair but it is unconstitutional.”

Worcester Mayor Joseph M. Petty expressed his “gratitude to the Governor and Legislative leaders in both branches for their commitment to addressing the funding issues related to this intolerable and unconstitutional situation this spring,” stating that it is again time for significant change. “We need real change, not incremental change at the glacial pace of government but real change now,” said Mayor Petty. “The success of future generations simply cannot wait.”

The Mayors were joined by a panel of their Superintendents, who explained in greater detail the issues that Gateway Cities have to confront. The superintendents referenced the significantly changed demographics in their communities, the transitory nature of many of their students, the significant public health and homelessness issues they are confronting and materially different education needs of their students.

Has recreational marijuana been “zoned out” of New Bedford? We asked Mayor Mitchell that question and if New Bedford is getting left behind while other nearby cities and towns welcome recreational shops.

Full interview: