All City buildings will reopen to the public on Monday, July 12 with limited staffing. Both visitors to City buildings as well as staff will be required to wear face coverings while inside the buildings. Staff will be available on a walk-in basis in all departments for quick transactions like paying a bill or picking up a document. For matters that will take longer, residents will need to schedule an appointment with City staff. Many City services are also available online and, whenever possible, residents are encouraged to continue to use online services.

The Finance Committee meeting scheduled for Monday, June 15, has been cancelled pending action by the state legislature to extend the authorization permitting remote meetings in compliance with the Open Meeting Law.

On June 16, Governor Charlie Baker signed legislation allowing cities and towns to continue holding meetings virtually. The Somerville City Council will continue to hold ongoing Finance Committee and full City Council meetings on the fiscal year 2022 budget virtually. All planned budget meetings begin at 6 p.m. and can be viewed by visiting the “Meeting Schedules and Streaming” tab at www.somervillema.gov/citycouncil or tuning into GovTV (channel 13 on RCN and 22 on Comcast).

The schedule for the remaining budget meetings is as follows:

The City of Somerville’s annual SomerMovie Fest returns this year with a series of seven family-friendly films being shown in parks around Somerville. Learn more at www.somervillema.gov/SomerMovieFest

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) and the Cities of Medford and Somerville announce the implementation of a municipal dedicated bus lane pilot between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. on weekdays on  Mystic Avenue (Route 38). Painting and signage along the entire stretch – from Main Street in Medford to Wheatland Street in Somerville – has been completed and the dedicated bus lane will officially become operational on Monday morning, June 21, 2021.

The Somerville Board of Health (BOH) approved a proposal at its June 17 meeting that revises and extends the City’s current residential eviction moratorium for 90 days, until September 15. The BOH also approved ending the commercial eviction moratorium and allowing landlords and their agents to enter residential units for non-emergency reasons, with 48 hours advance written notice to tenants, an opportunity to reschedule where necessary, and provided that COVID protocols are followed. The City’s emergency declaration will remain in effect throughout this 90-day period.

The City of Somerville and its contractor, Simple Recycling, are making several changes to Somerville’s curbside textile recycling service to improve the program for residents and the environment. 
 
Each year, only 15 percent of all unwanted clothing in the United States is donated or recycled, while approximately 14.3 million tons of clothing (or about 80 pounds per person) ends up in landfills. These process adjustments will make recycling textiles even easier and make the “pink bag” program even greener. 
 

The City of Somerville’s Licensing Commission is seeking one Somerville resident to fill a vacancy on the three-member board. Commissioners serve three-year terms and earn a stipend of $3,600 per year. Meetings are held monthly, typically Monday evenings at 6 p.m.

Three virtual town halls are planned for July to further the conversation around opening a supervised consumption site (SCS) in Somerville. Each meeting will have a different focus to address various stakeholder perspectives. Each meeting will begin at 6 p.m. and the schedule is as follows: