City Council Meeting

The City Council meeting opened with roll call and proceeded to consider appointments, grant orders, equipment leases, property matters, multiple pole-permit public hearings, and Community Preservation Act (CPA) reserve orders. The Council confirmed the mayoral appointment of Aaron Martin to the Board of Health. The Council approved a list of election workers after removing Councilor Gilday from the list and deleting the word “preliminary.” Staff and department representatives answered questions on several items, including the non-matching nature of a firefighter safety grant and whether certain grants are population-formula based.

A series of mayoral orders were approved unanimously, including acceptance of the FY25 DFS firefighter safety grant (2025-044), authorization of revolving fund spending limits for FY26 (2025-048), a lease authorization for cardiac monitors and police camera equipment (2025-049), acceptance of a CCC IT grant (2025-050), and acceptance of SAFE and Senior SAFE grants (2025-051). The Council also approved an order transferring the Amesbury Elementary School property for municipal purposes (2025-052) with DPW stipulations and requested follow-up on which budget will cover maintenance costs. National Grid pole-permit hearings for 10 Aubin St., 5 Chester St., Nayson’s Ct. (Heritage Vale St.), Oakland St., and South Hampton Rd. were opened and closed the same evening and approved with DPW stipulations; a resident raised concerns about old lines on a building during the Aubin St. hearing. The Council referred a copier lease purchase order (2025-060) and two CPA reserve/appropriation orders (2025-063 and 2025-064) to the Budget and Finance Subcommittee for further review; the CPA referrals passed 7-1 with one councilor opposed and raised requests to consider bringing CPA matters before a Budget Committee of the Whole and to correct language discrepancies.