[{"_1":2,"_87":-5,"_88":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6313776,"mediaKeyId","2386760-82b5bf104a5700f37134e74dd5e4aac2","parentId",2386760,"title","Council approves routine appropriations, grants and traffic items in late‑February session","audioSeconds",557,"startMs",6178000,"endMs",6735000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2386760-82b5bf104a5700f37134e74dd5e4aac2&start=6178&end=6735","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2386760-82b5bf104a5700f37134e74dd5e4aac2/thumbnail_6178000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6313776/Quincy-City/Norfolk-County/Massachusetts/Council-approves-routine-appropriations-grants-and-traffic-items-in-lateFebruary-session","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6313776-5dafbc3fd6b96e49b7c01df3cf91eb78/orig.mp4?Expires=1770443097&Signature=cBizc2To4JHGQEsYebGx7bt5kPqz03pTW2lFrH~~MkOJtBEpBDjCPDDF8bSB5p6TktefWJm5xJId0o5e~wPn~CwHPge7wrRy2VHyM3Y-0eYVkl9Gzm5s1XYlSYD5u4XacjsfpsbjHE6Ed433nrBHDTNM4WFk65JT5SLe8p40CWlZC0WP8fw8nSHxHS2ait0JFn3C9jaFuTMEODyLmx6I~vipKFvcgiw-pEIOwCryQ~081n9165MWkUBmIasJu79L6YZqde5wXohKvH-gssRAGoSep0zZefve6GoA1QlkGH74mkkC8qrB5inUyXad-rtbxSfDNZ4CJapHdCpQ3~z2Rw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Quincy City, MA","date","2025-02-25T00:00:00Z","article","After the Public Safety Headquarters update, the council proceeded through routine business and approved a series of confirmatory votes, grants and traffic orders during its Feb. 24 meeting.

Highlights
- The council approved a confirmatory appropriation referenced in the record as \"20 20 four‑five‑nine,\" described by the clerk as a $1,000,000 appropriation for preliminary work on the new Swan Elementary School. Councilor Harris made the motion and Councilor McCarthy seconded; the clerk recorded unanimous yes votes from the nine council members present.
- The council approved a second confirmatory order, recorded as \"20 24 0 9 6,\" by the same process; the clerk recorded an affirmative roll call.
- A gift of $500 from Elizabeth Hachi to the DARE program (item \"20 25 0 2 3\" in the record) was approved by voice/roll call after a motion by Councilor McCarthy and second by Councilor DeBono.
- The council voted in committee recommendations on multiple traffic and parking items reported out by the Ordinance Committee (Chair Liang). The meeting record shows roll‑call approval for a series of traffic items (handicap parking designations, stop signs, no‑parking restrictions and school pickup/drop‑off restrictions) listed in the clerk’s agenda and approved by recorded roll calls.

Context and procedure
Clerk statements in the meeting identify each item by its docket number and the council used standard motions to approve committee recommendations. Councilors Harris and McCarthy were recorded as mover and seconder for the first appropriations item; subsequent roll calls for votes on committee traffic recommendations list each councilor’s vote. The record shows unanimous or strongly affirmative results on the routine items called during the meeting.

What passed (as recorded in the meeting transcript)
- \"20 20 4‑5‑9\": Confirmatory appropriation for $1,000,000 for Swan Elementary School preliminary work — motion by Councilor Harris; seconded by Councilor McCarthy; roll call recorded all present as yes (9).
- \"20 24 0 9 6\": Confirmatory order — motion by Councilor Harris; seconded by Councilor McCarthy; roll call recorded affirmative results.
- \"20 25 0 2 3\": Gift of $500 from Elizabeth Hachi to DARE — motion by Councilor McCarthy; seconded by Councilor DeBono; roll call recorded affirmative result.
- Multiple traffic/parking items reported from the Ordinance Committee (examples shown in transcript): handicap parking at 26 Plymouth St., drop‑off/pick‑up time restrictions, stop signs at several locations, no‑parking restrictions on Hayden Street and others — each listed with a positive committee recommendation and a recorded roll call approving the measure.

Ending
The council concluded the night’s regular business and set its next regular meeting for Monday, March 3, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. The votes on the routine items did not include further discussion or debate in the transcript beyond committee reporting and roll calls.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Quincy City Council - February 24, 2025","oneSentenceSummary","After the public safety update, the Quincy City Council approved a set of routine orders and traffic recommendations, including a $1,000,000 confirmatory appropriation for school preliminary work and a $500 gift to DARE.","taxTitle","Quincy City, Norfolk County, Massachusetts","taxId",4293,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6313781,"Quincy council hears update on $175 million public safety headquarters; mayor’s office defends chosen public art",6123,97000,6220000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2386760-82b5bf104a5700f37134e74dd5e4aac2&start=97&end=6220","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2386760-82b5bf104a5700f37134e74dd5e4aac2/thumbnail_97000.jpg","/articles/6313781/Quincy-City/Norfolk-County/Massachusetts/Quincy-council-hears-update-on-175-million-public-safety-headquarters-mayors-office-defends-chosen-public-art","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6313781-3378638fd1d6aff42eb2cd2e172d69ad/orig.mp4?Expires=1770443097&Signature=SidmvBdqkRPXrxwGzL4EW43Rd4UXnrTu32ERBMXzXjj7pCeDN1cjYFAXUBDp5VDWeGx3IxE5X~jQ6Mv5vblIJN20g3dgTVADDens4RqDHCQrkvYo78uJ-acuhD6gjuQcDHRNlpC1igl6334BLJN4GpLieR4gf18NFmyi1Mqa70jI1ezHrTcqA1Hct4DyLG3voBeiMVBr1LnVBDnMHxji6~sEl63AbAr3DfnWbybcfyB4hsSB7g~tqwB87amOzb2fCpsu-gH88x86xT9MneG-DpCUGlcc2~ag0vcs2MSM5LC-zBe4k-2w3CdWKBWAEyp2XHy9lFbCf5Kl-LHwFx78SA__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Quincy City Council members received a detailed construction and budget update Monday on the new Public Safety Headquarters — a multi-part project that includes a five‑story headquarters, secure parking structure, site hardening and off‑site infrastructure improvements — and pressed the mayor’s office over a recently announced public‑art installation on the building’s facade.

The update, led by the mayor’s chief of staff, Public Buildings Commissioner Paul Hines, and owner’s project manager Joseph (Joe) Shea of Granite City Partners, described the work completed so far and the plan to begin occupying the new facility in October 2025. “We are driving for October 2025 to start to occupy the building,” Shea told the council. Chief Mark Kennedy said the new building will centralize police, fire and emergency management functions and provide spaces now lacking in the existing facility, including private interview rooms, a fitness center and an indoor firing range.

Why it matters: the project ties together a long list of improvements that the administration says will harden the site against storm surge and improve emergency response while also creating operating savings and future electric‑vehicle infrastructure. At the same time, the mayor’s office drew criticism from several councilors and members of the public after the administration announced two large figurative sculptures for the facade; councilors said they were unaware of the artwork until it was publicly reported and asked for a clearer process for public art on major city projects.

Project scope and schedule
City officials described the overall program as an aggregate $175,000,000 effort that bundles the headquarters building, a parking structure, off‑site improvements and related acquisitions. The project team said the building portion is a major share of that aggregate: “The building … is $143,000,000 of that aggregate,” Shea said. He also detailed other line items he said had been scoped during construction: “A hundred and 18 [million] for the building and parking, $11,000,000 for the furnishing, fixtures, and equipment, $9,000,000 for the off‑site improvements and $5,000,000 budgeted for contingency allowance.” The project team reported the overall program is roughly 98% encumbered and that about 65% of the building budget has been spent; Shea said the remaining project contingency is about $2,200,000.

Officials described the building as five stories and roughly 20,000 square feet per Shea’s remarks, with more than 50 dedicated rooms for police, fire and emergency management functions, and a secure parking deck with about 330 spaces. The project includes a stormwater pump station, raised street elevations on Broad Street to reduce flood risk, buried utilities along the corridor, an activated Field Street connection to improve response access and a solar PV canopy over the parking structure with space for more than 30 EV chargers and infrastructure for future expansion. Chief Kennedy described operational benefits he expects: private interview rooms, training and conference space, a new indoor shooting range, a virtual reality training room and a consolidated emergency communications center intended to dispatch police, fire and EMS from a single facility.

Public art and council concerns
The mayor’s chief of staff told the council the sculptures were procured under the construction manager‑at‑risk procurement and that the decision on the artwork was made by the mayor’s office, not the council. “You go straight to the Mayor. This is one of those occasions where it’s certainly okay for this body … that the decision on this has been made,” Mr. Walker said. He also said the art budget amounts to roughly half of 1% of the overall project cost.

Several councilors said they first learned of the proposed artwork through media reports and public reaction rather than through council briefings. “It’s the fact that the city council was unaware that this was happening,” Council President Kane said, and other councilors urged the administration to create a repeatable public‑art process for large city projects so future choices include more public input. Councilor Liang and Councilor McCarthy pressed the mayor’s office on where residents should direct complaints or requests for changes; Walker repeated that procurement and final decisions on that art element were made in the mayor’s office and urged residents to take concerns there.

Quotes from officials
\"The community access to police and fire service is gonna be like nothing we've ever had in the city before,\" Police Chief Mark Kennedy said, describing consolidated public and administrative access and new private interview rooms.
\"We are driving for October 2025 to start to occupy the building,\" Joe Shea said, giving the council a target for initial occupancy and noting a phased move‑in.
\"You go straight to the Mayor,\" the mayor’s chief of staff said when asked where the public should take concerns about the chosen art.

What the council directed and next steps
Councilors asked the administration for more regular briefings and said they plan to pursue a clearer public‑art approval path on future projects; several said they will seek options for additional public engagement even though the administration described the art decision as made. Officials said the construction schedule remains targeted to open the building in October 2025, with an anticipated phased migration of departments into the new facility and demolition of the old police station later in the 2025‑26 winter. The project team said ribbon cuttings and public tours of non‑secure areas will be planned once occupancy is imminent.

Clarifying details in the transcript
- Total program (aggregate): $175,000,000 (Joseph Shea)
- Building portion: described as $143,000,000 of the aggregate (Joseph Shea)
- Alternate line noted by Shea: “A hundred and 18 [million] for the building and parking” (Joseph Shea)
- Furnishings, fixtures & equipment: $11,000,000 (Shea)
- Off‑site improvements: $9,000,000 (Shea)
- Budgeted contingency: $5,000,000 originally; remaining contingency reported as $2,200,000 (Shea)
- Building size: described in remarks as 20,000 square feet and five stories (Shea)
- Parking: approximately 330 secure spaces (Shea)
- EV charging: “over 30” charge stations planned initially; conduits and transformer pads installed for future expansion (Hines/Shea)

Ending
Councilors did not take a formal vote on the art at Monday’s meeting; they approved routine agenda items later in the session. The council asked the administration to continue updates on schedule and budget and to provide information about future public‑art procedures so residents can have a clearer route to provide input before construction is complete.","City officials gave a construction and budget update on the new public safety headquarters and parking structure, while several councilors and residents pressed the mayor’s office over two proposed statues on the building’s facade and asked for greater public input.","actionData","errors"]

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Council approves routine appropriations, grants and traffic items in late‑February session

Quincy council hears update on $175 million public safety headquarters; mayor’s office defends chosen public art