On the Ordinance, referred  on February 2, 2022, Docket #0240, Amending City of Boston Code, Chapter XV Section XI Creating a Commission on Black Men and Boys, the Committee submitted a report recommending the ordinance ought to pass in a new draft.
Thank you, Mr. Clark. Docket 027940289 will be placed on file. Reports of committee. Mr. Clarke, will you please read. 02400240 the committee in Government Operations, to which was referred on February 2nd, 2020 to Dr. Numbers 0240 in ordinance amending City of Boston Code Chapter 15, Section 11 Creating a Commission on Black Men and Boys submits a report recommending that the ordinance ought to pass in a new draft. Thank you. The chair recognizes Counsel Arroyo, Chair of the Committee on Government Operations Counsel. Rael, you have the floor. At 11 2022. This docket would amend the current ordinance establishing the Commission on Black Men and Boys by adding provisions relating to an executive director and defining the role of the executive director. The Executive Director would be appointed by the Mayor to oversee the daily operations of the Commission. This person would have the powers of a department head to execute contracts, to manage personnel and to advise the Commission and would be an ex-officio voting member without additional compensation. I'd like to thank Councilman here for sponsoring this matter as well as my council colleagues who joined us. Councilor Bach, President Flynn, Councilor Louis Gen Councilor Fernandez Anderson, Councilor Worrell and Councilor Murphy. I'd also like to thank members of the administration, Frank Farrow, the executive director of the newly announced Office of Black Male Advancement and Chief Marion Daly. So the Savannah of the Office of Equity and Inclusion for also joining us. This amendment will ensure that the Commission is properly staff and equipped with the budget it needs to operate. The administration testified that a change to the original ordinance passed last summer was needed so that someone on the commission has the ability to execute contracts and manage personnel as required by the ordinance. The amendment before us would implement this change by creating the role of executive director who will be a paid employee of the city. During the working session, we will get some clarity about the relationship between the Office of Black Male Advancement in the Commission, how compensation would work and whether there would ever be a case where the Executive Director of the Office, Black Male Advancement or the Commission would be two different people. Mr. Farrow explained that though he will have the titles of Executive Director of the Office of Black Male Advancement and Executive Director of the Commission, he will only receive one salary under the Office of Black Male Advancement, which will grant him the powers of department head for the Commission. Mr. Farrow further explained that the intent, the intent of the proposal is to provide transparency and to ensure that the Commission is fully functional with a budget and an office. In order to provide clarification around this compensation piece, the committee suggested that a change in the language was necessary. The administration was presented with two options either to introduce a separate new ordinance codifying, codifying the Office of Black Male Advancement and stating that the executive director would have a seat on the commission as a director or the addition of language to this amendment as it stands, specifying that the Executive Director of the Commission must be a paid city employee. The administration agreed to amend the first sentence in Section 1511 to D to read as follows. Quote, The mayor shall appoint an executive director of the Black Boys and Men Commission that shall be an existing paid employee of the city of Boston to oversee and run the daily operations and administration of the commission, end quote. Passage of the docket will ensure that the Commission has the necessary tools and resources to function. The new draft of the docket eliminates confusion concerning the compensation of the Executive Director of the Commission. I recommend that this docket ought to pass in its new draft. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Counsel Royal. The chair recognizes. Counselor, me here. Counselor, me here. You have the floor. Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you to Counselor Arroyo for working so quickly to get this working session scheduled. We filed this amendment to the Black Men and Boys Commission ordinance to ensure that our commission was set up for success in every way in order for their work to have the major impact that is so desperately needed . We need they need to have the staff and they need a budget in our order in order to obtain those things. The best way to provide them is with an executive director who can serve as their administrative liaison. During the working session, we made small changes to the amendment to ensure that the person currently appointed to the Executive Director of the Office of Black Male Achievement is able to legally serve as the executive director of our commission. This will help us get our work done by the office and our commission to be lockstep with each other. I also just want to really quickly acknowledge and give a shout out to Council Worrell for stepping in and his leadership and joining us on this work and all the feedback that he's provided our office to ensure that we get this right. So thank you all for your support as well as Councilor Flynn, who really helped us expedite this entire process. So I'm encouraging my colleagues to please vote in favor of this ordinance so that we can get down to business. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman. Here. The Chair of the Committee on Government Operations Council seeks acceptance of the Committee report and passage of Docket 0 to 4 zero in a new draft. All those in favor say I oppose any. The ayes have it. Docket 0 to 4 zero has passed in an amended draft. Mr. Clarke, please read docket 0 to 3, please.