City Council recognizes residents’ actions in Brown Street fire

At its meeting this week, Waltham City Council heard comments from firefighters and residents about a fire that broke out in a Brown Street rooming house early in the morning of Aug. 29.

Ward 8 Councilor Cathyann Harris, in whose ward the fire took place, praised the quick and thorough response of Waltham’s fire department. She also praised two residents, Christy Waite and Peter Gosselin, whose actions — closing the door of the unit where the fire started, pulling the fire alarm, and helping evacuate other residents of the building — she said may have prevented a “complete loss of life” by preventing the fire from blocking building exits.

Fire Chief Andrew Mullin emphasized how this near-tragedy serves as an illustration of the importance of fire safety measures. “I appreciate all the efforts, I appreciate you guys recognizing Mr. Gosselin and Ms. Waite’s actions, and I hope this serves as a true reminder to our community that fire safety takes everybody,” he said.

The council signed and approved a resolution to thank the residents of 49–51 Brown St. for “extraordinary courage and community spirit under life-threatening circumstances,” and to firefighters for their quick action to contain and stop the fire.

At the council’s Monday meeting — its first since the end of its summer session — counselors also resolved some open business items from the summer and introduced some new legislative projects to be addressed at next week’s committee meetings.

Resolving open items

City councilors voted to approve a resolution banning cryptocurrency ATMs in order to prevent fraud and an allocation of $7.4 million to replace “gooseneck” water connections that might contain lead, both originally proposed at its Aug. 4 meeting.

It also approved $8.5 million in renovations for the outside of the Howe and Administration buildings at the former Fernald State School for future city use. Initially, at the council’s Aug. meeting, the Long Term Debt and Capital Planning Committee requested Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy bring involved city officials to the next meeting to answer questions about how much renovations were going to cost by the end of the process. 

Ward 6 Councilor Sean T. Durkee, who temporarily chaired the committee for August’s discussion of the renovations, said that his understanding from the meeting was that delaying further votes to approve this funding would prohibitively interfere with the contractor’s timeframe for the renovations.

Additionally, the City Council

• together with the Board of Survey and Planning, introduced a resolution to revise the city’s ordinance on fast food establishments. Ward 9 Councilor Robert G. Logan explained that the city’s current definition of fast food — as any restaurants with fewer than 50 seats — can be prohibitive for restaurants in smaller buildings that don’t have the space both for 50 seats and the two points of egress required by state safety standards. The new resolution would allow restaurants to have as few as 35 seats before qualifying them as fast food.
  Board of Survey and Planning member William Creonte, Jr. voiced his support of the resolution, and the council sent it to the Ordinances and Rules committee to be discussed next week.
• heard public comment supporting the resurfacing of a section of Milner St. that is administered as a private way. Two thirds of the resurfacing costs — estimated at $128,849.83 — will be paid by the city, with the last third paid for by residents in proportion to the amount that their property borders the road. This will be discussed at the Public Works and Public Safety committee next week.
• accepted a gift from Brandeis University of a newly installed pedestrian crosswalk across South Street with automatic lighting, designed to be safe and accessible for students whose religious observances prohibit using electric electronic devices on Shabbat.
• recognized the Waltham Youth Baseball ten-year-old little league team, who won the District 10 tournament championship in July, and celebrated the 101st birthday of resident Mary Waddick.
• forwarded a number of items to be discussed at committee meetings last week, including the initial draft of a new zoning plan from contractor CommunitySense, which will be taken up by the Ordinances & Rules Committee; a declaration of surplus from the Facilities Department to transfer the former Lawrence School to the departments of Housing and Recreation, which will be taken up by the Committee of the Whole; and the acceptance of state funding for the Waltham Public Library, which will be taken up by the Finance Committee.

UPDATE (September 11): This article has been reflected to clarify that Ward 6 Councilor Sean T. Durkee is not currently chair of the Long-Term Debt and Capital Planning Committee, but served as chair pro tempore in August.