City Council in brief: Packed meeting addresses union agreements, new government building and more

An unusually large crowd packed the City Council chambers at Monday’s special summer meeting, waiting to hear if councilors would override Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy’s veto of a zoning change that would allow housing in a western Waltham office park.

Many attendees stayed well past midnight for the final ruling on the council floor, where councilors finally voted 12-1 to override McCarthy’s veto. 

The rest of the night, however, was very busy, as councilors addressed issues surrounding roadwork, employee pay raises and more over the course of nearly six hours.

City pay raises

Councilors funded pay raises from a newly negotiated three-year agreement with the Teamsters’ union, which covers some city employees who do physically labor-intensive jobs, including staff in the Public Works, Wires and Recreation departments as well as the Waltham Public Library. 

The Teamsters’ contract had expired in 2025. Similar to recent contracts with the managers’ and mechanics’ unions, the new Teamsters’ agreement includes a 0.5% raise to union members’ salaries for 2026 and an additional 2.5% raise for 2027. The city also agreed to pay for training and implemented new guidelines around days off.

Councilors also voted to increase pay at the same rates for nonunion workers, which include department heads, administrative staff and staff who can’t enroll in unions because they handle confidential city data, such as some Law Department and Accounting Department employees. The council also ratified promotions and raises it accepted as a part of the June city budget.

The city still has to negotiate new contracts with its public safety unions: two Police Department unions, a Fire Department union and a dispatchers’ union. The city’s School Department still must address contracts for five of its employees’ unions. Only the teachers in the Waltham Educators Association currently have a contract, which they achieved in February. Negotiations for the remaining unions’ contracts are ongoing, entering their 13th month.  

City center expansion

After a long discussion held in executive session and closed to the public, the council’s Committee of the Whole emerged to approve the purchase of 600 Main St., located directly across from City Hall. Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy first floated the acquisition in May, proposing to buy the building and its adjoining parking lot for $8.6 million to house additional city offices. 

Councilors agreed to let the current occupant, BrightBridge Credit Union, remain in the building for the next three years. 

Additionally, the City Council

• Allowed the owner of a lot at 20 Gale St. to break open the street for utilities work as part of plans to replace the property’s current house with two single-family homes.
• Allowed the owner of a lot at 181–185 Felton St. to withdraw a petition to include all of the lot in the Riverfront Overlay District, which currently overlaps with half of it.
• Appointed Debra Catalanotti to the Council on Aging and Diane Lane to the Board of Cemetery Commissioners.
• Approved $11,809.14 to purchase geolocation tools for the Engineering Department to update its geographical records.
• Denied a request for expansion of mixed-use zoning on Jones Road to a neighboring lot owned by Ferris Development Group LLC. Councilor-at-Large Emma Tzioumis voted against the denial, and Councilor-at-large Colleen Bradley-MacArthur voted “present.”
• Discussed renaming the former high school at 617 Lexington St. and other buildings in the school district. 
• Heard a proposal for a fast food permit for Cava, a Mediterranean food chain that plans to move into a newly redeveloped building at 96 Tower Road alongside salad chain Sweetgreen. The council will revisit the petition at its Oct. 13 meeting.
• Preliminarily approved nearly $1.7 million to update final portions of the city’s 911 radio system that Fire Chief Andrew Mullin said was reaching end-of-life. The council also approved a $1,000 donation to the Fire Department from AI biotechnology company Revvity for fire suppression training and prevention.
• Voted to award Doug Waybright, president of the Waltham Chamber of Commerce, the Kevin M. Ritcey Public Service award for 2026. Although Ward 4 Councilor John McLaughlin originally nominated Stacy Tully for the award, he amended his vote to give Waybright a unanimous nomination.