The New Bedford City Council was sworn in for a new term Monday night and it’s a younger group than usual. Both first-time councilors are in their twenties and aim to bring a fresh perspective on issues like opioids and homelessness.
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New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell still plans to remove Engine 8 from service, even after a series of large fires that rocked the city since Thanksgiving when three multi-family houses burned on Washburn Street.
Mitchell said on my program Wednesday that he plans to replace Engine 8 with a hybrid vehicle known as a quint that is both an engine and a ladder truck. His critics say there is no comparison between the two pieces of apparatus.
Veteran City Councilor Brian Gomes, who chairs the council s Public Safety Committee, also called into the program to inform us that the quint Mitchell has purchased is 15 years old and someone else s headache. He said the vehicle is too large to maneuver the tight streets in the near-North End and is a tight squeeze for Station 8 on Acushnet Avenue.
Mitchell sent a letter to City Council vetoing the council’s ordinance and stating his reasoning behind the veto on Nov. 24, which included that the residency requirement creates a preference for qualified city residents and cultivates a city workforce committed to the city.
Before the ordinance was enacted city employees were required to live in New Bedford unless they obtained a residency waiver, which the mayor had to put before City Council and the council then had to approve.
City Councilors have questioned the fairness of residency waivers with Coelho saying the process seemed to lack equality as some higher-level workers are granted permission to live outside of the city, while lower-level workers seemed to have a different set of rules.