The City Council quickly took care of business during its last meeting of the year on Monday night, approving funding for several community preservation projects as well as a cost of living raise for City Manager Thomas Ambrosino.
The council unanimously approved a 3 percent cost of living raise for Ambrosino that backdates to July1 of this year. He is due for another 3 percent cost of living raise effective July 1, 2022.
The raises come as a result of the recent City Manager evaluation process by the council.
A special subcommittee gave Ambrosino high marks for his job performance.
The city manager signed his most recent five-year contract with the city in 2019 at a salary of just under $190,000 annually.
“In summary, the final rating by the committee was that the city manager did an incredible job managing city business and the covid response during one of the most stressful and difficult times in recent memory,” said Council President Roy Avellaneda. “The evaluation committee is aware that this is most likely the last two years that the city manager is working, and expects that the same professional effort shown previously will continue.”
The council also unanimously approved three community preservation expenditures recommended by the Community Preservation Committee.
Those grant proposals from the Community Preservation Fund include $25,000 for Temple Emmanuel for a historic building exterior conditions assessment, $252,000 for the rehabilitation of the Mace Basketball Court, and $400,000 for pre-development funding for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
In the 2016 general election, Chelsea voters voted to adopt the Community Preservation Act and impose a 1.5 percent surcharge on residential and commercial properties with exemptions for low- and moderate-income homeowners.
Temple Emmanuel is seeking support for an on-site assessment during which historic preservation consultants will examine, investigate, and analyze all areas of the building’s exterior envelope and document the existing conditions. The consultant will then recommend next steps for stabilization, rehabilitation, preservation, and maintenance of the historic building.
The basketball court rehabilitation project seeks to repair and bring back into use a court that has severely deteriorated over the past years so that it can once again be used as a neighborhood asset.
Chelsea’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund Board is seeking a $400,000 grant to help fund the pre-development aspects of its recent investment in affordable housing development.