Leombruno Elected Chair of Framingham City Council’s Environmental Subcommittee

FRAMINGHAM – At-large City Councilor Janet Leombruno was voted chair of the City Council’s environmental & sustainability subcommittee last night, January 31.

Newly-elected District 7 City Councilor Leora Mallach was voted vice chair of the 3-member subcommittee.

The environmental & sustainability subcommittee was the first of the 8 subcommittees to meet this session and re-organize.

The 3-member subcommittee has no returning members from last session.

Appointed to the subcommittee by City Council Chair Phil Ottaviani Jr. was at-large City Councilor Leombruno, new District 5 City Councilor Noval Alexander, and Mallach.

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District 2 Councilor Cesar Stewart-Morales served as chair of the subcommittee from 2020-2021. Other members last term were former District 5 City Councilor Robert Case and former District 7 City Councilor Margareth Shepard.

The environmental & sustainability subcommittee met five times in 2020 and four times in 2021, with a focus on trails, bike paths, and solar panels. The committee did approve a new sustainability committee, which was established later by a full vote of the 11-member City Council and then mayor Yvonne Spicer.

The subcommittee did fail to address environmental justice issues on the south side, including cleaning up the General Chemical, Mary Dennision, and Cedar Swap sites. General Chemical last appeared on a subcommittee agenda in March 2020, and the Dennison Park cleanup and the contamination inside Cedar Swamp never were on an agenda.

The environmental subcommittee was chaired by former District 8 City Councilor Judy Grove in 2018-2019. It focused on south side toxic sites and helped to update the plastic bag bylaw and create a noise ordinance.

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Leombruno pledged to have the subcommittee meet more often than it did in the second session of the City Council in 2020-21.

The new chair said she spoke to Mayor Charlie Sisitsky and they plan to move forward many environmental issues, including possible electric charging stations at City Hall, as well as have a focus on environmental justice issues in the south section of the City.

Mallach said she wanted to focus on trails, bike & pedestrian issues, and environmental justice issues.

Alexander nominated Leombruno to be chair of the subcommittee, with Leombruno seconding the vote. It was unanimous 3-0.

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