Boston City Council Delays Redistricting Vote After Open Meeting Law Complaint

BOSTON — October 26, 2022 — Boston City Council delays redistricting vote and funds a $37.7 million teachers union contract at tense October 26 session. Council President Edward M. Flynn announced that a vote on new City Council electoral district maps would be postponed at least one week after an open meeting law complaint filed the prior evening named three separate public events as potential violations; Councillor Liz Breadon, who chairs the redistricting working sessions, said the law department needed to draft an initial response before the council voted on the maps. On the same day, the council unanimously approved a $37,674,337 supplemental appropriation for Boston Public Schools to cover the fiscal year 2023 costs of a newly settled contract with the Boston Teachers Union covering roughly 8,600 employees — about half the city's total workforce — with basic wage increases of 2.5 percent annually across three years running through August 2024. Councillor Kenzie Bok, presenting the funding dockets, called it "one of the more significant policy contracts we've had in a long time." Flynn also withdrew a separate order formally adopting redistricting criteria after Councillor Bok raised a Rule 5 procedural objection, arguing the docket was substantially similar to redistricting principles the council had already passed the previous week.