Boston Council Budget Hearing Exposes ONS Staffing and Notification Gaps

BOSTON — May 27, 2025 — Boston City Council's Ways and Means Committee grilled Mayor Michelle Wu's community engagement cabinet Tuesday over staffing shortfalls, abutters meeting notification failures, and a past workplace investigation at the Office of Neighborhood Services. Committee Chair Brian Worrell led the FY26 budget hearing covering dockets 0822 through 0830, encompassing ONS, 311, the Office of Civic Organizing, and Spark Boston. Council Member Edward M. Flynn pressed Chief of Community Engagement Brianna Mallor and ONS Director Lindsay Santana on the absence of any Cantonese-speaking staff in a department serving Chinatown, calling it "a priority" and noting his own office employs two fluent Cantonese speakers; Mallor said recruitment is ongoing with "no leads currently." Flynn also demanded that district councilors receive ZBA abutters meeting notifications simultaneously with civic associations rather than after the fact, extracting a commitment from Mallor that the administration would respond before the full council votes on the budget. Council Member Benjamin J. Weber raised a pattern of deficient liquor license notice in Jamaica Plain and questioned the adequacy of serving certified mail to out-of-state LLCs rather than tenant businesses. Mallor confirmed that a prior toxic workplace investigation at ONS, referenced in published reports and raised by Weber, was reviewed by the city's people's cabinet and HR office and found nothing substantiated. The 311 office announced procurement of the Creatio platform to replace its outdated Lagan case management system, with implementation still in progress.