Boston Council Panel Advances Ordinance to Permanently Codify Returning Citizens Office

BOSTON — November 26, 2025 — Boston's City Council Government Operations Committee moved an ordinance that would permanently codify the Office of Returning Citizens into the Municipal Code, with a full council vote targeted for the following week. Vice Chair Benjamin J. Weber chaired the virtual hearing on Docket 0138, which was sponsored by Council President Ruthzee Louijeune. Chief of Human Services Jose Maso and Executive Director Ashley Montgomery told the panel the office has grown from two employees and a roughly $200,000 annual budget in 2017 to a staff of 11 and just over $2.5 million annually under Mayor Michelle Wu, serving about 680 active clients and placing 86 people in jobs so far in 2025. The hearing's central dispute was over an annual reporting requirement the administration had deleted from its redlined draft; Louijeune successfully argued to restore it as an annual written review due to the mayor and council by April 1 each year. The administration agreed to bring revised language back to sponsors by Friday, November 28, so the ordinance could be filed for the next council meeting.