Boston Council Passes Home Rule Petition to Let Decorated Officer Join Fire Department

BOSTON — September 17, 2025 — Boston City Council passes home rule petition for officer over fire department age limit, deadlocks on moped ordinance. The council voted 9-0 Wednesday to advance a petition filed by Councilor Edward M. Flynn that would allow Stylianos Katikakis, a 35-year-old Boston police officer and South Boston native, to apply to the fire department despite exceeding its 32-year maximum age requirement; Katikakis received the Medal of Honor from Boston EMS in 2020 for rescuing residents from a Newbury Street blaze before fire crews arrived. A separate Flynn ordinance targeting moped and e-bike delivery drivers stalled after Councilor Henry Santana warned it would "jeopardize the livelihoods" of 33 percent of food delivery drivers in Boston, many of them low-income immigrants, while Councilor Sharon Durkan argued the existing permit ordinance should be implemented first — it takes effect Jan. 1 — before any amendments are considered. The council also accepted a $250,000 state DCR grant to study a natural resilience barrier at Tinian Street in Dorchester, where flooding already reaches MBTA Red Line tracks, and voted unanimously to recognize September 23 as International Celebrate Bisexuality Day after Bisexual Resource Center representative Bailey Merlin told councilors that bi-plus organizations receive less than 1 percent of dedicated LGBTQ-plus funding despite bi-plus people comprising 58.2 percent of that community.