MassVoter.com← BostonMunicipal votes · 2020–2021 Council
Boston City Council
How the Boston City Council voted, from the City Clerk's official minutes. 13 councilors: 4 elected at large and one from each of the city’s 9 districts. Elected November 2019. MassVoter has loaded only the meetings of September 15 to December 15, 2021, because earlier City Council minutes are not on the city’s Legistar site. Council President: Kim Janey, who was Acting Mayor from March to November 2021 and is listed as absent at the fall 2021 meetings until December 1, 2021; President Pro Tempore Matt O’Malley chaired most meetings. Michelle Wu (at-large) resigned effective November 16, 2021, after being elected Mayor; Erin Murphy took the at-large seat and first appears in the minutes on December 1, 2021. Covers 11 meetings, September 15 to December 15, 2021.
A monthly email on what it voted on, starting in November.
What does the City Council do? It is the city’s lawmaking body. It passes local laws (ordinances), votes on the yearly budget, and approves borrowing.
The mayor runs the city day to day and proposes the budget.
Sources: Mass. General Laws c. 44 § 32 (city budgets)Council sessions
Coming up
- Tue, Oct 13 · 2:30 pmCity Council →
From the agendas Boston posts on its official site. Agendas can change; the posted agenda is the official one.
Councilors
Ricardo ArroyoCouncilor · District 5 · at 10 of 11 meetingsFrank BakerCouncilor · District 3 · at 11 of 11 meetingsKenzie BokCouncilor · District 8 · at 11 of 11 meetings
Liz BreadonCouncilor · District 9 · at 11 of 11 meetingsAndrea CampbellCouncilor · District 4 · at 11 of 11 meetingsLydia EdwardsCouncilor · District 1 · at 10 of 11 meetingsAnnissa Essaibi GeorgeCouncilor · At-large · at 11 of 11 meetingsMichael FlahertyCouncilor · At-large · at 11 of 11 meetings
Edward FlynnCouncilor · District 2 · at 11 of 11 meetings
Julia MejiaCouncilor · At-large · at 11 of 11 meetings
Erin MurphyCouncilor · At-large · at 3 of 3 meetings · from Dec 2021Matt O'MalleyPresident Pro Tempore · District 6 · at 11 of 11 meetingsMichelle WuCouncilor · At-large · at 7 of 7 meetings · until Nov 2021"At X of Y meetings" counts the roll call at the start of each meeting in this record. Councilors who step out are listed on each meeting page.
Meetings
About missing minutes
Loaded: every full City Council meeting with minutes on the city’s Legistar site, from September 15, 2021 through September 30, 2026 (159 meetings, regular and special). The Legistar calendar also lists committee hearings and working sessions; those are not loaded, and committee polls taken during council meetings are not shown as council votes. Not here: City Council minutes before September 2021, which are not on Legistar (the city’s older website had text minutes for 2005 to 2010; minutes from 2011 to August 2021 are not online; MassVoter is asking the City Clerk for January 2018 to August 2021). Some meetings are missing from Legistar altogether even though later minutes approve their minutes, including September 14, October 5 and December 7, 2022; April 26, May 17, June 7, August 9 and September 27, 2023; January 28 and August 5, 2026. Boston’s minutes list each docket item and what the council did with it. Items referred to committee, placed on file or left in committee are not votes and are not listed. Most actions are written without a count (“the rules were suspended; the order was passed”, “Passed under suspension of the rules”); for those MassVoter shows the result only and never assumes the vote was unanimous. Roll calls are written as a count, often with names (“yeas 11, nays 2 (Flynn, Murphy)”; since 2026 every yes voter is named too). When the names and the count add up to the councilors present, we show each councilor’s vote; councilors listed as “not present” or “absent” for a vote are left out of it. When they do not add up, or a councilor named in the vote is not on the attendance line, we show the count only and add a note. Elections of the Council President and of the City Clerk show the result only, with a note quoting who voted for whom. We will ask the City Clerk to confirm any noted vote.
Votes where councilors disagreed
Most council votes are unanimous. These are the ones where at least one councilor voted no or abstained, newest first.
Dec 15Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to…Motion: The rules were suspended; the order was passed.Passed · see note
December 15, 2021: Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to accept and expend the amount of $160,000.00 in the form of a grant, for Immigrant Advancement Initiatives, awarded...
The rules were suspended; the order was passed.
The minutes give the result only, with no count, so MassVoter does not show how each councilor voted.
From the minutes
“The rules were suspended; the order was passed..”
Dec 15Message and order to accept for the benefit of…Motion: The rules were suspended; the order was passed.Passed · see note
December 15, 2021: Message and order to accept for the benefit of the City of Boston Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management, a donation of a Shower Trailer from the Boston Public Health...
The rules were suspended; the order was passed.
The minutes give the result only, with no count, so MassVoter does not show how each councilor voted.
From the minutes
“The rules were suspended; the order was passed..”
Dec 15Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to…Motion: The report was accepted; the order was passed.Passed · see note
December 15, 2021: Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to accept and expend the amount of $13,520,000.00 in the form of a grant for the Federal FY21 Urban Areas Security...
The report was accepted; the order was passed.
The minutes give the result only, with no count, so MassVoter does not show how each councilor voted.
From the minutes
“The report was accepted; the order was passed..”
Dec 15Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to…Motion: The report was accepted; the order was passed.Passed · see note
December 15, 2021: Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to accept and expend the amount of $2,070,874.00 in the form of a grant for the FY22 Title III-C, awarded by the…
The report was accepted; the order was passed.
The minutes give the result only, with no count, so MassVoter does not show how each councilor voted.
From the minutes
“The report was accepted; the order was passed..”
Dec 15Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to…Motion: The report was accepted; the order was passed.Passed · see note
December 15, 2021: Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to accept and expend the amount of $1,006,875.00 in the form of a grant for the Federal FY22 Title III-B for...
The report was accepted; the order was passed.
The minutes give the result only, with no count, so MassVoter does not show how each councilor voted.
From the minutes
“The report was accepted; the order was passed..”
Dec 15Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to…Motion: The report was accepted; the order was passed.Passed · see note
December 15, 2021: Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to accept and expend the amount of $526,120.00 in the form of a grant, for the FY22 Title III-E, awarded by the…
The report was accepted; the order was passed.
The minutes give the result only, with no count, so MassVoter does not show how each councilor voted.
From the minutes
“The report was accepted; the order was passed..”
Dec 15Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to…Motion: The report was accepted; the order was passed.Passed · see note
December 15, 2021: Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to accept and expend the amount of $417,870.00 in the form of a grant, for the Federal FY22 Title III-A, awarded by...
The report was accepted; the order was passed.
The minutes give the result only, with no count, so MassVoter does not show how each councilor voted.
From the minutes
“The report was accepted; the order was passed..”
Dec 15Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to…Motion: The report was accepted; the order was passed.Passed · see note
December 15, 2021: Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to accept and expend the amount of $106,575.00, in the form of a grant, for the FY22 DMH Co-Response Grant, awarded...
The report was accepted; the order was passed.
The minutes give the result only, with no count, so MassVoter does not show how each councilor voted.
From the minutes
“The report was accepted; the order was passed..”
Dec 15Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to…Motion: The report was accepted; the order was passed.Passed · see note
December 15, 2021: Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to accept and expend the amount of $72,600.00 in the form of a grant for the FY2022 Jail/Arrest Diversion Grant...
The report was accepted; the order was passed.
The minutes give the result only, with no count, so MassVoter does not show how each councilor voted.
From the minutes
“The report was accepted; the order was passed..”
Dec 15Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to…Motion: The report was accepted; the order was passed.Passed · see note
December 15, 2021: Message and order authorizing the City of Boston to accept and expend the amount of $399,000.00 in the form of a grant, for the East Boston Foundation Fund II...
The report was accepted; the order was passed.
The minutes give the result only, with no count, so MassVoter does not show how each councilor voted.
From the minutes
“The report was accepted; the order was passed..”
From the Boston City Council’s official minutes, posted on the city’s Legistar meeting calendar (linked from the City Council page on boston.gov). We check every vote against the councilors present and quote the exact wording. MassVoter never grades or scores officials. Councilor photos: City of Boston (boston.gov), from the official headshots on the City Council page. Former councilors show initials.
How to read these pagesWhere the votes come from, how we check them against the official minutes, what isn't included yet, and how to report a mistake.About city pages →