Chelsea City Council

Loaded: every full City Council meeting with minutes on the city’s website from January 2, 2018 through September 21, 2026 (179 meetings: regular, special and two joint meetings with the School Committee), from the City Council agendas and minutes page (2021 on) and the City Council archive (2015 to 2020). Sub-committee meetings (Conference, Ways and Means and others), the Charter Review Committee and the School Committee are not loaded. Most minutes from 2018 to May 2024, January and February 2025 and January to April 2026 are scanned paper copies; MassVoter read them with text recognition and checked the vote lines by hand where the scan was hard to read. Not here: minutes the city has not posted, including October 19 and November 2, 2020; September 20, 2021; January 24, June 27, September 12 and December 5, 2022; September 9, October 21, November 4, November 18, December 2 and December 16, 2024; February 24, March 10, March 24, April 7, May 5 and June 2, 2025; November 10 and December 1, 2025 (regular and special meetings); and April 6, 2026. The “Minutes” links for January 11, 2021, March 4, 2024 and March 9, 2026 open the minutes of a different meeting, so those three meetings are missing too, and the October 4, 2021 link opens the October 18, 2021 minutes. MassVoter is asking the City Council Clerk for the missing minutes. Chelsea’s minutes record most actions as passed “under suspension”, “by voice vote” or “with no objections”, with no count; for those MassVoter shows the result only and never assumes the vote was unanimous. Communications accepted and filed, items referred to a committee and orders moved to a second reading are not counted as votes unless a roll call was taken. Roll calls are written as a four-part count (yes-no-absent-present, such as 8-2-1-0) with the names of the councilors voting each way. When the names add up to the councilors present, MassVoter shows each councilor’s vote; when the minutes name only the no voters, the yes voters are the other councilors present; when the count and names do not agree, a name is listed twice or cannot be read, or the minutes name a councilor who is not on the attendance line, MassVoter shows the count only and adds a note. Since 2022 two councilors named Garcia have served together; a roll call that says only “Garcia” shows the count only. Councilors who recused themselves are left out of that vote. Elections of the Council President, Vice President and Delegate to the School Committee are shown by name when only one councilor was nominated and the minutes name every vote, and as the result only, with a note, when councilors chose between candidates. We will ask the City Council Clerk to confirm any noted vote.