Lynn mayor, council spar over veto

LYNN – City Council President Timothy Phelan wants Mayor Judith Flanagan Kennedy to withdraw her veto of a council order that gave Seacrest Foods the right to park commercial trucks on property once known as the Ford School Annex.The mayor Tuesday said she can’t comply with Phelan’s request because questions about ownership and control of the 100 Bennett St. building and land remain unresolved.Everett-based Seacrest Foods plans to move its gourmet food storage and shipping operation next month to 86 Bennett St., a warehouse which abuts 100 Bennett St. and was until earlier this year the headquarters of Crystal Foods.Crystal Foods was purchased and merged with a New York company. The Lynn Economic and Industrial Corp. (EDIC) soon began attempts to lure Seacrest Foods to Lynn.EDIC Executive Director James Cowdell assured Seacrest Foods executives they could park trucks at 100 Bennett St. Cowdell informed city councilors in October that School Superintendent Catherine Latham approved of the arrangement. The City Council on Oct. 19 voted, with an emergency preamble, to support the initiative.The mayor said she vetoed the council order on Oct. 29 because she was not provided with adequate information about the 100 Bennett St. property or the land use plans.”All I received was a council order with two sentences. Now that there are questions about the property, a lot of paperwork is turning up,” she said Tuesday.In a Nov. 3 letter to the mayor, Phelan indicated he “had a conversation with City Solicitor Mike Barry who verbally informed (him) if the School Department ceased use of the building for one year, control of the building would fall within the purview of the Public Property Committee.”Kennedy, an attorney, said Tuesday that a conversation does not suffice as a legal opinion, since the latter must be in writing. She also took issue with the referenced practice of having school property revert to city control if unused for a year.”If that’s the case, then why didn’t the Fecteau-Leary and the Fallon schools revert back to the city? This is just another point that needs clarification and more research, which is what I am doing,” she said. “So I still don’t have an answer. What I do know is that a lot of people are operating under the assumption that it is School Department property.”School Committee Secretary Thomas Iarrobino last week said the committee has hired a consulting firm for $17,000 to determine whether 100 Bennett St. can serve as a combined School Department headquarters, bringing together administrators, special education and transportation staff under one roof.Kennedy said the approximately 147,000 square feet at 100 Bennett St. is seemingly two different parcels, based on records at the Southern Essex Registry of Deeds.”From the land survey, there’s no way to tell where the trucking parking is. The building was first used as a school in 1998. In 2000, the city took ownership from the IUE (union Local 201) through eminent domain,” said the mayor.She noted that city documents dated in 2002 refer to the property as the Ford School Annex. “As late as 2007, there are references to looking for upgrades to the building from the Massachusetts School Building Authority.”In an Oct. 14 letter to Ward 4 Councilor Richard Colucci, chairman of the Public Property Committee, Cowdell wrote, “I met with (Latham) and explained that the new owner would like the same agreement. Dr. Latham visited the area in question and sees no problem with Seacrest Foods using that land.”Cowdell further noted in his letter, “This land is critical to the success of this new business.”The mayor said she never received a copy of Cowdell’s letter or other vital information prior to the council’s emergency vote.”I think we need to be very specific about what land we are talking about before we grant any use for it,” she said.Phelan in his Nov. 3 letter to the mayor described the plan to consolidate the School Department administrative offices at the for