{"utterances":[{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-08-17","video_id":1277,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight - City Council August 17th 2026","meeting_id":6011,"start_sec":160.88,"end_sec":174.48,"similarity":0.784,"text":"No. I was just- Oh, sorry. Just to be clear- Well, since I've been appointed, I'll thank Councilor Kowal because I wasn't here, and so that was a big concern I had as well. And through the chair, would like to know,","url":"https://vimeo.com/1219080624#t=160s","page_url":"/video/1277"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-08-17","video_id":1277,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight - City Council August 17th 2026","meeting_id":6011,"start_sec":175.15,"end_sec":188.01,"similarity":0.776,"text":"I heard what Councilor Kowal said, but the contract's been amended. We don't have the amended contract in the agenda portal, I assume, but it can be put in there maybe or...","url":"https://vimeo.com/1219080624#t=175s","page_url":"/video/1277"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-08-17","video_id":1277,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight - City Council August 17th 2026","meeting_id":6011,"start_sec":1067.12,"end_sec":1106.31,"similarity":0.822,"text":"Yeah, thank you. In the appropriations meeting, which was like 15 minutes ago, I voted present on this because I had a lot of concerns around the language in the contract, which as might be expected from this administration, is extremely long, very confusing, redundant in several parts. Since that time, we had an interlude between meetings. I was able to listen to some of the feedback that was given by the city solicitor and also take a reread of the contract. And while I believe that there is still some risk attached with doing business with the Trump administration, I also believe that the members of this council will do everything in their power to prevent federal overreach from harming our citizens. So I'm going to vote yes on this.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1219080624#t=1067s","page_url":"/video/1277"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-20","video_id":2,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight - City Council July 20th 2026","meeting_id":5999,"start_sec":2332.59,"end_sec":2341.98,"similarity":0.845,"text":"Thank you. Councilor Cal asked my first question, thank you. You're welcome. But then it made me think about a second question, which is, in the RFP process,","url":"https://vimeo.com/1211551486#t=2332s","page_url":"/video/2"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-20","video_id":2,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight - City Council July 20th 2026","meeting_id":5999,"start_sec":2342.81,"end_sec":2358.18,"similarity":0.882,"text":"a little different from a traditional real estate transaction, am I understanding correctly that we could put a high number of conditions into this RFP, really sort of an unlimited number of conditions, as long as we found a developer that was willing to accept them and work with us? That's perfect. Exactly.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1211551486#t=2342s","page_url":"/video/2"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-20","video_id":2,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight - City Council July 20th 2026","meeting_id":5999,"start_sec":2358.93,"end_sec":2389.67,"similarity":0.904,"text":"Right. So in that sense, it's nice to think of the way that we can include community goals in the RFP. And one of the big ones I was thinking of is deed restricted affordable housing with the Melrose Housing Trust Fund. And I'm just wondering if you all had given any thought to whether you would, in this RFP, require a higher amount of, or different flavor of affordable housing above what zoning requires.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1211551486#t=2358s","page_url":"/video/2"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-20","video_id":2,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight - City Council July 20th 2026","meeting_id":5999,"start_sec":2420.49,"end_sec":2447.31,"similarity":0.897,"text":"Yeah. Awesome. And I just also wanted to thank you all for your work and participation in this, because it's great to have some vision, and some plans, and some thoughts on the table well before we get into the pressure cooker of land transfer conversations. And I think that it's just really... I really appreciate it. Thank you. Up next, I have Councilor Chen. Thank you so much. Thank you for being here and the presentation.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1211551486#t=2420s","page_url":"/video/2"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-20","video_id":2,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight - City Council July 20th 2026","meeting_id":5999,"start_sec":5262.88,"end_sec":5445.66,"similarity":0.92,"text":"I wanted to take a minute to put some of my thoughts out there on the record, especially since we have some of the folks who have reached out to us and emailed us here today, and they've given us some very thoughtful emails and thoughtful comments. And I always appreciate the engagement from the business community in particular, who we don't see much of here in the council chamber, and from residents as well. I want to put some of the reasoning and the data behind my vote out on the record, and continue the conversation that Councilor Romanul just opened up with regards to how we measure parking, how we define success in the city, and where I'm getting some of my ideas from. So we all know that there was a 2012 parking study in the city. It counted about 400 plus open spaces downtown at peak. These spaces are not in front of individual businesses. They're collective throughout the area of the city. So while some smaller lots can become overwhelmed and you can give the perception of a parking crisis, other lots nearby will have spaces available. What people haven't commented on is that that study was redone. Another study was redone in August of 2025 for the building that's right across the street from us as part of their application to the city planning website. They found roughly the same usage of the parking lots. It was a little bit lower, so instead of 400 plus spaces at peak, it was 300 spaces open. This further cements my understanding of the city's parking situation and how dynamic it is. I do not believe that we have a parking crisis. I don't believe that we have a major shortage of parking. I believe we have sort of a physics problem, which is that two people can't park in the same parking space. I acknowledge that some of the business owners in the room disagree with that logic, and I'm not dismissing the experience that people have when they say they can't find a place to park. That's exactly what the parking studies predict and what psychological studies predict, that people, when they go to park in front of a business and they can't park right in front of it or nearby it, their perception is that there's nowhere to park, and sometimes they leave, and we don't want people to leave Melrose. I think that there's opportunities that we have to think more critically and carefully about how we manage this parking, especially in the Larrabee lot. All 53 spaces in this lot are part of the merchant business and employee permit program, and the charge for that program is $0, despite, for instance, charging $600 annually for the floating permit where a person can park at any lot. The 2012 study had a great series of recommendations about how to manage employee parking. I'm not convinced that it's being rolled out effectively. The land itself, whether you've got parking spaces or people living there, you're still bringing people around to utilize businesses downtown. I'm glad to hear some of the business leaders tonight talking about being willing to participate a little bit more in this. I think it really speaks to the problem that we have, that mostly nobody knew that this was leased property. I'm sure that people also don't know that the church has a 30-day exit clause, which means that if they decide that they don't like something the city's doing, they can just back out with 30 days notice.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1211551486#t=5262s","page_url":"/video/2"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-20","video_id":2,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight - City Council July 20th 2026","meeting_id":5999,"start_sec":5446.76,"end_sec":5485.18,"similarity":0.911,"text":"So anyway, the point I want to make, the line I want to close with is that residents ask us all the time, \"What can you do to increase the commercial property tax base? What can you do to help put more property on the rolls so that residents aren't stuck carrying so much of the levy?\" And the honest answer is that I believe that parcels like this deserve to be buildings instead of just parking, and I believe that we can manage our parking situation better in the city. And I hope that the conversations that we've generated, by not just rubber-stamping this like we have in years past, are going to lead to better decisions, and better engagement, and better","url":"https://vimeo.com/1211551486#t=5446s","page_url":"/video/2"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":511.6,"end_sec":569.73,"similarity":0.903,"text":"Hi, thank you for being with us. Through the chair, I just happened to look up, it's Zone BA-1, so that's the business district. So presumably, the way that that zone works is that it goes over to Myrtle Street, which encompasses the entirety of the property, which is listed as Parcel 41. So you could sell it, and anybody could build basically anything that's allowable within BA-1- ... which would be commercial or residential or multifamily or whatever. So I voted present on this last year, and I know it's always like, do you want to stick a wrench in the works of something that's been going on for a couple of years? I wanted to ask follow-up on Councilor Finocchiaro point. So the lease has been around since 2017. Do we know what arrangement or agreement existed prior to that lease?","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=511s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":629.84,"end_sec":664.4,"similarity":0.874,"text":"Historically, I don't expect you to have all the answers for this, right? But I wanted to ask, and you're here. So, historically, has this been prior to the current agreements parking for the church? Accessory parking for the church? I mean, who was parking here? Because it's obvious that it makes sense as sort of commercial parking for some of these restaurants. Mm-hmm. But prior to these arrangements, I'm curious about what the intended use of this land was and how it was used.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=629s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":704.11,"end_sec":709.16,"similarity":0.708,"text":"Thank you for that information. Do we still feel that","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=704s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":709.95,"end_sec":726.6,"similarity":0.823,"text":"the approximate shape of this parcel is similar to what we saw the last time we discussed this a few weeks ago, that it essentially is that whole lot, and then it comes through the fence and it's like a big T sort of, an upside-down T? Yeah. That's it? Okay.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=709s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":729.94,"end_sec":731.35,"similarity":0.637,"text":"I'm sorry. I was looking back at Street View from 2012.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=729s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":732.14,"end_sec":828.98,"similarity":0.895,"text":"It looks to me like it's been exactly the same for at least 24 years because Google captured it in 2012, and it was exactly the same then as it is now. And so I would guess you go back even further, it's probably just always been like that. The thing that is bothering me about this, it bothers me that we lease parking from anybody, or that we lease land and use it for parking from anybody. Because we obviously don't do that in other locations. The thing that's really bothering me about this is that there's no resolution to this land use issue. They could, and have, demonstrated a willingness to hold it hostage and just say, \"What are you going to do? You're going to kill half the parking for Giacomo's?\" Right? And I don't see the resolution to that, right? If they're not going to sell it to us, if we're not going to be able to do something better with it, if there's this risk behind it, it kind of makes me feel like we should just do away with it now and suffer the consequences, and live with those consequences and find the solution now, rather than try to see if maybe next year they'll be amenable to a better deal or maybe in the future something will be different. So I don't know. I'm sort of split on this, but I don't like the way that the initial thing rolled out, and I feel like it's risky and I feel like why not just eliminate the risk? And just design it as it needs to be for access without paying somebody for it. So that's where I'm thinking right now, but I want to hear what everybody else has to say.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=732s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":1742.15,"end_sec":1748.46,"similarity":0.716,"text":"Through the Chair, I'm sensitive to the concern that","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=1742s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":1749.49,"end_sec":1837.69,"similarity":0.908,"text":"a sudden change in the arrangement could be detrimental. I don't know. I think the statement that Councilor Park made is true, but I think it cuts both ways. I don't know if this is parking that's being heavily used by patrons, or if it's parking that's being heavily used by people who either work in the locations, or if it's being used by people who are going off to other points and doing other things. I've no idea what's happening with this lot. I go through there somewhat frequently, and it's not always oversubscribed any more than any of the parking in Melrose is oversubscribed at peak hours. And removing 53 spaces from this location, I don't think would change the oversubscription issue at peak hours any more than it would change the under-subscription issue at below peak hours. I think for market rate, it's about what the local establishments are charging for monthly parking, and that's the City of Melrose, which charges $120 a year for an overnight parking pass. So, you could call that like a half-day pass for $12 a month. And I found some other examples of off-street parking for rent, where it's something like $100 or $200 a month. But generally speaking, anywhere between $100 and $200 a month, which if you're contracted, and at $60 a month seems sort of favorable, so I give them that. I'm","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=1749s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":1840.05,"end_sec":1906.13,"similarity":0.915,"text":"stuck a little bit on the discussion of outreach, right? Because we could have done outreach on this- Mm-hmm ... three months ago, or four months ago, or five months ago. And it's not anybody's fault, it's just the nature of municipal government that unless we push back in some way or someone pushes back, people are prone to want to just resolve issues and move forward with things. And so my thinking is that unless we have a really demonstrated effort to move us off of this lease and get some of the businesses sharing some of this cost, that it's just not going to happen, and that when we come back to this in a year, like to Councilor Jamaleddine point, we've come back to it year after year after year after year, that we'll just be having the same conversation. The rent went up a little bit, it's not too bad. We don't want to harm the parking. But the church has got it, so what can we do? And my strong belief is that a lot of the action that this council takes has to create a reaction, because if it doesn't create a reaction, then we don't see any actual forward progress and resolution to issues. So","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=1840s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":1913.85,"end_sec":1918.92,"similarity":0.723,"text":"treated with a sort of all or nothing choice on it.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=1913s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":1923.7,"end_sec":1935.02,"similarity":0.845,"text":"I think I need to think a little bit more about it. Right now I'm in the sort of present place, which as a reminder is a no vote, but it's sort of like a softer no vote. It's like a kinder no vote.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=1923s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":1936.65,"end_sec":1962.75,"similarity":0.903,"text":"I need to know that if we vote yes on this tonight, that in eight months time, there's going to be a meeting and a discussion with the Chamber of Commerce and the business owners about moving this off of the city's rolls so that we're having some contingency plan for providing egress and access through private property, stuff like that. I just, I don't know.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=1936s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":2562.24,"end_sec":2590.74,"similarity":0.861,"text":"All right. Up next I have Councilor Williams, then President Freeman, and then Councilor Finocchio. This is exactly the question that I was going to ask. Not about parking municipal cars there. Through the chair. Through the chair. I was going to ask about using it for permit parking, overnight parking. So I read the lease, section seven, permitted uses, \"Tenant shall use the premises solely for the purpose of public and municipal parking in accordance with terms and conditions of section 11 four of this lease.\" Mm-hmm. Section 11 four,","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=2562s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":2593.0,"end_sec":2614.38,"similarity":0.894,"text":"blah, blah, blah. Just says, \"Keep it clean, keep it free of ice and snow, don't let trash accumulate, don't commit or suffer to be committed any waste, or act or thing which may disturb the quiet enjoyment of any other tenant or occupant of the premises.\" It's a parking lot.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=2593s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":2621.62,"end_sec":2643.62,"similarity":0.844,"text":"Yeah. So no- So ... so no religious displays please. It's hard for me to say. Yeah. Okay. So here's the thing. I actually think we can use this for permit parking or for some other reason. I think we do have a little bit of control over this according to the lease. That would be a discussion for the executive branch, right? We could not direct them to park garbage trucks there, although that's a really funny idea. I'm sorry.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=2621s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":2645.12,"end_sec":2683.69,"similarity":0.897,"text":"Sorry. I'm sorry. Ugh, gosh. Yes, I had something else in my head, and this idea just really derailed it for me. I struggle a little bit with the idea that the archdiocese is coming to us with a declaration of market rate like they're a property developer looking for the highest and best cost that they can get for a property. I worked for the archdiocese in a past life, so I understand that they are a large landowner and that they leverage that to the best of their ability.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=2645s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":2684.37,"end_sec":2686.53,"similarity":0.602,"text":"And","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=2684s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":2688.14,"end_sec":2690.59,"similarity":0.717,"text":"ultimately, I don't know what","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=2688s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":2691.42,"end_sec":2755.49,"similarity":0.881,"text":"this $40,000 funds, whether it goes to the arch, whether it goes to St. Mary's, what it funds at St. Mary's. Again, I think that in the council, my approach has always been that you generate a reaction, and that the reaction is what causes the discussion to accelerate and is what causes the solution to be found, and that if you say okay, that that is your final disposition. And when you say okay, the negotiating party on the other side of the table says, \"Oh, yeah. They're good. Forget it. We're not going to have any problems with them.\" And I just don't like that. I don't like that. And I think we probably could figure out a way to design these lots that was minimally disruptive. There's an ingress and an egress at the... There's an in and out, an exit and an entrance at the TD Bank. You come in, you go around the loop, you go back out. Same thing coming up from the park on Grove Street. Yeah, you come up and you can park there, and then you can go back out. So I don't really think that this is","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=2691s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":2756.55,"end_sec":2780.97,"similarity":0.868,"text":"something that would cause a dramatic upending. I think what it would upend the most is people that use it to cut through and beat the lights from Foster Street down to Grove Street, which is not how it should be used, and is also very dangerous for people that are in the parking lot trying to walk to businesses. So I think that whole area needs to be revisited, and I think that voting no on this might be the way to kick that conversation off.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=2756s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":2782.14,"end_sec":2784.14,"similarity":0.776,"text":"And by the way, I","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=2782s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":2786.73,"end_sec":2815.67,"similarity":0.862,"text":"mean no disrespect to yourself, the mayor, and I know you know this, but just to say it out loud. The people who have been back and forth on this and worked hard on this, and then felt like, \"Okay, we've got something. Let's take it forward.\" And then to hear me and some other people say, \"I don't like this,\" is sort of not the best. So it has nothing to do... I think you guys did great work. I think that you pushed them hard, and I think that they just don't have any interest in working with us.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=2786s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":3050.21,"end_sec":3160.84,"similarity":0.921,"text":"Thank you. Councilor Williams. Thank you. Through the chair, we're always welcome to file an information order, and they've been viewed as hostile in the past sometimes, but they don't have to be, right? They can just be a request for information. \"Hey, come before us and tell us what's been going on with this.\" So any of us can do this, and I'd be happy to co-sponsor something like that down the road to hear more. The second thing that I wanted to discuss in relationship to the parking conversation is that we have not, as a body, really tackled this question of parking as land use, and the dynamics of who attends public meetings and what their concerns are and whether they're representative and how many people you hear from versus the other 30,000 people in the city. I think that it's clear that Melrose, like every other city, has a peak demand parking crunch. If you're trying to get dinner at 7:30 or 6:30 or something, or if you're trying to go grocery shopping before a holiday or whatever, we've all had the experience where we have to circle around a little bit and look for a place to park. Off-peak, not as much of a problem, and I generally find that I can, with a little bit of creativity, find a place to park. I think it's when we rejected the parking study, one of the things I suggested to the planning director was that we look at a more holistic transportation plan rather than a parking plan to talk about how the city takes people in, and how that includes storing their personal vehicles. It also includes getting them in in ways that are outside of cars. It includes ancillary parking lots, et cetera. So I think we have a lot to discuss, and we should discuss it, about parking in the city and parking demand and transportation. Mm-hmm. But I don't foresee the tragedy. I don't have the same fear about what will happen if we knock these spots down. Councilor Finocchiaro.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=3050s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":3679.61,"end_sec":3685.02,"similarity":0.742,"text":"Everybody's making really good points. Honestly, everybody's making really fantastic points.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=3679s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":3686.26,"end_sec":3695.1,"similarity":0.826,"text":"And I want to be clear that for the folks who I think are considering not doing this, it's not out of an intention to","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=3686s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":3695.77,"end_sec":3731.76,"similarity":0.857,"text":"try and take something away, through the Chair, from the residents of the city of Melrose. I think there's an honest disagreement about what impact something like that would have, or actually, what would happen immediately thereafter. Mm-hmm. Right? Would this generate an immediate conversation with business owners to try and find a way to fulfill this parking, or would they just put a fence up the next day and say, \"No one can park here anymore.\" Right? That's the question we all have, and we don't actually know the answer to that question. We don't know if we approve $42,000 for the next year, and we go to the businesses and say,","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=3695s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":3732.43,"end_sec":3737.61,"similarity":0.722,"text":"\"Hey, guys, we paid for this this year, but we don't want to pay for it anymore. Will you pay for it?\"","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=3732s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":3741.25,"end_sec":3765.28,"similarity":0.831,"text":"Good luck.\" And I'll say, personally, when I voted present on this the last time it came around, was because I'm not comfortable with the city being in the business of paying for parking, right? We don't charge residents for parking. We don't have meters on Main Street or any streets. We only charge for the overnight parking permits.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=3741s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":3765.97,"end_sec":3791.41,"similarity":0.837,"text":"And so the idea that we're open to buying or renting land for the purposes of parking, for me, it feels like this would be a non-issue if it wasn't a continuous strip that went from Foster to Grove. If it was just that little lot in the back, I think the city would've ditched this a long time ago. I think it's the fact that we feel that we can't not buy it from them.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=3765s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":3792.07,"end_sec":3812.79,"similarity":0.846,"text":"And Councilor Park is right, it is $7,000. Right? We've approved small things. We've approved that kind of money for something. So I feel like it would be minimally disruptive to pass this tonight. My concern would be that we'll be here on July 15th of 2027","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=3792s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":3814.15,"end_sec":3828.81,"similarity":0.803,"text":"asking these exact same questions again. And in my experience, when that happens, people sort of forget the past, and they forget the statements they made, and they move forward. So I'm still not sure","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=3814s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":3829.43,"end_sec":3846.12,"similarity":0.712,"text":"All right ... where I'm at. But I do very much appreciate the conversation, and I do take very seriously the feedback that folks have offered and the points that they've made. Appreciate the vibrant conversation, everybody. And seeing no others, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=3829s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":3935.86,"end_sec":3943.25,"similarity":0.709,"text":"Councilor Williams. Through the Chair, if we rejected the lease, I think","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=3935s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-07-09","video_id":3,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight July 9th 2026","meeting_id":5992,"start_sec":3944.0,"end_sec":3971.49,"similarity":0.851,"text":"we can have a vote on it. We can discuss it, but it's sort of a moot point. I will say that we have occasionally seen movement between the committee and the council meetings where some new information has come to light. And so for the public's awareness, this information that we are voting on tonight goes back to council, and it could pass in full council if new information becomes available, even if we vote it down here in the committee.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1208609380#t=3944s","page_url":"/video/3"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-29","video_id":6,"video_title":"Protection and License - Appropriations and Oversight - City Council June 29th 2026","meeting_id":5979,"start_sec":948.16,"end_sec":949.66,"similarity":0.705,"text":"excuse me, since you brought up the permit, Mass DEP is the permitting body?","url":"https://vimeo.com/1205631431#t=948s","page_url":"/video/6"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-29","video_id":6,"video_title":"Protection and License - Appropriations and Oversight - City Council June 29th 2026","meeting_id":5979,"start_sec":950.91,"end_sec":952.91,"similarity":0.612,"text":"Correct.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1205631431#t=950s","page_url":"/video/6"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-29","video_id":6,"video_title":"Protection and License - Appropriations and Oversight - City Council June 29th 2026","meeting_id":5979,"start_sec":1074.33,"end_sec":1075.08,"similarity":0.705,"text":"So you're going to build the new one-","url":"https://vimeo.com/1205631431#t=1074s","page_url":"/video/6"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-29","video_id":6,"video_title":"Protection and License - Appropriations and Oversight - City Council June 29th 2026","meeting_id":5979,"start_sec":1076.51,"end_sec":1086.38,"similarity":0.72,"text":"Concurrently with the other operation, and that way when you're ready to demolish the old one- Mm-hmm ... you don't have to interrupt your operation. There'd be no interruption of service, right.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1205631431#t=1076s","page_url":"/video/6"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-29","video_id":6,"video_title":"Protection and License - Appropriations and Oversight - City Council June 29th 2026","meeting_id":5979,"start_sec":1086.38,"end_sec":1087.88,"similarity":0.602,"text":"Yeah. So what do you do with the space that is currently where the old building","url":"https://vimeo.com/1205631431#t=1086s","page_url":"/video/6"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-29","video_id":6,"video_title":"Protection and License - Appropriations and Oversight - City Council June 29th 2026","meeting_id":5979,"start_sec":1567.71,"end_sec":1577.21,"similarity":0.764,"text":"Vice Chair Vandiver asked the question that I was going to ask, but I wanted to","url":"https://vimeo.com/1205631431#t=1567s","page_url":"/video/6"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-29","video_id":6,"video_title":"Protection and License - Appropriations and Oversight - City Council June 29th 2026","meeting_id":5979,"start_sec":1577.21,"end_sec":1582.96,"similarity":0.787,"text":"just clarify that what this means is that the city always receives $75,000 a year, and then it","url":"https://vimeo.com/1205631431#t=1577s","page_url":"/video/6"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-29","video_id":6,"video_title":"Protection and License - Appropriations and Oversight - City Council June 29th 2026","meeting_id":5979,"start_sec":1582.96,"end_sec":1585.96,"similarity":0.73,"text":"grows at least 3.3%, but not more than","url":"https://vimeo.com/1205631431#t=1582s","page_url":"/video/6"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-29","video_id":6,"video_title":"Protection and License - Appropriations and Oversight - City Council June 29th 2026","meeting_id":5979,"start_sec":1586.46,"end_sec":1590.21,"similarity":0.699,"text":"3.5% each year. Correct. So this year it's 75%. I'm sorry, $75,000. Next year it's $80,000.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1205631431#t=1586s","page_url":"/video/6"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-29","video_id":6,"video_title":"Protection and License - Appropriations and Oversight - City Council June 29th 2026","meeting_id":5979,"start_sec":1594.71,"end_sec":1597.21,"similarity":0.618,"text":"Mm-hmm. And then","url":"https://vimeo.com/1205631431#t=1594s","page_url":"/video/6"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-29","video_id":6,"video_title":"Protection and License - Appropriations and Oversight - City Council June 29th 2026","meeting_id":5979,"start_sec":1597.21,"end_sec":1602.21,"similarity":0.768,"text":"the additional fees-- And I will say that it would be nice to have the whole contract here. We have the amendments that are being made, but we have lots of","url":"https://vimeo.com/1205631431#t=1597s","page_url":"/video/6"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-29","video_id":6,"video_title":"Protection and License - Appropriations and Oversight - City Council June 29th 2026","meeting_id":5979,"start_sec":1604.46,"end_sec":1605.21,"similarity":0.619,"text":"references to sections that we can't review or don't know what they","url":"https://vimeo.com/1205631431#t=1604s","page_url":"/video/6"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-29","video_id":6,"video_title":"Protection and License - Appropriations and Oversight - City Council June 29th 2026","meeting_id":5979,"start_sec":1606.96,"end_sec":1608.75,"similarity":0.666,"text":"say.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1205631431#t=1606s","page_url":"/video/6"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-29","video_id":6,"video_title":"Protection and License - Appropriations and Oversight - City Council June 29th 2026","meeting_id":5979,"start_sec":1626.4,"end_sec":1628.65,"similarity":0.747,"text":"Thank you. Those payments can reduce a portion","url":"https://vimeo.com/1205631431#t=1626s","page_url":"/video/6"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-29","video_id":6,"video_title":"Protection and License - Appropriations and Oversight - City Council June 29th 2026","meeting_id":5979,"start_sec":1630.9,"end_sec":1635.4,"similarity":0.675,"text":"Correct ... that they can never go lower than. Yeah.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1205631431#t=1630s","page_url":"/video/6"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-29","video_id":6,"video_title":"Protection and License - Appropriations and Oversight - City Council June 29th 2026","meeting_id":5979,"start_sec":1635.4,"end_sec":1637.65,"similarity":0.665,"text":"And that floor is the $75,000 plus 3.5%","url":"https://vimeo.com/1205631431#t=1635s","page_url":"/video/6"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-15","video_id":10,"video_title":"Melrose City Council June 15th 2026","meeting_id":5968,"start_sec":1797.33,"end_sec":1874.76,"similarity":0.858,"text":"Thank you. Well, I agree that there are some peculiarities with the greater story of the auditor. I think that the resolution that Councilor Finocchiaro has put forward is broad in its approach. I appreciate the courage it takes to wade into this issue. I also voted for the audit. I also recognized at the time that the audit question was a little vague, but I voted for it for the same reason that I'm going to support this resolution tonight because it's a statement about the importance of transparency in state government. We have one of the less transparent state governments in America. One stat that stuck in my head after all these years was that we were the last state legislature to reopen in America after COVID closed down public meeting spaces. And I would like to see more transparency generally in the legislature, and I don't think that we're going to get there by ignoring the issue. So, I think as a resolution, fine and good, and I'm proud to support it. If we were voting on actually auditing tonight, I would have a lot more questions and a lot more scrutiny on the issue. But as just a statement of free speech, I think transparency is fantastic, and I'm glad to support it.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1201640850#t=1797s","page_url":"/video/10"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-15","video_id":10,"video_title":"Melrose City Council June 15th 2026","meeting_id":5968,"start_sec":2040.62,"end_sec":2043.87,"similarity":0.633,"text":"Excuse me. A point of order. Councilor Karamcheti has her- Oh","url":"https://vimeo.com/1201640850#t=2040s","page_url":"/video/10"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-15","video_id":10,"video_title":"Melrose City Council June 15th 2026","meeting_id":5968,"start_sec":2368.99,"end_sec":2371.74,"similarity":0.701,"text":"Motion to place on file. File. Second.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1201640850#t=2368s","page_url":"/video/10"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-15","video_id":10,"video_title":"Melrose City Council June 15th 2026","meeting_id":5968,"start_sec":2668.11,"end_sec":2724.11,"similarity":0.875,"text":"Thank you, President Freeman. This was an order that had a ton of great discussion, a lot of differing viewpoints, and we heard a lot of public comment on it. It's sort of unusual in the experience that we've had as councilors. In particular, I wanted to offer up to the newer folks in the room that sometimes on these orders, as you go through the weeks between the meetings, you can have a change of heart. I've done it before, and sometimes people love me for it and sometimes people hate me for it. Mm-hmm. But in this order in particular, the story that stuck with me the most was the story of the school teacher who was looking for assistance. I think there's so few things that we do in this body that can directly help people in a meaningful way, and I hope that we can get this to pass tonight. Thank you.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1201640850#t=2668s","page_url":"/video/10"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-15","video_id":10,"video_title":"Melrose City Council June 15th 2026","meeting_id":5968,"start_sec":3918.11,"end_sec":3951.86,"similarity":0.829,"text":"I'll just throw out there that I'm in the same boat as Councilor Vandiver. I don't vote on promises, I vote on orders, and the order had elements to it that I think that should have been more carefully considered before we decided to put them into the 25% design. So I'll also not support this, and I hope that the mayor's office and the administration and the parks department... I'm sorry, the Parks Commission, makes good on their promises to do a really thorough public process and explore all possible options for the playing fields.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1201640850#t=3918s","page_url":"/video/10"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-15","video_id":10,"video_title":"Melrose City Council June 15th 2026","meeting_id":5968,"start_sec":4502.74,"end_sec":4543.49,"similarity":0.87,"text":"We are in a little bit of a procedural pickle because- ... we have a motion on the floor. We can only entertain one motion at a time. And the final vote of the city council is the final disposition per our rules in the charter. So, I've talked to the city attorney about the fact that we need to rethink some of these rules and when it comes to the charter. But as it stands, once a motion is made, which it is often made very quickly in the council meeting to approve or reject, that motion is essentially the last question that we're going to answer about the order. So, as much as I would like to continue debating this-","url":"https://vimeo.com/1201640850#t=4502s","page_url":"/video/10"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-15","video_id":10,"video_title":"Melrose City Council June 15th 2026","meeting_id":5968,"start_sec":4550.99,"end_sec":4556.82,"similarity":0.657,"text":"That's true. If you close the initial motion, then there could be a second, a new motion made. But we have a motion and a","url":"https://vimeo.com/1201640850#t=4550s","page_url":"/video/10"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-15","video_id":10,"video_title":"Melrose City Council June 15th 2026","meeting_id":5968,"start_sec":6094.26,"end_sec":6121.91,"similarity":0.849,"text":"Thank you. I would put as exhibit A through the chair, the building across the street from us, which is under Historic District Commission, or was under Historic District Commission jurisdiction, and went through a very lengthy discussion process and wound up being razed and having a multi-family building put up in its place. So the Historic District Commission is the beginning of a conversation with property owners and developers about the historic","url":"https://vimeo.com/1201640850#t=6094s","page_url":"/video/10"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-15","video_id":10,"video_title":"Melrose City Council June 15th 2026","meeting_id":5968,"start_sec":6122.53,"end_sec":6164.34,"similarity":0.838,"text":"significance and importance of their parcel, and it's like the demo delay ordinance, a tool in the toolbox. It just sort of indicates that we think that that house has a special historic significance. It does not prevent a developer from building something on the site if they abide by all the rules and wait out the timelines, as we saw across the street with us. So, I don't think that we need to worry too much about the Historic District Commission's power. And also, we as a council vote for the Historic District Commission members when they come before us, and so we can ask them clearly for their opinions on this matter, and if we don't like the answers that they give, we can vote no on them.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1201640850#t=6122s","page_url":"/video/10"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":289.56,"end_sec":296.2,"similarity":0.726,"text":"Vandiver, can we motion to this, if we table it, can we keep it in the meeting?","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=289s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":461.06,"end_sec":473.81,"similarity":0.782,"text":"Thank you. Can you characterize what split is between the increased sort of the fundamental increase in cost of utilities versus the unanticipated increased cost from increased usage from the cold?","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=461s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":501.06,"end_sec":530.06,"similarity":0.876,"text":"Yeah, I suppose you could think of it in the context of the schools being 95,000 or, excuse me, 100,000 of this transfer that a lot of that is electricity. So it feels to me like most of this is driven by the rates- Correct ... since we don't have electric heat in our schools. Yep. The extra cost for school gas and oil heat. Do we have oil heat in any of the schools? We do. Which ones?","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=501s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":534.8,"end_sec":546.05,"similarity":0.879,"text":"That's right. Okay. So yeah. Do you think when you're talking about electricity costs in FY27 that we've been a little less conservative to account for any unexpected spikes?","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=534s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":595.2,"end_sec":598.7,"similarity":0.638,"text":"Second. I'll second the motion to recommend.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=595s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":933.83,"end_sec":960.3,"similarity":0.831,"text":"Thank you. So I'm looking through 211, and I see there's a capital outlay line item for $90,000 called police vehicle. We also have an $83,000 line item in the other capital outlay budget that you, I would not hold it against you if you didn't realize this, but we've been sort of talking about this over the course of a few meetings, that there's this new budget for capital.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=933s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":960.97,"end_sec":987.6,"similarity":0.847,"text":"And my question is, what's the difference between the $83,000 for police vehicles in the outlay budget and the $90,000 for police vehicles in the police budget, 211? And if you don't know, that's okay, because you're not in control of the capital outlay budget. I would accept sort of a backup question, what is the $90,000 in 211 for?","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=960s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":1008.76,"end_sec":1016.51,"similarity":0.766,"text":"So we've moved the police vehicle out of 211 and into the capital outlay budget is what's going on? Yeah, you're correct.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=1008s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":1054.71,"end_sec":1070.71,"similarity":0.732,"text":"In the memo where you presented the statistics, you mentioned the number of motor vehicle citations. Are these, since you separated between parking violations and motor vehicle citations, I assume these are moving violations?","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=1054s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":1073.96,"end_sec":1082.96,"similarity":0.75,"text":"Right. And of those moving citations, how many of them were warnings as opposed to not warnings?","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=1073s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":1094.21,"end_sec":1104.21,"similarity":0.648,"text":"And how do you feel the department's efforts in terms of traffic safety violations have evolved over the last year?","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=1094s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":1168.63,"end_sec":1179.63,"similarity":0.756,"text":"Have you been following the state legislative efforts to work on automated enforcement? Do you have an opinion on that, whether it would be an option for the city of Melrose?","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=1168s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":2458.45,"end_sec":2507.13,"similarity":0.871,"text":"Thank you. Since you mentioned overtime, I thought I would give you the opportunity to talk about what your department has done to reduce overtime, because in 2025, you had $623,000 in overtime, and in 2026 you had a 40% reduction to $457,000, which is what the 2027 overtime budget is currently. So, why don't you tell us a little bit about your thoughts about what worked for you- Okay ... what the benefits of reducing overtime were for your department, for the city, for the budget, and whether you think that the amount of overtime you have now is sufficient, because I do notice that for 2026 actual, you used even less. There was $100,000 less than the budget, dropped down to $361,000.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=2458s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":4230.21,"end_sec":4286.59,"similarity":0.813,"text":"Speaking of overtime, I wanted to, I suppose, congratulate you, although I know part of it was the ambulance, so the congratulations have already come and gone. We're looking at an overtime budget that went from $1.6 million, which was $900,000 of that was an appropriation that we did a couple of years ago. And we've settled down to a budget of around $500,000. The actual was $700,000. So, I wanted to ask what you think about the trajectory of this. Do you think, given that we have this big order in front of us, do you think that 2027 is going to be a year where we can stay within the overtime budget or close to it? Mm-hmm. And also, what kind of strategies are you employing, and have you found successful in terms of keeping overtime a little bit lower over the last three years?","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=4230s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":4455.15,"end_sec":4469.3,"similarity":0.746,"text":"do you feel or can you tell me what do you think-- There's a level of overtime that's just required to run the operation and might even be sort of favorable to the budget. Right.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=4455s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":4469.89,"end_sec":4481.52,"similarity":0.812,"text":"Because compare for me, for instance, what $100,000 in overtime buys you versus $100,000 that you would try to, say, hire a firefighter.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=4469s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":4617.24,"end_sec":4626.09,"similarity":0.628,"text":"Thank you. I wanted to ask, how is your operation fairing with the loss of the Tremont Street fire station?","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=4617s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":4696.68,"end_sec":4701.93,"similarity":0.755,"text":"Yeah. So you don't feel like there's any major impacts to response times","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=4696s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":4778.24,"end_sec":4825.61,"similarity":0.875,"text":"Thank you. And I have one last question. As we look forward to the future of larger facilities, more bays, more pavement space for these sites, and we're thinking more about traffic calming in the city, which narrows roads and has a little bit of tension with fire operations due to the larger vehicles, I always ask every year, you and your predecessor, have you thought of smaller footprint vehicles to complement the fleet that can do, say, smaller pump trucks or equipment trucks that can navigate some of the ever-tightening spaces that we have with calmer and safer streets, in addition to the more traditional larger format fire trucks, pump trucks, ladder trucks?","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=4778s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":5971.04,"end_sec":6008.29,"similarity":0.869,"text":"Yeah, I will take the opportunity to say that when I was referring to smaller format vehicles, personally, I'm not talking about SUVs, I'm talking about NFPA Type 4, that are a little bit small. Oh, sorry. Sorry. I'm not talking about SUVs, I'm talking about full-size fire apparatus, but they're just a little bit smaller. I was looking at the NFPA Type 4s. They're called Wildcats or something, and they sit higher, but they have 800-gallon tanks. But they're not quite as long, so they don't have the longer turning radius. And it's not a point of discussion we have to carry on tonight but-","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=5971s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":6011.04,"end_sec":6014.79,"similarity":0.619,"text":"Yeah. I'll send you a link. These are the kind of things I'm thinking about, not like a- Okay. Yeah","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=6011s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-11","video_id":11,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 11th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5962,"start_sec":6015.04,"end_sec":6027.04,"similarity":0.797,"text":"... passenger vehicle. Right. Although, I think there's plenty of room in the conversation for innovation with crash response and things like that, but I also think that there's some vehicles out there that are sort of a sweet spot.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1200626911#t=6015s","page_url":"/video/11"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-08","video_id":14,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 8th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5955,"start_sec":1949.16,"end_sec":1956.44,"similarity":0.665,"text":"Point of order. We've been doing them individually, so unless we want to try and combine them, we'll just go through a quick vote one at a time.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1199609365#t=1949s","page_url":"/video/14"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-08","video_id":14,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 8th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5955,"start_sec":2233.45,"end_sec":2260.07,"similarity":0.793,"text":"Seeing none, what is the will of the committee? I have a question. Councilor Williams. Thanks. Do you foresee a lot of risk given the federal instability around these programs? And I ask this question broadly because I don't really know what our exposure could be, but I'm interested to know if in your professional network there's any conversations about impacts to municipal finance.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1199609365#t=2233s","page_url":"/video/14"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-08","video_id":14,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 8th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5955,"start_sec":3141.76,"end_sec":3144.01,"similarity":0.713,"text":"there's no","url":"https://vimeo.com/1199609365#t=3141s","page_url":"/video/14"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-08","video_id":14,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 8th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5955,"start_sec":3144.51,"end_sec":3161.76,"similarity":0.824,"text":"capital outlay for a building that has a lot of capital expenses. And I wanted to ask if you have access to other capital outlay contracts, like there was a masonry contract, or if you do not have access to those contracts or those, I'm sorry, those budget lines.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1199609365#t=3144s","page_url":"/video/14"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-08","video_id":14,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 8th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5955,"start_sec":3235.62,"end_sec":3243.99,"similarity":0.753,"text":"I know we have a couple cash appropriations on the agenda tonight. We already did one. We're going to do another one. And I notice in your memo, too, you say your priority for","url":"https://vimeo.com/1199609365#t=3235s","page_url":"/video/14"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-08","video_id":14,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 8th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5955,"start_sec":3244.49,"end_sec":3247.49,"similarity":0.601,"text":"FY27 is to","url":"https://vimeo.com/1199609365#t=3244s","page_url":"/video/14"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-08","video_id":14,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 8th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5955,"start_sec":3249.49,"end_sec":3252.24,"similarity":0.668,"text":"put a timeline together for the GAR room. Yes.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1199609365#t=3249s","page_url":"/video/14"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-08","video_id":14,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 8th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5955,"start_sec":3254.99,"end_sec":3310.88,"similarity":0.876,"text":"So but I want to ask, what do you think we can do to accelerate renovations on the interior generally? And do you think that the envelope that we spent many years prior debating and funding and fixing, the roof envelope is now sufficiently repaired that we can deal with some of this, what looks to be like rotting and peeling paint that's all around the ceiling? Because what I notice, and I totally agree with Councilor Freeman that it's a fantastic space. I go there all the time. But every time I go there, I'm like, \"Gosh, this place just looks terrible.\" And I don't want it to look terrible because it has such potential... to be a really interesting art deco-inspired space that is very unique for Melrose and really the whole area. So I want to see that ceiling stripped and repainted. I want to see those gold statues refinished. I want to see all this stuff done. What's it going to take to get there, and what do you think the timeline is for that?","url":"https://vimeo.com/1199609365#t=3254s","page_url":"/video/14"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-08","video_id":14,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 8th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5955,"start_sec":3395.55,"end_sec":3406.55,"similarity":0.819,"text":"would encourage in your conversations about planning to think about it as a major capital project in the same light that we think about the fire station, the public safety buildings, project managers, external consultants.","url":"https://vimeo.com/1199609365#t=3395s","page_url":"/video/14"},{"person":"williams-ryan","date":"2026-06-08","video_id":14,"video_title":"Appropriations and Oversight June 8th 2026 Budget Hearing","meeting_id":5955,"start_sec":3408.8,"end_sec":3410.8,"similarity":0.638,"text":"We've talked a lot around this horseshoe about all the money that we put into","url":"https://vimeo.com/1199609365#t=3408s","page_url":"/video/14"}],"next_cursor":"u|2026-06-08|14|3408.8"}