ORDER-2022-25 : Amending Chapter 198, Article II , Section 198-2 of the Revised Ordinances of the City of Melrose Collection and Disposal

Transcript (~26 min @ 1:05:15)

Speakers identified by voice; unnamed voices are numbered within this recording. Auto-caption text — verify against the video.

▶ 1:05:05 Jen Grigoraitis: you could just send the um a written draft of those amendments to the clerk that would be really helpful because i think only you have them right now yes thank you all right thank you very

▶ 1:05:23 Jen Grigoraitis: much have a good night thank you all right so our final order before us is order 2022-25 amending Chapter 198, Article 2, Section 198-2 of the Revised Ordinances of the City of Melrose Collection and Disposal. And I am one of the co-authors of the order. I will turn it over to Councilor

▶ 1:05:47 Shawn M. MacMaster: McMaster as my co-author. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to members of the committee. I first just wanted to acknowledge Counselor Grigoraitis. I think it's important to recognize that sometimes when you sign on to co-sponsor an order, someone signs on essentially in support. Counselor Grigoraitis has been very proactive in the lawmaking process here, offering insight and counsel along the way, and having communications up until earlier today with the administration on this so i appreciate um council graveyard your your role uh in drafting uh this this ordinance uh in terms of background this amendment was filed in an effort to help combat the rat problem here in melrose a problem that many other communities in the greater boston area are also dealing with although not exclusive to melrose there are a number of factors that have compounded this problem in our community with very rocky leggy terrain the landscape here provides a natural haven for rats so too does the two and a half miles of railroad tracks although no area of the city is immune to this problem council of Grigoraitis and i both represent wards with problem areas hers being the downtown area where there are more trash spirals and dumpsters than in other parts of the city mine being a ward where there has been significant construction over the last two years on the east side of the ward lower main street was under construction for quite some time on the west side of the ward the construction at oak grove station and at the old marty's furniture building as well as the underground utility work on brazil street has been ongoing for well over a year now all of this above ground and underground construction has disrupted and displaced rats from their burrows who have found refuge in the wooded rocky terrain on the east side of boston rock road and 5-1 and in the backyards on the west side of brazil street all the way to the malden line where an expansive ledge runs across the back side of the properties this order although not a cure-all is a concerted effort to eliminate the most common yet controllable food source for rats household trash and the order is rather straightforward what it does is that it amends our current order on refuse and disposal by one requiring that all household refuse be placed in a trash barrel with a tightly fitted lid and two creating an enforcement mechanism and corresponding fine structure the latter to begin with a written warning in support of this order i do think that it's important to reflect on two points made by the exterminator who spoke at mayor broder's educational forum last month and some of the council some members of this council were present at that forum and remember that the exterminator said quote if you want a community-wide program that works it's going to come down to one word sanitation end quote the exterminator mentioned the word sanitation at least two dozen times during the forum he went on to say quote the rats in your neighborhood know what day trash collection is i'm going to reflect on that for a moment we think about that the rats in your neighborhood know what day trash collection is i believe that this order is a common sense step albeit a first step at targeting a rat problem in our city with all of that having been said i asked my fellow members of this committee for your support in favorably recommending this amended uh amendment uh to the ordinance tonight thank you and thank you madam chair

▶ 1:09:33 Jen Grigoraitis: thank you counselor mcmaster do we have any questions or comments from our colleagues

▶ 1:09:41 Christopher Cinella: president sanella thank you uh chair Grigoraitis um i just want to thank the makers of this this order um you know i think as the legislative body this order is one way that this council can address some of the residents concerns i don't think it's an unreasonable request to ask residents to secure their trash both from road issue as well as litter that we've seen around my business in downtown debris blowing out of trash barrels and or coming out of bags ripped open i've spent 10 years in a budding community with a similar ordinance That seemed to work well. I would like to make a motion to amend the order to add in an effective date, say, of March 2022 to go into effect. That way it'll give the administration time to alert residents through quarterly water bills. Trash fee on that is monthly.

▶ 1:10:56 Christopher Cinella: Thank you. So I made a motion to amend this to add that effective date.

▶ 1:11:00 Jen Grigoraitis: So we have a motion by President Sinella to amend the order to add an effective date of March 1st, 2022. Do we have a second? Second. We have a second by Councilor Eccles. Is there any discussion? Councilor McMaster.

▶ 1:11:20 Shawn M. MacMaster: you madam chair and thank you mr president i appreciate your support i'm perfectly fine with an amendment that uh has an effective date um so that this doesn't necessarily go into effect immediately and cause confusion or put the administration in a position where it hasn't had a chance to figure out how to enforce this even though there is an enforcement mechanism into i think council of Grigoraitis and i both recognize the need for public outreach and awareness. I do think six months is longer than necessary to effectuate the outreach and the enforcement operational side of this ordinance. I would think 45 days should give the administration adequate time, but six months when we're really on the precipice of what is a public health crisis or could be a public health crisis considering what we've been seeing, what we're hearing from our constituents um does concern me so i i would certainly uh be okay with something less than six months um but six months to me is just too long considering what we're facing right now thank

▶ 1:12:34 Jen Grigoraitis: you manager any other counselors on discussion counselor tram and tozy great thank you madam

▶ 1:12:40 John N. Tramontozzi: chair so i just thought we'd get some clarification here and i will i do want to thank both uh counselors uh for uh for this fine um piece of legislation i think uh there is and i've heard of the problems that we've been having in the community so i think this is a good way to address uh the issue of the rats in the community so um going back to my previous uh questions to directed to um director ellis correct us uh so this this will change this ordinance would in effect require that the residents use uh trash barrels whether it's plastic or a metal with lids is that correct to the chair to mr to what council mcmaster council mcmaster yes uh council

▶ 1:13:35 Shawn M. MacMaster: It really is that simple. It just requires that residents no longer put trash on the curbside and that trash at all times, whether it's on the curbside or sitting next to a home, has a cover on it.

▶ 1:13:54 John N. Tramontozzi: Great. Thank you. And then the issue about bags, there's nothing prohibiting a normal homeowner from putting trash and bags except that bag has to then be put into a receptacle uh metal or plastic correct

▶ 1:14:14 John N. Tramontozzi: through through the chair yes constantly right that's i just that's the clarification i wanted uh that's good i appreciate that um i i agree uh with uh council mcmaster about the uh six months seems to be a long time to you know especially when uh we're having this problem now let's see get it working uh that six months is a little bit too long uh to uh give you that grace period i think most residents pretty much up to speed and use receptacles now as it is in 45 days 60 days might be a little bit more reasonable uh but i'll leave it to the rest of the uh the board to uh to talk about that but uh thank you madam chief that's all i have

▶ 1:14:55 Jen Grigoraitis: Thank you, Councilor Tramontozzi. Do I have any other councillors on discussion? Vice Chair Migliorelli.

▶ 1:15:03 Leila Migliorelli: Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to – through you to the makers of the chair, you being one of the makers of the order – makers of the order, not the chair. What – I asked Ms. Prakas-Allis about enforcement. You guys referenced that here. It also leads me to think of you know some of the other questions and concerns that other residents may have about you know well what if i don't have access to a barrel or i'm elderly or having a hard time getting a barrel out and i just wanted to i think some of the length of time in terms of implementation is to perhaps give the city um it's the city's responsibility to implement this and and this is a suggestion for how to take care of uh trash i just wonder if the makers order can talk a little bit about um the sort of distinction between what you're setting forward here versus what perhaps the next steps in terms of implementation might look like in your minds

▶ 1:16:04 Jen Grigoraitis: i'm sure is that for you or for me i'm happy to be a little breaking protocol and answer it i i think um i want to i just i agree with both the time sensitiveness of this and the fact that um i think we really want to make sure that this is communicated to residents i think as this body well knows the mayor's office has a much bigger microphone and platform than the council. So we obviously need to rely on the administration to broadcast this to residents. And I would like to make sure that we're taking advantage of not just newspaper ads and social media, but trying to get language added into the quarterly water and sewer bills that get put out, possibly getting something added into the annual street listing that goes out in January to really make sure residents are aware of this i um have had conversations with both the mayor and with mr wake as well as who was incredibly helpful today in our conversations about you know how do we address um issues for people for whom there is a severe financial burden i think just like we handle those issues for residents around you know not needing help with the gas bill or with not being able to pay their water and sewer fees i think there's a mechanism that the city can put in place i don't think that have to be codified in this ordinance but i would want to make sure they you know that some that there's sufficient time to work toward that um i'm wondering if kind of a way to meet in the middle is to have this be effective within 45 days but that enforcement doesn't begin until march 1st so that we're giving residents a grace period to kind of get up to speed on this um many surrounding communities do this they many of them have also purchased the barrels for residents i don't think that's something that the city is prepared to do at this time but i think we can also look into if there's opportunities for barrels to be bought at cost that can be available to lower income residents i think there's a lot of options for implementation i know i've already talked too much um does that council mcmaster do you think that covers it go ahead yes manager i do think

▶ 1:18:01 Shawn M. MacMaster: that is a good compromise i would be satisfied with that if president sonella would withdraw the motion and make a a new motion to amend um the one thing i would say and i know council Grigoraitis that you and i are committed to this is um working with the administration not just in terms of figuring out the enforcement side and the public outreach side but to the extent that we can work with the administration to ensure that any problem areas that are identified between now and when the enforcement provisions would take effect that there is to the extent that resources allow some outreach to problem areas or to you know habitual violators of the intent of this spirit of this ordinance so I really would urge the administration to look beyond planning but also in the meantime for those areas that have been identified as problematic doing the type of of door-to-door outreach to those properties. I think it would behoove all of us for that to occur if we're really gonna try to tackle this issue most effectively and as timely as possible, understanding some of the constraints that the administration is facing.

▶ 1:19:18 Jen Grigoraitis: Thank you, Councilor McMaster. Anyone, President Sinaloa, sorry, did you have your hand raised?

▶ 1:19:23 Christopher Cinella: Yes, I will withdraw my original motion and make a motion to amend, to go into effect for 45 in 45 days with enforcement starting in march

▶ 1:19:38 Jack Eccles: i'll withdraw my second and second that motion madam chair

▶ 1:19:41 Jen Grigoraitis: so we have a new motion before us made by president snella seconded by councillor eccles for the regulation the changes to go into effect within 45 days of today and with enforcement to begin by the city as of march 1st 22. is there any discussion uh vice chair Migliorelli um i'm supportive of this

▶ 1:20:01 Leila Migliorelli: motion i just wanted to maybe uh point of clarification or order i think we're aware that we have um an audience uh watching tonight and that i think this is the city council has just for the public to understand limits as to what we can do to help um mitigate the rat problem that is in melrose um and that we've been approached by and um i think you know i thank the makers of this order for um taking the initiative to kind of come up with one way to maybe uh mitigate that order um but this is is not really this is not a comprehensive rat uh you know you know strategy to get rid of rats in the city and this is just one piece of it so i just wanted to make that point of clarification as people are watching um thank you

▶ 1:20:51 Jen Grigoraitis: Thank you, Vice Chair Migliorelli. Councillor Eccles.

▶ 1:20:54 Jack Eccles: Councillor Eccles Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to both you and Councillor McMaster for putting this forward. I'm supportive of this motion. I generally am of the opinion that many people like to follow the rules, so an effective ordinance date hopefully will bring some people who are not currently in compliance in compliance and then we can kind of work out the details over the next six months. I concur with Councilor Migliorelli that this is one of the few levers that the City Council can pull and look forward to more mitigating programs either put forward by the City Council or the administration. Thank you.

▶ 1:21:34 Jen Grigoraitis: Thank you, Councilor Eccles. Before we call the roll, I do want to just point out one, I think it's a point of clarification and I will certainly defer to our two more senior parliamentarians and how best to address this. regard to the previous order tonight that we just recommended for passage that included language saying that barrels can be no more than 45 gallons or and what the draft that you have before us I believe says 60 so I'd like to address that discrepancy so that those two things are in sync I had recommended the 60 just based on what I had read in other communities I again had a chance to talk with Director Proekes-Ellis today, and 45 seems to be the standard for within Melrose. I checked my own barrels there, 45. I do think the putting in a limit is important from an OSHA perspective for those people that are picking up our trash. We certainly don't want anyone being injured by a 90-pound trash barrel. So I don't know if I can motion on a motion or if we should wait until we do it separately. Counselor McMaster.

▶ 1:22:43 Shawn M. MacMaster: thank you can you hear me now yes my apologies i think at this point rather than uh asking uh the president and counselor uh eccles to withdraw and make a more comprehensive amendment uh if we vote on the uh amendment uh before us and then somebody makes a new motion with respect to the size of the barrels to comport with the order that was before us tonight i think that would be the most appropriate way to do it at this point and probably the most efficient in terms of time

▶ 1:23:13 Speaker 9: Councilor Eccles?

▶ 1:23:15 Jack Eccles: Thank you. Also, just to, like, a little point of clarification of when 45 days is, either when the amendment's read, is it 45 days from Council passage, should the mayor choose to sign it, his signature? Can we put a date on that? And then March 2022 is obviously an obvious effective date for March 1st. Thanks. If we could just clarify that.

▶ 1:23:42 Speaker 9: Councilor McMaster.

▶ 1:23:43 Shawn M. MacMaster: thank you that's a good uh point council echoes we may just to the uh the motion want to add the language um uh from the time of uh passage um just i do want to be sensitive at the time and the mayor does have 10 days so if we can get ahead of this uh within that 10-day period i would i would prefer that um under the charter the mayor does have 10 days to sign it so i think um rather than from the time that his honor the mayor affixes his signature from the time that this order passes the full council would probably be um the best way to go about doing this counselor

▶ 1:24:22 John N. Tramontozzi: Tramontozzi uh yes uh thank you i i'm in full agreement with uh with the the approach uh on the uh the date and also the uh the barrel um size the the only comment i have is uh right now the trash collection is picked up the way they're doing it is they're just picking it up and and lifting the barrels into the truck. I think those larger containers, 60 gallon or so, are in those communities where the trucks that collect the trash actually lift the barrels themselves with the mechanism. And I don't believe we have that in our, the way our collection contract is designed at this point. In the future, if that occurs, could go with the the larger barrels but i think we have to uh go with the uh the standard 45 gallon uh barrels because of that um that that's my understanding i i don't know if anybody else has any thoughts about that but um but yeah i think that's the difference between the 45 and the

▶ 1:25:29 Jen Grigoraitis: 60. that make sense yes i think that's probably accurate so um just to since i've made a bit of a procedural soup out of all of this we currently have uh a motion before us to recommend for passage with a implementation date of 45 days out from the mayor's signature i'm just making yes and an enforcement date of march 1st 2022 counselor mcmaster

▶ 1:25:57 Shawn M. MacMaster: My apologies, Madam Chair. I had suggested 45, well, enforcement of this, it would take effect within the time that the full council passes this. The enforcement piece would be 45 days from, excuse me, six months from the time of the mayor's signature. I do think also that that second part which we added we already had a motion on the floor so I do think the effective piece and the part with respect to the gallons needs to be in a second most motion together right before us right now the motion on uh on the floor is the amendment that uh president Sinella put forth not to my apologies for complicating this but usually I think we just

▶ 1:26:47 Speaker 9: just have to do you're cutting out and I think we lost counselor McMaster is that

▶ 1:27:02 Jen Grigoraitis: just for me I think we lost them overall okay all right um so sorry presidents

▶ 1:27:14 Christopher Cinella: now can you repeat your motion so my motion is to amend this effective on the City Council's passage 45 days from the mayor signing enforcement in March

▶ 1:27:32 Jen Grigoraitis: starting March 1st and that's seconded by councillor Eccles yes okay I believe

▶ 1:27:43 Jen Grigoraitis: we is there any discussion I believe we may have lost our clerk I don't see him

▶ 1:27:53 Speaker 5: he might be with councillor McMaster oh he might be out but we have can you hear

▶ 1:28:03 Jen Grigoraitis: me we can madam clerk how are you i'm great i've been following along thank you so we have a motion before us to amend for i hope i get this correct implementation 45 date no yes 45 days from passage by the council and enforcement march as of march 1st 2022 made by president sinala

▶ 1:28:32 Jen Grigoraitis: seconded by councillor eccles no discussion um madam clerk or mr clerk whoever wants to call

▶ 1:28:42 Speaker 2: the role it's nice to have both of you andrew you live i think so yes do you hear me okay all right i'll call the roll chair Grigoraitis yes vice chair Migliorelli yes

▶ 1:29:06 Speaker 2: counselor Tramontozzi yes counselor mcmaster i will message counselor mcmaster for this

▶ 1:29:15 Speaker 2: or counselor eccles yes uh president sanella yes counselor mcmaster has just confirmed he has voted yes on the matter okay thank you so that's um yes yeah six yes so the amendment

▶ 1:29:30 Jen Grigoraitis: carries um this time i would entertain an amendment to the um 60 gallons to be reduced to 45 gallons in compliance with the other parts of the um section of the city code

▶ 1:29:49 Speaker 1: motion to uh from in that portion to reflect 45 gallons okay we have a motion by counselor

▶ 1:29:54 Jen Grigoraitis: Tramontozzi to amend to reflect 45 gallons seconded by president sanella is there any discussion okay seeing none mr clerk can you please call the role council uh chair Grigoraitis yes

▶ 1:30:13 Speaker 2: Vice Chair Migliorelli? Yes.

▶ 1:30:18 Speaker 2: Councillor Tramontozzi? Yes.

▶ 1:30:23 Speaker 2: Councillor McMaster? Yes.

▶ 1:30:27 Speaker 2: Councillor Eccles? Yes. And President Cinella? Yes. We have six yes here too. Okay. Thank you. Six yes. So that

▶ 1:30:36 Jen Grigoraitis: amendment from 60 gallons to 45 gallons passes. So what is the will of the committee?

▶ 1:30:49 Speaker 1: Councillor Tramontozzi. Yes thank you. Motion to recommend for passage as amended. So we have a

▶ 1:30:57 Jen Grigoraitis: motion to recommend for passage as amended by Councillor Tramontozzi, seconded by President Cinella. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, can you please call the roll? Sure.

▶ 1:31:12 Speaker 2: chair Grigoraitis yes vice chair Migliorelli yes councilor Tramontozzi yes