ORDER-2021-122 : City of Melrose Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2022 in the amount of $91,000,522.33 (Ninety-One Million, Five Hundred Twenty-Two Dollars and Thirty-Three Cents).

Transcript (~9 min @ 14:26)

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▶ 14:17 Jeff McNaught: we're here to speak tonight i'm gonna guess by now that folks would have figured it out or phone someone so if there's no objection i will move by unanimous consent to close public comment seeing no objection public comment is now closed and i will also move by unanimous consent to

▶ 14:42 Jeff McNaught: suspend the rules if there's no objection seeing no objection the rules are now suspended Our first order of business tonight is the Order 2021-122, City of Melrose Operating Budget for the fiscal year 2022 in the amount of $91,522.33. First coming into the room this evening is Veteran Services.

▶ 15:14 Speaker 1: Director Burke, can you hear us?

▶ 15:15 Speaker 7: I can. Can you hear me?

▶ 15:22 Speaker 7: We can, we can see you and hear you. Thank you. Thank you counselors for those to be watching from home. My name is Karen Burke and I'm the director of veteran services for Melrose Lakefield and Saugus. Here in Melrose, we are a 2 person department consisting of myself and Sue Kathy. Melrose veteran services is the lead office of the Melrose Lakefield Saugus veteran services district. The veteran services office and the district and the districts seek to advocate on behalf of all the districts veterans and provide them with guidance on local state and federal benefit program. Quality support services and to direct an emergency financial assistance program for those veterans and their departments. We serve 75 to 100 chapter 115 clients across 3 communities and bring over 625,000 dollars back. To be a beneficiaries across the 3 communities 1 of our main missions is connecting veterans and their families to resources. while we are mostly seen at public events and ceremonies most of what we do is behind the scenes commemorating honoring and celebrating our community's veterans is vital to their well-being we serve as an important resource hub and in some cases serve as an important source of socialization for some of our elder veterans we administer the massachusetts state chapter 115 program which is a financial assistance program for low-income low-asset veterans and their families the program primarily assists veterans and surviving spouses moving on their social securities. It also assists working-age veterans who are looking for work or are underemployed. This program is executed locally. The city is reimbursed by the state of Massachusetts up to 75 percent of the money paid out in benefits. This program is unique to Massachusetts and is the only one like it in the United States. It is a great safety net for veterans who may be struggling financially. Another area we assist veterans with is applying for VA benefits such as VA pension, disability compensation, and aid and attendance. The application process can be tedious and difficult to manage, so providing assistance is a vital role we play. In Massachusetts, every city or town has to have a VSO. The role of the VSO is to administer Chapter 115, assist with VA benefits, in addition to many other responsibilities. The requirement to have a VSO in each community is also unique to Massachusetts and is a great resource for our veterans. Many states only offer VSO services regionally or by county. We partner with the Greater Boston Food Bank, and here in Melrose, Wakefield, and Saugus, all of us partner with the greater boston food bank to run a monthly veterans mobile food market this provides food to veterans and their families once a month this market serves six communities providing food to over 200 families during covid we modified the way we did business and implemented a drive-through system for veterans in melrose and saugus this allowed us to continue serving our communities when facilities previously used were closed to the public the no contact distribution helped battle food insecurity during a difficult time we also increased our delivery numbers delivering food to residents who were too high risk to feel comfortable leaving their homes. Throughout COVID, we have played an important role in responding to the pandemic by continuing to provide our services and assisting with Melrose Health's initiatives. For example, Sue Caffey delivered groceries weekly to veterans participating in the program. This pandemic brought so many services together. My background as a nurse allowed me to volunteer to give shots at our vaccine clinics. This was an unforgettable experience to see so many communities organizations departments and volunteers work together to vaccinate our citizens i've never had such happy smiling faces come for a shot before it was truly rewarding experience that i was fortunate to participate in we also oversee the veteran relief fund this fund is built from donations it is a resource we have to assist veterans in need that may not qualify for other services or who need additional help we are able to offer food cards to veterans with food insecurity have helped with things like rental assistance and emergency home repairs just to name a few. We also connect these veterans with other resources such as Melrose Health, Mystic Valley Elder Services, Veterans Northeast Outreach Center, and the Red Cross. John Gately has an annual fundraiser for the Veteran Relief Fund. In addition, we get donations. We are thankful for the continued support of this amazing community. If you know of a veteran or surviving spouse in need, please have them contact our office. There are many ways we may be able to help them. In fiscal year 22, I am happy to report that we will be moving our office to the Milano Center, which will be a wonderful opportunity to collaborate with the Council on Aging and enhance services to our veterans. There is some overlap in the community members we serve, and it will be great to have that building as a resource hub when it opens back up in September. In terms of budget, we have no major financial changes. We continue to provide Chapter 115 services in Melrose to, on average, 30 clients monthly. We help with a wide range of VA applications. We are looking forward to getting back to collaborating with the Veterans Advisory board to have our food drives and fundraising events for our memorials we also hope to be back at the melrose veterans memorial middle school next year to work with the eighth graders and our operation club culminating in a trip that we bring veterans to the war memorials in washington dc we have also started the process of soliciting bids from contractors to restore the honor roll in main street to return it to a veteran memorial we can all be proud of thank you for all your thank you all for your time this evening please let me know if you have any questions and go bees

▶ 20:26 Speaker 5: Thank you, Director Burke.

▶ 20:30 Jeff McNaught: Do we have any questions? I have Councillor McMaster. Is there anyone else who would like to get in queue for questions? Councillor McMaster.

▶ 20:41 Shawn M. MacMaster: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel Burke for being here tonight. As the council liaison to the Veterans Advisory Board, I know how hard you and Ms. Caffey work. I just want to thank you for everything that you do throughout the course of the year, and I'm happy to support your essentially level funded budget this evening.

▶ 20:59 Speaker 1: Thank you.

▶ 21:02 Speaker 5: Thank you, Council McMaster. Councilor Stewart.

▶ 21:06 Robb Stewart: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Lieutenant Colonel Burke again for being here. I wanna echo Councilor McMaster's thoughts and also thank you for helping me personally with the recent situation with one of my former ward constituents. That was a great help. um i'll just emphasize to uh the full council and to the public that um ms burke is uh an extremely valuable asset to this community and she she goes above and beyond uh in terms of supporting and helping people and families of people that have served so thank you very much appreciate it thank

▶ 21:51 Speaker 3: you mr chair thank you councillor stewart councillor thomas thank you mr chair lieutenant

▶ 21:56 Cory Thomas: Thank you for being here. Thank you for all you do for our area veterans. It was great seeing you over Memorial Day during Memorial Day services. And at this time, I'd like to make a motion to move the bottom line.

▶ 22:12 Jeff McNaught: 2nd, so we have a motion to move the bottom line of veteran services line 543 made by counter Thomas, seconded by counter Stewart. On discussion seeing none, Madam clerk, we please call the role.

▶ 22:25 Speaker 1: Chair McNaught? Yes. Vice Chair Eccles? Yes. Councillor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councillor McMaster? Yes. Councillor Garipay? Yes. Councillor Grigoraitis? Yes. Councillor Migliorelli? Yes.

▶ 22:40 Speaker 7: Councillor Stewart?

▶ 22:41 Speaker 1: Yes.

▶ 22:43 Speaker 7: Councillor Thomas?

▶ 22:44 Speaker 1: Yes. Councillor Jamaleddine? Yes. President Sinella? Yes. Councillor McNaught? Yes.

▶ 22:51 Speaker 7: Councillor Kate?

▶ 22:52 Speaker 1: Yes. Councillor Kate? Yes.

▶ 22:56 Jeff McNaught: 11, yes, motion passes counselor at McMaster.

▶ 23:01 Shawn M. MacMaster: Yes, Mr. chairman, I think it may at this time make sense since Lieutenant Colonel Burke is here to take order 2021 dash 139 out of order. And unless there's an objection from you, Mr. chairman, I'd make a motion to that effect at this time.

▶ 23:20 Jeff McNaught: Can I get you to do that in 1 moment after we vote on the revolving account?