ORDER-2021-28 : An Order Relative to the CARES Act Funding for the City of Melrose

Transcript (~1 h 27 min @ 5:52)

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▶ 5:58 Christopher Cinella: 11 yes a little rusty as this huh okay next order um order 2021-28 in order relative to the cares act funding for the city council um i want to thank all of our department heads uh you know for this for coming out tonight and thanks to those who submitted a memo and or powerpoint and I know I'm confident that all my colleagues have also reviewed this material in detail and may have some questions for those department heads, but let me recognize the sponsor of this, Vice Chair Migliorelli, and I know she'd like to just say a few words.

▶ 6:35 Leila Migliorelli: Thank you, Chairman Sinella. So, I filed this order because, as many know, the City of Melrose has received federal funding through the CARES Act grant and through other federal grants, and while the city council typically approves um grants and funds um that come into the city this is not something that we approve um and we also don't really have oversight on how they're being spent so i thought this would be a good opportunity for the city to come before the council and before the public to share how they've been using the cares act funding and other federal grants to date and what their plans are for the future i mean it seems like we're headed into a second surge right now. And I think the public would be interested to know what sort of steps have been put into place to help mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the city and also help us

▶ 7:28 Christopher Cinella: look forward to next year. Thank you. Madam Clerk, I know we have Mr. De La Russo on hand. Perhaps you could speak to this. And then if people, again, have specific questions, we can bring in those department heads. And I know you have PowerPoints on hand if you need

▶ 7:48 Speaker 5: Mr. Dillard, so can you hear us? I can hear you, but can you see me? No, I can't see you.

▶ 7:53 Speaker 2: All right, so check your video option at the bottom.

▶ 8:00 Speaker 5: Of your screen. Okay, here it comes.

▶ 8:09 Speaker 5: Okay, good evening. Thank you. Let me begin my effort this evening is to set the table per se.

▶ 8:19 Speaker 5: To give the City Council in the community a large and overview of our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As you are aware, the pandemic has impacted cities and towns across the Commonwealth.

▶ 8:33 Speaker 5: And we are not alone. A number of department heads are here to review with you this evening, the actions that were undertaken to address the public health and safety concerns of both the city and the schools under the leadership of Mayor Paul Broder. So I'd like to begin if I want to ask you to reference the memorandum dated November 9th in your packet and slowly walk through the information so we can get a good feel for the context and the perspective that we need to have and understanding how this program works through the federal government so if i may if you if you have it in front of you i'd like to just walk through each page if i may and highlight some

▶ 9:24 Speaker 5: um components that i think would be um of extra value and i know when you have an opportunity you haven't gone through the packet completely um feel free to do so obviously and contact me afterwards with any other questions you may have. Let us begin. On the first page, it talks about the background. I think that's really important. It says that there's a number of these initiatives that the state and the local government had put into place, including more than 100 federal grant opportunities that have been and we have actually taken advantage of them who will be available to state and local governments associated with the COVID-19. Most notably and most familiar with is the CARES Act Coronavirus Relief Fund, which provided $2.7 billion to Massachusetts. On May 14th 2020 the commonwealth of massachusetts announced the cares act coronas virus relief fund municipal program that's the one that we're operating under here in melrose and it provides up to 502 million dollars for municipalities to address unanticipated costs incurred as a result of the public health emergency caused by the coven 19 pandemic in addition 227 million available directly to school districts in the form of 202 million in school reopening grants which you'll hear about this evening and 25 million through the remote learning technology essentials grant again you'll hear about that this evening and the fund was really had three major conditions attached to it and they do include number one these had to be necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to coven 19. they had to be unbudgeted as of march 27 2020 and the expenses must be incurred Between March 1st, 2020 and December 30th of 2020, the rules and regulations governing the state and local response to the COVID-19 continue to evolve and change quickly. I can't stress that enough. This is a live program, I'll call that, and the conditions and the protocols do change quite rapidly. And it's up to us to keep on top of that. For example, the federal government clarified recently the relationship between the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, Public Assistance Program, or FEMA PA it's called, and the Coronavirus Relief Fund, the CVRF, to allow use of the CVRF for the non-FEMA cost share requirements. FEMA reimburses 75 percent of total costs with a requirement for a non-FEMA cost year of 25 percent. The CVRF funds can be used for the non-FEMA share. We've done this in Melrose. The U.S. Department of the Treasury Office of the Inspector General is mandated quarterly reporting for the commonwealth generally 11 to 13 days following the end of the reporting period. These deadlines may be subject to change. We've already seen that in the last month, it's already changed. As a result, A&F will require all relevant stakeholders to report on a quarterly basis. This requirement will replace the bi-monthly reporting requirement described in previous guidance documents so now they're looking for a quarterly report which our next report is due actually tomorrow to the commonwealth please note anf reporting

▶ 13:34 Speaker 5: will reflect expenditures as of the date funds were actually transferred to municipalities following dates which i've outlined for you have been provided by the commonwealth for the remainder of the fiscal year 2020 subject calendar year 2020 i'm sorry subject to change and the next the next one which is due as i just indicated the filing date is 11 13 2020 which is tomorrow after that really the final reporting period that we've been made aware of is from 10 1 2020 to 12 31 2020 and that filing date is the end of january 1 29 2021 Of special note, the CARES Act period is different than FEMA, which begins on January 20th. The CARES Act addresses costs incurred during the period March 1st and ending on December 30th, 2020. In past disasters, snowstorms or floods, for example, seeking FEMA reimbursement happened once the emergency ended and a full accounting of costs was completed. The COVID-19 pandemic is unlike past disasters. ANF strongly encourages all recipients and subrecipients to pursue FEMA reimbursement for eligible costs incurred to date. You should continue to submit for reimbursements on a rolling basis per the FEMA guidelines. ANF understands that some stakeholders have already been approved where we received reimbursement funds, and we are one of them. The City of Melrose also has other funding sources

▶ 15:24 Speaker 5: besides the money we receive from the CARES Act. If you take a look on the third page end, the CARES Act relief funds amounted to just under $2.5 million, $2,485,712. We also saw in the health department, $125,000 come in. The fire department, $49,095.75. The school department, again, $156,840, which I talked about earlier. The school department elementary and secondary emergency relief grant, $129,747. The school department CVRT grant at $225 per pupil, $846,900. Elections, $10,382.50. In general, FEMA will cover 75% of staffing costs related to COVID-19, PPE, overtime, contractual, cleaning, and disinfectants. The CARES Act funding makes up the difference, 25%. In the past, typically the city would be required to make up the 25% difference. So the value here for us is that we can use this CARES Act fund to make up that 25% and not use city funds. That's huge. So, in total, it's over $3.8 million, just between the grants and the relief funds that provide about the carnal loan to obviously the federal government.

▶ 17:06 Speaker 5: So, what did we do? The next page, the program overview. So, under the direction of the mayor, a COVID-19 task force was created to identify the needs of both the city and the school. This group was charged with the task of producing an organized and sound program to embrace all the known various cost components related to the pandemic affecting the city. Number two, understanding the expenditures eligible for reimbursement within the program. Number three, understanding the reporting requirements of both FEMA and the Commonwealth. Number four, meeting with the needed staff to discuss funding priorities as necessary. Number five, reporting and submitting information as required to the respective agencies. Number six, recommend to the mayor with the appropriate funding source for the identified items within the program. And finally, essentially communicating with state officials, the Department of Revenue, the Division of Local Services, and our independent auditors, Powers and Sullivan, as questions surfaced. So this was not done in a vacuum. I really have to say, as a team effort, it was, and it is, continues to be, extremely comprehensive. Because of the nature of the expenses, we relied on contact with these various agencies and departments to ensure that what we were submitting met the guidelines, so that it would be fully reimbursed, so it would not come back to the City in part or whole.

▶ 18:51 Speaker 5: Now, who was actually on that task force?

▶ 19:03 Speaker 5: Myself, as the CFO of the City Auditor, Elena Proekes-Ellis, the Superintendent of Public Works, Leah Secure, Director of Finance and Administration, the School Department, Neil Ellis, the IT Director, Ellen Alpert, the Emergency Management Director, James Troup, the DPW Finance Manager, Jay McNeil, the DPW Facilities Manager, and Kerry Golden, the Assistant City Auditor.

▶ 19:26 Speaker 5: In addition, we did meet with and speak with the school superintendent numerous times, the director of health, and the fire chief were invited to provide input information and to address any questions that the task force had on a program being considered for funding or any expenditures that were made. Where did that leave us? The next page. Fund reimbursement information. The city of Melrose under round one, which is called, that's the period between 3-1-2020 and 6-30-2020, we submitted for $214,637 of the Coronavirus Relief Funds, which we did receive on July 28, 2020. And it should be noted here that the CVRMP program is an advanced lump sum payment. Municipalities shall apply for payment to address estimated or incurred eligible expenses between March 1, 2020 and December 30, 2020 that have not already been covered by other sources, including but not limited to the CVRF MP Round 1 and FEMA reimbursements. Municipalities were strongly encouraged to apply for sufficient funds to address expenses through December 30, 2020. That's exactly what the City of Melrose did.

▶ 21:01 Speaker 5: We, as I indicate in the next paragraph, were required to receive a beneficial use of a good or a service by December 30, 2020 to be ineligible use. They're also asking us to ensure that we can expand all this money by December 30th. So they're looking for us to basically use the entire fund. Expended by the end of December that that's a heavy load. The deadline for the applications around 2, which we submitted. Was October 30th of 2020. The 2nd drawdown, which is called round 2. was submitted on October 29th in the amount of $2,271,075, which is the remainder of the available CARES Act funds to the City of Melrose. This money was actually received by the City on November 3rd, 2020. So as we sit here this evening, we have received the entire allocation of just under 2.5 million dollars of care act funds in general as i spoke to early and you'll

▶ 22:12 Speaker 5: hear more of it about it this evening it's really the money's used to help supplement the 25 of the staffing cost because remember we can use the covert money to cover 25 of what fema doesn't cover ppe cleaning and disinfection that theme will not cover it will also be used to cover 100% of the accelerated telework capabilities that occurred due to COVID, WebEx, laptops, et cetera. The city has and will continue to provide interim reports to the Commonwealth

▶ 22:50 Speaker 5: as requested on all expenditures. We have, take the next page, please. We have by law a requirement for an audit each year and any federal funds and this is no different the single audit act 31 usc provides that all of the expenditures from the fund that were distributed to cities and towns to address local costs are subject to the single audit act 31 usc and related provisions of the uniform guidance including those regarding the monitoring and management of sub recipients Documenting their costs for eligible uses is essential to managing compliance risk and to minimize the possibility that the costs are deemed ineligible, thereby requiring the state to return funds to the federal government. Your packet also includes round one and round two submissions by the city And also a list of potential municipal uses attachment a.

▶ 23:59 Speaker 5: Within the a, and F, reporting template provided by the Commonwealth, we are required to enter the gross total cost. Of items, the template, so if you look at your hand out. You'll see round 1 around 2 laid out. The template itself, which is provided again by the Commonwealth, that is standard for all cities and towns. They've set this up. They will automatically adjust those costs projected to be eligible for FEMA reimbursement. Again, FEMA at 75%. The CARES Act at 25%. Costs projected to be ineligible for FEMA are addressed fully by the cares act 100 so if you take a when you have an opportunity to take a look at the actual spreadsheet you will see that the first column to the right after the description indicates is it fema eligible it's either yes or no then round one the total cost if it's fema eligible theme will pick up 75 percent the cares act the other 25 percent

▶ 25:10 Speaker 5: no different than round two and this is exactly how the reporting template was designed by the commonwealth this is a summarized version obviously um that they gave us and it is roll ups to this for each category but this is the report that they wanted this is what we submitted and this is what we get reimbursed on the entire allotment um at this time i would like to

▶ 25:33 Speaker 5: introduce the following department heads to review some specific actions that they undertook and they are and they will be in as follows ellen albert emergency management director neil ellis the i.t director elena horakas ellis the dpw superintendent and in order and then julie kuchenberger and leah secure of the school department

▶ 26:05 Speaker 5: So they will provide you with some bullets on PowerPoint as to the allocation of the resources they work with and what led them to that reasoning. So, thank you.

▶ 26:16 Christopher Cinella: Thank you, Mr. De La Rosa. I think what we want to do is just dive into questions and then if there's some specifics on some of the other departments, on people, then we can pull up a presentation if we need. so i have a question yeah vice chair uh thank you and then followed by counseling if not so

▶ 26:35 Leila Migliorelli: vice chair thank you chairman um thank you mr delarusso for providing this information it's very helpful to kind of go through all of this and see the different types of funding that has been provided to melrose um and how it kind of breaks down i think just a couple of questions initial questions I have on the spreadsheet. For the total cost in round one and round two, and then you can see the CARES reimbursement, and then the round two total. Could you just walk through that again a little bit about, you said 75%, 25%, and then is that all rolling into

▶ 27:15 Speaker 5: the total column at the end? If I may, yeah. What happens actually,

▶ 27:22 Speaker 5: to go to round two um and you'll see that um it says total cost on the bottom is the number it's like 3.6 million can you see that in the bottom yeah and next with the two two seven one the two two seven one is the kiazak portion the remainder the other allocation will be cost that will flow between fema and kiazak in other words it also it also indicates the fema portion that they're going to be responsible for not the kiazak so which capturing both so if you look at even again at the very top line the total cost of the first item is a hundred and um $20,871. The CARES Act amount is $30,218. So the balance of that is going to be 75% is going to get picked up by FEMA. So if you did the math, the total cost times 25% is $30,218. And the remainder is going to get picked up by FEMA. They paid the large lion's share. We paid 25%. And again, the great benefit here, as I indicated, which I don't want to understate because in the past we never had this before anytime there was a 25 we had to pick up the city had to use city money here we're able to use which is phenomenal because people will were concerned about that um we're able to use the kids act to make that 25 up so our budget

▶ 28:54 Leila Migliorelli: essentially is not impacted okay that's huge that's huge yeah that's great um you said that that there's a total of um 3.8 million um between grants and relief funds how is that reflected here or have we spent that yet or that's like a i've totaled up about 2.4 million spent um based on your the memo and so that's a 1.3 million dollar difference can you yeah yeah the other

▶ 29:20 Speaker 5: the other funds are at a charge directly they don't flow through this worksheet school funds for example they have about a million dollars of funds which they can speak to they're charged through the that grant not through here not through this program so they're outside of this program the health department funds are outside of this program those are grants outside and above and each one of those also has their own unique grant number and fund number so they're not handled within this framework this is strictly for the 2.485 that the city got for kids in okay

▶ 29:59 Speaker 5: great that was a great question those are all good questions and again i do want to stress this is in my career this has never happened before we have never had an uh we've always had a femur situation at times but never all at once so the catastrophe here is that every city in town was hit with this across the commonwealth it wasn't that you had a snow storm you know western part of the state we were not impacted everyone get hit with this at the same time the the i can only envision the pressure on fema as far as reporting reconciling and now processing all this is enormous and this is still early on november we haven't even hit those storms to come hopefully you won't have a lot but that's going to put another layer of work on the whole thing this has never happened before it's only it's new to me it seems everyone

▶ 30:53 Leila Migliorelli: yeah for sure um just another just a few questions with this spreadsheet um is that so there's like a few items where there's you know there's no spending um a couple of those that i noticed were you know um shelter and homeless um and a few other items or is that maybe could that be could you say that's covered by other items or have we just not gotten any requests for those types of things and that's why we're not there's no um items could be a

▶ 31:23 Speaker 5: combination of all the above okay it's because it's a moving um process and what's interesting

▶ 31:32 Speaker 5: i'm glad you brought that up because in this program they asked you to be to provide what you believe will um spend the money on between now and the end of december well in this environment that we live in in my opinion the dynamics change almost daily so we may end up shifting resources to opt to you know another item from a to b during this process an item that we anticipated spending money on because the need grew somewhere else we'd have to shift the money over there kind of a thing so um it's designed to try to capture and again it covers all cities and towns try to capture in a big way spending categories to alter commonwealth some will apply to us some uh may not and so some are funded outside of this as i indicated earlier but for the ones that funded that we're looking and again that was why this task force was so important to to come together as a team and say what's the best way to fund this item how can we get the best bang for our buck is it something that we can get fema to chime in on 75 and how can we make the dollar stretch which is what we tried to do because it's good here i think we did a very good job doing that

▶ 32:46 Leila Migliorelli: okay and then just one last question is there anything do you have any sort of concerns i know you have no crystal ball as to where this you know situation is going to take us um but are you feeling like the funds that have been provided are enough to cover our needs are you um hoping for another infusion of you know funding in order to cover you know going and starting it to 2021 or where are you sort of at overall with like how this works in relation

▶ 33:16 Speaker 5: to the overall city finances great question um you know what what i have looked at is that from for up for the city of melrose i would like to see another allocation Now, whether the allocation is of a reimbursement nature versus a grant, because this was a federal grant, a direct grant, would be one thing, but I sincerely believe, based on everything that I see and the probability that this is not going to go away overnight, that I don't see how cities and towns that are working with this can get through another round, another phase of something significant with the virus, without additional help this came in to the city at a perfect time i don't know citywide we're already talking about four million dollars that to come up with those kind of funds ourselves to try to remedy the situation to provide the type of public safety and health issues to address those with their own money obviously you can go through your stabilization funds and other funds of that nature but how often can you do that how long can you do that so and that's the um concern that i have uh we were very fortunate this time federal government did step up we did participate if they just decide to cut the cord on the end of december my opinion i don't think that's advantageous for us because i don't believe anyone can make a judgment call that that's it at the end of december we're all set i don't see that happening so if anything i would ask that this be some type a reimbursement program that we could apply to as a as we incur expenditures as we move forward so we have some relief instead of no relief i'd like to see that hopefully they'll do something

▶ 35:13 Jeff McNaught: thank you thank you council mcnaught mr my question is actually already been answered um but uh i just wanted to say thank you for your your stewardship of uh of these funds and for all the work that everyone who's going to speak tonight has done. I did want to make one point for the public at home.

▶ 35:39 Jeff McNaught: Documents are online and someone is watching this on MMTV and can't get to it online. I'm sure there's a way that we can get color copies to anyone who needs them from City Hall. but it is very informative and i thank vice chair mcglary for bringing the order it highlights a lot of important information and the good work that you've all done so thank you very much

▶ 36:12 Mark Garipay: thank you sir thank you thank you council gaba thank you mr chairman uh thank you mr doloroso as as always a very thorough uh our report really appreciate it um just a couple questions on the um on the CARES Act on the spreadsheet that you sent out. Matthew, it looks like we spent a total between the COVID and FEMA reimbursement about $4,137,000. A little over $4,137,000. That's reasonable. Yeah. And what percentage would you say on this spreadsheet would have been like a one-time cost in order to get our get our facilities ready to open up again our schools um that if as this progresses will we we be carrying will we be expending this amount of money if we go another six months

▶ 37:05 Speaker 5: excellent questions uh counselor and i'm so fortunate tonight because i have not only the dpw superintendent but also the school superintendent here this evening and i think they could probably address that better than i given that they're so close to it and they have more in-depth knowledge of the specifics of the of the needs but that's an excellent question and i'm sure uh we can have that addressed this evening okay um you want me to have them pulled in

▶ 37:36 Mark Garipay: um in one second i just said i think i had another question for uh patrick and then we can just go to the department so we don't have to go back and forth if that's okay Councilor Migrelli had mentioned, had just asked a question and you had given your opinion that something will need to be done in order to help the cities and towns make it through this pandemic. When I did my math, it looks like 40% of the little over 4 million came from the FEMA grant, or 75%, and 2.485 million was the COVID, which is a large chunk of the over 4 million. And if that goes away, like Councilor Migliorelli had mentioned, my concern is where are we going to absorb that $2.485 million, which is 60% of the COVID funding that would be going away if they don't do something. That's why I was curious on the question on how much of this was one-time expenses.

▶ 38:49 Speaker 5: Yeah, excellent. As you'll see, and as we go through it, you'll see a lot of

▶ 38:56 Speaker 5: hardware and software per se in here, laptops, et cetera.

▶ 39:03 Speaker 5: And that's one thing. The issue becomes the continuity of the cleaning effort. That's the easiest way I can put it. The cleaning effort is not a one-time thing. It has to be over and over and over and over and over again you never escape that cost you never escape the need to do it based on where the virus is at any point in time so with those kind of costs where they're not insignificant i'm extremely concerned i don't it's not something as you if you're aware of council that um you can just do one time and say we're all set uh particularly with the uh school and

▶ 39:44 Speaker 5: as well as on the city side so i'm i'm deeply hopeful that that's recognized because other cities and towns are in the same position that we are and they've stressed that up at the um state house that they're just as concerned that once this dries up that now we're left on our own per se and that means that yep we're gonna have to make some decisions down the road if the funds are not available to help us here with these costs which are going to happen they're not going to vanish we may end up having to do different things that don't benefit the city on a financial basis for example using stabilization funds however that must be done to provide safety public safety which is paramount so they're going to put cities and towns i think in a difficult position next year if they don't have some type of relief mechanism at least that they're considering it's just it's just uh a lot it's a lot and you're right these numbers are huge and if we have to repeat this without any federal estate money it's going to really have make a

▶ 40:51 Mark Garipay: dent i agree with you and if they do follow the package do you think um a relief package do you think that they would ever, FEMA grants typically are for one episode. Do you think they would ever maybe stop the funding for the pandemic if they came up with another? I mean, we didn't know that, but in your circles, has there been any talk about that?

▶ 41:18 Speaker 5: You mean as far as will they come up with a different program with FEMA?

▶ 41:25 Mark Garipay: a different well well they just say the pandemic in a sense um it's it's they stopped funding as a disaster in the in the and the funding through femur well 75 percent well as it's l as the

▶ 41:36 Speaker 5: emergency management director will probably share with you this evening they haven't put a period yet which is interesting at fema side it's still open for how long i don't know there may be there are uh i'm sure conversations happening at a higher level that are talking about those kind

▶ 41:58 Speaker 5: of things um at some point uh this has to be we have to cross that bridge whether or not they decide to keep it open because of there's so much uncertainty uh counselor that may not happen um but again the the the offset to that is you'd be pulling the rug out from under us january 1st and Theoretically, at least on the kids outside, and it doesn't feel well for cities and towns. When we don't have any certainty that this pandemic is behind us. And it puts us in an extremely comfortable position. I'll leave it at that.

▶ 42:35 Mark Garipay: Thank you. I chairman, I just had that 1 question and I had a couple of school questions, but I can. I can wait if you don't mind, I'll defer my time until they are brought into the conversation.

▶ 42:47 Christopher Cinella: Originally, I was kind of have people just bring up questions if they had questions. So it seems like we do. So we'll go down the line of presenters, but I know Council McMaster has a question.

▶ 43:04 Christopher Cinella: Mr. Chairman, if I may, if we could just have Council McMaster go and then unless you do want to add into something that Patrick.

▶ 43:12 Paul Brodeur: I had just a brief comment on Council Garipay's question about will essentially, will there be other funds available? My best guess, I haven't talked to folks at the State House and also part of our federal delegation is that that is very much a work in progress. Obviously, the federal government's in a little bit of disarray right now, And that the state is obviously limited by the fact that they can't deficit spend, only the federal government can deficit spend. And there has been significant resistance by part of the federal government in doing another package or having a package that would be broad based. There seems to be particular hostility in some quarters to direct assistance to state and local governments. So that is where the lion's share of the money will have to come from and it is unfortunately very much up in the air right now.

▶ 44:16 Speaker 4: Thank you. Councilor McMaster?

▶ 44:21 Shawn M. MacMaster: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Councilor Migliorelli, for filing this order. I'd also like to thank Mr. Della Russa for being here and for being prepared as always. Thank you to the department heads who submitted information who, who also prepared to speak as well. Should counselors have questions. Just a couple of questions for you, Mr. so you said that cares act funding has to be spent by December 30th. Is there any process in place for extending money that has been allocated? And if so, what is that process?

▶ 45:09 Speaker 5: that there'll be pressure to A and F to allow the expenditure to go beyond December 30th, because one of the things that happens, and sometimes you don't think of it, but it's real. For example, if everyone's city and town is out purchasing the same items, let's say laptops, for example, well, who's to say that there's enough inventory for it to get in so you can pay it before December 30th? We're finding that now. cleaning supplies. Everyone's out there buying the same type of supplies. So you may have the greatest desire in the world, so we're ready to buy that today, but you can't get the product. So I think that you're absolutely right. But I think you will see some pressure put on the A&F to say, you know what, given that you guys have made the effort, however, you know, you're unable to secure what you're looking for, it's no fault of your own. They You may open it up, but I'm hoping at least to say, show us, you know, invoice, show us, you know, something that would justify it. But it's really peculiar because, you know, often doesn't happen. This is unique. Another one, those unique things that happen. Everyone's trying to get the same, you know, green coat. Everyone's doing the same thing at the same time. That's different.

▶ 46:27 Shawn M. MacMaster: Thank you. I do hope that ends up being the case, because even beyond competition for products, I think that it would be in the best interest of the federal government to want spending to occur in a more strategic and methodical way than in a hasty manner. And I think sometimes it's the risk of hasty spending when you're trying to spend down to meet a deadline. So I'm hopeful that ANF is able to ensure that with good cause that we can seek an extension to ensure that we're not just randomly going out and making expenditures at the time that we think are the best expenditures for the future, but that are more in line with our needs as this fluid pandemic continues to shape. My 2nd question, Mr. Delruso is with respect to the cares act, you mentioned that eligibility is based on unanticipated costs. I think that word unanticipated is key because we're now 7 months into the pandemic. So, costs are really for the most part, no longer unanticipated. I'm just wondering how and I think there's been some reference to this, how we're going to account for ongoing costs. Moving forward. You mentioned FEMA is FEMA the, the primary source to which we will be looking in light of what the mayor just just mentioned during his remarks.

▶ 47:59 Speaker 5: That's a great question. If you take a look at, I think what might help here counselor is on attachment a. That was provided for potential municipal uses. You'll notice note that. this document which is um two pages you will see which items on the list that fema will will not consider eligible so it does vary um again fema's i'll say the primary

▶ 48:30 Speaker 5: target that we'd like to use because the reimbursement is so great um so we again if the need of the city mirrors what FEMA will cover, it's a win-win. However, that may not

▶ 48:46 Speaker 5: always be the case. So sometimes that may not, and we end up using CARES Act money 100% because FEMA simply won't cover it for whatever reason. But the list is pretty, I think, detailed. And it does give us a blueprint because oftentimes when you start these programs, As I'm sure you're aware, you're not really sure as to what they're looking for, what would be considered eligible or not eligible, because every city and town in some ways is different, and they have different needs and uses. So the fact that they provided this to cities and towns, I thought was great, because it gave us literally a blueprint to work with. And as we went through the needs of the city, then we were able to say, well, this would be covered. This wouldn't be that helped us make a determination what fund we should use to pay for it. So, it just sort of evolves based on that, but this really was helpful. Now, we know that when we work with the state, what will be basically permitted and what will not be permitted. Because they've already laid it out for us. Thank you. Thank you. So, Mr.

▶ 49:54 Shawn M. MacMaster: Mr. De La Russa, beyond the percent eligibility right now for FEMA, after December 30th, are there any limitations on the amount of FEMA money that a municipality can request and understanding, I'm hearing echo, Mr. De La Russa, if you could just mute for a minute. Thank you. So, beyond December 30th, are there any limitations that FEMA will place on municipalities understanding that most municipalities are facing similar costs and if, you know, is there a metrics that is used to determine that? Is that population specific? Or is that determined some other way?

▶ 50:46 Shawn M. MacMaster: You could unmute sorry, Mr.

▶ 50:53 Speaker 5: No, no. Can you hear me? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Um, I, that's a great question. I, as of now, again, I think it's in Alan can you speak in this evening can probably give his input if you said anything different. but I'm not I'm not aware that they've actually put a period yet on the program and I think again candidly it's because it's it's this pandemic is even new to them and a new the the expansion the the it's so encompassing that it would want it would lead one to believe that um you really can't I don't think you can really just say okay we're going to shut it down we're done it's not done it may not be done for another year um so my gut feeling is that there's going to be pressure to keep the program open i don't i've not heard of any dollar limitations per se but um i think at some point uh they're gonna have to make a decision as to what's reasonable and what they can basically support and not support because uh And this thing seems to be have a life of its own.

▶ 51:59 Shawn M. MacMaster: Thank you. And my final question, I think I know the answer to this, but I still want to ask it just to get it out in the public domain is do you anticipate having to use any of our certified free cash or tap into our new stabilization fund or request that the council authorize a transfer into the new stabilization fund that the administration recently established pursuant to a favorable vote by the council to cover any expenses that are not funded. I know that may be a difficult question because there's still so much dependent on that, but looking ahead, do you think that that might be a possibility?

▶ 52:47 Speaker 5: I'M GLAD YOU ASKED THAT QUESTION BECAUSE IT OPENS THE DOOR TO TWO ITEMS. ONE IS THAT WE TYPICALLY TAKES A WHILE FOR FEMA TO ACTUALLY REIMBURSE THE CITY. IT DOESN'T HAPPEN SOMETIMES FOR A YEAR, TWO YEARS. I THINK WE JUST RECEIVED A 2018 REIMBURSEMENT OVER THE PAST SEVERAL MONTHS THAT WE WOULD DO. SO THAT EXPOSURE IS THERE AND IT COULD BE THERE FOR MULTIPLE YEARS. I wouldn't guess they're going to be able to satisfy us any faster than they did in the past. It actually might be slower. So having said that, we're exposed to that. And why I bring that up is because we're assuming that they're going to consider what was submitted as eligible and they won't kick it back or kick a couple items back and say, you guys own that. But you're not going to find that out for possibly for a couple of years. So I think that it behooves the city, just even on the FEMA side, to take the approach that we really have to be considerate of funding our stabilization fund in the event that we end up having to provide a reimbursement that we just don't know about today. There's no difference in the CARES Act. I mean, we're hopeful that these items will be covered, that they'll materialize. However, we may end up at some point using city funds to pay for some of our share of items that were purchased that for whatever reason were not covered that we can't anticipate today. As I said, it's a moving target. they're actually putting guidelines in now on the actual expenditures were made that in the past they said this is fine but now they're saying well as of this date you know maybe we'll only include you know things going forward if we're going to stop the practice that we adopted earlier because we think that it's too much of a wide open they're trying to close it even more narrower so your question is well put and i think it's going to behoove the city as we look at our free cash right now we have no anticipation or expectation of using that to find any of these items this evening um doesn't mean it's not going to happen i can't say that in good faith and i won't say that and no different than with the fema but um i do think it behooves us to be sensitive to the need to have those resources in the background just simply for the public health and safety of the city period they're getting everything else whether we get reimbursed or not we have to take care of our own and that's number one and therefore whether we use the funds that we get reimbursed or not in some ways this reimbursement part falls to the background we have to take care of the community the the city the school and that can't you can't deviate my opinion from that so ideally again let's see what we can do to put more money perhaps and stabilization and keep our eye on that each year um so that we don't fall backwards and we don't end up uh in any position that would be negative overall which we don't want to have

▶ 56:00 Shawn M. MacMaster: thank you mr de la rizzo and please extend our thanks as a council to all of the administrative staff who i'm sure are working um very diligently to meet the reporting requirements i think it's It's very easy for us, of course, to recognize our great department heads, but there are the administrative staff behind the scenes. We don't attend these meetings who do much of the leg work to ensure that we comply with the reports. And we should be mindful that these are reports on top of everything else that they're required to do. So, I think I can speak on behalf of the entire council that we're thankful to all of them. And if you and the various department heads present could let them know that we'd appreciate it. And you or any department that should feel free to state on the record tonight, any names that you feel are worthy of recognition. Thank you. Mr. Chairman.

▶ 56:56 Christopher Cinella: Thank you very much. Councilor Ackles, did you have something? you have a question i didn't want to interview you yeah yeah um thank you mr chairman thank you

▶ 57:02 Jack Eccles: mr orzo for being here tonight um my question is kind of looking forward um to what will more than likely be another complicated budget season um and just kind of projecting costs out so when we when we look at a budget you know sometime in the spring because of all these expenses are a lot of these accounts going to appear to be overdrawn for example in the dpw presentation overtime is an expense that's been reimbursed by the cares act is that something that's going to be showing up in the overtime account and how are you going to reconcile that with uncertainty in the pandemic going into fiscal 22. that's a great question counselor thank you

▶ 57:50 Speaker 5: but what we've done is we've set up two funds by following the dor guidelines one is strictly for fema and one is strictly for cares act so what happens is within that fund there's a revenue component in an expenditure component in each fund so what we're doing is as um departments incur expenses we're hitting the respective fund that it applies to so that it's not hitting a budget item per se and and the objective at the end of the month is to ensure that it's the expenditures related to the fema and cares act are all reflected within those funds themselves fund number two three three six and fund number two three three seven so that we're keeping those contained that's exactly how the dor wants us to do this so that we don't corrupt a regular budget really at the end of the day so to your question the objective is that at the end of the month that if any department has charged an account within their say overtime um and i only know one department now i believe they may have done that but the end of the month we simply reclassify that to the appropriate expense whether it's fema or peers act and then when the money comes in and the money's reimbursed obviously again it offsets that fund so the in a perfect world counselor the revenues that we have received in for uh cheers act will be completely offset in that fund by the ex by the expenditures that were made against it the net would be zero all fema money paid the same thing with fema all the fema expenses paid within the fema fund period so we're segregating those and just so the the city council knows the

▶ 59:49 Speaker 5: The Department of Revenue will not and has not used any negative deficit related, particularly to FEMA, against our free cash. They have not. They understand the dynamics of the FEMA reimbursement. So when they recently recalculated, you know, calculated our free cash, and they do it next year, they will not use any deficit that may sit in the FEMA fund, which we know we'll have, because FEMA takes a while to get us the money back. The DOL will not use that against us when they calculate our free cash. They know we spent the money. However, they understand FEMA, and it takes a while for the money to come back. It doesn't come back at the end of the fiscal year. Typically they would hit us for that and charge, you know, get less free cash. They won't do that next year. So that's a good thing. They recognize that FEMA does not pay at fiscal. They don't work on the same basis. And in fiscal year, it doesn't apply as it does with other funds.

▶ 1:00:50 Speaker 6: That's a great question, though. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Alraza. Yes.

▶ 1:00:56 Cory Thomas: Councilor Thomas. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also I wanted to reiterate the fact thanking Councilor Migliorelli for bringing this order forward. Mr. Delarusso, thanks again for your professionalism and your financial expertise. This question might be better suited for agency heads or department heads, but I'm just curious to see how we are, how we're doing right now with our inventories our purchasing for ppe cleaning supplies do we have the technology upgrades that we need uh to continue in a remote um way of conducting our business you know if we are going into another surge you know how is our purchasing going compared to how much money we have you know what are our procurements looking like um moving forward with this money and council

▶ 1:01:45 Speaker 5: So that's exactly why I've asked the partners to be here because I know they can expand on those. Those are excellent questions. And I'm sure there are other people the same type of questions themselves.

▶ 1:02:00 Christopher Cinella: Any other questions for Mr. DelaRusso? I know we have some questions for Mr. Garipay for Superintendent Kuchenberg. So we want to bring her on first.

▶ 1:02:21 Speaker 2: Dr. Kuchenberg, can you hear us?

▶ 1:02:23 Speaker 7: Yes, I can.

▶ 1:02:28 Speaker 4: Hi, Dr. Kuchenberg, welcome.

▶ 1:02:32 Christopher Cinella: We can go right into Q&A if you want to say a few words. Thank you for coming, waiting.

▶ 1:02:39 Speaker 7: Yes, thank you for having me. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I'm happy to answer any questions that you all may have.

▶ 1:02:49 Christopher Cinella: Great. Councilor Garipay, I'll have you in queue first.

▶ 1:02:54 Mark Garipay: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Dr. Kuchenberg, for being here. Welcome to Melrose. First time I've actually had an opportunity to speak with you with two quick questions on the, I see the ESSER grant is there was a, was that an additional position that was that was hired under that grant?

▶ 1:03:20 Speaker 7: Yes, so that is an additional social worker. This was actually a decision that was made prior to my arrival, but just in anticipation for the social-emotional needs that our students would be coming with, that they always have, but that would be amplified given the extended closure and the pandemic. It was a decision made to support the students more broadly across the district.

▶ 1:03:47 Mark Garipay: And, you know, I'm assuming this, where it's the emergency relief grant due because of COVID, do you anticipate that that may be a renewable grant?

▶ 1:03:59 Speaker 7: I don't know if the grant itself would be renewable, but it would be a position that, you know, I will be assessing throughout the year, but likely would want to be able to retain in the budget if that's possible. We never have enough social workers and supports for students. So I think this was an opportunity for us to be able to move the needle in a positive direction and then collect some evidence to justify the sustainability of the position. Okay.

▶ 1:04:25 Mark Garipay: And then on the reopening grant, I see the expenditures to date. What was that as of, was it the end of October or was it as of this past week?

▶ 1:04:38 Speaker 7: It was probably as of the end of last week when Leah Secor was putting the grant presentation together, there is still, as you can see, lots of money to expend. And what we've tried to do with this grant is be really strategic. And again, with that December 30 deadline looming, we really want to be able to make sure that we're responding to all of the unanticipated needs, but then also having a long range plan to make sure that we're not returning any of the monies.

▶ 1:05:12 Mark Garipay: Great, thank you very much. Thank you for being in here.

▶ 1:05:15 Speaker 7: My pleasure.

▶ 1:05:17 Speaker 4: Councilor Thomas.

▶ 1:05:21 Cory Thomas: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dr. Kuchenberger, welcome. Thank you for being here tonight. This is just kind of a repeat of what I asked Mr. Delruso. How are Melrose Public Schools doing with their purchasing as far as PPE, cleaning supplies, and the basic tools that you need to operate that we're learning right now.

▶ 1:05:45 Speaker 7: In terms of safety supplies, we have everything that we need. Leah Secor has done an amazing job of working with the Department of Public Works to proactively secure immediate supply, but then also have we have at least a three-month supply in storage on hand. So we're feeling good about safety supplies and cleaning supplies. I'm sure Elena will talk about the partnership with Sintest, which I think is going to be a huge value add for us. They are the company that will be replenishing some of the cleaning materials that we're using. From a technology standpoint, Neil Ellis in the IT department did an amazing job back in the spring kind of getting a jump on using some of the cares act funds on the city side to purchase laptops for all of our teachers that was absolutely essential and critical and then also to purchase devices for students when when you look at that when you look at that CVRT grant you see there the instructional devices and we still have four hundred and twenty thousand dollars there to spend we have multiple project ideas that we're thinking of for those funds that will enhance the teaching and learning experience, both in person and remotely, in this COVID response time period, but then also moving forward. So again, we're trying to be as strategic as we can and to leverage those funds. So two big project ideas that we have costed out as of today. One, with the IT department's leadership we looked at what it would take to put high quality audio amplification systems in each of our classrooms this is something that's great to have all the time a lot of schools newer schools that are being built have this installed in every classroom it allows the teacher to be able to you know amplify their voice without straining themselves throughout the day so teachers really kind of value but it also helps with students accessibility particularly for those who have hearing impairments, but it's good for all kids too. So we costed that out and it would cost us about $420,000 to do every classroom across the city. So that's where that number comes from. But as we think about potentially being in this hybrid, some version of in-person, some version of remote environment, we really think that it's essential to move toward being a one-to-one district owned um district owned devices school system right now we've been able to kind of chip away with the various grants and begin to you know procure several devices but we still have about 1200 devices i would say that we would need to purchase to go fully one to one some things to think about too is you know like with mcas testing now that's all online so we've deployed hundreds of devices out into our community but then we also will have hundreds of students who need to be able to access that online testing so having reliable um modern if you will functioning devices is going to be really important for us moving forward particularly because i don't see our teachers moving away from some of these tools that they've now mastered and have seen students really thriving with some of these technological tools so making sure everyone has a high quality device is important um can you repeat that number was it

▶ 1:09:11 Cory Thomas: 1200 devices needed to make it a one-to-one ownership to student rate yes that's a it's

▶ 1:09:23 Cory Thomas: a large number uh i was unaware that that number was that large or the gap was yeah i'm rounding

▶ 1:09:28 Speaker 7: up a little bit um i think we need around 458 at the middle school and 500 and something at the the high school but then we also that's based on current enrollment numbers um we have seen a significant decline in our enrollment but we fully anticipate that you know post covet all of those students will return to the melrose public schools so we need to round that number

▶ 1:09:53 Cory Thomas: up a little bit okay thank you as far as um potentially returning to school uh in in less of a remote way um how are you on purchasing you know plexiglass barriers stanchions modifications to accommodate social distancing in the school if we're moving away from remote later on this year

▶ 1:10:16 Speaker 7: yeah so we would have to make some significant investments if we were going to install say plexiglass barriers on every student's desk if we wanted to get ourselves closer than six feet of physical distance i think some added safety you know measures would need to be put in place such as the plexiglass barriers we know that they don't replace wearing a mask though so one of the things that we talked about was the value you know the kind of the cost benefit risk benefit of adding the plexiglass and although it can create an additional barrier it then also creates additional surfaces that need to be cleaned and could in in some ways pose a risk in that way so we chose not to add plexiglass barriers based on all the evidence that we had Had been reviewing, and so I'm not sure that that would even be a way that we would move forward. I think it really is more about keeping our numbers low in the community, having low levels of transmission and reinforcing the mask, wearing the 6 feet of physical distance, the hand washing and staying home. And you're sick.

▶ 1:11:22 Cory Thomas: Thank you very much for being here and thank you for the job that you're doing the great teachers. We have a lot of public schools, all of our administrators, our school committee. Thank you all so much. It's a thankless job. the top situation we're all in so thank you for all your efforts and for being here thank you

▶ 1:11:36 Speaker 7: thank you for acknowledging all the hard work that everyone's doing counselor stewart thank you mr

▶ 1:11:43 Robb Stewart: chairman thank you dr kuchenberger for being with us tonight uh i appreciate um your help in understanding this um i've heard from a number of my constituents regarding uh the whole remote live learning and what the different options are what they see several of the other communities that are doing and as i'm sure you have heard and you've heard through some of your staff um they there's interest in uh you know how we can do live remote learning and so forth now i know the decisions have been made and it's i think actually just from personal experience working pretty well with the structure that we currently have. But I want to offer you the opportunity to share your thoughts in light of Mr. DelaRusso's review and his detailed review of all of this information that we've received from FEMA and from the CARES Act and specifically when it says you know one of the areas that they do cover is the social distance learning that extends into the planning development including all the i.t costs and hello there um so uh if uh after you do your mommy thing if you could help uh us understand um how you could um help our constituents

▶ 1:13:16 Robb Stewart: understand uh plans particularly if this continues to be a longer term thing sure um thank you for

▶ 1:13:27 Speaker 7: that little moment saying good night this is the last night while she's sick so i had to get a good hug in um yeah so we do have um there are some districts who mandated live streaming or other types of staying connected with students who are in person and learning from home simultaneously um that is not something that we chose to mandate through our return to instruction plan it's something that we've chosen to nurture and we do see teachers more and more teachers each day each week adding more live touch points if you will during the day with their students we've decided to provide professional development and support to our teachers that lets them understand when would you when would you want to be live streaming and when would you just have like your google meet open and connecting with students in that way what are the pros and cons what allows for the highest levels of engagement every administrator across the the melrose public schools has some form of student engagement goal this year and we're looking at different ways to assess and measure engagement because our our focus is really on how are we going to help students sustain engagement across all three learning models i do think that there's opportunity in value and having some sort of live stream or keeping connected virtually with your students in um in live time but i don't think that it's necessarily the secret sauce that you know some folks would like to think that it is there's challenges that come with that as well particularly um you know given some of the setups in our in our schools some some classrooms have great audio systems and we're able to see and hear students that are learning from home in live time others aren't equipped with that just yet some of them that do have the the audio systems there's you know some malfunctioning that's happening with some of the sound boards so there's lots of little glitches that we're working out we're also noticing of the teachers who are doing it what is the setup that's working really well so just from my own observations in the schools the teachers who are really thriving with that teaching in person students and connecting with those that are learning from home typically are using three screens plus their whiteboard so i'm thinking about some of the teachers at the winthrop school when i was there last week walking through with principal tracy and so they have their school issue laptop up and running they have their students who are learning from home on the monitor that the i.t department has provided then they're using a personal laptop to navigate tabs and tools and they're sliding things back and forth and throwing things up on their whiteboards and bringing them back down so it's it's pretty phenomenal to see you know what it takes to really do that well and that is certainly not how every single classroom is outfitted at this moment um so we're thinking about what really enhances instruction another thing um that teachers are using and having a lot of success with our document cameras so um those are devices that kind of just plug right into the side of their machine with a usb port and they're able to slide work underneath help student and students in the classroom i know when i was a teacher i had one in my classroom and i used it every day but it also helps project things at home so you're not doing that like weird thing with your papers you're trying to show each other um and so we're looking into some of the ptos have purchased those for for um some of the schools so we want to that's something we think is worth scaling up also um some of the teachers have purchased additional microphones so that they can be um better project their voice for the students who are learning from home um and others have purchased um with their own money um kind of like i'm gonna call them like hip hip audio amplifiers kind of clips right onto your belts or your or your waistline um and it's like a headset that you wear so we're looking at that too and that's really what got us going down the the route of um assessing how much would it cost for us to put high quality amplification audio amplification systems in each classroom and now we're just kind of weighing all of those things and saying what's what what's the best return on our investment at this time both in the short term and the long term so um i do i do think that if if you were to walk through the schools with me while i know if you If you were to walk through the schools with me, you'd see lots of evidence of teachers connecting with students, both in person and from home in a variety of different ways. And they're all kind of learning different tips and tricks that make it most successful.

▶ 1:18:14 Christopher Cinella: Thank you just keep our, if we could keep our questions relevant to the. The order at hand, the cares act funding, just a reminder to all the counselors. Do you have another question? Counselor Stewart?

▶ 1:18:26 Robb Stewart: No, that was just point of clarification. I believe that was indirectly relevant because some of the funding is directly related to what Mr. della russo had pointed out and therefore was interested in uh dr kuchenberger's uh vision projection on how this is and if i could fairly summarize what she said it sounds like uh it's a little bit more of a uh a wait and see before we just jump right in and i actually think that's the right approach so i do appreciate uh your input to this and i do i think that uh this actually adds a lot of relevancy to the conversation. Thank you, Dr. Kuchenberger, and thank you, Mr. Chair.

▶ 1:19:14 Speaker 4: Thank you. Councilor Zimali.

▶ 1:19:19 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wanted to start by thanking Superintendent Kuchenberger for all the great work you're doing and the staff and the teachers. I was able to watch today my kids and the work that the teachers are doing is outstanding so thank you so much and i don't think any i'm gonna talk about myself i don't think i would be able to do their work um that said i was thrilled to hear about the social worker um position um that uh would be able to proceed um due to this grant uh do we know when this would be posted or if it was posted and when especially during this time uh i we know that students would be able to benefit

▶ 1:20:16 Speaker 7: from this the job has been posted and filled um so that person's already working in the district okay

▶ 1:20:22 Maya Jamaleddine: i'm sorry i missed this information uh um my question is to mr delarusso um do we know and i'm not sure if this is applicable um and but it's worth asking as one of my um um fellow counselors uh advise uh do we know if this uh grant would be able to benefit to have um to create a position for a city uh social

▶ 1:21:00 Speaker 5: worker you're on mute uh mr de la rousseau okay hello can you hear me yes okay thank you great question I can now look into that more but right now I don't see where that would fit candidly and within the grant on our side but I'd be happy to look at

▶ 1:21:17 Maya Jamaleddine: that okay it would be it would be great if we can benefit from that especially if that's a little wide and our residents would be able to benefit from that during this pandemic absolutely thank

▶ 1:21:31 Christopher Cinella: you that's a great question thank you thank anybody else have any questions

▶ 1:21:40 Christopher Cinella: dr. Coogan burger or dollar so see any of the hands go up I believe we can relieve the superintendent at this time thank you for coming next up believe we

▶ 1:21:58 Christopher Cinella: have we have Kristen we have captain Alan Alpert next but does anybody have questions specifically for him just a quick show of hands seeing none okay um director

▶ 1:22:13 Christopher Cinella: prorecus ellis does anybody have questions specifically for her

▶ 1:22:21 Speaker 4: seeing no hands go up and how about or neil ellis council thomas has a question

▶ 1:22:32 Christopher Cinella: you can bring on mr ellis director ellis can you hear us yes can you hear me

▶ 1:22:43 Christopher Cinella: Yes, we can see you now. So, Councilor Thomas.

▶ 1:22:47 Cory Thomas: Thank you Mr. Chairman. Mr. Ellis, welcome. Quickly, I just wanted to hear what we have as far as our subscription to WebEx. Has that been upgraded in any way since our budget WebEx adventures earlier this spring, which seems like a lifetime ago. But have we been able to take advantage of any of this CARES Act money to upgrade our computer or software infrastructure for the City?

▶ 1:23:12 Speaker 8: The initial purchase for WebEx was a CARES Act purchase, and that was roughly $19,000 for the package that we have that allows us to do the full public meetings with all the bells and whistles that are similar to what we would have in person. um we did we did upgrade that we're still stuck at at 10 gigabytes um but we've been managing that

▶ 1:23:53 Cory Thomas: um yeah sorry was there a second part to the just basically you know the the the needs the the the hardware needs or the software needs uh are we are we now in possession of what we need to run the city remotely, including the school systems?

▶ 1:24:07 Speaker 8: So, yeah, good question. We were in a much better place than we were in May, for sure. We were able to procure Chromebooks early on, which allowed us to – we actually just received – there was a six-month backlog when we ordered them, so we were able to receive those we just received some we're preparing those but we also uh uh like um uh patrick delarusso mentioned earlier we uh i i wrote a grant for this to the desc which um um uh we ended up getting the 156 840 for which we turned around and put right back into another purchase of 622 chromebooks with configuration and those came in and we put those out into the elementary schools already so uh we were able to a lot we handed out about 750 chromebooks to students in in the district to take home and hold on to and we also wanted to to have devices available in the school so kids didn't have to bring those back and forth for a number of reasons. So we were able to roll those out before the first day of in-person learning, hybrid learning. We, like the superintendent mentioned, we are 1,200 short of 1 to 1.

▶ 1:25:57 Speaker 8: The breakdown of that 1,200 is somewhat because of – because we need to replace our current fleet because it's too old. We need to – now we've put out a ton of that fleet out into the public. We don't know when we'll be able to get those back.

▶ 1:26:21 Speaker 8: So we did replace, I'm trying to think what the number was, but we replaced a large portion of Chromebooks where we will be. We're replacing 1,633 Chromebooks at the elementary schools with this purchase that just came in this week. We'll be rolling those out. So, yes, the addition of the 1,200, we might decide to get those, basically for the secondary, we'll have them in-house.

▶ 1:26:54 Cory Thomas: That's great to hear, and it's great to hear that so many students in Melrose are getting those vital pieces of equipment during the school year, especially with all the remote schooling. Thank you very much. I know you and your staff and everyone in IT is working overtime and then some. So thank you for all your efforts over the last six plus months. Sure. And at home with a new laptop. Thank you.

▶ 1:27:22 Christopher Cinella: Anybody else have any questions for Director Ellis? Seeing none. I do believe there might be a question for Captain Albert.

▶ 1:27:42 Shawn M. MacMaster: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Is Director Albert with us?

▶ 1:27:45 Speaker 4: Yeah, he's coming on now.

▶ 1:27:49 Speaker 1: On mute.

▶ 1:27:57 Shawn M. MacMaster: Yes, good evening director Albert. Thank you for for being here this evening. I just wanted to thank you and acknowledge all of your work. I know you're working very hard often in a very unassuming way to support all of our department heads who are involved in our coven response. So, I just wanted to acknowledge you publicly and let, you know, that we noticed that we hear about it from the department heads and we're appreciative of all that. You do. I did just have 1 very general question as an offset of what I asked Mr. Della Russo and I think he alluded to you perhaps being able to offer some more color on it. The question relates to processes for utilizing FEMA moving forward. So, beyond December 30th, what do those processes look like? Are there any caps on spending? Is it? Is it what Mr reference does? Perhaps not really being worked out yet and based on your experience over your career in Everett and elsewhere. Do you have some sense of what we might be able to expect after December 30th?

▶ 1:29:15 Speaker 3: What 1 correction is, I came from Chelsea, not ever and we used to be different. We used to be up in football all the time. So I don't want to be coming from a losing city right now. There isn't a close out date for the federal disaster declaration 4496, but 1 that we get 75% off. There is a close out date of the end of the year. as mr della russo says for the cares act however i'm hoping like everybody else on this side of the federal government uh is hoping that there is going to be an extension uh the numbers are going up uh things not looking any better right now and uh i'm hoping that unfortunately with this turmoil with the federal government things aren't going as smoothly as it should but hopefully that they will come up with something uh that will extend the uh the cares act and you you had asked a question earlier about uh unforeseen costs and uh you know right now they're all foreseen costs so how how are we you know justifying that those were unforeseen costs uh as of march so even though we know that it's going to be repetitious now we didn't know it before march so anything uh that took place after march is is fine to go along with also one other thing is mr delarusso alluded to on the uh fema grant uh i've i've done numerous them over my career and if we had a snowstorm just to give you an example uh it would generally take about a year to get reimbursed and we had a snowstorm that generally affected massachusetts let's say maybe part of rhode island part of connecticut and they always give you on a federal declaration a window now on a snowstorm depending upon how long it lasts they might give you a 24 48 or 72 hour window that you can use to request your reimbursement this has been going on since march so when you take into account that this is a national crisis that is being submitted to fema and taking into account there's also other disasters the wildfires uh out west uh the flood the hurricanes down in florida this is all going to add to the amount of time that it's going to take us to get back our reimbursement so uh it might be something you want to think about as we you know go into the budget season because you know again this money could be it could be i'm not saying it will be but but it could be well over a year away

▶ 1:32:14 Christopher Cinella: thank you very much director albert my pleasure does anybody else have any questions

▶ 1:32:23 Leila Migliorelli: I'd like to emotional places on file and just think everyone again from the administration for coming to speak tonight and providing all this information and really appreciate it. But yes, motion to place on file.

▶ 1:32:37 Christopher Cinella: A motion to place on file made by vice chairman early, seconded by counselor, Eccles. A discussion seeing none, madam clerk. He's called the role chairman.

▶ 1:32:48 Speaker 2: Chairman Sinella? Yes. Vice Chair Migliorelli? Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi did let me know that he crashed his computer, so we'll try to get back on. In the meantime, Councilor McMaster? Yes. Councilor McNaught? Yes.

▶ 1:33:12 Speaker 2: Councilor Eccles? Yes. Councilor Garipay? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Thomas? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine. Yes. President Grigoraitis. Yes. 10 yes. And I will entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion to adjourn. Second.