ORDER-2020-132 : An Order Relative to the Melrose Emergency Fund

Transcript (~13 min @ 2:46)

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▶ 2:35 Leila Migliorelli: Public comment is now closed. So that brings us to the first and only order on our agenda for discussion tonight. Order 2020-132, an order relative to the Melrose Emergency Fund, sponsored by Councilors McMaster and Councilor McNaught. Either of you would like to speak to this order before discussion?

▶ 2:56 Shawn M. MacMaster: Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd first like to thank Councilor McNaught for co-sponsoring this order. The origins of this order go back a year ago this month to the Brazil Street sewer disaster. The COVID-19 pandemic has only further spurred the necessity for it. As background, you may recall that there was widespread criticism when the prior administration did not swiftly provide financial relief and housing assistance to the 10 victims on Brazil Street. It was only after criticism continued to mount, coupled with negative press exposure, did victims receive any type of assistance and yet assistance came from the sewer enterprise fund not the melrose emergency fund each household regardless of size was given a 200 gift card there was no effort to provide assistance based on the extent of damage to a home financial need and household expenses were never taken into consideration the size of the household was not a factor as was clearly seen in the case of the single mother with three young children who received the same amount as a resident who lived by himself and had stable employment. With respect to the residents who were eventually relocated to hotels at the city's expense, the accommodations were discontinued while the homes were still in disrepair. And even after the City Council passed a resolution imploring the administration to continue paying for hotel accommodations. Frankly, questions and concerns about the emergency fund have been lingering since then and the public deserves answers. Questions about how it can be accessed, who qualifies, what are the parameters, who makes the decisions, and so on and so forth. These questions are even more relevant and I'd argue more salient today while Melrose residents struggle with unemployment, underemployment, and financial strain as a result of the pandemic. But beyond the general lack of understanding about the emergency fund itself, there are also the issues of transparency and accountability. I know of no charitable effort, whether it be administered by a nonprofit organization, private foundation, or business, that does not proactively produce an annual report or similar document to demonstrate to donors how their money is being spent. A document that can also be used to demonstrate need and thereby help raise additional money for the beneficiaries of the fund. When a governmental body is in the business of collecting and managing a charitable fund, there needs to be transparency and accountability. And that transparency and accountability is only heightened. Public inspection should be a right, not a request since filing this order the mayor has informed me and consular mcnaught of his work some of it going back to the earliest days of his administration to revisit the emergency fund and to see if its original purpose aligns with his vision for it i welcome that initiative by the administration as background the emergency fund was set up in 1996 as a result of several fires in the city its original purpose was to provide one-time assistance to residents I would argue that the fund and the opportunities it presents to help vulnerable residents has outgrown its intent and needs to be broader in scope and afford more flexibility in its utilization. The Mayor has similar failings on the matter. I have learned that Mayor Broder has put together an advisory board to assist him assess the fund at a macro level. The Mayor has made a a commitment to me and council mcnaught to report in his words frequently and routinely to the public on emergency fund activity and to use the city's website as a vehicle to do so the majority of questions that were sought by this order have been produced in a document that was provided by the administration to this council this afternoon i'd like to think that in some part this order has been helpful to the administration as it takes a new look at the emergency fund. We didn't file this order for a legislative feather in our hat. We filed the order because we believe in transparency and that has been lacking with respect to the emergency fund. I am hopeful that Mayor Broder will continue to take steps to ensure that the fund is more transparent and accountable to the public. I think that he's off to a good start. In fairness to the the mayor since he has less than a year under his belt I would like to hold this in committee for now to more closely review the document that we received late this afternoon to ask follow-up questions to give the administration an opportunity to post information online for public consumption and to define what frequent and routine public reporting actually means madam chair at this time I would ask that you call on console like not as my co-sponsors I he'd like to say a few words thank you madam chair thank you councillor mcmaster councillor mcnaught

▶ 8:20 Speaker 3: thank you madam chair um i first want to start off by saying that uh i uh i did appreciate the conversation that we had with mayor broder that it was very productive as were the documents that we received this afternoon um i think the mayor shares our excitement in wanting to celebrate

▶ 8:42 Speaker 3: the fund um that and by celebrate i mean um we want to be able to increase donations uh make the public aware of what the fund is how it works these are these are some of the most this is one of the most common questions that i receive what is the the murray's emergency fund and how does

▶ 9:03 Jeff McNaught: it work and this may be donated um in fact it is a lot of times people have donated i used to donate to it and i didn't really fully understand it until i came into office um but by celebrate i really mean encourage more donations and encourage more disbursements um melrose does step up to help its fellow residents and that's what this fund does as council mcmaster said this goes back to the 1990s i believe with mayor lyons uh continued its spirit continued through the the administrations of Mayors Guerrero, Dolan, Inferno, and continues with Mayor Broder. And I think the spirit of one-time allocations to help people during an economic hardship have been upheld.

▶ 9:49 Jeff McNaught: I don't, this wasn't filed in any way to say that anything was best being done incorrectly. In fact, I think we also share the same belief that we want to protect the identities of those that apply for funding.

▶ 10:03 Speaker 3: To the best to the best ability that we have. Because it's difficult for people to ask, um.

▶ 10:10 Jeff McNaught: I know from experience and working residents that it's very difficult for people to ask. And what we wanted to do in filing this was just create more public awareness. How do I apply? Where do I go? How does it work? And just to help people realize that we're going to keep their information private and not to be. all ashamed about asking for help because i do believe we're heading for more difficult times um so i that is why i decided to co-sponsor this order uh and again i appreciate uh mayor broder's um efforts excitement about the work on this i'm glad that council mcmaster asked for it to be held in committee so that we can work with the administration on this effort and i also appreciate all of the past mayor's efforts and what they've been for uh people and morrows that we'll never know about which i think is a good thing thank you um president

▶ 11:07 Jen Grigoraitis: Grigoraitis thank you chairman Migliorelli and thank you counselors mcmaster and mcnaught for bringing this before the council like both of you i've had conversations about the emergency fund with the current mayor going back to the very beginning of his administration and i really appreciate his engagement on the issue um i myself have a bunch of questions about the emergency fund and was not around when it was established in 1996 but i think there's some complications for the city which is a public entity to be taking in charitable donations from private residents um particularly around the handling of city money around money as public employees there are a lot of restrictions on the ability to do that um and i have some questions around how we categorize the donations and also to council mcnaught's point about privacy i think the city does its absolute best to ensure discretion but also when you look at the public records law there are very limited exemptions for what is and isn't um conceivably having to be revealed to the public so i'd also want to have a conversation about how we're ensuring that this information is kept as private as it can be within the confines of a public institution that's all thank you anyone else

▶ 12:28 Robb Stewart: the counselor stewart thank you madam chair um i want to thank the counselors for uh sponsoring this initiative and um i think it's the it's a good initiative i just i saw the answers to the memo this afternoon so i've been digesting it um as we've been speaking it speaking about this and um i think it would be helpful uh i think as uh councilman master alluded to to more insight into the thinking around how this money could be used and how we can use this as an ongoing source of provisions for people that are in need. My wife and I have supported it for many years, and we generally understood that it was for food mostly and we always thought that was a great thing I think in terms of expanding this within the limitations as President Grigoraitis had mentioned would be a good to consider so with that in mind I would also support holding this in committee for the time being that's a great idea thank you Madam

▶ 13:56 Mark Garipay: chair. Councillor Garipay. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I also support holding this in committee due to the receiving this. I have not even had a chance to take a look at the information we received this afternoon, late this afternoon. But yeah, I just want to appreciate Councillor McMaster and McNaught bringing this forward. But I will also support all this in committee uh i haven't had a chance to take a look at the information yet so thank you

▶ 14:35 Shawn M. MacMaster: anyone else for the first time motion to holding oh sorry council uh thank you uh manager i did want to make a motion at this time to attach both of the documents that we received from mayor burda this afternoon to the order right here a second second the motion to attach the

▶ 14:49 Leila Migliorelli: documents received this afternoon made by councillor mcmaster seconded by councillor Vice Chair Stewart. Madam Chair, Madam Clerk. Vice Chair Stewart. Yes. Councilor Garipay.

▶ 15:03 Speaker 3: Yes. Councilor Smolodin. Yes. Councilor McMaster. Yes. President Grigoraitis. Yes. Chairwoman

▶ 15:14 Leila Migliorelli: Migliorelli. Yes. Six yes. Great. Now that those information has been attached, do I

▶ 15:22 Shawn M. MacMaster: have a motion to hold in committee? I'll defer to the President because I think she had made

▶ 15:27 Jen Grigoraitis: the uh motion motion to holding committee thank you councilor mcmaster second okay motion to

▶ 15:31 Leila Migliorelli: hold in committee made by president Grigoraitis seconded by councillor mcmaster vice chair stewart yes councillor Garipay yeah councilor malady yes council mcmaster yes president Grigoraitis