Public Comment

Transcript (~18 min @ 2:20)

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

▶ 1:26 Jen Grigoraitis: President Grigoraitis. Here. 11 present. Okay, 11 present. We have a quorum and before we begin I just wanted to say we have a very substantive agenda tonight and I am confident that this body will focus on the people's business that is before us and that we will do so in a collegial professional respectful and succinct manner abiding by the rules of procedure that we all adopted back in January I know that our role as elected representatives means we signed up to make decisions some of them hard and often have to do so under challenging in imperfect conditions I think we can all agree that 2020 can certainly be called an imperfect condition and I think there are more challenges that lie ahead for us I know that this group has risen to the occasion and will continue to do so and I believe that tonight we will make decisions to help move this city into the next fiscal year this is what our community expects of us and I believe this is what we all plan to deliver on with that I will entertain a

▶ 2:24 Robb Stewart: motion for public comment motion open public comment second we have a motion

▶ 2:27 Jen Grigoraitis: to open public comment by councillor Stewart seconded by councillor McNaught madam clerk can you please call the roll

▶ 2:39 Speaker 1: Sinella? Yes. Eccles? Yes. Garipay? Yes. Jamaleddine? Yes. McMaster? Yes. McNaught? Yes. Migliorelli? Yes. Stewart? Yes. Thomas? Yes. James Muzzi? Yes. President Grigoraitis? Yes.

▶ 3:06 Jen Grigoraitis: 11 yes so we have 11 yes so public comment is open this is the portion when any member of the public can speak to any item on our agenda um we respect that respectfully ask that public comment be capped at no more than 10 minutes when you come forward to speak please state your name and address for the record if you are joining us via webex and wish to speak please raise your digital hand there's a little hand icon that you can click um madam clerk is there anyone waiting to speak

▶ 3:37 Speaker 1: um first i know that um jonna jimenez uh indicated that she wanted to speak earlier today to the clerk of committees so i jonna i will unmute your microphone now except i won't there we go now you're unmuted nope you're making it again there we go here we go good evening my

▶ 3:58 Speaker 2: My name is Jaina Jimenez of 25 Sargent Street. In public statements, the mayor, the police chief, and the city council all pledged transparency and accountability regarding racial justice. On April 9, 2020, a Melrose police officer used deadly force by firing his gun three times at a suspect fleeing in his car. A young black man fleeing an attempted break-in. A police officer escalating an incident by using deadly force at a young black man fleeing a scene is the same action that resulted in the murder of Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta. The Melrose police officer simply missed and the chief has requested open quote more accurate end quote guns. Numerous requests to the mayor, the police chief and the city council regarding the details of the April 9th incident have either been deflected or ignored. To be transparent and accountable, the mayor, the police chief, and the city council must publicly address this incident. Did the officer receive de-escalation training prior to the incident? If not, why not? If so, why did the officer escalate a situation that did not call for use of deadly force? Was the officer disciplined following the incident? If not, why not? What policies and procedures have been put in place to prevent this from happening again? We don't know the answers to these questions because the Mayor, the Police Chief, and the City Council have not discussed the incident as of yet. That is not transparency and accountability. The details surrounding the use of deadly force on April 9th must be publicly discussed since they are absolutely pertinent to any conversation regarding the funding of police weapons and funding of police training in the words of the joint statement by the mayor the police chief and the outgoing superintendent of schools we need to have difficult conversations with ourselves our family and friends and those in the powerful positions who guard the status quo thank you for your

▶ 6:18 Jen Grigoraitis: time thank you is there anyone else wishing to speak during public comment

▶ 6:26 Speaker 1: next in queue is Finn McSweeney and unmute you now everybody Finn McSweeney

▶ 6:30 Speaker 3: 160 West Wyoming I just want I want to briefly speak to the first order which I think is 2020 133 the appointment of a new treasurer collector and I think this is probably just going to get referred to committee tonight but one of the many things that we probably haven't done a good enough job at in the city previously is pursuing diversity in in city hiring as a taxpayer here I would really love to see the city have a formal approach to this and I think it's probably something that's gonna come out in the mayor's two weeks to change program but I would encourage the council to ask questions during the process about how the city is pursuing candidates of diverse background and again I would I would happily support you know raising salaries to to compel people to come to Melrose. Superintendent Taymor made a really really interesting comment about the lack of people of color in our school system and the teaching staff in Melrose which was that those people those teachers they want to teach students of color so Melrose has a challenge if we want to make our teaching staff more diverse and that's exactly the sort of insight I think that we we hope to achieve from a community-wide conversation about how to make Melrose a more diverse and more welcoming community and like any organization part of that is having a diverse workforce so that's my comment I just want to encourage the council committee when that appointment is discussed I believe as mr. Flavin's replacement to ask the city about what they're doing to bring in a more diverse field of candidates into Melrose thank

▶ 8:38 Speaker 1: you thank you clerk sorry I'm getting some messages um next will be Jerry

▶ 8:48 Speaker 4: jerry i'm unmuting you now thank you jerry morose 62 mount vernon street um i've come before you a few times in this budget cycle um to discuss um some budget issues particularly around water and sewer issues um i've raised some structural concerns about the water and sewer budget how it's unfair and classist in the way that it takes city expenses and places them on the burden of the ratepayers of Melrose. And I understand that you have a lot on the agenda tonight and that things are complicated and this is the first budget for a lot of you, but and 2020 is a crazy year. However, you know, Robert Kennedy in his day of affirmation speech talked about the danger of expediency that that you need to those who say that hopes and beliefs

▶ 9:44 Speaker 4: must bend before immediate necessities um you know he said of course if we must act effectively must we must deal with the world as it is we must get things done but he talked about that we need to make certain that we're looking at the big picture and in solving the problems that we're here to solve for the long term not just the ones in the moment um you know i i have put some time and effort into the water and sewer issues over a number of years and brought them to the city council the city council has never to this day had a competent discussion about the issues that i raised you know we say we want a diverse melrose but yet we put barriers up to diversity in melrose just like the water and sewer issue is the people who can least afford it are paying more than the people who can afford it the most they're paying more than their proportionate share is what it should be based on the tax base um you know i i hope that you will spend some time tonight and engage in it um you know if you don't complete tonight's meeting i hope you can continue on you have a couple more days before the budget is defaulted but i i do hope that this city council will engage in some of the deeper issues about the structure of our budget about how the status quo that we perpetuate Melrose is not the wonderful status quo that is one community open to all that that we we it we make an unfair system in so many ways and it's not just water and sewer the schools do it our city does it in so many different ways and we are blind to it in a large part and it does take some difficult conversations some self-reflection and there are things none of us want to believe or hear about ourselves but it's important for us to examine especially in this time of examination of so many things in our society i would hope that the city council would understand the importance of looking at something that might seem as dry as water and and sewer but but what's ensconced in that water and sewer budget is as insidious as some of the larger things that we're looking at on those on the surface of the world today thank you for your time thank you next is Eugenia

▶ 12:15 Speaker 5: Gibbons go ahead Eugenia thank you very much I know you have a very full agenda so I will do my best to keep my remarks to a minimum I'm Eugenia Gibbons I live at 98 East Wyoming Avenue. I want to acknowledge that although last week's meeting ended rather unconventionally, I sincerely appreciate the effort that I'm sure many of you made to regroup and to come back to manage the business of the city. I want to thank each of you for doing that. You have an important job ahead of you and I for doing it. I wanted to just share with you some remarks that are reflected in a letter that I'll submit to you all via email and signed on to by over 20 residents in Melrose. I'm sparing you 20 individual emails and I'm sending them all in one. So this is in regards to order 2020-106 and appropriation from free cash. Many of the folks who signed on to this letter have been participating in a series of discussions with community members and representatives from diversity-oriented groups and organizations that are committed to working together and in a more coordinated fashion to meaningfully contribute to anti-bias and anti-racism work and community building here in Melrose. At our first meeting that we held a couple of weeks ago, many of us brainstormed about things that we could do as a city, a school district, and a community to promote racial justice here. I'll be sure to submit a copy of the summary of the high level, the themes and ideas that emerged from that exercise. All of this is to say that there is overwhelming and broad-based community support for investments in equity, education, and training. We want to see this reflected in the city budget. Municipal leadership taking meaningful steps to anchor all aspects of governing and equity can set the tone going forward and will demonstrate that this work is important and is prioritized at all levels and in a sustained manner. This begins with an investment in professionally facilitated needs assessments that help identify a clear outcome and a plan to meet it. The unexpected end to last week's City Council meeting, one without resolution regarding how much and from where to draw money to fund diversity, equity, and inclusion training in the city, actually a unique and new opportunity to collaborate on the development of a plan to put Melrose on a path to longer-term investment and equity and change. It's an opportunity that I sincerely hope all of you embrace. As you revisit the question of free cash this evening, I and many others who are reflected in this letter want to reiterate for you that there is community support for dedicating a certain amount of money from the current budget to procure services of a professional diversity, equity, and inclusion specialist to help guide the work now. There's support for postponing the purchase of replacement firearms until a later date. There's support for committing long-term to budgeting for the implementation of recommendations that come out of the city assessment. At a minimum, these are important steps in the right direction and they exemplify the type of municipal leadership that I mentioned before and that I know all of you are willing to demonstrate. At the same time and in an effort to promote community engagement at all steps in the process and to maintain accountability, we also urge you and the mayor to consider some additional recommendations. Consider creating an advisory body modeled after the superintendent or principal search committees that include members of the community, especially those who are expert in the field of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and who can help vet proposals or inform contractor selection. Consider setting a minimum, an at least amount, or a not less than amount of floor, so to speak, in future budgets that support the implementation of any recommendations that come out of the needs assessment. Consider also co-hosting a series of community conversations or listening sessions. Many of us who have signed on to this letter would be more than happy to work together with members of this body and the mayor's office to help bring those conversations about. And also, please consider providing regular and public updates on progress as the process gets underway. This speaks to the importance of transparency, pardon me, and collaboration going forward. This work is important, and all of us, you as the city council, the school department, the administration, and members of the community, we all have a role to play in ensuring these endeavors are successful. At this moment, the onus is on you to advance a budget that reflects the values of this community, including a shared commitment to fully weaving into the fabric of Melrose, equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice. Melrose, one community open to all. Thank you for your time and for your consideration. I will submit this in writing as well for your records and have a good evening.

▶ 17:42 Speaker 6: Thank you.

▶ 17:44 Jen Grigoraitis: Madam Clerk, anyone else?

▶ 17:47 Speaker 1: Now I'll bring forward Janine Venuti. Janine, I'm unmuting you now. Go ahead.

▶ 17:54 Speaker 7: The school system has had multiple racial incidents resulting rightly in lawsuits. Last year when we had the incident on Brazil Street, neither time was there a request defund either department, nor should there have been. There is no reason to take money from an already underfunded police department, especially in light of the recent 5 million increases in taxes. No city is immune to violence. Mass shootings can happen anywhere. I will never forget the shock and horror when it happened on the other end of Main Street. The shooter went into his former place of employment with an AK-47 and a shotgun, killing five of his co-workers in a matter of minutes. When everyone else was running out of the building, it was the Wakefield Police Department that went in with the Meadows Police Department backing them up. Our officers need equipment that they can count on and will perform accurately. There is ample money available in the city budget to provide the bias training the chief of police requested at the beginning of the year any bias training should include the every department in the city not simply the police there's ample free cash since the 5 million override and it should come from that fund and not reduce the police budget which is already underfunded that's it oh and my name is janine infinity from 39 out to Montab thank you anyone else madam clerk I'm just doing

▶ 19:35 Speaker 1: one final check in the list no I think that's it second we have a motion to

▶ 19:50 Jen Grigoraitis: close public comment by councillor Stewart seconded by councillor McMaster

▶ 20:00 Speaker 1: madam clerk can you please call the roll Sinella yes Eccles yes Arope yes Jamaleddine yes McMaster yes Knott yes Migliorelli yes Stewart yes Thomas yes Tramontozzi yes President Grigoraitis yes