← City Council · 2019-12-16 · City Council Regular Meeting
ORDER-2020-49 : An order honoring the departing city council members for their more than 100 years of combined service to the City of Melrose
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Transcript
▶ 1:05:49 Speaker 2: an order honoring the departing city council members for their more than 100 years of combined service to the city of Melrose.
▶ 1:05:59 Scott M. Forbes: Councillor Tramontozzi, please.
▶ 1:06:01 John N. Tramontozzi: Mr. President, I ask for immediate consideration of order number 2020-49.
▶ 1:06:06 Scott M. Forbes: Councillor Tramontozzi has requested immediate consideration on this order. Does anybody have an objection to immediate consideration?
▶ 1:06:13 John N. Tramontozzi: Seeing no objection, I ask for the suspension of the rules that give me the opportunity to present the foregoing resolutions.
▶ 1:06:21 Scott M. Forbes: Council Tramontozzi has requested suspension of the rules so you can come up and read the resolutions at the podium. Do I have a second? Second. Seconded by Council Lipper-Garabedian. All those in favor of suspension? Aye. Any opposed? The rules are suspended. Council?
▶ 1:06:35 Speaker 1: Thank you, Mr. President.
▶ 1:06:53 John N. Tramontozzi: Well, good evening, one and all. I appreciate this opportunity. I am indeed honored and privileged to present some resolutions to our departing members of the City Council. I was going to say Board of Aldermen, but we have served as a Board of Aldermen together and now we are serving as a city council. It is my honor and come the beginning of the year, I will be the longest serving member of this board and council. So it gives me great honor and privilege to do so. I thought the way I would do it is we have a number of resolutions to go through. is I'm going to read some resolutions. I'm going to ask the members to come forward to say a few words if they wish. And I'm going to do most of them, but I'm going to pass my thought is to also give President Scott Forbes an opportunity to do one. And as a special request for one of our members, I'm going to ask Mayor Paul Broder to come forward to read the last one. So with that in mind, we will begin the process of recognizing members who will be leaving us, and the first one I have here is a resolution in recognition of Manisha Bhutra, two years of service as a city councilor. Whereas Manisha Bhutra has ably served the city of Meadows as an alderman and city councilor for two years, and whereas during her time on the city council, Manisha Bhutra served as the chair of the finance committee vice chair of the legal and legislative committees and council representative to the water and sewer rate commission committee in the library strategic planning committee and whereas
▶ 1:08:42 John N. Tramontozzi: Manisha Bhutra was drawn extensively on her professional experience in city planning to bring an informed vote on issues such as affordable housing recreational marijuana zoning capital improvements and transportation and whereas throughout her career Manisha Bhutra has consistently used her planning and political expertise to further the cause of social justice, whether in housing, transportation, or human rights. And whereas, Manisha Bhutra was invited to represent Melrose at the Urban Land Institute's Urban Plan Public Leadership Institute in 2019, and as a panelist at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies Inaugural Women's Collective Summit in 2019. And whereas prior to her service as an elected official, Manisha Bhutra was a member and vice chair of the Melrose Human Rights Commission, where she championed the principles that Melrose will be one community open to all by advocating against discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression, and organizing cultural proficiency workshops for the public. And whereas Manisha Bhutra was an active participant in the creation of the Melrose Master Plan, And as a staff member of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, served as a consultant to the Murrow's Office of Planning and Community Development as they developed transit-oriented zoning provisions. And therefore, be it resolved that this resolution recognizing Minister Boutre for her years of honorable and distinguished service to the City of Murrow's be spread across the records of the Murrow City Council the 16th day of December 2019, signed and attested to by members, all the members of the City Council.
▶ 1:10:32 John N. Tramontozzi: congratulations and please it's you know I thought about preparing remarks
▶ 1:10:39 Manisha Bewtra: tonight but I just found myself to be very I guess overcome with emotion this has been a tremendous privilege and honor to serve Melrose in this way and it won't be the last you see of me I'm already serving on the middle school site council and finding other ways to get involved in the community I want to challenge the incoming counselors to continue thinking about representation and inclusion which i think is um you know when i uh have spoken with constituents the thing that i think people have felt really stood out about uh me serving on this council as the first person of color ever elected for the city um i love this community i i love all of you uh and thank you you very much for this great two years it's been quite a ride so it's my
▶ 1:11:45 John N. Tramontozzi: understanding that city council of Michael's work Oh chose not to have a resolution prepared in his honor but I think there's a reason for that because I think he is that is his way of saying to the public I am NOT leaving and I'm gonna still be around so watch out for me but I'd like to congratulate city councillor's workout for his his honorable service on the on the City Council and ask him to come forward if you could if you wish to say a few words
▶ 1:12:24 Michael P. Zwirko: thank you just a couple words thank you all like councillor Bewtra I didn't prepare any remarks this evening it's we'll hear this a lot tonight but I think anybody in this position is very grateful to the residents of the city for having bestowed upon them the ability to sit in this horseshoe and to make decisions that affect the very fabric of our community. Sometimes we're talking trash cans, other times we're talking plastic bags. It may seem small, but the reality is, is what we deal with is the quality of life here in this community, and it's very important. And I'm honored, and it was a life goal that has been achieved by myself to be here this evening. I will miss it dearly, and it's been a great, great experience of mine. And even when I would leave here sometimes a little terse sometimes when I leave here happy it's still something that I take with me and it was a profound experience that I will never forget thank you very
▶ 1:13:30 John N. Tramontozzi: much for the opportunity I greatly appreciate it resolution and recognition of Scott Forbes as six years of service as a city councillor whereas Scott Forbes has served the residents of Melrose with dedication for six years as Ward seven city councillor culminating his service as the first president of city council after its name changed from board of aldermen and whereas scott forbes followed in his footsteps of his father william forbes in this elected position and whereas scott forbes served as chair of the finance committee for multiple terms and council representative to the water and sewer right committee and whereas scott forbes is a decorated 22-year veteran of the u.s air force serving through two wars in iraq and afghanistan and whereas scott forbes has continued his dedication to the armed forces through his tireless advocacy work for veterans in the morrow's community and beyond in particular through his job as support services director for the veterans northeast outreach center and whereas scott forbes also has demonstrated his commitment to veterans through his legislative work on the city council as the council representative to the veterans service advisory board and through his involvement in many local veterans charities and therefore be it resolved that this resolution recognizing scott forbes for his years of honorable and distinguished service to the city of maros be spread across the records of the maro city council the 16th day of december 2019 attested to and signed by the members of the city council So congratulations, Scott Forbes, President.
▶ 1:15:12 John N. Tramontozzi: Also, with the resolution as outgoing president, he gets a special plaque.
▶ 1:15:21 Speaker 1: I'll let him, there he is, with the gala of the presidency.
▶ 1:15:24 John N. Tramontozzi: Very nice indeed.
▶ 1:15:33 Scott M. Forbes: I'm going to be very, very short and brief with my words. i want to thank uh councillor peter mortimer for giving me the chance to serve these last few months as city council president as many you can see i'm wearing the same tie as my father is worn in that picture here tonight this truly has been a fantastic run for me for the last few months and i really have lived a dream uh of forbes has served the city of melrose for 16 years it has been uh such a great ride and i do want to uh i see that you know councillor uh jennifer lemmerman former president was here this evening i want everyone to say thank you for being here tonight but also uh this has been such a great ride for all of us so i i reserve my comments
▶ 1:16:28 John N. Tramontozzi: until the end but thank you so much resolution and recognition of monica medeiros 12 years of service as a city councilor whereas monica medeiros has served the residents of morrow's with dedication for 14 years first as a member of the school committee as ward 2 alderman and finally as counselor at large and whereas her work in public service extended to multiple leadership roles with the Massachusetts Municipal Association including most recently as the mass counselors Association president and whereas Monica Medeiros has been widely recognized for her professionalism in preparedness when participating in City Council deliberations and whereas Monica Medeiros has been a longtime supporter of programs that support hunger awareness in food pantries in the Melrose area. And whereas Monica Medeiros has been a tireless advocate for government transparency with a particular focus on providing the public with direct access to information and data. And whereas Monica Medeiros is a lifelong Melrosean and devoted daughter who has kept elderly affairs and quality of life issues in the forefront of her efforts and therefore be it resolved that this resolution recognizing monica medeiros for her years of honorable and distinguished service to the city of melrose be spread across the records of the merrill city council the 16th day of december 2019 attested to members and signed by all the members of the city
▶ 1:18:11 Monica C. Medeiros: council monica medeiros thank you i don't know no thank you very much i want to thank everyone here all of my colleagues here on this board and and our past colleagues that have been serving with over the time it's been i think as as i want to say alderman Rita counselor his counselor putra said you know it's it's definitely it's an honor and a privilege to be able to have served in this position and i am so grateful to the voters for giving me this experience and boy has it been sort of an interesting experience over the years and you never know what um how many doors and experiences have been open to us and i've been thinking today about czechoslovakian dancing with counselor Boisselle many years back just all kinds of things and it's it's been a great ride you know i've tried as hard as i can to do the right thing for the citizens of melrose and tried to make sure that we do open things up and make everything more understandable and open for the the public and I'm looking forward to the new counselors coming in and I hope they they do that hopefully it's resulted in a more engaged and active and informed public and I hope that that's something that continues moving forward I just I want to thank you know so much of what happens here and in our jobs is not what happens in this room it's what happens outside this room so I I JUST PARTICULARLY WANT TO THANK ALL OF OUR CITY HALL STAFF, OUR CLERK OF COMMITTEES AND CITY CLERK AND BASICALLY ALL THOSE WHO'VE BEEN WORKING HARD FOR YEARS, YOU KNOW, THEY'RE THE ONES THAT DO SO MUCH OF THE HARD WORK AND MAKE US LOOK GOOD AND MAKE THINGS TICK. AND I JUST APPRECIATE THAT SO MUCH. I WANT TO THANK ESPECIALLY MMTV AND THE CAMERA PEOPLE, Rita, FOR KEEPING THIS OPEN AND ALLOWING the public to to watch and in particular I want to thank the members of the public that come to our meetings and that watch and you know we go out and we campaign and you hear and it's it feels great when somebody says yeah you know I watched the meeting of the other night and they keep track of what goes on and I really appreciate that to know that it's not just the bubble that happens in this room and that people do pay attention and so I thank you very much and I really appreciate the opportunity to serve here a resolution and
▶ 1:20:52 John N. Tramontozzi: recognition of Robert Boisselle 19 years of service as a city councillor whereas Robert Boisselle has ably served the city of Melrose as an alderman and City Council for 19 years including service as president chair of the health education and welfare and finance committees and representative of the traffic Commission and whereas Robert Boisselle also served as a member of the conservation commission for eight years in its chair for five years and whereas robert Boisselle has a long time presence at mmtv not only hosting his own gardening show but also filming many civic events making him truly the documentarian of meadows and whereas robert Boisselle also served for many decades at the massachusetts department of environmental protection and shared his knowledge and skills with the council and whereas robert Boisselle was a strong proponent of the el pond drainage study which allowed residents of the area to realize considerable savings on flood insurance and whereas robert Boisselle attended to all matters brought before him with an intense attention to detail as well as a thoroughness and insistence on factual accuracy be it resolved that this resolution recognizing robert Boisselle for his years of honorable and distinguished service to the city of melrose be spread across the record of the merrill city council the 16th day of December 2019 attested to signed by all members of the City Council it's been a
▶ 1:22:33 Robert A. Boisselle: long run people there's newbies in the back listen to your constituents talk to them and get out into the ward it's been a long run I joined the my tour duty you might say on the board of Alderman a number of years ago 19 when we had floods almost on an annual basis at the middle school that El Pan was overflowing almost every year the 100 year flood they would call it which come which was coming every year after hard work many meetings and scrounging for money we put up a new middle school and from there we try to alleviate the flooding that occurred in war two every other year and many years where we had a
▶ 1:23:23 Robert A. Boisselle: a real disaster in one area so be attentive be aware what's going on in your ward and i would like to thank my colleagues who were with me during that time period the staff and also the city workers now these people work very hard when you're home and they're out up to their hips and water trying to rescue people or trying to relieve problems in the ward and the legal staff where you have any problems you're going to be seeing the lawyers quite a bit and ask questions if it's legal to do that it should be done legally and from what I understand in the state level we're going to be getting money on for school education and for new roads to be done in the area but again I'd like to thank the voters who voted for me in the past and good luck everyone for the members who are leaving and those who are staying and for the newbies everyone work hard thank you very much I'm going to turn over the
▶ 1:24:42 John N. Tramontozzi: gavel to president forbes for the remainder thank you then there were two
▶ 1:24:57 Scott M. Forbes: a resolution resident in recognition of frank wright's 14 years of service as a city councilor Francis wright has ably served the city of melrose as an alderman and city councilor for 14 years including service as president of the board in 2010 in many years of service as the chair of the legal and legislative committee and whereas while serving as president Francis wright initiated the renovation of the aldermanic chamber including new painting new flags and new window treatments and whereas frank wright worked with the park commission in the mayor's office to ensure the successful transition of the melrose farmers market to bowden park and whereas during his tenure as an elected official frank wright has at all times kept a strong focus on the roads infrastructure and quality of life in ward three and has authored more orders than any other member of the city council here here on that and whereas in his professional life frank wright is the city solicitor for the city of somerville and brings his many years of experience with municipal legal affairs to the council and whereas frank wright has served as a member of the board of editors for the city solicitors and town council association and is an active member of the massachusetts municipal lawyers association and whereas frank wright has served as a member of the board of editors for the city solicitors and town council i already said that one i am sorry and whereas before serving on the city council frank wright was a member of the melrose board of appeals and whereas in addition to his government service frank wright has been active in civic affairs in many other ways including as co-chair of the gooch park restoration committee and as a member of the past president and director of the somerville kiwanis club and be it resolved that this resolution recognizing frank wright for all of his years of honorable and distinguished service to the city of melrose be spread across the records for this melrose city council on this 16th day of december
▶ 1:27:12 Francis X. Wright Jr.: 2019. councillor Francis wright thank you um it's been an honor and a privilege privilege to serve the city and serve ward 3 for the last 14 years
▶ 1:27:22 Francis X. Wright Jr.: um much like council maderos i want to as someone who works in a city hall i want to extend my thanks and appreciation to all the people who work for the city of melrose who make what we do in this room happen or allow us to know whether or not it can happen um they're the ones as my as some of my predecessors up here have said um who do the hard work um beyond that i just want to tell the one story that i think i've probably told the most outside this chamber regarding my 14 years on the city council and board of aldermen before we became a city council so as often i do i leave here and i go across the street to shaw's and i get the bread and milk one night i was over there it was 9 45 10 o'clock and um there's nobody in the store i'm starting to walk down the aisle and this nice little old lady is coming towards me And we get about halfway down and we're about to pass one another and she looks at me and she says, excuse me, aren't you my representative? And I said, well, I'm an alderman, where do you live? And she told me and I said, yes, as a matter of fact, I am. I said, thank you for recognizing me. Is there anything I can do for you? And she said, no. But when I saw you coming at me in that nice suit, I thought, boy, he looks a lot like
▶ 1:28:56 Francis X. Wright Jr.: the time my sister and I were in that park in East Boston where she grew up, and these two men were coming at her. And as they approached, they stopped and said hello, and she said, and one of those men was Jack Kennedy. And when you came at me, I thought, he looks just like Jack Kennedy.
▶ 1:29:20 Francis X. Wright Jr.: And I said, wow, I said, I am flabbergasted. I said that you would say that I look like Jack Kennedy, and she looked at me very innocently and sincerely and she said, oh, not you, your suit.
▶ 1:29:35 Francis X. Wright Jr.: So I guess the lesson there is, no matter how important we may think we get in this chamber always have humility thank you and now i'd like to have mayor broder come up and read
▶ 1:30:07 Paul Brodeur: this last resolution so i do the short straw just kidding and i will i'm not going to use this one hopefully it says the same things but with my eyesight i'm a little bit a little bit limited even though i have the glasses on i would want to say so i want to congratulate everyone those those that are going to continue to serve, those that have already served and moved on, and those in particular that were my classmates, if you will, then Alderman Boisselle and Alderman Mortimer. And I was thinking really as I was sitting there about what it means to serve in local government and of, you know, the prominent folks that I think of in state and federal government, Congresswoman Clark, Governor Baker, Lieutenant Governor Polito, the Speaker and the Senate President, all whenever they talk about their role in government and their representation, always come back to that first role, not in Governor Baker's case, but their role as member of a select board or school committee or a town council, board of aldermen or selectmen. so that is you know that's where your roots are and that's where the service really immediately translates into the public good in a very tangible way so I want to thank all of you and the folks that are coming in for that service but we're here I'm here in particular to give some remarks and read the resolution for council Mortimer whereas Peter Mortimer served the city of Melrose as city councillor for a little bit more than 19 years served as president of the council served as chair of the Appropriations Committee the Legal and Legislative Committee and various other committees and whereas Peter Mortimer was an integral part of the financing the building of the Veterans Memorial Middle School and where in the lobby of the middle school hangs a plaque commemorating the opening of that school with Peter Mortimer's name listed as the president of the City Council and whereas excuse me Peter Mortimer has been civically active outside the council as a member of the Melrose Rotary Club, the Melrose Chamber of Commerce, the Melrose Fish and Game Club in Saugus and a former member of the board of directors at the Melrose YMCA and the board of Melrose Youth Soccer coaching or assistant coaching for 13 years and as a player for a 10 season on the Melrose men's soccer team and whereas Peter Mortimer served as a member of the Conservation Commission for five years before joining the City Council and whereas Peter Mortimer facilitated numerous initiatives for the betterment of Melrose including but not limited to the improvement of the common playing fields the construction of the common playground and the reopening of the Eastside fire station the construction of Fred Greenfield of the reconstruction thereof you're not that old and the pine banks fields and the dog park at the knoll and whereas Peter Mortimer has assisted many a great many individual constituents in neighborhoods with their problems issues and concerns therefore be it resolved that this resolution recognizing Peter Mortimer for his over two decades of honorable and distinguished service to the city of Melrose be spread across the records of the Melrose City Council this 16th day of December 2019 council morning thank
▶ 1:33:44 Peter D. Mortimer: you very much mayor Broda Thank You president Forbes Thank You ladies and gentlemen in attendance and thank you to the people of Melrose Melrose is a great city it didn't happen by accident there's been a lot of hard work and creative thinking put in to what Melrose is today I have every confidence that the new supermajority board that's coming on board will continue the success that Melrose has enjoyed for the last two decades it's going to be a
▶ 1:34:23 Peter D. Mortimer: challenge it's hard to keep going up property values are soaring quality of life is fantastic in Melrose I love Melrose I love Melrose I moved here when
▶ 1:34:36 Peter D. Mortimer: I was 12 years old almost 13 my parents moved out here to get me and my brothers away from what Boston was becoming and I fell in love with the place I was just overwhelmed coming from the city to see in all the woods and forests that we have around here and we have that green belt that surrounds Melrose when I started two decades ago downtown was in tough shape and it's the envy of many other cities now and i'm only a small part of that but i'm very happy to be a small part of that because i love melrose so much i want to see it keep going but there's a time when it's time
▶ 1:35:31 Peter D. Mortimer: to step aside and pass the torch to abled followers and i have every confidence talking to and listening to the new city council coming on board and i know mayor brodo is going
▶ 1:35:48 Peter D. Mortimer: to do a great job he's going to be a wonderful mayor and we're going to keep melrose going melrose has been a great place for my family my kids had great experiences growing up here my daughter is a junior at melrose high school she went to the winthrop She went to the middle school and she's at Melrose High School now getting a fantastic education. Couldn't be happier. It's a great place. My wife lived in
▶ 1:36:15 Peter D. Mortimer: Baltimore and she got a job at Mass General so she needed to move to the Boston area and she was wondering where to live and she was looking around
▶ 1:36:31 Peter D. Mortimer: Malden and one day she just decided to take a ride north up Main Street and it just so happened to be the day that the Victorian Fair was taking place. And she fell in love with the place, too. She just looked at it and said, these people are wonderful. This is fantastic. And in as much as no local ladies would marry me, I met her and began to court her. And we wanted to live in Melrose. we have ever since and it's just it's just been tremendous this is a great city I couldn't think of a better place to live maybe later a couple of months in the winter in Florida but other than that and and it's it has been you know the word honor and privilege has been used a few times tonight but it truly is and I'm very grateful to the people of Melrose to the workers of Melrose to all the constituents to the hundreds of volunteers on boards and commissions we have here and I just ask you humbly please keep Melrose on the right track keep making it and let it continue to be the fantastic city it is today thank you
▶ 1:38:17 Scott M. Forbes: very much motion to place on file I have a motion by council tram and toes you to place this order on file seconded by council of the per Garabedian all those in favor all right any opposed this order will be placed on file do we have any orders out of order