Orders

Transcript (~23 min @ 47:26)

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▶ 47:37 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: and we'll resume public comment are there additional members of the public who wish to speak this evening seeing none madam chair I make a motion to

▶ 47:45 Peter D. Mortimer: close public open I withdraw the motion at this point for taking our comment

▶ 47:56 Speaker 4: this evening my name is Matt Hartman and I live on Allen place we're running out

▶ 48:15 Speaker 4: of sheets here I'm a parent of young kids as I think many of the people in the room are I've lived here for a few years now and I've been increasingly learning more about Melrose and you know I think we're all here in particular because of how this spring went and that's where I think my comments are gonna start the time is now for Melrose residents to come together to work together and to actually solve our problems which have been going on for years I believe we can come together that this override is actually a tool for a brighter Melrose and something that will be a rallying cry for our city we do not need to find ourselves sending exaggerated accusations of misdeeds doubting our neighbors intentions or rejecting people's experiences we should at ourselves to find a way to hear each other the override is a chance to do that and I hope all Melrose Ian's can find a way to participate in that the process used for creating this override question has been simply exemplary like many I was alarmed this spring when the school budget debate was fraught with talks of major cuts overrides and losing ground on educating our children as a parent of young children looking forward to future years in the Melrose public schools I was deeply concerned energy grew worry grew and even a push for an override grew yet with all of that going on I firmly did not support an override being pushed to the ballot for this fall I am grateful to the mayor that she did

▶ 49:54 Speaker 4: not put an override hastily on in the ballot two weeks ago for the middle of a fiscal year tax change I am grateful she used that time to generate significant public feedback feedback that she even acted on during the process she was pioneering herself by scheduling another session to outreach to seniors after that idea was raised at one of her sessions well many could not attend

▶ 50:23 Speaker 4: these sessions in person more than a thousand others chose to raise their voices through the community questionnaire process it was clear she was listening to every voice as throughout those sessions you heard discussion from the mayor and others of the survey responses she had received and discussion and inclusion of all the comments that were made at the forums. If you attended these sessions you could not have walked away with anything less than a feeling of euphoria. That feeling came from watching how residents with widely different opinions were able to voice their opinions strongly and respectfully and at each comment their fellow neighbors listened intently. I am grateful that our mayor organized that opportunity for us to not only speak but to listen i am grateful she met with all of her department heads to take input from every aspect of the city budget many of her department heads attended the listening sessions as well and i'm grateful for their attendance this showed the real collaboration that took place in city hall to solve the crisis and come up with long-term solutions it was not about one department over another each department clearly had a chance to participate the process has ultimately led to a better question a more informed and engaged public and a better chance for bringing melrose a brighter

▶ 51:45 Speaker 4: future the process the mayor used to present the question has created an informed and balanced and specific ask that should be laid before city voters first her decision to use a special

▶ 51:59 Speaker 4: election in april is critical no budget should be passed for this fiscal year without giving voters a chance to avoid drastic cuts it would be simply inappropriate to ask this board to implement major cuts to city budgets only to possibly roll them back based upon a mid-fiscal year vote people would lose their jobs their livelihoods children would lose their teachers

▶ 52:27 Speaker 4: departments might entirely close people are not widgets they cannot simply be replaced

▶ 52:36 Speaker 4: by the will of a vote that is no way to run a city second the question she created reflects the needs of the schools in the city budget and reflects many of the priorities and concerns raised by residents at the community listening sessions class sizes teacher pay and retention and support long-term space planning and fiscal stability were top issues raised by residents while by no means is that an exhaustive list that every of everything that was raised the public's point of view not simply just the mayor's is clearly reflected here each of the

▶ 53:06 Speaker 4: elements included in the mayor's proposal in this question ring true to parts of a solid long-term

▶ 53:15 Speaker 4: plan the question obviously does not include every answer to every city problem yet it is not the job of an override to solve every problem we must be able as a city leaders and as residents

▶ 53:28 Speaker 4: to carry on the work of multiple issues many have concerns about the public safety buildings

▶ 53:35 Speaker 4: i have concerns about the public safety buildings i've been there with my kids i can see how old they are the fire department invites us in every year we see the age of that building we see it falling apart work cannot stop to bring this project to fruition and it is incumbent upon city leaders to keep it moving forward yet this project is still years away from a decision point and because of its massive scale it certainly warrants a very careful consideration and negotiation a process the mayor has publicly committed her administration to pursuing budget shortfalls and building designs are two entirely different things and can be considered on different timelines even with the importance and need for the public safety project that project should not delay us from considering the needs that we have so clearly identified right now needs that annually become more pressing and obvious should be solved now others have concerns about areas where the city might not be spending its money wisely cannot claim to know every person who works for this city and every project that it is doing and validate that all of those uses of the money are worthy of endorsement but I can easily examine and compare how much money we spend compared to our neighbors and there's a stark difference between Melrose and any of our neighbors of our neighbors only Stoneham collects less in property tax than we do and only Stoneham spends less on schools than we do each of our other neighbors collects millions more in property taxes but importantly Stoneham has 6,000 less residents 1,500 less students to educate of our neighbors only Malden has more residents than Melrose and really isn't a fair comparison because of its size and scale there simply isn't any significant level of poor spending choices that would allow us to collect and spend millions of dollars less than our less populous neighbors like Wakefield and Saugus and still be able to operate a silly city. There is no question Melrose is a lean city. I've been working on ways to solve this

▶ 55:57 Speaker 4: crisis with friends and neighbors since I started to hear about these problems this spring. I have no doubt there are many people who oppose this override and I've actually had the pleasure to already meet some of them. I've learned so much since starting this effort from everybody I've met, including those with whom I disagree. I am absolutely part of this campaign, and

▶ 56:23 Speaker 4: so are they. This effort is a campaign of residents and neighbors. Neighbors pressed the city administration to act on this. Neighbors are asking for action from this board. It is neighbors deciding tonight on whether this request can move forward. And more importantly,

▶ 56:40 Speaker 4: it is neighbors on this board that can set the tone of this election i hope that you can look

▶ 56:49 Speaker 4: at each other tonight and find ways to have productive conversations rather than flinging

▶ 57:00 Speaker 4: accusations our city is depending on you because it will be neighbors knocking every door in this city until april 2nd and it will be neighbors working to solve the problems together and it will be neighbors that will come together on April 3rd to keep pressing our city leaders for solutions to the rest of our challenges the time is now we need to address the school funding problems and alleviate pressure from our other city budgets now voters are simply asking to have the chance to decide if the mayor has presented a fair option an option that solves many of our current and most pressing problems an option that provides adequate specificity we believe that it is that option and we believe that it should be given to voters at large to have a chance to make that decision on april 2nd thank you for your time and i look forward to hearing your debate thank you

▶ 58:04 Speaker 4: adam vonadakis i live on upton street um sorry i gotta put my glasses on the benefits of being an old guy I'm a fiscal conservative and what I'm going to say is about it would be a shock to those that know me I am here firmly in support of the override when I moved here 15 years ago I asked the two key questions that most homeowners ask what is the crime rate and how are the schools when I moved here the schools were improving and this was based on many factors and some good old-fashioned grit I hear that we are now doing fine with good scores etc but I feel that this is a reactive instead of a proactive approach waiting for the problem to become manifest as poor planning especially since the problem is becoming apparent the override is vital for us at a critical time in our city class sizes of 30 plus are only going to get larger children are going to get lost in the shuffle and it ultimately will affect us all in our greatest investment our homes as a person who loves the city I am willing to put my money where my mouth is for only the cost about dollar fifty a day which is less than the price of a cup of coffee I ask that you allow this question to be placed in the ballot I fully support this override even and especially as a a fist as a fiscal conservative it is what the city needs now thank you good

▶ 59:26 Speaker 1: evening my name is Robin Erickson I live on Frost Ave I moved here three just about three years ago I'm a mom of three a grandmother to two who are in the

▶ 59:42 Speaker 1: school system and I am a retired teacher of nearly 40 years I was kind of surprised when I looked at the pay scale of the teachers in Melrose thanks to Governor Michael Dukakis I know that there are 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts Melrose is ninth from the bottom in paying its teachers I firmly believe that we can do better than that I don't know if anybody in this room knows what the budget is in the state to run our prisons it's a billion dollars a

▶ 1:00:20 Speaker 1: a year. I don't know if you know how much we contribute to the education of our children, but it's somewhere between $11,000 and $12,000 a year. Do you know what it costs to keep

▶ 1:00:34 Speaker 1: someone in jail for a year? $15,000. As a parent, as a teacher, as a resident of this city, it makes far more sense to me to put money into children where we can help them make better decisions so they will not end up in prison where they have made poor decisions I sincerely hope that the neighbors and residents of the city will

▶ 1:01:02 Speaker 1: allow this question to go on to the I'm sorry on the referendum for next year

▶ 1:01:27 Speaker 4: thank you hi my name is Jonah Karenza and I'm a resident on Lebanon Street I moved here two years ago from California where prop 13 is decimated not just the education system but all sorts of state-run programs and I think the the debate about schools versus other city services is really inaccurate because of of the minimum required per pupil spending that the state mandates as I'm sure you've all heard ad nauseum that dollar amount associated with a rising number of pupils in the system is going to keep going up but if the tax revenue doesn't go up commensurate other city services more so than the schools will be impacted and it's fine to sort of speak in general terms but as a specific example I was speaking with the city engineer with whom I work as a a member of the pedestrian bike committee and she said she lost an FTE this last year due to budget cuts an FTE who is working on with the other engineers replacement of the sewer pipes in our city the sewer pipes which are caving in and causing our water bills to be high because of the infiltration from stormwater into our sewer system so there's a very concrete it's actually clay in this case example of how not spending money on schools in an appropriate way that allows us to spend the additional funds that we have coming in through new growth on other city services will negatively impact the city and our pocketbooks directly as anybody who's paid a water bill in this town

▶ 1:03:23 Speaker 2: knows thanks thank you good evening good evening uh my name is alex gillis i'm a current senior at norris high school um i live on waverly place i've went to norfolk schools since i was in kindergarten um like a fair amount of my friends but i think i agree with a lot of things that people have been saying tonight whether from both sides but i'm i think norris is in dire need of this override and i think that we should put it on the ballot to let voters see it

▶ 1:03:50 Speaker 2: based on how students feel, I've talked to every student I think that Melrose Public Schools are generally underachieving especially at Melrose High School where rank's pretty low which for most seniors especially factors in for colleges so I think if we put this money towards adding new teachers, giving teachers pay raises we're going to attract generally better teachers and better administration. I think Mr. Merrill at the high school has done a phenomenal job and I think he's probably one of the most my one of the people I respect the most at the high school level but I think there are teachers in the school system that can definitely be doing a better job and I think that as a student I find a lot of problems with what's been happening with just like as a whole when I see that we're 69th on the high school rating list I find that very conflicting but also I feel that what am I trying to say I'm trying to say that basically we're understaffed already I don't find a problem with sitting in the cafeteria or going to the LLC for a sub law but I also do find a problem with having class sizes of 30 students or and then having a class with 14 students which I which I love I think it's definitely a more relatable class for all students and teachers to be happy with and to have an understanding of each other understanding the work that needs to be done and when it needs to be done by I think students I think for the most part that class is better grade averages but I think us flaunting our AP scores or something is just sort of some absurd thing that we don't really need a flaunt and also for the most part we spend a couple million plus dollars on a learning Commons that we don't as students we don't have access to when we have when we have nothing else to do when we're sitting or for at least for underclassmen when you're sitting in the cafeteria you don't have the right to go to an open learning Commons to use the wonderful resources it offers but I think that the city of Norris should

▶ 1:06:05 Speaker 2: have a right to vote on this thank you John McGrath Whitman Avenue as is necessary in Melrose I've lived here about 10 years I do have two kids in the school system first I think it's great that students and teachers are out here tonight expressing how they feel about this with that said I'll be brief the optimist in me is looking forward to hearing every single one of the elected officials in this town vote in favor of this and get fully behind it the realist in me has a request for anybody who is an elected official in this town who will not get behind this please be specific with exactly how you expect this town to keep it together financially without this override we hear a lot of vague talk about cut this and trim that we've been doing that so So please, again, the realist in me is asking any elected official in this town who somehow thinks that we do not need this money, please be very specific with exactly how you think we're going to keep this all together. Thank you.

▶ 1:07:09 Speaker 1: Thank you.

▶ 1:07:25 Speaker 4: Good evening. Good evening. My name's Scott Coles. I was born in Melrose. My father was born in Melrose. My grandparents moved here in 1941. My kids were born in Melrose. I like Melrose a lot. I'm here to support 100% the override vote and ask you all too to please not only support it but support it enthusiastically and help us to get this passed. Like a gentleman a few moments ago, I too am a fiscal conservative. I don't like waste, I don't like taxes unless they're absolutely necessary. So I did a lot of digging into the numbers. there's a tremendous amount of detail that you can find I've heard some some FUD some fear uncertainty and doubt being raised that you can't find financial data well it's all out there there's someone on the town website there's some on clear gov you can get tremendous detail out there so I went and dug into those numbers one thing I was able to figure out is that since 2012 when we've added well over 200 students in real dollars our education spending has been flat we're projecting more students to come

▶ 1:08:46 Speaker 4: into this town it's very clear that unless we raise some more funds we are not going to be able to support those new students or as as you've heard from others it's going to start impacting other parts of this town i've seen this firsthand i have two daughters they're at the winthrop school one is in fifth grade the other's in third and the third is really sort of the start of that wave that we've all heard about i've seen her classes all significantly larger than my oldest daughter's classes so much larger that it's been a bit of a challenge at times the teachers have struggled when there's kids especially in those younger grades that have some discipline issues they don't have the support they need and as a result they spend a lot of time just trying to control the class and and they're not able to teach them as well so i'm seeing this problem firsthand with my daughter who's part of that group so i had a lot of other things i was going to say but honestly they've been said here already tonight so i'll save us the time and just say thank you all for your service to this town that i love so much and again i implore you please support this unanimously and help us get this passed thank you are additional members of the public

▶ 1:10:14 Peter D. Mortimer: wishing to comment this evening motion to close public comment madam chair second we have a

▶ 1:10:17 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: motion to close public comment made by alderman mortimer seconded by president swirko all in favor any opposed public comment portion of our meeting is now concluded thank you to all who came forward to speak this evening we will now move to the orders before us the first item on our agenda is order 2019-25 calling a special election on tuesday april 2nd 2019. president make a motion