Public Comment

Transcript (~13 min @ 8:28)

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

▶ 8:28 Speaker 9: and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible with liberty and justice for

▶ 8:34 Peter D. Mortimer: all president i make a motion to open the floor for public comment second thank you before we do

▶ 8:39 Michael P. Zwirko: that i just wanted to state publicly that this meeting is being recorded in accordance with the massachusetts open meeting law it can be viewed online from the city's website as well as mmtv3.org and on your local access table channel we have a motion to open the floor for public comment that has been made by alderman mortimer seconded by alderman Boisselle all those in favor any opposed this is the portion of the meeting where anybody in the public may speak on any of the items that are before us this evening if anyone's wishes to speak on any of those orders if you please come sit down state your name and address and give us your comment good evening evening thank you

▶ 9:16 Speaker 10: Thank you.

▶ 9:18 Speaker 2: Thank you.

▶ 9:26 Speaker 10: My name is Joseph Carter. I live at 25 North Avenue, and I am the Vice Chair of United Steelworkers Local 120-1204. I'm a voluntary union representative elected by the members of my local. My full-time job is with National Grid as a technician in the instrumentation and regulation department. Also here with me tonight are members of our local who not only service your gas system, but are your fellow Melrose residents as well. are some of the over 1,200 gas workers currently locked out of work by National Grid. The members of our local are highly trained, skilled, and have years of on-the-job experience. They provide a level of service to our community that is not driven by any other motivation than safety. We do not get paid by the foot or by the job. Over the last few years, National Grid has flooded the cities and towns with subcontractors to perform new and gas line replacement projects, and these contractors need oversight. We have members whose job title is gas contractor inspector, and their function is to monitor what these contractors are doing, inspect their work, and make sure they're following all the proper procedures. These inspectors are currently locked out of work by National Grid. There are also management employees who have a similar responsibility, but they are currently being used to replace us in the field for gas leak emergency calls. We've been monitoring the work that these replacement workers are doing, and to date we have reported over 30 unsafe and what we believe to be hazardous conditions to the Department of Public Utilities. Along with written complaints, we have sent pictures and videos to support each one. Many of these issues arise due to the inexperience of people that National Grid is using to replace us while they have locked us out of work. People that have no hands-on experience, and even worse, people with no gas experience at all. The company has literally pulled people from office jobs, given them a bare minimum of training, a quick test, and sent them out onto the roads. Our people take their jobs very seriously. Natural gas is a volatile product, and it needs to be handled with utmost expertise and care.

▶ 11:44 Speaker 10: We do not believe that it's in the best interest of public safety to allow these projects to occur while National Grid has their 1,200 highly skilled and experienced people locked out in not performing this work. We do not believe National Grid will be able to provide the proper oversight to make certain that these projects are being completed correctly and most importantly, that public safety is not compromised. We are asking all the cities and towns in the National Grid Operating Territory to implement a moratorium on new and replacement gas line projects until this lockout is over and our experienced employees are back on the job sites. Thus far, several cities and towns have passed these moratoriums. Braintree Methuen, Haverhill, Medford, Revere, Somerville, Abington, Milton, Dracut, Weymouth, Lowell, Quincy, Merrimack, Everett, Cambridge, Arlington, and Stoneham have all passed such resolutions for the protection of their residents. There are also a number of cities and towns working towards passing resolutions of their own. Thank you for the opportunity to share our concerns. Thank you. Thank

▶ 12:52 Speaker 2: you. Any other members of the public wishing to speak at this time? Good evening, sir. Good

▶ 13:11 Speaker 3: evening. My name is Phil Powell. I reside at 16 Mystic Avenue, Melrose. I, like Joe, am a seasoned veteran of National Grid. I have 31 years on the job. Although I don't work in your cities and towns, I live here. My kids live here. My family lives here. I actually represent the Boston local. I'm not going to go into everything that I'm not going to repeat everything Joe said he said it eloquently enough we have several cities and towns that are signed on to this moratorium I will highlight a couple of facts though number one for me to get qualified in my position it took a full two years working with another seasoned veteran in this particular case they're bringing subcontractors on for three or four days giving them hard hats and vests and telling them to go out and do our jobs. It's ridiculous. I will also point out a situation that happened three or four weeks ago. You might have saw it on the news in front of Beth Israel Hospital, where a high-pressure line was hit. Beth Israel was evacuated. They had people on the sidewalk in stretches, hanging IVs. If our inspectors were on the jobs, it was a third-party excavation if our inspectors were on the job like they normally would be watching these third party excavators that wouldn't happen so i implore you guys when i'm working i protect the public working for national grid it's i really believe it's your responsibility to protect our families thank you

▶ 15:00 Speaker 2: thank you sir any other members of the public wishing to speak good evening good evening uh

▶ 15:05 Speaker 10: paul amato 66 warwick road um i would like you to uh vote tonight to uh cease national grids uh

▶ 15:10 Speaker 2: permits existing permits future permits until we're back to work thank you thank you sir evening

▶ 15:34 Speaker 2: great james mcquire 7th street as mr armado said i also would like to see you pass the moratorium i have family i have friends that live in the city it's dangerous work that we do and it would be greatly appreciated if you take that into consideration thank you thank you

▶ 16:03 Speaker 6: greetings guys good evening hard of hearing so i'm going to talk a little loud and i look at a lot of these pictures and i remember sonella ron alley and i've lived in milrose since 1963 and i've worked for boston gas since 1979. it's been a great job it's a hell of of a job I love my job love doing my job it's a little dicey now but like this fellow was telling me about there's a high-pressure main running from Malden through Melrose down Tremont Street Franklin Street a 60 pound gas main if they ever have a problem with that man it's gonna be a hurricane of a hurricane problems and they used to have people that came they were nuts and bolts guys that came from the street like me that would make these repairs they don't have these guys on site anymore they have young college kids I'm not I have nothing against young college kids but they haven't spent the time in the trench doing these repairs with this technical equipment so like I said it it's a safety thing and I love Melrose it's Pleasantville I've been here since 1963 and I want to stay here and I want to keep my job and you guys will do the

▶ 17:40 Speaker 8: right thing thank you sir got it good evening my name is Gabe Markovits my family and I reside at 24 Mr. Place in Melrose and I support the

▶ 17:51 Speaker 2: moratorium for public safety thank you sir I like your hat thank you my name is

▶ 18:16 Speaker 10: Bill Quinlan I also live in Melrose at 130 Penney Road I have two young kids and I also do the same job these gentlemen do and I'll tell you it scares me to know the guys that are working out there like was said nothing against them but they don't know what they're doing it takes years to get to know you even then you still always run into things that you can't account for and you have the other guys to fall back on they don't have that so before anything bad happens it'd be good to have it stopped thank you thank you anyone else this evening

▶ 19:17 Speaker 1: like to speak hi my name is Charles Tom quits I live at 8 Echo Street Melrose And they're 30 years, 35 year employee of a gas company, which is Boston Gas.

▶ 19:28 Speaker 2: I really wish you would support this moratorium.

▶ 19:30 Speaker 1: Your experience and the experience these other gentlemen have, there's nothing that replaces experience in everything you do. You've seen all kinds of situations and all kinds of weather. We're not asking that Boston Gas doesn't do emergency work, but it has to be done right away. The contractors, they will do that. We're asking for moratorium on new work, on stuff that can be put off. It doesn't have to be done. You don't have to, if they have existing permits that can be closed or permits of work they're going to do in the future. I'd like you to support us on that and I think it's a real public safety issue for everybody in the house.

▶ 20:06 Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you sir.

▶ 20:25 Speaker 9: Motion to close public comment.

▶ 20:28 Speaker 7: Second.

▶ 20:30 Michael P. Zwirko: Are there any other folks that would wish to speak this evening? We have a motion on the floor that's been made by Alderman Boisselle to close public comment. been seconded by Alderman Mortimer all those in favor of said motion aye any opposed public part just excuse me public comment is now closed before we move on to the next item on the agenda I just did want to make one comment we have a guest here this evening from Senator Lewis's office it is his newest hire name is Emily she has joined us this evening thank you for coming welcome to Melrose we look forward to working with you next item on our agenda