ORDER-2017-173 : An Appropriation in the amount of $160,000.00 from FY14 Overlay Surplus (01-123014) to Public Works, Drain Design Study (014012-529026).

Transcript (~13 min @ 2:18:48)

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▶ 2:18:31 Peter D. Mortimer: there is a motion made by alderman's worker and secretary by alderman forbes to recommend this order for passage all in favor please say aye aye any opposed hearing none this order will be recommended to the full board for passage thank you next order we have before us is order 2017-173 it is an appropriation in the amount of 160 000 from fiscal year 14 overlay surplus account account 01-123014 to Public Works Drain Design Study account number 014-012-529026. Mr. Shannon, please.

▶ 2:19:17 Speaker 7: In 2004, Melrose completed a natural hazardous mitigation plan. HMP is the abbreviated term for it. was originally completed with funds from massachusetts emergency management agency natural hazard mitigation is any sustained attempt to lessen the impact that a natural hazard poses to life property infrastructure or other valuable resources the plans that the study aims to

▶ 2:19:53 Speaker 7: mitigate the potential impacts of natural hazards through preventive actions in the forms of policies community programs but most importantly targeted capital projects that look at minimum minimizing the risk of impacts of such events this is the program that allowed us to apply for FEMA funding which brought us the El Pond drain project it brought us the converse Lane project two projects that really changed Melrose for the better and changed and gave us opportunity to do so much more so the the the the program is out of date and in order to reapply for other FEMA possible possible other FEMA funding we have to update this plan so part of the funding is going to be used to hire a consultant to work with our engineers and the team from the community at updating this we're also adding a climate control piece of it with Martha Grover she applied for a grant and we found out this week she also received a $19,000 grant to look at climate natural disasters and how we would respond to those as well and that would be incorporated in the study when the study is completed we forward it along to MEMA and FEMA and then we're open to start applying for grant programs to address projects that this program identifies that's the first part the second part is to to enter into phase two of the El Pond FEMA map review so over the last decade we've naturally made several substantial improvements to the drainage in the vicinity of El Pond we this past fiscal year our city

▶ 2:21:49 Speaker 7: The engineer and CDM initiated a study to evaluate whether base flood elevation shown on FEMA's flood insurance rate maps could now be lowered as a result of all the work that we've done. The results of that phase one contract were very positive. And what this does is allow our engineering staff, together with CDM, with the residents in that area to collect the data to finish the engineering analysis to try to attempt to lower the lower their insurance costs

▶ 2:22:24 Speaker 7: by changing these flood maps the last component of where the funding is going to be used for is the ms4 permit I think some of you have heard for two three years now that stormwater quality regulations were coming down from the federal government to states and are we going to do it are we not going to do it we're going to do it no we're going to freeze it it's a draft permit the reality is that that is that could be coming within the next year year and a half so what we're trying to do is prepare the department for for this start to institute some best best management practices within the department in terms of stormwater quality where our outlets are maybe testing some outlets for stormwater qualities and prepare us for this ms-401 and if it hits to take the initial curse and financial financial risk it could bring the city out of play so that's what the funding's for we're very fortunate that we'll be able to transfer these funds the auditor created this funding source so that we can start these programs in the next fiscal year um they'll all be based out of our engineering office

▶ 2:23:35 Peter D. Mortimer: thank you mr shenna our first in queue we have alderman inferno please

▶ 2:23:41 Gail Infurna: thank you very much mr chairman i just want to take a moment to thank you for pursuing this and i certainly will support it i know my constituents down in the congress lane area really benefit from the program back in 2004 and and whatnot and and they've been very satisfied with the drainage down there so this is great that we're just going to be continuing to you know initiate new programs and and bring continue this work so thank you very much

▶ 2:24:11 Peter D. Mortimer: thank you alderman inferna next we have alderman Medeiros please thank you um two parts here one is

▶ 2:24:23 Monica C. Medeiros: the some comments on the the overlay account and I guess and maybe if our

▶ 2:24:35 Monica C. Medeiros: auditor could come up so I can try and explain to the public what the overlay account is but I'm sure you can do a much better job try thank you for the

▶ 2:24:40 Speaker 8: chair what happens is each and every year are required to set aside a certain amount of money relative to that fiscal year so that if someone comes in and seeks an abatement or entitled to an exemption, that's where we draw the money from to pay them the abatement, et cetera. What happens is that as the years go by, there's money left in those particular fiscal years. asked the Chief Assessor, if there's any fiscal year, do you have available funds, i.e., because A, there's no cases pending there in that fiscal year that may have to be paid from that money, and B, if not, then what happens is this money would be released, what they call available, and if not used by the end of the fiscal year, it would simply go to the general fund. That's a great question, though. So it pays for the abatements when people come in and seek an abatement.

▶ 2:25:39 Monica C. Medeiros: and have we expended all the prior years overlays accounts prior to fy 14 um where we we have

▶ 2:25:45 Speaker 8: balances in the different years and i i asked the chief assessor and he's releasing just this because apparently there's pending cases that until he feels they're resolved that he rather

▶ 2:26:00 Speaker 6: you know he needs to have that still still available yeah okay thank you great question

▶ 2:26:04 Monica C. Medeiros: thank you um i just uh and then on that's it thank you very much on the merits of of this and i'm you know i'm very pleased especially that you know people who have found themselves needing flood insurance you know have had extraordinary increases in their their premiums over the last few years and it's been you know in some cases it's been it's really been extraordinary and as a board of aldermen in a little city there's something that was really decided upon on the federal level it's it's been something that you know we really felt that maybe we could never have any impact on so to be able to do this and to have done this work and hopefully change the flood zone so some people aren't are no longer in the flood zone area based on the work and the investment that this community has made in improving the drainage and everything at El Pond and throughout it's it's a good feeling to be possibly a part of that thank you Thank You alderman

▶ 2:27:11 Peter D. Mortimer: Medeiros president Khan please yeah you know these overlay accounts are not

▶ 2:27:17 Speaker 4: anything that we ever see as part of any kind of budgeting process and they're maintained from year to year and we haven't had a transfer out in a number of years what I what I would like if it's possible is I'd like to see how many years are still open and what the balances are because we this is not

▶ 2:27:46 Speaker 4: It's not something that we generally oversee or have any knowledge of, so I'd like to see what the status of the various overlay accounts is, please.

▶ 2:28:02 Speaker 5: Thank you, President Kahn.

▶ 2:28:03 Speaker 3: Motion to recommend.

▶ 2:28:04 Peter D. Mortimer: We have a, I'm going to, Alderman Forbes is in queue, but we can take your motion first. We have a motion to recommend from Alderman McAteer-Margolis, duly seconded by Alderman Forbes, who is now next in queue on discussion.

▶ 2:28:23 Scott M. Forbes: proceed alderman forbes thank you mr chair and so the 160 000 is basically a city-wide engineering project am i correct in saying that drainage drainage drainage drainage i would uh who did

▶ 2:28:32 Scott M. Forbes: our who did our engineer was it meridian last year is that the same would do you have a company that

▶ 2:28:40 Speaker 7: would be coming in or is it all cdm is doing the fema piece because they um have the background experience on the l pond project i think our city engineer is going to actually solicit some quotes for the um the hazardous mitigation piece although cdm did the original so they may have a competitive edge but that's that's what those are the other two the the last component the ms4 is in-house we may we may consult with uh we may bring in a consultant to start to prepare us but um for for some best management practices but a lot of that stuff will probably be in-house okay and then

▶ 2:29:19 Scott M. Forbes: uh out of this hundred and sixty thousand i know you said el pon is one of the projects but are there do you know or have identified other high priority areas within the city that they would be looking at are there numerous ones or is there just a couple of ones can you kind of expand on

▶ 2:29:33 Speaker 7: that so they look at areas where mother nature impacts and they look at areas um areas of flood they look at areas um and now now with the climate piece they'll also look what drought conditions will do what extensive heat will do what extensive heat that leads to power outages would do those are the types of hazards that they we try to identify with the study um right now there's there's there are components to the drainage system that runs through the wyoming cemetery that comes to mind and um that's exactly where i was going with that yeah i mean that's that that's an issue it's an issue for six that that little neighborhood of four to six to eight residents if the study can identify that and can identify the hazards that exist when that intersection floods because of improvements in the cemetery i mean we have a stud we have a project um to improve drainage in the cemetery it's it's with since at least three quarters of a million dollars that could be something that we could apply for funding for once the study is complete with fema or mima so i mean there are still projects out there maybe they're not as big as the four or five million dollar el pon projects but there's still projects that make different a difference in people's day-to-day lives so we want to try to find them we want to try to identify them in the study and then we want to try to seek funding to actually go out and complete

▶ 2:31:01 Scott M. Forbes: some of them great i know all my friends and neighbors out at the linwood ave sylvan street lebanon street area will be most pleased with that news thank you mr chairman thank you alderman

▶ 2:31:10 Peter D. Mortimer: Forbes and on this order a motion to recommend for passage has been made by Alderman McAteer-Margolis and duly seconded by Alderman Forbes seeing no further discussion all in favor please say aye opposed hearing none this order will be recommended to the full board for passage the next order we have before us is order 2017-152 it is an appropriation from account $6,000-319,000, sewer retained earnings in the amount of $383,034 to account. $6,000-33001, sewer reserve of retained earnings in the amount of $383,000.