ORDER-2017-140 : City of Melrose Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2018 in the amount of $77,397,009.19 (Seventy-Seven Million, Three Hundred Ninety-Seven Thousand, Nine Dollars and Nineteen Cents)

Transcript (~20 min @ 6:18)

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

▶ 5:56 Peter D. Mortimer: Second. Alderman Zwirko has made a motion to close public participation, said motion duly seconded by Alderman Forbes. All in favor of closing participation, public participation, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, hearing none, public participation is now closed. The first order we will take up is order 2017-140. It is the City of Melrose operating budget for fiscal year 2018 in the amount of $77,397,000, $9.19. We are continuing discussing individual budgets within that overarching order. And the first budget we will discuss tonight is pension. We are joined this evening by our pension director and our city auditor. We have a motion to suspend the rules by Alderman's work or duly second by Alderman McAteer-Margolis. Adam, please proceed.

▶ 6:52 Speaker 4: Any other questions about the pension appropriation?

▶ 6:57 Peter D. Mortimer: Any Alderman have comments or questions? President Kahn, please.

▶ 7:00 Speaker 1: Yes, so our pension obligation is $5,882,522 this year. Correct. And where are we on our pension funding schedule?

▶ 7:14 Speaker 4: How many more years do we have to go? Right now we're at 2038, two years above the state requirement of 2040.

▶ 7:20 Speaker 1: Okay, and what is going to happen when everybody meets these funding levels? I mean, I can't believe that this would cease to be a moving target. And I mean, there must be some talk or discussion about what will happen relative to the funding schedules.

▶ 7:36 Speaker 4: it's done every two years you know it's based on a bunch of assumptions um so it does change every year um so in terms of what's going to happen that far down the line i'm not exactly sure but that is the target date to be fully funded okay so theoretically if we keep doing this every

▶ 7:48 Speaker 1: year until 2038 we're going to have a fully funded pension fully funded pension system that's the idea some of this money out of the budget at that point absolutely that's the idea and what i did is

▶ 8:00 Speaker 1: probably because i have too much time on my hands but um i thought what might be a nice thing to have as part of our budget information would be a summary of the budgeted amounts that we've appropriated for the retirement for the last uh for the last five years if we make this an exhibit to our budget then somebody would have a way of seeing this uh if they looked into this year's budget and they wouldn't have to be some kind of a madman who would like i did who would be going through his five budget books to pull out the five five years so what i did and actually can you show

▶ 8:41 Speaker 1: that to make sure that what i did is i just took out our budgeted amounts for the past five years and listed them and i thought that i would uh offer this just as an exhibit to make make this a part of our budget process so that somebody could see this if they were looking online and i i made some convenient handouts for the rest of the involvement

▶ 9:01 Speaker 1: After was walking around passing things out, so everybody wants to do that, so I would pass things out.

▶ 9:08 Speaker 2: Let's not go that far.

▶ 9:10 Speaker 5: Thank you.

▶ 9:14 Speaker 2: Thank you. Chairman, thank you.

▶ 9:19 Speaker 1: So if anybody at home is interested in looking into what we've been appropriating, I only went back five years. Yeah, this will be part of our IQM2 record. Be able to see the progress of this account over the last five budget cycles, including this one. And for years and years and years, I think probably even back to when I started as an alderman in 1990, we had one non-contributory pension that we were still paying.

▶ 9:50 Speaker 4: Are we still paying that? We are not. We are not. That's the way in February this year. Okay.

▶ 9:58 Peter D. Mortimer: is not in that number that's all i have right now thank you very much president khan next in

▶ 10:03 Michael P. Zwirko: queue we have alderman Zwirko please thank you mr chairman i just uh is this you might not be able to answer this so maybe for the city auditor i was just curious this figure i mean is it a general percentage of our budget that we set aside each year when we begin the budgeting process i mean do we almost know this figure going in or is it something that we can actually i mean i know we have an obligation and a date that we have to meet at 2040 but um you know we're two years ahead of time so do we kind of have a schedule where next year we can already forecast that it may be you know 5.9 plus or i mean how do we how does this where's this figure derived yep so the number's done every two years by our actuaries um so you can know next year's in advance once this year is set we're actually working on our new one uh currently as we speak okay all right thank you

▶ 10:45 Peter D. Mortimer: thank you alderman's worker alderman MacMaster my goal is please um thank you and thank you for

▶ 10:49 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: this so just to um give a little further explanation for the public and the board um this is the amount of money that we put aside every year for future pensions or this is what

▶ 11:02 Speaker 4: we're not what we're paying out now this gets wired directly into uh prim who is in our investment board manager which ultimately pays back all the the pensions um each and every month going forward

▶ 11:13 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: through 2000 and we're two years ahead of time in terms of the state says we have to have this fully funded by 2040 correct and do you have an amount for what the full funding of this would be it's kind of a moving target it's a moving target it's the

▶ 11:25 Speaker 4: number keeps going up each year until we reach the ultimate number which is going

▶ 11:32 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: to change every two years and this is a percentage of it correct is a percentage

▶ 11:37 Speaker 4: the same every year it does that change no it changes every year it's based on assumptions it's based on investment rate of return it's based on our interest rate it's based on amortization there's a lot of assumptions that factor

▶ 11:47 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: into these numbers every two years we received this number from the state from prim or where do we get this number we think this number is done by our

▶ 11:52 Speaker 4: actuaries we hire an outside actuary to do this right and so then my only other

▶ 11:56 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: question is when we look at the salary line it's listed in salaries but does that include your salary or people in the in the office no so well this number

▶ 12:07 Speaker 4: is based upon budget expenses cash flow in cash flows out so a part of it is our

▶ 12:18 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: actual salary budget but it's a very very small piece okay because right now it just says salaries and it has the same amount so you but your salary is funded within this five 5.8 million correct

▶ 12:31 Peter D. Mortimer: it's a piece of it yes right okay thank you thank you wildman MacMaster margolis i'll signal further

▶ 12:37 Speaker 1: all president khan yes yes um i'll need a little bit of latitude here i won't be long but um

▶ 12:43 Speaker 1: There's been a purveyor of information over the past few years who put out this theory in the local media that the Board of Aldermen is setting pension eligibility criteria and things of that nature. Does the Board of Aldermen play any role in determining who's eligible for pensions?

▶ 13:02 Speaker 4: No.

▶ 13:03 Speaker 1: Do we determine when people vest for pension eligibility? No. Do we play any role in putting people on the roll to receive future pensions?

▶ 13:13 Speaker 1: No. I just, probably one of the only things that's irritated me that people put out and it's completely false. So I wanted, while you were here, to take advantage of the opportunity and take advantage of Alderman Mortimer good nature who sometimes lets me go off on tangents. But all matters of pension eligibility are set in Boston by the greater general court. And I have many suggestions that I could give them relative to pension eligibility, like capping the amount that any one person could ever receive at some level that's far below the levels that former speakers of the Presidents of the Senate and Presidents of UMass Boston get. Things like that could be done that could help defray pension costs. And I'm sorry to go off on a tangent, but-

▶ 14:06 Speaker 2: It's always interesting.

▶ 14:08 Speaker 1: Well, it's interesting to some, annoying to others.

▶ 14:10 Peter D. Mortimer: No, it's interesting to me. That's all. Thank you very much, President Kahn. Seeing no further Alderman wishing to be heard. So moved. Alderman's Worker has made a motion to recommend this budget for passage. Second. Truly seconded by Alderman McAteer-Margolis. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, hearing none, this budget will be recommended. Thank you very much for your presentation. Thank you, have a good night. Great night. The next budget we will hear is budget 544. It is the Human Rights Commission in the amount of $3,000. We are joined by Adam LaFrance, the Chair of the Human Rights Commission, and we also have Jessica McKenna from the Human Rights Commission. Commission on Women. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I saw other people from the Commission on Women, and when I saw you sit with Adam, I crossed the wires a little bit. Pardon me, Ms. McKenna. Mr. LaFrance, please proceed.

▶ 15:05 Speaker 1: Good evening, Mr. Chairman, members of the board, here on behalf of the Melrose Human Rights Commission. For folks unfamiliar with the commission, we're charged with working to ensure the free exercise and enjoyment of all rights and privileges afforded to every person in Melrose. In the past year, it's fair to say the needs and issues that originally compelled the creation of the commission in 1991 are, for various reasons and in various forms, active today, nearly 30 years later. For the past year, the Commission has advanced its mission in several ways. In the past year, we received a handful of reports of hate speech in the forms of swastika graffiti. We have remained in contact with the Melrose Police Department during their investigations of those incidents. We've also received a handful of resident complaints concerning alleged housing discrimination on the basis of either race or national origin, which we have or are presently investigating, and where appropriate, we've referred those claims to enforcement authorities. We've invited respected educators and authors to speak with or provide training to residents, commissioners, and guests on issues of race, sex discrimination, and cultural competency. The training, held here in City Hall, was recorded and broadcast through Melrose Community Access Television for all residents unable to attend to positive reviews. The trainer in that case was later retained by the city and provided multiple training sessions to municipal employees. We had great success with that event. We have since partnered with the Melrose Community Organization more to organize a training on being a proactive bystander, which will be held and filmed next week and later broadcast for residents in a similar fashion. We've worked to build regional relationships with commissions and surrounding communities, the Massachusetts Association of Human Rights Commissions. We've worked with local faith leaders to coordinate a community interfaith vigil for the victims of the Pulse nightclub terror attack, the largest mass shooting in U.S. history that resulted in the deaths of 51, and the Injury of 53 LGBTQ Individuals. In partnership with the Mayor's Office and the nonprofit entity, Eyes on Refugees, we held the first-ever Melrose Community Iftar Dinner, the traditional evening meal when those who are Muslim end their daily Ramadan fast at sunset. The event turned out over 100 people and was limited only by venue capacity. This year, Ramadan extends from May 26th through June 25th, and the Commission will be holding its second annual community Iftar dinner in early June in just a few weeks. Given its interest and success, a larger venue is in the works and everyone here is invited. We've partnered with local organizations such as White People Challenging Racism, supporting their programs to engage in dialogue around race and positive social change, as well as the First United Methodist Church and its program this evening just across the street inviting residents to meet and speak with members of the Black Lives Matter movement. engaged in the local discussion on changing the name of the Melrose public schools mascot and we've advised on balancing civil liberties and ensuring a safe community relating to the so-called sanctuary city designation it's been a busy year these are merely some examples of the Commission's ongoing work in terms of funding our goal this year was to increase our programming and activities within the level funding received for the year we've met that goal we believe and we can continue to meet our goal in the next year with the same the past year has seen a more than 50% turnover in the membership of the Commission as I'm sure you can appreciate given several of the new members were recently before you were energized by our new members all of whom are globally minded citizens passionate about their community who have already contributed in significant ways and I anticipate many good things and interesting programs ahead thank you for your support and I'm happy to answer any

▶ 18:37 Peter D. Mortimer: questions you might have Thank You mr. LaFrance president Khan please yeah Before you proceed, may I correct the record, Ms. McKenna is here for the Beebe Estate. I misspoke a few moments ago. Please proceed, President Kahn.

▶ 18:51 Speaker 1: Yeah, I probably shouldn't admit this, but I was actually here in 1991 and voted on the ordinance to create the Melrose Human Rights Commission. I'd like to thank you folks for your work. And I just wanted to point out that this is a level funded budget of $3,000. been a level funded budget of three thousand dollars for many years i don't know whether it was budgeted for three thousand dollars in 1991 i can't remember that but um so i'm going to

▶ 19:21 Peter D. Mortimer: obviously support this budget line president connors made a motion to recommend this budget for passage second duly seconded by alderman forbes on discussion alderman MacMaster margolis

▶ 19:29 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: please thank you and and thank you and all your other commissioners for your hard work especially Especially this year, I know you've been really active in many different venues. And I think you play an integral role in Melrose being a welcoming community. And also just to clarify, that's just $3,000, which really is a drop in the bucket for all the things you do. You're all volunteers. There is no salary line in this. And you are appointed for three year terms? Three year terms. Three year terms. And I do know that several people in the past were reappointed, so you do have several new people, and they bring a lot of energy to the group and to the community, and thank you very much.

▶ 20:15 Peter D. Mortimer: Thank you very much. Thank you, Waldman, MacMaster, Margolis. Seeing no further Alderman wishing to be heard, all in favor of President Kahn's motion to recommend this order for passage, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, hearing none, this order will be recommended to the full board for passage. This budget will be recommended to the full board for passage. Thank you very much for your presentation, Mr. LaFrance, and thank you for responding to the questions. Thank you. Have a great evening. You as well. The next order we have before us is budget, the next budget we have before us is budget 542. It is the commission on women in the amount of $2,000. Good evening, Ms. Williams.

▶ 20:56 Speaker 1: so this was the first year that the full first full year that the Melrose Women's Commission was active and I think for our first year we've done quite a bit we had four high-impact community events since we started we had the dream girl movie with a discussion afterwards about young entrepreneurs and it was really well attended we held it at the Commons and I think that this space was almost full there were some people standing we also had the equal pay panel and that was in conjunction with the Massachusetts equal pay coalition and the following week we had the economic empowerment series and it was three different talks going on well to two and then one and one of them was negotiation salary negotiation and that was received very well many people commented that it was especially good in terms of the equal pay legislation is not in effect until I think mid 2018 and there were some tips on what to do before that time before that legislation goes into effect we also so the it was understanding your credit and budgeting and then that was one week and then we also had debt reduction and retirement planning for the other classes and all of these events were sponsored with the only cost pretty much being some advertising and food so we were very fortunate in that we were able to either get things at no cost or partner with other people today I sent the Women's Commission strategic plan that we have come up with and so those that will give you specific information about who we partnered with and the specific types of goals that we've had because we felt that that was important to do since we were the first people to organize the Commission we wanted to make sure that we create a strong basis for other people who are on the Commission going forward let's see

▶ 23:40 Speaker 1: we have also focused a great deal by creating a Facebook page which has already received quite a bit of attention and has 348 followers on Facebook which is quite a bit and we've also set up a MailChimp account so that we can get the word out for women's issues of topics of interest on women's issues and we've a particularly popular feature of our Facebook page is we have done profiles on the on women in business in Melrose and that has really taken off and has gotten people talking we also plan this year to be doing profiles for city employees who are women and in for the future we plan to we anticipate again doing the Victorian Fair a veterans group I think it's a presentation on female veterans in conjunction with the Melrose Veterans Association and a booth at Healthy Melrose and we're we also have a child care committee which subcommittee which has also received a fair amount of public participation for a subcommittee which is I think really good do you have

▶ 25:12 Peter D. Mortimer: any questions for me are there any Alderman wishing to be heard Alderman

▶ 25:15 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: Lummerman please thank you mr. chairman thank you for coming down and presenting all that I just wanted to point out one that this is the request for next year is level funded to the previous year which is $2,000 much like the Human Rights Commission that we just heard from this is all volunteers you all have jobs and families and things going on and give of your time to this Commission and I think particularly starting it from scratch is is something that is challenging and takes a lot of capacity to just organize and I think this group has done a great job not only organizing yourselves but also being quite productive as we just heard just as a side note I had no idea there were so many women owned businesses in Melrose until I started following those Facebook profiles they're really good so thank you for all that you're doing and you know this is some exciting stuff coming up and some some great work that's been done already so I move to recommend to the bottom line Alderman Lemmerman has

▶ 26:13 Peter D. Mortimer: made a motion to recommend the bottom line for this budget duly second by Alderman MacMaster, Mark Margolis on further discussion. Alderman, oh, I struck the cue there. Seeing no further, Alderman wishing to be heard. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, this budget will be recommended to the full board for passage. Thank you very much for your presentation.

▶ 26:35 Peter D. Mortimer: The next budget we have before us is the BB estate. Is there any appeal to combining this with order 2017-153 in currency on the revolving account? Moved by Alderman Zwirko. Second. Duly seconded by Alderman Forbes. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, hearing none, so we will also take reauthorization of the BB estate revolving account number 2750 for fiscal year 2008. Welcome Ms. McKenna, please proceed.