ORDER-2017-84 : Acceptance of a donation of a wheelchair accessible minibus to be used for transporting Melrose senior citizens.

Transcript (~5 min @ 2:32)

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▶ 2:32 Speaker 5: Order number 2017-84, acceptance of a donation of a wheelchair accessible minibus to be used for transporting Melrose senior citizens.

▶ 2:41 Peter D. Mortimer: Request immediate consideration. Mr. President.

▶ 2:43 Speaker 1: Alderman Mortimer requests immediate consideration of order 2017-84. Is there an objection to immediate consideration? There is not.

▶ 2:54 Peter D. Mortimer: I make a motion that we suspend the rules, that we may hear from the appropriate members of our senior center.

▶ 3:02 Speaker 1: Alderman Mortimer moves that we suspend the rules. Is there a second? Second. Second by Alderman Inferno. On the motion to suspend the rules, all those in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? The rules are suspended. The order is before you. Welcome.

▶ 3:17 Speaker 6: Thank you. This is one of the most exciting reasons I've ever sat at this table. So, we have received a gift from Northern Bank Charitable Foundation to get a new minibus. This is probably, we suspect, this is the largest gift that the bank has ever given. This is Carol Mahoney, and she works at the bank, and she's the Assistant Vice President. And she's also on the Friends Board, it's called Friends of Milano Center now, and she advocated for us after I expressed this need because our 2008 vehicle the floor is getting soft not a good sign so um so she went and she advocated for us to the charitable foundation and walked it through and got it approved for us so the the process is going to be that the bank is going to give the gift to the friends of um the milano center and then they are going to purchase the vehicle and donate it to the

▶ 4:25 Speaker 6: city so that's um that's the process and um i will be ordering it in the next couple of days and it'll take about four months to get here um and i also want to um tell you that in fy 13 there were about 4,000, a little over 4,000 rides, and in FY16, there were 4,000 in FY13. Rides. Rides.

▶ 4:51 Gail Infurna: Oh, yeah. I'm sorry.

▶ 4:53 Speaker 6: 4,000 rides. I'm sorry. I didn't hear that word. I'm sorry. And then in FY16, there were over 8,000 rides. So the demand is always growing. And so this vehicle will have 10 seats, which is great because the one it's replacing only has eight. And the one with the soft floor will be going to the recreation department because they transfer equipment and not people. And that works okay.

▶ 5:20 Speaker 1: Thank you. Do we have any questions or comments? Alderman Inferno.

▶ 5:23 Gail Infurna: Thank you, no questions. Just really, just a nice big thank you to Northern Bank and for all the work that goes into getting this done. It certainly is, I know working with the senior population in my day job, We know how valuable the rides are for them to be able to get from point A to point B and continue life independently. So, we thank you for recognizing that part of their lives and for that nice donation.

▶ 5:51 Speaker 1: Thank you. The bank is very supportive of the work that we do with the elders. Yes. This is their way of showing us. Alderman Poizel.

▶ 5:58 Robert A. Boisselle: Has the procedure been cleared through the legal department? It has. Okay, so there's no problems the way the money's being-

▶ 6:09 Speaker 3: this is how we were told to do it by the legal department yes okay thank you very much

▶ 6:14 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: thank you um i'd also like to express my appreciation to the bank for this general their generosity um are you going to have any kind of signage on the on the van

▶ 6:26 Speaker 6: that it's we're going to put the logo on the back the logo for the bank

▶ 6:31 Speaker 1: mm-hmm anyone else Alderman Wright I also want to express my appreciation to

▶ 6:34 Francis X. Wright Jr.: the bank I live right around the corner from Milano Center and Ward 3 and I see the van coming and going all the time and the idea that we'll have a new van and a bigger van to support the seniors who are coming and going from all the activities at the Milano Center is a great thing so we appreciate that the the board's commitment and the bank's commitment to the senior center and the community overall. Thank you.

▶ 7:07 Peter D. Mortimer: Motion to recommend for passage.

▶ 7:09 Speaker 1: Second. Alderman Mortimer moves to recommend the order which would be to accept the donation. The motion is seconded by Alderman Boyce-Ellis. Is there any discussion on the motion? All those in favor of the motion please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion passes. Thank you very much for coming in this evening. Thank you.

▶ 7:27 Speaker 7: Thank you.