Public Participation

Transcript (~7 min @ 1:03)

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

▶ 1:03 Speaker 3: for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

▶ 1:13 Peter D. Mortimer: Mr. President, I make a motion to open the floor for public participation.

▶ 1:17 Speaker 3: Second.

▶ 1:17 Speaker 1: Alderman Mortimer moves that we commence public participation. The motion is seconded by Alderman Boisselle on the motion to open for public participation. All those in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Is there anyone opposed? This is the portion of our meeting where any member of the public who wishes to speak can come forward to the center of the room, identify themselves, and declaim on any issue which is on our agenda this evening. Sir.

▶ 1:49 Speaker 3: Hi, my name is Jerry Morose. I'm here to speak about order 2016-33. I've spoken about this in the past, but I want to be sure that it is not anybody's surprise the way things stand now is that the city is going to be billing some people as was explained last spring for water use in the month of august at 2016 rates while they're going to build other people from water use the month of august at 2017 rates the same thing that people who will use water in September might be billed at all at 2017 rates who knows but July might be some 2016 some 2017 it's not fair especially given the summer months when the summer is a major use of water and the city has had a windfall this summer on the amount of water used by residents I was looking at MWRA site and seeing the August numbers and and I think it's clear that we've had more water use that the city will get more revenue from in in August and in July

▶ 3:00 Speaker 3: than then would be we could necessarily count on 2016 33 still has a language in it talking about reading all water means that the at the end of June prior to a rate change presumably July 1st you're changing the rate October 1st I think it's critical that you vote today to say that water meters we read between now and October 30 and September 31st if you're really going to keep to changing the water rates on October 1st to bill some people for use in one of the summer months at an old rate and other people at a new rate it just it just doesn't pass the smell test of fairness and I know what this is the issue that people commonly call retroactive water billing and the issue isn't even as much whether it's retroactive or not it's that it's not applied evenly to residents and homeowners across the city so that everybody who had water use in a certain month is paying the same rate as everybody else who had water use in that month.

▶ 4:03 Speaker 3: This isn't complicated, but yet we talk about it year after year after year, and it never seems to get resolved. It was presented that that was one of the issues that was going to be resolved by the last water and sewer consultant who turned out, in my opinion, to be a failure in terms of making a rational analysis of our water system and what a rate what a fair rate should be the fact that that's still on the table tonight after all these years of talking about it is to me absurd and I plead with plead with this Board of Aldermen to please let's really look carefully and honestly at water issues let's get rid of all the politics and all the the craziness and all the city trying to maximize the money and let's just look at what's fair and decent and straightforward for the homeowners of Melrose I'm not saying that we shouldn't fund our water system appropriately I am saying we should make

▶ 5:02 Speaker 3: certain our water system is working the best it can for all our residents providing good safe and clean water and taking away sewage in a good safe and clean way and I want that to be done efficiently is that too much to ask and

▶ 5:24 Speaker 3: And then the last thing I want it to be is to be filled fairly to everybody, which I can't go without saying then that having any tiered water rate structure that is a significant tier going from three tiers in 2016 to two tiers in 2017 doesn't correct the issue. There's still an inequity. You're still charging some people more for water than you're charging other people, even though it doesn't cost us any more. And in fact, those people that you're charging more for water because they're using a higher volume of water, you're charging them at a higher rate. If you charge them at a flat rate, they are still contributing more than what would be their fair share of all the capital fixed costs in the system that our volumetric rate supplies.

▶ 6:05 Speaker 3: There is a way of looking at this in a rational way. there is a way of looking at this in a way that that puts the politics aside and just is it can basically be a simple quantitative analysis but we never seem to get that here so again I plead you if tonight this 2016 33 that's on the calendar is going to be discussed and done you know let's set something up and you know presumably you could even punt this issue another month because you're already having a windfall from the summer with the third tier for some people i'm sure i'm sure that one of my peers that comes here about meetings would be is already getting hit at the third tier rate very mr taymor is who i'm speaking about i'm sure he's using water at a high rate this summer at the third tier as he uses and we're billing him at the third tier but given that that's already basically probably beyond maybe you could wait another month and make certain that water meters are read between october 15th and october 31st if somebody claims that it's not possible to do it between now and the end of the month this is this issue has been coming for a long time though everybody should understand it and i i think there was some i don't want to say outright deception but certainly deception by let me frame it better i think that

▶ 7:34 Speaker 3: there was just a passing comment that made me aware that public works wasn't going to address this issue once and for all in the last water rate go around it came up in the last meeting i think that and i had to listen carefully to hear that that's what they're planning to do is to build some people still at a different rate than others for water use in the same period this has been in front of us let's put it behind us once and for all by doing the right thing and getting rid of the retroactive rates getting rid of the idea that some people are built at one rate and other people

▶ 8:16 Speaker 1: at another rate thank you thank you sir is there anybody else who wishes to speak before we

▶ 8:21 Peter D. Mortimer: conclude public participation this evening motion to close public participation mr president alderman mortimer moves to conclude public participation the motion is seconded by alderman Boisselle on the motion all those in favor aye aye aye anyone opposed motion passes mr president i have before me the minutes from a special meeting from november 30th 2015 i move that they be accepted without