← Appropriations & Oversight Committee · 2026-04-27 · Appropriations & Oversight Committee
That the City Council authorize the Mayor to enter into an Intermunicipal Agreement (IMA) for establishing a regional Animal Control Officer position in partnership with the Towns of Wakefield and Stoneham.
Agenda original PDF
Minutes original PDF
B. (ID # 2026-774): That the City Council authorize the Mayor to enter into an Intermunicipal Agreement (IMA) for establishing a regional Animal Control Officer position in partnership with the Towns of Wakefield and Stoneham. Motion to Recommend made by Councilor Finocchiaro Seconded by Councilor Karamcheti All were in favor and motion passed RESULTS: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, Bradley Freeman, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, Elizabeth Kowal, Christopher Park, Devin Romanul, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams NAYS: None ABSENT: John Obremski Comments and Discussion: Anthony Chui asked for the support of the Council to establish a regional animal control officer position. This would be in partnership with the towns of Wakefield and Stoneham. This position will give us more capacity to help deal with some of the issues that our constituents are seeing. This shared position would fall under the health department, and we've also budgeted for education and events that might include rabies shots clinics at a discounted price. The cities are sharing equally in 4 the cost and resources. A recent issue for residents is off-leash dogs and this resource will help to educate the public on the leash law and assist in its enforcement. This role is one of the health department's main priorities and would not have any responsibilities in pest control. The cost is approximately $30,000 per year. VI. ADJOURNMENT Motion to Adjourn by unanimous consent made by Chair Romanul at 7:51 PM All were in favor and meeting was adjourned. 5 Commonwealth of Massachusetts CONTRACTOR AUTHORIZED SIGNATORY LISTING This form is jointly issued and published by the Office of the Comptroller (CTR) and the Operational Services Division (OSD) as the default form for all Commonwealth Departments when another form is not prescribed by regulation or policy. Signature for Corporation (C or S), Partnership, Trust/Estate, Limited Liability Company, State and Local Government Entity (must match Form W-9 tax classification) Contractor Legal Name Contractor Vendor/Customer Code
Transcript
▶ 53:35 Devin Romanul: All right. Last and not least, ID number 2026-774, that the city authorize the mayor to enter into an intermunicipal agreement for establishing a regional animal control officer position in partnership with the towns of Wakefield and Stoneham. Joining us this evening is Mr. Anthony Chu. Thank you so much for joining us.
▶ 53:53 Speaker 10: Thank you. The floor is yours. Yes. Thank you, and thank you to the council for having us tonight. I'm excited to ask for the support of the council to establish a regional animal control officer position. This would be in partnership with the towns of Wakefield and Stoneham. As you guys might know, we already have a very strong partnership with them. There are three shared staff members. We have been working with Wakefield for over 20 years, and Stoneham joined us in 2023, in a regional format. It has both been a cost-effective way for us to deliver services, and also address issues that have been similar across all these communities. This position, while I have enjoyed my time serving as animal control officer on the side, I believe this position will give us more capacity to help deal with some of the issues that our constituents are seeing. We want to be able to provide more education opportunities as well, and also work on enforcement. So this position would be a shared position. This would fall under our department. And we've also budgeted for education, so we're going to have events that might include rabies shots clinics at a discounted price. We're going to try and provide those. We'll also be able to help the clerk's office in kind of increasing enforcement as well, for permitting. Happy to answer any questions council may have.
▶ 55:12 Devin Romanul: Thank you very much. Up first, I have Councilor Jamaleddine
▶ 55:16 Speaker 9: Thank you.
▶ 55:18 Maya Jamaleddine: Are all cities sharing equally this position? Meaning schedule-wise and hours?
▶ 55:30 Speaker 10: Yes. We will have a 33% cost-sharing between each community. In terms of time and resources, similar to our positions, we spend some more hours in certain communities during each week, depending on the need. But it works out about even across the span of a year. So, when we have continued issues in one area, we'll try to address them and then move on to another. So, it may not be exactly equal every week, but it'll shake out to about the same.
▶ 56:00 Maya Jamaleddine: And where would be the person holding this position located? Is it in all the three towns or cities, or specific base in Melrose?
▶ 56:12 Speaker 10: Yeah. So we hope to have space for them here. Space is a little tight here at City Hall. But we are going to provide space for equipment and services in each community. We'll try to establish a schedule, but I think part of it is going to be dictated by what comes up. So bite reports and responding to bite incidents are one of the main jobs. And so, should there be more incidents in one community that day, we would prioritize those and have them go there first.
▶ 56:39 Maya Jamaleddine: And historically speaking, do we know if Melrose has been equally requiring that support as the other neighbors as well, or is it...
▶ 56:52 Speaker 10: Yeah. So I think it's hard to say for sure. So I've been doing the Melrose response for a while, so I have a pretty good idea of how many responses we get. Recently, Wakefield actually parted ways with their animal control officer position, so I've also been filling in there as well. So I have a general idea of how much we've been seeing over there. It's very similar in capacity. And then also Stoneham as well, I was not serving as that role, but we have someone doing that part-time. And they've been doing a really good job, but they're also very limited in their hours. And so, I think by increasing their hours, we'll be able to meet that need as well. So no community I think has a much larger need than the others.
▶ 57:30 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. My last question, I promise. That's it. Do you think that this amount of hours is enough for Melrose?
▶ 57:39 Speaker 10: Yeah. I think we're splitting 40 hours across three communities. I think this will be enough. I think part of the beginning stages will be to establish expectations. So one of the things that we've been hearing about is off-leash dogs. We want to send the message to the community. So we'll both be there with presence as well as sending out informational flyers and other ways of communication through the city. I think once we kind of set expectations, I think people will respond better, and we'll see less of those incidents, and then it'll come down to enforcement after.
▶ 58:11 Maya Jamaleddine: Awesome. Thank you.
▶ 58:12 Devin Romanul: Terrific. Up next, I have Council Pork.
▶ 58:15 Speaker 5: Thank you. Anthony, you and I, as you may recall, when I first came on board, you and I had a discussion about what can city council do to help your position and your department. We talked about this position, among other ones that you would have on your wish list. And my question to you-- I have two questions. My first question is, is this particular role the most pressing in terms of your needs right now? Meaning, since we do have limited funds and free cash, is this something that you think is the best spent or use of our money?
▶ 58:56 Speaker 10: I think there are other priorities that we also do value. I think just this part of it is one of our main priorities only because we want to be able to meet all the statutory requirements, and so by law, we do have to respond to every single bite report. And those come and go. I think in the colder seasons, we see less of them. But overall, we do need to address all of them, and I want to make sure we're in compliance, as well as being able to address any concerns that the citizens have. So I think this is one of our bigger priorities.
▶ 59:24 Speaker 5: Okay. And the second part of my question is, does this overlap? You and I also have had discussions with a very ambitious high school student, with regards to rodent control. Would that overlap in this person's responsibility as well as pet control as well?
▶ 59:41 Speaker 10: I don't know that this would overlap with the rodent control issue. Our inspectors have been working with the construction here and developers here in the city on more of an IPM approach, so integrated pest management approach, rather than a bait box and poison-based system. We've been really working with them to try to establish more of a cleaning up of the property, storing of trash properly, removing trash in off hours. We've been trying to work with them on that to try and limit rodents. Kind of a holistic approach rather than just poisoning is more successful. So I think to answer your question, this position wouldn't really address that, but our inspectors have been trying to work with them on that. Yeah. Thank you.
▶ 1:00:23 Devin Romanul: Councilor Jen.
▶ 1:00:25 Jason Chen: Thanks. Do we know what the bottom line cost to Melrose would be for this position?
▶ 1:00:29 Speaker 10: Sure. So, based on some of the projections, both the lower and the higher range are about $30,000 a year. So that's including the position as well as a budget for supplies and sheltering, and $1,000 split across three communities for education as well.
▶ 1:00:49 Jason Chen: And then would we let go of the Stoneham animal control person now?
▶ 1:00:54 Speaker 10: Yes. So there would be a transition period with them. They're solely in Stoneham, and they work part-time as dispatch right now, and police.
▶ 1:01:03 Speaker 1: Terrific. Any other questions?
▶ 1:01:06 Devin Romanul: Councilor Conopiero.
▶ 1:01:08 Cal Finocchiaro: Just want to say I'm very excited to see this. And I think the city really needs an animal control officer. You've been doing a great job, but it's not your job. And we've had one for years. I know this is a split role, but- I think it's really important. So with that, I'd like to make a motion to recommend.
▶ 1:01:25 Speaker 3: Second.
▶ 1:01:26 Devin Romanul: Motion to recommend by Councilor Forno Chiaroc, seconded by Councilor Karamcheti on discussion.
▶ 1:01:31 Manjula Karamcheti: Just quickly, I wanted to say thank you for thinking of a way to be able to bring this position back, but also be cost-effective in terms of what we had available for this resource. So I just appreciate the way you approached this, and I'm psyched to support it.
▶ 1:01:48 Speaker 10: Excellent. Thank you.
▶ 1:01:49 Devin Romanul: Terrific. Absent any other questions, all those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it. The motion passes and will be brought before the next full council meeting. Thank you, Mr. Chu. Thank you. With that being our last agenda item, I'll now motion by unanimous consent to adjourn. Seeing no objections, we are now adjourned. Good evening.