ORDER-2015-195 : Amending Melrose Revised Ordinances, Chapter 228-30 by adding paragraph F relative to Sewer Proration as set forth herein

Transcript (~13 min @ 51:50)

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▶ 51:49 Speaker 5: order 195 is amending the revised ordinances by adding paragraph F relative to sewer proration as set forth herein Alderman Byrd is moving for concurrent action on 194 and 195 is there a second second second by Alderman Inferno is there any discussion on the motion for concurrent action all those in favor of concurrent action please indicate by saying aye aye anyone

▶ 52:14 Speaker 5: opposed motion passes the orders are joined and are before you discussion relative to these orders please Alderman Medeiros then Alderman Inferno

▶ 52:23 Monica C. Medeiros: thank you I would first like to move that we amend these orders by including the communication that we received today via email from mr. Mraz as well as the email that we received on this order from miss Bonnie Kelly I think under our

▶ 52:47 Monica C. Medeiros: rules those communications are now part of the orders okay mr. chairman I didn't

▶ 52:53 Speaker 5: see them added into IQ I'm too like I don't know when mr. Mraz's water came in but if it did come in it'll be added to the to the record or he could perhaps give us a hard copy of it before he leaves this evening I wanted to say that

▶ 53:08 Monica C. Medeiros: you know I do hope as some of these speakers said today that this is not the end discussion of these two orders and the discussion really of proration is not the end solution the the the problem set forth in our our waters bills is that currently we only have one meter reader in the entire city that's what this board has been told and that it's impossible for that one person to read every single meter in enough time to take a final reading before we change the rates usually at the end of the fiscal year and therefore we're billed

▶ 53:54 Monica C. Medeiros: on a quarterly basis but a quarterly rolling basis so that some residents are billed in say July some in August some in September for the three months

▶ 54:14 Monica C. Medeiros: proceeding and as a result many of those bills overlap the two fiscal years and the practice has been since implementing the new rate structure in 2013 that residents is you know some residents and it varies depending on which part of the

▶ 54:33 Monica C. Medeiros: rolling structure you're on are being built for water that they're using in in the prior fiscal year and at the new higher rates and you know I find that to be inherently unfair I don't think that that's an acceptable practice I understand that switching to tiered rate system makes it and so what we had done in the past to remedy this was to adopt a system of proration so that it would basically divide the usage by the number of days in each fiscal year in order to come to although not exact a more fair billing structure it becomes more complicated to do that with the tiered rate system and our consultant has has advised against that just because it's more complicated it isn't something that think we should abandoned I I find it hard to believe in 2015 that you know we walk around with you know tablets on our desks and computers in our hands and telephones you know that that we can't find a way in a computerized program to to resolve this and at least make it better part of the issue and one of the reasons why I supported two years ago we bonded in order to to get new water meters and part of the reason I supported that is because we were promised that once we got the new meters that we would be able to read the entire city within four hours and I really hope that that happens I know that it wasn't going to happen overnight we had been told it would probably be two years I had hoped that it would have been in place by this you know past summer that we just passed, the end of the fiscal year that we just passed.

▶ 56:33 Monica C. Medeiros: I hope that we resolve this before the next fiscal year. We shouldn't be retroactively charging people. It's just not right. And there was some discussion at that meeting, our committee meeting, which I appreciate the ability to speak somewhat at that meeting, as I was not a member of the Legal and Legislative Committee. But at that time, Mr. Shenna did say that we couldn't solve this problem until we went to monthly billing. And that is definitely contrary to some discussions that we had had in the past, where we were led to believe that the new meters would allow us to bill really almost any time we wanted, but certainly on the same quarterly basis or at the end of the fiscal year, and eliminate the need for any kind of proration. But while that doesn't exist, I originally submitted these orders back in the end of May and with the hopes that it would address this current fiscal year.

▶ 57:45 Monica C. Medeiros: I appreciate the recommendation to place on file rather than as a recommendation, say for instance ought not to pass but with no guarantee that the new meters will be in place and that would be ready to have this language be obsolete by next June I would encourage everybody to take another look at this especially one of the points that I hadn't thought of that mr. Moroz wrote in his letter was that in fact this system does affect some homeowners some rate payers more more so than others because we're on this rolling basis there are some rate payers that are being charged in particular just because of when their bills can't come out every year they're they're the ones is one segment of bill payers that are really facing you know if you're getting your bill in july for you know for usage say through july 15th and you're being charged for water going three months back most of that usage was really in the prior fiscal year and that's happening to you every year after year after year whereas if you wouldn't be faced with that if your if your billing was more you know um it is a complicated thing to try to to discuss and I think that's what makes uh this such a tough topic but it really is uh affecting some repairs more so than others so um thank you thank you

▶ 59:23 Speaker 5: anyone else who wishes to discuss these orders well I'm an Inferno thank you very much um

▶ 59:33 Gail Infurna: go ahead um I was muttering I um as I understood it that with these new electronic water meters are being installed now um that proration will really be a moot point because then all the meters will be read electronically at any time that they want to do it and the bills can get out but with that being said and maybe i've missed something along the line here uh regarding that once again we do have this water committee i i do suggest that we send also this to them we do have once again an opinion from pioneer but i would like it to keep it open for discussion in

▶ 1:00:13 Speaker 5: the water committee and see what they come back with right just for the edification of the public the water committee that we keep referring to was set up by ordinance two or three years ago it contains the director of public works the cfo of the city and a representative of the alderman and that committee makes recommendations to the board of aldermen relative to water and sewer rates so that is the committee the commission uh or whatever else we referred to it as this evening uh that we're sending these orders back to at least if this motion were to pass is that a motion

▶ 1:00:53 Speaker 5: because i was going to second it i don't know we'd have to ask the maker is that a motion that is a motion second alderman inferno moves to remand these two orders to the legal and legislative committee with the recommendation that they be referred to the water and sewer rate setting committee that motion is seconded by alderman mcateer margolis who now has the floor

▶ 1:01:14 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: um thank you mr chairman i i was also um happy to second that because i think that this is where these discussions belong particularly as we continue them throughout the year as many of the members of the public have requested and i think that's certainly a valid request and that we should be kept appraised of what's going on with these new ideas and options I would personally like to see I know I've had my new water meter installed I believe most of Ward 2 and I think they've been working on one in

▶ 1:01:53 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: Florida hmm well I was the second notice person myself President Kahn so I'm not sure where you're at in the process but they were very efficient and I know they're working very hard so I just I think before we were to jump the gun on figuring out the whole preparation issue again it would behoove us to find out exactly where we're at with the new installations if they will be done by July 1st next year and if when they are done what point are we prepared to go to to either monthly billing or quarterly billing that can resolve the proration issue so that we don't have that overlapping that we've been hearing of so that would be my request when it goes to the Water Commission and maybe have a report back to legal and legislative

▶ 1:02:48 Speaker 5: well Alderman Tramontozzi is the Aldermanic representative to that committee and I'm sure he'll be happy to report what transpires at any meetings it's the further discussion Alderman Medeiros for the second time thank you

▶ 1:03:01 Monica C. Medeiros: I would like to further amend to ask the Water Raid Commission to provide a recommendation if it's not this as to how to resolve the retroactive charging solution no later than July 29th of you know for effect no later than July 29th

▶ 1:03:30 Speaker 5: next year okay i'm sorry june 29th pardon me alderman medeiros makes a friendly amendment to the alderman inferno motion that we ask the water and sewer commission to opine as to what they believe the solution to this issue is if not what is proposed in these orders is that a fair

▶ 1:03:45 Monica C. Medeiros: statement of the motion statement in a timely manner for next fiscal year start is there any

▶ 1:03:53 Speaker 5: further discussion i think i'm going to treat that as part of the motion that's already been made in second and alderman forbes rather than having people withdraw their motions and seconds and whatnot further discussion relative to this motion all those in favor of the motion please indicate by saying aye aye anyone opposed motion passes that order will be remanded to legal and legislative committee with the appropriate instruction as discussed here this evening and hopefully ms harrington can take down what i'm saying quickly enough to encapsulate it

▶ 1:04:24 Speaker 10: that's moving orders that's both orders okay moving on down the calendar please