PUBLIC COMMENT
Agenda original PDF
Minutes original PDF
AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, Bradley Freeman, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, Elizabeth Kowal, John Obremski, Christopher Park, Devin Romanul, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams III. PUBLIC COMMENT When: May 4, 2026 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Topic: Appropriations & Oversight Committee Meeting Join from PC, Mac, iPad, or Android: https://cityofmelrose- org.zoom.us/j/91515115255?pwd=6Is9DpDImb2s9LaICczEpmDH9yQtpG.1 Passcode:806042 Webinar ID: 915 1511 5255 Motion to Open public comment made by Chair Romanul at 7:03 PM Comments on the floor: Susan Cain of 123 E Foster St asked for support in passing the DPW truck appropriation request, commenting that allowing trucks to be used at Wyoming Cemetery, especially smaller trucks, causes less damage to the site. Joe Pelrin of 70 Howard St had questions about the DPW truck funding request. He asked how the city plans to purchase the trucks and are they put out to bid, how many sidewalk snowplows is the city purchasing (one or two), and will the city purchase electric or gas-powered versions. He prefers gas-powered to be used for plowing. There were no comments via Zoom Motion to Close public comment made by Chair Romanul at 7:07 PM IV. APPROPRIATIONS
Transcript
▶ 3:32 Devin Romanul: In accordance with the open meeting law, this meeting is being recorded and broadcast live on MMTV. I will now motion by unanimous consent to open the floor for public comment. Seeing no objection, we are now open for public comment. This is the portion of the evening where the public may speak on any item on tonight's agenda. Comments expressing other viewpoints on other matters are also welcome. Also joining us this evening is Vice Chair Vandiver. If there are people in attendance, do we have any-- Oh, excuse me. Yes, we're already open for public comment. All right. My apologies. Lost my place in the agenda. If anybody is here for public comment, please feel free to. And if you wouldn't mind signing in, please state your name and address.
▶ 4:14 Speaker 6: Yes, Susan Kann. I'm chair of the Cemetery Commission, 123 East Foster Street. I did send all of you an email. I'm here tonight asking you to approve the DPW appropriation. I believe it's 880,000. I'm particularly fond of two trucks that are in that appropriation. The two trucks are a little different than the rest of the DPW trucks because we need a smaller truck, a lighter truck, so it can maneuver the roadways and also in between the graves if they've got to be moving things so that they don't damage anything. The heavier trucks have a possibility to
▶ 5:03 Speaker 6: cave in graves, for lack of better reason. So, I would ask you to approve the entire amount. Thank you.
▶ 5:13 Speaker 3: Thank you so much for your comment. Appreciate it.
▶ 5:16 Devin Romanul: Do we have others in attendance for public comment?
▶ 5:29 Speaker 3: Good evening.
▶ 5:31 Speaker 7: My favorite room. I'm Joe Pellerin. I live at 70 Howard Street. I'm here about the DPW also. I just have a few questions.
▶ 5:51 Speaker 7: All right. So, it's agreed that the trucks are in dismal shape. One of the questions I have is How do we go about buying the trucks? Are these put out to bid? We're not just going to a Chevy dealer and saying, "Hey, I need three dump trucks with plows." Is there a format so that it's competitive and the city gets the bang for their buck?
▶ 6:23 Speaker 7: The next thing, I see a discrepancy, in my opinion, that there's a line item for a sidewalk plow. Everybody saw that, right? But buried in the 880,000 packet is another sidewalk plow. So how many sidewalk plows are we really buying? One or two? The next is the DPW isn't sure yet if they're going to buy electric vehicles for pickups or the regular heavy-duty gas engine. Once again, in my opinion, I think we should be going for the gas engine so that the truck is more versatile and can be used for plowing. We have a history of holding on to our trucks forever. So I say in five or six years, the electric trucks are going to be sitting when we could be using them gas-powered to plow the cemetery, say. So that was it. And then I had one more thing, but I can't remember. I should have wrote it down.
▶ 7:38 Speaker 7: Well, that's it. If I think of it, I'll write you guys. I appreciate the time.
▶ 7:44 Devin Romanul: You're welcome. Thank you very much, sir, for your public comment. And for any members of the public watching, you're more than welcome to contact us by email anytime.
▶ 7:52 Speaker 3: Are there any others here for public comment?
▶ 7:55 Devin Romanul: Do we have anybody online? No one online. All right. If there's no objection, I'll motion by unanimous consent to close public comment. Seeing none, we are now closed. At this time, I'll also motion by unanimous consent to approve without reading the minutes from our most recent meeting. Seeing no objection, those minutes are now approved. All right, moving right along. First item on tonight's agenda is appropriation ID number 2026-1150, appropriation from free cash in the amount of $244,944 to the school department for Medicaid reimbursement received in FY25. Joining us this evening, Mr. Ken Kelly. Thank you so much for joining us.