APPRO-2025-33 : An Appropriation from Free Cash (account 01-324001) in the amount of $68,000 to DPW- Parks and Forestry (#475) for tree plantings.

Transcript (~21 min @ 45:58)

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

▶ 45:47 Speaker 2: Councilor Occhio? Yes. Councilor Gar. Yes. Councilor Hamilton? Yes. Councilor Jamine. Yes. Councilor Carrum Chetty. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Vanderberg. Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Meli? Yes. Motion passes.

▶ 46:07 Speaker 2: One ID number 1 2 6 4 0. An appropriation from free cash account zero one dash 3 2 4 0 0 1 in the amount of 68,000 to DPW Parks and Forestry. Number 4, 7 5 for tree plantings.

▶ 46:23 Mark Garipay: Madam President, this comes from Appropriations with a Rec recommendation for passage and I'll make that motion.

▶ 46:30 Leila Migliorelli: Second motion for passage made by Councillor Repe, seconded by Councillor Kera Chay on discussion. Councillor for Niro. Vandiver and Aldine. Yes.

▶ 46:38 Cal Finocchiaro: Uh, thank you, uh, Madam President. Uh, I just wanted to make a comment, um, last, when we were discussing this, uh, during appropriations, um, I was voting no against it, but I spoke to some residents in my ward, um, that felt very strongly about it. And, um, since it's not an exorbitant amount of money, I am going to bevo voting yes for it tonight.

▶ 47:04 Speaker 1: So just wanna put that Out there. Thank you. Councillor Van. Do.

▶ 47:06 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you. Uh, Madam President, uh, when we discussed this in committee, there was, um, there was also a motion made, um, to reduce the number. I don't know where everybody else stands at the moment, but if that's the only way that it passes, I would be open to passing it in some form rather than not at all. Mm-hmm.

▶ 47:22 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you, council. Thank you. Councilor Jamaleddine. Thank you Madam Chair. Uh, Madame President. Um, I want to begin by acknowledging the importance of tree planting in our community. It is really important and I totally support that. Trees are vital for environmental sustainability, public health, and the overall quality of life. And marrows. I deeply value the long term vision of a greener, healthier city. And I appreciate the advocacy from residents and organizations who care so passionately about this issue. I do wanted to acknowledge, um, the, uh, uh, mayors residents who just came and spoken, uh, public, uh, during public comments. Um, and I value, um, uh, their input as well. However, tonight we are faced with a very difficult decisions. And this is what we signed up for. We knew the second we ran for office that we are going to commit, um, to making decisions, um, and difficult decisions. And this is the time where we are going to make that difficult decision, not about the value of trees, but about fiscal responsibility during a time of significant hardship. We are currently down by more than 20 staff physicians across three departments. And to tonight we heard from, uh, madam, uh, mayor about all the cuts and, um, and positions that we, uh, are not going to be able to fulfill, uh, or, uh, try to post again and open it, open it for, uh, application applicants and also for events, essential services programs and longstanding community events have been cut or put on hold due to this, um, budget hardship. These are not just line items in a budget. They represent real impacts on families, on city workers, and on the basic functioning of our city. Allocating 68,000 from free cash for tree planting under different circumstances would be a worthwhile investment. And I would a hundred percent, uh, support it. And matter of fact, I will be probably one of the, uh, first people who would be advocating for that. But right now, with so many core functions under strain, I cannot in good conscious support this allocation. This vote does not reflect a lack of commitment to our environment. It reflects the reality of the tough trade offs we must make in a time of limited resources. I remain committed to finding ways to support sustainability efforts in Melrose as we stabilize our finances. And I look forward to continuing to the conversation about how we can do that together. In the meantime, I wanted to share with everyone that we do have, um, that in terms of what's the process, I do understand that the, we are not as a city council body, we cannot, um, uh, decide what this money like, we cannot, uh, allocate this money for a specific service. However, if we do, uh, not pass it, and we can send suggestion with our vote for the mayor so that that administration can come back with, um, uh, different propo proposal to, uh, spend this money on different projects such as safety of our buildings and other essential projects that our departments and our different, uh, uh, buildings are in desperate needs right now. Thank you.

▶ 51:06 Speaker 1: Anyone else on discussion? Councillor Stewart.

▶ 51:10 Robb Stewart: Thank you, Madam President. Uh, mad president. Uh, I thought a lot about this over the weekend and, um, I, I understand the, the, um, desire of a lot of people that have trees and so forth. The, the one issue that I, that I look at, and when I compare it to all the other appropriations is it's this third party that does the trees. Uh, and I don't think they do a good job. Uh, I think they plant them underneath telephone wires, which cause problems. Um, they plant them during 95 degree days, which puts at risk for the tree. After we spent the money, they, they put one water bag out and say, you know, well you gotta go water it. And our city either does not have the resources or it relies on the neighborhood, which is I think a chance. And I find that this is a higher risk investment, um, as opposed to everything else, um, for the community. Uh, so I, I offered, uh, I a, uh, consolation, um, to the, the, um, the committee when we're in committee, uh, it was rejected. So at this point, um, I'm not sure I'm in favor of this. I have a lot of doubts about, uh, supporting this. Thank you. Mad president.

▶ 52:34 Speaker 1: Anyone else for the first time? We see none. Councillor Ra.

▶ 52:39 Cal Finocchiaro: So, um, I can appreciate your comments through the chair. Um, Councillor Stewart? I think the more I thought about this is if this isn't passed now, um, and an override is not approved or passed, then we won't be looking to plant trees for a very long time. You know, despite what you were saying about how well they're planted, we might be looking at, you know, having a list of hundreds of people for five years, you know, so, uh, it's not a lot of money. Yes. In the grand scheme of things, the, the city is, you know, we're obviously needing an override. We don't have money to spend,

▶ 53:18 Speaker 2: but, um, I think that it's allocated now and it's not a lot of money in the grand scheme of things. And if we wanna get these trees planted and not sit on it for, you know, have unplanted trees for five to 10 years because an override didn't pass, then that's kind of how I'm seeing it right now.

▶ 53:38 Speaker 1: That's It. Anyone else from this side of the horseshoe?

▶ 53:44 Speaker 1: Perfect. No. Alright. So we have, oh, sorry. Oh, you had, I was just another comment.

▶ 53:48 Speaker 7: No, I was just passing. Uh, yes. Councilor van.

▶ 53:50 Kimberly Vandiver: Uh, just looking at, uh, attendance and counting votes. I would like to, uh, motion to hold, uh, postpone to a time certain being the next, uh, meeting of the next regular meeting of the city council. Uh, which would I believe be May 19th, given that, uh, the last time that we were here, Councillor Bruski voted for the measure and he's not currently present.

▶ 54:15 Speaker 1: Okay. So if I recall that this vote, if you're motioning to postpone, it can only be killed like, right? Correct. We don't take a vote on a motion to postpone. Hold on, Let me count, Leave, consult my,

▶ 54:32 Speaker 4: Yeah, Hold on.

▶ 54:34 Speaker 2: Is This for majority?

▶ 54:43 Kimberly Vandiver: So my understanding is to pass the appropriation, we would need eight. Um,

▶ 54:48 Leila Migliorelli: Right. But we, I mean, we can't speculate on the vote. So we have a motion on the table mm-hmm. For passage,

▶ 54:55 Mark Garipay: When the vote, I think someone could make an amendment. Uh, someone could make an amendment to reduce the dollar amount, um, tonight

▶ 55:02 Speaker 7: and we could vote on that.

▶ 55:04 Speaker 9: Mm-hmm.

▶ 55:08 Speaker 1: Sure. Uh, So a motion to amend the motion. I have,

▶ 55:11 Mark Garipay: I'm, I don't know, I already have this, a motion forward, so I don't know if I can make another motion. That's the only reason why I,

▶ 55:16 Kimberly Vandiver: Uh, I, I think as far as the, um, sorry, the postponing it, I, I don't remember the term, but it, it can happen while something's already on the table.

▶ 55:25 Leila Migliorelli: Yeah. Subsidiary. So, subsidiary Motion, Privilege motion. Subsidiary motion is to, to change or affect how a main motion is handled. Privilege motion is to bring up items that are urgent or special or important matters unrelated to pending business.

▶ 55:40 Speaker 1: Um,

▶ 55:46 Speaker 1: I'm going to, um, ask for a brief recess.

▶ 55:52 Speaker 7: I make a motion for a brief recess. Second,

▶ 55:54 Leila Migliorelli: All we are, um, all in favor of recess.

▶ 55:57 Speaker 9: A aye. Opposed? Okay.

▶ 56:03 Speaker 4: All, hold on. Did you write down

▶ 56:05 Speaker 2: what time we recess? I any counts? 22. This is true. Eight

▶ 56:11 Speaker 2: 20. Okay. So

▶ 56:12 Leila Migliorelli: the motion made by Councilor Vandiver supersedes the motion made by Councillor Repe. So as long as Councillor Vandiver wants to keep that motion on the table to postpone till a date certain, which is May 19th, um, and that, then that is on the table for a vote. So all in favor of postponing. So, Yes. Oh, on discussion.

▶ 56:37 Ward Hamilton: Do we need a second or

▶ 56:41 Speaker 2: 7:45 PM We have to make sure that we say at 7:45 PM Um, yes, you do. Ill second the motion.

▶ 56:48 Speaker 5: I have second it So we can move.

▶ 56:50 Speaker 2: We have to call for a vote too. So, yeah.

▶ 56:51 Leila Migliorelli: A roll call vote or a, oh, okay. Mm-hmm. All right. Alright. So, motion to postpone this order till May 19th, made by Councillor Vandiver. Seconded by Councillor Williams. Madam Clerk, will you please call me On discussion? Yes. Sorry. Yep.

▶ 57:06 Ward Hamilton: So, uh, this is an interesting precedent where we're going to pause and push off things that based on the fact that we took a recess for you to take consideration on what next steps were, um, just point of order or whatever the correct point would be, I guess going forward, we'll use that motion when, uh, the council isn't properly populated with the people we want to get the outcome we want with a vote. That's all. Thank you.

▶ 57:40 Leila Migliorelli: It seem weird, Just for clarification. Yes. I mean, I suppose you can make that motion at any time. However, wherever you wanna make the motion, that's up to you. Thank you. But the motion's on the table, so, um, okay.

▶ 57:54 Speaker 1: Anyone else on discussion?

▶ 57:59 Leila Migliorelli: Seeing none, Madam Clerk, this is a vote on to postpone the voting of this order until May 19th at

▶ 58:06 Speaker 2: 7 45. At

▶ 58:07 Speaker 1: 7:45 PM

▶ 58:11 Speaker 2: Councilor fro? No. Council Oppe? Yes. Councilor Hamilton? No. Councilor Jamal Ledine?

▶ 58:25 Speaker 2: No. Counselor. Karen Chetty? No.

▶ 58:30 Speaker 2: Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Stewart?

▶ 58:37 Speaker 2: No. Councilor Vandiver? Yes. Council Williams? Yes. President Meli?

▶ 58:48 Speaker 1: No.

▶ 58:58 Speaker 2: So no habit. Okay. Did I ask, oh, sorry.

▶ 59:00 Speaker 1: Councillor Stewart. Madam President,

▶ 59:02 Robb Stewart: if I may, I would like to make a motion.

▶ 59:06 Ryan Williams: Is it, is the point of order does the, does the interrupting motion cancel Councillor Rae's motion for passage? Or do we just return to it? I

▶ 59:12 Speaker 4: Believe we're still there. We

▶ 59:13 Leila Migliorelli: still, yeah. We return to it. So there's a motion on the table made by Councilor Repe for passage, seconded by Councilor Carm Shady.

▶ 59:22 Speaker 1: Um, on discussion. Councilor Romanul.

▶ 59:25 Devin Romanul: Uh, thank you so much. Um, I, I am in favor of, of the appropriation, but I, I just wanted to make a note through the chair about Councilor Stewart's, um, comment I, that, that would be troubling if, if the company with whom we're historically contracting is planting in ways that are deleterious to the, uh, ultimate goal of the appropriation. And so, uh, I were to pass, I, I would love to follow up with the administration to make sure that we're doing so in such a way that we're not wasting money. 'cause it is such an important, uh, expenditure and, and a long term one. So, um, anyway, uh, really appreciate the, the commentary in the heads up and, and wanna make sure that any RFP or contract that we put out includes specific language to protect the, the investment that we're making. Thank you so much.

▶ 1:00:08 Speaker 1: Anyone else on discussion? Councilor Hamilton? Thank

▶ 1:00:12 Ward Hamilton: You. Um, I think my track record in the last year plus has been to support measures that come down from the administration, free cash and otherwise. And, um, this latest batch of free cash is no exception, um, with the exception of, um, the trees, which certainly I support and see the value in, um, investing in trees in our community. However, uh, we're in an interesting time as we heard tonight and as we're gonna discuss in the coming weeks and months, and optics matter, and I am ever mindful of the fact that as, uh, stories are published in the Murr's Weekly News and elsewhere of the, um, financial situation that we find ourselves in, at any given time, members of the community can tune in and pay attention to what we're talking about and what we're spending money on. And in ordinary times, absolutely we want to invest in, in trees. And, um, there is maybe one other item one here that I question. Um, but at this moment, optics matter, the message we send to the community matters. And while I would love to spend multiple times this amount of money on trees in our community, um, I feel that this is not the correct time. And so I will be voting No thank you,

▶ 1:01:40 Speaker 1: Councilor. I did see Councilor Vandiver hand up. Do you wanna I I'll defer. Councilor Stewart, and then Councilor Carrum. Chief.

▶ 1:01:46 Robb Stewart: Thank you, Madam President. Mad president. Uh, um, I ask for your, um, point of, um, clarification on process. Mm-hmm. Um, am I able to make a motion to amend at this point, or do we have to remove his motion?

▶ 1:02:02 Speaker 1: I have to, you can motion to amend the motion on the floor?

▶ 1:02:12 Speaker 1: Yes, you can. Motion to amend.

▶ 1:02:15 Robb Stewart: Thank you. Just clarify. So amend, present, I would like to make a motion to amend, uh, similar to what I made in committee, uh, to amend the a dollar amount to $34,000

▶ 1:02:25 Leila Migliorelli: Second Motion to amend the order to approve, um, trees down from 68 to $34,000

▶ 1:02:35 Speaker 1: on discussion.

▶ 1:02:37 Robb Stewart: And if I just may add, this is a concession because I, I think it, um, it, my thought process is a couple, couple areas. One is it does, uh, address, uh, the concerns of the financial conditions of the city, um, that we're not just level funding from last year, that we are actually taking reduction. Um, and also, um, I would like a clear message to be sent to, uh, the tree company that, that does this work that they need to do better, uh, because this is real money that our constituency invests in. Um, and I think it's, uh, a compromise, uh, across the council. Thank you.

▶ 1:03:25 Speaker 1: Councillor Carm Shady.

▶ 1:03:26 Manjula Karamcheti: Um, first I just wanna say I really appreciate the conversation that we're having around this order. I think these are the exact conversations that we need to be having in regards to the budget situation that we're in. And I really appreciate everybody's thoughtfulness. Um, in terms of thinking about your constituents, thinking about the situation that we're in, and as I am someone who voted yes, uh, for tree plantings and appropriation in thinking about this, I was really thinking about it in line with many of our other, um, free cash appropriations, which are sort of about repairs and fixing of things. And I think what we learned in our appropriations meeting is that these tree plantings are actually to replace dead trees that were removed in many cases. And so I'm seeing that in line with sort of the other things that we are looking to repair or replace that people are, have already been waiting for. Um, that being said, I think it also is requests myself, I have a request for a new tree that I would love to have, um, around our perimeter. So I'm in, I'm thinking that I would support the amendment with the idea that those replacements are, what is the priority for folks who have been waiting for dead trees to be replaced. Um, that seems to make good sense and seems like, uh, a compromise that makes sense. Um, at this time.

▶ 1:05:09 Speaker 1: Thank you. Councillor Gepe?

▶ 1:05:13 Mark Garipay: Yes. Tree has taken a lot of conversations. I, I just wanna, uh, care about them. You know, I want to thank, um, council Stewart for making that amendment the other day. Um, seeing, but I, I voted against it because I truly believe that we needed all, all the total amount for, for, for continuing, um, to keep the, the list down. Um, so I will, I will be supporting this amendment and I appreciate you putting another amendment forward

▶ 1:05:43 Speaker 7: to at least we can keep something going. So, thank you

▶ 1:05:45 Speaker 1: Councillor Vanderberg,

▶ 1:05:46 Kimberly Vandiver: Just, uh, also like to chime in through the chair that I appreciate the amendment and being brought forth again. Thank you.

▶ 1:05:54 Speaker 1: Okay. Seeing no other comments, motion on the floor is to amend mo pass as amended.

▶ 1:06:05 Speaker 6: Um, we have to vote on the amendment first.

▶ 1:06:06 Leila Migliorelli: Amend, let's vote on the amendment. Okay. So we're voting to amend the order to 34,000 made by Councilor Stewart. Seconded by Counselor Hamilton. Yes. Okay.

▶ 1:06:19 Speaker 1: Um, all in favor? Aye. Aye.

▶ 1:06:22 Leila Migliorelli: Any opposed? Okay. So now the order is before us, or motion is before us as amended.

▶ 1:06:31 Speaker 9: Councilor Repe. I

▶ 1:06:32 Speaker 7: Will make a motion for passage as amended. Second.

▶ 1:06:35 Leila Migliorelli: Second motion for passage as amended made by Councillor Repe, seconded by Councillor Stewart. Um, on discussion, seeing none, Madam Clerk. Okay.

▶ 1:06:47 Speaker 2: Councilor Ro? Yes. Councilor Garipay. Yes. Councilor Hamilton? Yes. Councilor Jamine. Yes.