APPRO-2025-40 : An Appropriation from Free Cash (01-324001) in the amount of $90,000 to the Police Department (#211) for the purchase of a new cruiser.

Transcript (~22 min @ 1:15:30)

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

▶ 1:15:17 Speaker 2: Councilor Occhio? Yes. Councilor Repe. Yes. Councilor Hamilton? Yes. Councilor Jamine. Yes. Councilor Rum Chetty. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Vandiver? Yes. Counselor Williams? Yes. And present Elli? Yes. Motion passes

▶ 1:15:38 Speaker 2: ID number 1 2 6 51. And appropriation for free cash. Zero one dash 3 2 4 0 0 1 in the amount of 90,000 to the police department. Number two 11 for the purchase of a new cruiser.

▶ 1:15:49 Mark Garipay: Madam President, this comes from, uh, appropriations with a recommendation for passage, and at this time I'll make a motion for passage. Second.

▶ 1:15:57 Leila Migliorelli: Motion for passage made by Councillor Repe, seconded by Councillor Stewart on discussion. Councillor Firo.

▶ 1:16:03 Cal Finocchiaro: Yeah. Thank you Madam President. I just wanna make a general comment to maybe people that are listening that just to confirm free cash is for one-time expenses. So I know we're talking about a lot of these, uh, appropriations and where we allot the money, but, um, just wanna clarify that we can't use free cash for say, like a salary for a teacher. So yes, just wanted to get that out in case people have, um, issues with where we're approach to getting money. Um, so that's all. I just wanna make our comment.

▶ 1:16:32 Speaker 1: Thank you Councilor Carm Shady.

▶ 1:16:34 Manjula Karamcheti: Um, I will, I just wanted to share that I've been thinking about this one quite a bit, and I think partially it's a memory issue on my part after leaving the meeting, but I, I don't recall a, the conversation leading to like a critical need for this cruiser at this time. Um, and so I don't know if it's a through the chair kind of thing or if it's just on me to remember, but as we're thinking about these conversations of what are critical needs verse like what is it nice to have or a need to have, I think I'm just wondering if this is a need to have or a nice to have at, at this time. Um, and part of like, what I'm trying to think about and I'm reckoning with is the use of this cruiser. I think it's going to, the chief and the chief's car is going to someone else who hasn't had a car before. I'm unclear on how needed that car is for that position. And so just thinking about the usage and, you know, we've had meetings about traffic safety and pulling over speeding cars and enforcement, and it was unclear to me that a new cruiser was gonna be used for those kinds of things that are really critical in the city. So I just, I I'm sorry for just doing my thinking out loud, but that's kind of where I'm at with, with a new cruiser at this time. I'm, I'm unclear and rethinking my vote based on a critical need versus a nice to have.

▶ 1:18:09 Speaker 1: Okay. I think Councillor Stewart, did you have your hand up before? No. Yes

▶ 1:18:13 Robb Stewart: I did. Okay. This flies drive me crazy.

▶ 1:18:18 Speaker 6: It won't leave me alone. Thanks for that Comment. Yeah.

▶ 1:18:23 Robb Stewart: Um, so if I recall, um, there was also a grant for $50,000 for Cruiser that is coming before us. Isn't that correct?

▶ 1:18:32 Speaker 1: You're challenging my memory now. Yeah,

▶ 1:18:34 Robb Stewart: I think there's, I think there's a $50,000 grant for, uh, police Cruiser. It's an Earmark, it's an ear. It's an ear. Ear earmark. It's an earmark. That's right. Uh, state rep, state that. Thank you. Thank you. It, uh, there's a, there's a state, there's a, I believe representative, uh, Lipper Garabedian has earmarked $50,000 for cruiser. So, um, now if we get that or not, uh, would that impact the amount of this dollar is what's going through my head, um, because then it would not necessitate, I would say $90,000. I think it would necessitate $40,000 if I do the math correctly. So, um, I would like to understand where that earmark stands before I take a vote on this is how I feel. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

▶ 1:19:29 Speaker 1: Councilor Romanul, I see your hand.

▶ 1:19:32 Devin Romanul: Yes. Um, I took some notes during the, uh, chief ER's, um, comments last week. And he had mentioned that the transmission was either going or gone on the current vehicle that was needed to be replaced and that they were gonna have to appropriate some money for some significant repairs, if not for an earlier vehicle. I, I don't have any notes as to kind of the, uh, urgency, uh, of it or, um, but I, I just wanna write that down,

▶ 1:19:59 Devin Romanul: but, but totally through the chair here, what you're, what you're saying about.

▶ 1:20:03 Speaker 1: Thank you. Thanks. Other comments? Councilor Hamilton?

▶ 1:20:08 Ward Hamilton: Thank you. Uh, my recollection was that the chief explained that the new vehicle would go to him and his vehicle would go to somebody else, and it's sort of a bumping down. And then he described a Ford Taurus that has issues that is sort of at the bottom of this line. And I recall he talked about a detective that handles, um, mental health situations. And I think what he was describing was that this would, uh, allow that detective to be more responsive. And I think he described scenarios in which they used their own vehicle. So, um, police departments, vehicles, they go hand in hand. And, um, I certainly appreciate Councilor Stewart's, um, mention of an earmark that we are hoping will come our way. I don't know what the status of that is. And I think we have this appropriation before us 90,000 initially sounds like a lot of money chief described how, um, that also includes outfitting with the radio and all the different equipment that they use. Um, so I, I certainly, uh, understand and, uh, am open to the considerations that fellow counsels have raised, uh, short of any information that allows us to understand when those earmark funds would be available. I would be in favor of, um, supporting this at this time. Thank you

▶ 1:21:39 Speaker 1: Councilor Aldine.

▶ 1:21:41 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, thank you. I, um, the, the earmark is so, uh, state rep Gar Ian have announced that it, it has been secure to earmarks, um, for the, uh, Mar Police Department, um, has been, um, secured for, uh, cruiser and, um, other services. And, um, that would actually lead me to, uh, also reflect on how, uh, far, uh, we need to place that order to be able to, uh, purchase that cruiser. So it's all interconnected together. You know, we need more information and more answers from whether, um, the chief or, uh, other, um, individuals in City Hall to, uh, understand if we, uh, the impact of delaying, if we choose to wait and hold on this, uh, order until we get more answers, uh, um, from, uh, state representative Ian, and if we are able to secure that cruiser, um, from the, from the free cash money. Um, all that to say that, um, yes, we did to, uh, cons Kara Sheri's question. We did ask, um, uh, the chief during that night about is it a necessity? Are we in need of that, uh, cruiser? And his response was, um, the current, uh, uh, cruiser is not going to be, um, retire, uh, retired. The, he's go, it's his own cruiser and he's going to give it to the mental health, uh, detective. So he would have a dedicated cruiser for the service that he provide, and he will receive the new cruiser. Um, how much is in need and how soon do we need that cruiser? That's definitely a good question for the chief. Um, I, I don't know, Madame President, if we are able to place on hold if we can, you know, make a motion to place on hold until we get more answers. Uh, if this is something that we can do right now,

▶ 1:23:58 Leila Migliorelli: Okay. We, we can. But I'm gonna continue on with the questions. Um, Councillor Garipay, then Williams and crime jd.

▶ 1:24:07 Mark Garipay: Thank you, Madam President. Um, I know we have an earmark is that earmark

▶ 1:24:13 Speaker 7: went out in the 26th budget,

▶ 1:24:16 Mark Garipay: but I don't know how we can say it's guaranteed if the house and the governor and the Senate hasn't, hasn't signed it. So, uh, I think, and I appreciate the earmark. I just am thinking presently today that we, we need the money and $50,000 is not going to be enough to buy a car. I mean, he, he said 90,000 when he was here. Um, if they don't spend it all and we get the earmark, we have extra money that comes back next year in free cash.

▶ 1:24:50 Speaker 7: Um, I would also worry about

▶ 1:24:53 Mark Garipay: the current maintenance on that particular vehicle. He said it needs a transmission along with other things, as we know, parts are tough to get. Now, when we talk about safety and pulling cars out, if we have a, a vehicle that is used daily that you're gonna have that auto, it's not like I can go to enterprise and rental cruiser, right? So we're not, we're gonna have one less vehicle that it could be out there for two, three, couple months. Transmissions, certain ones are on back order. Um, so I think I'm, I'm 100% gonna support this as is. I think if we do get the in mark, that's great. We don't have to spend it all, but where the chief knows, his department knows his needs, and I'm, I'm going take his word for it and, um, and vote in favor of this.

▶ 1:25:46 Speaker 1: Thank you Councilor Williams. Thank

▶ 1:25:47 Ryan Williams: You. Generally speaking, I am, um, supportive of free cash request to come from the, from the mayor, because the mayor is the person who's charged with determining where the cash goes. And she shows us where the cash goes by allowing department heads to put orders before us. Um, with regard to this specific order, one thing that occurred to me after the meeting was that we just purchased a brand new electric Mustang for the police chief about three years ago, two or three years ago. And, um, what I'm sort of confused by is the, um, the, the, the story between different counselors as to who, what car is the chief driving, what car will this be replacing? Who will get the other car? Where is this car? So I kind of wanna know like, where's the Mustang in this? Um, and that's what gives me a lot of pause, right? It's not that I don't wanna support, um, giving the police the, the vehicles they need. 'cause they do. And I also trust that the police chief and that the mayor know what they're talking about with all of these free cash orders and that they put them before us, um, in good faith. Um, but so, you know, I I am, I'm, I'm hesitant because I don't understand what car he's driving. I don't understand who's driving the Mustang. I don't understand if the Mustang just kind of disappeared, you know? So, um, and, and I don't know if the Mustang's a cruiser. I don't know what the definition of a cruiser is. It's not a patrol car, right? It's so, you know, so all of these things kind of make me feel like this is just a little, little too loose, um, for my comfort level at this, at the spending level. Um, but like I said, I put a lot of faith in the, in the mayor and in the, in the department heads for their, for their cash requests. So I'm not putting a thumb on the scale right here. I'm just bringing something up that, that bothered me. That's it. Thank you.

▶ 1:27:33 Speaker 1: Okay. Councilor Carm Shady,

▶ 1:27:34 Manjula Karamcheti: Uh, through the chair, I just wanted to say thank you to my fellow counselors. Um, particularly, um, the two counselors who shared their notes, um, from the last meeting. I think the piece that I wasn't recalling was for the mental health officer to then be able to more quickly, more effectively go around the city. And I think in this chamber, numerous times, mental health issues have come up with our police force needing to go to the hospital and needing to go to a variety of, of other places to address concerns. Um, so that information, again, thank you to the counselors, um, for Councilor Hamilton and Councilor Romanul and Counselor Jamine for, um, sharing that note. It does make it seem more of a critical need, a nice than a nice to, um, which is the part that I wasn't in my, like post-reflection. Um, that's the part I was thinking about. So I, I appreciate that very much. I am now wondering about the Mustang as well, um, and just how it all fits in with like our current fleet, what we have and who's driving what. Um, but that to me is a less of a concern. I don't know that that's my business, um, as much as, you know, funding this appropriation right now. So thank you.

▶ 1:28:57 Leila Migliorelli: Um, I just, I pulled up the order, um, from the chief, just I can read it out loud if this is at all helpful for parts of this conversation. So, um, it's 90,000 to purchase an outfit, an unmarked police cruiser to replace the old vehicle, the unmarked 2013 Ford Taurus, which has 91,000 miles on it, unknown engine hours as not accessible via dash display. Mechanical issues, transmission, front end and rear camera is not functioning. That Taurus is the oldest vehicle in our fleet, uh, and has numerous issues as stated above. We also currently do not have a dedicated vehicle that our mental health detective can utilize with our clinic clinician to correspond to mental health calls, which is a best practice for police agencies. In addition, corresponding is a requirement of the mental health grant in which we are actively utilizing by purchasing a new vehicle for the investigative services slash administrative division. We will be able to assign a vehicle for use, a vehicle for use for mental health calls, follow-ups, and general detective and investigative work. Um, but so that addresses maybe some of the questions tonight. Okay. More, more comments. Councillor Vandiver,

▶ 1:30:13 Kimberly Vandiver: Uh, thank you. Uh, I, I feel bad that I didn't think of this when we were previously, when we had the chief here to answer questions. Um, but the, the thing that I've been wondering about since that, um, since that conversation, is how many total vehicles we do have, because I know it comes up often that we have a minimum, minimum staffing of three people on the road at once, right? Minimum manning. And so, and I believe when I go by the police station, we have many more than three vehicles. So I was just trying to understand whether it's necessary to respond to, to assign a car to the mental health clinician, a car to each individual, or, or whether there's any ability to have enough cars at any given time for the work that goes on. I, I, and again, to echo the other counselors, I, I trust that the chief knows that the chief is, is presenting this in good faith and knows his business well. But that does seem a little surprising to me, given, given my impression that we have a quite a number of police cars.

▶ 1:31:12 Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you Council for Nick Occhio,

▶ 1:31:14 Cal Finocchiaro: Um, through the chair. I just wanna say that I appreciate everybody's, uh, comments here tonight. I just wanna reiterate that, you know, I'm not a police officer. None of us are. We don't know what goes in day to day. We, I trust that, um, the chief knows what he needs and I could only imagine how expensive it is to outfit a vehicle, like all the things that they have to put in the equipment. Um, so, you know, that $90,000, I'm sure is not just for the vehicle, it's just a bunch of other things. And, um, this is just something that I'm not comfortable, sort of nitpicking. I can appreciate, you know, everybody's comments for sure. Um, and that's what we're here to do. Um, but I feel this particular item, I feel like I, I do trust that the chief knows what he's doing and what the equipment that they need, and I'd rather have efficient amount of vehicles on the road and quality vehicles on the road than not. So it's just my stance.

▶ 1:32:16 Speaker 1: Thank you. Um, city clerk just shared with me the email that we all received, uh, last Thursday from state rep, uh, Lipper, which is more or less what I think counselor Jamal Ledine stated.

▶ 1:32:32 Leila Migliorelli: Um, yeah, three, she, the state rep has secured three ear marks for the city of Melrose, 75,000 for Melrose playing fields, 50,000 for a police cruiser, and 25,000 for Melrose Police equipment. But as Councillor Gpe pointed out, this is not the final budget.

▶ 1:32:51 Speaker 1: So, um, just, just sharing information. Um, Councillor Yeah,

▶ 1:33:00 Mark Garipay: I'll, um, I dunno if I take my motion off the floor and recommend, um, send it back to the committee. And it sounds like not every, I mean, everyone's supportive, they just want more information, right? So, um, maybe send it back to appropriations and invite the chief to come back in and answer any questions.

▶ 1:33:17 Speaker 9: Um,

▶ 1:33:19 Speaker 6: I'll second that.

▶ 1:33:22 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. Councillor Jamal, uh, On discussion, just point of order, if we are going to, uh, send it back to committee, do you know when we would be able to address? I just, I'm, um, my concern is I don't wanna delay if in case it's gonna going to harm the purchase of a cruiser. So I wanna make sure that this is not going to impact or cause any harm, uh, for the process of purchasing, um,

▶ 1:33:48 Ryan Williams: Uh, through the chair. I recall to that excellent point. I recall in the meeting that, uh, the chief said that by purchasing a gas vehicle, because of the exemption of, of the car from presumably our electric first policy, as well as he described state policies, he said there were many, many vehicles on the lot of this type that were available to be purchased. So I, I believe the next corporation meeting is next week. No, This Week. This week. Why

▶ 1:34:15 Speaker 7: Thursday? But

▶ 1:34:15 Speaker 9: It's a point of

▶ 1:34:17 Leila Migliorelli: Point of order though, just for all of this is that we don't know when the chief is available. Um, so there are two things we can do. We can move it, send it back to committee. We could, I mean, or there's infinite possibilities, or we can do, you know, postpone to a day certain, or hold it in full counsel and he can come to full counsel on the 19th. Um, or we could get, everyone can get their questions answered by chief failure, come back on the 19th with what they have learned and sufficiently, I mean, 'cause we could do it in the chamber, but you can also, everyone's can follow up on their own too, of course. And then we could take the, if we hold it in council, we can take that vote on the 19th, which may address us getting our information and then making that vote and just postponing it.

▶ 1:35:01 Mark Garipay: The only reason why I was suggesting sending it back to appropriate appropriations is because we have multiple meetings in case he can't make the 19th true. So we can still vote, do a final vote on the 19th, but it gives him multiple opportunities. I mean, I prefer to keep it in full counsel, but I'm just thinking mm-hmm. His time, his timeframe.

▶ 1:35:22 Maya Jamaleddine: And then one other thing just to put on the table too. So it could either be him coming to the meeting to answer questions or us individually following up with him to get our cran questions answered and then make sure it's on the 19th Councillor Jamine. So, To, to your point, Madam President, is I would like to invite all my colleagues to reflect whether the questions that, or the information that they would like to get from the, uh, uh, chief are going to, uh, help them make the decision whether to, uh, approve it or not, or is just going to add information. For me personally, I do a hundred percent support, um, uh, this order. However, I would like to get more information, and for that, I will be reaching out to the chief and getting more information and hopefully be able to be more informed about how this is going to go. Uh, but definitely do feel that, um, the police department do need, uh, to purchase that, um, uh, cruiser for, uh, to be able to serve our community, uh, for the best of our community and residents.

▶ 1:36:35 Robb Stewart: Councillor Stewart. Thank you Madam. Person. I, I, I would like to learn more information about the earmark, so, um, I would appreciate the, the time as well. Okay, So we have a motion.

▶ 1:36:46 Leila Migliorelli: So we have a motion to send back to committee. Okay. Second. All right, so motion. Motion by Councillor GPE to, uh, send back to Appropriations and Oversight, seconded by Councillor Williams on discussion.

▶ 1:37:03 Speaker 1: Wait, I don't know. Thought. Okay. It's okay. Um, seeing no discussion. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay, so that is going, that order is going back to