TRNSF-2026-1 : Requesting Transfer of Funds from Department of Public Works' Parks and Forestry Salary Accounts to Parks and Forestry Expense Accounts For Contracted Tree Services

Transcript (~6 min @ 1:28)

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▶ 1:20 Robb Stewart: Okay. If there's no objection, I will motion by unanimous consent to close public comment. Seeing none, we are now closed for public comment. Uh, we have one item on the agenda this evening. Uh, this is ID number 1 2 8 5 1. The requesting transfer of funds from Department of Public Works, parks and Forestry salary accounts to parks and forestry expense accounts for contracted tree services. And I believe we have, uh, Ms. Pelas here to, uh, to address, uh, any questions. So, uh, with that I will defer to you.

▶ 1:57 Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you. Um, so this request is because our forestry foreman, which is a position that's fully funded for fiscal 26, um, he left the city for greener pastures, uh, a couple months ago. And we are trying to decide what the best course of action was. And with the uncertainty surrounding the override, um, we were hesitant to bring somebody else on. This is also, traditionally this has been a difficult role to fill, given the requirements for, um, somebody who's very knowledgeable in forestry, either with a associate's or bachelor's degree, or a certified arborist. Um, that's our preference. And they also require a CDL license. So, um, it's been a hard role to fill. And we thought rather than advertising going through a lengthy, uh, interview process, the best thing to do was to take half of the salary, so the portion for the July 1st through, uh, December 31st period, um, and convert that over to our contractual line item so that we can hire our on-call vendor who we already have under contract, um, to come out and help us get caught up on our trims and removals. Um, and then we can delay the decision on what to do about the actual position until after the override vote.

▶ 3:12 Devin Romanul: Great. Any questions from voting members of the committee? Council, Romanul. Oh, Thank you so much for the memo. It's, um, uh, very instructive. Um, I wanted to ask what the, uh, what the residents of the city of Melrose could expect in so far as, um, you know, differential in services from the, you know, full-time hire versus the contracting hire. Um, given that it'll be, you know, roughly part-time, um, sort of, that was my first question. And then the other was, um, what would be the kind of long-term impact of not filling this role if they, we don't have an appreciable difference in our fiscal outlook, say in FY 27, 28, um, by not having this role funded or not being able to fill this role, what, what could residents expect experientially?

▶ 3:54 Speaker 3: So when this role is not filled, we get very far behind in our trims and removals. Um, so I would envision if we were to have, uh, if we were to have to cut further for our fiscal 27 budget, we would likely try to fill this role and maybe leave something else unfilled. So I would think maybe we're not hiring into this role right away. Maybe we're, when somebody else leaves, maybe we're moving, um, that money into this role in the long term. I don't think it's a role that we can just live without. Um, we are already woefully behind on our trims and removals. And, uh, to answer the first question, the contractor will get a lot less done for $33,000 than a full-time employee would get done. Just because the contracted rates sure are, are much higher as they're with any outside services. Um, but, uh, expending this $33,000 on the contractor is much better than not expending it at all and getting further behind. Gotcha. So we think that this will pay for them to come in for a few weeks. It's certainly not six months worth of labor, but obviously they bring in a whole crew. So it's, um, and our, uh, certified arborist tree warden who's our division foreman in parks and forestry, he would oversee the work to make sure they were doing it to our normal standards. Correct.

▶ 5:16 Robb Stewart: Thank you very much. Okay. Any other questions from voting members?

▶ 5:22 Speaker 1: Any non-voting members? I do have two questions.

▶ 5:28 Robb Stewart: Okay. If you're only asking for half the money, what are you doing with the other half of the money?

▶ 5:35 Speaker 3: Well, if the override were to pass, I would envision that we would advertise the position and fill the position.

▶ 5:40 Robb Stewart: Okay. So you're, you're holding back for the override. And, um, we will determine what happens with that money if other circumstances occur, I would assume,

▶ 5:52 Speaker 3: Right. If the override didn't pass, then we'd have to reopen the discussion with the mayor's office and you know, what, what to do about that money if we needed a second transfer or if there was a different strategy.

▶ 6:03 Robb Stewart: Okay. And so the other question I had was the contractor, uh, you're bringing in to do the work, right? Mm-hmm. But I assume that this forestry person would oversee and make the decisions about the work, right? In other words, which trees need. So how's that being managed now?

▶ 6:20 Speaker 3: So we already have a list, um, in e gov we have the assessments that our tree warden would still be doing, and then he creates the removal list. So the way it works right now, if a resident says, I have a dead tree in front of my house, I need it removed. It doesn't go in as a removal, it goes in as an assessment. And then it's not until the arborist says this is a dead tree, it has to be removed, or this is a live tree, but it needs to be trimmed. And then he creates the trim list and the, um, removalist, the foreman who was formally in this role would also have done a portion of that work. Um, so by the time the, uh, pathfinder tree gets the list, it's already been fully vetted by our staff. And then he would oversee the trims to make sure they're being done, you know, they're not over trimming or doing something different than what we would envision. And then for the removals, it's pretty straightforward, they're taking down the tree safely.

▶ 7:16 Robb Stewart: Okay. And you got my note about the, the one tree, right?

▶ 7:19 Speaker 3: Yes. I put in a work order for it. Thank

▶ 7:21 Speaker 1: You. Thank you. What is the will of the committee motion to recommend?

▶ 7:27 Robb Stewart: Second, we have a motion to recommend by Counselor Romanoff seconded by Councilor Jamine under discussion. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay. This will be recommended in the full council. Thank you very much. That was the last I item and without objection. Um, the minutes. What's that? The minutes. Oh, oh, right. Oh, details. Uh, so without objection. Um, I will motion by unanimous consent to approve without reading the minutes from the August 18th finance committee meeting,