Department Budget Presentations

Transcript (~43 min @ 1:31)

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▶ 1:31 Mark Garipay: We are onto department budget presentations. First up, we got department 26 52 Recreation revolving account, and I think we have Frank Oliveri with us.

▶ 1:45 Mark Garipay: And Jim Donahue, chairman of the Parks, chairperson

▶ 1:48 Speaker 2: of the Parks Commission. Thank you. Floor's. Yours?

▶ 1:54 Speaker 3: Uh, hello everyone. Uh, Frank Ria. I'm the Director of Recreation. Um, just wanted to provide a quick recap on some of the activities this past year with the recreation department. Uh, we've had a full year of programming, uh, which is our typical offering. Um, we had about 6,000 participants in our programs this year. So that's some of that. Most of that is part paid participants, um, along with a lot of free community programming and events. Uh, we had about 60 scholarships or 60 plus scholarships given out this year, which was picked up by the recreation department. So no adult or child was turned away from any of our programming. We had over 300 community volunteers. We employed over 50 seasonal employees this past year. Um, mostly, uh, youth within our community or young or teens or early twenties, uh, with a lot of our programming. And it was a pretty successful year. Uh, this past year was our first time not having any funding from the city. Um, we're before you again tonight, requesting a $0 budget. Um, so it's, once again, we're gonna be allowing the recreation department department to be fully funded by our recreation revolving account. Um, that is because over the past decade plus, we've been able to build up a surplus in that account just from being conservative with our approach, but also continuing to expand our offerings. Um, it's really important to note that this is not a long term solution. That it's not just a, the rec department can take care of itself. It is a short term bandaid, um, because we are continuously pulling from that amount. So all of our salaries benefits, anything that we do, anytime we have to replenish equipment supplies, it's all coming outta that fund. Um, we believe we can cover again this year, but again, I, I really can't stress this enough that it is a short term solution. Um, typically our budget average is around $84,000. Um, so it's only about 15% of our budget. That's why we are, that 15% is the reason we're able to stay above and continue to offer our programs without asking for anything from the city. So, uh, with that, I dunno, Jim, if you have anything to add? Nope. I'm just here for support and then we're happy to answer any questions if anybody has any,

▶ 4:21 Speaker 2: Any questions from the council.

▶ 4:27 Devin Romanul: Council. Thanks so much. Um, did you say 6,000 participants or 2000 participants? 6,000. 6,000. That's incredible. Yeah. Um, how does that range in terms of, uh, what we typically see year over year?

▶ 4:38 Speaker 3: It's, it's fairly consistent and, and we've been steadily increasing year after year. Um, but it's, if you look from last year, it's a little bit up in the year from, that's a little bit up, but it's, it shows how the community does engage with our programming and it's one of the main ways that I, I feel at least that our community comes together. It's a way of pulling our community together. Yeah. Um, but it's, it's about 6,000 people Yeah. This past fiscal year that out and participated.

▶ 5:07 Devin Romanul: Fantastic. I know my, my kiddos are certainly beneficiaries of, of the work that you do, so I appreciate it. Um, I, I wanted to ask you stressed several times that this is a short term solution. How short term would you say, and at what point does $0 appropriation zero for years start to dramatically impact how you think about not only your yearly programming, but also your longitudinal planning? I have to imagine that that kind of financial uncertainty must impact how you think about infrastructure investments and, you know, personnel and, and that kind of thing.

▶ 5:36 Speaker 3: It, and you, it's, you're absolutely correct. That's exactly how we're approaching is like, you know, we're used to using the word shoestring budget in my profession, but this is beyond that. So we, we are doing everything we can to be creative and ration and reuse and pull from other resources in the community to try to keep that number from dropping as much as possible. Um, in terms of how long we can sustain it, I, I feel confident that we can do this fiscal year after this fiscal year. I, it's uncertain, could we get further in, could we go another six months? And then, I don't know, I don't, I've never been in this position. I've been in this role for 17 years and we've never been in this position before. But, um, I'm also proud that we're able to do it on another sense that we've positioned ourself to be able to fund ourself for a short term.

▶ 6:35 Speaker 4: Yeah. And I, I think, Frank, when you look at the, you know, the, you, you asked the question about the, you know, the numbers, the numbers have gone up, which is a reflection of the program, um, despite the, you know, having a zero budget is sort of maintained or actually continued to expand the offerings, um, during that time. And so I imagine that in the absence of that, we'd need to think about either the pricing differently and or the, um, meaning the pricing for the participants differently. Um, or, um, or more limited or different programs.

▶ 7:05 Devin Romanul: Well, we, we appreciate you managing a shoe stringless budget. Um, I hope the people of Melrose are aware that you cannot run very far without shoelaces, if I'm torturing the metaphor anymore. Thank you.

▶ 7:18 Speaker 2: Council Hamilton,

▶ 7:20 Ward Hamilton: Thank you. Thank you for being here tonight and thank you for all that you do, Frank, especially the last 17 years. Um, you know, the city owes you a debt of gratitude for everything that you've done. Um, not just for the youth, but for all the folks who benefit from the program. So thank you. It's appreciated and it's noticed. Thank you.

▶ 7:38 Speaker 5: Thanks.

▶ 7:41 Speaker 2: Anyone else? Council Stewart? Thank you Mr. Chair.

▶ 7:44 Robb Stewart: Thank you Mr. Olivar, Mr. Donoff for, for being here this evening. And, um, so I was looking at, um, hang on, my screen went blank for a second. I was looking at the revolving account numbers. I just wanna to stand them a little bit. Um, just gimme a second here. Come on.

▶ 8:06 Robb Stewart: There we go. So there's a balance of $584,000 as of 5 6 25, and then there's revenues of $415,000. Is that what was received for this fiscal year? Is that how I interpret that? What is that Revenues?

▶ 8:24 Speaker 3: Yeah. It's a, it is a great question. I'm, I'm happy to kind of explain how that works. Um, that, that is the revenue collected for the fiscal year. However, as, as many of you know, we collect funds upfront, right? So when you, we put a program out, the registration fee gets paid in advance. Mm-hmm. Then all those bills come due, right? So those expenses eventually hit. So like for right now, when we're looking at the amount in that fund, it also includes all of our summer revenue, which we've collected in this fiscal year, which is gonna get paid out. So I I, I know it's well over $200,000 that we've collected already for this upcoming summer. Right. So that, that makes the rec revolving budget look much more inflated at this point. 'cause summer's one of our biggest collection times, um, in terms of, you know, looking at it where it currently stands.

▶ 9:23 Robb Stewart: Right. Right. So I, so the differences about $170,000, right?

▶ 9:28 Speaker 3: I'm sorry, say that again? The, The

▶ 9:28 Robb Stewart: difference between the balance and the revenue that you received, according to this is about $170,000. So that's kind of your buffer is Can I interpret that?

▶ 9:37 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's even less than that though, because we still have a lot of spring expenses that are gonna be coming out and that that also doesn't include all the salary and wages that are also coming out of it. Mm-hmm. However, 'cause that's all coming out of the rec revolving.

▶ 9:54 Speaker 3: Um, but bless, bless you, bless you. Somewhere within, it's hard to nail down exactly, because there's always money coming in and out of the account. But I think that's a fairly close estimate if, if we wanted to go with that.

▶ 10:09 Robb Stewart: Sure. I, so the, I guess the, the, um, what I'm interested in is what is the gap, right? So in terms of dollars, how much money comes in and how much money has to go up and what is, what is the shortfall Oh, okay. That we have. That's kind of what I'm trying to get my arms around. I'm, I don't see it just based on these Sure.

▶ 10:29 Speaker 3: I, it's, it's, it's per year. It's pretty close to what we're requesting from the city. If I'm, if I'm understanding the question correctly, what

▶ 10:39 Speaker 4: Historically requested, right.

▶ 10:40 Speaker 3: Right. So at that, I want to say maybe three, four or five years ago, we requested a $20,000 increase because we weren't meeting, it was $64,000. It went up to $84,000. So it's, it's somewhere, depending on the fiscal year, it could be anywhere from 70 to a hundred thousand dollars is the buffer. But again, it's our, our expenses aren't solid because programs are constantly coming going. Some are more popular one year than others. So it's, it's kind of a influx. And we offer several hundred programs. So I want, it's 300 plus programs that we offer. So it's a complicated to give it ex a just giving that ballpark number is a little complicated.

▶ 11:29 Robb Stewart: Sure. Sure. Um, so is that 70 to a hundred thousand? Is that the total outlay that you need to do or is that the uh, the shortfall in the outlay?

▶ 11:40 Speaker 3: More of the shortfall. Okay.

▶ 11:41 Robb Stewart: So you are eating into your, uh, revolving fund at about 70 to a hundred grand a year if you go, don't receive any money?

▶ 11:50 Speaker 3: Correct. Okay. Alright. And that, that might fluctuate depending on, again, this is my first year actually going through this and I don't know exactly where we're gonna land. Yeah. So I don't, I just don't want to put that out there as Yes, that's the correct answer. 'cause I'm still a little uncertain. That's what we're still trying to determine,

▶ 12:12 Speaker 3: but that's a hundred thousand dollars a year might be what we're coming up short and what we're asking the revolving fund to try to cover.

▶ 12:21 Robb Stewart: Right, right. No, I get it. I get it. So I'm, I'm just, I'm just trying to get a handle on, you know, when do you hit insolvency and, um, and what would potentially be required to delay that insolvency if we start getting to that point? Sounds like we're not there yet. Uh, because, you know, you've got, the whole team runs a great program. Uh, I think it's a, a huge, um, factor in, in the, you know, just what we offer as a city. Uh, and this is something that I would, I think it makes sense as part of the council to support in what way we can. So that's why I'm trying to understand where we are and how, how urgent it is. Yeah. Um, and so, you know that I think what would help us if you came before us is lay out not just what this is, but where, where you are approaching that insolvent situation and you raise the flag if it's an issue. Right. Yep. Okay. Thank you. Yeah.

▶ 13:19 Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

▶ 13:22 Speaker 2: Anyone else? Can I

▶ 13:26 Mark Garipay: just ask a couple questions? Sure. On the revolving, uh, account, since it's off our budget now, we don't really see what your budget is, what your total expenses are. What is the recs department total expenses yearly, would you say?

▶ 13:44 Mark Garipay: I would say it's, that's kinda what, uh, council Stewart was looking, looking for. What, what, what's the total cost to run the rec department?

▶ 13:57 Speaker 3: I would say it is gonna be close and I, again, this, this will fluctuate, but I want to say ballpark number 550,000. If we weren't, if all the revenue wasn't coming back to support our department, the total expense would be somewhere around 550,000. Okay. Maybe it will, maybe a little north of that.

▶ 14:16 Mark Garipay: Is there any way that you could just kind of get us that number at the end of the fiscal year just so we can see where it compares to the revolving account? Um, and then when was the last time, this is not a, a great topic and people, when was the last time you raised pro uh, cost of the programs? We've raised, unfortunately we've raised user fees at the, in the schools. Some of the highest around, when was the last time the park commission or rec department looked at, um, increasing some of these costs? 'cause we are in tough times.

▶ 14:50 Speaker 3: We did a, we did a multi community assessment maybe three years ago. Um, there were most of our pro, a lot of our programs were on the lower end, which was wasn't a bad thing. So a lot of our programs did end up coming back and matching up what a lot of the other communities are doing. Right. It's not apples to apples in a lot of ways, but close enough. Uh, we've been steadily including a slight increase each year for each of those programs to try to keep those prices up to date with current costs. So it is, it is a built into our model now to, to include a small increase for each program year after year, rather than trying to make jumps every couple years. Mm-hmm. So that assessment really helped us figure out where that baseline was and what other communities were

▶ 15:39 Speaker 4: Doing. There was, and Frank can help me with the details on this one, um, I think about two months ago we did, um, have an increase in a select program in some select programs where there were increased insurance costs that we were gonna have. Is that right? So I think there were, um, you know, it's not necessarily, you know, there were, there was an increase in the need for Cory and some other, um, some other liability insurance, um, coverage. And as a result of that, we increase the fees to, uh, to cover that rather than, you know, create a, a deficit. Mm-hmm.

▶ 16:14 Mark Garipay: Yeah. And you said 6,000 children? We've, we've, uh, have been in the program throughout the course of the year.

▶ 16:21 Speaker 3: That's adults too. Adults, we, we have a lot of adults do our programming. Um, so it's, I would say two thirds is probably youth, maybe in three quarters is youth and the rest is adult programming. Yeah.

▶ 16:32 Mark Garipay: I'm just thinking that, you know, if we look at, and I know this is not, this is none of these decisions. We have to make a great decisions, but we also need to keep rec vi viable. Um, so I would, I would encourage you looking at that again, if we have 6,000 kids, I mean, you could cut into half of that potential loss. Yeah. With a little slight increase. But Yeah.

▶ 16:59 Speaker 2: President merely

▶ 17:01 Leila Migliorelli: Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just was wanted to clarify the, with the youth programs, um, so youth and here's youth basketball is still being run by rec or is there, there's, I know there's a travel team. I don't know, I just wanna clarify what's rec and what's not. And same thing with soccer. 'cause I think there's a little bit of Sure. Confusion in the community about that.

▶ 17:21 Speaker 3: There Is always, there's always confusion on that. Yeah. Um, for, for several, for the about 15 years, the rec department had absorbed the travel basketball in Melrose. Um, and during that time we put a real, a nice structure around it. Um, we were kind of limited on how we could exp they, they were looking for more expansion, but within our capacity we weren't able to do that. So the travel component did separate from us, but the in-house Melrose program, which is just our inner city week, um, is still under the recreation department. And so we still get over 800 kids in the wintertime that sign up and do our, our winter basketball. And that's where over 200 of our youth basketball coaches, parents, adults in the community that coach, so.

▶ 18:08 Leila Migliorelli: Okay. And so that's, that, um, is the only inner city, um, youth sports league. Right. Every, every other one is not managed through the rec department. Correct.

▶ 18:20 Speaker 3: We, we also run fall flight football, flag football. Okay. So that one comes through us almost like a user group. Like if you think of like Melrose Little League Melrose Youth Soccer. Yeah. So flag football, um, youth basketball. And then also, uh, youth field hockey. Okay. Comes through our, our department. Okay. Thank you. Yeah.

▶ 18:39 Speaker 2: Any other questions? Uh, council Vanderberg, uh,

▶ 18:42 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you, uh, appreciate you coming and speaking, uh, to us. Uh, the listening to the discussion was just making me think about the fees and who we charge fees across the city. Um, I know we've heard a lot about how the school department has very high fees and, and the parents in the community are facing fees for music and sports and drama and this and that and every single kind of activity. So I would encourage you, as you look at potentially at any point, raising fees to look at not the school aged children, but any other user groups in the city that may be slightly less hammered with fees right now. Just a suggestion. Thank you so much. Thank you.

▶ 19:25 Speaker 2: Anyone else? So, will of the committee, Mr.

▶ 19:28 Robb Stewart: Chair, I'll make a motion to move this item to the bottom line.

▶ 19:31 Speaker 2: Second, a motion to move the, uh,

▶ 19:35 Mark Garipay: department 2 6 5 2 recreation involving account bottom line by Council Stewart, seconded by counselor c*m machete. Um, on discussion. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? That bottom line is moved. Next up.

▶ 19:54 Mark Garipay: We have one more. 2, 6, 6 9. I I think you guys are all set. Right?

▶ 19:57 Speaker 3: I think we have to have the wreck revolving, uh, the wreck revolving reauthorized, unless

▶ 20:03 Mark Garipay: That will, that will happen, uh, later in appropriations. Um, I don't necessarily know that anyone else is gonna have any questions on just reauthorizing it, but if you're more than welcome to stay, but I would, I would think you're, you're good to go. We're good.

▶ 20:16 Speaker 3: Thank you. Thanks everybody. Okay. Thanks

▶ 20:18 Mark Garipay: Frank. Thank you. Uh, department 2, 6, 6, 9 parks permits revolving account. And we have, um, superintendent parks, Rob Carillo with us, and Mr. Donahue is with us too.

▶ 20:31 Speaker 6: Thank you. Uh, so brief overview of the parks department over last fiscal, um, installation of the gazebo and the fountain at El Pond. Um, skate park renovations, the lights at Fred Green as well as others, um, still overseeing over 30 parks, 50 adoptive sites, community gardens. Uh, the field rentals permits was about the same. I think it was five more than the last fiscal year. About 3,206 was the, the final number we had. Um, and our department per per permit fund is about the same, uh, roughly $12,000. Um,

▶ 21:08 Speaker 2: Thank you. Any questions from the council? Council Hamilton,

▶ 21:13 Ward Hamilton: Thank you. Thank you for being here and thanks for staying with us.

▶ 21:20 Ward Hamilton: Um, kind of an aside to what's going on, like with up at Mount Hood, uh, which is a tremendous success, um, our partnership there with Sagamore and the benefits the city has realized through that. I'm wondering if you could just speak briefly about that, if, if that is that appropriate or should I,

▶ 21:40 Speaker 2: I'm, I'm sorry.

▶ 21:42 Ward Hamilton: So I, I'd like to ask, uh, Mr. Carillo, uh, some questions about, I would ask him to speak to the successes at Mount Hood working with Sagamore and how we might see that model, um, applied to other city assets. Um,

▶ 21:58 Mark Garipay: You can ask if you wants to answer it, but he's gonna be with us with the Mount Hood Enterprise Fund. That's probably,

▶ 22:04 Speaker 5: Think about that. Thank you.

▶ 22:09 Ward Hamilton: Sorry about that Council. Not A problem. And thank you for all that you do for our city. Appreciate

▶ 22:13 Speaker 4: It. Yep.

▶ 22:15 Mark Garipay: Any other questions on department 2, 6, 6 9? What's the will of the,

▶ 22:23 Speaker 7: I would make a motion to, uh, to recommend no Move the bottom line To move to bottom line. Second,

▶ 22:30 Mark Garipay: We have a motion to move the bottom line of department 2 6 6 9 parks permits revolving account made by Vice Chair Jamal, and second by Council of V on discussion. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? That bottom line will be moved. Thank you very much Mr. Carillo. You'll be coming back up in a few minutes probably. Sounds good. Thank you. Next up, department 6 52, uh, pine Banks. We have, uh, Mr. Hank Keer with us today. And, um, Mr.

▶ 23:03 Mark Garipay: Rick Rudolph, a board member for Pine Banks

▶ 23:06 Speaker 2: and Melrose Rep.

▶ 23:14 Speaker 8: Thank you for inviting us here tonight. Uh, Mr. Rudolph, although not a resident of Melrose at this point, is a member of the class of 1967,

▶ 23:29 Speaker 8: that, uh, seniority, I have to, I have to defer to his opinion on many things, but he's a member of the board of, uh, pine banks because he's not a resident of either city and therefore, theoretically objective. But I don't think he's missed a marrow's football game since 68 that was in college playing football.

▶ 23:52 Speaker 8: Yeah. Um, I brought a copy of our annual report. Um, I believe the financials of our budget that we adopted have been forwarded to you previously, but the report has got some additional material with pictures of things that we've, uh, been doing. Part of the interesting thing in here is the resurfacing of the, uh, ball field, which was how to take off synthetic turf and take the infill, reuse it, and then put down new turf. Uh, and there are pictures of that. The pitchers mound now is made of concrete and is covered with artificial material, and we're informed that it's gonna be better to play baseball on. We're informed by people who are actually playing baseball. Uh, so that seems to be a good thing. They like that because there's no clay on the field anymore. And if it rains, uh, you can be on there in about two minutes.

▶ 24:59 Speaker 8: Um, page 10, we have a memoriam for, for Joan Bell. Um, she made our life an awful lot easier,

▶ 25:11 Speaker 8: uh, in, in how to run a park. What's a reasonable price for, uh, softball, I mean for soccer nets and where to buy them, um, and how to reasonably balance the interest of two towns in field usage. So we miss her. Rob's picked up and, uh, is doing a good job as our liaison.

▶ 25:37 Speaker 8: Um, but the picture there is a retirement party, which was,

▶ 25:43 Speaker 8: uh, last summer and she was taken too soon. Uh, there are also pictures of some of the events in the park on page 12.

▶ 25:57 Speaker 8: On the upper left is an embarrassing picture of, uh, the mirror of Malden, which we try to have at least once

▶ 26:05 Speaker 8: in, uh, in each year. Uh, there is a picture of a fish. We have it stocked so that there are fish in the pond. It's not a consumer fraud. There's a picture of a marrow boy who got a fish, which isn't big enough to eat, but there it is. Uh, fairy house day on 13 is something I had no idea about, but the children make little houses, put them in the woods and they see ferries dancing around them.

▶ 26:38 Speaker 8: And uh, the woman who brought that to us is Barbara Murphy. She used to be the Ward five counselor in Malden. And she's, she calls herself Mother Nature in this, but she's gone on to be the police commissioner for the City of Malden, and she's still gonna be doing Fairy house day for us. I'm not sure that she's changing her uniform.

▶ 27:02 Speaker 8: Um, the Bread of Life walk from October

▶ 27:08 Speaker 8: is there, um, ward five counselor Ari Taylor, uh, at a Halloween event, which is on page 15.

▶ 27:20 Speaker 8: And then on page 16 is Santa's visit, which was in December.

▶ 27:27 Speaker 8: And we have both mayors on page 16 on the bottom of that page, trying to induce Santa Claus to have a better appropriation for them budget, like,

▶ 27:40 Speaker 8: um, our Ward five counselor, Malden, Ari Taylor is in the upper left with her, uh, husband shown there in the picture. Um, and he died, gosh, I think it was March 20th, 47 years old. Jeff Taylor. I know if you, you've heard about that, but you have a loss like that in, in a town like Malden or Melrose. It's a, it's a big hit. And she's a, she's a good, she's got a daughter who's graduating from Malden Catholic this year. We're all concerned about how it's gonna go.

▶ 28:17 Speaker 8: So, uh, projects we've completed, we got the, uh, track res resurfaced. We got the, uh, baseball field, uh, resurfaced. That's from 2007. Uh, we got the a DA compliance upgrades on the dog park.

▶ 28:39 Speaker 8: Um, we've got, uh, some repairs done on the Syl Street lot 'cause of the ruts that are there. Uh, we're looking to, uh, continue on and resurface the Malden entrance parking lot. Oh, and we've got a new playground constructed that replaces one that was put in, in 1994 by the Adelaide Baird Foundation. And it's gotten a little bit long in the tooth. We planted, dedicate that, uh, for Joan. Uh, I got to know her mostly because of dedicating playgrounds, Franklin School, the, uh, Lincoln School. And we were involved in funding some of that with the foundation. Uh, and she seemed to know an awful lot about that sort of thing. Uh, and she was a big help to us.

▶ 29:32 Speaker 8: So, uh, what else have we got? Playgrounds. It's almost done. Oh. And someone's interested in pickleball.

▶ 29:43 Speaker 8: Um, we have some convenient space adjacent to two cemeteries. And I was told earlier that I can't make cemetery jokes, but just one more. I'm afraid it's gonna raise the dead if we put pickleball courts there. Sorry. Um, unfortunately where we're looking to put it, which is south of the rugby field parking lot is an area that is, uh, they call urban landfill, which means that merose used it as a dump until 58. Uh, I can remember going there with my parents. My father would bring my sister and me there Saturday, and the only regret was that he brought her home. But, uh, we would have to take out two feet of fill, dispose of it, put in clean fill, and then build the pickleball, port torts on top of that. And it's about 170,000 a piece. So it's, uh, for each one? For each one, yeah. Um, and that's without lights. Personally, my game might improve without, with, without the lights. But, um, that's, that's what we're looking at. And I think we've got space for three or four, but I think the price is gonna be the constraining issue. But it is something I know both communities want. We're looking at it. Uh, I've got a, I'm a lawyer and have a client who's trying to convert an old bed, bath and beyond up in Danver, and they're looking at putting pickleball courts on the inside there, uh, which would be great for January and February cash flow. And they'd have every baby boomer in the county looking to play there.

▶ 31:31 Speaker 8: Um, if the sound insulation on the structure is an issue.

▶ 31:37 Speaker 8: But, um, that's about where we are. And if I can answer any questions and anything I can't answer, I'm gonna defer to my, uh, senior.

▶ 31:50 Speaker 5: Okay. Do you want to mention anything about Brian?

▶ 31:52 Speaker 8: Um, oh, we have a new superintendent named Brian Mulin. He came on in September

▶ 32:00 Speaker 8: and everything's very successful so far. Um, he comes out of the Cambridge Parks department. He knows all about fields and maintenance and turf and grass, and he's had trade

▶ 32:15 Speaker 8: groups come in and look at what we're doing at Pine Banks, and they're all jealous.

▶ 32:21 Speaker 8: So he's good. He would be here tonight, um, but is, he's got a medical emergency in the family. So with regrets.

▶ 32:35 Speaker 2: Um, questions from the council. Councilor Williams.

▶ 32:39 Ryan Williams: Hello. Thank you both for being here. Um, I wanted to, I, we've started using pine banks, my family and I more frequently because our kids are getting older and doing more sports. And I wanted to throw out a suggestion that when you're thinking through capital projects, at some point in the future, you might think about accessible walkways between fields and also between the, um, The Melrose entrance that, that road that winds around over to the other parking lot is another space where, say a person on the sidewalk entering from the public right of way, which is pretty common, um, would have to kinda either walk in the grass or walk on that street, which is fairly narrow for, for two cars and a person to walk on. So it can be pricey, but there are, I think, um, certainly we get grants for sidewalk work as a city. And I think that, that the park could probably get grants from the Commonwealth for the sidewalk work as well. So just think about it when you're doing your capital projects. And I wouldn't worry too much about the cemetery. It's a very popular place. I've heard people are just dying to get in there. Thank

▶ 33:48 Speaker 8: You. You told me I couldn't.

▶ 33:52 Speaker 2: Council Vandiver.

▶ 33:54 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you. Um, one question and, and one comment. Um, the question is, I, I remember a few months ago we heard about some lead that was, found routine testing in the area, and there was some lead found. It was, um, I believe corded off. And I wanted to understand if there's any, um, what, what the, the ongoing situation there is any remediation, anything to that effect?

▶ 34:19 Speaker 8: Well, we addressed the remediation necessary for the initial problem.

▶ 34:28 Speaker 8: Um, the question of what to do there, that's where the, uh, cross country trail comes down on off mount from and runs right through the middle of that. Um, the CrossCountry trail's getting an awful lot of positive comments from, from different schools. And, uh, so it's a, we don't want to lose that trail. Um, the lead that is there, uh, is above what's permitted. The remediation, I believe, is gonna require taking out two feet and putting in clean fill. The question has come up or the answer, the potential answers to put another pickleball court there, uh, or basketball or something. Um, I'm not sure how the Sylvan Street folks are gonna feel about a pickleball court there, but, um, we're looking at it and don't have an answer long term. The short term is that it's fenced off with a sign saying, don't come in here. Um, I think the amount of lead that's in that soil is probably the same amount of lead that you'd find around an old Victorian home in Melrose, because that's what they used to use for paint and it just goes down there.

▶ 35:45 Speaker 8: But that's, um, it's about where it is.

▶ 35:47 Kimberly Vandiver: Okay, thank you. Um, is that, and I know there was, it was found as part of routine testing. Is that done throughout pine banks or only near the, the playing areas or

▶ 35:59 Speaker 5: Like that? No, that was, that was there because that was a dump Uhhuh. That was when we, the trees that were in there were falling over. Uh, and

▶ 36:14 Speaker 5: because was when I was a kid in all roads, everyone had a 55 gallon dump that you burned your rubbish.

▶ 36:23 Speaker 5: And then ash cans, that's how they got their name. They would come by and pick up the ashes and dump it down to pine banks in that area. So we had cans, bottles, uh, and a lot of ash, and that's what caused the lead mercury, whatever. Uh, and the, uh, DEQE is always over our shoulder, making sure that we're making it safe. And, you know, my granddaughter plays down there and probably a lot of your kids and grandchildren do as well. And I wouldn't have that if that, if it was a dangerous situation. 'cause Pine banks was, that's where I played my little league and,

▶ 37:19 Speaker 5: and, uh, it, uh, has a, has a very dear place in my heart.

▶ 37:24 Kimberly Vandiver: Absolutely. Absolutely. Um, thank you. That's, that's helpful. Um, and then the other comment I wanted to make is also to appreciate, um, the partnership you have with, um, the Boston Outdoor Preschool Network. Um, for the last couple of years. Um, my daughter started attending there. It's wonderful. The kids are, you know, ex excuse me, exploring all over and, and going on adventure hikes and playing in the rain, playing in the cold. So they love it. And they're very happy to be there.

▶ 37:51 Speaker 8: You've got a child there? I do. I do. She's, I, it, it's, it's amazing. They're outside in January, February, and Ari Taylor's, I think got a child there too. Yes. Yeah. But, uh, it's a very interesting group they've got there that we're trying to support them as much as we can. We get bought a storage shed for them. Mm-hmm. So

▶ 38:12 Kimberly Vandiver: Yeah, it really, it builds resilience in the kids. And, uh, a few weeks ago we went to a birthday party. It was a little bit rainy, and my husband and I were saying, should we go? It's kind of rainy. It's at a playground. And my daughter said, don't worry. Put on your rain gear. Let's go. Because that's what they do. They put on the rain gear, they go play. So I love it.

▶ 38:28 Speaker 9: Thank you. Yeah.

▶ 38:30 Speaker 2: Councilor Hamilton, thank you. Thank

▶ 38:32 Ward Hamilton: You, Mr. Keer and Mr. Rudolph For being here. Uh, I think we all appreciate what you're doing. I especially appreciate what you do in maintaining and growing pine banks into the asset that, uh, the jewel that it's for this city and from Alden. Um, and I share memories. I won't bore people with the old mower stuff. I'm sorry. No, no, no. You've, you hit the, it's not a criticism. I could, you and I could talk forever about this stuff, but Yeah. Yeah. Um, pine banks, I, I will share one memory. I think one of my oldest memories from I could have been one or two years old is, you know, the petting zoo

▶ 39:12 Ward Hamilton: and the playground and then, you know, later Pop Warner and, and all that good stuff. So, um, thank you for everything that you do. I do have, um, a couple questions that are very specific, um, around the pickleball courts. And thank you for the information that you shared tonight. In June of 2023, this city appropriated just over 34,000, um, towards the development of pickleball courts at Pine Banks. Can you speak to what, if any of that money has been spent or encumbered what it's been spent on?

▶ 39:44 Speaker 8: Oh, it's still, it's still there. It's still to be part of the, uh, the construction costs.

▶ 39:51 Ward Hamilton: Um, did the City of Malden also make a contribution?

▶ 39:56 Speaker 8: Yes. Yeah. That would've been a type three expense, capital expense. And those are split between the, the two cities. So we send a requisition to, to carrier or to Patrick, and they'd have sent us the, uh, the check at that time, and Malden did the same thing.

▶ 40:13 Ward Hamilton: It would be the same amount. Yeah. Okay. Um, I think you've answered a bunch of other questions that I had just in your presentation. Uh, for all the, the, the folks that are very enthusiastic about bringing pickleball to pine banks. I understand completely the challenges that you've described, and it's more on, it's almost all unknowns at this point. Do you have even a, a rudimentary timeline as to what, how you think things will go forward?

▶ 40:46 Speaker 8: Uh, well, we still have the, the, the funds from the Baird Foundation available set up as a revolving line of credit, like a construction loan. So we've gotten through the first phase, which are the, the fields and the playground and the a DA. So we'll look at the budget on that, uh, and see how much fields, how many fields we can build. Right. Um, you know, I,

▶ 41:12 Speaker 8: I think four fields would be nice, but, you know, that's a big chunk of change and we could do it over years. And we may come back next year and say, well, we bought, we built two and we'd like to build two more if you'd like to help us with that. Right. Um, the thing about the revolving line of credit with from the foundation is that it's made our planning an awful lot easier than trying to fit it into the cycle of municipal funding and budgeting. Um, so if we can get it done, you know, it's not being, it's not being tied to a fiscal year. Um, so that planning is in place now. We just got warranty information on the baseball field and the a DA work today, so they're gonna be submitting a final bill and we'll see where we are on that.

▶ 42:03 Speaker 5: Great. Thank you. I appreciate everything you do. Thanks, sir. Council, do it. Yeah. Mr.

▶ 42:11 Mark Garipay: Chair, I'd make a motion to, uh, item to the bottom line. Second, we have a motion to move the, the bottom line of department 6 5 2 pine banks made by Council Stewart, seconded by Councilor Machete on discussion. Um, I just had one comment regarding more or less the pickle balls. It's probably one of the, um, biggest suggestions that we hear as counselors from our residents. So any, any, I would encourage, anything we can do to try to, to move that along would, uh, would be great, especially for the residents of Melrose.

▶ 42:43 Speaker 5: Uh, the, uh, last time I was here, uh, it was dog parks and we've done that. We've got a large dog dog park and a small dog, dog park. Now we have, both of them are a DA because we had complaints that people with disabilities weren't able to break, take their dog down to the park. Yep. So we have the proper ramp. It's been paved over so we don't have to worry about a washout. It's not just dirt, it's paved ramp going down with the, I forget what the, uh, incline, the incline has to be, but it's, it's all a DA approved. They were there. They make sure everything is, uh, is up to spec. And, uh, we like it that way.

▶ 43:34 Speaker 8: Thank you. The complaints that we get on the dog park now are for the lack of water. Uh, so we're thinking about putting out a, a pereg dispensary. Um, but uh, you know, the only answer to that really is to have a water line from Sylvan Street come in and make the provisions. But otherwise folks seem happy with it. Yep.

▶ 43:57 Mark Garipay: Um, anything. Yeah, I appreciate that. Anything we can do, um, just to try to move some pickleball courts, that'd be great. Um, councilor Rome,

▶ 44:07 Devin Romanul: Just very quickly, I'll say, um, I want to, I appreciate my, my colleague counselor Hamilton, asking a couple of questions that I had about the financing the pickleball courts, because Ward seven was home to a couple in, uh, FO Park, um, that are no longer with us. And it was of great interest to many folks in our neighborhood. So, um, you know, there was a lot of excitement generated about having them made, uh, stay in Ward seven. So anything we can do to help, uh, look forward to working with you,

▶ 44:31 Speaker 8: It's, it's a tough sport.

▶ 44:34 Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. Anyway, thank you very much.

▶ 44:37 Mark Garipay: Thank you. Um, so that was on discussion. Anyone else on discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? That bottom line will be moved. Um, we have a full council meeting's supposed to start at 7 45. Do you think we, um, can shoot for, uh, mountain Hood Enterprise Fund

▶ 44:57 Speaker 2: or how do you guys, uh, take a little suggestion here.