Appointment of Mike Festa, 127 Boston Rock Road, to the Melrose Elderly & Disabled Taxation Fund Committee

Transcript (~9 min @ 11:40)

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▶ 11:39 Kimberly Vandiver: The next, uh, item on our agenda is, uh, ID number 1 2 6 3 4, the appointment of Mike Fea, 1 27 Boston Rock Road to the Melrose Elderly and Disabled Taxation Fund Committee. Madam Mayor.

▶ 11:52 Jen Grigoraitis: Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, so continuing with our highly qualified nominees for this, um, I believe Mr. Festa likely leaves likely needs no introduction. Um, he is a longtime Melrose resident, has raised his family here. He has served on this body. He's a former city counselor. He is our former state rep. He is the former executive director of the Office of Elder Affairs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. And he's the former state director for A A RP Massachusetts. Um, so he brings, I would argue, an in-depth knowledge of this community of Melrose, as well as serving the needs of older residents at both a macro and micro level. Um, he is also just one of the kindest people you'll ever meet. Um, and he has offered to get back in, get back, engaged in local government after a little bit of a hiatus. Um, so I'm really thrilled to have him offering his personal experience, his knowledge of constituent services, his deep knowledge of policy around assisting elderly, um, residents. And, um, for those of you that are considering attending the Urban Garden Tour, you can also meet his goats. Um, so he brings a real broad range of, um, experiences and interest to this role. So thank you for being here. Well, Thanks for that really cool introduction. Um, so if I may, Madam Chair, just a quick comment. I, the first time I was in this chamber

▶ 13:14 Speaker 4: was in 1974 in January when I was sworn in as a school committee member. Still arguably picking my nose and just barely outta diapers. But, uh, I love this place. I I love the city. I actually have lived in Merose since I was born, uh, same house for 62 years. And, um, you know, I take Merose very seriously. I take the quality of life and the, and the community. And I would just speak to two things. First of all, counselor, I thought your question was superbly on point, and I wanna meet that question with an answer. Um, the mayor and I have talked about this, uh, you know, really briefly, and there's a lot more discussion to be had. But I think the key is raising the awareness of the citizenry, of Melrose, of the opportunity for them to, for those who are able to, to contribute to this fund. I mean, a lot of times, and I've found this in all of my years of experiences, uh, raising awareness is half the battle. You know, people will say all the time, oh my God, I had no idea. So this is one of those funds that's like, oh my God, I had no idea. Now, the other thing I would say that's really important, and it's kind of sobering, but it's true in the roles I've played recently, certainly with a RP and at, at Elder Affairs, there's a lot of economic insecurity in this city. And, you know, we're a wealthy state. We're a relatively wealthy city. But UMass Gerontology did a study not too long ago that said that six outta 10 seniors over 60 are economically insecure to some degree, that their income is less than their basic requirements of, you know, living. And, and, and that's primarily 'cause of the cost of living. Um, so there's a lot of need. And I think, as I said to the mayor, you know, for me in my background, I have a, uh, heightened sensitivity to the need for confide confidentiality 'cause of I'm a lawyer and, uh, I respect that concern. And, but the other is just the aspect of raising consciousness. And let's see if we can take that fifth five to make it 50. And, you know, and know that it comes from the generosity of people who say, what can I do to help? And that doesn't need to be a lot, but certainly we know there are thoughtful and generous people in the city that might want to do something along these lines if they're made aware of it. So those are my thoughts. And I am a recovering politician, so I could talk longer, but I'm not going to bless you. Have questions. Thank you. Any, any questions from the committee?

▶ 15:47 Manjula Karamcheti: No. I just wanna say thank you for your years of service and continued years of service. Um, and I thought you did a great job answering counselor steward's questions. So excited for the whole committee to sort of be in action and build that awareness. 'cause I think you're so right. People wanna help and oftentimes they don't know how to help. And it sounds like you all are gonna make people aware of what the issues are, but also how to support our community.

▶ 16:17 Speaker 4: Yeah. Good. And by the way, I just, I talked to Gail, who's reminded me more than once she's gonna chair this committee, uh, Gail and Ferna.

▶ 16:26 Speaker 4: Oh, little fact. This is a known fact that has to be put out on the table. I was the one who, a long time ago, walked from my house to her house and said, you gotta run for Ward Alderman. We need an alderman. So I'm to blame, uh, I'll take credit. But anyway, she's chairing and we have talked, and I want you to know that, I think that's part of it too, is that we are really focused on we gotta create regs, or not regs, but we have to certainly create guidelines as to how to apply, um, in a thoughtful way. You know, what we need to do. But it is raising, to me, the emphasis has to be on 5,000. You know, that's not very much money. It's not our fault as such, but I, I do think we can change that.

▶ 17:08 Kimberly Vandiver: Councillor Pinocchio,

▶ 17:09 Speaker 2: Sorry, I just wanted to say thank you for stepping up in Sure. For Lisa. And we're good to hear from Gail. But I think I, you know, you're speaking our language

▶ 17:16 Cal Finocchiaro: because ultimately we need an override in the city. But the major concern is, you know, the elderly population and disabled, and I think that's like 20% of our population in Melrose is 65 plus, so mm-hmm. It's not a small number. So anything we can do to help 'em is like number one priority for me anyways. So, and I think the rest of our body shares that

▶ 17:40 Speaker 4: Sentiment. So anyway. Yeah. And all of that, I, I don't wanna get off to a tangent, but it is important to acknowledge that in the face of needing an override and in the face of Macro challenges with finances in the city, um, we have to make a convincing case in every respect. And for the seniors who are not able to afford the current tax bill, uh, the prospect of spending more is always daunting. And so we've gotta get a message out that says, you know, for those of you who really are in that place, hopefully there will be ways to mitigate that, that pain. And at the same time, recognizing that there are a lot of people who, you know, uh, again, might very well contribute to the fund mm-hmm. Or in a different situation, assuming their 401k come back.

▶ 18:26 Cal Finocchiaro: And just, I have a question for you. Mm-hmm. Um, mayor, um, Jen, the, this commission has been around, I mean, this fund has been around, correct? Yeah.

▶ 18:34 Speaker 4: Since 2018. Correct. It just hasn't been,

▶ 18:36 Jen Grigoraitis: It hasn't been staffed. So these three commissions had never had to, to, based on the records that we can find, okay. Going back to the early two thousands that there was never anyone appointed to them. Now I think some of that was the dollar amounts were probably mm-hmm. You know, to your point, um, it's a lot of work to create, um, you know, thresholds and processes for $5,000. So I think it's, the hope is that you all are doing both the external facing work of really informing people about this fund. I think we all in our world as electeds, are gonna need to be doing the encouraging people to, um, donate since these folks will be considered, um, public employees and have to be a little careful about that. Um, but then also building what the process is gonna be internally. And the other two members by state statute are, um, our treasure collector, Catherine Armada, and our assessor Sarah McClellan. So there'll be some in-house expertise from City Hall as well.

▶ 19:25 Cal Finocchiaro: Well, I just wanna say thank you because I think this is important. You know, I know we all appreciate it, but, you know, to have these funds kinda sitting there now we can build it up, do something with it. So just wanna say thank you for getting this going. You're

▶ 19:38 Kimberly Vandiver: Welcome. Um, I know this is a topic we're all keen on and I saw two more hands. Um, we also do have another meeting we need to try to get into. So if we can keep the comments a little bit brief. Um, councilor Stewart, I was just going to suggest that, you know, he seems to be barely qualified, so, so I was gonna make a motion to recommend Madam Chair. I'll second. Okay. Motion to recommend Councilor Stewart, second vice chair Carrum Shady. And on discussion, president Elli, did you have something to add?

▶ 20:05 Leila Migliorelli: Yes. Thank you. I'll be quick. Thank you. Mr. Fea. Uh, just a quick question. This, it occurred to me this voluntary donation program and like the other ones, are there opportunities for people to donate outside of like, just checking a box on their tax bill like they could send in? Correct?

▶ 20:20 Jen Grigoraitis: That's a great question. So there is an ability to do it on the city website through, um, the, the treasurer collectors, um, section of the website. We can get you all that link. It's not the most intuitive thing. There are a lot of regulations around our ability to process fees and payments on a website. So it's probably not as easy as folks would like it to be. But there is an ability to do it outside of your regular tax bill. And if you choose to pay your tax bill online, which saves us money on paper, um, you can also do it that way as well. Great question. Thank you. Thank you.

▶ 20:50 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you. Okay, so we have a motion on the table. Um, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? So that will pass, that goes to the, uh, full council with a recommendation for passage. Thank you so much. Oh God. Savage grilling. Thank You. So we have two more, three more items on our agenda. Thank you. Um, ID number, uh, 1 2 6 3 5.