Renewal of the Inter-Municipal Veterans Service Agreement Among The City of Melrose, The Town of Wakefield and The Town Of Saugus

Transcript (~6 min @ 1:17:35)

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

▶ 1:17:30 Mark Garipay: That order will get sent to the city council with the recommendation for passage. Uh, next. Thank you, Ms. McAteer. Margolis. Enjoy wherever you are. Uh, ID 1, 2, 3 2 7. Next up, renewal of inter municipal Veteran Service Agreement among the city of Melrose, the town of Wakefield in the town

▶ 1:17:56 Speaker 6: of SGAs, uh, Ms. City Solicitor.

▶ 1:17:58 Speaker 8: Great. Thank you. I'll be happy to speak to that. So, this order before you now is requesting City Council's approval for the mayor to enter into an intermi agreement with the towns just mentioned for a shared veteran services district. Um, our records show the shared district has actually existed since at least 2012. Uh, but the formal agreement has been expired for a number of years and was never renewed. So we wanna get up to date and in line with current practices of the district. Um, under Chapter 40, section four A, the mayor can only enter into interm municipal agreements with approval and authorization of the city council, which is why this is coming before you tonight. Um, so the agreement involves just generally the municipality sharing the costs associated with the district. Specifically the veteran services director who oversees all three towns, uh, veteran services programs. So that includes shared salary. Um, we recoup money from sagas and Wakefield for health insurance, unemployment, workers' comp, life insurance, Medicare. So it's, it's truly a shared, uh, employee. This veteran services director. Um, each community pays for their own, um, veteran services. It's called assistant that sits below the director. I, I don't have the exact title in front of me, but each one has three, and then they all have their own admins. Um, so again, um, so with the new director now in place, we just wanted to make sure that, um, the agreement was current. We have all the current practices represented, and we have the best agreement that would work, we think for all three communities today. We do have an expiration of June 26th, so we plan to review it again before then. Since we do have a new director. We just want to make sure we're gonna review it, um, soon so that we know it's working as we've now, um, proposed.

▶ 1:19:37 Speaker 6: Thank you. Um, council Jamal.

▶ 1:19:41 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Um, thank you. Um, um, Ms. Um, uh, ster and, and now, um, I would like to ask if, um, every, each city or town would be sharing equally, um, you know, their share from salary and or hours, uh, for this position, or would it varies from one to another,

▶ 1:20:05 Speaker 8: Um, through the chair? Yes. So we did define, um, do we have the hours? So we have office hours should be staffed no less than four days per week at six hours per day for each location. So we've sort of left it up to the agreement, not referenced in here because it would be subject to change for the director to ship the schedule equally between the three communities. Um, but the others, so the VSOs, um, my understanding is they sit full time in one of the communities. So there's one in each community, and then there's admin staff that sits in the community. So really just the director is the one that's floating among the three.

▶ 1:20:40 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. And, um, would it be the same, uh, salary share in terms of each town or city would pay equally? The others or one would pay different?

▶ 1:20:53 Speaker 8: So the only shared would be the director? Yes. The VSO is gonna be, each town pays their own VSO separately.

▶ 1:21:02 Maya Jamaleddine: I understand, but for the director position. Oh, yes. Each one, uh, each three or town would be paying equally,

▶ 1:21:08 Speaker 8: Correct. One third.

▶ 1:21:10 Maya Jamaleddine: One third. Mm-hmm. And, um, and this has been happening for years, so we are not going to notice any changes in to, in terms of the budget, in terms of anything we've been doing this four year. Correct. Okay. Okay. Thank you.

▶ 1:21:26 Mark Garipay: Uh, council ra? I'm, I'm good actually.

▶ 1:21:32 Speaker 6: Okay. Any other councilors can ask? What Council Williams? Um, you

▶ 1:21:35 Ryan Williams: Say this has been going on for a number of years, but not with a contract. Is

▶ 1:21:40 Speaker 8: That We have a contract that's been, we've been acting in accordance with its terms. I see, I see. Yes. Okay. So it's, it's been being followed, but we wanna get an up-to-date one. Yeah.

▶ 1:21:47 Ryan Williams: Very good. Um, I have one question about the retirement. Um, so the district director, the shared employee, is a member of the Melrose Retirement System. Correct. When this person retires, which is, you know, a long time from now, I hope, um, we assess at that time, Saugus and Wakefield a share of the cost of the pension plan, like a one-time cost, an ongoing cost. And are we confident that this contract will survive into the future when this person potentially retires? Or is there a potential, you know, fight down the road for, uh, for this?

▶ 1:22:23 Speaker 8: Um, I, I can't predict that. Um, I don't see there being a fight on this currently. I think it's existed for a number of years and it's been working among the three communities. So that's all I can speak to. Okay.

▶ 1:22:35 Speaker 6: Thank you Councilor Stewart?

▶ 1:22:37 Robb Stewart: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I motion to, uh, recommend this order to the full council. Second.

▶ 1:22:45 Mark Garipay: Second Order was, uh, recommended by Councilor Stewart, seconded by Councilor Romanul on discussion. Mr. Clark, can you please call the role? Yes.

▶ 1:22:59 Speaker 4: Counselor Vro. Yes. Counselor Hamilton? Yes. Counselor Karen Chetty? Yes. President Melli? Yes. Counselor Reky? Yes. Counselor Romanul? Yes. Counselor Stewart? Yes. Counselor Vve? Yes.