Department Presenter 543 Veterans 611 Library 541 Council on Aging 211 Police 155 Information Technology 300 Schools 401, 402, 422, 433, 475, 485, 491 Department of Public Works 152, 911, 914, 916, 942 Human Resources, Employee Benefits, Pension/Retirement

Transcript (~1 h 46 min @ 29:25)

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

▶ 27:57 Jen Grigoraitis: There are... The capital projects that are listed have all been previously identified through public processes, most notic- Recording in progress. ... most noti- most notably the Capital Improvement Plan, which was last produced in 2022. Um, I want to highlight that the high school bathroom renovation has been a project that has been ready to go but lacking a funding source for at least the past three years. It is the only remaining project in our top 10 most needed capital projects that we have not yet been able to fund. Um, you also see projects like the Howard Street speed tables, which we've previously applied for and been unsuccessful in obtaining grant funding for, and lighting at the Milano Center, which was actually funded through a state earmark, which was then reduced in a previous state budget cut. So, we are really focused on bringing back what was taken away within the confines of the question. Also, just to frame the role of the City Council, which I know you all know, this is part one of this process, which is to move money back into department lines. Under state law, the school department will hear a presentation from the superintendent at a later date to then determine how money moved into the bottom line of the school committee. School budget will be appropriated within that line. So, you know, we've got to move through things in order. That's where we are. Um, this, the timeline is being driven by setting our tax rate on December 1st because we need to know what is the total budget in order for us to produce tax bills. Um, so I know you will then hear from department heads who can answer more specific questions, but I just wanted to provide that high-level overview and again just say what a pleasure it is to be here tonight and how grateful I am to this community for helping us move things forward.

▶ 29:33 Speaker 4: Thank you.

▶ 29:35 Speaker 2: Thank you. That's it?

▶ 29:36 Mark Garipay: Yeah. Good? Do you need anything? All right. (laughs) All right, moving on. We're gonna hit, uh- First up is Department 543, Veterans. And we have Director of Veteran Services, Tami Shovelton with us. I think this is your first time in front of us for a budget presentation.

▶ 29:55 Speaker 4: It is. Hello everyone.

▶ 29:56 Mark Garipay: Welcome. Thank you. And I'll hand it over to you.

▶ 30:00 Speaker 4: Okay. So my department is asking for $30,000 to be put back into the budget for outreach, events, and commemoration program support.

▶ 30:13 Speaker 2: Any... Councilor Williams.

▶ 30:15 Speaker 3: Can you, can you be just a little more specific?

▶ 30:18 Speaker 4: Um, absolutely. So for outreach, (microphone static) there are several things that we want to do. Uh, one of the first things we really need, re- really need to do with the budget override, um, the Veterans Department itself has its own tax write-off program. And I want to make sure that I can get veterans together at different, um, events between January and March so that they can understand, um, what the tax override program for veterans is and how they can, um, participate in it. Because I know a lot of our veterans are older and they are worried and, but, but they're not quite old enough for the Council on Aging- Hmm. ... Tax Write-Off program, and so I know it's going to be really important to them that they have the availability to, um, participate in the tax write-off as well. So we'll be doing some outreach with that. I also want to have some coffee chats on Saturdays where people who are working during the day that are veterans can come to as well, because I think it's very important, um, that we hear from as many veterans as possible within Melrose to really find out what they're lacking and what they're needing and how we can best support and help them. And so we'll need to have some different events in order to be able to do that. Um, we'll need to publish them and, and market them and things like that. Um, so that (microphone static) , in terms of events, every year we do, um, our big events are Veterans Day and Memorial Day, um, so we'll need funding to help with that. Um, part of what we do also, um, is provide flags for all, for the whole municipality. So right now, we don't have any backup flags, so if a flag is tattered, we have to order it, then we have to wait for it to come, and then it can take a couple of weeks, and nobody wants that. So I'm hoping to be able to buy enough flags that we will have a supply on hand so that when there is a problem, we can just very easily grab a flag and put it up and not have to wait because nobody likes when the flags look terrible. So those are just some of the things.

▶ 32:08 Ryan Williams: Um, and obviously, Memorial Day is in fis- this fiscal year. It is. Right. Um, so I assume that there will be a lot of costs encumbered by that. Are you carrying any sort of

▶ 32:20 Ryan Williams: (clicks tongue) costs that, like contracts or expenses that you have been holding and that this is going to go towards, things that are more retroactive, or is it all forward-looking for the rest of, of the fiscal year?

▶ 32:30 Speaker 4: I th- I think the only thing we've probably been holding is, is the purchasing of, of flags- I see. ... which can be very expensive. Okay. Um, but, so I think most of it is just forward moving. These are Like, we haven't done any outreach, and so I think, you know, we put a pause on that, so that would be one thing.

▶ 32:44 Speaker 3: And these are the big flags.

▶ 32:45 Speaker 4: These are, right, so the- Yeah. ... flags can be, um, anywhere from like the three by five flags up to, like, the six by eight flags.

▶ 32:52 Speaker 3: Yeah. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate it.

▶ 32:54 Mark Garipay: Thank you, Councilor Williams. Councilor Jamaleddine?

▶ 32:56 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Um, thank you for, um, joining us tonight. Um, we are excited that the Veterans, uh, Department, eh, ha- is included in the supplemental budget. I am excited. Um, where are you going to hold those events?

▶ 33:13 Speaker 4: So my hope is to hold those events at Memorial Hall, um, po- potentially at the Milano Center. Um, I don't believe we have any, any spaces here in ci- City Hall that would be big enough, so my- ideally, I'd like to be able to hold them either in Memorial Hall or at the Milano Center.

▶ 33:29 Maya Jamaleddine: Yes, and, um, how many do we have? Like approximate number of these, of the, um, veterans that we're serving?

▶ 33:36 Speaker 4: We serve approximately 680 veterans in the city of Melrose.

▶ 33:41 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. And, um, is, are these events and, uh, like the budget that you're requesting right now, supplemental budget, is going to be, um, inclusive in moving forward? Or is this something just specific for this year?

▶ 33:57 Speaker 4: No. Moving forward, the idea would be to continually have, um, coffee chats at minimum of once a month and meeting with the veterans as much as we can. Anytime anything new comes out of City Hall or the state or the federal government that we need to update, um, veterans or veteran-adjacent veterans' spouses, Gold Star, um, spouses about so that they know, we want to be able to have an event so we can bring them together so we can get everything situated. Um, one of the big things we have with a, a slightly older group of veterans is they have a very hard time, like, accessing, um, their benefits online, getting the paperwork that they need, and so I really would like to have a class where I can bring them together and help them to sign up and put their passwords down so that they can easily access the things that they need. Because, um, if they need something for tax purposes or for, even for just for a discount, they, they often have a hard time. So I want to have, you know, do things that is gonna benefit, benefit the whole community.

▶ 34:58 Speaker 5: Awesome. Thank you.

▶ 35:01 Cal Finocchiaro: (clicks tongue) Thank you for being here. I just wanted to say, I'm excited to see this line item as well, and part of me would like it to be a little bit more (laughs) so you could do more for the veterans. Um, but I just want to make a motion to approve or recommend or...

▶ 35:15 Mark Garipay: Motion to move, move the bottom line. Move the bottom line. (laughs) Second. So we have a motion to move the bottom line of d- department 543, Veterans O- I'm sorry, Veterans Service, Veterans, um, in the amount of $30,000 made by Councilor Finocchiaro, seconded by President Migliorelli. On discussion, all in favor? I. Opposed? That bottom line will be moved. Thank you very much.

▶ 35:43 Speaker 4: Thank you. Have a good night.

▶ 35:44 Mark Garipay: You too. Next up, we have Department 611, Library. We have, uh, Director Gardner with us.

▶ 35:53 Speaker 2: Welcome. Thank you. Good to see you.

▶ 36:01 Speaker 1: So we have, um, the two items on the library budget. One is funding to reopen on Sundays, which we were not able to do this year. We traditionally reopen on Sundays right after Labor Day. Um-And the other, as has been mentioned, is for programming for the library.

▶ 36:28 Mark Garipay: Thank you very much. Um... 53-50. What's the will of the... Councilor Williams?

▶ 36:35 Ryan Williams: Sorry. About how many people would you say the library serves

▶ 36:39 Speaker 3: on a annual basis?

▶ 36:42 Speaker 1: Oh. (laughs) Um...

▶ 36:45 Ryan Williams: I know it's a tough question. It could be, if you have a sense of like a daily foot traffic, that would be-

▶ 36:49 Speaker 1: The sa- so, um, I believe it's anywhere between 600 to 1,200 a day, d- depending on the day.

▶ 37:00 Ryan Williams: Okay. Um, I, I wish that there was more money in here for you. I understand that we have a lot of different things that we're trying to accomplish, um, as, in particular because you serve so many people. And I would love to see some of the changes that have been mentioned. I, I, my little ones went to the original library kids room, so I know how essential it is. Um, um, do you feel in the year ahead, apart from opening on Sunday, do you feel, uh, uh, are you going to be thinking about how to, how to grow the library services?

▶ 37:35 Speaker 1: Absolutely. Um, it's also been mentioned, we have a survey out right now that is targeted to the children's room. Um, we, uh, we have that online on the website. The rec department was kind enough to send an email blast out for us on that. So we're getting a lot of good feedback from that, and that's a big focus for us now. But we also want to expand and really be hearing back from all areas of the population. Um, we could do more senior outreach. Um, so we will be, I think, part of the benefit of this funding is that we will be able to do it to implement programs that we're interested in and might not otherwise have been able to. And then we'll know, is that successful? Is that something that we really wanna push to move forward with continuing in the future?

▶ 38:32 Ryan Williams: And you'll have the... Sorry. You'll have the results of that survey sort of in time to plan the budget for the next fiscal year?

▶ 38:41 Speaker 1: Yes. So this survey that we're doing right now goes through December 15th.

▶ 38:44 Speaker 3: Got it. Okay. All right. Okay. Thank you.

▶ 38:47 Speaker 2: Councilor Giamalde?

▶ 38:48 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Thank you. It's so good to see you again. Um, uh, I know that it, there is, um, the Sunday hours, is it for the whole, all the departments or is it portion based on, um, who would, uh, you know, like who do we serve the most or who is, uh, coming during Sundays?

▶ 39:12 Speaker 1: It's all of our public departments, so that would be children's, teen, the main adult desk and

▶ 39:19 Maya Jamaleddine: reference. Awesome. And in terms of, um, and full hours or is it just, um-

▶ 39:26 Speaker 1: So Sundays, we, um, we are open 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM. Mm-hmm. Would love it f- to be more, but that's, that's what we have.

▶ 39:32 Maya Jamaleddine: Yes. And, um, it's, it's always better than nothing, right? Yes, absolutely. And, uh, for the program support, um, do we, do you have any thoughts on, is it going to be focused in one department or is it still in process or in planning?

▶ 39:52 Speaker 1: It's somewhat in process. Again, because we are doing the, um, the children's room survey right now, so we're gonna have so much great input on that. I think a lot of it will be focused in that department. Um, and then maybe using a few, we have more technology than we used to in the large meeting room downstairs. Mm-hmm. So this might be an opportunity to help explore that more as well.

▶ 40:18 Maya Jamaleddine: Yes. Thank you. I know the elevator wasn't working. Um, is it, is it restored now? Elevator is restored. It is up and running. Yes. That's awesome. That was thankfully just a glitch. Perfect, thank you. I just want to take this as an opportunity to thank, um, uh, our constituents who took the time and did the, uh, presentation and working on collaborating with you and I. I appreciate your leadership and collaboration. Thank you. Absolutely.

▶ 40:44 Speaker 2: Thank you. All right. Councilor Vandiver?

▶ 40:47 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you. And briefly, I'd also like to, um, say I, I absolutely agree through the chair with Councilor Williams. This is a department that serves a lot of people and could probably use more funding even. Um, but I'm, I'm glad to see that this is in here. I'm glad that you're doing the survey, that you're getting community input. Um, I appreciate we spoke over the summer about a couple of kind of non-monetary changes and seeing a couple of those in action already in the children's area, that's, that's really awesome and, um, I'm looking forward to continuing to see it develop and flourish and, and be, be a wonderful space. Um, so, um, with that, I would like to make a motion to move to the bottom line.

▶ 41:23 Mark Garipay: Second. We have a motion to move the bottom line of department...

▶ 41:27 Speaker 2: Where am I here?

▶ 41:28 Speaker 4: 61-

▶ 41:30 Mark Garipay: 61-1. There's- Um, in the amount of 35,315 made by Councilor Vandevord, seconded by Councilor Williams on discussion. All in favor? I. Opposed? That bottom line will be moved. Next up is 541, Council on Aging. We have Ms. Lauren Grimmick, Chief of Staff, with us. Welcome.

▶ 41:56 Speaker 4: Sounds good. Um, thank you, councilors. I'm here for Erica Brown, who's on her honeymoon, so I'm here tonight. Um, so the Council on Aging, the supplemental budget ad- adds back $40,000 in programming support, which was cut from the fiscal '26 budget at the budget hearing last time. Um, the mayor also had mentioned, which Ms. Poreis Ellis will talk about under DPW capital projects, another $40,000 for Milano Center lighting. So I just want to make that, um, clear, these two investments coming.

▶ 42:24 Speaker 2: Thank you.

▶ 42:27 Speaker 4: Happy to answer any questions.

▶ 42:29 Speaker 2: Any questions? (laughs) It's gonna be all night, isn't it? No. (laughs) I- it just- Councilor Williams- It's, it- Yeah, I'm sorry, I just- ...100,000 dollars.

▶ 42:36 Ryan Williams: I just... I know, I know, but I just, I'd like, I wanna know a little bit more about the, what is program support mean?

▶ 42:40 Speaker 4: Yeah. Program- Yeah, and so I, um, I think when you think of the Milano Center, you can think of it in sort of two ways. There's daily users that come in for a cup of coffee, they need to print some materials, they wanna read a book, and some of those amenities were taken away with that programming support. So it's to add back those basic amenities that we probably take for granted, but we know that those folks are socializing. It's also then adding programming that Erica and her staff just didn't plan for. Um, many of you know that they are reaching for age-friendly and dementia-friendly, um, res- uh, des- designations, and so adding some of that programming in, um, and just being able to do more and elevate some of the things that they, they have, so...

▶ 43:20 Ryan Williams: Is it primarily staff time? Like to pay for staff, or is it-

▶ 43:23 Speaker 4: It's not... No, it's primarily for program- programming materials, bringing people back in, um, we have a transportation driver that does, does a lot of the, you know, counts a lot towards the programming, um, so yeah. Coffee- Yeah.

▶ 43:37 Speaker 3: ... popcorn. Coffee. All right, thank you.

▶ 43:38 Speaker 4: Yeah.

▶ 43:41 Speaker 2: All right. Councilor Finocchiaro.

▶ 43:42 Cal Finocchiaro: Just make a motion to move the bottom line.

▶ 43:45 Speaker 4: Second.

▶ 43:46 Mark Garipay: I'm sorry? Who's second? S- second. Second. Uh, we have a motion to move the bottom line of Department 541, Council on an Aging, made by Councilor Finocchiaro, seconded by Councilor Vandiver. On discussion, all in favor? I- Opposed? That bottom line is moved. Moving on to 211, Police Department, and we have Chief Valio with us. Welcome, Chief.

▶ 44:11 Speaker 2: Welcome. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, you're welcome. So there's a, there's a lot of people to thank. I, I just wanted to, for the record, I actually want to thank, um, the men and women that work for me. Um, you know, when you, you cut personnel, and I'm the chief, and I have to go back to them to say we're, you know, reducing our staff, when quite frankly, I've been advocating for more, um, so I'm very pleased that we're able to restore what we had, which, uh, you know, might not be enough, especially with the developments and the increased population that we're gonna be having in the next four or five years. So I just want to thank, you know, the men and women. They, they didn't put their heads down, they didn't come into my office and complain, uh, complain to the city. They did their job, um, as they always did and always will. So I kind of want to just recognize them for not, really not giving me a hard time, really, basically- Mm-hmm. ... is what I'm saying, but uh- (laughs) ... it just shows the culture of, uh, you know, what we have and what, what, what we're trying to do at, at 56 West Foster that they did their job. There were a lot of, um, denials- (clears throat) ... of time off. There were a lot of forced overtimes and, um, and they did their job. And you may not think that two officers is a lot, but for a size of our department, it is. And we only run three offices, you know, per shift, so it kind of hits home. Certain people lost, uh, time with their families, but it was a short term, right? We're lucky it's July to November, uh, hopefully. Um, but there was a lot of uncertainty whether or not this was gonna pass. So a lot of people to thank within the city, but I wanted to recognize them. Um, I'm, I'm here for that, to restore the salary positions of two police officers that were, uh, reduced and the costs associated with, uh, the recruit cost to put them through the academy, outfit them, uh, and get them everything that they need to get up and running to the tune of total of $200,210. Thank you. Any questions? Councilor Williams.

▶ 46:07 Ryan Williams: Do you have a timeline for, um, when you think these folks might be on the streets?

▶ 46:12 Speaker 2: Yes. It's actually good timing where we are now in late November. So December 1st, uh, the new list for civil service is certified. I've already talked to HR and Polly, so we have a strategic plan on, uh, as soon as that list is out, we'll be calling for it.

▶ 46:26 Speaker 3: All right. Awesome. Hit the ground running. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you.

▶ 46:29 Speaker 2: Anyone else?

▶ 46:32 Mark Garipay: What's the will of the committee?

▶ 46:33 Speaker 3: Uh, motion to move the bottom line on 211.

▶ 46:36 Speaker 5: Second.

▶ 46:37 Mark Garipay: Second. We have a motion to move the bottom line on Department 211, uh, Police, in the amount of $200,210- (clears throat) ... made by Councilor Williams, seconded by Councilor, uh, President, President Migliorelli on discussion. All in favor? I- I- I- Aye. Opposed? That bottom line is moved. Okay. Thank you, everyone. Have a good night, Chief. Thank you. Thank you. Moving on to Department 155, Information Technology. We have Director of IT, Tom Smallegan. Welcome, Mr. Smallegan. (clears throat) Thank you. Um, so just real quick, a couple of quick things for

▶ 47:17 Speaker 3: everybody here. Uh, if my voice starts to go, I'm just fighting a little bug, so that's all it is. Um, also, for those of you that are gonna be stepping away, uh, after these meetings, I just wanted to say thank you very much. It's been nice getting to work with all of you and know you all for the past couple

▶ 47:30 Mark Garipay: years. As was working with you.

▶ 47:33 Speaker 3: (laughs) Um, so that being said, uh, we are looking for some financing to do the following items. Um, update classroom Chromebook carts for the elementary schools, um, improving and adding, uh, some security at the Fred Green Field and Lincoln Elementary School, um, a refresh of the battery backup systems in our network closets across the district, as well as continuing with our school, uh, public address system upgrades that we've been doing for the past year and a half or so, and starting to upgrade the very, uh, old high school projector systems. So with that, I'm happy to answer anything you might have.

▶ 48:13 Speaker 2: Councilor Jamaleddine?

▶ 48:15 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Um, so good to see you, um, as well.

▶ 48:20 Speaker 5: And, uh, you know, it's, it's

▶ 48:24 Maya Jamaleddine: really... It's always a concern and a worry for parents, uh, when we feel that there is not a strong security system, um, in school. And seeing this then proposed as part of the supplemental budget, um, uh, really, um-... uh, it means a lot. And I appreciate, uh- (coughs) ... you focusing on this and prioritizing, uh, that. Um, c- can you tell m-... uh, talk more about the, um, uh, security cameras, um, in terms of numbers, if you have that? And-

▶ 49:00 Speaker 3: For this project or in general?

▶ 49:03 Speaker 5: For this project.

▶ 49:03 Speaker 3: Okay. So this project is going to be, um... Some of it's gonna depend on what the final numbers for the, um, projects themselves come back with, because labor's kind of sometimes an unknown. Um, but we're looking at adding, uh, six at the Fred Green field and an additional two at the Lincoln. Um, but both of them at the Lincoln, one is going to be... a multi-head. So it's gonna have four separate cameras in it, so it'll look in a very large area. Um, and another one will be a dual cam, so it'll be a very large coverage area as well.

▶ 49:34 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. And are these... where would it be connected to? Is it just for the school or is it... would it be connected-

▶ 49:42 Speaker 3: They're all... All the cameras everywhere across the, uh, the city itself, schools and city built municipal buildings, they're all connected on the same network. Um, we have access to all of them. The police have access to all of them. Um, superintendent and her staff, they have access to their school buildings. So, all the people that need to see the stuff have access to it. (laughs)

▶ 50:00 Maya Jamaleddine: Awesome. And, uh, just, um, my last question, um, we, we know that this year due to the budget, um, deficits that, that we're going... that we were going through, um, we ask, um, students to bring sometimes their own, uh, device and stuff. Is that something that we're going to recover? How-

▶ 50:22 Speaker 3: Currently, uh, we are not looking to reinstate that whole thing. A lot of it comes down to just the logistics of it and our manpower and ability to constantly fix and repair those devices, and they need to be replaced and refreshed, especially depending if you're doing at elementary levels or just middle or just high school. But those devices need to be refreshed every several years. So, it just ends up being a very large reoccurring cost that we have a hard, ha-hard time greatly justifying the outlay of that. Because it ends up a lot of our budget just goes to that and not the other, like infrastructure improvements and upgrades and additions of new other technology.

▶ 51:00 Maya Jamaleddine: So, what I'm hearing, for next year, it's going to be the same. We're going to follow the same system- Correct. ... in a way that bring your own device, and, uh, that includes also maintenance and everything.

▶ 51:11 Speaker 3: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And we'll still continue to do the same stuff where, um, the families like on their free and reduced lunch, that sort of thing. We'll help provide those and get the, the most impacted folks, you know, we'll still support them and make sure they have the tools they need to be able to be competitive with their peers and do all their same activities.

▶ 51:28 Maya Jamaleddine: Do we know how many, at least, um, you know, approximate... Again, I don't want exact number, um, in t- students that they ask or they rely on the city to get their devices?

▶ 51:40 Speaker 3: I don't have that exact number off the top of my head. It's a few hundred, I believe.

▶ 51:45 Speaker 2: Um, yeah.

▶ 51:45 Maya Jamaleddine: Were, uh... are we able... were we able to provide everything- Yes. ... and cover everything? Yes. Yes. Perfect. Thank you. Mm-hmm.

▶ 51:53 Mark Garipay: Counselor Vandiver, then I have Counselor Funaricho. Is there anyone else that wants to get in the queue? Counselor Vandiver.

▶ 51:59 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you, Chair Garipay. Um, I, I wanted to ask a question, um, a, a bit in response to one of the public comments we had about, uh, the appearance of some of the things in this budget that may seem surprising, um, to people. Um, just in the sen- the spirit of transparency, some of these i-items in this list are perhaps deferred maintenance or, uh, like I remember in a previous meeting, I think we talked about the need for PA system upgrades, and I believe, you, you can tell me, um, if I'm wrong, that, you know, the system was hopelessly old and very difficult to repair, get parts for it, et cetera. And so, I was wondering if you could just, um, for the community, share a little bit about, um, how long these projects have been pending, why, you know, whether these are going to pay off in, in d- less maintenance later, whether these, um... you know, how, why these got onto this list right now.

▶ 52:52 Speaker 3: Sure. So, this has been something that, I mean, we've kind of been looking at for many years. Um, it kind of ebbs and flows with the different, uh, principals and administration. Like, some r-rely on it more than others, you know. Um, so it's been kind of a priority for us, uh, because it has been coming up more and more. We get requests in the summer, "Oh, we got, you know, 10 speakers or this whole wing, y- in this school that's not working." And these systems, they're 50, 60 years old, it's hard to find installers that'll work on them, it's hard to find parts. Um, and when it comes down to it, it almost becomes financially not worth it to just keep slapping some duct tape on it and keep it going. Um, so what we're trying to do is get all the buildings done, starting with the most important ones, bring them all up to a newer standard where there won't be maintenance issues, just like, you know, anything else you buy new and there's fewer issues upfront. Um, they'll be easier to work on because they're digital things, which is what we do. Um, you also get a lot more flexibility and a lot more feature sets that you can do with them. Like in the end, when we're all done, all the buildings will all be connected together to central administration, um, to public safety. So, it'll be much easier to communicate across the entire district, which is something that is just completely not possible with the existing systems, even if they were in their prime.

▶ 54:14 Speaker 4: Thank you. That's helpful. Thank you.

▶ 54:15 Mark Garipay: Thank you. Uh, Counselor Funaricho.

▶ 54:18 Cal Finocchiaro: Thank you so much. Sorry, I just put a cough drop in my mouth (laughs) . Um, all of this is great because obviously security cameras, communication is really important just for every purpose, but just for safety and, and everything. So, but I just wanted to, um, touch on what Counselor Jamaleddine asked about the elementary classroom Chromebook replacements. Mm-hmm. So, that doesn't mean that every elementary school is going to get replaced with Chromebooks?

▶ 54:42 Speaker 3: Correct. So, right now the elementaries...... pretty much have, um, one cart per classroom for them to use. Mm-hmm. Those all came in with COVID federal money, so now they're six-ish years old. Nothing lasts forever. Um, so what we're hoping to do with this budget, but also moving forward, um, is to just ha- get a constant refresh cycle. So, we're not trying to replace, you know, multiple elementary schools every year or every- (clears throat) ... handful of years where we're scrambling for a large sum of money. So, this way we can do the, (pops lips) a large school and a smaller school right now, get them turned over, get them new devices. We're not changing the number, we're just not adding or subtracting, it's just that we're getting new devices. Um, and then we'll have that surplus of those ones we removed that we can use to augment the other buildings if they're short, if their devices break, whatever. Um, and then, you know, next year same thing, we can roll another building, another two buildings, whatever, um, however all the finances work out for it. And so that we have this continuing evolution of fresh things and everyone's on a level playing field.

▶ 55:46 Cal Finocchiaro: I think that's great. I mean, I, I think especially for the elementary schools. I mean, I have older kids at middle school and high school and they tend to have their own Chromebooks and they're better with charging them and bringing them in and out of the, you know, in their backpacks. We don't actually expect that from elementary school. (laughs) Right. So, uh, but it, it's, I'm happy that that's a line item and that these kids are gonna get better Chromebooks to work with. Sure. So, thank you.

▶ 56:08 Mark Garipay: Mm-hmm. Thank you, Councilor Funaruocio. I have Councilor Williams up next.

▶ 56:12 Ryan Williams: Thank you. Um, through the Chair, I, Councilor Vandiver and Councilor Funaruocio raised a question in my mind, um, which was this comment about, you know, the, the, the needs of the capital budget versus the needs of the, of salaries of staff, and why are we putting money into these items that, uh, that have appeared here. And I, I wanted to remind folks just for the public's benefit that Melrose doesn't have a capital fund that we leverage. And so literally all of the city's maintenance and hard costs and capital costs over the years, basically we just cross our fingers at the end of each year and whatever money we're over on the budget, what we call free cash, you know, the difference between what we thought we would spend and what we actually spent, maybe this is that we had a light year for snow and so we didn't spend as much on salt, we take that money and everybody fights over it to see, you know, can the schools get a Chromebook or does Fred Greene need cameras or does the senior center need a van? And so we've never been able to really plan this. We have a document, but we're not able to plan for it. And so what the override is doing, we're seeing it here, is that we are able to think about and plan for these items that are desperately needed outside of waiting and hoping that free cash becomes available. Um, and that is going to allow us to do more, mo- planning for the budget in the future. And one of the things that Mayor Gregoritis did is she actually took some of that free cash and put it into the school budget, um, uh, in a structural way permanently in the past. And, and, and doing the override allows us more flexibility to make things like that happen. So it just gives us more room to do the things we need to do without having to beg, borrow, and steal from each other. Mm-hmm. That's it. Thank you.

▶ 57:51 Speaker 2: It's the will of the committee?

▶ 57:53 Ryan Williams: I motion to move the bottom line on department 155.

▶ 57:57 Mark Garipay: Second. We have a motion to move the bottom line of department 155, um, information technology made by Councilor Williams, seconded by Councilor Vandiver. And we are moving the bottom line in the amount of $525,000.

▶ 58:14 Speaker 2: Um,

▶ 58:15 Mark Garipay: a discussion. All in favor? I. Opposed? The bottom line's moved. Thank you, Mr. Smoligan. Thank you.

▶ 58:27 Mark Garipay: Next up, we have department 300, the schools. We have Interim Superintendent Gary Berman and Mr. Ken Kelly, who needs no introduction.

▶ 58:42 Speaker 5: (paper moves) So- Yes, thank you. Um, so I will kick it off. Um, so some of you may have heard some of this if you listened to school committee, but I'm going to highlight some of the key pieces that were discussed there. So first of all, I want to thank all of you, um, as well as all of our voters of Melrose. Um, a lot of appreciation for the willingness to invest in our city and obviously especially our schools and the seat that I'm currently sitting in. So, um, you know, we have as, as, you know, I have my favorite little cheat sheet here. Um, but the schools will be receiving $3.8 million, um, due to this override, which is excellent. And that falls in our instruction, uh, and learning budget. Um, but in addition, you heard that, um, you know, IT is also going to be supporting the schools. And then you'll also hear that DPW and some of the funding that's gonna go towards that will also be, um, supporting the schools. So specifically, a few of the projects, some of them were already mentioned here tonight, we'll have some bathroom renovations at the high school, some front stair and sidewalk repairs at the middle school. Uh, again, a s- a safety issue in some ways, um, adding those security doors hopefully to the Winthrop, um, those school s- security cameras, um, that elementary Chromebook replacement, um, that, um, Mr. Smoligan just talked about, and, and many more projects. This is certainly an exciting time for Melrose, um, as someone who's been here for a long time and has one see- seen one override go through, I mean, this, this is really historic. Um, and there's a lot of been- work that's been done since this override passed. Um, we're gonna continue to plan, um, in the coming months for both the second half of FY26 and also obviously FY27. Um, we are really examining the positions that have been, um, cut over the last two years. So, um, as we think about that, positions that directly af- affect student growth and achievement will be prioritized. Um, we are very excited to bring back 17 positions, but we really need to be mindful as we make decisions, um, on what we decide to bring back as the district. Um, in addition, the funding provided to the, um, schools will help as we invest in curriculum. Um, this has been something that's been actually cut dramatically over the last few years, and the override funds will certainly help us with our future investment in, in consistent, um, high quality instructional materials.The last two years has really given us an opportunity to examine what is impacting student achievement. So, um, we are only a little over a quarter of the way through the year at this point, um, and we, we know that we have lost many, many positions. So, um, again, we, we really have to think strategically about what we want to bring back. Um, want to make the statement too, FY26, like, we're on our way, right? Like, the, the ship has sailed a little bit in some ways. Um, and some things will remain un- unchanged for the rest of the year. So for example, we do have contracted personnel, specifically Mr. Jason Merrill, um, and Mr. Brian Corrigan, and they will remain in their current roles as the secondary principal and, um, secondary deputy principal for the remainder of this school year. And just wanna talk a little bit about the leadership team. Um, we've been doing some preliminary planning, and, um, planning for FY27. Again, that will, will help us figure out the second half of this year. And, um, we're, we're gonna look at student achievement and data, as I've mentioned before, but also fall back on our strategic plan. Where are we going? Where are we headed? What do we need? Um, and I would just say that, end it with, we must determine what changes need to be made so that we can have the biggest impact on student learning, growth, and achievement in order to ensure that every student will be an engaged, challenged, enriched, and self-directed learner upon graduation, which is part of our mission statement. So, um, I'm gonna turn it over to Mr. Kelly to do the financial piece and talk a little more (laughs)

▶ 1:02:43 Speaker 6: Sure. Thanks again for having us. Thanks again to the community and to the, the council, school committee, all the hard work for the override. Um, this is, you know, uh, past two years we've been on, in sort of a reduction

▶ 1:02:55 Speaker 6: cycle, and this allows us to, to pause now and shift and look at strengthening our systems. Um, and so a little bit of a reverse of our typical process as well. Typically, you know, we develop a budget with the school committee. They have, um, eight approved categories, spending categories, and then, uh, we bring that to the council for, uh, consideration. So this is a little bit of a, a reverse of that typical process. Um, and so, um, if, uh, this is, this request is considered and approved, then we would go back to school committee, work with them to integrate the supplemental funds back into those, uh, eight approved categories, which are available online to take a look at if anyone wants to see that. Um, and with, you know, uh, the potential of this FY26 additional supplemental funds, uh, that would bring us to just under a $52 million budget, um, and that gets us back to where we were about a year ago when we had to cut between three and four million dollars out. Uh, this gets us back to now being where we were and can really start to plan strategically, um, with what to do with these, uh, additional resources, which is

▶ 1:03:54 Speaker 3: welcomed. Um, just some of the highlights, uh, you, you can see in

▶ 1:03:57 Speaker 6: your, um, in your packet that we have, um, from the, the override question, we have three major categories we're looking to support. We have staffing and personnel, 17 positions that are, are being brought back in, which is fantastic. Um, and then we have some contractual obligations for FY26. Um, curriculum materials, um, we are always looking to now, uh, build in a continuous cycle of improvement for curriculum, a formal renewal process. Um, we brought in, uh, an English program two years ago, and we're looking to continue that with a math program, comprehensive, either K through eight or K through algebra two. Uh, curriculum materials nowadays are, are very robust, comprehensive, and they are expensive.

▶ 1:04:39 Speaker 3: Uh, so, um, that is one of, our second category.

▶ 1:04:42 Speaker 6: And then, um, school IT, you heard Director Smulligan. Uh, we work constantly with his team, um, and our, our ask is more based on MCAS testing, uh, especially at the secondary level. If we were to give that test today, we would be unable, not every student would be able to take it on a device. Uh, the MCAS test, if you're not aware, is online. Um, and so right now, we do not have enough devices for students to take tests today. Um, so this will allow us now to get back to a place where students can test on the same day, not spread testing over a month. Um, and as, we are well overdue for an upgrade to our Aspen process. That's our student information system. Uh, it is, uh, overdue for an, uh, an update is an understatement. Uh, so we will now be able to update that and do some things like online registrations for parents, which will make it easier for them.

▶ 1:05:27 Speaker 3: So, um, you have materials in your packet now.

▶ 1:05:30 Speaker 6: I think Superintendent Berman and I would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

▶ 1:05:35 Speaker 2: Thank you. Um,

▶ 1:05:37 Mark Garipay: Mr. Kelly, I appreciate you sending the email out and making yourself available to all the counselors who had any questions prior to this. I appreciate that. Yeah. Uh, Counselor Jamaleddine is up first.

▶ 1:05:47 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Um, I'm, I see that, the 17 position, um, which is, um, I, I'm gonna back, uh, up, um, I'm so pleased to see you because I know every time you come here, we're like, "How are we gonna do this?" And hopefully tonight we have, um, you know, more hope and, uh, and better tools to be able to succeed. Uh, and I appreciate your patience throughout this. Um, 17 positions, is that spread, um, among all the district, or is it in, you know, two schools or some of the schools? Nope, the, we'll be looking at, um, district wide, um, at, at those positions. Yep. And I know it's too early, uh, to, uh, decide. Is there any, uh, plan to include, and hope- hopefully we do, uh, for special education support? For special education, what? Support for s- special education students. Yeah, so it's interesting because, um, special education is the only area that we actually did not cut, um, in, in our, in all of our cuts. I think we, we did wind up, um, because of the way that the middle school, um-... came about and w- and the reduction of, eh, the team model, um, we did cut one special education teacher, I believe, at the middle school. But that was the only cut. So I think we're actually really looking to restore, um, our, our Tier 1 instruction and, and our Tier 2 instruction. So I'm not saying special educators will not be included in that, I, I definitely don't want to make that blanket statement, but I think we really are looking to figure out ways to, um, increase and strengthen and bolster our Tier 1 instruction, um, in our classrooms, um, with, with our teachers in front of all students. Right. Um... I'm, I'm, I'm aware of that. My, my concern is, initially, we didn't have a great support for special education and I was wondering if we have a plan, not saying from, uh, due to the cut, but any plan to increase the support for, uh, our students that need most support of us right now, uh, in special education. And I don't, I don't expect an answer right now. It's just a, um, hope, uh, that this would be, eh, considered. Um, and again, I just wanted to, um, emphasize how much I'm pleased to see that the security system has been included. And also, uh, eh, I see down in, in the DPW, the asbestos and all the maintenance, um, is being considered as part of supporting this school, which is something that I've been strongly ad- advocating for, even during the, uh, very thin, uh, uh, stretch, the, uh, budget, uh, the initial budget. So thank you so much.

▶ 1:08:46 Mark Garipay: Thank you. All right. In the queue, uh, next up I have Councilor Migliorelli, then I got Williams, Obremski, Finocchiaro. Is there anyone else? (laughs) And then still, uh, we got everyone.

▶ 1:08:58 Speaker 2: Uh, Ca- President Migliorelli.

▶ 1:09:00 Leila Migliorelli: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you both for being here. I have less of a question, but more of a comment. Um, Ms. Berman, you kind of glazed over something that I found interesting too, which is the, the color-coded chart that's in the, um, the packet. And I just wanted to call that out, because I think some folks might be looking and when they hear us making our votes, they're gonna be assuming certain things. So, while we're taking a vote tonight, um, to put 3.8 million back into the school department's budget, um, it's really more a total of like 8.7 million that's going to support the school. So I just, I want everyone to hear that and understand that. Um, and that has a lot to do with the way that the, the timing of the, the override for this year. You know, if we, if we were able to, let's say, like a year ago, pass an override that started in June, you would have a whole fiscal year to, to, um, to incorporate that fully into your budget and, and start doing that. So, um, this, the timing of this actually provides a little bit of an opportunity in what we're able to make some, like, one-time investments into our schools and also bring back, um, you know, the positions that we, you know, require to bring back, but that we need. Um, and I do appreciate the process that the School Committee's gonna go through. You know, for tonight, the city, as we're, uh, people have been watching can see that we are, you know, moving the bottom line and, um, making sure that the funds that, um, were promised are going to the right spots. That's what we're doing here too. And then your particular process will begin to kind of go through that. And, um, I really wanna just say I value your expertise in going through that process, um, as leaders of the school community, people who are understanding that firsthand and, you know, relying on your expertise and that with the School Committee to kind of go through that process. So, um, I just wanted to appreciate that and, and, and, uh, you know, talk about that too. And then, also besides the 8.6 million or closer to 8.7 million, um, you know, you can also see the city employee benefits, um, includes the schools, that's one- another 1.5 million. So there's a portion of that that's also, you know, going to support, um, employee benefits. So it is really, I think, this chart that was, um, done by the mayor's office really kinda highlights exactly what's going to each category, um, in a way that, you know, our standard kind of accounting, way of accounting things might not be that clear to the general public. So I just, I wanna kind of point that out, 'cause that's something new that we've done, um, that the mayor's office has done this year. Um, and then just to, on the, the, you know, in the 3.8, that current fiscal year contractual obligations, um, that is due to the negotiated teacher contracts. So as part of the contract, if we, the, the override had passed, um, this, this money is due to the, the teachers. So, um, just wanted to kind of point that out too. So no questions, but- Correct. ... uh, thank you very much for, for being here tonight. And thank you for the, um, process you're gonna go through after this.

▶ 1:12:00 Mark Garipay: Thank you. Thank you, President Migliorelli. Uh, Councilor Williams.

▶ 1:12:05 Ryan Williams: Thank you. You're welcome. Um, I, I appreciate everything President Migliorelli said because I totally agree, not only with the color-coded chart, which was like groundbreaking for me personally in my own household to talk to my wife about this. (laughs) Um, instead of pulling up a munis spreadsheet and saying, "No, look, if you add it all up together, it makes sense." Um, I wanted to ask Mr. Kelly, so we are halfway through the year. We have a request to restore 17 positions. We are probably not going to restore 17 positions by June 30th. So tell me a little bit about how this money makes, reaches that goal, um, in this fiscal year.

▶ 1:12:43 Speaker 6: Sure. So I think that, uh, we are all, all of our, you know, efforts go

▶ 1:12:45 Speaker 3: towards what is best for kids. So, um, 17 positions is, is a fantastic, um, step forward for us. Um, you know, we lost over 40 positions over the past two years, so restoring 17 is

▶ 1:12:58 Speaker 6: a, is a great step in the right direction. Um, and then we just need to look strategically about what is...... um, realistic and doable for the rest of this year. You know, this train is on the tracks, um- Yeah.

▶ 1:13:08 Speaker 3: ... you know, like as the superintendent said, you know, um, we have a, a great

▶ 1:13:11 Speaker 6: leadership team at the, the middle high school now-

▶ 1:13:12 Speaker 3: Yeah. ... and we wouldn't want to interrupt that. Um, and having, you know, students that have developed relationships with their

▶ 1:13:17 Speaker 6: peers and their teachers right now, to interrupt that, we wanna be really

▶ 1:13:21 Ryan Williams: thoughtful and deliberate about how we implement 17 new positions. So- ... that's a lot of work that we have to do. So let me, let me just back up a little bit. Um, you don't want to, and I don't wanna get in the School Committee's business here, right? There's a School Committee meeting on the 9th, is the next one? On December, correct. Yes, December 9th, and folks should definitely attend that and, and I have a lot to say. Um, so we appropriate the money into this year's budget, and then you're spending it prior to June 30th on what?

▶ 1:13:51 Speaker 3: Um, well, we have the approved budget.

▶ 1:13:53 Speaker 6: We have the, the eight categories the School Committee's approved, and then this money will go towards what, um, has been, um, you know, in the, in the question.

▶ 1:13:59 Speaker 3: And then, as President McLaury was saying, if there i- is, um, reserves that would go towards- (coughs)

▶ 1:14:05 Speaker 6: . ... you know, deferred maintenance capital projects that we have-

▶ 1:14:06 Ryan Williams: Yeah, okay. ... an opportunity to do. Okay. And there are probably, uh, would there be sort of, if, you know, if you can't find the right quality of staff that you're looking to hire, you could use some of it for other staff, shorter term staff costs maybe? That wouldn't be my decision to make. That would be- Okay, understood. ... the team's decision to do. Understood. And, and thoughtfully look at what's best for kids. Yeah, for sure. Understood. Thank you. No questions. Mm-hmm. No more questions. Thank

▶ 1:14:27 Mark Garipay: you. Thank you, Councilor Williams. Uh, Councilor Obremski.

▶ 1:14:31 Speaker 3: I just, uh, sort of following up on, uh, Councilor Williams' questions along these lines. Do you and-

▶ 1:14:38 Mark Garipay: Oh, Councilor Obremski, I'm sorry, could you speak up please? Sorry.

▶ 1:14:41 Speaker 3: Oh, right. Sorry about that. Um, just following along-

▶ 1:14:44 Speaker 2: Right in there. Lean right in there. (laughs)

▶ 1:14:47 Speaker 3: Just following along the lines of the, uh, s- um, Councilor Williams' questioning. Um, obviously we're, like, almost midway through the year here, and, um, obviously y- you guys must anticipating, anticipate, um, struggle finding candidates at this point. Uh, in that context, w- uh, do you know if there are people who are still available who were once, uh, employed by us? And do you have a plan, um, to, uh, h- uh, focus on hiring? Sure, so that-

▶ 1:15:25 Speaker 5: Recording in progress. ... that's a great question. Thank you for asking.

▶ 1:15:27 Speaker 6: And so I think an example of that is we, um, you know, with our additional Chapter 70 money that we received at the, at the end of the budget cycle, um, we

▶ 1:15:34 Speaker 3: decided to put that towards, um, general literacy supports at the elementary level. We've had two postings for two reading specialists.

▶ 1:15:43 Speaker 6: Um, I think we've had four to five applicants. We were in talks with two of those applicants, and they have both

▶ 1:15:47 Speaker 3: passed. So, um, you know, and, and these are, um, you know, with our override passing, I'd say we're a little more competitive now salary wise.

▶ 1:15:56 Speaker 6: So I think that, um, it's an extremely challenging market-

▶ 1:15:58 Speaker 3: Right. ... as an example to do that. So, um, would we look for opportunities?

▶ 1:16:03 Speaker 3: Yes. Would they be out there? That I can't say. Oh, yeah. All right, thank you.

▶ 1:16:07 Mark Garipay: Thank you, Councilor Obremski. Councilor Finocchiaro?

▶ 1:16:10 Cal Finocchiaro: Yes, thank you, Chair Garipay. Um, some of my questions are already answered, but I, I'm just asking, uh, point of order, can I... Am I asking them about the maintenance improvements or is that for...

▶ 1:16:21 Speaker 2: I'm, I'm sorry, you can't...

▶ 1:16:21 Cal Finocchiaro: Am I asking them questions about the school building maintenance and improvements? Um.

▶ 1:16:26 Mark Garipay: That, that lineup, or? I don't know that they... I, I think, um- Is that... Director Proakis. You can ask them, but I think Director Proakis... Ellis will give you more context around those. Mm-hmm.

▶ 1:16:36 Speaker 5: Okay. I'll wait then. That's fine. Thank you. (laughs)

▶ 1:16:40 Mark Garipay: Uh, Councilor Vandiver.

▶ 1:16:42 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you. Um, it's good to see you here. I'm glad that we are getting an infusion of money into the schools. Um, you mentioned that if we needed to hold the MCAS today, we couldn't do it. What did we do last time? I'm just curious.

▶ 1:16:58 Speaker 6: So, um, y- the awesome IT team has been able to put

▶ 1:17:01 Speaker 3: together enough devices, but just with the age of the devices and the use of them, their, the wear and tear has reduced our inventory now below to a level where we could actually administer the test to students today. I see. Barely squeaked by last spring. Okay. Yeah.

▶ 1:17:16 Speaker 5: Same. And I can just add, like, at the middle school, for instance, there's, like, a month long of testing. So, like, so, you know, sixth grade will have, you know, se- the seven days that they get, and then, um, seventh grade will have the seven days, and then eighth... So you're disrupting the middle school schedule for over three weeks, you know, close to a month, as opposed to we could actually test all those children if we had devices in those same seven days, um, which would be nice to do. I see. Um, continue.

▶ 1:17:43 Kimberly Vandiver: That, that's, yeah, that's- (laughs) . ... that's helpful to have that context then about how that comes together and that you could even make the disruption last across the whole school. Um, yeah, and my other question, and I think, um, it sounds like we'll hear more on December 9th, but it's just around... You know, I did watch the School Committee meeting and, you know, a little bit of discussion there as well about mid-year hiring and how difficult that can be. And, um, so I, you know, I'm just... I'm, I'm interested in, you know, if these 17 positions get used as supplemental to existing classrooms, if classrooms get split in two. You know, how, how you navigate that transition with students, especially, um, if you're not sure at this point if you're going to be able class, right? How, how, to, to cha- you know, add a section, how you would do a schedule update for the high school mid-year when you have, you know, interplay with everyone's schedules. I'm sure, I'm sure you're already thinking about all these things, but I'm, I'm very curious to know more as that comes through School Committee or if there's anything else you can say about that now.

▶ 1:18:43 Speaker 3: I think just that those are the conversations we're having internally too.

▶ 1:18:47 Speaker 2: Thank you. Thanks. Councilor, uh, Stewart.

▶ 1:18:54 Robb Stewart: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you both for being here this evening, it's helpful. So I think it's a bit of a fait accompli though you're going to enthusiastically get support for, for this. Um, and it's great that we're having 17, but I, I look forward and, and... I, you know, you had mentioned, Mr. Kelly, that, you know, we're down 40, right? And so when, when I look at these numbers, and I know we're bound to what we said in, in the voting thing, right, that we had to hire 17. Uh, would have been better to hire more, but you know, we're, it's at where it's at. Um, I'm, I'm thinking about forecast, right? In, in terms of the next to... And, and you mentioned this, Ms. Berman, right? Um, what does 27 look like and what does 28 look like and how do we shift that capitalized component that, uh, Ms. ProExelis is gonna do this year into more of a consistent staffing model going forward that avoids having to get, put us into a, situation? Because I think we want to establish steady state- Mm-hmm. ... right? And I'm sure you're thinking about this, but this, can you share your thoughts on what that looks like? To give comfort that this investment that we're making going forward, this 13.5 million that we're gonna be doing here on forward, right, is going to be something that, uh, is, we're gonna see the long-term benefit. And the reason why I ask this is, uh, there's a c- there's a couple of us that lived through the last cycle of the tail end of the override where it didn't go so well. And I think we need to secure the confidence, uh, in the public that you have a good strong plan, not for this year, but for successive years. So if you could share a couple thoughts on that, that'd be great.

▶ 1:20:48 Speaker 5: Uh, I will just say that we, we have a lot of ideas right now. I think, um, you know, I think there's been like eight working days since we actually got the, the fact that this was passed, right? So there's been a lot of work that's going on (laughs) . Um, nevermind the fact that we have, you know, work to do every day and then this is like added to it. So, you know, you're at like 2:00 in the morning thinking about what am I doing with 17 positions. Uh, that's just how my brain works. Um, I was here for that last override, right? I, I saw it, I saw it go really well and then not go well. Um, and, and here we are again and we had to ask the voters again, um, you know, for this. We have made a huge investment in our schools. I think, um, from a financial standpoint, I will say that Mr. Kelly and I are, are, are, um, pretty conservative when it comes to a lot of the (laughs) pieces. I mean, he has been doing, um, this work and has done such a tremendous job, he and his team, um, over the last couple years. So hopefully we have the confidence, but we, for me, we need to put educators in front of students. Um, that is, that is the most important thing to me. Um, I, I said that before, I will continue to say that. Um, our like, I'll just use our central office team. We lost a lot of people in our central office team. That is not look, something that we're looking at this moment in time to restore. Um, we are looking to put educators in front of children. Um, and you know, may there be an administrator, of course there may be somewhere. But you know, it's around, um, ensuring that our students are getting really high quality instruction with, um, people who want to be here, who are highly qualified, with good curriculum in a safe space. So those, those are our goals and those align pretty well with our strategic plan and that's where we're gonna focus on where we have to go. So we have work to do- I appreciate your comments. ... and there's big decisions to make.

▶ 1:22:41 Speaker 2: Yeah. I appreciate your comments and-

▶ 1:22:42 Speaker 6: So, Yeah, no, uh, you used the word stability. I think, and I think that's a great word to use is we wanna, you know, keep building in stability. And I, one of the things I appreciate about Superintendent Berman is she's extremely thoughtful and methodical about what she does. Um, she listens to people, she's a decision maker and I think that, um, you know, looking at our data, what do our kids need? Tier one, tier two, tier three instruction. Um, and, and then utilize this, uh, this opportunity to, to best benefit kids and, and get them where they want to go. So I think, um, stability and, and using the data that we have to make decisions that are gonna, um, you know, um, lead to great outcomes for the kids.

▶ 1:23:21 Robb Stewart: Great. Thank you. I appreciate that and look forward, as a private citizen (laughs) - (laughs) . ... to, uh, seeing, seeing what that longer term plan is gonna look like. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll be looking with you.

▶ 1:23:34 Mark Garipay: (laughs) We'll be doing it together. Maybe on the other side of the table. (laughs) Um, so is there any, anyone else? What's the, uh, will of the committee? Councilor Jamaleddine?

▶ 1:23:47 Maya Jamaleddine: I'll make a motion to move to bottom line.

▶ 1:23:50 Mark Garipay: Second. We have a motion to move the bottom line of department 300. Mm-hmm. Um, school appropriation in the amount of $3,818,800 made by Councilor Jamaleddine, Vice Chair Jamaleddine and, uh, Councilor Vandiver. Second by Councilor Vandiver. Um, on discussion, if I could just say one thing. I've said this many times, um, I've been on the getting off, Mr. Kelly, this will be the last time you'll be in front of us. You came in at a tumultuous time, probably five, four or five years ago.

▶ 1:24:30 Speaker 3: Uh, four years ago. Yep.

▶ 1:24:31 Mark Garipay: And this school department owes you a lot of credit for stabilizing the financial, uh, and, and I appreciate your availability

▶ 1:24:42 Mark Garipay: always. (applause) Uh, but, um, no, as a councilor, you've always made yourself available, so I feel obligated to... Not obligated. I appreciate it. And I, and I feel, uh, I just wanted to say on that and recognize you. I really appreciate that. Recording in progress.

▶ 1:24:55 Speaker 6: So thank you very, very much appreciate those kind words.

▶ 1:24:59 Speaker 3: I always appreciate the, the, the, the council, uh, um, welcoming and listening

▶ 1:25:01 Speaker 6: and I appreciate the, the great teamwork.

▶ 1:25:04 Speaker 3: It's, I'm just one of a huge team of people, so, a, a very small team of people, I should say. (laughs) Big work. Does, does huge work. So-

▶ 1:25:10 Speaker 2: You won't have to take my call anymore.

▶ 1:25:12 Speaker 6: Very much appreciate the kind words. Thank you.

▶ 1:25:14 Mark Garipay: Yeah. I appreciate it. Um, so all in favor? I. Opposed? That bottom line will, uh, get, um, we'll move forward. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good night. Thank you.

▶ 1:25:29 Mark Garipay: All right, uh, next up we have Department of Public Works. We have multiple departments. We're gonna start off with Department 401. Sit tight, everyone. This might be, uh, a little long. (laughs) All right, we got Department 401, the DPW, admin, and engineering. Uh, we're just gonna go in order- Yes. ... um, Ms. Proasowich.

▶ 1:25:51 Speaker 1: Yes, that works for me.

▶ 1:25:52 Mark Garipay: Um, if you're okay with that. Yep. Um, so we got 401, Depart... uh, DPW, admin, engineering, and I will turn it over

▶ 1:26:00 Speaker 1: to you. Sure. Thank you. Um, thank you all, and thanks to the voters of Melrose for supporting the override. Um, and thanks for the, to the employees of DPW. We've been stretched very thin over the last, uh, year or so. We were down five employees, and then down another couple of employees who left since the budget was passed, so we're, uh, very excited to be able to re-post the positions that we have lost, um, and those that we just haven't filled in the last several months, and get back to our full complement of staff, and, and, uh, not feel so stressed all the time within our department. Um, so we appreciate the voters and all of you supporting, um, the override. Um, my plan is to mainly highlight the items that are something other than restoring budget that we took out just a few months ago. I was here for the budget hearings and spent a lot of time talking about all the things that we're reducing. Essentially, all of those things have been put back in. So, in particular, in the, um, admin and engineering budget, 401, everything that you see there is just restoration of staff and services that were previously removed. So, unless anybody has specific questions about the exact items, um, I plan to just highlight as we get to the ones that are really the capital additions.

▶ 1:27:26 Mark Garipay: We're gonna move each department. We're gonna go 401, 402. So- Yeah. Any ques- um, Council Vander, Council Williams.

▶ 1:27:32 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you. Um, I know, uh, so regarding the DPW summer work program, which was brought up in public comment, this, um, this budget is actually split across several parts of DPW and, uh, depending on the, the components, but I wonder if you could address that question.

▶ 1:27:46 Speaker 1: Yes. Sure. Um, so the, uh, what we've used with the budget that you see before you tonight is we've restored the full line items for things like the summer work program, so that flowing into fiscal '27 they will show as, as how they're required to be to, um, fully staff our typically, typical program. But that does mean that the month of June, most of our summer helpers start late May, early June, so, um, we will spend some component of, of it in the month of June, but we're not gonna spend it all, and then that would just go back into free cash.

▶ 1:28:22 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you. Uh, and if you could also speak to restore overtime. Uh, it can seem funny, I think, to plan to have overtime, but what are some of the types of things that have to be done during overtime?

▶ 1:28:33 Speaker 1: So, um, the admin overtime in particular is the, um, uh, events at the city yard, so we cut back on those, assuming that if the override didn't pass, we would have in fiscal '26, uh, in 2026 calendar year, we would have grouped events together so we wouldn't have had, you know, Rigid Plastic Day and Hazardous Waste Day. And even though it would have been a very busy day at the yard, we were gonna try to group events so we cut the over- overtime, um, consistent with that.

▶ 1:29:02 Kimberly Vandiver: Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay.

▶ 1:29:04 Speaker 2: Thank you. Council Williams.

▶ 1:29:05 Ryan Williams: Thanks. Um, is... Hello. Hi. Congratulations. Um, we're very excited to be able to provide funding to Public Works. Many of the things that make this city beautiful are through Public Works- Yeah. ... and so I think is a big part of the, of the reason that, um, I'm very excited about this override, is 'cause you guys get, um, some support too. Um, do you think that $111,000, is that enough for a city engineer and a facilities manager?

▶ 1:29:33 Speaker 1: So, those are the general fund portions- I see. ... of those two positions. They're both partially funded through Water and Sewer.

▶ 1:29:39 Speaker 3: Got it. Okay. Great. Thank you.

▶ 1:29:43 Mark Garipay: Thank you. Um, what's the will of the committee?

▶ 1:29:45 Ryan Williams: Uh, motion to move the bottom line on 401.

▶ 1:29:48 Mark Garipay: Second. We have a motion to move the bottom line of 401, DPW, admin, engineering, in the amount of $136,609 made by Council Williams, second by Council Funagaro. Uh, on discussion, all in favor? I. Opposed? 401 is now been moved. Uh, moving on to 402, DPW, city and school facilities.

▶ 1:30:12 Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you. Um, so similar to the last one, the, um, positions, summer work program, and overtime are just restoration of services. So I'm really gonna highlight just the items in the last two lines. Um, we have the Milano driveway lighting that, uh, Lauren had mentioned when she presented regarding the Milano. That's just the driveway as it goes from, uh, Foster Street into the Milano Center. There's no lighting, and I actually happened to be at a night meeting there recently, and it is very, very dark. Um, that item had been on the capital plan, and actually it's worth mentioning. So, uh, I think a, a comment came up during public comment asking where the capital projects come from. Mm. So, these projects, I think almost all of them, if not all, come from the capital improvement plan process that I've been involved in multiple times over the 10 years that I've been here, and where the city, for much of this time, didn't have money. Mm-hmm. We built a list of projects, and then we had no process by which to fund them. So, um...We identified what we felt were the highest priorities and, um, (book closes) the auditor's office and the mayor's office went through all those priorities and then picked which ones, uh, should be funded where with the money that we have for this fiscal year. So, um, school maintenance projects, there's a list on that colored sheet that a couple of you have mentioned. Um, the 4.345 million that's shown under School Building and Maintenance Improvements consists of the high school bathroom renovation. That's a $3.1 million project that we have actually ready to bid. It's already been designed. It's just been sitting on the shelf waiting for us to have funds to do it. Um, so that's the bulk of the money. And then we have the courtyard stairs between the middle and high school. Um, repairs to the solar, uh, production system on top of the middle school. Front stairs at the middle school, which is a major, um, safety problem and accessibility problem, um, because they become uneven due to settling. Mm-hmm. Um, HVAC controls upgrades. That's an energy efficiency project where we'll actually get some money from National Grid as an incentive, um, to do even more. And then the Winthrop School door project and, uh, asbestos remediation, just continuing our annual program. So, that's what the School Building Maintenance Improvements line consists of all of those.

▶ 1:32:41 Mark Garipay: Thank you. Councilor Finocchiaro.

▶ 1:32:44 Cal Finocchiaro: Yes, thank you. I just have, uh, two questions, um, about the MHS bathroom renovation and what that actually entails- (coughs) ... and then I'd like to know a little bit more about the asbestos remediation. Is that going into every school and remediating all of the asbestos? Are we chipping away at it?

▶ 1:33:01 Speaker 1: The asbestos is the easy one, that's chipping away. Okay. (laughs) Um, and we have a contractor who comes out and does an inspection at every school, every year, and then recommends what the next projects are that we should undertake. Okay. And then we just take from that list with the money we have. Um, the high school bathroom project is a full renovation of every bathroom in the high school, in addition to adding some bathrooms near the high school cafeteria, which has been, um, something that Principal Merrill has been talking about for years, that that's probably the highest need area for kids to be going to the bathroom and there aren't bathrooms right off of the cafeteria. Um, accessibility upgrades, uh, just upgrades to the fixtures, upgrades to the plumbing coming into the bathrooms. It's a two-phased project. It would most likely be done over two summers, so this coming summer- summer and the following summer. Um, and there, the project happens in basically stacks of bathrooms so that we can upgrade the plumbing to, say, three floors worth of bathrooms, um, all in one fell swoop, and then move to the next area doing half of them one summer and half another.

▶ 1:34:07 Cal Finocchiaro: Okay, so it's like a complete gut, plumbing, everything. Everything. Do you know how many bathrooms we have in the high school right now?

▶ 1:34:12 Speaker 1: Hmm. Not to put you on the spot, but... Yeah. Um, I mean, just trying to picture quickly off of the plans, I'd say it's 20-something. Yeah, it's a lot.

▶ 1:34:21 Cal Finocchiaro: So, it's a significant project and I know that this has been on the list for the past-

▶ 1:34:24 Speaker 1: Yes. ... six For the whole time- Yeah. ... I've been here. Yeah. Yeah. 10 Years? Mayor Brody used to say that they were the same bathrooms he used when he was in high school. (laughs) Mm-hmm. So, it's been on the list for a long time.

▶ 1:34:33 Mark Garipay: Same here. Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. The same bathroom since '72 or '74.

▶ 1:34:35 Speaker 1: Yeah.

▶ 1:34:36 Cal Finocchiaro: Yeah. Yeah. Okay, just because I know that is, like you said, a $3 million project and I'm, I'm sure, you know, our residents are kind of wondering, but that's something that has been on the docket for a while and you finally have the money to do it and- Yes. Um, so, all right, thank you. Okay.

▶ 1:34:57 Mark Garipay: Okay, anyone else? It's the will of the committee on, uh, Department 402.

▶ 1:35:02 Speaker 3: Uh, motion to move the bottom line for 402.

▶ 1:35:05 Mark Garipay: Second. We have a motion to move the bottom line of 402, City and School Facilities. Made by Councilor Williams, seconded by Councilor Stewart. I'm sorry, we're gonna move the amount of $4,526,850 on discussion, all in favor? I. I. Opposed? That bottom line is now moved. Moving on to 422, uh, DPW Highway.

▶ 1:35:36 Speaker 1: Okay. Um, so again, the top lines are just restoration of services that we previously cut, summer work overtime, and traffic markings. Um, the overtime there was associated partially with traffic markings. Um, we are adding in 600,000 toward our Capital Road Program, uh, our Annual Road Program of paving, 250,000 of sidewalk repairs. Um, the Howard Street speed tables that we've discussed, uh, that have come up a couple times tonight. And then flood mitigation. Um, our drainage budget sits within the highway budget and we're, uh, this money will be used to do a modeling effort of the whole drainage system in the city. Um, upgrades to our data where we, that are required to input into the model, um, from our geographic information system. And then, um, a- a small flood mitigation, uh, effort to hopefully clean out some, uh, some drainage channels.

▶ 1:36:39 Mark Garipay: Councilor Williams and then Councilor Finocchiaro.

▶ 1:36:42 Ryan Williams: Uh, thank you very much. Um, I wanted to ask, first of all, it's fantastic to see a $600,000 road paving. I mean, we do the one p- one million, one and a half million bond- (clears throat) ... so that's like a huge improvement compared to the normal amount of money that we have in, uh, in annually for this. And same with sidewalk repairs. I feel like it's, that's a size of a Complete Streets program. It's like about half the size of a big Complete Streets program, so that's gonna make a big difference. On the, um, traffic calming line item, uh, when we're talking about the speed table, is this, uh, speed flat or speed humps, or is it a continuous raised cross, uh, crossing type of... ... large table? Are we talking about a big raised area, or are we talking about sort of strips?

▶ 1:37:26 Speaker 1: So, we're not talking about a raised intersection. Okay. Um, that wouldn't fit within this budget. Right. So, we're talking about a speed table in the location where we piloted. Okay. And then one more speed table or raised crosswalk, depending on where it ends up being, in the portion between the Nelson-Ruggles intersection and Saugus. Yeah. So, we haven't identified the- Okay. ... specific location. Um, we plan to have a neighborhood meeting at some point over the winter, try to nail that down, and then, um, proceed with the construction next year.

▶ 1:37:55 Ryan Williams: And I know from the cost, but to say it out loud, these are permanent installations. Correct. Yes. Wonderful. Thank you. Um, and a huge thank you to putting some thought and money into flooding mitigation. I know that was sort of, um, a former city engineer's, one of her things that she was, was really trying to push for. And, um, and I'm glad to see it here. Do you have any particular, um, target areas in mind when you're doing some of the data collection and modeling? Like, uh, is there a particular place for problem you're trying to solve?

▶ 1:38:25 Speaker 1: So, um, not one particular place, not even two or three- Okay. ... particular places. We have a long list that's in our hazard mitigation plan that we're actually updating again right now. Um, so the modeling effort will really allow us to see, what are the bottlenecks that are creating those problems in all different little pockets through- throughout the city? And then some of the drainage, um, channel, um, cleanout that we hope to do, one of the target areas that we know about is in the Bellevue Golf Course. We've been working with the golf course for a long time on that. Um, we own the channel. We, well, we have- Nice. ... an easement of that channel and, um, so we're hoping to be able to clean that out. We've been working on some permitting and things.

▶ 1:39:06 Ryan Williams: Is the modeling, um, a contract? Or is it staff time to do measurements and...

▶ 1:39:13 Speaker 1: It would be a consultant. Yeah. Okay. All right. Yeah. These are pretty detailed, um, uh, hydraulic models that- Yeah. ... require experts in that area.

▶ 1:39:22 Ryan Williams: Do you have any sense for the size of that contract?

▶ 1:39:25 Speaker 1: Um, I think, of this money, probably two, 200,000- Yeah. ... to 250,000.

▶ 1:39:31 Ryan Williams: Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it.

▶ 1:39:32 Speaker 2: Okay. Councilor Finocchiaro?

▶ 1:39:34 Cal Finocchiaro: Yep. Thank you so much. I just wanted to, um, see if you could talk a little bit more about the road paving projects. Sure. I mean, it's kind of what every councilor hears from their constituents about roads. Um, I know it's not a huge budget, but is there, are there streets that you're kind of thinking of, or...?

▶ 1:39:48 Speaker 1: So, next year's road program, um ... So normally, we have the 530,000 or so in Chapter 90. Sometimes we get extra Chapter 90, and then we have the portion of, it's usually a three-year road bond, so it's about 500,000 per year, um, that we would be doing, uh, with the road bond money. So, then this would be on top of that. The road program for the next year is built from typically the paving that we need to do on the streets where we've done water main, the paving that we need to do on streets where National Grid has done gas, where we've, we have a arrangement worked out with them where rather than having them pave half roads, they do whole roads of the same, of equivalent square footage. And then we do the other whole roads so that we don't end up with half roads paved. So, there's quite a bit of, um, I don't want to say backlog, but we have a long list of streets that we already know have to be part of next year's program. And then with any extra money, we would be looking to our, um, roadway condition assessment map and all of those poor and poorest-rated streets and looking for streets that don't have any necessary utility work that we can just pave. Mm-hmm. So, that, that's kind of the criteria. To add things in without it being programmed in in this multi-year program that we usually do, um, we really need to pick from the, um, the streets that are in poor and poorest condition that don't have utility needs.

▶ 1:41:12 Speaker 5: And that's that color-coded map that you- Yeah.

▶ 1:41:15 Speaker 1: That you can find online.

▶ 1:41:15 Cal Finocchiaro: And then as far as, like, working with National Grid, would residents know ahead of time that their street's going to be repaved? Or is that something that just comes up and you find out as National Grid works-

▶ 1:41:23 Speaker 1: So, the ones that we already know are on the docket for next year are the Ashland-Richardson-Renwick neighborhood, where National Grid has already worked, um, West Emerson along the area in front of the library. Um, those are really the ones that are on our list from National Grid's list.

▶ 1:41:38 Speaker 5: Yeah. Thank you.

▶ 1:41:42 Speaker 2: Thank you. Uh, Councilor Stewart.

▶ 1:41:46 Robb Stewart: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ms. Furguson. Uh, so is any of this additional funding going to, um, be a benefit of some of the discussions we've had around Ravine Road?

▶ 1:41:57 Speaker 1: So, Ravine Road is, uh, currently part of what we're planning for the, um, Traffic Calming Toolkit. And so, that's outside of this. That would be using the pilot materials that we got from the Shared Streets Program grant a couple years ago and deploying those on Ravine Road and taking internal traffic counts using the police department's equipment. So, that's not something- Okay. ... specifically budgeted (...) Okay. But that's still- But it is in the plan for next year.

▶ 1:42:20 Robb Stewart: All right. All right, keep your priority. (laughs) (laughs) Um, and if you're looking for flood areas, you know, the Cutter-Sanford areas, um, I've got a lot, uh, got a lot of energetic feedback on that certain location from some of the, the neighbors that live around there. So that, that's an area that you can look into. Okay. If, if you're looking for flooding- All right. Thank you. ... mitigation. Thank you.

▶ 1:42:41 Speaker 2: What's the, um, will of the committee?

▶ 1:42:45 Cal Finocchiaro: Make a motion to move a bottom line of, uh, DPW 422. Is that right? Mm-hmm. Second.

▶ 1:42:52 Mark Garipay: Mm-hmm. Yep. We have a motion to move the bottom line of 422 DPW Highway in the amount of $1,250,564 made by Councilor Fu- Finocchiaro, seconded by Co- uh, Vice Chair Jamaleddine on discussion. My only thing, um, would be to, um, to tell any of the city councilors and the ones sitting in the audience, now's your time to advocate for your roads. (laughs) (laughs) Between now and, and next budget time. (laughs) (laughs) (laughs) So, um, all in favor? I- I. I. I. Closed. That will be, uh, recommended. Thank you. All right. That motion passed. I'm sorry. (laughs) I'm losing it. (laughs) Uh, next up we have Department 433 DPW Sanitation. Ms. Proakas

▶ 1:43:41 Speaker 2: Ellis.

▶ 1:43:43 Speaker 1: Thank you. This one's very straightforward. It's the restoration of the summer work program and it's the restoration of overtime, which is Saturdays at the yard and Sunday pickups for the municipal barrels.

▶ 1:43:56 Speaker 5: Assuming there's no questions. Yep. So, actually I just had a question. So let's go back to that.

▶ 1:43:59 Speaker 2: Oh, let's go to 433.

▶ 1:44:01 Speaker 5: Go back to the regular, uh, every other Saturdays.

▶ 1:44:04 Speaker 1: Is that what the schedule was before? Set- before it was every Saturday. Okay. And then we went to every other Saturday with the budget cuts. So we'll, it's already gone back to every Saturday. Thank you. And we've even added a Saturday. We've added December 6th. Oh. Okay, great.

▶ 1:44:18 Speaker 5: Thank you. (laughs) Um, make a motion to (laughs) move the bottom line of- Second. ... DPW 433.

▶ 1:44:25 Mark Garipay: Second. So- Yeah, second that. We have a motion to move, uh, 433 Se- Sanitation in the amount of 22,200 made by Council Funakiaro, seconded by Council Stewart on discussion. Do, do you, do you have- No. Oh, okay. On discussion, um- (Thuds) ... no discussion. All in favor? I. Opposed? Department 433 Sanitation has been moved. On to 475 DPW Parks and Forestry. And we are joined by Parks Superintendent, Mr. Kerr.

▶ 1:45:06 Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. So-

▶ 1:45:08 Speaker 2: Thanks for waiting.

▶ 1:45:09 Speaker 3: Yeah. (laughs) No problem.

▶ 1:45:11 Speaker 2: (laughs) Should have called me. I would've told you to come later.

▶ 1:45:13 Speaker 1: You should text him. Um, so again, restoration of summer work, overtime, uh, a couple other things that were taken out of the budget were the support for the Adopt a Site program for $5,000, some landscaping supplies. And then on the DPW side of things, we have tree planting for 100,000, um, which exceeds, I know Council Garipay will be thrilled to hear, exceeds the replanting of what we remove amount, which was 67,000 that I've advocated for year over year and actually results in more planting than what we're taking out, which would be fantastic. Um, and then the 100,000 that's shown for tree trimming is to catch up on our trims and removals. Um, I do have some numbers. We have 289 trim work orders right now and 124 removal work orders. And the money that you all approved a little while ago to put into the contractor allowed us to take down some of our really challenging ones, but the numbers are still really high. So we're hoping that 100,000 can really make a dent in that while we try to backfill our employees. Um, and then the other programs are Parks

▶ 1:46:25 Speaker 6: Department. Yep. So the Parks Department, similar as Council Williams was saying earlier, like majority of what we do is capital improvement and earmark based. Um, we have, until the Adopt a Site was added back, we had one line item for playground equipment, which is roughly $6,400 a year. And then we have our, um, permit budget, permit fund, which is revolving, which brings in between 15 and 20,000 a year. So we're operating a lot off that. So majority of the stuff we do is, like I said, capital improvement and earmark. So majority of the stuff on this list is that. Um, going down the list, playground and park improvements. Um, the common park, majority of the floor there is what they call PIP or pour in place rubber. So it's essentially like a rubber floor across the whole way. Um, when that was done, I believe it was 2015 when that park was redone, um, it wasn't thick enough. So it's supposed to be between like three and a half to six inches thick. I think it was between like one and a half and two. So with that being the most utilized park in the city, um, especially for the younger ages, um, it just wears down. Like tire tread, it just continues to wear. If you go over there right now, there's a lot of holes. Um, the cost for that alone is a lot. It's in the hundreds of thousands of dollars just to do the floor alone. And then the older kid structure, the one closer to the, um, swings, that one was painted a few years ago, but same deal. It's just wear and tear to the most used park, which is good 'cause the other alternative for park placements is vandalism, which we haven't seen a lot of, knock on wood, in the last few years. Um, and then Dutton Park is on Franklin Street, um, kind of right past the- across from the Franklin. It's pretty hidden. Honestly, I didn't know it was there until I got this role. But, um, another one, it's, it's a smaller one. Um, it's definitely in need of upgrade. I'm not sure when that was installed, but it was a long time ago. Um, playground equipment and repairs. Again, that's kind of improvement to the $6,400 a year. That adds up quick. If it's stuff that DPW can do, like a swing being replaced or slide being replaced, it's a couple hundred dollars to a thousand. But if it's a company that has to come out and do the work for us, um, prevailing wage, the labor costs do get up there. So the 6,400 is kind of on the low end, so that'd be improvement to that. Um, pickleball, Foss, and tennis courts. Um, so the Park Commission voted in March that the Foss Park tennis courts would no longer have nets up there. I'm sure there's been residents and pickleball players here at Park Commission meetings in the past three or four years. Um, so the plan is, based off the Park Commission's vote, is to turn that back to a basketball court. Um, and then we're gonna do lines at Tremont Street for pickleball. So it'll be double lined for tennis and pickleball. So the rec department ran a test program this past fall. Um, it worked out well. There's no complaints, no noise complaints from residents, um, anything like that. And then the Crystal Street tennis court is another one that's becoming a safety concern, um, just from years of use. Lots of cracks, weeds growing through it that are tripping hazards, slips, um, everything along those lines.Um, and the baseball/softball field improvements, that is basically from New England weather. Lot of rain in the spring, um, so adding materials to those infields just changes the grade. So right now with the common store, the common store side softball field, Conant Park, and Morelli, they're all kind of like a tiered system right now, where like the grass is here, then there's like an eight to 10-inch drop till the dirt. And then from adding dirt more, it kind of raises that up. So it's, it would be a complete strip of the infields there and renovation to get them up to more of a safety, less of a safety risk there. Um, and it'll help with when it rains. Like Morelli, Conant, Horace Mann, a lot of those fields when it rains, they're offline for up to like three or four days just 'cause of the grade. Best way to prevent that is having a healthy grade to the field, so um, yeah.

▶ 1:50:36 Speaker 2: Councilor Finocchiaro then Council Jamality.

▶ 1:50:38 Cal Finocchiaro: Thank you. Um, do you have like, uh, current bids for like the baseball fields? Is that something you're-

▶ 1:50:43 Speaker 6: We're currently working on a scope of work, um, without a funding source. Um, we're just waiting to make sure we have that before we put it out to bid. But we have the scope of work. We have kind of estimates, uh, but no formal things right now.

▶ 1:50:56 Speaker 5: And that's what, uh, three, is it three baseball fields or four? Four, one, two...

▶ 1:50:59 Speaker 6: Two baseball and a softball. Okay.

▶ 1:51:04 Speaker 6: Oh, sorry. I missed the lights at Lewis Monk as well that was under there.

▶ 1:51:08 Speaker 5: Oh, lights at Lewis Monk? Yes. Okay. I mean, I'm happy to see the softball field there too (laughs) . It's, it's dire need so thank you.

▶ 1:51:20 Speaker 2: All set? Mm-hmm. Okay. Uh, Council Jamality? (laughs) Sorry.

▶ 1:51:23 Maya Jamaleddine: (laughs) Minimal questions. Thank you. Um, I'm, it's actually just one question about, you listed few parks that on your list, uh, for maintenance. Is Warren Park on, uh, that list? I don't know if I missed that. Uh, there is, um, there has been some concern raised by constituents, uh, about, um, uh, accessibility for wheelchair, accessibility and, uh- Sure. ... going inside the park. I'm not sure if you, you have that

▶ 1:51:53 Speaker 6: on- So I think Warren Street was redone in like the last three years. That's, um, an ADA accessible park, has a lot of structures for wheelchairs and lack of mobility.

▶ 1:52:05 Maya Jamaleddine: Right. The, um, uh, we can talk offline. So I, I wasn't sure. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I'll, I'll share some of the, uh, one of the concerns that constituents have been, uh, raising about it and, um, and I know, uh, Councilor, um, Karam Chedy, who is in her ward also, um, shares that. Um, do, do we have anything that is not going to be restored and not included in this budget in terms of, um, the parks specifically and, uh, you know, like, uh, the services that we're providing in terms of the DPW for trash removal and covering the cost of the tree removal as well?

▶ 1:52:51 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, what was the last one? Covering?

▶ 1:52:53 Maya Jamaleddine: Do we have anything that is not, we weren't able to, uh, include in this supplemental budget from the services that we've been providing in terms of the park and...?

▶ 1:53:05 Speaker 1: No, all of the services like mowing- Have been- ... and maintenance and summer program and all that have been restored.

▶ 1:53:11 Maya Jamaleddine: Okay. So we don't... Moving forward, we feel that we're back on the same track at least?

▶ 1:53:18 Speaker 1: Correct. But it, from a capital perspective, I mean, this is definitely not the complete list of needs and desires of the parks and playgrounds in the city. Um, you know, there, there was a longer list, again, from the CIP the last time we did it. Um, Joan Bell probably had 15 projects on there, and this is a portion of them. Mm-hmm. And whatever Rob Awesome.

▶ 1:53:41 Speaker 6: Yeah. And this is kind of based off of, again, like safety concerns for some of them and then like accessibility, um, in terms of kind of weather, um, like with rain, fields being offline for, for weeks, um, in need of that. And then obviously with the grade, the safety concern like were for a lot of like the youth athletes at those fields, when there's a drop this, uh, this high, like 18 inches off a field, like backpedaling or running in a direction could lead to some serious injuries. Okay. Um,

▶ 1:54:15 Maya Jamaleddine: thank you. I, I know that there is a lot, uh, of work, uh, to do, and I do appreciate that, you know, like itemizing the top priority to address. And hopefully we'll be able to continue that progress in terms of, uh, supporting our, you know, DPW at least, because you guys take the, the big chunk of our budget probably (laughs) .

▶ 1:54:40 Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think along those lines, it's important to point out that, you know, we're not just in parks, but everywhere within our budget, we're picking off the highest priorities. But obviously, that doesn't mean that we just invest this year and then we're good. And we, you know, we have... I, I, um, think last time we did the CIP, the DPW submitted 99 projects. Mm-hmm. So, um, you know, there's always work to be done and there has to be continued investment so that we're not, you know, looking off the, off a ledge (laughs) um, in the future too.

▶ 1:55:13 Speaker 5: Yep. Thank you.

▶ 1:55:16 Mark Garipay: I think I would encourage any councilors, um, or new councilors to, to take a look at the CIP. It is on the website, and it's, um, it's a pretty detailed document. Um, Council Williams, then we got Vandiver, Stewart, and Finu- uh, Finocchiaro right now for the second time.

▶ 1:55:34 Ryan Williams: (laughs) Thank you. You're welcome. And for anybody who heard that, CIP is Capital Improvement Plan.So, um- Thanks for that. Yeah. You never know. I like abbreviations. You never know. Um, I want to circle back to the chair on something Councilor Jamaleddine said, 'cause it's, I, it, I think she raised a really good point, which is, um, the question of, are we able to restore trash barrels, pickups? Was that in the... 'cause we just approved the sanitation budget and there's DPW overtime in that budget. Is that in that budget?

▶ 1:56:04 Speaker 1: So, the, um, yes. In that, in the sanitation one that we just discussed before, that was the Saturdays at the yard and the Sunday pickups. Right. Just to be clear, the removal of trash barrels at the parks did not have a financial component aside from the Sunday pickups. Right. Which also apply to downtown. Right. So, they're not necessarily hand-in-hand. We haven't decided if we're putting all the barrels back. We might put them all back and then evaluate how our pilot program went- Got it. ... and then make decisions for next fiscal year. But the, the Sunday pickup allows us to not go, especially on a long weekend, when we go three-day weekend in especially downtown- Yeah. ... with no pickup, the barrels are overflowing, the trash is on the ground. So one way or another, regardless of anything to do with parks, the Sunday pickup is very helpful for the community.

▶ 1:56:54 Ryan Williams: Thanks, I appreciate it. Sorry to go back in time like that. It's okay. Um, for the matter that's before us, 475, um, I, I try not to be too overly complimentary, but I'm s- thank you for the work that you've done. I thanked you a long time. We've known each other for a long time. But thank you, because you're sort of new to this, you've jumped into it, and this list, like, one of the things that always sort of stuck for me was that I felt like we just weren't doing enough for our playgrounds for younger kids, and we had a lot of tot lots, and, and, and playgrounds that were sort of like 40, 50 years old in some places, and it was always, for some reason, it was always the ones that my kids were at, right? (laughs) Like, you know, it was Hoover, and then it was Lincoln, and it was the Foss Park, and all of these playgrounds in the last five years have seen dramatic changes and they're so nice. So, seeing that stuff in here and hearing you talk about these parks, I just, it's, you know, it's been transformational and the most recent one at Lincoln is well-loved. The kids love it. Um, so I appreciate that. And I appreciate the Boss Park work to go back to the basketball court that, and put pickleball at Tremont Street, which was actually an original proposal many, many years ago. But that's okay. We got there and I think it's the right idea. Um, on the trees, the hired equipment for tree trimming, am I correct in understanding that we are still not the group of folks who are doing tree trimming when it is close to electric wires?

▶ 1:58:25 Speaker 1: Correct. That's National Grid's contractor.

▶ 1:58:26 Ryan Williams: Right. Yeah, so I know a number of constituents I've talked to, um, have had trees that are tangled up in the wires and that can take much longer because we have to wait to coordinate with their services.

▶ 1:58:38 Speaker 1: Yeah, although they've been pretty well caught up lately.

▶ 1:58:40 Ryan Williams: Oh, good. Okay. Yeah. There, there is one, there is one. (laughs) I'll tell you about it later. Um, okay. And then the, so for the tree trimming, this is, um, is this a capital expense? Like, are we buying a, a chipper or a truck or a cherry picker or?

▶ 1:58:54 Speaker 1: No. We are hiring our on-call contractor to help us continue to get caught up- Nice. ... with our trims and removals.

▶ 1:59:00 Ryan Williams: Nice. That's, that's fantastic. That's like everyday stuff that people are gonna see on their streets, so thank you. Thank you, both. I have nothing else.

▶ 1:59:07 Mark Garipay: Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Williams. Uh, Councilor Vandiver?

▶ 1:59:10 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you. Uh, so I, I'd like to echo that the Lincoln playground has come out really nicely. I know there were some challenges when that was, y- with things that were found as that was being installed, and, um, like good creative outcomes, uh, as far as how that ended up built up around the edges. It's really nice.

▶ 1:59:29 Speaker 4: Um, I,

▶ 1:59:31 Kimberly Vandiver: uh, as far as the tree trimming, I know I had also asked about this previously, um, I believe y- so you mentioned about 400 between the trims and the removals, that there's this backlog and, um, I believe we have, uh, two people within DPW who are a team and do that trimming, is that right?

▶ 1:59:47 Speaker 1: Well, so our forestry foreman position has been vacant, um, since June, I think it was, when he left. Um, and then one of our other employees who has historically done a lot of the tree work has been over at the cemetery filling in for that vacancy because we couldn't fill that one, but the, the work at the cemetery has to get done when we have burials, so he's spent a lot of time over there. So, right now, it's our parks and forestry foreman who, you know, division foreman, who typically wouldn't be daily out doing tree work, but he's been one of the people who is qualified to do it. Um, he's our arborist as well. And then one other, um, machine operator, that's all we've had to focus on trees. And even then, you know, when we're doing fall cleanups and stuff, they're helping with fall cleanups.

▶ 2:00:35 Kimberly Vandiver: Okay. And so this money that's in the supplemental budget, did I hear correctly, um, to the, the previous question that... Are, are we hiring people or equipment or both with it?

▶ 2:00:45 Speaker 1: We're hiring, uh, Pathfinder Tree, who is our on-call contractor. They have a, a competitively bid contract with the city to be our on-call, um, tree contractor, and their contract includes, uh, storm response, removals, trims, so we can have them do any of those things. There's costs for all of them, but, um, that 100,000, the intent is to have them do removals and trims. Again, we'll pick the hardest ones and we'll just give them a list and let them go.

▶ 2:01:12 Kimberly Vandiver: Okay. Got it. So, so it says hired equipment, but it's hired equipment that comes with people to run it. Correct. Okay. Got it. And, um, and so with that, um, contract and the backlog of 400, which I believe... I mean, yeah, depend, you know, depends if people are moving around at the cemetery or whatnot, but I, I understood that was previously about a one to two-year backlog. Um- Yeah, 18 How much of a dent can we make in that with the 100,000? How quickly can we get caught up s- on that?

▶ 2:01:40 Speaker 1: So, I'm not sure that we can get caught up. I was happy to see when I pulled these numbers, we were all caught up on assessments, which is part of the reason why we have so many trims and removals- (laughs) ... because historically, we've been behind on assessments. Now, we've done all the assessments and everything's just sitting in trims and removals. Um, it's really hard to say. I mean, on a good day, maybe they can do, I don't know, eight trims. But if it's a, if it's a really difficult tree and they have a crane and they're, you know, trying to move from place to place, maybe they only can do two in a day. Um, so it just all depends on the complexity of, of what we give them. But typically, we'll give them the ones that either need the larger equipment that we don't have or are just the, the ones that are too complex for us to do.

▶ 2:02:28 Kimberly Vandiver: Okay, great. Thank you. And apologies for spending so much time on this. I think, I think tree trims are, they're a safety issue in a lot of cases and they're a, a, um, a livability issue for a lot of residents who see them, so, so I, I'm really glad to see this here and thank you for the detail. Thank you.

▶ 2:02:44 Speaker 2: Council Stewarts? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Quickly, Kona Park playground looks great. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Council Stewart. Uh, next up, Council Funchiara.

▶ 2:02:56 Cal Finocchiaro: Thank you so much, Chair Garipay. I just want to make a vote to put trash barrels back at the common. (laughs) I'm just jo- I'm just joking. Um, but I also want to say, um, if you could give some context on how long a lot of these projects have been sitting just so residents can understand. Like, this, like, you know, this playground equipment and you said that you have a list of 99. Like, is this five years that you've been waiting to put

▶ 2:03:19 Speaker 1: these... Um, I mean, the high school bathrooms, I've heard them talked about since I started 10 years ago. Um...

▶ 2:03:25 Cal Finocchiaro: But I'm, I'm talking about more so like the parks and the playground repairs and riv- improvements in Foss Park and the tennis improvements. Is that

▶ 2:03:34 Speaker 1: a... Well, Foss Park- I know that's a separate decision. Foss Park is...

▶ 2:03:37 Mark Garipay: Council Funchiara, can you... I'm sorry, can you just repeat that? I missed it.

▶ 2:03:40 Cal Finocchiaro: What my question was? Yeah. Some context on how long these items have been sitting sort of... We haven't been repairing the playgrounds for five years. It's been six years. Like...

▶ 2:03:49 Speaker 1: So, I would say, we've had, we've had consistent investment in the playgrounds. Um, prior to Rob, Joan always had a list and every year, free cash was requested and things got done. So, that's how Volunteer Park on Warren Street, um, and Foss Park, when it did, when the playground got renovated and when it was converted to pickleball, those were all, um, free cash projects. So, there has been consistent investment, but, um, you know, playg- playgrounds are something that have to be replaced on a more frequent cycle than, say, buildings, so, or roofs. Um, so I feel like there's been just constant, a constant list and constant investment. Okay. Um, the Foss Park one, we just converted that to pickleball five years ago. Mm-hmm. So, um, I'm not sure if some of the others, if you have a sense how long?

▶ 2:04:40 Speaker 6: Yeah. I mean, some of it's kind of like requested routine maintenance, like the Crystal Street tennis courts. Like, it's probably three or four times a year where it's like I get the same request from tennis players. Um, there's weeds growing, they're getting long and we have to send someone over. But the fixes we can do are like Band-Aids, like it needs serious work. Like, if it's like a one-inch gap and we put some type of concrete or fill in there, it's, it's just gonna crack, keep coming up. Um-

▶ 2:05:07 Cal Finocchiaro: Okay. So, these are the things that have been sitting for a while- Yeah. ... and we are finally going to be able to fix them properly or...

▶ 2:05:12 Speaker 2: Correct. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Um, what's the, uh, will of the committee?

▶ 2:05:18 Speaker 3: Motion to move the bottom line, second.

▶ 2:05:20 Ryan Williams: I'm sorry. Please. Okay, apologize. Uh, motion to move the bottom line in 475.

▶ 2:05:25 Speaker 5: Second.

▶ 2:05:26 Mark Garipay: We have a motion to move the DPW Parks and Forestry Department 475 made by... in the amount of $1,282,825 made by Councilor Williams, seconded by Council Funchiara. One discussion, I get two questions. Um, geese. What are we going to do about geese? Are we going to put some money in there? I- Oh, my God.

▶ 2:05:48 Speaker 6: We actually have a goose patrol officer.

▶ 2:05:51 Speaker 2: A health issue on the fields.

▶ 2:05:52 Speaker 1: Goose patrol officer. Oh, that's right.

▶ 2:05:54 Speaker 2: We did, we, we-

▶ 2:05:55 Speaker 6: Right here. Mr. Pellerine. Mr. Pellerine.

▶ 2:05:59 Speaker 2: I would like to report that

▶ 2:06:02 Speaker 2: when I had the race car, we were making great progress. Now, I have a

▶ 2:06:06 Speaker 3: drone, but it's too light. And

▶ 2:06:13 Speaker 2: so, you know, I've, I've almost lost it in the pond- Okay. ... twice with the wind. We're going to get you more, we're going to get you more help.

▶ 2:06:20 Mark Garipay: I need, I need another race car. All right. Reinforced. I, I've been saying it for four years, I think it's absolutely disgusting that the kids are playing on these soccer fields and we cannot figure out how to get rid of the geese. So, I would encourage, I'm coming off, but I would encourage you to seriously do something finally on

▶ 2:06:36 Speaker 1: Get you a dog and a, and a new job. He doesn't like geese.

▶ 2:06:39 Mark Garipay: Okay. And then, my only other question is, have we thought about like, um... we talk about softball field, uh, you know, Messengers Field, it seems like it's an underutilized field. I know it floods occasionally, but-

▶ 2:06:49 Speaker 6: That's kind of the main concern with

▶ 2:06:51 Mark Garipay: it. It seems like it's gone way, way... with the condition of it is really bad.

▶ 2:06:54 Speaker 6: Yeah, it's been like that, is, since I was a kid. I remember like, there's a few rainstorms where that whole thing was underwater, like parking lot high. Um, with it being just at the bottom of the hill, it, it floods a lot. Um, a lot of the rocks carry down. There's kind of like a little path of rocks going down that those will carry out onto the grass. We did a lot of work, DPW did a lot of work to it this summer. Um, it was, it was tough to do in the spring 'cause we were backed up a lot- Yeah. ... with high school games and all that.

▶ 2:07:23 Mark Garipay: I don't need, I just wanted to throw that out there. I just think it's an underutilized park. I don't need... Council Williams, did you have something?

▶ 2:07:29 Ryan Williams: Just to say, if you got free time coming up, maybe you could be part of the geese patrol. Okay. Okay. That's it. Thank you.

▶ 2:07:35 Mark Garipay: And I voted for it overhead, so I'm going to go for the money. (laughs) Um, uh, under discussion, uh, all in favor? I. Opposed?All right. We have Department 475, Parks and Forestry- (clears throat) ... has been moved. Next up, we have DPW Automotive. Ms. Spelway can you tell us? Oh- Yes. Thank you. Thanks, Sheila. Thank you, Rob. Thanks for sticking around. Appreciate all you do.

▶ 2:07:56 Speaker 1: Um, this one's easy. It is just the restoration of the mechanic position. And when we took it out of the budget last year, we took out the junior mechanic. Um, that was the value that we took out. Um, even though it was the mechanic that was vacant, we had a fear that if the junior mechanic- (clears throat) ... left, then we would be in a position where we'd only be able to hire a junior mechanic. So we budgeted to take out that amount so that we could fill the mechanic if a junior mechanic left. But, so that's the, the value of this. But we have a mechanic position vacant. Does that make sense? Mm-hmm.

▶ 2:08:29 Speaker 2: Councilor Williams.

▶ 2:08:30 Speaker 3: So motion to move the bottom line on 485.

▶ 2:08:33 Speaker 5: Second.

▶ 2:08:34 Mark Garipay: We have a motion to move the bottom line of 485, DPW Automotive, in the amount of $57,124, made by Councilor Williams, seconded by President Migliorelli. On discussion, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? That bottom line is now moved. Moving on, we got my favorite, 491, DPW Cemetery.

▶ 2:08:57 Speaker 1: Last but not least, um, the, again, simple budget request just to backfill the, uh, vacant position in the cemetery and to restore the summer work program.

▶ 2:09:12 Mark Garipay: Mr. Chair- Councilor Stewart. ... I'll make a motion to move this to the bottom line. Second. We have a motion to move 491 to the bottom line tr- 491, Cemetery, uh, made by cou- in the amount of 70,924 and, um, in the amount of 70,924, made by Councilor Stewart, seconded by President Migliorelli. On discussion?

▶ 2:09:29 Ryan Williams: Just one thing. What does HMO stand for?

▶ 2:09:31 Speaker 1: Heavy Machine Equipment Operator.

▶ 2:09:32 Speaker 3: Oh, okay, great. Thank you.

▶ 2:09:34 Speaker 2: Um,

▶ 2:09:36 Mark Garipay: on discussion, all in favor? I. I. I. Opposed? That is, that bottom line is moved and we have- Thank you. No, no more? We're good, right?

▶ 2:09:47 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's it for me. All right.

▶ 2:09:48 Speaker 3: Thank you very much.

▶ 2:09:48 Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you for all your help.

▶ 2:09:51 Mark Garipay: Thank you. We have one more, uh, depa- well, we have multiple departments, but we have one more presentation- (laughs) . ... uh, made by, uh, CFO Carrie Golden. And this is gonna be human resource benefits and pensions. We're starting off with

▶ 2:10:07 Mark Garipay: 152. Is it all combined into 150?

▶ 2:10:11 Speaker 4: No, it's a bunch, it's like-

▶ 2:10:13 Mark Garipay: Yeah, I got it. I got it. I'm sorry. 152 Is the first one, uh, first one up, uh, Human Resource.

▶ 2:10:21 Speaker 4: Yes. So I am here to present all the boring stuff that (laughs) we're, we're here to pay. So this should go quick. Yes. Yeah. All right. (laughs) Uh. So I'm here- Saved the best for last. I'm here for the HR Director, um, on the 152 budget, uh, to restore both the advertising and physical exam line items. Now that we, uh, will have some vacancies, um, when, you know, we have, um, two police officers, there's psychological exams, physical exams, same with DPW. So this is just to restore for, um, both the physicals and recruitment of these positions.

▶ 2:10:59 Robb Stewart: Councilor Stewart. Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion to move this to the bottom line. Second.

▶ 2:11:03 Mark Garipay: We have a motion to move the bottom line of Department 152, Human Resources, in the amount of $20,000- Second. ... made by Councilor Stewart. Seconded by, seconded by Vice Chair, uh, Jamaleddine. On discussion?

▶ 2:11:15 Ryan Williams: Uh, just one question, I'm sorry. The, this is just to clarify, this is the city's portion of the police benef- or the onboarding that we've already approved. Yes. Yeah, right. Yes. 'Cause we did approve. It sounds very similar what you're saying, but I, for the public's benefit and maybe my own, it's two separate pots of money that combine together to fu- fully fund the need. Yes. Yep. Okay. Thank you.

▶ 2:11:37 Mark Garipay: Anyone else on discussion? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? 152 is now moved. Next up, we have 911, which is pension obligations.

▶ 2:11:50 Speaker 4: Yes. So, um, in our most recent bond rating, and we actually got our bond rating back today and it was affirmed at double A+, so that's huge. But, um, the bond rating has identified, um, the long-term liabilities for the city in both pension and OPEB. Um, so this is just a, you know, a drop in the bucket, $500,000. But, you know, the hope is to watch that money grow, um, and keep it in line with next year's appropriation 'cause you can never reduce that line item. So this is in line with what we have in queue for FY27.

▶ 2:12:28 Ryan Williams: Councilor Williams. I'd say thank you for thinking of this. 'Cause it's something that has, like, been actually giving me heartburn. (laughs) And, um, I'm really glad to see us putting some money into this. It's, can be tempting to ignore this problem 'cause it seems like a future problem, but it's very soon going to become a now problem. Mm-hmm. Yes. So, thank you.

▶ 2:12:47 Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you. Would you like to make a motion? Make a motion

▶ 2:12:49 Speaker 5: to- Would you like to motion? ... bottom line (laughs) 911.

▶ 2:12:53 Mark Garipay: Second. Uh, motion to move the bottom line of 911- Second. ... pension in the amount of 500,000 made by Councilor Finocchiaro, seconded by Vice Chair Jamaleddine. On discussion, all in favor? I. I. Opposed? That is moved. Next up, 914. We have health insurance.

▶ 2:13:12 Speaker 4: In the course of the budget tonight, all the different departments you've approved 24, uh, new positions, 17 on the school and seven on the city. Uh, we carry both the city and school benefits. Uh, so this is just reflective of an average benefit cost for those employees.

▶ 2:13:31 Ryan Williams: Counselor- Motion to move the bottom line on 914. Is that where we are?

▶ 2:13:35 Mark Garipay: Second? Yeah. Motion to move the bottom line, 914 health insurance in the amount of $442,455, made by Councilor Williams, seconded by Councilor Stewart. On discussion-All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? Bottom line is moved. Next up, we have 916, uh, total department... Uh, what am I, total? 916, Medicare. Hmm.

▶ 2:14:01 Speaker 4: All you. This is just a calculation. It's 1.45% we pay on earnings, um, so this is reflective of all of the salary and wages that were added to the budget tonight, as well as overtime costs.

▶ 2:14:16 Speaker 2: Councilor Stewart? Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion to move this to the bottom line.

▶ 2:14:19 Speaker 3: Second.

▶ 2:14:20 Mark Garipay: We have a motion to move nine f- nine six- teen Medicare, uh, in the amount of $41,124 made by Councilor Stewart, seconded by Councilor Williams. Any discussion? Councilor Finocchiaro?

▶ 2:14:32 Cal Finocchiaro: Sorry, I just want to get... This is the Medicare cost, uh, the percentage for the new people coming on? So the 24 positions?

▶ 2:14:38 Speaker 4: Yes, yes. As well as the overtime restoration. Yep. Perfect. Thank you.

▶ 2:14:43 Mark Garipay: Uh, anyone else? Uh, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? That bottom line is moved. Next up we have 942, Sta- uh, Stabilization Fund. Um...

▶ 2:14:54 Speaker 4: Yes, so again, um, the long-term liabilities, both pension OPEB. Our OPEB liability is $156 million. Uh, towards that we have $1.6 million in a trust fund, so this is just to try to make some, um, contributions to this to be recognized in our bond rating.

▶ 2:15:16 Speaker 2: Any questions? Councilor Stewart? Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion to move this to the bottom line.

▶ 2:15:20 Mark Garipay: Second. We have a motion to move the bottom line of 942, st- uh, is it OPEB Stabilization Fund or... Yes. (laughs) Do I have to say OPEB or just Stabilization? Well, it doesn't matter. I'm saying 942. 942 Stabilization Fund, uh, in the amount of $500,000 made by Councilor Stewart, seconded by Councilor... was it Williams? I don't know. I don't think so. Williams? Sure. You are now. Yes. Uh, any discussion? Excuse All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? That bottom line is moved. Um, I believe we covered everything. Are you keeping track? Good. All right. Uh, we are moving on to appropriations. We got ID 2025-249, the acceptance of vote language for appropriation of Feasibility Study for MSBA Accelerated Repair Projects, um, and we have, uh, Ms. Golden, CFO, to speak on that.