APPRO-2023-28 : Fiscal 2024 Operating Budget in the amount of $101,173,341 (one hundred and one million, one hundred seventy-three thousand, three hundred forty-one dollars and 00/100 cents)

Transcript (~1 h 20 min @ 1:45)

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

▶ 1:47 Leila Migliorelli: Aye. Aye. Any opposed? This order will be held in committee. So next up is the continuation of our annual budget hearings with appropriation 2023 dash 28, fiscal 2024 operating budget in the amount of $101,173,341 and 0 cents. So tonight we have most of our city boards and commissions here with us. And first up, um, for tonight. Um, and we're joined by, uh, economic Development Director of Lauren Grim here representing the administration. But first on our agenda is the Commission on Women. And, um, chair Karen Blackburn is here with us this evening. Please.

▶ 2:37 Speaker 3: Hello. So wonderful to be here tonight. Thanks for having us.

▶ 2:46 Speaker 3: So, um, for F FY 24, the commissioner and women would love to be level funded. Um, over the past year, we have termed off a number of commissioners, long-term commissioners, and we have done a really great job of finding new members. So we're going into this new year, um, fully, um, with a full membership for the first time and probably about five years, which is remarkable. Uh, we built on, we had some really great successes last year. So we had our very first in-person event for the first time since pandemic. It was a wonderful opportunity to bring the community together. Uh, women who were new to the mission of the commission, um, they were there for a public speaking event. And our plan when the new commission is installed, is to really spend the time learning about the lessons from last year and figuring out how we can strategically really build community for women, women identifying individuals in this, um, in Melrose. Um, how we are able to leverage social media to better educate the public on the wonderful remarkable, you know, advances women have made throughout history also in our city. But also more importantly, we wanna make sure that women are able to understand all of the resources available to them here in Melrose. One of the things we learned was that a lot of the folks who came to the event really had no idea how to navigate this building. They didn't understand everything that was available to them. They didn't understand where they could go for questions, whether it pertained to school or health or D p w, anything of the sort. And so we realized we wanted to make that also a cornerstone for our work next year. So really helping people understand how they could better utilize the tremendous resources that are available to them here. So that's what we hope to do next year.

▶ 4:45 Speaker 1: Thank you. Questions from the council? Councilor Stewart?

▶ 4:49 Robb Stewart: Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you Ms. Blackor for being here this evening. Um, the amount is, um, not a very big impact to the overall budget, and I certainly will support this. But my one question is, um, the last couple years, the full amount of the, the budgeted, um, has not been fully expended. And I'm just wondering why.

▶ 5:12 Speaker 3: Uh, it's a great question. And for the most part, those were the pandemic years. So everything that we did was largely virtual. Uh, when we were able to secure other either experts or other resources, we were able to get them in Kinded. And so the event that we did in February was the first in-person event, and we were able to utilize some well-earned funds. It was great.

▶ 5:38 Speaker 4: Okay. Great. Thanks. Thank you, madam.

▶ 5:41 Jen Grigoraitis: Any other questions? President Grigoraitis? Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you Ms. Blackburn for being here tonight. I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of the, um, commission chairs who are here. I know almost all of you serve entirely in a volunteer capacity or a very, very nominal stipend. So thank you for taking time out of your lives, not just to do the work, but to be here tonight with all of us. It's wonderful to see you. Um, I'm thrilled to see that the commission is fully staffed and look forward to what you're able to produce next year. And I would motion to move the bottom line. Second

▶ 6:11 Leila Migliorelli: Motion to move the bottom line made by President Greg Reis, seconded by Counselor Eccles. On discussion.

▶ 6:19 Speaker 1: Seeing none. Um, Mr. Clerk, will you please call the role

▶ 6:21 Speaker 2: Vice chair Jamal Dean? Yes. Counselor Eccles? Yes. Counselor Stewart? Yes. Cremsky? Yes. Counselor Williams? Yes. President Greg? Yes. And Chair Elli? Yes. That's, uh, unanimous. Seven? Yes.

▶ 6:35 Leila Migliorelli: Great. The, thank you so much, chair Blackburn, and thank you for the memo. It was really, um, interesting to kind of have that summary of everything, the commission's done this past year. I'm looking forward, um, to seeing what you'll be doing next year. Thank you.

▶ 6:47 Speaker 3: Looking forward to seeing everyone at events next year. Yes. Um,

▶ 6:53 Leila Migliorelli: all right, so next up we have the Human Rights Commission with chair Bonnie Clapp.

▶ 7:07 Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me tonight. Um, I don't speak as eloquently as Ms. Blackburn, so I hope that you guys will understand. If I just read off the memo that I did submit, uh, the Melrose Human Rights Commission is one of the oldest community human right commissions in the Commonwealth. This commission was first created in 1992 upon recognizing a clear and apparent need in our community. For over 30 years now, our commission has worked to strengthen the local bonds in our city, fostering and cultivating a mutual respect and understanding of all viewpoints while verifying for all observers, the enriching nature a diverse population brings with it. Our essential mission is twofold, working to safeguard and advocate for our legal and our social rights. And two, helping our community to progress and transform individually and in our collective relations. Our work includes working to promote goodwill, understanding of diverse cultures, and an awareness of human rights issues, investigating claims of unlawful discrimination, harassment, and either mediating were appropriate or referring claims to appropriate enforcement authorities, and building and sustaining community relationships and partnerships. Some examples of our work in the last year with respect to promoting the Goodwill, the Melrose Human Rights Commission partnered with the Mayor's office and the d EI task force to create an event titled Dance for Community, where Melrose attendees were brought together through music and movement. We had conversations about what is a beloved community at our MLK Day of service, where we reflected on how Mer Melrose can support our Boston families with the METCO program. After over 300 community service projects were completed during the day at 13 different community host organizations. In an effort to promote understanding of our many diverse cultures, we planned and we organized a community Iftar dinner in partnership with the Malden Islamic Center and the Peace Islands Institute as well. We partnered with the Lincoln School PTO to bring back the international welcome potluck where participants were invited to bring a dish, represented their cultured cultural heritage. And Lincoln students shared with attendees highlights of their ancestral home country. And we are in the works of organizing pride, a celebration of our LGBTQ plus community. We continue to build and sustain community relationships and partnerships by increasing our community outreach through the creation of the HRC hub, which is a quarterly newsletter, to keep the Melrose community informed on the happenings of the Melrose Human Rights Commission. Promote educational resources and draw attention to the support of local organizations, businesses, and elected officials like yourself, who consistently and constantly step up to donate their time and their resources to our causes by giving them the recognition they deserve. At our events now, we still have a lot of work to do. We are innovating, we're transforming our programming to meet the needs of our increasingly diverse community. Our commissioners are extremely eager, energetic, and ready to work hard, to continue to provide educational opportunities, lasting partnerships, support, and resources to achieve our mission of one community that is open to all. For the upcoming year, we hope to continue to bring our community together, while also promoting core mission through celebratory and educational events. In addition, we are looking forward to working with the Melrose Police Department to ensure a systematic response to any civil rights incidents. And working with the Melrose Public Schools and PTOs to foster relationship with our youngest residents. There is truly more that can be done. There has been an increased and a renewed interest in the Melrose Human Rights Commission from the community. Our expanded programming has been in response to that demand. Consequently, our expenditures have increased far exceeding our $3,000 appropriation. Those expenses were covered by grants, as well as in-kind and small dollar donations. Overall, usually amounting to at least half as much of our allotted budget. We anticipate this trend to continue. Our ability to fundraise is difficult. As much of our volunteer time and energy is spent on the commission's programming, but the need for our commission has not shrunk, which is why I'm asking the council to commit, keeping our funding the same as it has been. And with that, I give you all a promise that we will be good stewards of the funds that we are allotted. We will continue to seek to expand our programming and our outreach while simultaneously coming up with new ways to fund our commission. Our work is made possible through the dedication of 11 volunteer public servants and our vol, and many of our volunteers and partners in the community. I would be Ari remiss if I did not take this moment to thank each and every one of them for their commitment, sacrifices, and dedication. Thank you.

▶ 12:04 Speaker 1: Thank you. Questions, uh, vice Chair Jamine.

▶ 12:06 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you Ms. Bonnie for being with us today and for your leadership on the Human Rights Commission. I wanted to also thank you for continuing the traditions that, uh, myself and my colleagues, fellow colleagues, uh, started as we are serving on the Human Rights Commission, but also for adding many more. Um, I wanted to ask, what is it, um, what kind of service or support that you, you would be looking from us or from City Hall that can help you in your mission?

▶ 12:43 Speaker 3: Um, I mean, at this point, the continued support of funds is amazing. Um, I, I know I can't ask for more, but, um, we do. I, I mean, we do, we, uh, get grants. We apply for grants through the Melrose, uh, culture Council from the Mass Cultural Council. Um, we have small dollar amounts and business donations that really do try to help fund our, our, our commission. Um, it, it, it really has been an upwards of almost $7,000 that we have gained through these grants. Our expenditures, um, just so everybody knows as of today, is almost at 10,000. Mm-hmm. Um, and we haven't done Pride yet. So, Yeah. And I'm, I know, and we've talked before that the events or any kind of activity that you do for the, um, community cost way more than what you're funded for. Um, and it is serving, it's for good, good cause and absolutely it's needed in our community. Um, I wonder if there is any kind of training, um, cuz uh, you know, for, uh, the commission, there is some grants, uh, that provides Yes. A training for community members. Absolutely. Um, that can help. Yes. Probably make, uh, groups feel welcome. That do not feel welcome still, uh, feel welcome in this community. Yeah. Are we looking into this? That would be amazing. I know that, um, I'm, I, I just took over as chair, um, about six months ago, and it's been a lot of learning as I, as I went along. And sometimes there's even grants opportunities that I'm not even aware of. So sometimes it's a, a plea that if you see something I shouldn't know about would be amazing too. Absolutely. We'll, we'll connect. Thank you so much. Thank you so Much.

▶ 14:37 Speaker 1: Any other questions? I just have one, uh,

▶ 14:40 Leila Migliorelli: comment. Thank you for, um, Ms. Clapp for presenting, um, your case. And it is interesting to hear that the expenses are at $10,000 this year. And I know that just from talking with people in the community, a lot of these events are Hallmark events of the city. And people are sort of surprised to find out that it, it's, they're all being produced by the commission. So, um, I, you know, I think it's something that, you know, the council could consider, um, talking with the mayor about in terms of making sure that you have the resources you need to continue your good work. Especially since so many people are, are counting on it and looking forward to it. Um, any No questions. Seeing nuns? Anyone wanna make a motion? Motion to move the bottom line. Second. Motion to move the bottom line on the Human Rights Commission budget made by President Greg. Seconded by Counselor Williams. Um, anyone on discussion? See none. Mr. Clerk, will you please call the role

▶ 15:35 Speaker 2: Vice Chair Jam Jamal? Yes. Counselor Les? Yes. Counselor Stewart? Yes. Counselor Brisky? Yes. Counselor Williams? Yes. President Greg? Yes. And Chair mc? Yes. That's unanimous. Seven. Yes.

▶ 15:49 Speaker 1: That motion carries. Thank you so much. Thank you all. All right.

▶ 15:54 Leila Migliorelli: Um, next up is Disability Commission with Chair David Hoff.

▶ 16:00 Speaker 1: Thank you for being here tonight. Thank you.

▶ 16:05 Speaker 5: Um, so, uh, good evening. Um, thank you for the opportunity to present, uh, to the committee this evening. Um, I'm David Hoff. I'm chair of the City Commission on Disability. Our commission is been operational for a little less than three years at this point. Um, over the past year, our primary focus of the commission has been guiding the process for development of an updated Americans with Disabilities Act, self-evaluation and transition plan, which we applied for and received grant funding for, uh, uh, approximately a year and a half ago. That plan is now finalized and will be presented to the City council in the near future, I believe in July, is what we're looking at. Um, the plan provides a blueprint for the next several years for ensuring that city buildings and city services are fully accessible to people with disabilities. Uh, and additionally, the commission has worked on a number of another other initiatives. Um, we serve as an ongoing resource to, uh, citizens of Melrose regarding various issues and questions on disability access. And we've responded to, um, numerous requests in this regard, but they got another request today. And, uh, one of the commission's roles is also to provide input on variance request regarding any sort of variance that's requested regarding, um, compliance with the accessibility standards. Uh, currently we're working with the Metro North Y on Main Street as they're undergoing a series of renovations and they've been asking or asking for a series of violences. While we are simply, we don't have, um, legal authority over that, that's ultimately up to the Massachusetts, um, access board. We are providing guidance on that and advice on that, on those issues there. Uh, we've also partnered with various organizations in the community on a series of initiatives, including, um, the Special Education Parents Advisory Council to ensure our schools are responsive to the needs of students with disabilities. We also presented at the Human Rights Commission's, MLK W of Service, um, and also we are currently working with the city's Health and Human Service Department on its Community Health and Inclusion Index mini grant. And we also have an upcoming event on June 10th that we're doing a partnership with Follow Your Art. It's a storytelling event with people with disabilities, sharing their stories and experiences. Um, we've also partnered with Understanding Our Differences, which is a leader in disability inclusion awareness education to run a pilot program for third graders at the Winthrop School, which was, uh, very well received. We got very strong feedback on that. We've also worked, um, on access to elections, obviously, uh, core to, uh, uh, you know, obviously being a, a citizen in our, in Melrose in our society at large is being able to vote. And so we've worked with the Elections Commission to ensure that our elections are as accessible as possible. Um, and thank you. And also first off, for the support for centralizing, uh, the elections in a fully accessible facility at the middle school. So we advocated for that. And also we worked also to ensure that there was proper signage, um, at the middle school. Um, ensure that it was very clear where accessible parking was and also where accessible entrances, uh, are. So, um, that was a partnership with the Elections Commission. In terms of our budget for the upcoming year, we're not a, a commission that requires a huge amount of dollars. We haven't certainly spent a lot over the past year, but, uh, as we continue to increase our profile in the community, number one, we're planning using funds to support participation in community outreach events. Uh, the Victorian Fair, it's an obvious one, but we're also looking at other events that we can be part of, uh, in terms of outreach and, uh, ensuring that the community is aware of us. And also we're helping to ensure that the, our, uh, community and our partners, uh, understand the needs of folks with disabilities. We are also working currently on a, uh, community guide. Uh, so that's kind of in line with the work we're doing with the city, but for community part, uh, organizations and the various groups, um, in terms of how to ensure that they're fully accessible for people with disabilities. So we're going to have some printing and, uh, distribution costs for that guide, which we hope to have out have out by the fall. And also, we are hoping to do a review of the city's website to ensure it is fully accessible, um, that what we would plan to spend the money on is reviewing the website, ultimately be up to the city to make any changes on the website in terms of maximizing accessibility. But we, um, we were not able to do that, um, with the current review that was undertaken by the Institute for Human-Centered Design. So it's certainly something we feel is critical. So that is kind of our summary of our budget request.

▶ 20:59 Speaker 1: Thank you. Questions from the council, vice chair, Jamal Ladine.

▶ 21:03 Speaker 3: Thank you. Um,

▶ 21:05 Maya Jamaleddine: thank you for being with us and for your leadership on the dis disability, uh, commission. I just, uh, you brought up a very important topic, which is the election. Mm-hmm. And the consolidation, uh, Pauls, um, did we hear, and especially that we are coming into an election season this year, um, did we hear any complaints or any concern from constituents, uh, that were not able, who are not able to access?

▶ 21:36 Speaker 5: We vote, we did not hear anything. I mean, I, I, you know, nothing was passed onto us, so we assume it went fine. I think as our commission, and actually we're finding this more recently, as our commission gets to be a higher profile, we're finding that people are starting to find us more readily. So it, you know, it doesn't mean there was no issues. We certainly did not hear of any, but we certainly keeping our ears open.

▶ 21:58 Maya Jamaleddine: So did, so we didn't hear, which is a good sign, hopefully. Yes, that's a positive. Yes. But, um, do you have any concern personally, like as, uh, the commission, any concern about, so we can take it into consideration for our next election?

▶ 22:12 Speaker 5: Um, well, I did this tuition, number one, ensuring that the signage is incredibly clear that, um, in terms of if people wanna vote in person where to which side of the building to go on. I mean, that's the work actually, our, our fellow commissioner, Aaron Heineman worked a lot on that and met with the election commission. So that's critically important. Obviously, also, you know, the fact that people can vote by mail insurance, they're aware of that and that the vote by mail is fully accessible. And I think that's something, you know, we can talk more about cuz that's critically important that materials will, by mail materials are fully accessible to people in available in alternate formats. So that's certainly something that's important as well. So,

▶ 22:48 Speaker 3: Okay. Well, thank you so much. You're welcome.

▶ 22:52 Jen Grigoraitis: Uh, president Greer. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you Mr. Hoff for being here tonight and for lending your very substantive expertise in the area of disability rights to your community. Um, I just wanted to say how happy I am to hear about the focus on the website. I think far too often when we talk about ADA or access, people really think about physical access and, um, the virtual access is as, as important, if not more so, particularly in our increasingly hybrid world. So I'm really, um, thrilled to hear that we're gonna be undertaking that going forward. So thank you for that. Oh, thank you. I will motion to move the bottom line. Second

▶ 23:27 Leila Migliorelli: Motion to move the bottom line made by President Greg Reyes, seconded by, um, council Jamal Ladine on discussion Counselor Stewart.

▶ 23:35 Robb Stewart: Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, thank you Mr. Hoff for being here. I I, uh, you answered most of my questions. I, I did want to ask you about, uh, vision impaired and some of the work, because I know that you do consider that, but I haven't heard it, so I'd like you to give you that opportunity to, uh, talk about that a little bit.

▶ 23:53 Speaker 5: Um, so a few, a few, a few thoughts there. Number one, um, we have the good fortune, um, that there, um, there is a gentleman who used to be, who's now retired, um, from the, from the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission, who has been regularly coming to our meetings, who is blind. And so it's been, I think he's gonna be a real asset to the commission. He wants to get very involved. We currently don't have any commission openings. I got a sense that he's actually interested, but I think he's gonna be a really great voice for that. Um, I think always the challenge of disability is there's so many different kinds of disabilities, but I think we absolutely, and I appreciate you raising the issue to ensure that we are, are focused on issues of folks who are, uh, blind or visually impaired. Um, it's something that we definitely keep in mind. I think it's always that issue of making sure, for example, uh, materials are fully accessible when you speak about materials that the city is using and, um, that are on the website. That, for example, that they're in formats, that a, that can be, you know, somebody who is using a, uh, device that, uh, reads written documents that they're fully accessible. That also includes things like, which are, these are things that often get forgotten, but if, for example, a PowerPoint is being distributed or a document that has, has, um, illustrations on it that there's alternative text and those kind of things. So I think as we move forward, obviously we've got the work we're doing in terms of the plan, um, which is gonna be presented, um, in July in terms of accessibility. But I think the next step on that is going to be us really starting to work with the city on how do we ensure that every official city event or as well as community events are fully accessible. And that includes making sure that, you know, materials are available in alternate formats. That, and I think a big thing about accessibility, that we often talk about it, it's not enough to just simply have that little notice in the corner and say, oh, if you need an accommodation, you know, it's about thinking about it ahead of time and saying, okay, we have made sure that all materials are fully accessible to somebody who, who's blind has access to them, that they're available electronically ahead of time, that they're fully accessible. I mean, similarly also with sign language interpreters and things like that at, you know, community events, that larger community events. Are we thinking about sign language interpretation, and are we making arrangements ahead of time? And so, yeah, I think it's being anticip support, not only anticipatory, but also welcoming and saying, yes, absolutely. We've thought about this ahead of time and that will respond to any request for accommodations. So thank you for raising the issue.

▶ 26:25 Speaker 4: Great. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Madam Chair. Council

▶ 26:27 Ryan Williams: Williams. Thank you. I so appreciate Councilor Jam. Jamal in raising the election because it reminded me that we did have a couple of complaints about the election with regard to accessibility. So, um, they were small, but I want to highlight them for you because I know that you're a powerful advocate and I want to hope that we can work together on this. Um, the building itself, no issues, no complaints, right? None whatsoever. Access from the street to the building. Yep. There's no ada, uh, compliant pathway, sidewalk or otherwise to come into the driveway. So what I witnessed personally was a woman with mobility impairments crossing two lanes of busy traffic trying to get into the building because she couldn't find a place to park. There's some handicap parking at the middle school, but not much. We also, the entire council received an email from a gentleman who was complaining about similar issues. And I recall Counselor Gepe had talked about how, I think it was his mother that was, had to park in a, in a more distant lot and had to walk up the incline, and it was kind of challenging for her. So while I think there have been a number of improvements, um, certainly on the election staff from consolidating the polls, uh, it is clear that there is a little bit of a challenge still with folks who aren't driving or people with disabilities to prevent them from driving. And so I, um, it reminded me because I raised it in, in, in, uh, November, and we can bring it back up with Elena and in the context of the, of the disability audit and see if we can, or the, the accessibility audit, excuse me, and see if we can push for those to keep folks who are not driving to the polls with accessible pathways to the election. Yeah.

▶ 27:55 Speaker 5: Yep. Thank

▶ 27:55 Speaker 6: You. Thank you.

▶ 27:57 Maya Jamaleddine: Vice chair Jamal Levine. Thank you. Um, you brought up, uh, another great point about, um, how many, um, disability we, we can include in your commission. And I wonder if we are, um, uh, shedding the light on disability that is not with, you know, physical disability in terms of, you know, accessibility, but also adding the mental health and all the other. So how are we supporting?

▶ 28:24 Speaker 5: Well, I think we take a very broad view of, of disability issues. I think then, I mean, the good thing is we have a pretty diverse group on the commission. Um, the majority of, I think it, um, have to be either people with disabilities and I think one of them can be a family member. And we're actually seeing this five of the, actually, there's, there's one opening. There was a opening. Um, we are still waiting for the city to appoint a city official to the commission that's been, that vacancy's been for several months. Um, but the other, um, five commission, five, six current commissioners identify as having a, um, disability. Um, and then there's one family member who is, so, um, so we've got a pretty diverse group with different types of disabilities. But I think the interesting about disability issues is most disabilities are not apparent, you know, I learned disabilities or mental health. Um, I think there's a lot we could do there in terms of awareness. Obviously there's a lot of stigma in terms of mental health issues. Um, we're hoping that some of the, um, as we start to do some more awareness, uh, training in the community, I said we're gonna creating community guide, but after we create the community guide, we're hoping that we can start to do some presentations to various community and basically do it on an ongoing basis, like on a regular basis, just creating awareness about all types of disabilities, including mental health issues, I think can also being a resource in terms of folks who are either themselves or have family members with mental health issues, how can we be a resource to them in terms of supports and assistance? So, um, you know, I think it's, it's, it's, it's a huge issue and I think it's, you know, in my view it's one of those disabilities that, you know, there's a lot of stigma around and a lot of discrimination unnecessarily so that needs to be addressed. So

▶ 30:02 Maya Jamaleddine: True. And, you know, we now have, um, a social worker. Yeah. Um, and I hope that there is, um, some kind of, uh, partnership between, uh, your commission and, um, our social worker as well.

▶ 30:16 Speaker 5: Are you talking about social worker in the schools or the,

▶ 30:18 Maya Jamaleddine: Um, well, we do have in school, but also for the citywide. Okay. Um, and, uh, cons on aging. Yep. Yep.

▶ 30:25 Speaker 5: And Okay. I'll definitely make that connection. Thank you.

▶ 30:28 Speaker 3: Thank you so much.

▶ 30:30 Leila Migliorelli: Thank you. And just before we call the roll, uh, thank you, um, Mr. Hoff for being here tonight and your advocacy. Um, it's definitely, it's been a welcome addition to our city to have this commission and to have you chairing it. And, um, I've seen some threads between our two earlier commissions about, you know, people not feeling, um, comfortable especially accessing city hall and interacting with city officials. So I'm excited to hear more about the study, um, when it comes to Forest in July, so we can kind of dive into that.

▶ 30:59 Speaker 5: Great. Thank you. Okay.

▶ 31:00 Speaker 1: And with that, um, the motion is to move the bottom line. Mr. Clerk,

▶ 31:06 Speaker 2: Vice Chair Modine? Yes. Counselor Les? Yes. Counselor Stewart? Yes. Counselor. Mr. Key? Yes. Council Williams? Yes. President Greg Regards? Yes. And Chair Elli? Yes. That's Unit Unanim MS seven? Yes.

▶ 31:21 Speaker 1: Great. That motion carries. Thank you Mr. H.

▶ 31:25 Leila Migliorelli: Next up we have the Conservation Commission.

▶ 31:40 Speaker 1: Welcome.

▶ 31:42 Speaker 7: Thank you. Thank you. Um, my name's Michael Wanski, and I'm the chairman of the Conservation Commission and our conservation commission, all, every, every town has one. Um, our role is to review construction projects for poten, uh, for compliance with the State Wetlands Protection Act. The purpose of that is to protect wetland resources, including vegetated wetlands, streams, ponds, flood floodplain, which is an important issue in Melrose. So we, you know, people, uh, submit permit applications and we meet monthly and review them and work with, work with applicants, including the city itself to sort of minimize or, uh, eliminate impact to wetland resources. What's a little unique about, uh, our commission is that we own and manage a lot of open space parcels throughout Melrose, um, including, uh, conservation areas surrounding towners and Swains Pond, known as Flag Acres, Seaview Trails, Rocky View, trails, bird and Woods, et cetera. And we, we, uh, organize a lot of trail cleanups twice a year. Actually. The trails are looking much, much better, uh, over the last few years. We have seven, uh, what we call trail stewards, who are people who have volunteered to sort of hike regularly, certain sections of trails. And, uh, we have this online database and they can report back to us. And, uh, often if there's something that's sort of beyond their ability to take care of d p w has been very helpful in, say, removing trees or larger items of trash. They, they've actually been great to help us. Um, and, and speaking of the ponds, um, this year kicked off really the biggest project I think we've ever taken on, which is, uh, the removal of the aquatic vegetation in El Pond. The, the water chest nap, which has really had been very quickly been taken over the entire pond. Uh, and we were able to, um, through a, uh, $50,000 earmark from the state, um, that, uh, representative Lipper Garabedian helped us, helped us get that, was able to partially fund this three year contract to, um, send this harvester, um, once a year into the pond and remove the water chest nut. It, it takes several years because the seeds can, uh, stay in the, the bottom of the pond and propagate at a later time. Um, and again, DBW is fantastic in helping us, you know, this company put the material on the, the side of the, the pond, but Dbw was able to remove it for us. So we were very grateful. And, um, that ex that partially, I know that the question came up is, is we had, uh, unused funds this year. And the reason for that is that the, uh, the earmark had to be, they originally said we had to use the entire earmark in one year, and we were able to, because the each year was approximately third $2,000, we were able to, uh, request and receive permission to extend that over two years. But that, that state earmark has to be used within that two year period. So the original funds that the city provided for that work to partially fund that work, we, uh, reserve that for this year because of the necessity to use that state earmark.

▶ 35:22 Speaker 7: So we are asking for an increase in funds, uh, in 18% increase. And that's for two reasons. Um, the, the smaller reason is that, um, after many years of really steady membership where we had the same group of seven of us for, for, for many years straight, there's been almost a complete turnover. I'm, I'm the only one left from that time, and hence now I'm chair. Um, so there's a lot of new members. We are able to completely rebuild the group, and we are fully staffed now, which is great, but they're, um, we would love to get them some more training. The, we belong to the, the Mass Association of Conservation Commissions, and we, we pay for that membership every year, but it costs a little bit more to have access to all their training materials. And this year we are able to kind of scrape together enough for a couple people, but we'd really like everyone to have access. They, they really do have great training materials, and we'd like everyone to have access to that. And like I said, that's the smaller request. The, the larger request is, is, is while people, the, the work in El Pond was very visible and we got a lot of very positive feedback from that work. What people probably don't see is that we, for, for many, many years, we've been funding chemical treatments of, of the ponds to reduce the aquatic vegetation. And, um, while our budget for that work has remained steady every single year, the the provider we, we we've been using called Solitude, their prices have been increased. So over the last four or five years, you know, they give us sort of a, a menu of tasks they could do, and we have to pick and choose. And it's just a losing proposition. You know, the, the vegetation doesn't stop. And, and, and I've heard that people have been, um, sort of turning to you all for more, you know, for more work to be done on the ponds. And we would love to do more. And we're requesting the funds to do more to sort of fully do the full suite of treatment. It's a variety of things that they do. Um, so that's, that's our request to it, is really focused on maintaining the ponds, um, sort of the, the aesthetic value of the ponds in town.

▶ 37:44 Leila Migliorelli: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, vice chair Jamal Ladine. Thank you.

▶ 37:47 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you for all, uh, your work. Um, you've mentioned, uh, the increase and, um, for me, this is, whenever I hear increase, it's a, it's a flag that I need to, um, uh, think about it and see if, especially with what our city is going through right now. Yep. Um, so in case we, this did not pass and didn't get approved, how would you share or manage, um, the conservation?

▶ 38:20 Speaker 7: I think we would continue to do what we have been doing the last few years. We, um, there's this, this firm called Solitude, and they specialize in, in lake manage management. We actually, there's, for many years they were the only game of town. Mm-hmm. Like in eastern Massachusetts. They were the only firm that did this work. Now, there is another firm we had, and we've been working with them, we're actually gonna give them a, we'd like to give them, uh, a shot this year to do some of the work. Um, so to answer your question, if, if, if an increase wasn't approved, we would continue to do just a, a limited amount of work what we thought was the most effective. But, you know, we know it's, it's, uh, not as good as it could be. Um, and in, in this stuff, it just, I think the longer you partially treat it, the more difficult it becomes cuz the vegetation, um, just grows and grows and grows and becomes more difficult in the long run to get rid of.

▶ 39:15 Maya Jamaleddine: So what is it that we would be seeing if that, uh, money was not added or that increase was not given?

▶ 39:25 Speaker 7: Um, the, so like El Pine, which was very visible, um, the, these plants tend to start to cover the water surface.

▶ 39:37 Speaker 7: And, um, it's, and just choke the pond of the, even like the, the animals and plants that would like to use the pond get choked out. I mean, there was just a picture I saw just yesterday of dead fish and el pond. And, and I'm not saying that that's, I, I know exactly what happened there, but that can be like the, all the different types of, of animals and, and the like, um, aquatic ducks and, and other animals that live in the pond, they just become choked out. And it, it can get kind of lifeless and really it become really unattractive. There's a smell to it. There's, you know, nobody would want to, you know, we, we have these great resources, but they become less and less attractive. Mm-hmm. Not just for the people who live around them, but for, for anybody. You know, like I said, there's trails quite a lot of, a lot of trail network and they just become less attractive and less desirable to, to use.

▶ 40:34 Speaker 3: Absolutely. And, um,

▶ 40:38 Maya Jamaleddine: any, any other, uh, projects that you would be adding to, you know, to the work for next year, um, that would be included in

▶ 40:53 Speaker 7: Other projects? No, I think it's just fully funding the, the, the, um, the pond treatment. Um, and, and maybe one other thing I just realized is we have made quite an effort this year to look for other, like we, like I said, we got the $50,000 earmark from, um, the state legislature, which was very helpful. And that kind of opened our eyes. Like, what else is, what else is out there? So we've been making an effort to look for state grants. We've contacted, uh, the Department of Ecological Resources and other state agencies that may have grant money available. Um, the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, uh, the Mystic River Watershed Association in, uh, the M A C C. We, we've made a lot of contacts. We, we've talked to the planning commissions or the planning department to see whether they could help us just looking for other avenues of revenue. And we haven't been successful yet. Um, but we're, we, we're not gonna give up. And, and we did request, we boldly asked for another 50,000 from, uh, representative Garabedian. I don't think we got it. Maybe you guys know better than I, I, I saw an article in the globe of what, what Melrose did get, and it didn't include that. So I, I'm a little concerned we didn't get it, but we'd, we'll keep trying. Well,

▶ 42:11 Maya Jamaleddine: thank you so much. Mm-hmm. Appreciate it. Thank you. Uh, councilor Stewart,

▶ 42:15 Robb Stewart: Take your madam chair and thank you Mr. Wanski for, for coming forward and sharing this information. Um, I, I do would like, uh, to understand, uh, the expected expenditure this year. So you have 25 k year marked for this coming fiscal year to do the pond cleanup. Right. And that would hit after, I think it's 30, June 30, Uh, I'm sorry, it 20. Cause you said you had 50 K that got broken up into this, this fiscal year, next fiscal year, or is it being spent currently in previous?

▶ 42:49 Speaker 7: So there's a 50 K each year of that con, it's a three year contract that totals 96,000.

▶ 42:56 Speaker 4: 96. Yep.

▶ 42:57 Speaker 7: Yep. So, um, I have some notes here that this year's total is just shy of 31,000 and the final year is 32,000.

▶ 43:07 Robb Stewart: And is is next, next fiscal year from July 1st, 2023 to June 30th, 2024. Is that the third year? Yes. Okay. And, and so is the remaining $25,000 going to be applied to that fiscal year?

▶ 43:23 Speaker 7: Yes. I don't think we split it 50 50. We

▶ 43:26 Speaker 4: Oh, you did? 31,000 in total. Think

▶ 43:29 Speaker 7: We spent it o of the 50,000 year dollar earmark, we, we paid for a year, one fully out of that earmark. And what remains, which would be about 18,000. Okay. Or partially fund this year. And then the $12,000 that remains in our budget will just about pay for, for this this fiscal year.

▶ 43:50 Robb Stewart: Okay. Oh, I see. So, so that, that expenditure for this fiscal year, that's the remaining 12,000 is gonna go directly to that combined with the 18, so that'll be 30,000 Yeah. Applied. And then next fiscal year, you'll be spending the 14,000 that you have allocated here, right. For the Yeah. Uh, for the conservation maintenance. And

▶ 44:12 Speaker 7: Honestly, we have not quite identified the, all the funding necessary to pay that third year. Okay. So that's another problem.

▶ 44:19 Robb Stewart: Okay. But at minimum it would be that 14 k would be applied. Yes. And plus, but that doesn't fully fund that remaining 32,000 that I think I heard Right.

▶ 44:32 Speaker 7: For next year Course. And, and, and that's, um,

▶ 44:36 Robb Stewart: So then you're 18 short. Right?

▶ 44:38 Speaker 7: We're 18 short for, for Nick for, for the following year. Right. But not this fiscal year that we're,

▶ 44:43 Robb Stewart: Right. The, the year starting July 1st, 2023 and June 30,

▶ 44:48 Speaker 7: That's the harvesting of the material. The, the chemical treatments is,

▶ 44:55 Speaker 7: is about 10 to 12,000 a year.

▶ 44:57 Robb Stewart: Okay. And does that also, that 10 to 12,000 also come out of the conservation maintenance line item? It, it must, right? Yes. Okay. So 10 to thou, 10 to 12,000 will come out of that. So that means you have two to 4,000 remaining and you're expecting to do $32,000, or you want to do $32,000 of pond cleanup. Yes. So you need to find 28 to $30,000

▶ 45:23 Speaker 7: For the following year. Yeah. Right,

▶ 45:24 Robb Stewart: Right. For this next fiscal year. That's, that's about a month and half.

▶ 45:27 Speaker 7: Yeah. I think we have the funds for, well hopefully we'll have the funds for her. Okay. For, for this, this year. That's starting, uh, July one.

▶ 45:36 Speaker 4: Okay.

▶ 45:37 Speaker 7: It's the following year that we have some work to do Y

▶ 45:41 Speaker 1: 25 20.

▶ 45:42 Robb Stewart: Okay. 2024 to 2025 is the third year?

▶ 45:47 Speaker 7: Yes. Ah, okay. I'm, I'm sorry. I'm just, I'm getting my years mixed up.

▶ 45:49 Robb Stewart: Okay. All right. Uh, that makes a little more clear, but still, if, if you have, I'm still doing the math. Right. If you have 18,000 remaining plus two to 4,000, that's still 20 to 22,000. And the, the bill is gonna be like 30, somewhere around 30,000. So you're still 10,000 short

▶ 46:14 Speaker 7: Y you know, honestly, Mr. Stewart, I don't, I don't. Okay. And financial information, Mr. Per

▶ 46:18 Robb Stewart: Wants you, the reason why I'm bringing this up is, um, I just want the administration to be aware that this is an important initiative. I agree that this needs to be done. Um, and if it's not fully funded, that you're gonna need to come back with an appropriation, uh, request to bridge that gap. And we're just trying to identify what that looks like so that way we can communicate to the administration that this number isn't meeting the, meeting the grade. We don't have the ability to raise the fund, but we can certainly communicate and let them know that this is something that is important that seems like it's, uh, an imperative that the, the city is trying to accomplish to clean up El Pond. But if you don't have the money to do it, then it's not gonna get done. That's what I'm hearing. Yeah. That it is just gonna be, all it's gonna be is the chemical treatments. And you're saying that's a losing battle?

▶ 47:11 Speaker 7: Unfortunately it is. Um, okay. Yep. No, I,

▶ 47:15 Robb Stewart: Okay. Just wanted to make that clear, Madam Chair. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Wanski. Appreciate it.

▶ 47:20 Speaker 1: Councilor Williams.

▶ 47:22 Ryan Williams: Thank you. Um, I just wanted to say thank you for the work that you're doing on the trails in particular, cuz it is noticeable. Oh, good. Right. Good. We, we go out all the time to the areas around, um, Swains Pond especially, and although I wish we had sidewalks on Swains Pond, um, it's nice to be able to walk through the woods and not encounter mountains of trash. Mm-hmm. Everywhere we go, which used to be the case there was just big piles of garbage and Bud Light 24 packs thrown in the, in the, uh, in the water. So it's, it's appreciated. Um, and noted. Um, so

▶ 48:01 Ryan Williams: tell me a little bit more about the length of time that you've been doing the herbicide on the ponds. You said several years, has it been five years? 10 years? It's,

▶ 48:09 Speaker 7: It's been more than 10 years. More

▶ 48:10 Ryan Williams: Than 10 years. Right. So it's really been something that we've been doing in the city for a very long time. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And, um, the,

▶ 48:17 Speaker 7: The Parks Department does it as well on the park, on the ponds they manage. Yeah.

▶ 48:22 Ryan Williams: Yeah. So it's something we do citywide and, um, really like the, the, the state of the ponds as we know them now, is, is due in large part to the application mm-hmm. Of that herbicide, wouldn't you say? Yeah. Yeah. Um,

▶ 48:35 Speaker 7: And if I could interrupt, we've started sort of to much more closely coordinate with the parks department because those ponds, especially the first pond, uh, and towners, they're all connected hydraulically. So we've been working much more closely with the, with the Parks department. I believe they're gonna look for a consultant to do a, you know, to maybe do a, a, a modest study and to give us more recommendations so we can work more collaboratively and, and hopefully cost effectively in managing those ponds.

▶ 49:05 Ryan Williams: Right. Um, and we have heard tonight the work of many really excellent volunteers and advocates that work on, um, issues of human rights issues of, uh, highlighting women's achievements in the community, issues of making our community accessible. And I guess I wanted to put a little, um, flag on the commission for the Conservation Commission's work, because that's about people too. Mm-hmm. We know there's a huge correlation between open space and mental health, especially among youth adolescents. Um, we know that Melrose is extremely fortunate to have a lot of green space. This is not the case for our neighbors. We have some, we really are almost one of the, the best communities in the region for having managed park space close to homes. You know, it's almost nowhere, anywhere you live, there's almost always somewhere to go. Um, so it's, it's, it's noticed that the work that you guys are doing to keep things clean and to keep the trails managed and the clear brush and the sticks along the pathways, all that stuff. Yeah. Like, I've noticed it and how it's correct. How it's come along. So I really appreciate the work that y'all do and happy to support this.

▶ 50:08 Speaker 1: Thank you. Anyone else? Counselor Stewart?

▶ 50:10 Robb Stewart: Uh, thank you Madam Chair. Uh, Mr. Wan, I just, I had one additional thought. Uh, if, if you do come before us again, I think what would help is to show kind of line items of that expenditure and where the grant money fits in. Uh, that'll, I think make it a lot more clear in terms of what that looks like for us. Sorry,

▶ 50:28 Speaker 7: I don't have that available.

▶ 50:29 Robb Stewart: I, no, I know I'm not asking for tonight, but I'm saying if you come before us again in the future, uh, that, that would be very helpful to us. Okay. All thank you. Thank you very much.

▶ 50:37 Speaker 4: I appreciate it.

▶ 50:44 Jen Grigoraitis: Anyone else? President Grigoraitis. Oh, Thank you for being here. I just wanna, um, echo the comments of my colleagues and to say that it, thank you for spending a lot of your volunteer time piecing together funding opportunities to fund what is maintenance of our community. I mean, that's kind of a recurring theme and tonight and through many of these presentations is just that we're kind of constantly patching it together. Um, so I'm sorry you have to do that. Thank you for doing that. Also, the state budget is not yet done, so don't give up hope. Okay. That's good. On that earmark. Um, and also as the counselor for Ward six, which contains many of the ponds that you talked about, I know that, um, residents are really appreciative of the combined effort of you and the Parks Commission to try to address that more holistically. So I, I look forward to that, um, getting underway. And I will motion to move the bottom line.

▶ 51:33 Leila Migliorelli: Second motion to move the bottom line made by President Greg Reis, seconded by Council Vice Chair Jamal Ladine. Um, anyone on discussion?

▶ 51:41 Speaker 2: Mr. Clerk, Vice Chair Aldine? Yes. Councilor Eccles? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Counselor

▶ 51:50 Speaker 2: Williams? Yes. President Greg Regards? Yes. That is unanimous. Six? Yes. Okay. Oh, I apologize. I apologize. Uh, chair? Yes. Now it's six. Yes. Unanimous.

▶ 52:03 Leila Migliorelli: Thank you. And for the record, Ms. Uh, counselor Omsk has left the meeting. Um, thank you Mi Thank you Mr. Wanski for being here. Appreciate it. Thank you

▶ 52:11 Speaker 7: Very much. Cheer.

▶ 52:14 Leila Migliorelli: Um, next up is the, uh, liquor Commission with chair, um, Joe Nevin. Thank you Mr.

▶ 52:22 Speaker 1: Nevin.

▶ 52:26 Speaker 8: Thank you for having me, uh, having us here. Actually, it's, I just wanna say it's really amazing to hear all the work of the other commission. So, and appreciate you all being here with all your time for this. Um, my name's Joan Evan. I'm chair of the Liquor Commission. Uh, liquor Commission largely, uh, largely meets once a month, uh, once to twice a month on an as needed basis. Uh, it's a matter of whether, uh, most of the meetings dealing with one day licenses. Um, there are three, uh, uh, commission members. Uh, so we have,

▶ 53:05 Speaker 8: um, uh, You know, we, we do get occasion when, uh, we have a new license or a turnover of a license like Mount Hood this year. And then some other, uh, considerations for, um, of that go along with their license with the Enco access. Um, we do the outdoor dining as well as, uh, which we're in process on now. And, uh, and we're exploring an update to the regulations to bring them. The last update was done in around 2015. And, uh, there's an opportunity to bring more alignment with what's going on with, uh, the different kinds of events like farmer's markets, like, um, uh, beer gardens, like whatever kind of things that were, are, are out there that, that weren't going on when we were, uh, originally doing or last doing those regulations. Um,

▶ 54:02 Speaker 8: or, uh, you'll note that, uh, by and large, we have not used our budget for the past several years. Um, largely, uh, because of Covid or Holy, because of Covid, uh, there's a thousand dollars in that earmarked for the, uh, compliance checks, which have not occurred since 2019. So those are anticipated on being done this year. Uh, and so the health department, uh, uh, administers those and, uh, we support that, uh, partially. And then, um, the balances for professional services we've used, uh, and its professional services really is, uh, if there's continuing education that we pursue or, um, uh, office, uh, supplies that are relative to this. And if we do do an update to the, um, regulations, then there'll be a set of hearings, then we'll have to put public notice out and send, uh, information out, and those funds will go toward that.

▶ 55:06 Speaker 1: Thank you. Questions from the Council?

▶ 55:12 Speaker 1: Council Williams. Um,

▶ 55:14 Ryan Williams: Hello. Hi. Thank you for being here. Um, can you give me a little bit more of a sneak preview about your comment with regard to farmer's markets?

▶ 55:23 Speaker 8: Uh, well, we allow, uh, we allow, uh, the sale of alcohol at, uh, farmer's markets, usually by it under the agriculture permits or only under the agricultural permits. So when we have somebody that wants to sell either a wine or products there, we, they come before us and then we, uh, it's a form of a one day license.

▶ 55:47 Speaker 6: I see. I see. For the sale,

▶ 55:49 Speaker 8: For the, just the sale and ta uh, tasting of those. Okay. On site.

▶ 55:53 Speaker 6: Okay. Thank you. Sure.

▶ 55:56 Speaker 9: You're welcome.

▶ 55:57 Jen Grigoraitis: President Greg. Thank you. Madam Chair. Thank you for being here, Mr. Nevin. And I just wanted to thank you and the commission for the, um, stewardship around the Mount Hood change. That was definitely several years in the making. I know you played a critical role both forward facing and behind the scenes with the council on that. So thank you for that leadership. Um, and I just wanted to ask a quick question, knowing that we have a holiday weekend coming up and we have great weather predicted, um, when you think we might see outdoor dining implemented for those that have, are seeking it,

▶ 56:27 Speaker 8: It's just a matter of when the applications come in. Okay. I, I know that, um,

▶ 56:34 Speaker 8: uh, I know that Bellevue come in. I know that, uh, I believe we just did, um, uh, wooden fire. Okay. So, uh, and we're waiting and Turner's is submitting as well.

▶ 56:47 Speaker 1: Okay. So they're starting to roll in.

▶ 56:48 Speaker 8: And that'll probably be it for us for this year, though. I don't know about LA Chair and I don't think Giacomo is gonna be doing it.

▶ 56:55 Speaker 1: Thank you for that Chair.

▶ 56:59 Speaker 1: Any other questions? Councilor Stewart?

▶ 57:02 Robb Stewart: Yes, Madam Chair, I'm make com motion to move this to the bottom line.

▶ 57:05 Leila Migliorelli: Motion to move. Second is the bottom line made by Councilor Stewart. Seconded by Counselor Eccles. Um, before we call the roll, just have a question, a clarification question. So, are you, um, about the outdoor dining licenses or is there a, is there like a set process that all the, and perhaps this is also a question for Ms. Gimmick too, that all the restaurants are aware of and they're just not taking advantage of those outdoor dining licenses, or what, what is it? Cause I know this is a fairly new kind of thing. What's, how does that go?

▶ 57:33 Speaker 8: It's relatively well communicated. Okay. And, um, uh, notice goes out to all the license holders. Okay. And, um, uh, and the process is relatively straightforward. I mean, the ones that have had it in the past just, uh, can come in with the similar information that they had before. And then they have to get the other permits lined up that are required. So like, uh, the, uh, fire department and for any kind of heaters and that type of thing. And then co coordination with D P W and also coordination with the city with regard to any land that might be, uh, the cities.

▶ 58:09 Leila Migliorelli: Is it like a rolling application? So if, say somebody decided they wanted to start doing outdoor dining in July. They could do that then, or is it? Yes.

▶ 58:17 Speaker 8: Okay. And, but it ends at a certain time, you know. Okay. November, October, November.

▶ 58:21 Leila Migliorelli: And then just a quick question about, um, you know, you mentioned the farmer's market and tasting it reminded me of the ordinance change that the council made, um, I think a couple years ago at this point, to a, that allowed for the Mount Hood, um, the beverage card at Mount Hood. Have there, has there been any progress or conversations with the Parks Commission and what that might look like, um, for other people who might be seeking licenses to serve or consume alcohol in parks at all?

▶ 58:49 Speaker 8: Uh, there have not, and there have been no requests. Nope. Okay. At this point. Okay. So, but we're here.

▶ 58:59 Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you. All right. Um, let's see. No more discussion. Mr. Clerk,

▶ 59:04 Speaker 2: Vice Chair Jamal Dean? Yes. Councilor Les? Yes. Counselors Stewart Stewart? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Es? Yes. And Chair Elli? Yes. That's six. Yes. Unanimous.

▶ 59:20 Speaker 1: Yeah. That motion carries. Thank you Mr. Nevin. Thank you.

▶ 59:25 Leila Migliorelli: And next we have the BB State.

▶ 59:41 Speaker 8: Good evening counselors. Welcome. Uh, my name is Sean Han. I'm the, a new co-chair of the BB State, uh, board of Trustees. Uh, the BB State is one of the older cities are, uh, city owned, uh, buildings in Melrose. And, um, the trustees are, uh, volunteer group that is, uh, over works with oversight management and, um, stewardship of the historic building. And, um, so this year we've, as we have in the past, we've, uh, we over, we have events at the, at the, at the BB from family events to, uh, organize city, own city events, such as, I think, um, I think Pride is next week or next month anyway. And also host arts, art, art, uh, exhibitions on weekends usually. And we have also two tenants as well as host the, um, uh, council of Aging in the building as well. And, uh, last year we were able to pinch it for the Milano Center when they were doing refurbishing on their, uh, building. And they were able to accommodate some of their events as well at the, at the BB estate. The past year. We lost, uh, two, uh, founding, uh, two longtime members, including Betsy Freeberg, who was a founding member. Uh, she passed. And, uh, so we filled in with two new members or trustees who are Melrose residents. And, uh, we're excited to have them on board. And we're looking to get two more, I believe we're supposed to have, who should have seven trustees on the, on the, on the board. Um, I don't think there's any significant changes in the budget from last year. Uh, we usually have some, um, maintenance and, uh, ground, uh, you know, surround the, the ground, um, maintenance as well as building maintenance, um, and gardening around the event for events and for the, the garden. Um,

▶ 1:01:52 Speaker 8: so I believe that's about it. If you have any questions.

▶ 1:01:58 Speaker 1: Thank you. Questions from the council Counselor Stewart.

▶ 1:02:02 Robb Stewart: Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Ms. Uh, do you, do you have any expected major renovations that are coming up?

▶ 1:02:10 Speaker 8: Not right now, no.

▶ 1:02:11 Speaker 4: Okay. So the building's in pretty good shape. Pretty good

▶ 1:02:13 Speaker 8: Shape. We had a, I think an incident with Boiler, I think a year ago. And that's been, that's been rectified. And I believe that, um, we're getting more, uh, input from, uh, D P W, uh, and as far as oversight of, of the rest of the building and the maintenance, but we're also having, um, but that's about it really. I don't think there's some, there's probably some considerations of, you know, what can we do to make the building more. I think we're gonna probably in the, in the future with, with the ada, um, report that I think we saw coming down the line. I think we're gonna have to make some changes with that. So that's on, I think, is that a five year plan or something to that effect? So that's coming down the pike, I'd say. So. Okay. Thank you. Thank you,

▶ 1:02:59 Speaker 4: Madam Chair.

▶ 1:03:03 Speaker 1: Any other counselors? Vice Chair Jamine.

▶ 1:03:06 Maya Jamaleddine: I would make a motion To move to the bottom line. Second.

▶ 1:03:11 Leila Migliorelli: Motion to move the bottom line made by Vice Chair Jamine. Seconded by Councilor Williams. Anyone on discussion?

▶ 1:03:19 Speaker 2: Scene None. Mr. Clerk, Vice Chair Modine? Yes. Council Les? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Greg Regards? Yes. And Chair Elli? Yes. That's six. Yes. Unanimous.

▶ 1:03:37 Leila Migliorelli: Thank you. That motion carries. Um, at this time we'll also do a vote on the BB Estate revolving account. I don't know if you're prepared to speak on that too. Um, oh, no. Okay. Um, that is, uh, that is fine. Um, but we can motion to move this along. We'll take a final vote, um, like we do with the full budget, uh, at the end of the budget hearing process. So, um, motion to move the bottom line on BB Estate. Roal. Count 27 50.

▶ 1:04:08 Speaker 6: So moved. Second.

▶ 1:04:10 Leila Migliorelli: Okay. Um, motion made by Counselor Williams, second under by Counselor Eccles to move the bottom line. Anyone on discussion?

▶ 1:04:18 Speaker 1: Mr. Clerk, will you please call the roll

▶ 1:04:20 Speaker 2: Vice chair Jam. Jamal Laine? Yes. Councilor Eccles? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President. Your regards? Yes. And Chair Elli Yes. Is unanimous. Success.

▶ 1:04:32 Speaker 1: That motion carries. Thank you for being here tonight. Thank you.

▶ 1:04:35 Speaker 2: You've met the baby sometime. Yes.

▶ 1:04:39 Leila Migliorelli: And finally, um, we have Veterans Services with Director Roe. Uh, I'm gonna do this. Tryon Tryon Fee. Maselli. Thank you

▶ 1:04:51 Speaker 9: Manager. Yes. Thank you. Uh, counsels. Thank you for having me. As you know, I just started recently less than about a year ago. This July will be a year. I come from Winthrop as the Veteran Service Officer for nine years. And, um, I saw this opportunity by my predecessor, Karen Burke, and I went for it, and I'm very happy. So, um, We had some changes this year. We have, so Department of Veteran Services became an executive office. So we're now the Executive Office of Veteran Services with the new governor. We have a new secretary, our veteran services, um, John Santiago. He's actually a surgeon. And, uh, he's making lots of changes, adding people. And for years, um, when cities and towns were out of compliance, we were always warned that the 75 reimbursement that we would get for Chapter one 15 and our flags and burials and whatnot would drop to 50%. And then three months later, it would drop to 25, and then another three months it would drop to zero. Well, that hasn't happened. But with this new Secretary of Veteran Services, he's making it happen. Um, rightly so. Rightly so. So we were outta compliance for a number of years. I gave you this sheet that shows what we're supposed to have. We are a district, uh, between Melrose Wakefield and Saga. Our population is over 85,000. So, uh, we have two part-time VSOs, one in Wakefield and one in SaaS. We have two part-time clerks, one in Wakefield and one in SaaS. I have a part-time clerk admin, and I'm the full-time director. Both Wakefield and Sags pay a third of my salary, but I have not given them a third of my time. I have not. Um, we had some recent legislation that legislation that passed, and it became effective in January, the PACT Act, which addresses all the toxic, toxic exposures. So a report came out with the VA last month. Between January and April, over 500,000 claims were put in to the va. And that, originally the VA had said that we're gonna contact everybody that was denied all those Vietnam vets. And then they realized there were millions of them, literally, and a lot of them have died, and the surviving spouses have died. So they put out, um, notice that you can re refile your claim. So that's what we've been extremely busy doing, um, as well as the Chapter one 15. So in chapter one 15, I have a different approach than my predecessor. When a veteran or their surviving spouse is on Chapter one 15, I look at the total picture. I see what they're else. They're a bit eligible for as far as federal benefits. So I've managed to, um, get some federal benefits for two of our recipients, um, especially under the PACT Act. So they'll be coming off our roles. So there's a big fluctuation. I mean, if 10 people walked into the door in our door and qualify for Chapter one 15, we have to give it to them. But I try to do my due diligence with getting them other services, federal services, uh, state services, and, and, uh, whatever I can get for them. And I tell them, if you get federal services, you don't have to see me every month with paperwork. So it's guaranteed money and it's tax-free money. So they're, a lot of them, a lot of the veterans are open to that. Um, with, so we are hiring a part-time vs o uh, starting July one, my sagas VSO is leaving to get, uh, a full-time job. So we have an opening with SaaS. We've had, I've heard a lot, I've heard a lot of chatter lately, and I keep referring people to apply on the city website. So to be a bso you have to be a veteran honorably discharge and have served during a combat era. So, uh,

▶ 1:08:45 Speaker 9: to be a a, a clerk or an admin, you don't have to be a veteran. The reason why you have to be a veteran is because we understand and we can empathize with what the veteran is going through. So especially being a, a combat era, um, I served 21 years in the Army, three years active the rest of the time reserves. But, uh, as a military police and then special investigator, and with reserve c i d criminal investigations, we support the regular Army c i d. So I was on multiple, multiple missions and deployments prior, I got out prior to nine 11. So our deployments were that of maybe two weeks to six weeks to maybe eight weeks post nine 11. The mission is carried a lot longer. A lot longer. So, um, I was in a very small unit at Fort Devons. We're a 20 man unit, well, plus me, um, plus me. I was the only female there. Um, so the change of, um, what our country's involved in, there's a lot that you don't know, you're not privy to it, we're involved in, and there's, that's a good for a good reason. So more and more veterans are coming in for claims. I have several veterans that I've helped this year in Melrose who are homeless, um, in the process of helping a veteran family whose house was just recently condemned. Um, getting them services and, um, trying to see what we could do the, um, claims. So I, I brought one of my claims, my DIC claim. So a DIC claim is for a surviving spouse of a veteran who's passed away. There's probably 12 pages of this that are supporting documents. The rest is the application. This is the application. My, um, it's, it's very daunting. And I do all the paperwork while the veteran or the surviving spouse is sitting in front of me, because if I gave a packet like this to somebody, they would look at and say, I'm not doing it. So I make it the, I make it a little bit easier for them by taking it all over and doing it. Some of my veteran claims are this thick. Um, in Winthrop, I had the luxury of just shooting through Boston to drop off my claims. That changed during covid. We couldn't just drop off the claims cuz the JFK building was closed. So now I have to, um, it hasn't reopened fully yet. Once it reopens fully, then I will make the truck to drive in. So I save on postage. Um, on next Tuesday, I have probably 35 claims going in that I've done in the past two months. Um, claims are ongoing and, uh, they're very, like I said, they're very time consuming. My admin assistant cannot do the claim, so only a VSO can do a claim. So she could do other things like copying or whatnot, but she can't do the research. She can't really do the claim herself. Um, I take really good statements of my veterans and sometimes it involves going down some dock roads where mental health is an issue and, um, we go down that road and we get them help. So, um, other than that, we have, I gave you all a schedule of this coming weekend with all our events happening and which is a very, very, very busy weekend for us. Um, you're all invited to any or all of those events, so any questions that I may answer for you? Yes, sir.

▶ 1:12:06 Speaker 1: Yes. Council Williams. Thank you.

▶ 1:12:07 Ryan Williams: Um, and thank you for being with us tonight. Your, your passion for this work is evident in the way that you talk about it and the knowledge that you have. Um, so you're, you have come before us with a really thorough explanation, and yet you are, um, actually getting a decline in funding from last year. Yes. Most people come and they're asking for more money, and you're coming, you're not asking, but you're receiving less money. So I want to ask you how that's gonna, how that's gonna land. In particular, we're looking at 18 per an 18% decrease in veterans benefits. Are those benefits, uh, paid out from City Cash, or are they passed throughs from federal grants and, uh,

▶ 1:12:44 Speaker 9: City Cash and then the city gets reimbursed 75% about six months to a year

▶ 1:12:48 Ryan Williams: later. That's The state 75% that you were talking about? Right. Okay. Okay. Um, and so we were 85,000 shy of, uh, 2023. What was spent versus the budget. Yes. So why was that?

▶ 1:13:03 Speaker 9: People die. So they come off the budget, they come off the roles. Uh, when they get their benefits, they don't qualify anymore. Chapter one 15 is a very, um, low income budget. Mm-hmm. It, it, it's a welfare system for veterans, odd surviving families. So it's very strict rules, very strict guidelines as to what you can have in the bank, what your assets are. And when I get, so one of my veterans will be coming off pretty soon because of the PAC Act and the Camp Laun issue. He is going, um, he's receiving several thousand dollars, a couple thousand dollars from us every month. So he's gonna probably get his 100% pretty soon. So he'll come off the rolls. Yes, sir. But we cannot, like I said before, if 10 people walk through the door tomorrow, we have to help. We have to assist. So again, I do my due diligence with getting people other benefits, which makes Patrick de Laruso very happy. So.

▶ 1:13:59 Speaker 9: Okay. Did I answer your question? Yes.

▶ 1:14:00 Speaker 6: Thank you very much. Appreciate that. That's it. Thank you.

▶ 1:14:03 Speaker 1: Any other questions?

▶ 1:14:10 Leila Migliorelli: Nope. Well, uh, I'll just ask down a question, but a comment. Thank you so much for explaining all of this. I feel like it's, it, I don't know that I've had such a, a passionate presentation that explains all the challenges here. Um, do you, when you are getting mental health supports, are you coordinating with, is that something the city of Mel, you partner with? The city of Melrose Social Services? Oh, yes. Worker. So that's, that's how that works.

▶ 1:14:31 Speaker 9: Anything and everything available to me. Okay. Anything and everything. Um, the reason why I'm passionate is because of the way I was treated when I came home. And that's why I said no, I, no other veteran that I help will ever feel the way that I felt when I came home. I was told I wasn't a veteran because I was a female and because I didn't serve in Vietnam, I said, I'm sorry if I was born a little bit too late and the wrong sex. So, um,

▶ 1:15:01 Speaker 9: that's why I'm so passionate and I highly encourage, uh, my veterans to get mental health in Winthrop. I committed probably a dozen veterans over the last several years. I haven't had to commit anybody here yet, thankfully. Um, but I do work closely with Rachel and Colin. Mm-hmm. Um, to try and get the help. Something changed, which really bothers me. I was just appointed to the Governor's counsel on sexual assault, domestic violence and human trafficking. I just got appointed last month. The military changed their reporting rules for sexual assault. And I am totally against it being a former federal agent. And that's the crime that I used to investigate. So US Army criminal investigators, um, are equivalent to the fbi except we handle military. FBI handles civilians. So the reporting changed when a person is sexually assaulted. They have two venues. Uh, they could do a restricted report or an unrestricted report. The restricted report, it stays in the office. The perpetrator doesn't get charged. They try to get help for the victim. I don't see how that's good for the victim because of justice. Um, the unrestricted is when the perpetrator gets charged. We had an incident with a young female Melrose resident a couple months ago. She was on active duty for, um, her, the God unit, and she was sexually assaulted by someone in her, in her unit. She reported it. She decided to go the restricted route.

▶ 1:16:33 Speaker 9: Um, the perpetrator got wind of it, so he was not charged. So he got wind of it that she filed a report, but he didn't know what type of report she filed. So he left the God and was able to join the reserves. Nothing happened. It didn't follow him because he wasn't formally charged. Well. He was stupid enough to commit the crime again. And this time, the, the victim in the reserves actually reported it and reported it to Army c i d criminal investigations. So it was, um, he's out, he's out. And we're trying to get services for this young female victim that, and I'm trying to convince her because the statute of limitations is, is still fresh to go after him. So we're working on that. We're getting her some, some help. And, um, she's in, she's in our office a lot. And, um, just trying to get her services and talking to her female to female, um, and showing her that what she really wants is to close this doors for some, some justice. So I'll be working on changing all that, um, back to the wheel way because it's much, much, um, it's a better system. So that's why I'm so passionate about what I do, um, because of the way I was treated and my, some of most, a lot of my brothers and sisters who went before me. So

▶ 1:17:51 Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Madam Chair for sharing that. Um, vice Chair Jamine, did you have another question?

▶ 1:17:55 Maya Jamaleddine: Yes. Thank, thank you. Um, thank you for being with us today. I was actually not planning to speak, um, because you provided all the question, all the, uh, answer for my questions. But you, the comment that you made, um, is actually not something that I can, um, say quiet and is actually inviting me to thank you for your service. Thank you. And for actually, um, make comment that, um, I'm sorry for that treatment and for the comment that you received, but, uh, if anyone need to apologize is the people that are treating that way,

▶ 1:18:33 Speaker 3: um, and not you. So thank you. I can,

▶ 1:18:35 Speaker 9: It's been my honor to serve.

▶ 1:18:39 Speaker 1: Thank you. Um, Mr. Clerk, will you please call the roll?

▶ 1:18:45 Speaker 1: We might have a motion. No, we don't have a motion. Yes. Sorry. Sure.

▶ 1:18:48 Robb Stewart: I'll make a motion to, uh, move this to the bottom line. Yeah.

▶ 1:18:51 Leila Migliorelli: Second motion to move the bottom line made by Counselor Stewart. Seconded by second by, um, president Greg Reis. Mr. Clerk,

▶ 1:19:00 Speaker 2: Vice Chair Jamine? Yes. Councilor Eccles. Yes. Counselor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Greg Regards? Yes. And Chair Mc Yes. At six. Yes. Unanimous. Thank

▶ 1:19:13 Leila Migliorelli: You. Um, there is also a re veteran services revolving account. Um, I don't know if you want to speak on that. Yes. So we

▶ 1:19:20 Speaker 9: Have a very active Veterans Advisory board and in the last several months we've uh, assisted some of our members on Chapter one 15 and some other veterans who are having, um, some financial difficulties with either paying their heating bill or, um, the, one of our cases, the young lady wants to take her nursing exam and she can't afford it. So the council approved to pay for her nursing exam, which is like $230. We've also gotten food gift certificates for our veterans. Um, we give gift certificates out during major holidays such as Christmas, Easter time. Uh, if a veteran comes in that we know is hurting, they get a gift certificate. We also run a monthly food bank. So, um, they get, they get a couple bags of groceries there. Um, so the revolving account handles that. Also our monuments. So we are planning a new Gold Star monument and this year's parade is dedicated to Gold Star families. So, um, giving the, the passing of, uh, former council, uh, Scott Forbes, um, which is really rock this community. And, um, very sad situation cuz you, you people say that he had all the help available to them, but unless you're living in that moment, you, it's difficult. It's very difficult. Um, so we try and do a lot of outreach. So the, the parade again, is dedicated to Gold Stop families. But we have a monument that's gonna be a place on Memorial Day. We have a dedication of, I think it's 56 more bricks that are going onto the Noel. And that's for family members to remember their loved ones who have served. So,

▶ 1:21:09 Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank

▶ 1:21:10 Speaker 9: You.

▶ 1:21:12 Speaker 1: Motion for that. Motions. Move the bottom line on the Veteran services revolving count. Second. Second. Motion to move the bottom line on the veteran service revolving Count 2 6 0 7 made by President Gregs seconded by Counselor Stewart. Anyone on discussion? Mr. Clerk

▶ 1:21:28 Speaker 2: Vice Chair Jamine? Yes. Counselor Les? Yes. Counselor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yep. President Gregs? Yes. And Chair McGuill? Yes. Uh, six. Yes. Unanim. All

▶ 1:21:41 Speaker 9: Right. Thank you for your time. It was a pleasure meeting all of you.

▶ 1:21:44 Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you. See you this weekend. Yes. Yes. All right.

▶ 1:21:47 Leila Migliorelli: So just final housekeeping. Um, so to proceed with the remainder of the budget hearings, I'll entertain a motion to hold appropriation 2023 dash 28 and committee Motion to hold. Second. Motion to hold made by President Greg Rees, seconded by Counselor Eccles. Um, all in favor? Aye. Aye.