Finance Committee — 2016-01-25
Attendance
Robert A. Boisselle ; Donald L. Conn Jr. ; Scott M. Forbes ; Gail Infurna ; Jennifer L. Lemmerman ; Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis ; Monica C. Medeiros ; Peter D. Mortimer ; John N. Tramontozzi ; Francis X. Wright Jr. ; Michael P. Zwirko
Agenda
- Call to Order
- Public Participation
- Orders
- ORDER-2016-79 : Transfer of $20,200.00 from A/C # 017522-549100 (Projected Debt Interest) to A/C # 012212-535505 (Fire Turnout Gear) in the amount of $12,500.00 and to A/C# 012212-530712 (Fire Washer/Dryer) in the amount of $7,700.00.
- ORDER-2016-78 : Appropriation from account 6500-319000 (Ambulance, Retained Earning) in the amount of $105,772.00; to various accounts as set forth within
- ORDER-2016-81 : Reappointment of Susan E. Krasco, 200 Park Terrace Drive, Stoneham, MA as Assistant City Clerk for a one year term; said term ending on the first Monday in February, 2017.
- Adjournment
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE FINANCE COMMITTEE CALENDAR● JANUARY 25, 2016 Aldermanic Chamber Committee Meeting 7:30 PM The public should take notice that the Melrose Board of Aldermen may, on certain occasions, have a quorum in attendance due to standing committees of the Board of Aldermen consisting of both voting and non-voting members. Members attending this duly posted meeting are participating and deliberating only in conjunction with the business of the standing committee. Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Scott M. Forbes Chairman Present John N. Tramontozzi Vice Chairman Present Francis X. Wright Jr. Ward 3 Alderman Present Peter D. Mortimer Ward 6 Alderman Present Michael P. Zwirko Alderman at Large Present Donald L. Conn Jr. President/Ex-officio Member Present Robert A. Boisselle Nonvoting Member Present Gail M. Infurna Nonvoting Member Present Jennifer L. Lemmerman Nonvoting Member Present Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis Nonvoting Member Present Monica C. Medeiros Nonvoting Member Present In Attendance: Fire Chief Christopher Leary; Assistant City Clerk Susan Krasco
ORDER-2016-79 Transfer Transfer of $20,200.00 from A/C # 017522-549100 (Projected Debt Interest) to A/C # 012212-535505 (Fire Turnout Gear) in the amount of $12,500.00 and to A/C# 012212-530712 (Fire Washer/Dryer) in the amount of $7,700.00. Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen
ORDER-2016-78 Appropriation Appropriation from account 6500-319000 (Ambulance, Retained Earning) in the amount of $105,772.00; to various accounts as set forth within Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen
ORDER-2016-81 Appointment Reappointment of Susan E. Krasco, 200 Park Terrace Drive, Stoneham, MA as Assistant City Clerk for a one year term; said term ending on the first Monday in February, 2017. Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen City of Melrose Page 1 Updated 8/15/2016 6:19 PM
Transcript
▶ 0:03 Scott M. Forbes: Good evening. It is 7.30. This is Committee on Finance. My name is Alderman Scott Forbes. I'm your Finance Committee Chairman. Members of the Finance Committee include Alderman Tramontozzi, who also serves as Vice Chair, Alderman Zwirko, Alderman Wright, Alderman Mortimer, and President Kahn. Non-voting members here this evening include Alderman Lemmerman, Alderman Boisselle, Alderman McAteer-Margolis, Alderman Medeiros, and Alderman Infurna. And this meeting is being recorded, like to remind everybody, and can be watched on MMTV in accordance with our Massachusetts general open meeting laws. Motion to open the floor for public participation, Mr. Chairman. We have a motion to open the public participation made by Alderman Mortimer.
▶ 0:44 Scott M. Forbes: Seconded. Seconded by Alderman Zwirko. Are all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? This is a portion of our meeting where anybody from the general public can sit before the table and speak on behalf of the three orders that we have before us tonight. The motion to close public participation, Mr. Chairman. The motion to close public participation made by Alderman Mortimer. Second. Seconded by Alderman Zwirko. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The public participation portion of our meeting is now concluded. We do have three orders before us here tonight. The first is order number 2016-79. It is a transfer of $20,200 from account number 017522-549100. debt interest to account number 012212-535505, fire turnout gear in the amount of $12,500
▶ 1:38 Scott M. Forbes: and also to account number 012212-530712, fire washer and dryer in the amount of $7,700. Motion to suspend the rules that we may hear from Chief Leary. We've got a motion to suspend the rules made by Alderman Mortimer. Second. Seconded by Alderman Tramontozzi. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? The rules are suspended. Chief, welcome. Thank you for your attendance here tonight. If you'd like to give us a brief statement or two about the order we have before us, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. The first order before you this evening is a request to transfer 20,200 from projected debt interest into the fire budget to cover half of the cost of purchasing a specialized washing machine and
▶ 2:24 dryer for the purpose of cleaning our turnout gear. The total cost of the washer and dryer is $15,400. Currently we use a household washer that does not clean the gear properly. The new washer will eliminate potential contaminants from remaining in the gear after washing. Once it was washed, it could take a couple of days to dry because it could not be placed in a household dryer. The new drying unit will dry up to four sets of gear and four pairs of boots in about three hours. In addition to purchasing five sets of turnout gear, currently only 17 members have a second set, so a lot of times they have to wear wet and soiled gear. The goal over the next few years is to have each member outfitted with two sets.
▶ 3:07 We are proposing to increase the gear line items, allowing replacing 20% each year, or 12 sets. The gear we use has a 10 year shelf life, the NFPA recommends five years as a front line set, five years as a back up set, and after that it has to be disposed of. We used to be able to use it to go to training at the fire academy, but they won't allow that either. The second order is an appropriation from the ambulance free cash in the amount of $105,772 that will cover the remaining cost of the washer and dryer, or $7,700, and allow us to purchase an additional ten sets of gear. The other items in the ambulance order are a transfer of $60,072 to the ambulance reserve retained earnings, bringing the total up to $100,000.
▶ 3:55 Scott M. Forbes: This is approximately 10% of the operating budget, and in line with the target that Mr. De La Russa likes to have for enterprise funds, excuse me. First up, we have President Kahn. Since the Chief is discussing both motions in his presentation, I'd move for concurrent action on 216.79 and 216.78. Second the motion for concurrent action. President Kahn has filed a motion for concurrent action on orders number 2016.79 and 2016.78. Seconded by Alderman Mortimer. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? All right. These orders are now conjoined. President Kahn, you have the floor. Chief, we understand what turnout gear is, but can you explain what it is for people who are watching at home who might not?
▶ 4:39 The structural firefighting gear that protects the firefighters from bio-hazards, moisture from heat. It's the fire coat and pants and helmet that the traditional firemen would wear. And the replacement that we're doing now is not part of the funding of a collectively bargained item, is it? Actually, I'll withdraw that question. It appears to me from what you're saying that this is a management decision to replace the gear. It's not something that you're replacing as part of a collective bargaining agreement mandate. Correct. And in looking at this order, part of the funding source here is coming from retained earnings. And what I like to call retained earnings is free cash. And so this is the ambulance free cash.
▶ 5:34 Michael P. Zwirko: Correct. That's what's coming from. Yes. And in the private sector, what they would call free cash would be profit. So this is the profit that's being earned on the ambulance operation that we're running at this time. Is that correct? Correct. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, President Kahn. Next, we have Alderman Zwirko. Before I ask a couple questions, I just wanted to give credit to the fire department. Recently, there was a fire in Saugus that they assisted. There was also a May Day call during that fire, i was just glad to see that everyone came home safe as well as the recent fire on clifford street so appreciate the hard work of the firefighters there uh so chief i um i was looking at one of
▶ 6:14 Michael P. Zwirko: the orders and one of them was um mentions the transfer of twenty thousand two hundred dollars i did have an opportunity to speak to art flavin and uh the city treasurer and he had stated that that money is actually money that we've over budgeted for when we floated some bonds in the past fiscal year and when we're due on payment on those in may the interest is actually going to be less so this is savings earned i just wanted to highlight to those that are watching that's actually due to the fact that we have a very strong bond rating here in the city and it's actually a testament to the work that the board did prior to my coming as well as the administration so i just want to bring that out the fact that we have a very good bond rating is directly
▶ 6:53 Michael P. Zwirko: responsible for savings there and helping to fund the costs of this equipment so kudos so I had a question I was just curious with this gear and these extractors were there any grants that were available at all did we apply for any grants to try to get there were last year I put in for a washer extractor and some gear racks but we did not get the grant okay and I do understand that the extractor I mean essentially it's a washing and drying machine on steroids and it's specific to wash your tractor is a specialized unit that you can adjust the speeds and water temperature and tune it to the specs of the manufacturer and when you say that the gear gets soiled I also understand that the soiling can actually be particles that could be potentially
▶ 7:43 Michael P. Zwirko: carcinogenic correct so it's necessary to clean these pieces of gear properly so that the men and women of the fire department aren't you know that's susceptible to most protected recent studies have shown that the the household washing machines that departments are using are not satisfactory and don't get all the contaminants out so there's been a push with many departments to to try to enhance the cleaning and then I just have another final question I guess on the install of these anyway what are we looking at is it the company that we're purchasing from the vendor that actually does the install i would imagine it's probably somewhat um a laborious project yeah they they do the installation as well they do okay and then again you said that the life uh you're trying to
▶ 8:27 do a rotation of five years per set right the the gear has a 10-year life expectancy or 10-year use life so after that we can no longer use it so we used to be able to use it and then we'd take it to the fire academy and use and be able to but they won't even uh allow us to do that anymore really okay thank you that's all the questions i had motion to recommend for passage mr chairman thank you almonds worker we have a motion to recommend for passage made by alderman mortimer on the conjoined orders on the conjoined orders second is seconded by alderman Tramontozzi continuing with discussion is there any other voting members that have any questions for the chief almond ferner thank you i just had a quick question um could you tell us um is there a
▶ 9:12 Scott M. Forbes: warranty on these on this machine three years three years thank you thank you almanferna thank you i'm not a voting member of this committee i just wanted to take a minute and thank the chief for a lot of detail that was put together with this order and information and i appreciate it makes it easy to understand and thank you for the information tonight and all you guys do thank you okay so we do have a motion to recommend it's been duly seconded for recommend for passage of the conjoined orders all those in favor aye any opposed chief order passes and will be recommended for the full board at our next meeting obviously you know that you don't have to be in attendance for that vote thank you very much for your attendance tonight our last order
▶ 9:56 Scott M. Forbes: of the evening is order number 2016-81 it is the reappointment of susan e crasco 200 park terrace drive stone of mass as the assistant city clerk for a one-year term said term ending on the first monday in february 2017. motion to recommend for passage mr chairman we got a motion to recommend made by alderman mortimer second by alderman chairman tozy anyone in discussion anybody have any questions for miss crasco alderman wright please thank you um susan how long have you been with the city clerk's office uh 10 years 10 years okay um i know you've been here as long as i have and um i think we've all had the pleasure of working with susan uh for the last 10 years so um with uh with that in mind and and uh the positive experience i have um i look forward
▶ 10:46 Scott M. Forbes: to voting for her reappointment thank you all the right i just wanted to say thanks for your service i had pleasure meeting you the other day so looking forward to supporting the motion for for passage. Thank you. Thank you, Alderman Zwirko. We do have a motion to recommend. Has been seconded. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Has been recommended for the full board. We thank you for your attendance here tonight. Obviously, you know you don't have to be here for that vote. Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you all very much. Motion to adjourn, Mr. Chairman. Motion to adjourn, made by Alderman Mortimer. Seconded. Seconded by Alderman Zwirko. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? This is the end of the