City Council — 2016-06-16

City Council Special Meeting

Attendance

Robert A. Boisselle present · Ward 4 Alderman; Donald L. Conn Jr. present · President, Alderman at Large; Scott M. Forbes present · Ward 7 Alderman; Gail Infurna present · Ward 5 Alderman; Jennifer L. Lemmerman present · Ward 2 Alderman; Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis present · Alderman at Large; Monica C. Medeiros present · Alderman at Large; Peter D. Mortimer present · Ward 6 Alderman; John N. Tramontozzi present · Ward 1 Alderman; Francis X. Wright Jr. absent · Ward 3 Alderman; Michael P. Zwirko present · Alderman at Large

Agenda

Minutes

CITY OF MELROSE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BULLETIN● JUNE 16, 2016 Aldermanic Chamber Special Meeting 7:30 PM

ORDER-2016-201 Opening Statement Special Meeting of the Board of Aldermen, to be held on Thursday, June 16, 2016, at 7:30 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber, City Hall, to act upon the orders set forth herein Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Robert A. Boisselle Ward 4 Alderman Present Scott M. Forbes Ward 7 Alderman Present Gail M. Infurna Ward 5 Alderman Present Jennifer L. Lemmerman Ward 2 Alderman Present Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis Alderman at Large Present Monica C. Medeiros Alderman at Large Present Peter D. Mortimer Ward 6 Alderman Present John N. Tramontozzi Ward 1 Alderman Present Francis X. Wright Jr. Ward 3 Alderman Absent Michael P. Zwirko Alderman at Large Present Donald L. Conn Jr. President, Alderman at Large Present

ORDER-2016-158 Operating Budgets (City, School, Regional School) City of Melrose Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2017 in the amount of 75,328,574.79 (Seventy-Five Million, Three Hundred Twenty-Eight Thousand, Five Hundred Seventy-Four Dollars and Seventy-Nine Cents) Passed

ORDER-2016-159 Enterprise Fund Water Enterprise Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2017 in the amount of $5,337,495.08 (Five Million, Three Hundred and Thirty Seven Thousand, Four Hundred and Ninety Five Dollars and Eight Cents). Passed

ORDER-2016-160 Enterprise Fund City of Melrose Page 1 8/11/2016 4:02 PM Minutes Board of Aldermen June 16, 2016 Sewer Enterprise Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2017 in the amount of $7,718,419.09 (Seven Million, Seven Hundred and Eighteen Thousand, Four Hundred and Nineteen Dollars and Nine Cents). Passed

ORDER-2016-163 Amending Revised Ordinances Amending Melrose Revised Ordinances, Chapter 228, Article II, Section 228-15 (Water Rates Established), as set forth herein. Passed as Amended

ORDER-2016-164 Amending Revised Ordinances Amending Melrose Revised Ordinances, Chapter 228, Article IV, Section 228-30 (Sewer Rates Established) as set forth herein Passed as Amended

ORDER-2016-166 Amending Revised Ordinances Amending Melrose Revised Ordinances, Chapter 228, Article IV, Section 228-20 (Elderly Discount) as set forth herein Passed

ORDER-2016-192 Transfer Transfer of $220.00 From: A/C #011622-521500 Postage To: A/C #011622- 530506 - Election Supplies Passed

ORDER-2016-193 Transfer Transfer of $11,000.00 From: A/C #015111-511000 - Health Salaries & Wages To: A/C #015112-530501 - Health Exp Misc Supplies - $10,000.00; and A/C #015112-524500 - Health Exp Pest Control - $1,000.00 as set forth herein. Passed

ORDER-2016-194 Transfer Transfer of $12,907.85 From: Police Salary and Wages, A/C # 012111-511000 to various police accounts as set forth within. Passed

ORDER-2016-195 Transfer City of Melrose Page 2 8/11/2016 4:02 PM Minutes Board of Aldermen June 16, 2016 Transfer of $18,155.38 From A/C #015432-544000 (Vets Exp Veterans' Benefits) To: A/C # 011552-591015 (IT Prior Year) as set forth herein. Passed

ORDER-2016-196 Transfer Transfer of $l,400.00 From: Pine Banks Salary and Wages (016521-511000) To: various IT Accounts as set forth within. Passed

ORDER-2016-197 Transfer Transfer of 158,469.00 from various accounts to various accounts as set forth within Passed

ORDER-2016-198 Appropriation Appropriation in the amount of $162,869.56 From: A/C # 6100-319000 (Water Retained Earnings) To: A/C # 6100-33001 (Water Reserve of Retained Earnings) Passed

ORDER-2016-199 Appropriation Appropriation in the amount of $293,534.61 From: Sewer Retained Earnings (A/C # 6000-319000) To: Sewer Reserve of Retained Earnings (A/C # 6000- 330001) Passed

ORDER-2016-200 Amending Revised Ordinances Amending Melrose Revised Ordinances, Chapter 228 (Water & Sewers) by adding Section 228-78 "Infiltration and Inflow Mitigation Fees" as set forth herein. Passed City of Melrose Page 3 8/11/2016 4:02 PM

Transcript

▶ 0:00 Special meeting of the Board of Aldermen. It is June 16th, 2016. My name is Donald Conn. Please rise and join me. Actually, could you please call the roll, please? I was quite surprised there. Alderman Fussell. Here. Here. Alderman Forbes. Here. Here. Alderman Inferna. Here. Here. Alderman Lemmerman. Here. Here. Alderman McAteer-Margolis. Here. Here. Alderman Medeiros. Here. Here. Alderman Mortimer. Here. Here. Alderman Tramontozzi. Here. Here. Alderman Wright. All those in favor? Here. Here. President Vaughn. Here. Ten present. Okay, if you now could all rise and join me in saluting the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God,

▶ 0:49 indivisible with liberty and justice for all. As with all of our meetings, this meeting is being recorded by MMTV and will be rebroadcast at later periods in accordance with the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law. Motion to open the floor for public participation, Mr. President. Alderman Mortimer moves that we commence public participation. The motion is seconded by Alderman Inferna. On the motion, all those in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion passes. This is the portion of our meeting where any member of the public can come forward and speak relative to any order that is on our agenda. would like to start it off this evening as you all know by now I'm Phil Tamor sorry I had to miss the last two meetings I've since watched the meeting

▶ 1:41 replays I guess I shouldn't be any longer but I'm still amazed that the city in this board virtually has made no progress resolving the significant water and sewer rate matters raised by the public all year long first the city's These final proposed 2017 combined water and sewer rates simply perpetuate unsupported billing rate differentials between low and high consumption tiers. Combining last year's two top tiers into one accomplishes nothing other than holding the prior tier three bill increases down slightly from what they otherwise would have been and making prior tier two bill increases slightly greater. The 2017 high tier rate is now an insupportable blended 78% higher than the low tier.

▶ 2:31 I repeat, 78% higher, excluding constant MWRA charges. You intentionally have not reduced the combined high tier rate because you need to but won't increase the low tier rate at the same time. You pander to by subsidizing broadly and greatly the voting majority who are low tier consumers. by egregiously taxing high-tier consumers. Neither you nor your rate consultants whom you actually asked have been able to support the billing rate differentials across tiers. The differentials have been picked from thin air. You have neither the political courage nor the sense of what's required to correct the huge, arbitrary, insupportable subsidy you gave low-tier consumers at the expense of high-tier consumers

▶ 3:19 implementing the tiered rate structure first in 2014 second you continue to let slide the city's recently disclosed decision to start billing ratepayers for its internal consumption when it clearly didn't need to change its billing practice you endorse this revenue grab which has raised water and sewer rates by 2% annually the billing practice change should be reversed contrary to what some aldermen continued to say the impact of the reversal can and should be accommodated with the city's broad 75 million dollar property tax budget and free cash which benefited from the change when it was implemented in the first place and does not require threatened cuts and teacher positions and the like third the city finally began to discuss some of the

▶ 4:10 significant spending put in place over the past few years at the June 9th meeting focusing on indirect cost allocations from the property tax budget in the three years ending 2016 starting with the 2014 adoption of the new tiered rate structure indirect costs have increased by four hundred fifty nine thousand dollars annually or an average thirteen percent per year the city attributes much of this to the complexity of the new rate structure and related initiatives the implied complexity is really difficult to believe and eye-opening and prompt several questions where the benefits in our rates from these grand costly efforts because rates as this committee has noted have been increasing at a very high average seven percent per year

▶ 4:57 during this period more so due to increased city controlled spending than any other factor when will this complexity and the associated costs actually decrease conversely if the complexity and cost will remain and no tangible benefits will be generated perhaps you might change to a simpler and less expensive approach that would deliver benefits to the ratepayers these indirect cost increases which are only one piece of the city controlled spending increases the past three years along with the billing to practice change impact alone have increased combined water and sewer rates by about five percent equal to the size of the proposed 2017 rate increase the city and board continue to fail on all matters above and intentionally avoid their

▶ 5:47 direct and clear resolution the city and board has not done its job anyone else would like to speak this evening well I appreciate being able to speak tonight Lisa Halloran 27 Whittier Street I have looked into getting a water meter and in doing so some information and questions came up and I believe a week or so ago I also spoke about this the water meters are being charged so if I have a second water meter for my outdoor use that is being charged a 35 per quarter so a hundred and forty dollars a year charge I did ask the city why there was a charge and I was told it's because they will come and read my meter but my present meter is not somebody doesn't come and read my meter this is supposed

▶ 7:08 to be a highly efficient meter that has a specialty required antenna that allows somebody to come by with a radio frequency and just read the meter so they drive or walk by to read it or it gets sent to the water department as our regular meters are now so I don't understand why there's a separate charge I was also told that the other reason is there's if there's a problem with the meter that the city would try to come and fix it but however stated in the city of Melrose water procedure meter installation it specifically says the property owner is fully responsible for all costs associated with owning and operating the second water meter so why am i paying a hundred and forty dollars a year for something that's already being done so it costs three hundred and

▶ 8:12 sixty four dollars for the unit the meter sixty five dollars for the permit five hundred dollars for an average plumber to put this in and a hundred and forty dollars per year so that's over a thousand dollars that it's costing me within the first year to have this where is this supposed savings where's the incentive to have people use these meters so that we're reducing our water usage and sewer usage it's not making sense to me thank you thank you am I supposed to sign this please please hi my name is Jerry Moroz um our water Water system and sewer system need a lot of work, and there are a lot of distractions towards getting that work done. I don't see that through the budget process this year that we've made any inroads into

▶ 9:28 getting more ahead of the curve than we've been on either leakage from our water system or the inflow and infiltration issues of our sewer system. But yet we've spent hundreds of hours, literally man hours, in this chamber, people talking about water and sewer issues, about things that are red herrings. They aren't the important issues. The issues we've been discussing for hundreds and hundreds of hours here are simple issues. They're straightforward issues. They're basic things. But yet, some people want to complicate them and juggle balls in the air or put curtains in front of things or whatever. We're not seeing the real things. I've said here consistently for the last three years, what I believe are the facts about

▶ 10:26 water and sewer issues that I've deeply researched, that I go to the sources, I double-check and document them and i find correlations and i do analyses and i present them to you here what do you do with the work that i do you don't care one bit about it as a board every year for the last three years you've just denied every single thing i brought here without any factual basis i want to point out the rate that the appropriations committee recommended to you the same people tonight is purely arbitrary arbitrary is really the word there is no basis for that rate in the city of Melrose for that for that rate structure to be here tiers are irrelevant to Melrose they've been a distraction yes you've gotten more money from

▶ 11:24 some people and kept the water and sewer system going by by charging some people exorbitant amounts of money but that shouldn't be the goal here the goal ought to be able to have a finely operating water and sewer system doing the best that it can do with the least money that it needs and charging people appropriately for their fair use I don't see any of those things occurring here you all feel like you've done some kind of calculations and have some rational basis for what you voted for the other night I don't see it it's never come here I've given you spreadsheets I've given you graphs I've given you pages and pages of my my analysis of where I come with the things that I come to you with there's been no rebuttal of it

▶ 12:13 whatsoever occasionally your consultant or your your city solicitor will make a blanket statement that all the you know mr. morose is wrong or they won't use my name they'll just say oh a member of the public is wrong they don't tell you what is really wrong about it nobody ever gives me an opportunity to explain how maybe they are mistaken it's frustrating to be a member of the public trying to participate in the public process and be shut out every time for any kind of thing that you do you know I couldn't make it here for the budget hearing you had a couple weeks ago because I had a commitment and the presentation the board makes off when they ask for a public hearing and nobody comes it's

▶ 12:52 kind of like oh well you know you really tried to have the public to come involved I don't feel welcome to come here and speak you give me my time and I appreciate that I don't feel welcomed I feel disrespected but what I really want to talk about here is that you have a whole lot of people coming from if you will, the executive branch of the city government, coming here with a mission, a mission to do what they want to do, whether it's factual, whether it's legal, whether it's honest or not. We've heard how many times over three years, somebody from even members of the Board of Maldon saying that we have to obey the state law. I've shown you what the state law says. I've shown you what the state law means.

▶ 13:39 The state law actually uses the word that if you're having an increasing tiered rate, that it has to fairly reflect the resource demand and consumption of high-volume users. Fairly is not an optional word. Fairly is the state law. If you're going to fairly reflect the resource demand and consumption of high-volume users, and you're going to propose to have a rate that charges some people more than others, It is incumbent upon you to have the data in the backbone to present it here and show people why that's the case The fact that nobody has done that Nobody on the Alderman certainly, but certainly the consultants didn't DPW didn't city auditor didn't city treasurer didn't it tells me it tells me that they don't have it. I

▶ 14:29 Mean, I know myself I can see it myself. I know what the facts are. I can read the thing I can analyze and go through it. I had a conversation with a city solicitor about this, and I showed him exactly how that law could be interpreted and should be interpreted. When he came here in front of you, he gave the biggest out in the world. Oh, based on the information given me by the DPW and the consultant, this is what I feel the law is. Hello, we're paying city solicitor as i now find out sixty thousand dollars a year out of the water and sewer fund to tell us something that's not even legal if you're going to be so righteous and claim month after month year after year that you're going to follow the state law

▶ 15:14 i challenge you to do it tonight follow the state law put a rate structure in place that fairly reflects the resource demand and consumption of high volume users in melrose And the only one that fairly reflects the resource demand is a flat rate in Melrose with fixed base meter charges. Any of you that claim somehow that you've done some fancy calculations and have come to some other conclusion, you put your calculations on the table. I have. Don't sit here and act like you know something that you don't know. don't sit here and act as if oh you've considered all the facts and you've weighed things so so importantly and and you're the biggest you know supreme court in the world here you know arbitrating over over a dispute these are simple facts and figures people

▶ 16:04 this is in part what is wrong with this city is that people are afraid to be honest believe me i understand the backstory here i understand that the city is spending too much money more than it can afford to spend under prop two and a half and they want to put every possible cost onto the rate payers of the water and sewer fund onto the trash enterprise fund that we we hit residents and taxpayers over and over and over again with fees upon fees upon fees we aren't honest that we're overspending what we can legitimately spend and everybody here is cowering behind process, behind asking people who have a vested interest in skewing the process to their own result. Can Melrose start being fair and honest with its citizens?

▶ 16:58 Tell us you've spent too much. We heard the lies last fall. Oh, the city's in great financial shape. The override's just to make things a little bit better and more financially secure. Clearly we were teetering based on this budget process the defective budget document is given to you that they don't even project an accurate fy16 figure before they ask you to put an fy17 figure relying on what they budgeted for fy16 that's absurd budgeting i would never allow somebody who works for me to present me a budget that i can't have the information to accurately project what was needed this year and what could be needed for next year and if there's ever a discrepancy it ought to be spelled out what that discrepancy is that's not done here now i don't know if this board of

▶ 17:50 alderman just doesn't want to ask for real information if you don't want the real information that's why you don't ask or whether you're fearful of asking because of the the self-righteous responses you get from administration every time you challenge them on something lily tomlin has a line that i want to repeat here she says no matter how cynical I get, I just can't keep up. It's so apropos here. The other night, I do give the benefit of the doubt to administration time after time after time. I always say they must know something, let me give them the benefit of the doubt before I go and challenge it. And then I look it up and do my research and then I challenge. I assumed when they talked about that they were getting rid of retroactive billing

▶ 18:42 and in the conversation that I heard it was immediately subsequent to a conversation about the meters weren't all going to be in by June 30th, but we'll have them in by September 30th, and then we're going to bill everybody the old rate through September 30th. I foolishly put two and two together that I shouldn't. I assumed that they meant that they were going to take the September 30th readings of every person, bill them all at the old rate, and from October 1st go forward. When Alderman Medeiros brought to light here the other night that in fact they were still going to have retroactive billing with some people who are going to pay for their august and september rates at fy16 rates while other

▶ 19:24 people were going to be unfairly charged fy17 rates for that that that's just it just it just blew my mind that they were doing another game and all this stuff they wanted to slide things through and you have let them do this year after year week after week time after time please stand up I know you have to put out a budget tonight that if you want your own budget you have to put out tonight if you want the mayor's budget you can just let it slide not vote and his budget's automatically there but discuss these budgets I don't know why they're not here tonight they feel that this is just pro forma that you're just going to rubber stamp everything and not do anything tonight but I'll tell you the last thing I want to say is that

▶ 20:02 arbitrary is the word as this whole process has been I was willing to spend the thirty thousand dollars that the city was spending if we had a good consultant to come here and show us a real cost of service analysis we never got that that was fraudulent that we put out we had rfps we're going to have all this work done and all we got was somebody giving us a biased opinion basically paid to tell us what somebody wanted them to tell us again being cynical again the idea that we have a info infiltration i'll finish up right after this the idea that we have an infiltration and inflow mitigation fund that's been on the books for 10 years i saw on the on the website there were discrepancies something showed 150 000 something showed 80 000 something different

▶ 20:52 things but why would we ever collect a mitigation fee and then not use it to mitigate anything we would be in better shape today in melrose with our sewer rates if we had used that money in 2005 when we got it to have it sitting in the back room in the books of melrose and who knows what that money's been played with year after year after year to have that sit there doing nothing is a waste just like the reserves these excess reserves are a waste to put money in if you're going to charge a water sewer rate payers all this money after this year it's a million dollars in retained earnings you budgeted for fy17 that's going to be another half million dollars in that's going to be retained earnings next year that'll bring it to a million and a half dollars of reserves

▶ 21:33 basically money you pull out of the pockets of the mellow citizens mellows rate payers And you didn't use it on their behalf by putting it into inflow and infiltration. And regarding this idea that it's a program, not a project anymore, well, excuse me, all they're proposing to do is the same status quo of taking whatever money the MWRA allocates and using that money. We will get no better off. We will be sitting here talking about ridiculously high, highest in the country level water rates and sewer rates for years and years. if you don't take a leadership role take this job seriously and make this city do something instead of rubber stamping whatever comes before you thank you thank you mr. Morales anybody else who wishes to speak this evening motion to

▶ 22:20 Peter D. Mortimer: close public participation mr. president Alderman Mortimer moves to conclude public participation second motion seconded by Alderman Lemmerman on the motion all those in favor all right anyone opposed motion passes public participation portion of our meeting is concluded order 2016 dash 158 city of Melrose operating budget for fiscal year 2017 in the amount of 75 million three hundred twenty eight thousand five hundred seventy four dollars 79 cents Mortimer mr. president I make a motion to move the bottom line of 75 million $328,574.79. Second. Alderman Mortimer moves to accept the bottom line as stated in the order. The motion is seconded by Alderman Inferna. Is there discussion relative to this order?

▶ 23:12 Monica C. Medeiros: Alderman Medeiros. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. I want to thank the mayor and staff and all the members here tonight. It's hard to talk after Mr. Mraz. Thanks. Thanks. I just wanted to say a few words and say that, you know, one thing that I've particularly tried to do this budget process, and I hope that we can do moving forward, we have a virtual budget, but it's to try to really kind of open up the process even a little bit more to the next step. We have such great tools with technology right now that we can see so much on the web. And I know there's plenty of people who, you know, just feel like we the aldermen should, you know, basically just get it done. You know, that's what we're here

▶ 23:59 Monica C. Medeiros: for and they're, you know, at home living their lives. But there are certainly some people who would like to look into this a little bit more. And it is, you know, it is our government. It is a public breathing open. It should be open. So, you know, I appreciate that our particular our clerk of committees who, you know, mostly puts everything up on the web and, you know, try to kind of look at we do have a budget and it's not just paid for by our property taxes. There's a lot of different funding sources including some indirect costs coming in from our water and sewer accounts and from our other enterprise accounts. There's, know certainly grant money and collection money and you know I hope we

▶ 24:49 Monica C. Medeiros: do look at that I to that end I would like to in a minute I'm going to move to add mr. del Russo's email actually I'm sorry miss Harrington's email with the information about the school budget that we saw this year where our school budget that we voted on and the line item that we voted on as aldermen was twenty five million seven hundred twenty five thousand six hundred twenty eight dollars and ninety cents while the budget that was presented to us from the school department was twenty eight million eight hundred seventy eight eight hundred seventy four thousand one hundred and forty dollars so that's a difference of a little bit over three million dollars and it's not actually coming out of our budget per se out of the operating budget and and a lot of

▶ 25:43 Monica C. Medeiros: those costs are coming from various revolving accounts and circuit breaker funds and so on so I'd like to move the email that states that that we can find the information and the public can find the information about where that's coming from on pages 9 and 10 of the school budget in the school budget department website could you identify the the maker of the email and the date of the emails that was a miss Mary Beth Harrington Thursday June 16th at 11 37 a.m. Alvin Medeiros moves that that ordered that document be accepted as part of the record of the budget process is there a second second second by all the boys L is there any discussion on the motion all those in favor motion passes and with that I thank you and thank you any further discussion

▶ 26:39 Michael P. Zwirko: Altman's work oh thank you mr. president for me going through this process as the first time it was a eye-opening it was also I learned a lot made a few procedural mistakes along the way but enjoyed the process and being able to vet portions of this budget and speaking with the administrators and department as well no budget I truly feel is perfect it's the same time I don't think we should allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good there are some good things in this budget you know routinely we have shortfalls in certain areas whether it's from state or federal funding we have mandates that we have to meet we have problems that always seem to creep up I'm really happy that in the mayor's budget that was proposed there's funding for the substance abuse

▶ 27:32 Michael P. Zwirko: prevention coordinator I think that's something that's this city greatly needs I'm really happy to support that and it's a probably long overdue but it's it's a problem that is occurring across the country and I'm glad that we're taking steps to to fight it all them just mentioned that there are other costs in this budget there are you know we do have receipts that come in we do have state funding we do a federal funding so it's not just property taxes if we go to the levy limit every year we're still going to be at a shortfall so we're dependent on a lot of sources we're dependent on growth we're dependent on a lot of things I just wanted to say that I appreciated the process I appreciated my colleagues in this process and I more work needs to be

▶ 28:22 Michael P. Zwirko: done certainly on my own part I learned a lot but you know I get to have another go at it this fall in this year we rely on some funding sources that arguably maybe we shouldn't as much as we do and I am still overwhelmingly proud of the new position that we've created as well as the work that went in here so it's just really a comment overall I appreciate the time anyone else could Could you call the roll, please, Ms. O'Shea? Alderman Boisselle. Yes. Yes, Alderman Forbes. Yes. Yes, Alderman Inferna. Yes. Yes, Alderman Lemmerman. Yes. Yes, Alderman McAteer-Margolis. Yes. Yes, Alderman Medeiros. Yes. Yes, Alderman Mortimer. Yes. Yes, Alderman Tramontozzi. Yes. Yes, Alderman Zwirko. Yes. Yes, President Conn.

▶ 29:11 Yes. Yes, 10 yes. That order passes. Mr. President, I make a motion for passage for order 2016-158. Yeah, could we read the order first, please? City of Melrose operating budget for fiscal year 2017 in the amount of 75,300,000. I'm sorry, he's making a motion relative to the water enterprise budget, I believe. 158. You want 158 or 158? No, 158. First I move the acceptance of the amount, and then I'm moving for passage of the underlying order. Alderman Bonham will move for passage of the budget. Is there a second? Second. Motion seconded by Alderman McAteer-Margolis. any discussion before we call the roll on passage of the budget could you call the roll please alderman Boisselle yes yes alderman forbes yes yes salomon inferno yes yes alderman Lemmerman yes

▶ 30:06 yes alderman mcateen margolis yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes president kahn yes yes 10 yes that order passes order 2016-159 water enterprise operating budget for fiscal year 2017 in the amount of five million three hundred thirty seven thousand four hundred ninety five dollars eight cents this order was recommended for passage by the Appropriations Committee is there discussion relative to this order motion motion for passage on this order second Alderman Mortimer moves passage of the order the motion is seconded by Alderman forbes is the discussion on the motion associate could you call the role please yes yes alderman forbes yes yes solomon inferno yes yes alderman Lemmerman yes yes alderman

▶ 30:56 mcateen margolis yes yes all the madeiras yes yes salomon mortimer yes yes salomon trematosi yes yes parliament zirko yes he is president khan yes yes 10 years that order passes Order 2016-160, Sewer Enterprise Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2017, in the amount of $7,718,419.09. This order was recommended for passage by the Committee on Appropriations. Motion for passage, Mr. President. Second. Alderman Mortimer moves for passage. The motion is seconded by Alderman Forbes. Is there discussion? Could you call the roll? Alderman Boisselle? Yes. Yes. Alderman Forbes? Yes. Yes. Alderman Inferno? Yes. Yes, Alderman Lemmerman. Yes. Yes, Alderman McAteer-Margolis. Yes. Yes, Alderman Majerus. Yes. Yes, Alderman Mortimer. Yes. Yes, Alderman Tramontozzi. Yes. Yes, Alderman Zwirko. Yes. Yes, President Pond. Yes. Yes, 10 yes. That order passes.

▶ 32:00 Monica C. Medeiros: Order 2016-163, Amending Melrose Revised Ordinances, Chapter 228, Article 2, Section 228-15, Water Rates Established, as set forth herein. This order comes to us from Committee Recommended as amended to adopt one of the proposals that had been put forward. Motion for passage as amended, Mr. President. Second. Alderman Mortimer moves for passage of this order as amended. Is there discussion? Alderman Medeiros. Thank you. Thank you again. I just want to say, and this is, you know, this is certainly not and hasn't been an easy discussion. It hasn't been an easy discussion to have over the course of several years, frankly. And, you know, I am going to support the rates tonight, this structure, but by no means does that mean that I think this is the be all, end all.

▶ 32:54 Monica C. Medeiros: I think we still have a lot of problems and issues that really we need to continue to work on and look at moving forward. I am not fully satisfied that we've really addressed the issues of retroactive billing, even though this new two-tiered structure is much simpler and a little bit flatter, albeit, that the high deferential that's been built in over the last three to four years since we first, you know, went, made the first change for FY14 into the tiered, three-tiered rate structure, you know, really hasn't been addressed. And I think there are still people who, you know, especially the multi-unit condominium owners and and really i'm not sure that we can fully justify even for those that that are not

▶ 33:49 Monica C. Medeiros: the big difference that we're seeing that they've seen you know over the course of four years at the highest tier increase of 50 of the water rates and we've seen our average water bill users seeing an increase of 18 and i mean that says a lot of things and that over time I've really you know we're asked a lot you know why are the rates so high why is this going up I think our discussion in the chamber over the past few years has really talked a lot about the rate structure itself as it even did this year you know I've been trying to look more into it and to try to explain it a little bit more certainly we see that you know there are the funds that are in in the costs that are in our water and sewer operating budgets but outside of that

▶ 34:40 Monica C. Medeiros: there's something you know over two million dollars that is not included in that budget that goes into our water and sewer rates and that's made up of these indirect costs of you know reserves and funding a reserve and abatements and you know that that all factors in and it's not necessarily obvious to the naked eye that it's there we've seen these indirect costs have gone up substantially and you know perhaps because of some of the conversation that we've had towards you know rate structures you know maybe we haven't been looking at some of that as closely and i hope that we do do that as we move forward because we need to look at you know certainly our our own spending the mwra increases and and certainly these these indirect costs every year and i hope

▶ 35:30 Monica C. Medeiros: that we can find a way to get all of this down i hope that we can you know geez sorry some fly i hope that you know we can look as a city and and i look forward to trying to send something forward in the next few months about looking at conservation from a city perspective where the administration has estimated that we are using as a city in our municipal buildings and parks and so on two hundred and seventy thousand dollars worth of water I don't see that you know shifting back to the general operating budget anytime soon so so long as we're expending that then I think we have an obligation to try to to reduce our usage there just as you know as we are a user as well so those are the kinds of things that you know I think we need to still

▶ 36:21 pay attention to moving forward and I'm gonna support this rate tonight but it doesn't mean that I think all the problems have gone away and we should you know stop trying so thank you thank you anyone else there's no shake could you call the roll please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes Yes. Alderman McAteer-Margolis. Yes. Yes. Alderman Dearest. Yes. Yes. Alderman Mortimer. Yes. Yes. Alderman Tramontozzi. Yes. Yes. Alderman Zwirko. Yes. Yes. President Conn. No. No. That order passes. Nine. Yes. Order 2016-164, amending Melrose Revised Ordinances, Chapter 228, Article 4, Section 228-30, Sewer rates established as set forth herein this order also comes recommended as amended from the Appropriations Committee which voted to adopt motion

▶ 37:26 Scott M. Forbes: for passage mr. president second Alderman Mortimer moves for passage of the order as amended the motion seconded by Alderman Forbes is the discussion relative to this order yeah before we vote on this motion um it's just a couple of things I want to say having a member of the water and sewer committee for four months. It's a position I volunteered for. I learned a lot about the process. There's a lot of information to go by. When you don't know a lot about the process, you have to rely on people that are brought in to the process that give you information. When a consultant comes in and they give you 10 rate plans to go over, he is a professional in his field. We rely on him for information in order for us to make the the best decision that we can make for

▶ 38:17 Scott M. Forbes: the city now there are going to be some people that don't agree with the rate plans that are before us but in my personal opinion I think that the option that we have on the table is the best option for the city when we have to talk about certain costs that within the administration we have to rely on the auditor's office we have to for legal advice I'm not a lawyer I have to rely on the city solicitor and I have to take his opinion at face value but at the end of the day i have to defend my vote i think all of us here have to defend our votes and i'm willing to have a conversation with anybody i'm willing to have to engage in conversations with anybody but to be called a rubber stamp to say that we have no courage and to say that we have failed as a board

▶ 38:59 Scott M. Forbes: it's hard to engage in those conversations if we're not going to be able to at least find some common ground and work on that and try to work on things to move the city forward i said from the beginning this rate plan doesn't do everything for us it's not perfect we have i and i issues that we need to take care of in the fall this is a 365 day process and we have to see it through i think that the vote tonight it's the beginning of the right direction but the work is far from over and i think right here right now this decision is the this rate plan being put forth is the best rate plan that we have that was put in front of us for our rate payers thank you thank you all anyone else point of order mr president i did make the motion to uh for passage on this

▶ 39:53 order need should i have said uh motion for passage has amended on this on this one uh please uh if whom who made the second scotland made the second if you'd be willing to i would withdraw my motion to change it to actually I characterized your motion as a motion to accept it as a man you did sir thank you very much I divined that that was what you thank you very much sir okay on the order could you call the roll please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes Yes, Alderman Tramontozzi. Yes. Yes, Alderman Zwirko. Yes. Yes, President Conn. No. No. Nine yes. That order passes. Order 2016-166, amending Melrose revised ordinances chapter 228, article 4, section 228-20, elderly discount as set forth herein.

▶ 40:54 This order was recommended by the Appropriations Committee. Motion for passage, Mr. President. Second. Alderman Mortimer moves for passage of the order. The motion is seconded by Alderman Inferna. Is there discussion relative to this order? Could you call the roll, please? Alderman Boisselle? Yes. Yes. Alderman Forbes? Yes. Yes. Alderman Inferna? Yes. Yes. Alderman Lemmerman? Yes. Yes. Alderman McAteer-Margolis? Yes. Yes. Alderman Dearest? Yes. Yes. Alderman Mortimer? Yes. Yes. Alderman Tramontozzi? Yes. Yes. Alderman Zwirko? No. No. President Kahn? Yes. Yes. 9, yes. That order passes. Order 2016-192, transfer of $220 from account number 011-622-521-500, postage to account 011-622-530-506, election supplies.

▶ 41:52 This order was recommended for passage in the Finance Committee. Motion for passage, Mr. President. Second. Alderman Forbes moves for passage. The motion is seconded by Alderman Mortimer. Is there discussion relative to the order? Would you call the roll? Alderman Boisselle? Yes. Yes. Alderman Forbes? Yes. Yes. Alderman Inferno? Yes. Yes. Alderman Lemmerman? Yes. Yes. Alderman McAteer-Margolis? Yes. Yes. Alderman Dearest? Yes. Yes. Alderman Mortimer? Yes. Yes. Alderman Tramontozzi? Yes. Yes. Alderman Zwirko? Yes. Yes. President Conn? Yes. Yes. Ten years. The order passes. Order 2016-193, transfer of $11,000 from account 015-111-511-000, health salaries and wages, to account 015-112-530-501, health miscellaneous supplies, $10,000,

▶ 42:44 and account 015-112-524-500, health expenditures, pest control, $1,000, as set forth herein. This order was also recommended for passage by the Finance Committee. Motion for passage, Mr. President. Second. Alderman Forbes moves for passage. The motion is seconded by Alderman Zwirko. Is there discussion? Can you call the roll, please? Alderman Boisselle? Yes. Yes. Alderman Forbes? Yes. Yes. Alderman Inferno? Yes. Yes. Alderman Lemmerman? Yes. Yes. Alderman McAteer-Margolis? Yes. Yes. Alderman Majerus? Yes. Yes. Alderman Mortimer? Yes. Yes. Alderman Tramontozzi? Yes. Yes. Alderman Zwirko? Yes. Yes, President Conn. Yes. Yes, 10 years. That order passes. I'm sorry. Okay, the next order on our agenda for this evening is 2016-194,

▶ 43:45 transfer of $12,907.85 from police salary and wages to various police accounts as set forth in the order. It was recommended by the Committee on Finance. Motion for passage. Second. Alderman Forbes moves for passage. The motion is seconded by Alderman Mortimer. Is there discussion? Could you call the roll, please? Alderman Boisselle? yes yes Alderman Forbes yes yes Alderman Inferno yes yes Alderman Emmerman yes yes Alderman McAteer-Margolis yes yes Alderman Roderis yes yes Alderman Mortimer yes yes Alderman Tramontozzi yes yes yes Alderman Zwirko yes yes President Conn yes yes 10 yes that order passes no 194 we're on number 10 on our Agenda 2016-195. Thank you. Transfer of $18,155.38 from Account 015432-544000, Veterans Expenses, Veterans Benefits, to Account 01552-591015, IT Prior Year, as set forth herein.

▶ 44:56 This order comes to us recommended from the Finance Committee for passage. Motion for passage, Mr. President. Second. Alderman Forbes moves for passage. The motion is seconded by Alderman Mortimer. Is there discussion? Ms. O'Shea, could you call the roll, please? Alderman Pozzell? Yes. Yes. Alderman Forbes? Yes. Yes. Alderman Inferno? Yes. Yes. Alderman Lemmerman? Yes. Yes. Alderman McAteer-Margolis? Yes. Yes. Alderman Medeiros? Yes. Yes. Alderman Mortimer? Yes. Yes. Alderman Tramontozzi? Yes. Yes. Alderman Zwirko? Yes. Yes. President Conn? Yes. Yes. Tenyes. That order passes. Order 2016-196, transfer of $1,400 from Pine Bank Salary and Wages, account 016521-511000, to various IT accounts as set forth within.

▶ 45:48 This order was also recommended by the Finance Committee. Motion for passage, Mr. President. Second. Alderman Forbes moves for passage. The motion is seconded by Alderman Inferna. Is there discussion? Could you call the roll? Alderman Boisselle? Yes. yes Alderman Forbes yes yes Alderman Inferno yes yes Alderman Lemmerman yes yes Alderman McAteer-Margolis yes yes Alderman Medeiros yes yes Alderman Mortimer yes yes Alderman Tramontozzi yes yes Alderman Zwirko yes yes President Cohen yes yes 10 yes and order passes order 2016-197 transfer of one hundred fifty eight thousand four hundred sixty nine dollars from various accounts to various accounts is set forth within this order was recommended for passage by the Committee on Finance motion for passage mr. president second

▶ 46:39 alderman Forbes moves for passage the motion is seconded by Alderman Mortimer is the discussion relative to this order yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes Yes. Ms. Solomon-Moderis. Yes. Ms. Solomon-Mortimer. Yes. Ms. Solomon-Tramontozzi. Yes. Ms. Solomon-Zwirko. Yes. Ms. President Kahn. Yes. 10 yes. And that order passes. Order 2016-198, Appropriation and the Amount of $162,869.56 from Account 6100-319000, retained earnings to account 6 1 0 0 dash 3 3 0 0 1 water reserve of retained earnings this order was recommended for passage in committee motion for passage mr. president Alderman Mortimer moves for passage of the order second second by Alderman McAteer-Margolis is there discussion would you call the roll

▶ 47:48 all of them in Brazil yes yes all of them in Forbes yes yes all of them in Inferno yes yes all of them in Lemmerman yes yes all of them in McAteer my goal is yes yes all the Madeira's yes yes all the wind Mortimer yes yes all the way to Matozzi no no all the ones erco yes yes president Conn yes yes 10 years yes one Opposed? The order passes. Order 2016-199, appropriation in the amount of $293,534.61 from sewer retained earnings, account number 6000-319-001 to sewer reserve of retained earnings, account 6000-33001. This order was recommended for passage by the Committee on Appropriations. Motion for passage, Mr. President. alderman mortimer moves for passage second second and by alderman forbes is their discussion

▶ 48:51 would you call the wrong thing yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes alderman mortimer yes yes alderman Tramontozzi no no alderman Zwirko yes yes president khan yes yes nine yes that order passes order 2016-200 amending Melrose revised ordinances chapter 228 water and sewers by adding 228-78 infiltration and inflow mitigation fees as set forth herein this order was recommended for passage by the committee on appropriations motion for passage mr. president second alderman Mortimer moves for passage of this year order the motion is seconded by alderman Forbes. Is there discussion relative to this order? Alderman Medeiros. Thank you. We had some discussion in committee about this order. I know that President Kahn, myself, Alderman Boisselle had

▶ 49:55 Monica C. Medeiros: asked for some information at the time. This is a new addition to our ordinances. As it turned out in the discussion during that night we found that we have in fact been at least let's say accepting funds into an account without having an ordinance on in place so I was kind of taken aback when I learned this that evening because of course all funds and you know fines and fees are supposed to be in ordinance and voted on and approved by the Board of Aldermen. Since the other night, we did get some information from the administration, which one piece has been added to the order already. That's the establishment of the I&I donation account with order number 05-295. That means it actually goes back to 2005, and it was an order at the time to establish

▶ 51:09 Monica C. Medeiros: a donation account named inflow and infiltration INI mitigation Pembroke account number 6030 in the amount of $80,219.39 and subsequent contributions as set forth herein, therefore allowing for additional donations moving forward we did also receive the balance of the account as of today and I'd like to make sure that that's added to the record we've received let the record reflect that we received an email through the clerk of committees from Bridget Guillen dated Tuesday June 14th 2016 at 1222 p.m. in which she said the balance today is 124 thousand four hundred and ninety six dollars and one cent so I just want to make sure that we have that and I would like to move to add to the order a memorandum from mr.

▶ 52:13 Monica C. Medeiros: Robert Becerra who for those of you who may not remember he is our former city engineer and superintendent of Public Works and this was to Denise Gaffey and it was dated January 22nd 2008 so that is a motion to add that memorandum Alderman Medeiros moves to add those two documents to the record second to this order the motion is seconded by Alderman Boycelle is there any discussion relative to the motion all those in favor of the motion aye anyone opposed motion passes Thank you. Orders before you. You have the floor, Alderman Medeiros. Thank you. That being said, although I really do hope that the contributions received were in fact donations and not in some way forced, that doesn't affect the merits of the order before

▶ 53:03 Monica C. Medeiros: us. And, you know, when I try to think about that independently on its own, I do think there is merit to this as obviously the majority of you had also done so at the committee meeting and that this would allow for some contribution to be required for new or increased capacity developments in the city to help mitigate our water and sewer costs moving forward. So thank you very much. I appreciate it. Anyone else? Have I made a motion for passage? Yes, you have. And duly seconded. Yeah, it has been duly seconded. There's an order that's been made and seconded to pass this order. is there any further discussion relative to this order could you call the roll please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

▶ 54:04 yes yes yes yes president Conn yes yes and yes that order passes so we come to to the end of another pleasant budget process. Motion to adjourn, Mr. President. Alderman Mortimer, motion to adjourn. Motion to second it by Alderman Forbes. On the motion, all those in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion passes. The meeting is hereby adjourned.

City Council — 2016-06-16

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