City Council — 2016-09-19

City Council Regular 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. present · Ward 3 Alderman; Michael P. Zwirko present · Alderman at Large

Agenda

Minutes

CITY OF MELROSE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BULLETIN● SEPTEMBER 19, 2016 Aldermanic Chamber Regular Meeting 7:45 PM

ORDER-2017-17 Opening Statement Regular Meeting of the Board of Aldermen to be held on Monday, September 19, 2016 at 7:45 P.M. in the Aldermanic Chamber, City Hall, Melrose, MA 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 Present Michael P. Zwirko Alderman at Large Present Donald L. Conn Jr. President, Alderman at Large Present

ORDER-2017-10 Utility Petition Petition of National Grid to install 1-4" PVC Conduit from MH# B-601 for new service to #521-529 Franklin St. In accordance with Plan #21532350, dated July 21, 2016 Passed as Amended

ORDER-2017-11 Utility Petition Petition of Lightower Fiber Networks to place (1) 4 inch PVC Communication Conduit (Schedule 40) and maintain a total of +/- 314 feet of conduit from Utility Pole #48 on Short St to the building located at 830 Main Street, Melrose, MA as shown on plan dated July 29, 2016 Tabled Board of Aldermen

ORDER-2017-18 Grant City of Melrose Page 1 11/10/2016 5:10 PM Minutes Board of Aldermen September 19, 2016 Accept a STOP grant in the amount of $47,145 per year for four years, to address underage drinking. Said funds to be deposited in Fund # 4501. Assigned to Committee Health, Education & Welfare Committee

ORDER-2017-19 Grant Acceptance of Science is Everywhere Grant in the amount of $7,500.00. Said funds to be deposited in Fund # 4508 Assigned to Committee Finance Committee

ORDER-2017-20 Appropriation Appropriate the amount of $15,000.00 from Account 29032-590000 (Library Fines Account) to Account 016112-534200 (Lib Exp Books & Periodicals). Assigned to Committee Finance Committee

ORDER-2017-21 Appointment Reappointment of Thomas Rossi, 23 Crescent Ave., to the Traffic Commission for a five-year term; said term to expire on the first Monday in June 2021 Assigned to Committee Public Works Committee

ORDER-2017-22 Request An Order invoking Section 9-6 of the Charter for the City of Melrose, calling on the Mayor and the President of the Board of Aldermen to establish a special committee to complete a periodic review of the Charter. Assigned to Committee Appropriations Committee

ORDER-2016-33 Request BE IT ORDERED that the City shall cause all water meters in the City to be read between June 15th and June 30th of each year for the purpose of issuing water and sewer bills for the quarter ending June 30th. Placed on File

ORDER-2017-7 Authorization Communication from Massachusetts State Lottery Commission regarding KENO To Go License at Franklin Market, 463 Franklin St., Melrose, MA Placed on File

ORDER-2017-13 License - Second Hand Dealer City of Melrose Page 2 11/10/2016 5:10 PM Minutes Board of Aldermen September 19, 2016 Application for a Second Hand Dealer License to Catherine Cronin & Christine Cronin d/b/a Shoppes at Franklin Square LLP at 954 Main Street, Melrose, MA Passed

ORDER-2017-14 License - Hackney License Application of Hakan Unal d/b/a City Livery Service for a Livery Service License (l vehicle) at 39 Groveland Road, Melrose, MA Passed

ORDER-2017-15 License - Gasoline Storage Gasoline and Storage Licenses Renewed commencing May 1, 2016 Placed on File

ORDER-2017-16 License - Gasoline Storage Gasoline and Storage Licenses Not Renewed commencing May 1, 2016 Placed on File City of Melrose Page 3 11/10/2016 5:10 PM

Transcript

▶ 0:00 Okay, good evening everyone. My name is Donald Kahn. This is the regular meeting of the Melrose Board of Aldermen for September 19th, 2016, and although our clock is malfunctioning, I believe at this time it is 7 45. So, Ms. O'Shea, could you call the roll, please? Alderman Boisselle? Here. Here. Alderman Forbes? Here. Here. Alderman Inferna? Here. Here. Alderman Lemmerman? Here. Here. Alderman McAteer-Margolis? Here. Here, Alderman Dieris. Here. Here, Alderman Mortimer. Here. Here, Alderman Tramontozzi. Here. Here, Alderman Wright. Here. Here, Alderman Zwirko. Here. Here, President Kahn. Here. Here, Alderman President. Okay, could everybody please 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

▶ 1:03 for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. President, I make a motion to open the floor for public participation. Second. Alderman Mortimer moves that we commence public participation. The motion is seconded by Alderman Boisselle on the motion to open for public participation. All those in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Is there anyone opposed? This is the portion of our meeting where any member of the public who wishes to speak can come forward to the center of the room, identify themselves, and declaim on any issue which is on our agenda this evening. Sir. Hi, my name is Jerry Morose. I'm here to speak about order 2016-33. I've spoken about this in the past, but

▶ 1:58 I want to be sure that it is not anybody's surprise the way things stand now is that the city is going to be billing some people as was explained last spring for water use in the month of august at 2016 rates while they're going to build other people from water use the month of august at 2017 rates the same thing that people who will use water in September might be billed at all at 2017 rates who knows but July might be some 2016 some 2017 it's not fair especially given the summer months when the summer is a major use of water and the city has had a windfall this summer on the amount of water used by residents I was looking at MWRA site and seeing the August numbers and and I think it's clear that we've had more

▶ 2:49 water use that the city will get more revenue from in in August and in July than then would be we could necessarily count on 2016 33 still has a language in it talking about reading all water means that the at the end of June prior to a rate change presumably July 1st you're changing the rate October 1st I think it's critical that you vote today to say that water meters we read between now and October 30 and September 31st if you're really going to keep to changing the water rates on October 1st to bill some people for use in one of the summer months at an old rate and other people at a new rate it just it just doesn't pass the smell test of fairness and I know what this is the issue that people

▶ 3:38 commonly call retroactive water billing and the issue isn't even as much whether it's retroactive or not it's that it's not applied evenly to residents and homeowners across the city so that everybody who had water use in a certain month is paying the same rate as everybody else who had water use in that month. This isn't complicated, but yet we talk about it year after year after year, and it never seems to get resolved. It was presented that that was one of the issues that was going to be resolved by the last water and sewer consultant who turned out, in my opinion, to be a failure in terms of making a rational analysis of our water system and what a rate what a fair rate should be the fact that that's still on the table tonight after all

▶ 4:29 these years of talking about it is to me absurd and I plead with plead with this Board of Aldermen to please let's really look carefully and honestly at water issues let's get rid of all the politics and all the the craziness and all the city trying to maximize the money and let's just look at what's fair and decent and straightforward for the homeowners of Melrose I'm not saying that we shouldn't fund our water system appropriately I am saying we should make certain our water system is working the best it can for all our residents providing good safe and clean water and taking away sewage in a good safe and clean way and I want that to be done efficiently is that too much to ask and And then the last thing I want it to be is to be filled fairly to everybody, which I can't go without saying then that having any tiered water rate structure that is a significant tier going from three tiers in 2016 to two tiers in 2017 doesn't correct the issue.

▶ 5:39 There's still an inequity. You're still charging some people more for water than you're charging other people, even though it doesn't cost us any more. And in fact, those people that you're charging more for water because they're using a higher volume of water, you're charging them at a higher rate. If you charge them at a flat rate, they are still contributing more than what would be their fair share of all the capital fixed costs in the system that our volumetric rate supplies. There is a way of looking at this in a rational way. there is a way of looking at this in a way that that puts the politics aside and just is it can basically be a simple quantitative analysis but we never seem to get that here so again I plead you if tonight this 2016 33 that's on the

▶ 6:25 calendar is going to be discussed and done you know let's set something up and you know presumably you could even punt this issue another month because you're already having a windfall from the summer with the third tier for some people i'm sure i'm sure that one of my peers that comes here about meetings would be is already getting hit at the third tier rate very mr taymor is who i'm speaking about i'm sure he's using water at a high rate this summer at the third tier as he uses and we're billing him at the third tier but given that that's already basically probably beyond maybe you could wait another month and make certain that water meters are read between october 15th and october 31st if somebody claims that it's not

▶ 7:09 possible to do it between now and the end of the month this is this issue has been coming for a long time though everybody should understand it and i i think there was some i don't want to say outright deception but certainly deception by let me frame it better i think that there was just a passing comment that made me aware that public works wasn't going to address this issue once and for all in the last water rate go around it came up in the last meeting i think that and i had to listen carefully to hear that that's what they're planning to do is to build some people still at a different rate than others for water use in the same period this has been in front of us let's put it behind us once and for all by doing the right thing and getting rid of

▶ 8:00 Peter D. Mortimer: the retroactive rates getting rid of the idea that some people are built at one rate and other people at another rate thank you thank you sir is there anybody else who wishes to speak before we conclude public participation this evening motion to close public participation mr president alderman mortimer moves to conclude public participation the motion is seconded by alderman Boisselle on the motion all those in favor aye aye aye anyone opposed motion passes mr president i have before me the minutes from a special meeting from november 30th 2015 i move that they be accepted without reading alderman mortimer moves that we accept the minutes of our november 30th 2015 meeting without reading second motion is seconded by alderman Passed is there any discussion relative

▶ 8:51 to the motion all those in favor of the motion please indicate by saying aye aye aye anyone opposed motion passes and before we continue i want to point out for anybody who's watching uh in the audience here um that this meeting will be uh broadcast on mmtv periodically over time in accordance with the laws of the commonwealth hopefully someone will watch it if we could proceed please order 2017-18 accept a stop grant in the amount of forty seven thousand one hundred forty five dollars per year for four years to address underage drinking said funds to be deposited in fund number 4501 that order will go to the committee on health education and welfare order 2017-19 acceptance of science is everywhere grant in the amount of seven thousand five hundred dollars said funds

▶ 9:47 to be deposited in fund number 4508 that order will be referred to the committee on finance for 2017-20 appropriate the amount of $15,000 from account two nine zero three two dash five nine zero zero zero zero library fines account to account zero one six one one two dash five three four two zero zero library expenses books and periodicals that what it will be referred to the committee on finance order 2017 dash 21 reappointment of Thomas Rossi 23 Crescent Ave to the traffic commission for a five-year term said term to expire on the first Monday in june 2021 that order will go to the committee on public works go to 2017-22 an order invoking section 9-6 of the charter for the city of melrose calling on the mayor and the president of the

▶ 10:43 Gail Infurna: board of aldermen to establish a special committee to complete a periodic review of the charter that order will go to the committee on appropriations do we have any orders out of order this evening are there any orders from committee do we have any reports from aldermanic members from non-aldermanic committees alderman inferno thank you very much mr president the traffic commission met last week at a special meeting and we talked about the merchant parking permit program that's going to start rolling out of january of 2017. um the plan was approved and will be effective as of january 1st permits will be available in mid-november and the board of alderman can expect to see an order in october regarding the fees of those permits thank you

▶ 11:47 Scott M. Forbes: and then we are meeting at our usual regular meeting this wednesday wednesday yeah this wednesday and what time would that be all that's 5 30 right here at the chamber thank you anyone else albert forbes yes thank you mr president um i don't have uh i don't have anything to report from the water and sewer committee but i do want to just make an announcement that the water and sewer committee will be meeting next thursday i believe that is the 29th of september at 3 30 and they will be addressing uh issues such as the issue of retroactive billing they'll be talking about the possibility of going towards monthly statements um i think something in this order that is being presented before us tonight they will be addressing such issue next week

▶ 12:34 at 3 30 here at city hall okay and that's in the mayor's conference room that is correct anyone else with anything to report okay if we could move on please calendar item order 2016-33 be it ordered that the city shall cause all water meters in the city to be read between june 15th and june 30th of each year for the purpose of issuing water and sewer bills for the quarter ending june 30th motion for passage alderman medeiros moves for passage of order 216-33 is there a second there does not appear to be a second to the motion for passage the order is before you alderman MacMaster margolis considering mr president that there is an upcoming meeting um that alderman forbes will be attending next week I would suggest that we remand this order to committee well I would

▶ 13:43 point out before you take that action that this order will expire if not acted upon this evening so this disorder will not be a viable order it would have to be refiled Alderman Inferno thank you in light of Alderman Forbes pointing out that they will be meeting I guess we'll place this on file and hopefully with the water committee will come back with suggestions and some more information for us alderman inferno is moving to place order 2016 dash 33 on file second motion is seconded by alderman Forbes is their discussion relative to the motion to place the order on file all those in favor of placing the order on file please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Opposed. Chair is also opposed.

▶ 14:38 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: The motion to place on file passes. Order 2017-7, communication from Massachusetts State Lottery Commission regarding keynote to go license at Franklin Market, 463 Franklin Street, Melrose, Mass. This order comes from committee. I don't believe there was a recommendation. Mr. President, at our last protection and license meeting that committee recommended that this order be rescinded, however, the letter has already gone out to the lottery objecting to this. So we can't exactly rescind the order. So, I'm requesting that we send a letter to the lottery withdrawing our objection to this application. Alderman McAteer-Margolis moves that the board direct the president of the board of aldermen to send a letter to the state lottery commission.

▶ 15:46 John N. Tramontozzi: Indicating that the board is in favor of the allowance of the license. Second. Is that a fair characterization of the motion? Yes. Motion seconded by Alderman Tramontozzi. Is there discussion? Yeah, I just want to, just so the board understands, I know historically in the past that we had sent letters to the lottery commission. I think times have changed a bit. We have a viable business operation down here on Franklin Street, clean operation that the The community is, it's a nice location, and we have a nicely run operation. And then we don't anticipate any problems. We want to see that business thrive, and the gentlemen running the business have an opportunity to support the business. And so that's why I'm in favor of that motion as put forth by Alderman McAteer-Margolis.

▶ 16:51 Gail Infurna: Thank you. Alderman Inferno. Thank you very much. And I support the word Alderman on this, but I just want to bring up one point. I happen to be in another community this weekend, and they had Kino, and they had the Kino board facing out the window, and then there were chairs all in front of the Kino board. So I just ask that the Alderman maybe might want to look at that at some point to make sure that that's not going to be happening in our community. I thought it was rather interesting when I saw that. I appreciate that and thank you for that information. I'll keep an eye on it. We can always revisit this again if necessary. I think the proprietors of the establishment understand what we want and what we don't want.

▶ 17:34 And they're very cooperative with that. And thank you for enlightening me, because I don't know much about Kino, I really, I'm not a regular player of it, but. I didn't either, until I noticed the chairs, and I just like, that's interesting. And then I like, look at the Kino board, it's facing right at the Kino board, so. Thank you, we will watch that and revisit this if necessary. You can tell I'm rusty at running meetings when there's back and forth across the HUSHU and I don't stop it, so. Thank you, thank you for that, Lee White. meeting in a while you've got to give me a little bit of time to get back into uh back into this one alderman medeiros hi so since it's almost like we're on summer vacation

▶ 18:14 Monica C. Medeiros: uh i just recap my my feelings from our committee meeting uh i think remain i do believe we have a good upstanding business there right now i have previously objected to these in the past especially the location being near one of our public housing facilities I respect our ward alderman's decision but right now I've been a little bit frustrated that we have sent objection letters to the state in the past and our objection letters have gone without any heed paid by the state and I don't you know we this is a to be specific this is a keynote to go license it does not include the the screen that Alderman Inferno just mentioned but I don't see anything that would stop them from getting that in the future and that if

▶ 19:13 Monica C. Medeiros: even if we did object at that time if we were given the option that the state would necessarily listen to us and I have seen the location that she's talked about I ain't seen you know beautiful area down in Melrose Highlands where we've just spent you know million plus dollars in mass works grant and our own funds to to beautify and improve and added some benches and things like that so i would hate to see those be used as a keynote viewing screen location so i i'm gonna stand by my position before and not support this license thank you thank you anything further on this order all those in favor of the motion that's been made indicate by saying aye aye all those opposed opposed motion passes balance of

▶ 20:15 the orders before you what's your pleasure motion to place on file alderman mcintyre margolis moves to place the balance of the order on file second seconded by alderman Tramontozzi is the discussion all those in favor of the motion please indicate by saying aye aye aye anyone opposed motion passes the order will be placed on file and the letter will be sent at this point in time if everybody could return to the front of their agenda we have a public hearing that has been scheduled uh at 8 p.m this evening on order 2017-10 petition of national grid to install one quarter inch pvc conduit from number b601 for new service to number 521 to 529 franklin street in accordance with a plan attached to the order dated july 21st 2016. at this point in time we're going to

▶ 21:21 motion to open the public hearing second alderman inferno moves to commence the public hearing motion is seconded by alderman Boisselle on the motion all those in favor anyone opposed motion passes we will we will start a public hearing on that order please um anyone who wishes to speak on the order either in favor or against can come forward to the center of the table and speak on the order sir could you identify yourself please uh tim lyford national grid electric 170 medford street malden massachusetts as previously stated national grid is petitioning to install approximately three feet of one four inch conduit from existing manhole 601 onto the property of 521 franklin street for new service to 521 franklin street okay can you

▶ 22:18 describe what what disruption of the public way or sidewalk there will be and when you intend to perform the work uh there will be no disruption to the sidewalk itself the duct that's being installed will be installed directly from the basement of the property into the outer wall of the existing manhole no sidewalk blocks will be disturbed sir if you could step back for a minute so we can see if there's anybody else here who wants to speak on this order and then i think we may ask you to return absolutely is there anybody else who's here this evening who wishes to speak on this order does not appear to be anyone chair would entertain a motion to conclude the public hearing portion so moved okay alderman forbes moves to conclude the public hearing the

▶ 23:12 motion is seconded by alderman inferno on the motion all those in favor anyone opposed motion passes balance of the order is before you and hopefully everybody on the board has received and hopefully has had time to look at the memorandum of proposed conditions prepared by the city engineer orders before you alderman medeiros thank you uh we bring the uh mr weiford from national grid backup sir could you and so this is you said it's going from the existing manhole do you need to actually tear up the street at all or are you able to go in and do the work we won't be touching the streets um we won't be touching any sidewalk blocks either all work that's being done is can be done from inside the existing manhole and inside the basement

▶ 24:15 Monica C. Medeiros: of the existing property and i think that probably covers my questions i think that hopefully national grid was made aware of this before we opened up the street if they needed to do any work and obviously this is to set up a private connection so all the proper major pieces of the hardware already there and allow the private connection into this building that's correct okay very good um i appreciate that i'm happy to see that nothing will be disturbed and see us working together with public works and national grid excited to see that business opening soon and at this time i'd like to move that we We attach the conditions as of the memorandum dated September 19th, 2006 from our city engineer

▶ 25:18 to the Board of Aldermen. Second. Alderman Medeiros moves that we adopt conditions to the grant for locations as set forth in the memorandum from the city engineer dated September 19th, 2016. The motion is seconded by Alderman Mortimer. further discussion Alderman Boyce L a question to the applicant have you seen the conditions that are being issued here at this point are you familiar with them I have reviewed the conditions is there any problems with those conditions not from not from my review no okay especially number seven reservation of space for the use of the city for the use from my original review I didn't there didn't appear to be any issues with that are there any issues that the

▶ 26:33 the board might see with that that condition I just want to make sure you're aware of what the actual material shall conduit equal size and length may be laid alongside and with the permit permitted conduit those last four or five lines point of point of personal privilege mr. chair I I believe the final statement says that given that this is a conduit from a pole into a private place of business the city is not requesting the installation of any additional car I just want to make sure everyone is clear on that is there a question for the gentleman no that's it as long as he's clear of what's I'm just doing a one last crazy reading it over the conclusion is we're not asking you make space for our conduits i i i would doubt that you'd have a problem with that fair enough

▶ 27:36 Scott M. Forbes: no i don't believe we do okay thank you thank you mr chairman thank you anyone else alvin forbes thank you uh just briefly how long would it take something like this to is it a day two days uh from start to finish within a day within a day yeah i would say within an eight hour period most likely much less than that depending on uh certain variables that that may arise but usually it's a pretty simple installation especially one where we're not touching any sidewalk blocks or digging up the street at all right and then you don't foresee any traffic disruption any cones anywhere because it's placed on the sidewalks there should be a relatively simple operation relatively simple operation for safety purposes there will be cones located around the manhole itself you know while

▶ 28:24 the the sidewalk is primarily left open to traffic but for safety concerns there will be cones blocking off the actual manhole cover itself thank you thank you mr. chairman thank you anything further okay there's been a motion made to amend the order to accept the conditions all those in favor of the motion please indicate by saying aye opposed motion passes mrs. Shea could you please call the roll on the order as amended yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes president khan yes yes 11 years the order passes next item on our agenda for this evening is we have a public hearing scheduled for 8 0 5 p.m on order 2017-11 petition of light tower fiber

▶ 29:36 network to place one four-inch pvc communication conduit and maintain a total of 314 feet of conduit from utility pole number 48 on short street to building located at 830 main street melrose as shown on plan dated july 29 2016. motion to open up the public public hearing alderman inferno moves to commence the public hearing the motion is seconded by alderman mctier margolis on the motion all those in favor aye anyone opposed motion passes sir could you identify yourself please bill conway axis engineering on behalf of light tower fiber networks petition for light tower to place one four inch pvc communication conduit and maintain a total plus or minus 314 feet from utility pole 48 on short street to the

▶ 30:28 building located at 8 30 main street as shown on the plan that was submitted okay could you briefly describe what you're going to do what disruption they'll be to the public way or the public sidewalk how long the work would take and what if anything will be done to mitigate any traffic problems that might arise as a result of the performance of the work okay we'll be starting at utility pole 48 on short street going west to the intersection with main street and continuing south to the building at 8 30 maine we will be excavating in the public streets so we did submit a traffic management plan that should have been reviewed with the dpw as well traffic and we will revise or take whatever steps

▶ 31:19 necessary to ensure public safety estimated time for this project would probably about three to four days okay great if you could step back so that we could see even though we don't see anybody else here in the chamber whether there's maybe somebody waiting outside who's dying to speak on this order is there anybody else who wishes to speak before we conclude the public hearing on this order it does not appear to be motion opposed public hearing second alderman forbes moves to conclude the public hearing the motion is seconded by alderman mortimer on the motion all those in favor all right anyone opposed motion passes the public hearing is is concluded as with our previous order the city engineer has submitted for your review and consideration

▶ 32:07 a list of 11 potential conditions relative to the grant of location for the performance of this work i would also point out that the city engineer is in the audience this evening and would be available to entertain any questions that you might have relative to this order motion to include those conditions as part of the order mr president second alderman mortimer moves that we accept the conditions set forth in the memorandum as a con as conditions to the grant of location if we in fact pass the grant of location motions seconded by alderman forbes on discussion alderman voice L I have a problem with this location the utilities were notified two years ago about fixing anything underground at this point this

▶ 32:59 Robert A. Boisselle: particular stretch of the road has been having problems for two to three years very rough very dangerous very rocky and we just paved it this year and I was under the assumption once you pave a road there's a five-year moratorium or maybe four and a half years moratorium I'm digging up the area unless there was a much an emergency in that particular area busted water line gas lines and so forth I have no problems with that this is also a main artery between seven o'clock in the morning and nine o'clock in the morning East Wyoming to the The Fellsway is backed up with traffic. And looking at these plans, you're going to have a one-way at certain times on Main Street. And that's going to really cause a problem.

▶ 33:51 Robert A. Boisselle: Those times of construction, it's just unbearable at this point. I mean, especially when you're looking at, I get the emails from the T, that they're stuck in traffic in Melrose between 7 and 8 o'clock, even 8.30. bus 106 136 and 137 are delayed because of traffic in Melrose between 7 and 9 o'clock and having construction at that particular time period is just I don't think is acceptable at this point but I do have a point is that for cutting up a new road that we just put in and then just filling in that particular two-foot area unless they're going to go from curb to curve I have no problem with that, but from my understanding from what this looks like, they're only going to cover the trench area and I can tell you right now, once they go down Main Street and cut across

▶ 34:46 Robert A. Boisselle: Main Street, that whole area is going to be shredded in the coming winter with the plows going through it. None of these trenches hold up for a full year at this point. So at this point, unless something, this material changes, but I'm against this input unless it's a dire emergency for this particular building if they're only upgrading their internet network it's not worth it thank you thank you anyone else on discussion Alderman Wright to ask the city engineer to come forward if I'm all the right moves to suspend the rules to ask the city engineer to discuss this motion seconded by Alderman Inferno on the motion all those in favor all right you want to post motion passes good evening following up on alderman

▶ 35:39 Francis X. Wright Jr.: boys else question one was the owner of this property given notice to your knowledge of the paving plan and all the construction that's gone on that area up to the present almost and well when we start there I believe that the limits of work are just beyond where we where we stopped paving under the Lebanon Street project so none of this work will impact that I don't believe so we paved just beyond 802 Main Street and this is going in the direction of Short Street we certainly didn't pave up as far as Short Street I'm not sure where the exact limit is but on our review we felt that it was beyond the limits okay is will the contractor be required to pave curb the curb when this project is done we

▶ 36:36 Francis X. Wright Jr.: were not requiring that because we didn't believe anything would be within the limits of the new pavement we required just beyond the trench we're requiring a cutback of I believe a foot yeah foot beyond the outer lines on cross trenches and to the gutter line so just the portion of the road where the trench is from the gutter to a foot beyond which has been our standard with other utility companies when they've done work as well my memory isn't it could be faulty but I always thought we tried as a board if not to the administration to have contractors pave curb to curb I know Alderman Forbes predecessor was often vocal about that and I understand Alderman Boisselle point that's a heavily traveled section of roadway and I would support if

▶ 37:41 Francis X. Wright Jr.: Alderman Boisselle believes that that's what needs to be done down there as part his ward i'd be inclined to support him so um if you have any information you want to offer us as to why that isn't necessary i'd be more than willing to listen but uh my understanding is just that historically we've done that when either the road is very new or in very good condition or when a substantial portion of the road is being torn up such as a gas main and then services going in either direction across the road which is disrupting a large percentage of the roadway my understanding on past projects with other utility companies at least in the time I've been here is that we've been requiring from a foot out of

▶ 38:29 Francis X. Wright Jr.: from the trench towards the center line out to the gutter which in essence in depending on where a conduit is installed or where a pipe is installed it tends to repair about half of the road and my understanding is that that's not just something that's been happening since i started it was the past practice which is why i continued to recommend that well i'm going to tell you something as somebody who lives on a street that has been torn up and re-torn up because the gas line runs down one side of the street i think you're familiar with the street and that has been as i make good repaved by the gas company think the last time was probably about ten years ago it's not worth it it's not worth it because you end up with half your street not this far this far but if

▶ 39:23 Francis X. Wright Jr.: you got a street this wide doing from the middle to one curve and what you end up with is a road that doesn't wear evenly and you end up with a city that says well your street really doesn't need to be paved because it's not really breaking down when half of it is so considering that can happen on a less well-traveled street like florence street i'd really be concerned about a street like main street so um that said if i may mr president i'd like to know if either the city engineer or the contractor could identify who the client is who the applications materials indicate uh is requesting this conduit be laid for sure of the actual customer i'm just the engineer from light tower is uh having a baby

▶ 40:22 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: this evening so i was last minute so i apologize i'm not sure who the customer is okay i can And if there is a question about paving curb to curb, I can certainly bring that up. And if that's a stipulation, it's a possibility that we could do that for you. Okay. Thank you. We were not given any indication as to who the client was. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Alderman Lemon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I also echo some of the concerns brought up by Alderman Boisselle, um particularly the hours that that this construction um as laid out here by the condition 7 30 to 8 to 3 30 um you know as someone who drives in this direction from the wakefield line to oak grove at 7 30 every morning it's already very difficult to get through this

▶ 41:17 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: stretch of road particularly now that school is back in session so the way that it that it backs up going in that direction, it's sometimes hard to get through that light anyway. And then if you're going to have pretty major construction going on on the other side of that light, I can see lots of issues with people stopped in the middle of the intersection and all sorts of problems with people coming from the Wakefield line down. In addition, you know, anybody who's driven through there at this hour knows the just numbers of children who are crossing the street at this hour trying to get to school. I can see that there are going to be closed sidewalks which are sidewalks they walk on to get to school and lots of additional traffic from the cars

▶ 42:06 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: trying to get through so I really have a problem with this starting at 730 and I would strongly ask the city engineer to it does allow for further restrictions to restrict this to maybe 830 yeah we'd be happy to recommend that great I think that would help with a lot of the issues not only with traffic but with safety of the kids trying to get to school at that hour and you think 8 30 is late enough i i do i mean to be honest with you i'm i'm at work by then so i haven't driven through by that time but i think the kids are in school um you know i mean maybe we could make it nine o'clock that way commuters are safely on whichever train they're trying to get on or on their way to work um and and that will keep sort

▶ 42:49 Michael P. Zwirko: would have some of that disruption down that'd be great thank you very much thank you thank you mr. president I don't want to belabor many of the points that have already been made I do agree I think alderman lemmerman for her comments and amending the the hours I just I know that school starts a little bit later and a lot of foot traffic so appreciate any any movement there I just one question I had and you might not be able to answer this if if we increase or decrease rather than 90 minutes will that increase the time of the work you said it would be about three to four days I'm just wondering if we make that move longer we can give about six and a half hours as amended I mean pleases we can try working nighttime hours or even weekends if it's if it sees we've done

▶ 43:50 Michael P. Zwirko: that he's in a high traffic area or school for the safety will work with the city engineer the city hello whatever works for you and I'm wondering thank you for that I know that one of the businesses that the butts where a lot of this construction will occur is a funeral home and they tend to use a lot of on street parking and as well as they have their own ample amounts of parking there as well have we received any word from any of the abutters about this project and any impact there may be on their business I understand that the hours are likely going to be outside of a wake I'm certainly could impact a funeral I'm just concerned about any business disruption and I want to be mindful of our existing commercial properties as well so if there will be

▶ 44:40 Michael P. Zwirko: be work that's on Main Street and there will be spots that are taken up if there's any type of mitigating efforts that could be made to accommodate that business would be appreciated and I don't know if you have any ideas but looking at the plans itself it does look like it could encroach on that we could certainly require the applicant to reach out to the funeral home and confirm the dates prior to starting the work obviously it's hard to plan with a funeral home but you know at least they probably know a few days out what what their schedules there's all the questions I had thank you okay we have Alderman Mortimer Alderman MacMaster Margolis Alderman Forbes and Alderman Inferna and it appears it appears that we we aren't going to pass this order

▶ 45:23 Peter D. Mortimer: tonight but maybe I'm wrong Alderman Mortimer thank you very much mr. president how urgent is it that your client get this job done quickly would they be able to withstand a delay of a few weeks before we start this that's That should be fine, that should be all right. That would be all right. And I would like to ask, what's the difference in cost between paving just a trench the way this is laid out now and going curb to curb? How much more would that cost somebody to do that type of construction? Generally speaking, ballpark. It really depends on exactly where the trench is located. Do you have a plan? I'll help you bring it up. it it's really my recollection is that it's really right along the curb is it

▶ 46:25 Peter D. Mortimer: in the sidewalk okay yeah so it's right along the curb so saying that they would have to do curb to curb versus saying that they could just do from one foot beyond their trench to the gutter we're talking about you know maybe a four foot swath as opposed to a potentially 44 it's a large difference and what what What's paving for a square foot running these days? I can't tell you off the top of my head. All right, I know what it is for residential driveways, but I wondered, it's probably not as expensive or more. I mean, it's thicker, you use thicker than what people use in their residential driveways. We use thicker, and it's also, well I was going to say prevailing wages, but that's us. That's not, Light Tower wouldn't face that same issue.

▶ 47:15 Peter D. Mortimer: So our prices that we pay aren't even really comparable to what a private entity would pay. Right, but Lightow will be footing the bill, we won't be footing the bill, certainly not. No, no, no. They're going to foot the bill for this. And regarding the hours, you mentioned that night work would be acceptable. We would work with whatever recommendations or guidelines that you would set forth. Right. For hours. And while we've been sitting here, I'm sure all of the aldermen have been considering, school gets out at about 2.15 at the middle school and the high school. Then there's the evening commute, but we also don't want to do the highway process where they go from 7 at night till 2 or 3 in the morning because there are people who live in that area, it's a mixed use area.

▶ 48:04 Peter D. Mortimer: So I'm not sure what the best hours would be, of course you're going to be hiring police details. And we may need to have a police detail, even if construction isn't going on in the daytime. Even if the area is cordoned off, there may need to be a detail there, even when construction is not ongoing, just to make sure people get around the area, even if it's laying dormant during the commuter hours. So this project could go up. I know there are a lot of aldermen in queue. Your point that this probably will not get passed tonight is well taken, Mr. President. More of a suggestion than a point. Well, suggestion as you wish. So I would recommend to the Alderman, the list of Aldermen who were in queue before you called on me,

▶ 48:57 Peter D. Mortimer: that maybe we could expedite this matter and make a motion to keep it in committee for now. It seems to be all right with you. It seems to be all right with our city engineer. So perhaps we could just get to the bottom of some of these issues without having to go through an extensive amount of colloquies this evening. It seems like we've come to a point where we're not going to go much further with the information we have. Thank you, Mr. President. Alderman Forbes. I am not in queue, Mr. President. Alderman McAteer-Margolis. I do have a question, so I am in queue. and it is is Alderman Mortimer making a motion or no I didn't hear him make a motion okay I'll make a motion that we retain this in committee I believe that

▶ 49:44 Peter D. Mortimer: motions out of order as he's already made a motion to accept the conditions which has been seconded but not voted on point of order mr. president that's a superseding motion to amend an order but an order to leave this in committee as a main motion and it takes precedence over the superseding motion so I would I respectfully disagree with Alderman Medeiros parliamentary analysis of my motion. Okay, well, it's not in committee, it's before the full board, so I think the appropriate motion would be to table it, if that's the wishes of the board. So moved, Mr. President. Alderman Mortimer is moving to lay this order on the table. Second. Motion is seconded by Alderman Forbes. motion to table in order is non-debatable and would end discussion if it was successful all

▶ 50:36 those in favor of placing the order on the table indicate by saying aye anyone opposed it appears that the motion to lay the order on the table has been passed and perhaps these concerns and others that we haven't heard yet could be addressed before we discuss this order again Thank you very much. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Okay, if we could proceed with the calendar, please. Order 2017-13, application for a second-hand dealer license to Catherine Cronin and Christine Cronin, doing business as shops at Franklin Square LLP at 954 Main Street, Melrose, Mass. This order was recommended for passage by the Protection and License Committee. Motion for passage. Second. Alderman McAteer-Margolis moves to passage.

▶ 51:43 The motion is seconded by Alderman Boycelle. On the motion for passage, all those in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? That order passes. Order 2017-14, application of Hakan Unal doing business as city livery service for a livery service license, one vehicle, at 39 Groveland Road, Melrose, Mass. This order was also recommended for passage by the Committee on Protection and License. Motion for passage. Second. Alderman McAteer-Margolis moves to passage. Motion is seconded by Alderman Boycelle. On the motion, all those in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion passes. Order passes. Order 2017-15, Gasoline and Storage Licenses Renewed, commencing May 1, 2016. The Committee on Protection and License recommended that this order be placed on file.

▶ 52:35 So moved. Second. Alderman McAteer-Margolis moves to place the order on file. Is there any discussion? Second. No, I got that. Seconded by Alderman Boisselle. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? That order passes. Order 2017-16, Gasoline and Storage Licenses Not Renewed, commencing May 1st, 2016. And this order also was recommended to be placed on file by the Committee on Protection and License. Motion to place on file. Second. Declan. Alderman McAteer-Margolis moves to place the order on file. Motion is seconded by Alderman Mortimer. Is there any discussion? All those in favor of placing the order on file, indicate by saying aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? That order passes.

▶ 53:22 Motion to adjourn, Mr. President. Before I call that motion, I do have one point of personal privilege. In keeping with what we were told in a written opinion a couple of years ago relative to seeking the office of President of the Board, we were told that we should disclose in advance of any vote uh that would anyone who was interested in i would be interested in being a candidate next year i am making the disclosure in compliance with the written opinion that we received uh two years ago now or maybe three years ago that's all you have a motion to adjourn alderman one so move mr president alderman warner removes to adjourn the The motion is seconded by Alderman Boycelle. All those in favor?

▶ 54:02 Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion passes. Board's adjourned.

City Council — 2016-09-19

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