City Council — 2017-01-19

City Council Rescheduled 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 absent · Ward 2 Alderman; Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis absent · Alderman at Large; Monica C. Medeiros late · Alderman at Large; Peter D. Mortimer present · Ward 6 Alderman; John N. Tramontozzi absent · 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● JANUARY 19, 2017 Aldermanic Chamber, Melrose City Hall Rescheduled Meeting 7:45 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176

ORDER-2017-77 Opening Statement Rescheduled Meeting of the Board of Aldermen to be held on Thursday, January 19, 2017 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 Absent Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis Alderman at Large Absent Monica C. Medeiros Alderman at Large Late Peter D. Mortimer Ward 6 Alderman Present John N. Tramontozzi Ward 1 Alderman Absent 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-2017-78 Acceptance Acceptance of Commonwealth Security Trust Fund Grant in the amount of $19,711.00 to Fund # 4026 Assigned to Committee Finance Committee

ORDER-2017-81 Transfer Transfer of $1,281.00 from A/C #011621-512000 - Election- Part-time Salaries & Wages to A/C #011622-530506 – Election – Office Supplies Assigned to Committee Finance Committee

ORDER-2017-79 Appointment Reappointment of Susan E. Krasco, 200 Park Terrace Drive, Stoneham, MA as Assistant City Clerk for a one year term; said term ending on the first Monday in February, 2018. Assigned to Committee Finance Committee

ORDER-2017-80 Surety Bond City of Melrose Page 1 3/3/2017 2:09 PM Minutes Board of Aldermen January 19, 2017 Renewal of Surety Bond of City Clerk, City of Melrose in the amount of $15,000.00 for the year 2017. Assigned to Committee Finance Committee

ORDER-2017-82 Amending Revised Ordinances Amend Melrose Revised Ordinances, Chapter 228, Sec. 228-15 (B) Water Rate Review Committee as set forth herein. (Amended in Legal & Legislative Committee-Feb. 27, 2017) Assigned to Committee Legal & Legislative Committee

ORDER-2017-63 Utility Petition Petition of Mobilitie, LLC to attach equipment to an existing utility pole on W. Foster Street, Melrose, MA Placed on File

ORDER-2017-65 Appointment Appointment of John Capuano, 31 Leonard Road, to the Council on Aging to fill the unexpired three-year term of Jane Ahern-DeFillippi; said term to expire on the last day of February, 2018. Passed

ORDER-2017-66 Grant Acceptance of the FY17 Traffic Enforcement Grant in the amount of $7,500.00 From The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security to Fund #2528 Passed

ORDER-2017-76 Authorization Library Renovation and Construction Grant Application Passed City of Melrose Page 2 3/3/2017 2:09 PM

Transcript

▶ 0:00 This is the regular meeting of the Melrose Board of Aldermen for January 19th, 2017. Ms. O'Shea, could you call the roll, please? Alderman Boisselle? Here. Here. Alderman Forbes? Here. Here. Alderman Inferna? Here. Here. Alderman Lemmerman? Here. Alderman McAteer-Margolis? Here. Alderman Medeiros? Here. Alderman Mortimer? Here. Here. Alderman Tramontozzi? Here. Alderman Zwirko? Present. Present. President Conn? Here. Here. Okay, we have six people, that constitutes the meagerest of quorums. If everybody could please rise and join me in saluting the flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag, the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

▶ 0:58 Mr. President, I make a motion to open the floor for public participation. Second. Alderman Mortimer moves that we commence public participation this evening. The motion is seconded by Alderman Boisselle. 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 to the table in the center of the room, identify themselves, and speak on any item that is on our agenda for this evening. Is there anybody who wishes to speak? Good evening. Good evening. Julie DeLillo, Circuit Street. I'm here to talk on the library, and I know there's been a lot of email and conversation, but I understand that you are not voting

▶ 1:47 to expend our money, I know that. You are voting for them to apply, but the way it's worded is once they apply, if it's granted, that they will expend it. And that means down the road, we have to fund that. And so why am I before you? Because down the road, that amount is about $10 million based on the numbers presented, the preliminary numbers. Those numbers can go up, they could go down, that'd be great, but they can go up. And so what I'm looking for is what were the other options. What were the other options? I know these, the numbers that were presented are preliminary, but there had to have been preliminary numbers on the other options. And what were those? Why did we choose this option over the other options?

▶ 2:41 Why demolish and rebuild? What about remodeling? The funding scheme for this grant, the less you spend, the more money you get, right? more percentage you get so if you look at the funding scheme up to three million you get sixty percent three million to six million you get forty five percent six million to 1540 and then 15 plus you get so what were the options that maybe put us into a bracket where we would have got maybe potentially higher higher funding and again I know this is preliminary what What I'm asking is that we hold off just on this vote, it doesn't mean they can apply, it doesn't mean I'm asking you not to vote for it. I'm asking you to gather this data so that when you come to us asking us to fund 10 million

▶ 3:38 dollars that we too have the information we need to make an informed decision. I understand that most of you do believe that you're just letting them apply but imagine if in July whenever they come out with this Melrose is granted seven million dollars maybe that's two three years down the road that is going to be hard for you guys to then come back later right to get the funding it's going to be hard to say no to that that's seven million dollars and i know yes you could vote it down but most likely as with the override it gets pushed to the taxpayer right it gets pushed to the voters and so just arm us with all the information that we need what is the 16 and a half million again i know these are preliminary numbers but they came up with that somehow what is that

▶ 4:42 how much for they talk about infrastructure how much for HVAC and electrical what is that how much for some of these spaces and there's the questions that I have you know it's a zoning right what about the zoning you know it's a two and a half right now zone to two and a half stories 35 feet we want three stories what does that mean we can't fulfill our parking obligation now we're going to expand the square footage square from the parking is based on square footage so you're not you can't you can't fulfill it now and now you're gonna need more of it and so what does that look like and so all I'm asking is that we just ask to get some more information while we can because yes I understand that once the applications in and we can go through a

▶ 5:34 process but you're approving this design or something pretty much like this design without understanding what the remodeling might have looked like you know I looked at it and thought there's a great teen space but that was looked at before the Resource Center opened up at the high school to teens I don't know maybe they do maybe they still go to the library but the Resource Center at the high school was for teenagers the high school kids to hang out study do what needed to do we built in that resource center a 300 seat auditorium or something something around 300 seats and now we want to put in 140 50 plus seats into the library I don't know how many big meetings or big events we have like

▶ 6:23 that and can we think creatively so these are the questions I have with these designs. And so it's hard for me to think that I'm going to say, yes, have $10 million, whatever my portion of that is, right? Because this looks good. So that's what I'm asking you to do. I'm not asking you not to vote for this. I am asking you to gather information. think for us as our elected officials that's for me that's your obligation to to educate us to help us understand what you want to help us sort of help you right but if we're going to vote for it that we know what we're voting for so again i'm not i'm not asking you i i again i'm going to tell you i'm a friend of the library i like the library i use the library um

▶ 7:21 But I think we need to be very diligent in looking at what we're doing here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anybody else who wishes to speak? My name is Joan Lounsbury. I live at 14 Faxon Street. I've lived here for 35 years. I'm also the administrative assistant at the library. So what I'd like to talk to you about is some of the things that are really exciting me about this plan first of all it's been a process that has involved all of the staff going along each individual has talked about their needs of their own departments and we've worked with other departments we've talked with architects we've talked with linda and denise and the folks working on it so i'm going to just talk a little bit about what is

▶ 8:29 my part of it at the library I'm the one who books the rooms or helps people utilize the meeting spaces at the UM in the library and I'll use an example from a week or two ago we had an author come to speak at the library and he was a local person O'Connell O'Connell and he was talking about the homeless situation in Boston and how he would treat patients on the street and help homeless patients the program we set it up with a capacity of 70 and an unlimited wait list and we very quickly could see we were hitting 70 and we could have gone so much higher had we had the facilities but 70 is pushing our limit with our meeting space we eventually did let everybody who was on the waiting list come and we ended up I think with a number of about 80 but it's programs

▶ 9:37 like these that we just don't have good facilities to bring wonderful authors into the building and run a great program it's crowded the AV isn't done right you're kind of way in the back if you're that 80th person coming up you might be standing room only we have these fabulous programs and just by doing this project we would be able to do so much more when we have our children's programs baby steps and toddler time you can have as many as 90 little ones come in on a weekly basis and you know you're setting up in the morning for 90 babies you're setting up at night for 70 80 90 adults and you're having the sodium running in and out to get all these changes done the new plan has a dedicated children's space where they'll be able to set up and they'll be

▶ 10:31 able to have the baby programs and the other part of it would be having you know a nice and big meeting space where you can have a big adult situation and you don't you know you're not running back and forth to change it all the time and so that's just my little piece of what really excites me about this plan is that we will become so much more to the community it really will be a community meeting space in so many more ways than what it is right now we do great I think we work great with what we have we work really hard but the possibilities are fabulous so that's my little bit Joan sign your name I don't usually do this thank you for anybody else who wishes to speak so my name is Fred white I live in Perkins Street and I'm a friend of the library

▶ 11:41 as well so I think what we need to think about truly is when you think to the future the library is a good place it's a good place for kids I grew up in Dorchester one for the library probably wouldn't be standing here okay so we need a library the library we have now is a Carnegie building it's beautiful it needs to be preserved you talk about spending money so now we kind of have an idea what the fixed costs are going to be so yeah it's gonna be here maybe a man here maybe a man there obviously I don't have that kind of money and I don't want to talk like I do but what I'm saying is that this will help us with the infrastructure to the library. Whether you redo it or not, the day is coming when the heating system is going to have to be replaced. There's going to

▶ 12:30 be certain issues around, you know, ADA and things like that. I think it's really not set up so good now for ADA. So those things are going to have to come into play. You also have probably some abatement with asbestos and things like that. So those are all coming at some point once you start. So that's the things you got to think about so what will happen is if we can get money now by putting in a grant to help us with those types of things and spend a few dollars from the city whether it's a vote or however we you know well we do a lot of fundraising now so we'll just we'll just turn it up a bit so but what I'm saying is that we need to think about the future and we need to make sure that we're planning for it and we don't leave this mess on somebody else

▶ 13:14 because it's going to be that way there's a hole in the side of the library and if i was younger i would get a 50-foot ladder and i go up there and fix it it drives me crazy every time i walk by and see it so i think and it's it is it's a big fancy carnegie building it's something we should be proud of in this city people come from all over i know people that come from somerville and places with their children that come to all the things that we have in the summer where they play the guitars we have book sales you know i mean it's a it's a great community place for children and you know so and i can i can pretty much you know i could go on but we have these events uh so i just think we need to think of the big picture so not leaving money on the

▶ 13:57 table now i think is full so i don't i mean i want to you know be rude or anything but you know you got to think about if you have the opportunity to get money now and you leave it on the table all these things come up five ten years from now I've been in Melrose 35 years myself if then we have to get money to fix everything it could be that much it could be you know five six million dollars just to come in and redo the heating system and all the other things that you have to do once you start doing construction on a built so I mean I will I will end there but I'll tell you I I really believe that this is the future, and we should at least vote on the possibility of getting a grant. I think it just doesn't make much sense to leave money on the table, so thank you for your time.

▶ 15:00 Anyone else who wants to come forward? Sir. Good evening, my name is Phil Lounsbury, 14 Faxon Street, Melrose. My wife is sitting back here, spoke to you a few moments ago. I had no idea that this meeting was going on tonight. had no plans for this evening so I have no prepared remarks I'm sitting here as a very impartial or a very partial person I should say because my wife is an employee as I said I've been a lifelong resident of Melrose I remember the thrill of going to the library when I was five or six years old and I first learned how to read and getting my library card and the brand new edition at that time do we need new construction at the library I think absolutely I know a lot of thought has been going into the last several months in developing the

▶ 15:59 grant proposal it's certainly not something that's being taken lightly we all need to consider future expenditures as taxpayers but as I understand the proposal before the board tonight this is just to take the very first step to submit the application for grant money I can't see any harm in taking that first step I can see a lot of harm of delaying that you'd have no idea what the rules may be at some point down the line money might not be available to us but less money might be available to us one never knows so I would just urge you to consider the proposal and really it's very important that we do take this first step and just submit the application for the grant as it's been put together and let the chips fall where they may so that's all I shall

▶ 16:59 sign thank you my name is Christina Galliano I live at 30 Upland Road in Melrose I'm the chairperson of the Friends of the Melrose Public Library I've been involved in this, looking at the grant, looking at applying for the grant. I've been involved in this process for about a year or so now. And at no stage in that process was it ever inferred that we would be obligated to come up with the money without going through, you know, getting the grant, getting the matching funds. this is this stage to me is just opening the door um this is applying for a grant that's all this is um and i i can't even believe there'd be any consideration of not opening that door obviously we had to come up with some designs some different plans to be able to apply for the grant these are

▶ 18:26 evolving there some of the things we had to do to apply for the grant that will of course be looked at as we get further into it should we receive funding um i guess i'm just saying i wouldn't imagine that we wouldn't want to pursue just applying for the grant um you know aside from the obvious benefits of the library of benefiting everyone in the community and being a place where everyone can go um it being an old building that definitely is in need of some work um those are things that are apart i think from what you're here for tonight which is to say can we vote to apply for this grant and again i don't understand why we would not do that so that's all anyone else who wishes to speak before we conclude public participation motion to close public participation

▶ 19:34 Peter D. Mortimer: Mr. President. Second. Alderman Mortimer moves to close public participation. The motion is seconded by Alderman Boisselle. On the motion, all those in favor? Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion passes. Mr. President, I have before me the minutes of our meeting from November 14, 2016 and from January 3, 2017. I make a motion that they be accepted into the record without reading. Second. Alderman Mortimer moves that we accept the minutes of the two meetings that he recited without reading the motion is seconded by alderman inferno on the motion all those in favor aye aye anyone opposed motion passes those minutes will be accepted as with all of our meetings our meeting tonight is will be rebroadcast on melrose cable television

▶ 20:20 and we will be therefore in compliance with the massachusetts open meeting law as we deliberate this evening we are relatively short-handed so for members of the public who are watching in order for any order to pass it would require a majority of the full board of aldermen which is six votes so any order that goes to final vote this evening would require six aldermen to vote in favor for it to be considered passed order 2017-78 acceptance of commonwealth security trust fund grant and the amount of $19,711 to fund number 4026. That order will be referred to the Committee on Finance. Order 2017-81, transfer of $1,281 from account 011621-512000, election part-time salaries and wages, to account 011622-530506, election office supplies.

▶ 21:24 That order will also go to the Committee on Finance. Order 2017-79, reappointment of Susan E. Krasko, 200 Park Terrace Drive, Stoneham, Mass., as Assistant City Clerk for a one-year term, said term ending on the first Monday in February 2018. That order will go to the Committee on Finance. Order 2017-80, renewal of surety bond of City Clerk, City of Melrose, and the amount of $15,000 for the year 2017. That order will also go to the Committee on Finance. Order 2017-82, amend Melrose Revised Ordinances, Chapter 228, Section 228-15B, Water Rate Review Committee as set forth herein. That order will go to the Committee on Legal and Legislative Matters. Do we have any orders out of order this evening?

▶ 22:17 Are there any orders from committee? Do we have any all-demanding representatives to any outside boards or committees who wish to report this evening in accordance with board of alderman rule 53 alden forbes thank you mr president as the automatic representative of the water and sewer committee uh the meeting uh first one for 2017 will be next thursday uh upstairs in the conference room next to the mayor's office at three o'clock thank you all thank you alderman inferno thank you very much mr president and the master plan meeting will be held next thursday morning at 8 30 upstairs in the cassidy conference room thank you anyone else with any reports from committees okay if we could move on to the

▶ 23:09 calendar please order 2017-63 petition of mobility llc to attach equipment to an existing utility pole on west foster street melrose mass this order comes from the committee on public works with a recommendation for passage motion to rec uh most motion for passage second i'm sorry it was a place on file motion to place on file mr president you're right second element mortimer moves to place the order on the motion was seconded by alderman voicel do we have discussion relative to this order all those in favor of passage of the order please indicate by saying aye aye anyone opposed that order passes order 2017-65 appointment of john capuano 31 leonard road to the council on aging to fill the unexpired three-year

▶ 24:03 term of jane ahern day philippi said term to expire on the last day of february 2018. this order was recommended for passage by the committee on health education and welfare motion for passage Mr. President. Second. Alderman Mortimer moves for passage of order 2017-65. Motion is seconded by Alderman Boycelle. Is there discussion? All those in favor of passage of the order please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? That order passes. Order 2017-66, acceptance of the fiscal year 17 traffic enforcement grant in the amount of $7,500 from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety and Security to fund number 2528 this order was recommended by the protection and license committee

▶ 24:52 motion for passage mr president second alderman mortimer moves for passage the motion is seconded by alderman boycelle is there discussion ms o'shea could you call the roll on this order please alderman Boisselle yes yes alderman forbes yes yes alderman inferno yes yes alderman Yes. Alderman Medeiros. Yes. Yes. Alderman Mortimer. Yes. Yes. Alderman Zwirko. Yes. Yes. President Pond. Yes. Yes. Seven yes. The order passes. Order 2017-76, Library Renovation and Construction Grant Application. This order comes recommended from the Committee on Appropriations. Motion for passage, Mr. President. Second. Alderman Mortimer moves for passage of the order. motion is seconded by Alderman Inferna is there discussion relative to the

▶ 25:45 Michael P. Zwirko: order Alderman Zwirko then Alderman Forbes I make a motion to suspend the rules second Alderman Zwirko moves to suspend the rules to hear from city officials relative to this order the motion is seconded by Alderman Mortimer on the motion to suspend the rules all those in favor aye anyone opposed motion passes could the appropriate city officials please come forward to the table in the center of the room good evening you have the floor Thank You mr. president and thank you both for being here this evening so I would also like before I ask a few questions I also just wanted to acknowledge you know in my first year here it's very rare that we have a forum that's this filled with with folks and residents that are

▶ 26:38 Michael P. Zwirko: concerned about this this item so it's nice to actually see some some dialogue on this in the chamber so for all those residents that are here that spoke tonight I greatly appreciate you taking the time out of your personal lives to come here and express that so it means a lot to me so so we've seen a lot of correspondence on this since the meeting that we last held on this matter and it was unanimously approved in the Appropriations Committee there's a couple of things that come up and I do want to point not only those folks that are able to see these records at home but there was a correspondence that came out today from the city planner miss Gaffey and it is in response to some questions that

▶ 27:21 Michael P. Zwirko: were levied not only by alderman Rita but also an individual who spoke here tonight mr. Lillo I would like to make a motion that mr. Lillo's correspondence be attached to this order it kind of will help correlate the response that Ms. Gaffey wrote second that motion I believe that's correspondence dated January 14th if it could just be added to it as a motion to add that correspondence to the record relative to this order it's been duly seconded all those in favor all right thank you so that being said I just how exactly locked in are we should we move forward with the application so the application is due Thursday at the end of the day you need authority from the Board of Alderman in order to apply so that's two questions I guess if you can answer the

▶ 28:15 Denise Gaffey: first how exactly locked in with this application are we we have a figure we have a schematic so the so the submission of the grant application does not lock the city into anything if if the city ultimately when it comes back when you know if we're lucky enough to get on the list for a grant and then we get selected to move forward because we expect we'll be on a waiting list when we get selected to move forward we'll have a certain amount of time to come back and get the matching funds and if there is no support at that time to fund the city's match then the we forfeit the grant I mean there are examples of that other communities from other rounds of with this program from other previous rounds where communities ultimately even have to going through this process of

▶ 29:02 Denise Gaffey: doing the preliminary submission they did they could not get the support that they needed from the community and they had to forfeit the grant so you never we are not I only tell you this we certainly don't want that to happen or expect that to happen but I only tell you this because just to assure the members that we are not walking into a project by agreeing to submit a grant application certainly and I remember during committee you know this is not expending any appropriation of city's funds either I guess I was more asking the question of design so in terms of the design I mean we you know they do they the language does ask the Alderman to support the the project's design I mean we have written it and they supported the language that we wrote

▶ 29:45 Denise Gaffey: that this is preliminary design and so we very much view this as preliminary I mean we don't we wouldn't want to spend the amount of money that it would take to really you know really further the design on this project because it would costly and and you know we want to get more feedback before we did that but you know to get to this point I do want to I do want to you know we kind of reiterate that you know we have done a lot of work I mean it was probably about a year ago that we came to the alderman to accept the donation account to in order to fund the feasibility study to get us to this point so since that time we you know we hired architects who are experts in this field they're not lay people these are

▶ 30:29 Denise Gaffey: these are experts and they worked very closely with with Linda and myself and with the library staff over several months of planning meetings and based on that based on the needs of the building and the needs of the staff and the needs of that library at large we went through many different different you know different iterations iterations of a plan we also have we don't have a lot of options either I mean we have we have a building a Carnegie building that is adored that we would never consider you know moving out of or taking down and we have a division that has some real serious structural limitations and overshadows the historic building so for many reasons we and we and we're land locked and we don't have a lot we don't have any land to expand on so you know

▶ 31:19 Denise Gaffey: We do have certain constraints. There weren't an awful lot of different iterations we could look at. But we did look at several to get to this preliminary design submission. That said, the design itself, we know, will evolve in the future if we're fortunate enough to get a grant award and then be able to take it further along. And so from that perspective, we're not locked in. just to be quite honest there aren't a lot of a lot of different options and if I may add just a piece from the grant requirement in terms of the possibility of doing something small you know just focusing on one problem area we're not actually allowed to do that through the grant process and they're very deliberate about that they want you to look at your building as a whole your

▶ 32:19 Michael P. Zwirko: functions as a whole you can't focus on just children's or just local history they want a comprehensive plan that will actually carry the library through into the future and not have a community coming back and saying oh you know we did this a little bit but we didn't quite get it all so they're very focused for a successful application on making sure that we've really thought about all of our needs as we're going into an application and thank you for that I mean I just know that you know a speaker had said earlier that you know this is really just opening the door and I understand it's just we're just applying for the grant I get that and I don't mean to just you know harp on this but you know there are several hurdles that are going to have to go through after

▶ 33:04 Michael P. Zwirko: this process I mean we've got a variance issue under the current plan there's you know I believe there may be some parking issues with the plan so I mean I know we can scale things back accordingly so it just seems to me that you know there's a figure there's a plan there's a schematic but it's somewhat malleable and I'm just wondering how malleable it is because maybe after you know having a community conversation because this plans ultimately going to have to be sold you know again I hate to go back to the term but you know how locked in exactly are we and I'm not discounting any of the work I've looked at the plans that you know you would attach to the order it's just you know as we move

▶ 33:41 Michael P. Zwirko: forward on this there are several things that are going to have to align in order for us to receive the grant money so I want not only the community to be aware of that but understand that this is still a conversation that the community will I hope have and we the Board of Aldermen as well as you know others involved will have this conversation because it's certainly not a small sum of money um can i just clarify a couple of things yeah please we we do not anticipate requiring any variances for this project okay i mean i saw something on two and a half stories and i wasn't sure if that meant because of the we have a basement level and then we have two stories about so you're planning on matching the current right okay okay we don't need any high relief and

▶ 34:22 Denise Gaffey: that's my that's my misclarification sorry in the parking we've we've we've talked with the grant funding agency we've talked with the building commissioner we we we do think we i mean if we if we were trying to comply with parking today we can't by the by the letter of the law but we factoring in all of the ancillary parking street parking municipal parking in close proximity we you know we know it's always a challenge but there's there is a lot of parking in the area and it's also ideally situated located for people to walk to and so we're not we don't to spend any concerns or you know the parking becoming a problem for us and then I had a one other question are you are when municipalities cities and towns

▶ 35:10 Denise Gaffey: apply for these types of grants I mean do any of them already have the matching funds ready to go so I guess what I'm saying is most municipalities are aware that upon receipt of said you know grant award that there's still a laboring war that needs to occur on their end right because again we you know to remind everyone we don't know when we will get the award we will get they are gonna do a ranking and we'll get on a list and we don't think we would be one of the highest projects on the list so we think our project is a couple of years out and I mean so we know there's going to be so it's a little it's a little bit tough to even anticipate what the project costs are going to be given that but so

▶ 35:55 Scott M. Forbes: project so communities generally wait to find out if they're going to get a grant award before they get their matching funds okay well I appreciate your time on this and I know that there's been a lot of discussion on it and you know I hope that the discussions continue after after tonight so I look forward to it as well thank you for your time that's all the questions I have mr. president thank you Alderman Forbes Thank You mr. president now I am the numbers person so I I just want to go over one thing with you and hopefully you can provide me with a little bit of clarification based upon a 16 and a half million dollar project 40 to 45 percent means that we would be getting anywhere from six point

▶ 36:35 Scott M. Forbes: six to seven and a half million dollars in grant money which would mean that the leftover remaining portion that would have to be raised by the city is nine to ten million dollars that's where we get that number here's my scenario and here's the question I hope you can answer for me hypothetically we we go forward with the vote tonight you you you apply for the grant you get your funding and you get a seven and a half million dollar award now this is a preliminary design so let's say after a dialogue with with everybody here we all come to an agreement that we're going to approve a ten million dollar construction plan altering the original plan and everybody's in agreement with it we go back to the grant writers and say that

▶ 37:17 Scott M. Forbes: we have an approved plan for ten million dollars are they going to scale their grant back their grant award back from the 7 million that they promised us before to reflect the approved plant plan price of 10 million dollars and say we will scale back your grant to reflect the 40 to 45 percent and you will give us a grant award for four and a half million dollars which means that Melrose now be obligated to come up with the difference which is five and a half is that how this works or once you get the grant you get the seven million dollars and we have to build in that scale that's my question do you understand what I'm saying I think I understand the question and I I would say we would ultimately get the grant funding that's based on what the project costs are so

▶ 38:10 Denise Gaffey: it'll be the percentage the approved project based on what the final what the final cost of the project okay so that's a fluid number right that's workable also say as as Linda alluded to that the funding agency is going to make sure or want to ensure that we are addressing the serious concerns in the building especially around infrastructure about hazardous materials around around you know and around space and how it's utilized sure and so there may not there may not be a building to go from a 16 million dollar project to a 10 million dollar project for that reason I mean because we have given a lot of thought yeah my concern was they approved seven you're stuck at seven and we have to build in that larger scale project where if they didn't like you know if it's not

▶ 38:58 Denise Gaffey: a fluid dialogue if the award money wasn't be able to be scaled back a little bit then you're really only locked into the one design and not the other not the other three that were on the table so they know this is schematic level and they know and and we will be if we're lucky enough again to get an award we would be working with them very closely on the future levels of design right and they would have to you know it would be a cooperative process and it's actually as it has been till this point I will point out that the funding agency has been out to has been to two of our programming meetings so we you know they're they're on board with what we're doing and they they're very kind of picky about what what what and you know a modern library should look

▶ 39:39 Scott M. Forbes: like so they have and I know there'll be a lot more information moving forward I do know that I think a lot of us on this board would like to see you know numbers costs and I understand it's all preliminary I totally understand moving forward I know that that's a discussion that will all be as long as we're all on the same page then you know I I think I think you answered my question so thank you mr. president thank you Alderman Inferno thank you very much mr. president thank you for coming back this evening to answer some questions I hope I can articulate this and I hope I'm not going to confuse everybody because I think all Alderman Zorco kind of was alluding to it and Alderman Forbes was.

▶ 40:16 Gail Infurna: But we heard tonight from the public that they were looking for more options and looking to see just what could be done and if this was the right thing to do or not. If we approve this, and I hope we do, and it gets submitted, do we have the time during this little downtime, if you want to call it that, to look at more options, and let's say if one of the options was to maybe not add on to it or just to do something a little bit more creative or outside the box or whatever, we could still apply for this grant, and if they awarded us this grant and we all of a sudden decided that option D was now better, we really have kind of looked at option D, and option D is now better. we've kind of come up with that we still have the opportunity not to finance that grant so so we

▶ 41:16 Gail Infurna: would decline the financing of that correct so we're not tied into anything i think that's what i you know so if in the meantime we submit this and you want to look at option d a little bit better you know and and all of a sudden it hits you like wow we really could do this for um instead of you know 16 million dollars look at what we can do for for 8 million dollars and go out and finance that and we get the grant the grant is awarded to us we still could deny that grant because we as a Board of Aldermen would not be approving the finance for that grant correct right the project and my making that clear so we still could look at more options you could in this meantime if you wanted to be you know you could look at option B C and D we

▶ 42:08 Gail Infurna: could yes right and you could still work off of option A and define that a little bit more also so there's a whole whole thing that's still open here so by us supporting this and and giving you the you know the the opportunity to submit this grant I don't think there's anything lost there's nothing lost here you know except your time but I think you know we should still be looking at whatever the best plan is but I hope that we can as a board we will support this and allow you to submit this grant this is an opportunity and and we'd be crazy not to go with this opportunity I mean this came down before us it's gone before also to experts the library has looked at it trustees the city solicitor

▶ 43:04 Gail Infurna: so I'm very comfortable with it all knowing that it's not the final plan the grant requires you to you know submit a plan not the plan but a plan now so you know we want to talk about the future I don't know how I'm all I'm going to vote for this when it comes to the financing piece but i can separate that i can separate that tonight you know and you know let's see how it moves forward and see what you come back with if we get the reward you know we we get rewarded with the grant um then let's see what you have to present to us and you'll see what the the finance piece to it and and how we're going to fund that i may not support it at that point i don't know but whatever that is i can separate that vote

▶ 43:51 Gail Infurna: tonight and i think this is a totally separate thing um the um i just had something on my head i i can't think i just had one more thought there too and i can't think of it now so i'll i'll just end it there and and certainly hope that we can support this knowing that this is an opportunity we can still look at options and i hope you do look at options a b c d e f however many you know you want to look at and come back to us you know as time goes on oh i know what the other thing was time sensitive how time sensitive is this that we vote on this tonight so um so the grant regulations require that this vote occur by they think the deadline is june 17th of this year but they go on in their in their guidance to strongly recommend those are their words

▶ 44:45 Gail Infurna: strongly recommend that we have this approval prior to the grant submission and um so our feeling is and our understanding is that they consider that um advantageous and more favorable with you know in terms of their view of the grant so and our grant would be viewed more favorably with that with this support all right and i do ask my fellow alderman who may be thinking that they want to delay this vote for looking at things or getting more information i'm not quite sure how much more information we can get we we've had it before us it's been you know with us now for at least a week and so i don't know what purpose um a delay in this will be since we're just you know because the vote is just for you to go ahead and apply and it still does not

▶ 45:36 Monica C. Medeiros: lock us into anything so i i do hope once again that we can support this this evening and not delay it thank you mr president alderman medeiros thank you uh first of all i wanted to thank miss gaffey you spent some time on the phone with me about this and and answered some of my questions today so i do greatly appreciate that and i just you know just want to sum up some of some of the concerns that that you know i've that have been brought to my attention and you know and truthfully to some degree i i have too is that you know i mean we've been pretty frank that the funding mechanism that's expected for the city portion the nine to ten million is most probably going to be a debt exclusion at some point in the future so you know it's it's um it's a little bit tough

▶ 46:21 Monica C. Medeiros: to sit here and go down a path knowing that you know this is the the path that we're putting you know fourth is a question for you know increased taxes above the two and a half percent you know proposition two and a half percent limit to do this um but you know but that being said you know it is also very true that we have already put a lot of resources although we haven't put in city money towards doing this we to some degree we have because we've had the friends come forward and we've accepted those funds that otherwise might have been used for other things in the library obviously there's been some staff time to put this together and you know we've gotten to this point where we have um something in front of us that's a plan and a proposal um i i'm hoping

▶ 47:15 Monica C. Medeiros: because i i know we've again talked a little bit about this on the phone that i'm i'm not exactly sold on this being you know a need rather than a want and you know the time for that discussion will be later in the future but could you you know just from your perspective being involved very much especially Ms. Gardner in this just reiterate for me and for the public why you and the trustees decided to you know embark on this now and why you feel like this is important and the right time to move forward with this there's a couple pieces to that we started looking at it in response to as we've said this community loves the library and loves the historic building of the library but there are individuals

▶ 48:07 who struggle with access we do have as Joan alluded to we have programs that we can't a we can't we've had authors that won't come because we can't provide the space for them at this point we also one thing that wasn't mentioned about that really great program that we had last week is that whenever we have those programs we have to close the children's room to accommodate that so that's compromising our own services to provide service to another population we also so I'm a service side of things we have needs that we could meet better on the building side of things we are looking at an HVAC system that is reaching end of life DPW has done some heroic efforts with with our air conditioning unit and

▶ 49:07 we kind of cross our fingers every year but it's you know the systems are getting older there is you know asbestos through the building there are aspects of the building that if we were going to do any type of renovation we would really have to deal with those also regardless of if they were our first first thought so all of those combined with the fact that this is not a yearly grant this grant doesn't happen every year so since we are coming to a point of real need and conversation and the grant was coming up available in how often is this kind of grants available to your knowledge it varies they do not currently have an extra grant round set so it could be in another five years it could not happen

▶ 50:08 Monica C. Medeiros: again so you know my my thoughts on this overall is that you know we you know obviously I have some concerns but I do know that you know we have gotten to this point and one thing is for sure that if we do want to move forward with any kind of renovations or doing anything like that and even if this does go to a debt exclusion question if the public decides that they want to do this if we don't apply for this grant now we won't get those state funds for sure so you know I I think weighing all of this I think that it's the right thing to do from our perspective and from my opinion is to apply for the grant and have that option be open but we still have the option as you say to to not move forward

▶ 50:59 Monica C. Medeiros: with it this Board of Aldermen if I'm correct you know usually we have to vote to accept any grant that's right funds yes so that will come before us for that it would come before us to appropriate any funds whether they would be through the general operating budget or and if this question is to go to the ballot it would come before the board of aldermen whether or not to place it on the ballot so you know there will be more opportunities for this board and for public input at each one of those steps in those meetings to um to look further into this so i do think there will be you know more opportunities for discussion um i do hope that we can see you know i know we have an event coming up at the library on the the 28th and the 29th as

▶ 51:49 Monica C. Medeiros: fundraiser and I hope to see I'm excited about that and I hope to see you know more of that kind of events I know you know the Wakefield library and the Malden library do have very successful fundraisers annually and so it's a lot of work for the many volunteers that are involved with that but I think that you know I do think we have a community that appreciates the library and is willing to invest so i'd like to see that stepped up so when the time comes that this city portion you know would be less more so with people who are voluntarily giving to this thank you thank you thank you for coming this evening um just to get this straight again this the request that you have is basically this is a simple request to consider

▶ 52:43 Robert A. Boisselle: under a grant for funding a proposed plan that you're submitting for the library. That's correct. That's correct. The order is to allow us to submit. Rita. Now, the program that you're applying for, its regulations are specifying that the applicants receive, who are successful in receiving a provisional grant award, will have six months to complete the local financing and fulfill other certification requirement now this six months to complete the finance has that gone have you talked to the auditor about that and if that can be made if it's approved and so forth yes we have and he's not concerned about that time frame but the thing to remember and to understand is what we expect is that we'll get um we'll get on the lit the waiting

▶ 53:34 Denise Gaffey: list when they make their announcements in july well we're hoping we get on the waiting list and that we won't actually get tapped for a provisional award this fiscal year we would we would be so very surprised by that knowing some of the other libraries that are vying for this funding so when you come down the list and you get selected that's when it that's when the six months but then but so the beauty of our position is that we will have much more time to plan and you know i can sort of i sort of consider that date in july when we get the award as our day one in terms of the the public outreach and community support that we're going to need to make this project happen ultimately so i think you know that will give us the opportunity more so more than the six

▶ 54:13 Robert A. Boisselle: month period really okay i see in the order this evening that there's a great deal of information that's been added to this is this the request that we made uh last last meeting to submit and have this online yes yeah that's it all right well thank you very much thank you thank you anyone else i said twice the last time but i just want to make it clear because it seems like it's not clear the funding source for the city portion is going to be a debt exclusion or an override is that not true that seems very likely yes there's not eight or nine million dollars in any other source in the city budget that is going to be able to be set aside so as this goes forward people should understand that that's how this will proceed and only one other thing i said it twice

▶ 55:05 the last time but i'll say it again we're not going to get money unless we have an approved funding source we're not going to be given grant we're not be given five or six million dollars unless we have an approved funding source is that correct that is correct okay anyone else Ms. O'Shea, could you call the roll on this order, please? Alderman Boisselle. Yes. Yes. Alderman Forbes. Yes. Yes. Alderman Inferno. Yes. Yes. Alderman Medeiros. Yes. Yes. Alderman Mortimer. Yes. Yes. Alderman Zwirko. Yes. Yes. President Pond. Yes. Yes. Seven yes. That order passes. Motion to adjourn, Mr. President. Second. Alderman Mortimer moves to adjourn. Alderman Boisselle seconds the motion. On the motion, all those in favor?

▶ 55:50 Aye. I'm afraid you didn't want to adjourn for a minute there. All those opposed? Motion passes. Board's adjourned.

City Council — 2017-01-19

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