City Council — 2017-12-04

City Council Regular Meeting

This meeting starts at 0:00 in a recording that covers several meetings.

Attendance

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

Agenda

Minutes

CITY OF MELROSE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BULLETIN● DECEMBER 4, 2017 Aldermanic Chamber, Melrose City Hall Regular Meeting 7:45 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176

ORDER-2018-48 Opening Statement Regular Meeting of the Board of Aldermen to be held on Monday, December 4, 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 Present Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis Alderman at Large Present Monica C. Medeiros Alderman at Large Present Peter D. Mortimer Ward 6 Alderman Present John N. Tramontozzi Ward 1 Alderman Present Francis X. Wright Jr. Ward 3 Alderman Absent Michael P. Zwirko Alderman at Large Present Donald L. Conn Jr. President, Alderman at Large Present

ORDER-2018-44 Utility Petition Petition of National Grid for Gas Main Locations: Install l,650 ft. of 8” PL main on Warren St, Franklin St, and Woodland Ave. from the existing 8” (60 psig) BS main on Warren St at the inlet to the Warren @ Franklin regulator station to the existing 8” (60 psig) BS main on Greenwood St at the Wakefield Town border. Passed as Amended

ORDER-2018-45 Utility Petition Petition of National Grid to install up to 540 feet of 4 inch Plastic Low Pressure main off of the existing 6 inch Bare Steel Low Pressure main on Forest Street down the proposed dead end development on Blueberry Hill Lane as shown on Plan GP-MEL 1188167-17-258, dated 8/1/2017 Passed as Amended

ORDER-2018-49 Transfer City of Melrose Page 1 12/27/2017 4:08 PM Minutes Board of Aldermen December 4, 2017 Transfer in the amount of $3,400.00 from A/C No. 017522-549100 - Projected Debt Interest to A/C No. 011612-529000 - City Clerk - Professional Services for temporary help in the City Clerk's Office. Assigned to Committee Finance Committee

ORDER-2018-50 Grant Acceptance of the FY 2018 State 911 Department Support and Incentive Grant in the amount of $56,187.00 from the Commonwealth of Mass., Executive Office of Public Safety (EOPS); Fund #2595 Assigned to Committee Finance Committee

ORDER-2018-51 Grant Acceptance of FY2018-2022 Traffic Enforcement and Equipment Grant from the Commonwealth of Mass., Executive Office of Public Safety and Security's Highway Safety Division to Fund #4023. Assigned to Committee Finance Committee

ORDER-2018-52 Grant Acceptance of a grant in the amount of Fifty Thousand, Six Hundred and Sixty Nine Dollars ($50,669) from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts office of Coastal Zone Management (CZM). Said funds should be deposited into Fund Number 4028, CMZ Grant. Assigned to Committee Board of Aldermen

ORDER-2018-53 Amending Revised Ordinances Amending Melrose Revised Ordinances, Chapter 198 by adding Article V - Recyclable and Reusable Bags; further add Section 198-11 Use of Recyclable and Reusable Bags as set forth herein. Assigned to Committee Legal & Legislative Committee

ORDER-2018-40 Appropriation An Appropriation from parking receipts (29062-590000) in the amount of $28,360 to various accounts as set forth within. Passed Board of Aldermen

ORDER-2018-39 Appropriation City of Melrose Page 2 12/27/2017 4:08 PM Minutes Board of Aldermen December 4, 2017 An Appropriation from Available Free Cash in the amount of $936,000 to various accounts as set forth within. Passed Board of Aldermen

ORDER-2018-38 Classification of Property Request to set a Public Hearing on Classification of Property for November 30, 2017 at 7:30 P.M. and subsequently determine the Classification of Property Passed as Amended City of Melrose Page 3 12/27/2017 4:08 PM

Transcript

▶ 0:00 Welcome to the Chamber this evening, folks. My name is Donald Kahn. This is a regular meeting of the Melrose Board of Aldermen for December 4th, 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. Here. Alderman McAteer-Margolis. Here. Here. Alderman Medeiros. Here. Here. Alderman Mortimer. 10 present okay we have a quorum i do want to point out that alderman wright indicated to me that he is under the weather this evening we wish him well and hope that he'll be back at the next meeting could you all 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 which it stands one nation under god

▶ 0:55 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 Zwirko 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 who is present and wishes to speak on any order that is on our agenda for this evening can come forward to the table at the center of the room identify themselves and speak relative to that order is there anybody who wishes to be heard please come forward okay i'm doing my best this is the portion of our meeting where any member of the well okay anybody who wishes to come forward and speak on any item

▶ 1:47 that is on our agenda please come forward to the table in the center of the room and identify themselves sir hello i'm philip herman from 83 east foster street in melrose and i like to speak about the use of plastic bags in our town and i i just like to give which a personal example probably that all of us have gone through when you go to shore supermarket and you see a person in front of you with 20 plastic bags in their shopping cart, double bagged or even triple bagged sometimes. And if you take a look at, think about say just 20 bags, an individual used in one year say one thousand bags say in their lifetime they'll use like say sixty thousand bags and if you just roughly multiply that out say with the say twenty thousand people we have in our town

▶ 2:53 you're talking about twenty million bags used in just one year in our town and you know where do these bags go do you think these people are storing 20 million bags in their homes no they go into the garbage and then we have to pay the extra taxes for that garbage even worse though some people put it in their recycling bins and I don't know if any of you have been down to the recycling plant but those plastic bags get caught into their shredders and they have to stop their whole operation and so here we have two big problems bags going into trash and into recycling and you know where we're behind a lot of the towns in Massachusetts there's over 60 towns or so that have already banned plastic bags

▶ 3:49 and you know I think about where did the plastic bags come from they come from petroleum so where do we get up petroleum we do things like fracking out west even upstate New York they wanted to do fracking to get more petroleum we have wars we go to like Desert Storm one Desert Storm two people die so we could get more petroleum I think we can make a dent in the amount of petroleum we use in this country if we start discounting or making less use of plastic bags thank you thank you sir anyone else who wishes to speak sir this is short um my name is george stubbs uh and i've been a resident of i'm at 111 warwick road i've been a resident of melrose for about 31 years now and i come before the board today in order to express my support for a proposed

▶ 4:53 ordinance on the published agenda for introduction this evening that would limit the distribution and use of thin film plastic bags in our city this board has already heard estimates the effect that melrose residents collectively use some nine million plastic bags annually and that the average grocery store distributes upwards of 2.6 million plastic bags per year while these are simply numbers and it can be difficult to know what they mean out of context it is becoming clear every day that the fossil fuel intensive production of these bags and the improper disposal of a large percentage of them pose real harm to public health and the environment. There is of course the unsightliness of plastic bags hanging from our city's trees, drifting

▶ 5:36 into our yards, and littering our open spaces and waterways. What I find more insidious, however, is the fate of these plastic bags and other types of discarded plastic products in the environment. Specifically, recent scientific studies have shown that microscopic plastic fibers, the breakdown products of plastics, are returning up the food chain and through the hydrological cycle to invade our bodies. Just to take one example, an article published in September of this year by Orb Media reported the results of a study conducted by Orb Media in collaboration with the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, showing that previously undetected levels of plastic particles are contaminating the tap water of cities around the world.

▶ 6:23 The article said, quote, microscopic plastic fibers are flowing out of taps from New York to New Delhi, from the halls of the U.S. Capitol to the shores of Lake Victoria in Uganda. Women, children, men, and babies are consuming plastic with every glass of water, unquote. In all, more than 80 percent of the water samples collected by the researchers on five continents tested positive for the presence of microscopic plastic fibers. It is not yet entirely clear what this finding may mean for our health. What we do know, however, is that microscopic plastic fibers absorb toxic chemicals and heavy metals that have been linked to cancer, developmental problems, and other forms of health impairment.

▶ 7:06 As the Orb Media article points out, microplastics can be small enough to migrate through the intestinal wall and travel to lymph nodes, for example. It is for this reason and others that I urge the City of Melrose to join many other Massachusetts cities and towns in limiting the use of single-use plastic bags. I am fully confident that the use of alternatives, such as reusable cloth and canvas bags, does not represent erosion in our standard of living. On the contrary, it leads us down the road towards a more sustainable, healthy, and vibrant community thank you thank you sir anyone else who wishes to speak please come forward good evening gina mcneil 97 maple street um first of all i want to say how deeply appreciative i am

▶ 7:59 to the board for working with the recycling committee over the course of the last year meeting with us having such thoughtful conversations as individuals and inviting the recycling committee to present on an informational basis to the board on august 21st on the same issue I'll keep my remarks brief as well but I wanted to share with you today that we received a letter from the Mass Audubon advocacy departments as a letter of support for the ordinance that's been proposed in Melrose to address recyclable and reusable bags in our community I'll submit the full letter for the public record but I did want to say how honored we are, and I think it's a sign of the importance of this issue, that Mass Audubon, which is

▶ 8:45 one of the oldest and most respected environmental advocacy organizations in the Commonwealth, if not in the nation, has come out to support these ordinances and laws generally and specifically reviewed the ordinance proposed for Melrose and provided an official letter of support. So with that, I will provide this letter to the clerk. Thank you. you anyone else who wishes to address the board on this or any other issue that's before us this evening motion to close public participation mr president second alderman mortimer moves to conclude public participation the motion is seconded by alderman forbes on the motion all those in favor anyone opposed motion passes public participation is hereby concluded i would like to

▶ 9:40 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: point out that as with all of our meetings this meeting is being videotaped and will be rebroadcast on Melrose Cable Television and various other places in compliance with the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law. Alderman Lemmerman, I understand you have a point of personal privilege relative to some visiting dignitaries that we have in the house to see if you, is that correct? Yes, thank you very much President Kahn and thank you to the members of the board for your flexibility with this point of personal privilege. We are joined tonight by a very important group, the newly formed Husky Student Council from our local elementary school in Ward 2. Horace Mann is here with us tonight. This is a group of third to fifth graders who have stepped up in a leadership

▶ 10:25 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: role among their peers and their fellow students to help lead their school in some critical issues and are doing so in a newly formed body, which I know is not easy. And so we're proud to have them here and we thank them for their leadership and would love to just if it's okay with the board ask them to just step forward to the front here and give us an intro of themselves hi my name is Veronica Hill and I am in fifth grade we are the we are the Horace Mann Student Council we call ourselves the Husky Council we discuss important issues and make differences at the school this is the first year ever of Husky Council it is a group of kids in grades three through five we think of fundraisers and changes we can make to represent our class

▶ 11:32 hi i'm isla paulson i'm in fourth grade at the horseman school in one of our meetings we talked about a school newspaper we think the newspaper will be a good idea because the students in our school will know when events are coming up like crazy hair day and field day it will also remind kids about stuff like being safe respectful and responsible hello my name is bridget gardner and I'm in fourth grade I'm here to discuss some fundraising ideas the main ideas we have brainstormed are nighttime family field trips such as bowling or laser tag $5 for parents to come to observe their children during school hours and a loose change bin in the office so that people can walk by and drop in their loose pocket change hello my name is Zoe Tobinus I'm in third grade we talked

▶ 12:27 about some of the challenges in the lunchroom we are working to survey the students to better understand the problem and come up with a solution hi my name is madeline sampson and i am in fifth grade at the horseman school i would like to say thanks for the new renovations made to the horseman school this summer our school is really enjoying the new art and music room office and library i would like to thank you for the office space and handicap room hi my name is lily colito and i am in fourth grade i think our school really appreciated the art and music room we really enjoy the space we also have new chairs that are really cool mrs bruce our art teacher can now keep her stuff in a room instead of on the stage

▶ 13:22 hello i'm sophia holbert and i am in third grade the whole school loves the new library they love that it is more they love that it has more room than the old library they also like all the places you can sit down and read a book hello my name is cameron rondella i am eight years old thank you for all all of the renovations in school all of the kids love the renovation hello my name is eloise and i am in third grade at horseman school we are going to say what huskies love and things that we are proud of we love our teachers in school all teachers are respectful and kind they They are often funny. We love them because they are very nice and great teachers. The principal and office staff are very good, too.

▶ 14:11 Hello, my name is Mary Atkinson, and I am in third grade at the Horace Mann School. Learning is so fun at the Horace Mann. I love how all the teachers make learning fun. We get many projects. All our projects are fun, but we always learn. We can be creative, have fun, and we are always learning. Hi, my name is Shayla Heenehan. I am 10 years old and in fifth grade. The Horace Mann students love to get outside and be active. Recess is a great time for kids to get their energy out. This is because we have a big field with a big playground. Whenever we can, we go outside for physical education. Also, if our teachers notice us fidgeting, we have a brain break, and sometimes we use a program called Go Noodle,

▶ 14:56 which is a dancing program with very good songs. The characters direct the dance moves. Hello, my name is Imogen, and I am in fifth grade at the Horace Mann School. We have fun at our school by having school parties in class. We also have behavior awards. Most grades do dojo points. Fourth graders do behavior bucks. When you do something good you get a dollar and when you do a bad thing you can lose dollars. At the end of the week you can get a prize like a pencil and if you have a lot of money you can get a stuffed animal. Hi, my name is Jack Burnham and I'm in the fourth grade. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to introduce the Husky Council to the City of Meadows and the Board of Aldermen we are very proud to be here representing

▶ 15:47 Horace Mann School and the students we hope to continue to make the Meadows community the best place to live thank you thank you very much guys that was a great presentation thank you mr. president I just want to say thank you so much to the students for introducing yourselves to us and telling us a little bit about your work and mr. president I'd like to make a motion for a very brief two-minute recess so the kids may take a picture at the front of the room second the motion for the recess and limberman moves for brief recess motion is seconded by Alderman Mortimer all those in favor of the recess please indicate by saying aye aye anyone opposed motion passes we are in recess He wants to speak to you guys.

▶ 17:31 Can you stand with him? Yeah. I know. What's your name? How? What is it? Hurricane? How? Oh, close. What do you say, boys and girls? Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. I'm being really special. Great to see you, thank you, thank you. Excellent job. Thanks again. Thank you. Pleasure. No, thank you for coming. It was nice. Spitfire. He put his foot up. Get these days. You were telling me I was stumbling on my phone. Okay. I usually try to now. I'll look it up when I get home. Stumbling on my phone. Yeah, I never hear it in the phone. And now it's been received for the present. Yeah. Until the 15th. oh yeah sounds good thank you i don't see any uh oh okay great yeah but they have them any utility people i don't care

▶ 28:28 John N. Tramontozzi: we'll work with mr canton from the dpw in order to provide for the best area we won't block anyone's driveway or access to the road is there going to be need to put staging staging area on private property uh we won't put we'll try our best not to put it on private property but we won't put put it on prior property without prior approval from that property owner. And you will post your contact information and provide that to Public Works Engineer? Yes, sir. And any residents have any questions or concerns? Yes, sir. Prior to the start of any job, a letter will go out, several letters will go out. One of those will include my cell phone number. I will also meet with the residents prior to the start of the job to answer any questions

▶ 29:10 John N. Tramontozzi: and talk about the scope of the work. They can call my cell phone 24 hours a day. was also a i received the um an email from a resident at 88 woodland avenue miss paula burn and i think it's part of the i saw it in the in the order did you see that um that letter as well i i did not see i have not looked at that letter i i think the engineer has one but i'll give it to you it's just a concern that she has had uh relative to uh her sewer there's a sewer line there that she wants to make sure you understand that it's uh present so it's uh if there's any digging involved it doesn't affect the extent of the sewer line i'm going to present give it to you so you'll have it and just make sure you keep an eye out for that with regards to that

▶ 29:56 sewer line sir we follow the dig safe rules so all all utilities will be marked out we also follow a test hole and verification hole process so prior to digging any trench to install our pipe we make sure we verify every single utility that's in the ground with those dig safe marks and re remark them if they're off so we will visually inspect every utility first so we don't come across them now that would be appreciated it's not necessarily foolproof because obviously from her letter um they had uh who i'm not saying was you guys but somebody in the past had dug up the street and uh and destroyed that sewer line uh causing a headache to the homeowner so i understand and I know the dig see dig safe requirements do the best you can to

▶ 30:42 follow them right okay thank you just one point of information sir is starting operation of heavy equipment or work prior to 730 is violative of the city ordinances yes sir I wish you'd keep that in mind will do anyone else has any questions the gentleman Alden's work oh thank you mr. president the I know that said that this wouldn't commence in the winter but it would be in the spring do you have any ideas to the the ballpark estimate as to when you imagine this project would begin you thinking april my best guess would be april um like i said it would depend on what crews are available what work we already have going on and what time we can manage it and prior to commencing that work would

▶ 31:23 Michael P. Zwirko: you be notifying the butters of the properties that the work is set to commence or is yes yeah and how much notice would they would they receive they will receive uh at least 48 hours notice prior to any work and i imagine that uh that you've operated as a manager for projects similar to this before correct yeah i'm sorry and the the question i have is is about the duration as well so you have about since you you know you can show up at 7 00 a.m but you really can't do any work till 7 30 that gives you about you know seven eight hours of work per day so how long do you estimate and it's a pretty it's pretty involved project so I'm just thinking from start to finish you know obviously with weather and other conditions what

▶ 32:06 Michael P. Zwirko: do you think the duration would be for this entire construction I'm gonna I'm gonna estimate six to eight weeks six to eight weeks and if we were if the the hours were to be altered to shorten your work period obviously that would extend the duration I mean I'm just I'm very concerned about 730 as a start time if you if you know the area it is used as a cut through especially on commuter commuter hours in the morning and I know that the the memo here has outlined for a traffic management plan which I greatly appreciate but you know it's it's it's it's a residential area that's kind of only to the locals know that it is used as a cut through so there's concerns there and you know the 730 a.m.

▶ 32:46 Michael P. Zwirko: start time gives me a little bit of concern but if we were to shorten it to like 9 to 3 30 well how would that affect the duration it would extend it I wouldn't say greatly but it would definitely extend it because when what else is in this is that on every day we have to repave the end of it so we have to make sure that we have paving we are in and everything's paved and complete by 3 30 so that would really shorten our time of by putting in pipe or excavating from the hours of like 9 a.m. to maybe 1230 if that makes sense yeah no no I understand because you want to stop early so you can get the paving down yep yeah I just you know with school and this being a neighborhood it's that start time just seems a little early I mean I won't make the motion to amend

▶ 33:29 Michael P. Zwirko: the hours but I just asked that you know since you've done this before and you have some experience and I know the duration is going to be you know two months max I just asked to be mindful of those and the residents absolutely all right well thank you I appreciate it that's all the questions I had mr. president thank you thank you I'm sorry did you say that you had an area designated as a staging area we have not yet I have not worked that out with Mr. Cantone. Okay, and so you don't know whether you'd be taking the equipment back and forth every night or leaving it? We would definitely leave the equipment in the area. We wouldn't be able to take it back. The contractors, their yard's in Dorchester, so it would be nearly

▶ 34:05 Monica C. Medeiros: impossible to remove it every night and bring it back. Okay, and I do have some questions for the city engineer, if that would be appropriate this time. We're under suspension. Could you come forward please I'm actually was wondering if you could I see that there is a memo dated today you know and in all honesty I haven't had a chance to to read that yet and I'm sure that maybe there are some members of the public who haven't gotten to read that yet I was wondering if you could go to go over the proposed conditions that sure okay the first condition I'll just summarize I'm not gonna read verbatim is just that we would meet with National Grid before any of the work starts just to verify the final corridor so sometimes there are

▶ 34:52 utilities once we've marked out our utilities we decide we don't want it you know so close to the water main or so close to the other gas main so that's the first the second is about our winter moratorium so since this work is not emergency work we we're not going to allow it during the winter months the third one is just to follow the dig safe requirements and the markouts with DPW for existing utilities number four the National Grid has to comply with all the requirements of our street opening permit which is issued through the engineering division number five is just pertaining to restoration of sidewalks and any areas that are disturbed it says roadways too but we'll get to the more significant roadway restoration requirements on the reverse side since

▶ 35:48 this isn't going to involve service work like most of the National Grid projects do there shouldn't really be any sidewalk impacts or curbing impacts police details number six police details are required and and those are always scheduled directly between National Grid or their contractor and the police department saw cutting of the pavement is required prior to excavation and temporary patching as Bobby mentioned they patch every day so our requirement is consistent with that and then the permanent restoration we don't want it any earlier than 30 days because you want to allow time for a little bit of settlement of those trenches and then we have our standard depths under number eight for the pavement patching number nine we are requiring curb to curb

▶ 36:40 restoration along the entire project corridor which is not I would say not our typical um you know it's been done on some streets and not on others i know on ferdinand street last year we required the one foot out from the curb to the curb in this instance woodland robe was paved about a decade ago maybe 12 years but still the neighborhood considers that to be a new road and then warren street national grid actually paid to pave it last year so they're cutting into the brand new road there and then it's just a tiny strip of franklin street and franklin being such a major road and also in good condition we felt that it was appropriate to do curb to curb restoration for the entire project site in the past we have given national grid the

▶ 37:26 option of either bringing in their own paving contractor or paying for the work to be done by the city's contractor as part of our road program would be open to either approach on this um number 10 is replacement of pavement markings 11 is notifying the residents in writing Bobby mentioned 48 hours notice he's been working on pretty much all the projects this year with National Grid and Devereux their contractor along with our office so we've actually been doing neighborhood meetings with every neighborhood in fact I know a lot of the ward aldermen have been attending the neighborhood meetings that we've had so National Grid's been doing a really good with that and I think it's made a big difference meeting with the neighbors

▶ 38:10 you know anyone who chooses to attend we meet right on a street corner in the neighborhood right after work so at a time when people can come conveniently out of their homes and not have to come down to City Hall and leave kids at home and all that we're requiring two lanes of traffic to be maintained on Franklin Street this is in part due to the fact that we weren't planning on restricting the hours so we wanted to make sure the commuter traffic can get through I will note that at least one resident who's here mentioned to me that sometimes the construction cuts down on the cut through traffic and that's actually a welcome change for the neighborhood I know on Warwick Road where we've been

▶ 38:53 doing work both with the gas company and ourselves with water it's been a benefit to the folks or at least we've been told people like the construction because nobody's cutting through the street anymore and that construction has gone on for such a long duration that maybe some people will have found a new route by the end of construction and maybe they'll stick to their new route we'll see and then we had construction hours at 7 a.m. to 3 30 p.m. I had thought the ordinance had those hours but if that's incorrect what's that so that's it that's number 13 thank you you love the floor all the medeiros thank you very much and i think that hopefully helps uh to to lay that out and know that we probably will be anticipating uh adding this to the to the order officially throughout

▶ 39:45 this um do we know how how deep you're going with the trenches i will be at a minimum three feet so but it depends on on what's in the ground and what we find when we do our test holes and verification laws and is there anything in our uh in our street opening permits that addresses or do we have anything that addresses any damage that might happen to private homeowners yeah that's that's a typical standard in any of our street opening permits that if something gets disturbed it has to be restored in kind and and what's the remedy for for somebody how how would they go about uh so when national grid distributes the notices they'll actually be getting assuming it's the same process we've had on the other projects they'll be getting

▶ 40:32 three letters all together by mail that explain the project and then one more dropped off at the door for the notification for the neighborhood meeting and those notices have Bobby's number on them they also have Rick cantones office number for engineering so if someone as Bobby says did the neighborhood meetings someone can always talk to the foreman on the site if If they're not comfortable with that, they can call him. If they're not comfortable with that, they can always call engineering and we'll call Bobby or talk to Devereux directly. Okay, and have you in the past required that a staging area be set up in advance of the work beginning? So typically the staging on a project that's this long in total length,

▶ 41:22 the staging might move from place to place. We try to keep it within the right of way. It's oftentimes, I can't remember if there is a grass strip on, I think on most of Woodland Road, there might not be a sidewalk with a grass strip, but it's oftentimes in that vicinity of the right-of-way. We try not to block sidewalks. Sometimes if there are sections where the road widens out, we cone off an area, and things are staged right on the edge of the road. The construction vehicles typically will be in some location in close proximity to the work. pulled over to the side with cones around them a lot of the construction equipment it's they don't have wheels they have tracks so they have to be moved any greater distance they'd have to be

▶ 42:06 moved by a flatbed so try to keep it as close as possible to the work area sometimes the staging ends up being on an immediate side street so we would notify the residents if they're outside the work area so they're not getting all the standard notices we would notify them if we're going to put anything in front of their house and will the if you're going to be repaving or at least patching and will the roads be sort of washed down at the end of the day or i know sometimes in the past it can cause a lot of dust and yes so at the end of the at the end of the day that they will sweep with their uh equipment they have a sweeper on the front they put on their their uh skid steer they'll sweep the roads make sure the dirt's picked up if it is particularly dry

▶ 42:53 then we can use a water truck and we'll wet it down prior to doing it we try to mitigate the dust as much as possible so yes and it'll be patched and paved every night so there will be no open holes no open dirt it'll be left to asphalt and do you take security measures to protect the the vehicles and and say kids from getting too close into some of the construction vehicles overnight or somebody you know accidentally you know harming themselves yes yes all the vehicles are locked at into work they're coned off they're they're barred off as best as possible and all the accessories for the vehicles the buckets the the back ends are all either put down or they're out of out of harm's way as well thank you thank you very much thank you anyone else i have alderman

▶ 43:48 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: mcateer margolis alderman Boisselle and then alderman trim and tozy uh thank you mr mr president um as um alderman's worker mentioned i'm also a little concerned about the traffic issue i think one of the neighbors mentioned that there are no sidewalks on this on that on woodland on that part part of Woodland? Are you aware, are you familiar with that? Some parts have no sidewalks. I don't think many have, I don't think any have curbs. In any case, if the city engineer could just establish the sidewalk issue and the walking and maybe have a meeting with the traffic officer there so that they can address the pedestrian traffic especially during school time in the mornings and returning at the end of the day and I just wonder if National Grid

▶ 44:52 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: gave any consideration to doing this project in the summer like when there was no school and I don't know how many children are in the neighborhood that walk it's a pretty close practice you know proximity to the elementary school that kids would be walking back and forth I would think so those would just just be whether or not you would maybe start a little bit later in the season instead of April if you started in June and ran it through the summer you wouldn't have as much issue with you know school pedestrians yes ma'am I understand your concerns on the the morning and afternoon pedestrian issues all of our all of our work does have a police detail on on-site and they're actually very well at uh verse they they spot the walkers and they they they cone them off and

▶ 45:41 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: we put a very significant distance in between what works going on and and where people can walk our foremen are very uh aware of that surrounding area as for the summer it's definitely something we look at but we tend to find lots of projects that that are around schools and we try to find the ones that are specifically in front of schools like first street uh this year that we can try to to do while there's no school in session so that would be my only request to the through you it would be the the curbing and the sidewalk issue and you know maybe it can be worked out with the neighborhood to address some of those concerns particularly if we have a meeting far enough in advance that people have time to really think about it and consider and if everybody can't

▶ 46:31 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: get to the meeting then other you know the word of mouth will get around and can email you or i mean we found that to be most helpful in our neighborhood when when you did all the water and sewer work so i'm sure that neighbors would appreciate that yeah and if there are needs for curbing and sidewalks that aren't there we would probably that's not something we would have national grid contribute but if we're paving anyway and especially if we end up paving with our contractor as part of the road program it is a perfect opportunity to look at what the other needs are and see if we can fund them through chapter 90 or some other funding source great and also in terms of the staging if you are using like a side street or an abutting area that isn't

▶ 47:09 Robert A. Boisselle: necessarily involved in the project obviously you're going to be considerate of of that neighborhood as well and their traffic issues and coning it off and and including them in your correspondence beforehand yes ma'am thank you thank you uh just so that the board is aware we have seven minutes before we're going to have to recess this public hearing to start our second public hearing baldman boisel you have the floor thank you uh basically going back to sidewalk issue i mean if if there's no sidewalks there and you're fit and you're after this project you're pretty well finished according to the letter that you hear is the city going to put in the concrete sidewalks with the granite curbs all the way down in this particular area i'm not sure if the road

▶ 47:55 has the width for it in the areas where there are no sidewalks so we'd have to look at the whole road as part of the road program you know separate from this but so you you will be looking at it we will look at it you will look at it we can't um guarantee that we'll have funding for it i know other neighborhoods where we've been working this year i know altamont ave for example when we had our neighborhood meeting for the water main project they expressed a strong interest in having sidewalks which would be a major undertaking which we also don't have in our road program right now budget-wise so you know we would we would certainly have to look at it look at the layout see if it would fit see if there's broad neighborhood support um and then i think you have

▶ 48:38 Robert A. Boisselle: we have a couple neighbors but you know each street is different and interesting oh yes i understand that what people want once you once you schedule a neighborhood meeting and say we're talking about adding sidewalks you might get a variety of different opinions question to bobby here uh this is the insulation of a new pipe or a replacement this is a new pipe sir this is a new pipeline to to reinforce the existing low pressure system that's in the area to make sure it's a reliable system it's going to be any in the concrete structure of any sort or just laying pipe down and that's in sand and so forth uh just just laying pipe into into the sand this is in the sand okay very good and you understand the curb to curb uh requirement yes okay very good thank you thank

▶ 49:24 John N. Tramontozzi: Thank you, Alderman Tramontozzi. Thank you. I think I have the last word, but the city engineer addressed the last question that I had, and that was about the curbs. I think that most of the neighbors do want it. There are areas that don't have concrete curbs, and I think it's something we should look at. If we're going to be digging up the area, we might as well consider putting some down to clean up those streets. Thank you. Thank you. A motion to add the conditions from the city engineer in her memorandum dated December 4th, 2017. Second. A motion to amend. Alderman Medeiros moves to amend the order to include the memorandum with the conditions from the city engineer. A motion is seconded by Alderman Mortimer.

▶ 50:08 Is there discussion relative to the motion? All those in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion passes. The order as amended is before you. motion to recommend second motion to recommend the order duly made and seconded miss O'Shea could you call the roll please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes Oliver McIntyre my goal is yes yes Oliver Madeiras yes yes Oliver Mortimer yes yes Oliver Tramontozzi yes yes Oliver Zwirko yes yes president Kahn yes yes yes that order passes we have a second order for public hearing this evening 2018-45 petition of national grid to install up to 540 feet of four inch plastic low pressure main off of the existing six inch bear street low pressure main on forest street down the proposed dead end

▶ 54:57 moves to conclude the public hearing relative to this order the motion is seconded by alderman forbes on the motion all those in favor anyone pose motion passes any alderman have any questions alderman boys out on your plans you're just you're just laying the pipeline in the middle of the street are you connecting to these units or uh the initial portion will be to get off of uh forest street so we're not disturbing the main road there after that um it could pro the rest of the project will probably happen down the road sometime during the winter or during the spring when the uh the units are actually uh built so you'll be coming back to we would be on the property of blueberry hill lane off the off forest but you'll be coming back for a permit to go from the street to the

▶ 55:45 homes now on the next go around so just to clarify that again that the um the petition that was submitted to the city clerk's office it stated that it was for 540 feet of four inch plastic mean but it's really only blueberry hill lane is a private way at this time okay so it's really only for the portion to get it off of forest street into blueberry hill lane once it gets into blueberry hill lane and all those services none of that requires a granted location so this petition is really just for for down at the end but they will require utility permits from the engineering division to do the service the final pro the final aspects of the hookup to the uh units here okay thank you thank you anyone else Alderman McAteer-Margolis

▶ 56:29 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: Alderman Forbes thank you mr. president so this project is also like backs up to a school that is primarily serviced with buses transportation it's our CM collaborative I believe leases the building so just to you know mention is there a traffic plan part of this or it tends to be a lot of traffic a lot of drop-off and pickup traffic a lot of children who may have special needs in the area waiting especially in the springtime what's the proximity would you say is practice to the school it's it's a couple parcels from the school right yeah right yeah so in and in terms of your equipment uh will it be remaining there overnight where will it be uh the most likely location to store the equipment would be on the property at

▶ 57:28 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: blueberry hill lane um that would be something that we would probably have to work out with the contractor but it's the most likely scenario for where we would be storing the equipment um i'm more concerned with the forest street and the actual work of the connection happening there and being cognizant of um and there's also it's also a bus route and you're just sort of budding malden there aren't you where's the malden line i mean it's right further down forest street yeah right up the street so will you be notifying malden and their uh the neighbors close yeah the butter's letters uh we'll be sending out brothers letters just like uh the last project we discuss um so there'll be letters going to uh residents in melrose and malden

▶ 58:13 anyone that would be effect in the affected area okay and um you do is there i didn't read through all the conditions but is there a traffic plan included in this uh we didn't specify specifically a traffic plan but we did say that no detours can be effect during school hours and that access needs to be provided at all times to anybody going to the Ripley school whether it's a bus or you know van or parents picking up or dropping off we recognize that this population of kids requires you know if you pick up right in front of the school has to be right in front of the school so yeah whatever the the accommodation is it has to be there can't be a change of plans in my mind with the way to pick up and

▶ 58:58 Scott M. Forbes: drop and I think there's also some parking for probably for staff along the forest street side as well so if you could just include that in your reviews going forward Thank You mr. president Thank You alderman Forbes Thank You mr. president on condition number two I just want a point of clarification I know it said the record stated that there was a 65 foot length of cast iron is that the work that is going to be done on forest street so that's the additional work that we're requesting it wasn't part of the grant of location request and actually doesn't require grant of location because it's a replacement sure but that would be the additional work so the work that requires the grant is from

▶ 59:37 Scott M. Forbes: on the plan from the cast iron main to the side of Forest Street which is probably 20 feet at most yeah and then this additional 65 feet would would still be under the engineering divisions permit but it wouldn't be part of it okay I'm just looking to see how much of the road would be affected that's all yeah so 65 feet in length down down Forest Street okay I think we all established this is a high volume area especially in the morning this is an area where people will cut through to get to Main Street get to Oak Grove it's commuter roadway so obviously public safety is is one of our concerns that we have here it seems like you have a traffic plan in place my concern is with the residents that have been there this project has gone on for 15 plus years 20

▶ 1:00:17 Scott M. Forbes: years and so the the thing I just want to emphasize in this agreement and I know a lot of these things were mentioned in the first one and it is very detailed which i do appreciate uh when you have work hours for it says in here it's seven to i believe seven to three thirty um just to make sure that you follow those to the letter because we have a lot of idling trucks from the construction crews and from all the different uh people that have been going up on blueberry hill they idle at 6 15 6 30 they're not supposed to start till seven o'clock and if you're a resident of that area it's just one thing after another so um i don't have any doubt that you'll fulfill your obligations here just to make sure that we

▶ 1:00:53 Scott M. Forbes: uh make sure the consideration of the residents that have been there for a long time the other thing i just wanted to take a quick peek at um you said the staging area was going to be i know you said it's on forestry but you're looking to get in the construction area as soon as possible correct yes okay because so that way we can kind of make that more cleaner and then anybody that is going to be using that road wakes is in addition to that being a commuter area for cars it's also people that people walk people jog people ride their bikes just want to make sure that that's all cleaned up as well I think that's that's all I have and then also a you you did mention the letter drops right do you know when this part of the job is going to be taking place because I know

▶ 1:01:37 Scott M. Forbes: you said because of the because of the circumstances you're allowed to work now and not wait until spring yeah because we would slow down the entire Blueberry Hill Lane project because they can't do any other final roadway grading or anything till they get their utilities okay do we have a target date if we say the approval process happens tonight before Christmas before Christmas okay so then these letters will be will be sent out sooner rather than later in these neighborhood meetings would take place as well yes okay we wouldn't typically have a neighborhood meeting for something this small understand but at least the communication will take place that's my concern okay thank you very much Thank You mr. president Thank You

▶ 1:02:15 Monica C. Medeiros: alderman medeiros thank you again i see that we have a letter of conditions from the city engineer dated today um mr o'gara have have you received this list of conditions from the engineering department yes and do you have any issues with any of the items nope no and And Ms. Paracas-Ellis, could you kind of go through this agenda item, this? Sure. I've touched on a few of them already, but the first one is just about the grant of location only being for the portion of the work at the end of Blueberry Hill Lane at 4th Street. Number two just talks about whether they're tying into the cast iron or the bare steel and replacing that extra 65 feet of cast iron that's out there. Number three is the same condition as before

▶ 1:03:05 meeting to identify the exact corridor with the engineering division number four is the condition about dig safe and marking out all the utilities with DPW as well number five is adhering to the street opening permits and requirements number six is replacement in kind of any disturbed areas so this this applies more so with this project because we're not requiring any major paving at the end of this we recognize that the proponent for Blueberry Hill the end of this project he needs to replace a water main on 4th Street and he needs to pave the area that he's disturbed so that I don't believe was required by the Planning Department to be curb to curb or by the Planning Board I think it's just the portion of the road that he's disturbing but I know he keeps trying to

▶ 1:03:57 encourage the city to pave the other half of the road at the same time as he paves his half and it's not a terrible idea so we we might look into that um but in this case this is more restoration of sidewalks and curbing and anything you know grass areas anything that's disturbed um we did make a note here about the pedestrian access maintaining pedestrian access and coordinating the police details with the police department um number eight is about saw cutting the trenches and permanent patching daily and again more than 30 days before they do the final patch number nine is the requirements for the thickness of the patches number 10 is replacing any pavement markings 11 is notification at least 48 hours in advance to businesses and residences 12

▶ 1:04:51 touches on the work hours and also the items I mentioned before about not impacting any of the school buses or vans or parents dropping off and picking up and not implementing any detours during those school pick up and drop off hours and then 13 is the winter moratorium and the fact that we will allow this work to take place during the winter could just go over the the I'm not sure if i quite understood something need to be amended between what was submitted to the city clerk on this six inches and do we need to amend this yeah i would recommend that where it says um where it says four inches of plastic low pressure main off the existing six inch bare steel that should actually be changed to cast iron although now they will be replacing that cast iron but at

▶ 1:05:49 least it'll be accurate for what's existing right now and then also the total length where it's listed as 540 feet the grant is just for this first portion and i didn't have it at a it's not to scale so i didn't have the exact measurement 20 feet if 20 feet okay so if you want to say approximately 20 feet that might be sufficient instead of the 540 feet so instead of petition petition of national grid to install up to 540 feet we would amend that to be 20 approximately 20 instead of up to 540 it would be approximately 20. okay so uh right now i'd like to make a motion to amend this okay could i just make a suggestion could we make a comprehensive motion to amend that would include all all elements sure so i would move to amend to uh

▶ 1:06:40 Monica C. Medeiros: in to change up to 540 feet to be instead to read to install approximately 20 feet the first part of the petition additionally I would move to amend to change in that first sentence the existing six inch barrel steel low pressure mean to change the words barrel sorry bar steel to cast iron and to also to adopt the memorandum the conditions and listed in the memorandum dated December 4th 2017 2000 from Elena Paracas Ellis our city engineer to the Board of Aldermen regarding the proposed conditions and further I would amend the conditions to make the start time 8 a.m. as mr. O'Gara had indicated in his initial presentation that start that work would start from 8 a.m. Alderman Medeiros has made a motion encompassing all of those points.

▶ 1:07:55 Monica C. Medeiros: Second. Motion is seconded by Alderman McAteer-Margolis. Is there discussion relative to the motion to amend? All those in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion passes. The order as amended is before you. Sorry. A bit of discussion on the — just the change — we've heard in the news media and everything there's lots of leaking pipes leaking of gas those are pipes that are cast iron generally and that's why we want to change this to plastic is better yeah the pipes that we're trying to replace citywide are the cast iron pipes for the most part there are other materials as well but we replace it we're national grid is replacing those with plastic those are the projects actually the

▶ 1:08:42 Bobby who was here before have been working on throughout the city so yes okay and and steel how does that steel is also leak-prone pipe it's up to our engineering department when we do replace it but eventually all of it will be replaced the cast iron and the bare steel okay good well I'm I'm glad to see that we have adopted that change to add the replacement of those feet of cast iron pipes thank you the order as amended is before you is there anything else anyone wishes to add there's no further discussion motion recommend second Alderman Forbes moves to recommend the order is amended motion seconded by Alderman Mortimer Ms. O'Shea could you call the roll please yeah Alderman Vazell yes yes Alderman Forbes yes yes Alderman Inferna yes yes

▶ 1:09:39 Alderman Lemmerman yes yes Alderman McAteer-Margolis yes yes Alderman Adiris yes yes Oliver Mortimer yes yes Oliver Tramontozzi yes yes Oliver Zwerchow yes yes president Kahn yes yes 10 yes that order passes thank you very much folks thank you so much Elena hey could we move on to communications from his honor the mayor and other city officials please order number 2018-40 an appropriation from parking receipts two nine zero six two dash five nine zero zero zero zero in the amount of twenty eight thousand three hundred sixty dollars to various accounts as set forth within that order will be referred to the committee on finance sorry no I pulled up the wrong agenda for a second I don't know how

▶ 1:10:42 that happened here apologies it's actually order number twenty eighteen dash 49 transfer in the amount of $3,400 from account number one seven five two two dash five four nine one zero zero projected debt interest to account number zero one one six one two dash five two nine zero zero zero City Clerk professional services for temporary help in the city clerk's office that order we'll go to the committee on finance order number 2018 dash 50 acceptance of the fiscal year 2018 state 9-1-1 department support and incentive grant in the amount of fifty six thousand one hundred eighty seven dollars from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety fund number two five nine five committee on finance order number 2018 51 acceptance of

▶ 1:11:42 fiscal year 2018 dash to 2022 traffic enforcement and equipment grant from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts executive office of public safety and securities highway safety division to fund number four zero two three that order will go the committee on finance order number 2018-52 acceptance of a grant in the amount of fifty thousand six hundred and sixty nine dollars from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts office of coastal zone management said funds should be deposited into fund number four zero two eight the CMZ grant that order will also go to the committee on finance if we could move to new business please order number 2018-53 amending Melrose revised ordinances chapter 198 by adding article

▶ 1:12:38 Peter D. Mortimer: 5 recyclable and reusable bags further add section 198-11 use of recyclable and reusable bags as set forth here in that order will go to the committee on legal and legislative matters we have any orders out of order this evening are Are there any orders from committee? Mr. President, I make a motion to remove order 2018-40. It is an appropriation from parking receipts in the amount of $28,360 to various accounts as set forth herein. I move that that order be removed from committee. Alderman Mortimer moves to remove order 2018-40 from committee. Second. Seconded by Alderman Forbes. Is there any discussion on the motion? all those in favor of the motion please indicate by saying aye aye aye is there anyone opposed

▶ 1:13:34 motion passes the order is removed from committee it is before you this order was recommended for passage by the committee on appropriations motion for passage as recommended by committee mr president alderman mortimer moves passage motion is seconded by alderman forbes is there discussion ms o'shea could you call the role please yes yes salomon forbes yes yes salomon Yes. Yes, Alderman Emmerman? Yes. Yes, Alderman McAteer-Margolis medicines? Yes. Yes, Alderman Medeiros? Yes. Yes, Alderman Mautama? Yes. Yes, Alderman Tramontozzi? Yes. Yes, Alderman Zwirko? Yes. Yes, President Conn. Yes. Yes, 10 yes. That order passes. Any additional orders to be removed from committee this evening? Mr. President, I make a motion to remove order 2018-39.

▶ 1:14:22 It is an appropriation from available free cash in the amount of $936,000 to various accounts as set forth herein. Alderman Mortimer moves to remove Order 2018-39 from committee. Second. Motion is seconded by Alderman Forbes. Discussion on the motion, please. All those in favor of the motion, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Anyone opposed? Motion passes. The order is before you. this order also comes recommended from the Committee on Appropriations motion for passage mr. president second alderman Mortimer moves the passage motion is seconded by alderman Forbes is there discussion as I shake would you call the roll yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes Yes, Alderman Zwirko?

▶ 1:15:22 Peter D. Mortimer: Yes. Yes, President Conn? Yes. Yes, Tim, yes. That order passes. Mr. President, I move that we remove order 2018-38 from committee. It is a request to set a public hearing on classification of property for November 30th that was held on November 30th, 2017 at 7.30 PM. and once we remove it from committee i'll have more to say if that motion passes we'll look forward to that alderman mortimer moves to remove the order from committee second motion seconded by alderman forbes on the motion all those in favor aye anyone opposed motion passes the order is before you mr president i make a motion that we adopt the committee recommendation and the committee recommendation was to set a residential factor of 0.965587 with a shift of 1.650.

▶ 1:16:22 Peter D. Mortimer: Further, that we do not select an open space discount, we do not grant a residential exemption, and that we do adopt the granting of a small commercial, excuse me, do not grant a small commercial exemption. I think I said that all clearly and that is my motion sir for passage second ultimate mortar Mortimer is moving for passage of the order as amended the motion is seconded by Alderman's work oh is the discussion as I say could you call the roll on the order as amended please album Brazil yes yes Oliver and Forbes yes yes I'm an inferno yes yes I'm Alderman Lemmerman? Yes. Yes. Alderman McAteer-Margolis? Yes. Yes. Alderman Medeiros? Yes. Yes. Alderman Mortimer? Yes. Yes. Alderman Tramontozzi?

▶ 1:17:11 Scott M. Forbes: Yes. Yes. Alderman Zwirko? Yes. Yes. President Conn? Yes. Yes. Ten years. That order passes. Do we have any other orders from committee this evening? Do we have any reports from any aldermen who are members of outside committees under Rule 53, Alderman Forbes? Thank you, Mr. President. wanted to let everybody know that the next Water and Sewer Committee meeting will take place on Tuesday December 19th in the conference room next to the mayor's office at 3 o'clock p.m. there's been some shuffling around but they finally have settled on a time stay tuned thank you Alderman Inferno thank you very much mr. president also the traffic Commission will be meeting on December 20th at 530 here in the aldermanic chamber and if

▶ 1:17:57 If any alderman could get any requests to myself or to Amy Heidebrandt here at City Hall, that would be great. And I would suggest that you do it by the end of this week. Thank you. Anything else? Just a clarification that water and sewer was at 3 PM? 3 PM. 3 PM, thank you. Thank you. That concludes our business for this evening. Motion to adjourn, Mr. President. Second. Alderman Mortimer moves to adjourn, seconded by Alderman Forbes. All those in favor of adjournment, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. anybody opposed to adjournment motion passes meeting is adjourned

City Council — 2017-12-04

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