Finance Committee — 2017-12-11

Finance Committee Meeting

This meeting starts at 0:01 in a recording that covers several meetings.

Attendance

Robert A. Boisselle present · Nonvoting Member; Donald L. Conn Jr. present · President/Ex-officio Member; Scott M. Forbes present · Chairman; Gail Infurna present · Nonvoting Member; Jennifer L. Lemmerman present · Nonvoting Member; Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis present · Nonvoting Member; Monica C. Medeiros present · Nonvoting Member; Peter D. Mortimer present · Ward 6 Alderman; John N. Tramontozzi present · Vice Chairman; Francis X. Wright Jr. present · Ward 3 Alderman; Michael P. Zwirko present · Alderman at Large

Agenda

Minutes

CITY OF MELROSE FINANCE COMMITTEE CALENDAR● DECEMBER 11, 2017 Aldermanic Chamber, Melrose City Hall Committee Meeting 7:30 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 The public should take notice that the Melrose Board of Aldermen may, on certain occasions, have a quorum in attendance due to standing committees of the Board of Aldermen consisting of both voting and non-voting members. Members attending this duly posted meeting are participating and deliberating only in conjunction with the business of the standing committee. Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Scott M. Forbes Chairman Present John N. Tramontozzi Vice Chairman Present Francis X. Wright Jr. Ward 3 Alderman Present Peter D. Mortimer Ward 6 Alderman Present Michael P. Zwirko Alderman at Large Present Donald L. Conn Jr. President/Ex-officio Member Present Robert A. Boisselle Nonvoting Member Present Gail M. Infurna Nonvoting Member Present Jennifer L. Lemmerman Nonvoting Member Present Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis Nonvoting Member Present Monica C. Medeiros Nonvoting Member Present

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 Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen

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. Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen

ORDER-2018-49 Transfer 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. Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen City of Melrose Page 1 Updated 12/13/2017 11:14 AM Minutes Finance Committee December 11, 2017

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. Recommend Passage Legal & Legislative Committee City of Melrose Page 2 Updated 12/13/2017 11:14 AM

Transcript

▶ 0:01 Scott M. Forbes: Good evening. It is 7.30. This is the Committee on Finance. My name is Alderman Scott Forbes. I'm your Finance Committee Chairman. Members of the Finance Committee include Alderman Tramontozzi, who serves as Vice Chair, Alderman Wright, Alderman Mortimer, Alderman Zwirko, and President Kahn. Non-voting members of this committee that are present, Alderman Boisselle, Alderman Infurna, Alderman Lemmerman, Alderman McAteer-Margolis, and Alderman Medeiros. This meeting is being recorded in accordance with our Massachusetts General Open Meeting Laws. You can view us on MMTV or you can click on the links at the City of Melrose website. Motion to open the floor for public participation, Mr. Chairman.

▶ 0:39 Scott M. Forbes: Second. We have a motion to open the floor for public participation made by Alderman Mortimer, seconded by Alderman Zwirko. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? This is the portion of our meeting where anybody from the general public can speak on behalf of the four orders that are before us this evening for the Finance Committee. Motion to close, this is just finance, Ms. McDonald. Motion to close public participation, Mr. Chairman. Second. We got a motion to close public participation made by Alderman Mortimer, seconded by Alderman Zwirko. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Public participation is now concluded. We have four orders before us this evening. The first is order number 2018-50.

▶ 1:19 Scott M. Forbes: It's an acceptance of the fiscal year 2018 State 911 Department Support and initiative grant in the amount of $56,187 from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety, fund number 2595. Motion to suspend the rules that we might hear from Chief Lyle, Mr. Chairman. Second. We got a motion to suspend the rules made by Alderman Mortimer, seconded by Alderman Zwirko. Are all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The rules are suspended. Chief Lyle, how are you this evening? Good. Very good. Much appreciated. If you could just give us a brief description of the grant that's before us tonight. Certainly. This is a 911 grant. They call it the support grant. It basically assists the police department with some nonessential items.

▶ 2:05 Scott M. Forbes: It's like an AC unit for the dispatch center cleaning service annually. It supports us with our playback system in dispatch for recordings. It also gives us approximately $50,000 for dispatcher salaries, which offsets some of our costs in our budget. That's the grant. We've been getting the same number, $56,187 annually for the past several years. Thank you. Hope for discussion. Alderman Mortimer, please. No match, right, Chief? No match. As always. Thank you. I'd make a motion to recommend this order for passage. We've got a motion to recommend for passage. Seconded by Alderman Mortimer, seconded by Alderman Zwirko. Anybody else on discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion will be recommended to the full board at our next meeting.

▶ 2:55 Scott M. Forbes: I believe you're up for the next one too, Chief. This is order number 2018-51. Acceptance of the fiscal year 2018 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 4023. Chief. This is an annual grant, this is the third year of a grant. It's kind of surprising that the numbers have dropped dramatically. Over the past several years, we've been getting $7,500, now it's down to $1,400 and change. It won't go far. We will do the best with what we have. This current campaign, which started on the first, is drive silver or get pulled over. We'll use these monies, whatever else we have,

▶ 3:40 Gail Infurna: to get us through the end of the month. And then from there, we're hopeful that there'll be some more funds coming through WEOPs. On the floor for discussion? Motion to recommend. Second. Got a motion to recommend by Alderman Zwirko, seconded by Alderman Mortimer. On discussion, I see Alderman Inferno, please. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I'm not a voting member of this committee, so I hope that the committee will allow me. Do you have any idea what you would be using some of this money for? It'll be target enforcement. Pardon me? Tiger enforcement speed enforcement operating under the influence enforcement over the coming weeks through the through the holidays as we know and as you and I sit on the traffic Commission we know speed is the number

▶ 4:26 Scott M. Forbes: one problem that comes to us during those meetings so you know unfortunately the money has been cut as you said but hopefully we can really get our the men out men and women out there to enforce the speed so thank you and hopefully you're welcome thank you be put to good use and we all want everyone to have a safe and happy holiday season all right so we have a motion that's been made and duly seconded all those in favor all right any opposed motion passes will be recommended the next full board meeting chief thank you very much your attendance here tonight thank you next order we have number two zero one eight dash four nine it's a transfer in the amount of thirty four hundred dollars from account number

▶ 5:12 Scott M. Forbes: zero 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 uh we're still under Under suspension, Ms. O'Shea, good evening. Good evening. So, the appropriation is to cover temporary help in the clerk's office. And due to staff transitions, so we have the assistant city clerk that's going to be retiring. She'll be leaving February 2nd, but then she, February 2nd in the office, but then it will be further out because then her vacation time will come into play. So, and then this, depending upon who fills that vacancy,

▶ 6:14 it could create a second vacancy in the clerk's office. So all in all, I discussed this with Mirian Long in the auditor's office, and we came up with this plan for eight weeks of temporary help. on complex so mary rita will this get you to the end of the year this uh appropriation oh this is just temporary help okay so what what period of time is it going to cover well we'll cover from the week of january 22nd through i think march 16th and do you anticipate march 16th do you anticipate that there'll be a need for more money to fund this line oh this is just yeah this is just for temporary help okay so it's not going to get you to the end of the year you might might be back thank you motion to recommend for passage mr chairman got a motion to recommend for passage

▶ 7:07 Scott M. Forbes: made by alderman mortimer second and by alderman Tramontozzi is there anybody else in discussion all those in favor any opposed motion passes be recommended our next full board meeting thank you very much for your attendance here tonight finally we have order number two zero one eight dash five two it's an 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 cmz grant rules are still under suspension mr shena good evening good evening everybody just summarize the uh order that's before the committee that'd be much appreciated sure thanks this is um this is actually a third grant that we've received

▶ 7:57 from this program it's kind of ascending and the type of work that we've done we did some storm water quality delineation of the el pond watershed that's all the water that drains into el pond we did that with a 50 000 grant from the same agency in 2015 and 2016. we took some of those findings and applied for a design grant to do some green infrastructure green infrastructure is when you when you try to improve storm water quality with plantings and soft scape features. So we were able to get that in 2016, we got a $6,700 grant to do some of that design work. There was no match to that, or our match was in-kind services for that piece of it. We have a design ready to go. We have a contract ready to go to do some green infrastructure on Orient Ave.

▶ 8:52 had in may we had a neighborhood meeting there and we proposed this to the neighborhood and they seem to be they seem to be accepting of of the proposals and i just want to pass out a what it could look like being circulated and we'll add it to the package tomorrow but that's That's an example of what green infrastructure is. In this 50,000, I'm trying to get the number right, $50,669,000 grant, which does include a match of in-kind services, which is salary, and a piece of the direct expenses, which is about $6,820, which we'll cover through our DPW budget, will allow us to implement this this spring on Orient Dab. The overall objective is to take storm water and try to redirect it into these type of gardens.

▶ 10:06 Michael P. Zwirko: Which could clean the water up before it goes downstream and eventually into El Ponte. This will actually help us when MS4, the next round of the National Pollutant Discharge Program comes out. We'll be ahead of the curve, we'll be looked upon favorably, and we can do most of this, as you can see, with the grant. Any questions? Olin Zwirko, please. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So the benefit here then, derivatively, will apply to El Pond for the stormwater. I mean, one of the things that we face with El Pond is it has deteriorated in its water quality over time, and is the hope that these gardens will actually you know the catch basins that were created from them will improve the water that's sent to el pond is that is that the hope true this isn't

▶ 11:00 a flood control right program this is quality storm water quality try to try to get the the sediment try to get the um the solids out of the storm water before it make they make their way downstream and eventually into el pond because that's where that orient dab neighborhood makes its way to and is it even even possible i mean with with salt in the winters as well is that is that also the hope to take out some of that salinity well definitely the sand yeah the salt from the rock salt likely dissolves but sometimes you know sand with the contaminates in the air that attach to it become an issue so yes this would help with that as well right well thank you i just wanted to point out that not only is it help beautify the neighborhood but it's the

▶ 11:44 downstream effect no pun intended for l pond is is helpful so yeah and a lot of communities are trying to implement this and you know we would pilot it and we can pilot it off tax dollar off the tax dollar and that's a positive great those are all the questions i had mr chairman thank you mr shenna thank you are there any voting members that have questions for mr shenna non-voting members uh almond boizel please you mentioned these rain gardens it's going to filter of water go to l pond so are you saying there's infrastructure under the grain gardens to pipe it down to the l pond yeah what it does is in some instances it'll remove the curb the actual curb and allow water to infiltrate down under the grass strip and then under the grass strip there's

▶ 12:32 rocks and eventually a pipe that it reintroduces that water into the drain system in a quick summary that's how it would work another design that's being proposed takes the catch basin water from the catch basin puts it under the sidewalk into these stone areas cleans the water up and then lets it go back into the drain system downstream so those are the two options but yes under these rain gardens would be water and then the um i guess the tech the sorry the um technically that that green infrastructure would bring the water up and use it and allow and a lot of sediment to settle now you mentioned grass as the cover but looking at the drawings that you have here this doesn't look like regular grass that you would see on your lawn these look like

▶ 13:28 Robert A. Boisselle: more grass plants of grass plantings okay now of course we don't put a lot of salt on our roadway during the winter and at first impact in the spring rains and so forth going into these gardens will these plants survive or these special plants that's that is something that we're gonna have to vet out a little more which is why it's a pilot program if they've used it before and even if we even if we have to make possibly reduce the salt in that area we have to figure out how to deal with it well there are some plant there are some plants are salt tolerant they'll take high concentrations of salt solvents mixed in with the snow and so forth and you may want to look at that in the point that they'll probably survive and really help us clean that water up thank you

▶ 14:14 Monica C. Medeiros: very much thank you chairman motion to recommend mr chairman i got a motion to recommend made by alderman mortimer seconded by alderman Zwirko still on discussion i have alderman inferno followed by alderman medeiros please thank you very much mr chairman i wasn't sure whether you saw my hand go up because uh actually alderman Boisselle asked the exact questions i was going for so i'm all for that sounds good thank you all the maderas thank you i i think you've touched on some of them so this is uh would help us to comply with the upcoming ms4 permitting requirements this also help us deal with clean water act requirements as well well this this is um storm water and it would it would help with ms4 because one of the things that that will look

▶ 14:59 at is stormwater quality and what are we doing as a community to improve on it so these type of the fact that we're doing these type of things before this law requires us to do it is always a good thing and we can pilot it to see what works what doesn't work how does it react to salt what type of plant things do we use and where else could we put them the original study in 2015 and 16 identified several sites upstream of el pond this was just one of them and we were able to design it off the taxpayer dollar and if we can build one we'll see how it works but yes they're all positives and it will help us with ms 401 when we have to put our permit forward and then will you have additional testing say after this is just for the construction does this include additional

▶ 15:46 Monica C. Medeiros: testing that might happen yeah this is just a construction grant and um now we said rain gardens and you passed around that picture which is very helpful um none of this is is open sitting water or creating ponds or anything like that it would all be the pictures are pretty reflective of what they would look like the water is introduced under on the ground and are you looking at expanding the are you looking at taking street roadway or taking sidewalks or All we may do, worst case, is take a section of curb out so that the water can make its way underneath with the granite curb in place. One of the purposes of granite curb is that the water comes off the road, hits the granite, makes its way into a catch basin.

▶ 16:39 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: But if we pull that granite, we can introduce the water into these systems and allow it to clean up before it gets reintroduced into the drain system. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next, I have Alderman McAteer-Margolis. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Most of my questions were answered, but just to back up a minute. This is water that would normally just go directly into the catch basins? Or is it that we might be having leaks and it's mixing up with our- No, this is rain. It's raining and water would go into a catch basin from that catch basin. Most of our catch basins have an area that would allow sand to settle. it's called a sump but you know this is a step even before that that would allow them to eat

▶ 17:29 so it's just going to help filter the water before it gets into the water and actually may you may even lose some of it to the absorption from the plantings right so well good luck it sounds like um a great opportunity to um pilot this and we can update the board and as part of the budget upcoming budget process because by then we hopefully will be in construction and you have all the neighbors on board on it as well they met in may um our city engineer went out and met with them and i my understanding is that all it's all a go okay thank you mr chairman thank you and finally alderman lemmerman please thank you mr chairman most of my questions were also asked and answered just one um one additional question so on the

▶ 18:11 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: match in in-kind services totaling 9 850 in staff time that's required by the grant that's for setup of the gardens no well that that'll be review of the plans the actual bidding of the documents construction oversight and that's just engineers time so the ongoing maintenance of the gardens would that be done by in-house but through tpw not through like a landscaping company in-house but these from my understanding is that once they're set up you know maybe a few plants may die need replacement but the intent is to that they maintain their self self-maintenance minimal so the current staff can do it anything that we do here especially where it's a pilot we would maintain ourselves moving forward great great great well I think

▶ 18:53 any of these sort of outside-the-box proactive plans are a great thing to pursue so thank you for for pursuing this thank you thank you we do have a motion to recommend that was made by Alderman Mortimer and seconded by Alderman Tramontozzi all those in favor aye any opposed motion will be recommended our next full board meeting. Thank you very much for your attendance, Mr. Shenna. Motion to adjourn, Mr. Chairman. We have a motion to adjourn made by Alderman Mortimer, seconded by Alderman Tramontozzi. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Adjournment. Finance Committee is now concluded. Stay tuned for legal and legislative. If the chamber could come to order, please. The hour being 7.50 p.m. on Monday, December 11th.

Finance Committee — 2017-12-11

Attendance

Agenda

Minutes

Transcript

Original documents