Finance Committee — 2018-03-05
Attendance
Manisha Bewtra ; Robert A. Boisselle ; Scott M. Forbes ; Jennifer L. Lemmerman ; Kate Lipper-Garabedian ; Monica C. Medeiros ; Peter D. Mortimer ; John N. Tramontozzi ; Francis X. Wright Jr. ; Michael P. Zwirko
Agenda
- Call to Order
- Public Participation
- Orders
- ORDER-2018-128 : Reappointment of Theodore Hunt, Jr., 241 Tremont St., Apt. 2, to the Board of Registrars of Voters for a three-year term; said term to expire on the last day of February 2019.
- ORDER-2018-129 : Reappointment of Eric Wildman, 33 Norman Road, to the Board of Registrars of Voters for a three-year term; said term to expire on the last day of February 2019.
- ORDER-2018-127 : Reappointment of Steve W. Trulli, 33 Bancroft St., to the Board of Registrars of Voters for a three-year term; said term to expire on the last day of March 2021.
- ORDER-2018-143 : A transfer in the amount of $44,000.00 from Veteran's Benefits (015432-544000) to various Police Expense accounts as set forth herein.
- ORDER-2018-146 : Renewal of Surety Bond of City Clerk, City of Melrose in the amount of $15,000.00 for the year 2018.
- Adjournment
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE FINANCE COMMITTEE CALENDAR● MARCH 5, 2018 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 Chair Present Francis X. Wright Jr. Vice Chair Present Kate Lipper-Garabedian Alderman at Large Present John N. Tramontozzi Ward 1 Alderman Present Michael P. Zwirko President/ Ex-officio Membe Absent Jennifer L. Lemmerman Nonvoting Member Present Manisha Bewtra Nonvoting Member Present Robert A. Boisselle Nonvoting Member Present Monica C. Medeiros Nonvoting Member Present Peter D. Mortimer Nonvoting Member Present
ORDER-2018-128 Appointment Reappointment of Theodore Hunt, Jr., 241 Tremont St., Apt. 2, to the Board of Registrars of Voters for a three-year term; said term to expire on the last day of February 2019. Recommend as Amended
ORDER-2018-129 Appointment Reappointment of Eric Wildman, 33 Norman Road, to the Board of Registrars of Voters for a three-year term; said term to expire on the last day of February 2019. Recommend as Amended Board of Aldermen
ORDER-2018-127 Appointment Reappointment of Steve W. Trulli, 33 Bancroft St., to the Board of Registrars of Voters for a three-year term; said term to expire on the last day of March 2021. Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen City of Melrose Page 1 Updated 3/8/2018 1:26 PM Minutes Finance Committee March 5, 2018
ORDER-2018-143 Transfer A transfer in the amount of $44,000.00 from Veteran's Benefits (015432-544000) to various Police Expense accounts as set forth herein. Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen
ORDER-2018-146 Surety Bond Renewal of Surety Bond of City Clerk, City of Melrose in the amount of $15,000.00 for the year 2018. Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen City of Melrose Page 2 Updated 3/8/2018 1:26 PM
Transcript
▶ 0:29 Scott M. Forbes: Good evening at the time. It is 730. This is the Committee on Finance. My name is Alderman Scott Forbes. I'm the Finance Committee Chairman. Members of the Finance Committee include Alderman Frank Wright, Alderman Kate Lipper-Garabedian, Alderman John Tramontozzi. those are people that are here that are present non-voting members of the finance committee are alderman Bewtra alderman Boisselle alderman lemmerman alderman medeiros and alderman mortimer in this meeting as well as all of our meetings are being recorded uh you can watch us all on mmtv or go to the city meadows website and click on the appropriate links do i have a motion to open public participation motion open the floor for public participation i have a motion
▶ 1:25 Scott M. Forbes: an open public participation made by Alderman Tramontozzi, seconded by Alderman Lipper-Garabedian. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? This is the portion of our meeting where anybody from the general public can come before us and speak on the items that we have on our agenda. Seeing no one coming forward, motion to close public participation. I got a motion to close public participation by Alderman Tramontozzi, seconded by Alderman Lipper-Garabedian. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Public participation is now concluded. first item on the agenda this evening is order number two zero one eight dash one two eight is a reappointment of Theodore hunt jr. 241 Tremont Street part two to the Board of Registrar's to the registrar of voters for a three-year
▶ 2:11 Scott M. Forbes: term said term to expire on the last day of February of 2019 just a point of order there was some discussion when this came to committee about the actual term three-year term being expired next year uh this one as well as order number uh 2018-129 the reappointment of eric wildman these were holdovers and so basically the vote for this three-year term tonight is to retroactively appoint them as of 2016. three years expiring would be 2019. mr chairman yes chairman tozy uh we also need to amend the uh the month uh to reflect March as opposed to February and so I would move at this time an order 2018 that's 128 to amend the order to state March 2019 we have a motion to amend the order made by almond trim and toes II do I have a second question so is it that
▶ 3:14 Scott M. Forbes: are we supposed to retroactively fit it back though to when they should have been reappointed which would have presumably been February 2016 or is it okay to these are reappointments or until somebody assumes the position so technically they've been performing the job and nobody's replaced them so it is effective as of now the Mass General Law states that for the border registrar voters that the effective date is April 1st so the month has to expire in the month of March the last day of March instead of the last day of February so we can have a concurrent transition okay i second all right so we have a uh recommendation to amend this order made by almond Tramontozzi seconded by um Letter garabedian all those in favor aye
▶ 3:58 Scott M. Forbes: any opposed motion passes as amended motion to recommend as amended we got a motion to recommend to the full board made by alderman Tramontozzi second seconded by alderman Letter garabedian all those in favor aye any opposed motion passes it'll be recommended to the full board Next order that we have is order number 2018-129, reappointment of Eric Wildman, 33 Norman Road, to the Board of Registrars of Voters for a three-year term, said term to expire last day of February 2019. Mr. Chairman, I also make a motion to amend that to March 2019. We have a motion to amend this order to March of 2019, made by Alderman Tramontozzi, seconded by Alderman Lipper-Garabedian. All those in favor? aye any opposed motion passes as amended motion to recommend as amended and we have a motion to
▶ 4:49 Scott M. Forbes: recommend to the full board as amended made by alderman chairman tozy seconded by alderman Letter garabedian all those in favor aye any opposed this order will be recommended to the full board next order that we have is 2018-127 it's a reappointment of steve w truly 33 bancroft road to the board of registrars of voters for a three-year term said term to expire on the last day of march 2021. motion to recommend second motion recommended by element chairman tozy seconded by alderman Letter garabedian all those in favor any opposed motion passes will be recommended to the full board next order order number 2018-143 it's a transfer in the amount of forty four thousand dollars from veteran benefits account number zero one five four three
▶ 5:35 Scott M. Forbes: two dash five four four zero zero zero to various police expense accounts are set forth herein motion to spend the rules up to here from chief lyle we've got a motion to suspend the rules by alderman trim and tozy second seconded by alden Letter garabedian all those in favor any opposed the rules are suspended chief welcome appreciate you being here tonight if you could just kind of describe the uh the contents of the order if i may through the chair Thorp a couple items that i'd like to recognize a couple of officers and firefighters absolutely if i may uh first on i haven't been here so i apologize on january 12th it was a basketball game at meadows high officer jim applegate was a detail officer that night a gentleman had a medical emergency
▶ 6:27 officer rapplegate initiated cpr on that gentleman mike mike hinchy a norris firefighter came out of the stands assisted and then paramedics arrived and uh from what i understand they saved the man's life that night so they did a good job to public safety number two Bill O'Donnell I don't know if you the board knows Bill O'Donnell had his last day of employment last Wednesday at the Melrose Police Department after 37 years Billy had a total of over 40 years and law enforcement from federal and state and local Billy is a veteran a Vietnam veteran he had turned 65 and he had to retire I'm I'm proud to say that Billy O'Donnell is my field training officer some 32 years ago. He instilled a lot of value in me, and I wish Billy and his family the best in Billy's retirement.
▶ 7:15 Thank you. Well said, Chief. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. The order, this is a transfer of, most of these items are pertaining to the three officers who are in the academy. Excuse me, that are graduating the Redding Police Academy next month. The uniforms speak for themselves. If you want, I can break it down a little bit if you'd like. The $9,000 is for their academy fee. The $3,400 and change is for one police radio and a refurbished two radios, leaving us no spares. The police generator has sprung a leak. It needs a new radiator, and I guess it's an expensive item. They did patch it with silicone or something for the time being, but they're waiting on that to replace the radiator. the 1750 for the police vehicles I don't know if everybody in the board knows that a lot of a lot
▶ 8:06 of police vehicles the SUVs the Ford SUVs had a problem with carbon monoxide entering the cabin we went out we bought co detectors for all our SUVs and we actually two weeks ago we had a problem with one of them actually went back to Ford for service and it still had a problem and ultimately they repaired it was a something to do with the engine manifold or something that was coming into the cabin so fortunately we had a CO detector at that time postage a lot of a lot of that is for police details mailing out invoices but this past year the police department handled over 1,200 records requests so that included a lot of postage as well and the 757 is for books for the Academy for the officers and also the fire extinguishers had to be recertified in
▶ 9:00 Scott M. Forbes: police department it was 250 dollars out of that 757. um we're available for questions thank you chief um do we have any questions from the committee all the right uh i don't know if this is a question for the chief or the mayor or if Thorp somebody else here who can speak to why it is that um this money is available from veterans benefits Yep. And actually, I'm not sure if this made it into the packet or not. I know Karen Burke, our new Veterans Service Officer, is here this evening, but there was a letter that I will read. I'm not sure if it made it into your packet or not, but it said, to whom it may concern, I approve the transfer of $44,000 for Veteran Benefits Line Item. Over the last
▶ 9:47 Scott M. Forbes: year, we've had two veterans pass away and four move into skilled nursing facilities. Once veterans move into a skilled nursing facility, we're no longer able to pay Chapter 115 benefits we actively seek federal benefits for these individuals as well as our new veterans who come into the office requiring assistance so that being said the amount of veterans benefits from last year to this year has gone down considerably and because that extra money was allocated it allows us the uh the ability to transfer these funds for the purpose of moving it into the police account okay uh karen burke is here if if did i say that correctly okay that's exactly what it is it's a we constantly are looking for other benefits for
▶ 10:36 our chapter 115 beneficiaries that's the benefit that comes 75 from the state 25 from melrose so people come in and we seek alternate sources of income to help them from federal sources but again two veterans did pass away which is um part of the funding and then as people move to assisted living we apply for aid and attendance which is a federal benefit but they no longer can get chapter 115. so we constantly are trying to find federal benefits for people as we're bringing in new clients but we because we are short six veterans we have the money to be able to share thank you thank you karen um yeah yeah and talking with patrick delarusso this afternoon as well from fiscal 18 i guess there was 283 000 in veterans benefits that were paid out uh in 2019 that went
▶ 11:21 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: went down to 195 so there is money that was available for the reallocation so thank you thank you just a question is it is it typical that if we had a surplus and one item we would be able I think it's it's common that you might switch it to another department but I'm just make want to make sure the veterans benefits department doesn't feel as though this money you have any shortfalls in other areas that you would need this money for thank you and I I think this might be more of a technical question rather than but I'm wondering if there is a memo or something that is itemizing the expenditures from the police and kind of looking over Alderman Lipper-Garabedian shoulder it looks like there is but Thorp not one in available in my version of IQ m2 and I'm
▶ 12:26 Monica C. Medeiros: not sure if this is because I'm not a voting member of this committee I'm not sure but I know what I printed out this afternoon I I had access to that do you have this to some of the other members who are not voting members actually you have it too I do but I have a voting member so yeah I think right it took a couple of clicks but i have it you do have it yes it's not here on the agenda screen on the split view okay so perhaps maybe this hasn't been fully reloaded but it also the people the public i don't think they have the option to do the split view so um i'm not sure if they would see this either but uh i know i have it on my screen here but if it is a technical issue i know that's something that we can yeah because it would be helpful to have that make
▶ 13:23 Manisha Bewtra: sure that it is available to the public because we want to obviously be transparent to vote on that because i tried to take good notes of what chief lyle said but i can certainly give you my copy if you would like uh perhaps for the full board meeting that's to follow because i know we're expected to vote on this i could give you a copy thank you you're welcome anybody else in discussion can i just clarify where i found that sure um if you click on printout that's where i was able to like under the the order number then Thorp order printout that actually provided the details it took me several clicks as well so i don't blame you for not finding it do we have anybody else on discussion what is the will of the motion to recommend the second motion recommend
▶ 14:10 Scott M. Forbes: bait by alderman Letter garabedian seconded by alderman chairman tozy all those in favor any opposed motion passes be recommended to the full board this evening thank you thank you very much and our final order for the finance committee this evening is order number two zero one eight dash one four six a renewal of a surety bond city clerks city of melrose the amount of fifteen thousand dollars for the year twenty eighteen um this is a housekeeping item the fifteen thousand dollar surety bond is a requirement for mass general laws to protect the city clerk's office from any liability that it may incur one hundred dollars that's paid is paid out of the city clerk's account um and has been since the time i've been serving here on the board of aldermen
▶ 14:51 as is this fiscal year as well motion to recommend motion to recommend by alderman Tramontozzi second seconded by alderman Letter garabedi and all those in favor aye any opposed motion passes will be recommended to the full board motion to adjourn we got a motion to adjourn by alderman Tramontozzi seconded by all of our Letter garabedi and all those in favor aye any opposed the finance committee is adjourned i understand the process i know we've been through that once like when we were doing wires i keep kicking it good evening ladies and gentlemen it's march 5th 2018 and this is the committee on health education and welfare the melrose board of alderman i am the chair peter mortimer vice chair is alderman