City Council — 2018-09-06

City Council Regular Meeting

This meeting starts at 58:18 in a recording that covers several meetings.

Attendance

Manisha Bewtra present · Alderman at Large; Robert A. Boisselle absent · Ward 4 Alderman; Scott M. Forbes present · Ward 7 Alderman; Jennifer L. Lemmerman present · Ward 2 Alderman; Kate Lipper-Garabedian present · Alderman at Large; Shawn M. MacMaster present · Ward 5 Alderman; Monica C. Medeiros absent · 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 excused · President, Alderman at Large

Agenda

Minutes

CITY OF MELROSE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BULLETIN● SEPTEMBER 6, 2018 Aldermanic Chamber, Melrose City Hall Regular Meeting 7:45 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Manisha Bewtra Alderman at Large Present Robert A. Boisselle Ward 4 Alderman Absent Scott M. Forbes Ward 7 Alderman Present Jennifer L. Lemmerman Ward 2 Alderman Present Kate Lipper-Garabedian Alderman at Large Present Shawn M. MacMaster Ward 5 Alderman Present Monica C. Medeiros Alderman at Large Absent 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 President, Alderman at Large Excused Senior Alderman Peter Mortimer called the meeting to order at 8:15 PM. He accepted nominations for a president pro tempore to serve as president for the meeting as President Zwirko is serving as acting mayor. Alderman Tramontozzi nominated Peter Mortimer to serve in that role. No other nominations were made. The Board voted unanimously to have Alderman Mortimer serve as President Pro Tempore during the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 8:18 PM to resume the appropriations committee meeting still in progress.

ORDER-2019-8 Grant Acceptance of a Regional Tobacco Prevention Grant for $60,000/ year for ten years from the Mass. Dept. of Public Health. Assigned to Committee Appropriations Committee

ORDER-2019-9 Amending Revised Ordinances Amending Melrose Revised Ordinances, Chapter 177-12: Snow and ice removal as set forth herein. Assigned to Committee Public Works Committee

ORDER-2019-3 Appropriation City of Melrose Page 1 9/12/2018 12:16 PM Minutes Board of Aldermen September 6, 2018 Transfer from account 29032-590000 (Library Fines Account) in the amount of $20,000.00; and Transfer to account 016112-534200 (Lib Exp Books & Periodicals) in the amount of $20,000.00 Passed Finance Committee

ORDER-2019-6 Appointment Reappointment of Christopher R. Wilcock, 38 Bates Park Avenue, Beverly, to the Board of Assessors for a three-year term, said term to end on the last day of February, 2021. Passed Finance Committee

ORDER-2019-5 Grant Acceptance of a Cyber Security Grant in the amount of $20,000. Passed Board of Aldermen

ORDER-2019-4 Resolution A Resolution Reaffirming Current City of Melrose and Massachusetts Non-Discrimination Laws Prohibiting Discrimination in Places of Public Accommodation on the Basis of Gender Identity and Gender Expression Passed City of Melrose Page 2 9/12/2018 12:16 PM

Transcript

▶ 58:31 Peter D. Mortimer: uh just a few moments ago the reason i am here is i am the senior alderman for the melrose board of alderman the longest serving alderman so under our rules once again i chair the opening of this meeting and my first duty in chairing the opening of this meeting is for us to rise and salute the flag of the United States of America and moving along expeditiously the next thing we need to do is to elect a temporary president a president pro temp as it's called with within I think I'm getting a signal that we need to have the attendance first so in that vein we will take the attendance of all the aldermen present Alderman Bewtra here Alderman Boiselle Alderman Forbes here Alderman Lemmerman here Alderman Lipper-Garabedian here

▶ 59:52 Peter D. Mortimer: Alderman McMaster. Here. Alderman Medeiros. Alderman Mortimer. Here. Alderman Tramontozzi. Here. Alderman Wright. Proceeding now with our business, we elect a temporary president or president pro temp, as it's called in our rules. And I would welcome a motion from the floor to open the floor for nominations. So moved. Alderman Forbes has made a motion to open the floor for nominations for the president pro temp, duly seconded by Alderman Tramontozzi. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, hearing none, we are now open for nominations from the floor. Alderman Tramontozzi, please. I nominate Alderman Peter Mortimer for President Pro Temp this evening. Alderman Tramontozzi has made a motion to nominate Alderman Peter Mortimer for President Pro Temp this evening.

▶ 1:00:43 Peter D. Mortimer: Is there a second, please? Second. Second by Alderman Forbes. Are there any further nominations at this time? Seeing none. Motion to close. We have a motion to close nominations made by Alderman Tramontozzi, duly seconded by Alderman Lipper-Garabedian. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Nominations now closed. All in favor of the nominee, the one nominee, Peter Mortimer for president pro temp this evening, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, hearing none, Peter Mortimer will serve as president pro temp this evening, when we get on with our meeting later in the evening after we conclude the business before the appropriations committee. The Chair would now welcome a motion to recess the full board meeting at this time.

▶ 1:27:28 Peter D. Mortimer: So moved. Made by Alderman Lemmerman. Second. Seconded by Alderman Forbes. All in favor of opening the floor for public comment, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, hearing none, the floor is now open for public comment for any agenda item before the full board. Seeing none, motion to close the floor. We have some. I'm sorry. What would a night be without Jerry? Good evening, Mr. Morales. Good evening. Hi, I'm Jerry Morales. Before I speak about the issue, I can't speak. I wanted to, there are often times when public comment kind of is inappropriate in the middle of another issue. And I've asked at various times to delay public comment in a meeting so that I don't interrupt a different, more sensitive thing that occurs.

▶ 1:28:20 And it's always been told to me that you can't do that, you always have to do it. And it's awkward to come here and speak about a different issue in the middle of another issue. And I expect it was inadvertent tonight, but I'm pleased that you violated Rule 21C of the board and not holding public comment in your recess before. And I'd like maybe for the board to somehow structure that, that you can actually do that legitimately at occasions in the future. I wouldn't have spoken tonight if you had had the public comment earlier. I am here to speak about an item on your agenda tonight about the removal of snow from public sidewalks by private people. And there are a number of problematic issues in my mind about that.

▶ 1:29:16 I know it's going to go to the Committee on Public Works. But it's always difficult to figure out when meetings are going to be held. And given the practice of posting meetings maybe 49 hours before the meeting, it's hard to figure out when meetings are happening. And I wish that even if a meeting agenda isn't finalized, that a meeting can be posted so we can see when it will be, even if the agenda isn't finalized. I appreciate that. But in terms of the snow ordinance, I do want to get a couple things on the table here. before it gets referred to the committee so they can be prepared to deal with it. In every community I've ever lived, I've always tried to help out people who are incapacitated for

▶ 1:29:58 one reason or another to clear the sidewalk for them and do what I can. However, in the process of doing that, I know many people that aren't able to clear their sidewalks. And we do have a number of wonderful people in Melrose who volunteer to help and do things. But to make it mandatory that every person has to clear a public sidewalk, I believe is inappropriate. And if it's a public sidewalk, if you go to that point, it's a slippery slope. But we've got to now say, in a time of financial crisis, now you have to clear half the street in front of your house. Where does it end? But the public way is the public way, it's just the responsibility of the city. And if the city wants it cleared, there's a mechanism for the city to clear it and to pay for it.

▶ 1:30:40 And it does come down, I know it would take money. But the city has to determine its own priorities in terms of whether clearing the public sidewalk is of such a public benefit that it's important for the city to fund it with our tax dollars. You know, the idea of exempting people who don't have sidewalks is another disincentive for people to have betterments and install sidewalks. We want the city to be walkable, we want to get places. In general, most people clear their sidewalks. And for most of the complaints that I have heard of and that I have myself, some of the larger obstacles while clearing a sidewalk is actually due to actions of the city public works or their contractors in terms of closing in corners on streets,

▶ 1:31:34 in terms of dumping bucket loads of snow onto the city sidewalk in front of somebody's house, that now you're going to claim that that person's not responsible to remove. The other issue about that the city can issue a $50 fine to anybody who doesn't clear the snow within 12 hours, and it's a little bit problematic language saying sunrise to sunset. As it's worded, maybe I'm misunderstanding it, but that kind of onerous fine structure, well as the fact that the city can then arbitrarily pay somebody to do it and charge somebody a hundred or two hundred or who knows how much dollars to shovel the sidewalk because the city engineer decided it needed to be shoveled and then the question is is that when the city clears the sidewalk itself is it

▶ 1:32:15 then providing a benefit to the private people in the private businesses Is that an issue in terms of the city providing a service for some kind of people while all the other people are comfortable in the city not providing that service? There's a lot of difficult issues here. I don't know why Alderman Wright, who's not here tonight, keeps putting these things up. He did it last year as well, but there will be more conversation about it, I'm sure. Or, I just want to get it out on the table here now, in case I'm not able to make it to whatever the public works meeting is. This is one of the hotter days of the year today, September 6th, and hopefully it's cooler when we go outside. But I don't know what the intent of Alderman Wright is,

▶ 1:33:07 and apparently Alderman Zwirko is a sponsor of this one as well. I don't know what harm they're trying to remedy with such an onerous burden on the residential people of Melrose, elderly people, incapacitated people, people who don't have the time, they work all the time to pay their taxes. They don't have the time to be there to clear the snow when you want it cleared, even if they intend to clear it later. These are all issues and I want to be clear that not everybody in Melrose can afford just pay a private contractor to go and clear their sidewalk floor. And that seems to be an attitude that comes from the city a lot, that anybody can just pay to have something done. And I know many people who cannot do that, cannot afford that,

▶ 1:33:53 despite with all the work that they do to pay their bills, they can't afford to do that. And to expect that somebody who can't physically do it can then just pay somebody is presumptuous. So thank you very much for your time. Thank you very much, Mr. Moroz. Did you put your address down there on the record? Just later for the clerk. He got me. You don't need to say it out loud for the public. Good evening. Good evening, Acting Mayor Zwirko. Mike Zwirko, 100 Derby Road. Thank you for allowing me to speak here this evening. I'm speaking in regards to the resolution that was filed by Alderman Butcher that was just recently passed unanimously, recommended for passage at the Appropriations Committee.

▶ 1:34:48 Michael P. Zwirko: First, I'd like to say thank you to Alderman Butcher for bringing it up for us. It's not only timely, but it's also important. I also want to say that I don't think that we should be here tonight talking about this. Unfortunately, we have to be here tonight talking about this. As Alderman Forbes said earlier and other speakers, in 2014, we, City of Melrose, put in these ordinances. We're now reaffirming them because there's an effort by some folks to go backwards. I know we're not going to do that here, and I'm proud of that. And I wanted to speak in favor of this, as I'm not able to join you this evening. These folks aren't asking for special rights, they're asking for the same rights that we all enjoy.

▶ 1:35:37 Michael P. Zwirko: We've said earlier that our motto needs to mean something, and it's something that I take very seriously, and I know that we all do. And we want people, especially in this time, to feel comfortable and to feel welcome here in the city of Melrose. And unfortunately, right now, a lot of people, especially with this pending ballot question, are very scared. These folks are in our schools, they're in our houses of worship, they're on our streets, they ride the buses with us. They deserve that, and I just hope that this sends a message to all those folks that are out there, as well as our own, that we stand up for you, we stand by you, and we support you. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Acting Mayor Zwerchow.

▶ 1:36:21 Peter D. Mortimer: Is there a motion to close public comment, please? So moved. Second. Was that Alderman Lipper-Garabedian has made a motion to close public comment. Duly seconded by Alderman Forbes. Proceeding to the business in hand. All in favor. Pardon me? Take the vote. Take the vote. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. All right. Thank you very much. Public comment is now closed. Next we have communications from her honor, the mayor, and other city officials. Order 2019-8, it's acceptance of a regional tobacco prevention grant for $60,000 per year for ten years from the Mass Department of Public Health. This order will be referred to the committee on appropriations. Next we have new business. Madam Clerk, please.

▶ 1:37:19 Peter D. Mortimer: Order 2019-9, amending Melrose Revised Ordinances, Chapter 177-12, snow and ice removal as set forth herein. That order will be referred to the committee on public works. Next, we have orders out of order. Is there anybody wishing to bring forth an order out of order? Seeing none, we will proceed to orders from committee, orders from committee. Alderman Forbes, please. Yes, Mr. President, I'd like to remove order number 2019-3 from committee to the transfer $20,000 from library fines account and moving that into the library expense books and periodicals account. Alderman Forbes has made a motion to remove order 2019-3 from committee. Second. Seconded by Alderman Tramontozzi. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor of the motion to remove this order from committee, please say aye.

▶ 1:38:24 Peter D. Mortimer: Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, this order is removed from committee and is before us. I'd like to make a motion for passage. Alderman Forbes has made a motion for passage of said motion, duly seconded by Alderman Lipper-Garabedian. On discussion, seeing none, all in favor please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? This order passes before board. The next order we have before us. be a roll call vote mr president yes it would thank you very much for the uh correction this is a roll call vote requiring six uh madam clerk of city clerk would you call the roll please alderman Bewtra here yes yes sorry i'm here obviously alderman forbes yes alderman lemmerman yes alderman Letter garabedian yes alderman mcmaster yes alderman mortimer yes alderman

▶ 1:39:21 Peter D. Mortimer: chairman tozy yes hearing seven yes this order passes it was a roll call vote requiring six alderman forbes please thank you i'd like to also remove order number two zero one nine dash six from committee it's the reappointment of christopher r wilcox 38 bates park avenue in beverly to the board of assessors for a three-year term said term to end on the last day of february 2021 alderman forbes has made a motion to remove said order from committee duly seconded by alderman Letter garabedian on discussion seeing none all in favor of removing this order from committee please say aye aye any opposed hearing none the order is removed from committee and is before us motion for passage alderman forbes has made a motion for passage of this order duly seconded

▶ 1:40:11 Peter D. Mortimer: by alderman Letter garabedian this is a roll call vote excuse me it's not a roll call vote it's a a viva voce vote requiring six votes all in favor please say aye aye any opposed hearing none this order passes we will now hear a motion from all the chair of the appropriations committee alderman jennifer lemmerman thank you i make a motion to remove order 2019-4 from the appropriations committee a resolution reaffirming current city of morrows and massachusetts non-discrimination laws prohibiting discrimination in places of public accommodation on the basis of gender identity and gender expression alderman lippagat excuse me alderman Lemmerman has made a motion to remove said order from committee duly seconded by alderman Bewtra on discussion seeing none all

▶ 1:40:57 Peter D. Mortimer: in favor of removing this order from committee please say aye aye this order is removed from committee and is before us i'd like to make a motion for passage alderman Bewtra has made a motion for passage of this order duly seconded by alderman Letter garabian she beat you by this much all in favor please say aye aye any opposed hearing none this order is passed uh the next order we have before us alderman excuse me alderman lemmerman the else i uh make a motion to remove from the appropriations committee order 2019-5 as well acceptance of a cyber security grant in the amount of twenty thousand dollars alderman lemmerman has made a motion to remove order 2019-5 from the appropriations committee second duly seconded by

▶ 1:41:44 Peter D. Mortimer: alderman forbes on discussion hearing none all in favor of removing this order from committee please say aye aye any opposed hearing none the order is removed from committee and is before us motion for passage alderman Lemmerman has made a motion for passage of this order second the motion duly second by alderman forbes it's a roll call vote requiring six Madam City Clerk, would you call the roll, please? Alderman Bewtra? Yes. Alderman Forbes? Yes. Alderman Lemmerman? Yes. Alderman Lipper-Garabedian? Yes. Alderman McMaster? Yes. Alderman Mortimer? Yes. Alderman Tramontozzi? Yes. Seven yes, the order passes. Are there any reports from outside committees on which aldermen serve under Rule 53? Alderman Lipper-Garabedian, please.

▶ 1:42:34 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: I just wanted to share a little bit of the discussion at last week's school committee meeting. There are two items that may be of interest to the board and the larger community. One was around the current enrollment numbers in the Melrose Public Schools. As of last Tuesday, there were 3,696 students in the Melrose Public Schools. And at the high school, there was a significant bump in grade 11. The chair of the school committee noted that we used to see some attrition leaving middle school and going into high school, but we're not at that same level as in the past. So it seems as though families are choosing to continue their students' education through the Melrose High School. indeed we're also seeing an increase in grades K through fourth grade as these

▶ 1:43:33 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: students are moving through with an eye toward the future this wave isn't showing an abatement so that's something to keep an eye on as there are more children in our schools obviously that requires more spending and also attention to building space and our teacher distribution and the other thing the second item that was of interest perhaps is there was a memo and a discussion around the donations that the school committee has received from outside benefactors from organizations like the Melrose Orchestra parent organization which raised over $3,000 to assist with purchasing bass instruments there were also donations of classroom furniture from other school departments in the state as well as from a furniture trust which was valued at almost sixty

▶ 1:44:22 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: five hundred dollars the Hoover PTO raised almost $8,000 to support Chromebooks in the schools so all of these are things that previously perhaps the district might have provided but there are no longer operational funds for these types of investments so we're incredibly grateful to the community for their generosity and the school committee wanted the appellate to know about these gifts thank you thank you very much alderman garabedian are there any other aldermen wishing to enlighten us regarding any outside committees on which they may serve seeing none there are no items on the calendar and before i welcome a motion to adjourn we have a point of personal privilege for alderman forbes please thank you mr president i appreciate it our

▶ 1:45:09 Scott M. Forbes: fifth annual melrose veterans open golf tournament is going to be this month it is saturday september 22nd at mount hood 11 30 registration time 12 o'clock shotgun start rain or shine it's a great day of of golf food and awards but the reason why we are truly there is we're raising funds for our ongoing veteran memorial restoration projects if you look at the knoll and the short time that we have a short time that that project has been in place you can see the amount of monuments that have been created and dedicated in such a short period of time truly is unprecedented in any other community and it's one of the reasons why i am proud not only to be a melrose resident but also to be a melrose veteran so if you can join us please come september 22nd if you have

▶ 1:45:54 Scott M. Forbes: any questions you can call the meadows veterans service office 781-979-4186 or you can contact karen burke at the city of melrose website so i encourage you all to be there and thank you very much for the time thank you thank you very much alderman forbes we have a motion to adjourn from Alderman Lehmann. Second. Duly seconded by Alderman Lippa Garabedian. All in favor of adjournment, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, hearing none, we are adjourned. Thank you, one and all.

City Council — 2018-09-06

Attendance

Agenda

Minutes

Transcript

Original documents