Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2018-09-06
Attendance
Manisha Bewtra ; Robert A. Boisselle ; Scott M. Forbes ; Jennifer L. Lemmerman ; Kate Lipper-Garabedian ; Shawn M. MacMaster ; Monica C. Medeiros ; Peter D. Mortimer ; John N. Tramontozzi ; Francis X. Wright Jr. ; Michael P. Zwirko
Agenda
- Call to Order
- Public Comment
- Orders
- ORDER-2019-4 : 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
- ORDER-2019-5 : Acceptance of a Cyber Security Grant in the amount of $20,000.
- Adjournment
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE CALENDAR● SEPTEMBER 6, 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 Jennifer L. Lemmerman Chair Present Scott M. Forbes Vice Chair Present Peter D. Mortimer Ward 6 Alderman Present Robert A. Boisselle Ward 4 Alderman Absent John N. Tramontozzi Voting Member Present Francis X. Wright Jr. Ward 3 Alderman Absent Monica C. Medeiros Alderman at Large Absent Michael P. Zwirko President/ Ex-officio Member Excused Manisha Bewtra Alderman at Large Present Kate Lipper-Garabedian Alderman at Large Present Shawn M. MacMaster Ward 5 Alderman Present
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 Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen
ORDER-2019-5 Grant Acceptance of a Cyber Security Grant in the amount of $20,000. Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen City of Melrose Page 1 Updated 9/12/2018 9:35 AM
Transcript
▶ 16:17 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: joined this evening by vice chair alderman forbes as well as committee Member alderman mortimer alderman Tramontozzi alderman Bewtra alderman Letter garabedian and alderman mcmaster this meeting is being recorded and broadcast live on mmtv it's also available on the city of Mauro's website motion to open the floor for public comment Madam Chair second we have a motion to open the floor for public comment made by Alderman Mortimer seconded by Alderman Forbes all in favor aye any opposed we are now in the portion of the meeting where any member of the public can come before us to speak on any item on our agenda is there anyone wishing to speak good evening good evening Madam Chair Member of the Board of Aldermen my name is Adam LaFrance
▶ 17:09 I'm here in my individual capacity and on behalf of the Melrose Human Rights Commission. And I'd like to speak to a resolution that's pending before you this evening by reading a letter of support that was submitted on behalf of the number of individuals from the Melrose Commission on Women and the Melrose Human Rights Commission. It's a training group, so I won't be doing that. Dear Alderman, the Member of the undersigned Melrose Commission on Women and the Melrose Human Rights Commission unanimously support transgender equality and urge you to adopt the resolution reaffirming current City of Melrose and Massachusetts non-discrimination laws prohibiting discrimination in places of public accommodations
▶ 17:47 on the basis of gender identity and gender expression proposed by Alderman Bewtra. As you are aware, there is an upcoming attempt to strip the protections already in place for transgender and other gender non-conforming individuals in Massachusetts by way of an upcoming ballot question in November. It is reported that opponents secured signatures of approximately less than 1% of the Commonwealth's population to force this settled issue back onto the 2018 ballot for potential repeal. By way of background, in 2016, Governor Charlie Baker signed a law which added gender identity to the list of reasons people cannot be discriminated against in public spaces. Although opponents have often focused on public bathrooms, the law prevents discrimination in all public accommodations,
▶ 18:28 including hotels, stores, restaurants, parks, theaters, sports facilities, medical offices and hospitals, among others. A prior law from 2007 already extended protections to employment, housing, credit and higher education, but not public accommodations. Melrose has been a front runner in protecting the rights of transgender and gender nonconforming individuals in our city. Two years prior to even the state level enactment of these protections referenced above, the city of Melrose showed extraordinary leadership and commitment to equality and dignity for all, when the Melrose Board of Aldermen included gender identity and gender expression in its human rights policy statement, thus ensuring equal opportunity and
▶ 19:07 protection from discrimination in housing, employment, education, public accommodations, city services, insurance, banking, credit, and healthcare in Melrose as of December 14, 2014. The Melrose Public Schools also issued a statement reaffirming its commitment to the rights of transgender students to a safe and the Birmingham school environment after the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice rescinded policies directing these agencies to treat a student's gender identity as the student's sex for the purposes of Title IX and its implementing regulations. In the face of the approaching threat to repeal the laws which protect the dignity, rights, and equality of transgender and nonconforming gender individuals in our community, we ask
▶ 19:44 that our city once again demonstrate leadership and its commitment to its motto of one community, open to all, by reiterating our commitment to protecting Member of our community when we consider this issue we must remember that transgender and gender non-conforming individuals in our state city and community are frequently confronted with discrimination and worse transgender individuals need these specific protections because they prefer they suffer pervasive discrimination and disproportionately high levels of crime these laws are necessary to ensure that no one faces discrimination or violence based on their gender identity we appreciate your time and the attention needed to ensure safe and just society for all Melroseans regardless of
▶ 20:23 gender identity. We stand united in support of the resolution referenced above and I propose to Alderman Bewtra and ask that her resolution be passed by the full Board of Aldermen. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Please be sure to sign in on this sheet if you haven't yet. Thank you. Any other Member of the public? Good evening. Good evening. Thank you for having me. Liz DeSalle, 33 South High Street Melrose I want to thank you for being here tonight and listening to me we have come so very far in this community from the establishment of the Miller's Human Rights Commission in 1992 to the adoption of the city model one community open for all in 1993 to the municipal election of 1998 when Melrose
▶ 21:20 elected a gay mayor to the election in late and 2015 when Melrose elected their first openly transgender person to any public office to 2017 when Melrose elected their first person of color yay their first woman person of color to any public office Melrose has shown to be a trailblazer and at the forefront of breaking ceilings and a model community for this Commonwealth but our work isn't done thanks to the inclusion of gender identity within the city's non-discrimination ordinance enacted by this body in 2014 transgender people and genderqueer people gender fluid people can shop can live can thrive in our community without fear of being turned away for presenting ourselves with authenticity however these basic human rights are now threatened when a small
▶ 22:29 but vocal minority within the Commonwealth can rally to add a ballot measure that will strip trans people their rights in public spaces we need to act and be vigilant when the United States Secretary of Education rescinded transgender protected protection guidelines federally Melrose superintendent and the Melrose school committee acted by reaffirming that all students are welcome and deserving of an educational environment where they can learn explore and grow without fear of institutional recrimination on the school committee our work isn't done Board of Aldermen neither is yours I ask you to vote to affirm transgender protections this November and it begins tonight with this vote to endorse trans rights to endorse the yes on three
▶ 23:30 campaign because trans rights at its core are human rights commonly referred to as the bathroom bill this ballot measure would repeal a hard-won transgender public accommodations law passed by the Massachusetts legislature in 2016 when a group of people are denied access to basic services and denied access public bathrooms are the most basic of human services they are denied the ability to function in public society they are not merely marginalized They are told they are dehumanized. That is the net effect of removing public accommodations. I'd like to share with you a personal story about my own experiences as a transgender person and bathrooms. When I transitioned at work, and keep in mind I only came out at work long after I was into this process,
▶ 24:33 I asked my administration, my managers, which bathrooms I could use. I worked in a chemistry lab on the third floor at the very end of a building. And there were a women's room just down the hall. And I said, I would like to use that room when I need to use the restroom. They denied me. They said no. Instead, what they said is I could go down three flights of stores, out exiting the building into the lobby where there were gender-neutral bathrooms, and I could use those instead. I'm not alone in facing discrimination at work. because I'm trans. In a study from 2016 by the National Center for Transgender Equality, 30% of more than 27,000 self-identified gender fluid, gender queer, or transgender people stated they have been discriminated, harassed, or
▶ 25:28 otherwise treated badly in their workplace because of their transition or or being transgender. 29% of respondents said that they lived in poverty. And nearly 15% of those said that they were unemployed or unemployable. These are adults who, like me, chose to live authentically and yet face discrimination at work or could not get meaningful work because of who they were. Nearly one third of those who responded to this survey reported being mistreated in the last year in public spaces they were harassed at the grocery store they were misgendered intentionally while seeking health care I've had that happen to me they refused access to restrooms at work or in restaurants or passed over for promotion again me at or worse fired
▶ 26:32 from their job or unable to secure housing the list goes on look I'm not naive I do not believe that you can legislate society of opinion however I do believe that by legislating conduct and public spaces society will in time grow more tolerant if not more outright accepting so now I ask you to continue this legacy I ask you to vote yes on three I ask you to affirm transgender rights and I ask you to affirm the rights of gender non-conforming people affirm our basic collective humanity because when you dehumanize a person or a population you shame them into thinking they are not worthy of life you create an environment of self-loathing of intolerance and of easy bigotry you create an environment where suicide and mental health issues abound. Forty
▶ 27:34 percent of those 27,000 respondents reported having attempted suicide at least once in their life. Thirty-nine percent reported in the last year major mental health challenges. I'm here before you to tell you that I am worthy. My community is worthy. Transgender people are worthy and gender non-conforming people are worthy i vote i ask you again vote to endorse the yes on three ballot measure by doing so you endure you affirm my humanity as well as your own i leave you with this a quote by senator tammy baldwin all of us who are openly gay and living and writing the history of our movement We are no more and no less heroic than the suffragists and abolitionists of the 19th century and the organizers and the freedom writers and the stonewall demonstrators
▶ 28:41 Paul Brodeur: and the environmentalists of the 20th century. We are ordinary people living ordinary lives and trying, as civil rights activist Dorothy Cotton said, to fix what ain't right within our society. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening, Representative. Good evening, everybody. My name is Paul Broder. I live at 125 Trenton Street, and I'm the state representative for the city that we sit in today. And I appreciate the opportunity, and it's not my strong point, but I will do my best to be respectful of your time and attention. And Madam Chair, thank you for the opportunity to speak, and through you to the Member of the board. A little history that you've already heard in December of 2014,
▶ 29:35 Paul Brodeur: this board made the decision on a unanimous vote to add transgender protections into our human rights policy statement. We made it the policy of the city of Melrose that we would recognize and protect transgender rights, including in the area of public accommodations. And that vote was unanimous. It was a 10 to nothing vote not too long ago. I'm happy to say, based on the leadership and example of the Melrose Board of Aldermen, and I want to say nine other communities, I think Melrose was the tenth at the time Melrose took action. The legislature, after taking some initial steps to protect those rights in 2011 or 2012, entered into the debate and passed overwhelmingly public accommodations in our anti-discrimination statute and extended that protection
▶ 30:29 Paul Brodeur: to transgendered individuals. That bill was passed overwhelmingly in both houses of the legislature with a strong bipartisan consensus. And it was signed into law by Republican Governor Charlie Baker in July 2016. In the run up to that debate, there was a colleague of mine who's now a leader of the opposition to the civil rights measure, who described it in the media as a radical social engineering, or this radical agenda of the progressive left. Hardly. Hardly. Here's a list of some of the radicals who supported this controversial legislation when it was before the Massachusetts legislature. Police chiefs, including the chiefs of all the major cities and towns, cities in Massachusetts. Faith leaders, all our professional sports team, kind of the big five.
▶ 31:36 Paul Brodeur: Domestic violence prevention advocates, former Mayor Dolan, our current mayor, Mayor Inferner. And really, just about every member of our business community. The list I just gave, I don't think, is kind of a list of stalwart progressive civic leaders from really across the political, social, and economic spectrum. And why did they do it? You'd have to ask them, obviously, but I suspect because it was fair and right, and from the business community perspective, discrimination is bad for business. North Carolina certainly saw that when they went in a different direction from what this community and this Commonwealth did and I think they recognize that in addition to recognizing it's just the right thing to do so what this law does it says to
▶ 32:29 Paul Brodeur: our neighbors our friends that transgendered individuals and their families you know what we tell them with them that their civil rights are important to us and that they deserve the equal rights and protections of the laws of the Commonwealth just like anyone else it says to our friends and neighbors, that you cannot be denied service at restaurants, at the doctor, movie theaters, public transportation, yes, bathrooms, and locker rooms, because of your gender identity. This is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a radical law or a radical proposition. It is the law of the land in 19 or 20 states, the District of Columbia, and hundreds of cities and towns across the United States. It is, quite frankly, a civil rights law that was overdue when we finally took action.
▶ 33:21 Paul Brodeur: Massachusetts likes to pride itself on being a leader in issues of civil rights. Quite frankly, we were not. We were a little bit late to the game. So I would respectfully suggest that we don't go backwards. We had a robust and thoughtful debate, and one thing that we also need to keep in mind is, I think we're going to hear some very challenging propositions as this campaign goes along. In terms of public safety or disruption of the public order or stress in our educational institutions, we have not seen that in Massachusetts, and we have not seen it in any of the other jurisdictions that have passed this law. What we are really saying is that everyone deserves a shot. But everyone deserves to be treated on their merits to present themselves to society and to their community the way that they are.
▶ 34:19 Paul Brodeur: Nothing more and nothing less. And I commend this board for unanimously stepping forward before the legislature did in 2014. And I hope sincerely that you step forward again and this unanimously and send a message to our friends in the transgender community to the Commonwealth at large and quite frankly to the entire country that we stand for civil rights and just to make sure folks are clear what that means in practical effect vote yes on three thank you Altamont Bhutra for your leadership on this thank you all for your thoughtful consideration I appreciate the opportunity to speak today thank you Carolyn Cronin on 22 Greenwood Street I just wanted to you've heard all the details from the prior speakers but just to
▶ 35:29 endorse just as a citizen that it this is an appropriate type of issue for the alderman to It is part of what Melrose is, one city for all, it is a public health issue. When I went to hear about question three at a Wakefield Town Hall, I was most moved by the police who were there saying, you need to give us the power to protect these people, you can't take that away. This is just a basic human rights issue and I strongly endorse all of you for voting for this resolution and endorsing voting yes in November and showing some leadership on this issue. Thank you, please be sure to sign in on this sheet if you could. Thank you. Good evening, my name is Eric Heath, I live at 84 Spear Street and thank you for the opportunity to speak.
▶ 36:33 And thank you for putting this item on your agenda, this order, I guess is the proper term. I may misuse some terms, but you all are going to know what I'm talking about. I'm here particularly to speak to why I think it is vitally important to reaffirm what we've already done and what the state has already done. I think it's worth and critically important to reaffirm and restate again and again the rights of all people in Melrose, the rights of all people everywhere. In particular, Mr. Selm touched on some of the grim statistics, and I think it's horrifying that the alienation and the hostility and the discrimination against our transgender and gender-neutral neighbors results in so much greater risk to them.
▶ 37:47 Statistics that I've read that I feel are credible and accurate list the percentage of U.S. citizens who attempt suicide sometime in their life at about 4.6%. That's horrifying in itself. The statistic that I've read that I find credible and reliable is that that rate is more like 40% or higher for our transgender citizens. I've heard even much higher percentages for transgender youth. This is not something that we can ever let escape us. We must take every measure we can to push back against the hostility, the alienation, discrimination against our transgender friends and family Member and neighbors. Certainly, my vision for Melrose as a community open to all is that our cisgender neighbors will joyfully embrace the humanity of our transgender neighbors and
▶ 39:08 our transgender neighbors will be able to joyfully be embraced within that shared humanity that that to me is uh is what this is all about and i thank you very much for your attention thank you any other Member of the public wishing to speak good evening good evening thank you um for the opportunity to speak my name is judy tasker i live at 40 east highland ave in melrose i grew up in melrose graduated from melrose high and i'm really just a mom here on behalf of my child who is transgender and i feel blessed and grateful to live in such a city that is what truly one community open to all and I really just wanted to put another face with the name of someone who is transgender and in our school
▶ 40:17 systems and growing up here and working here and I know it's often called the bathroom bill and so I don't know if I'm allowed to show a picture of my child But this is my son and my daughter, and you can see that he looks just like every other biological boy. If he were to use a girl's bathroom, I'm pretty sure you as a father would be very upset that he was in a girl's bathroom. You would not comprehend that biologically he doesn't match the way he presents. And I very much fear for his safety if this law were overturned. I do believe it is a matter of public safety for our children. I also believe, I stress all the time to my son that he's so fortunate to live in Melrose. That the school system is wonderful and supportive and there's opportunities like this.
▶ 41:27 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: you see the one community open to all bumper sticker and you feel that and he has grown up knowing that this community supports him and I guess I just really want to ask for your continued support today thank you thank you is there anyone else here this evening wishing to speak motion to close public comment madam chair second we have a motion to close public comment made by alderman Mortimer seconded by alderman Lippert Garabedi and all in favor all right All right. Any opposed? Well, the comment is now closed. We will move forward to the two items on our agenda this evening, beginning with Order 2019-4, 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. This order was sponsored by Alderman at-large Manisha Bewtra. Alderman Bewtra.
▶ 42:30 Manisha Bewtra: thank you madam chairwoman thank you to everyone who came out to speak up tonight as well as the many people who reached out by email or direct conversations I know this issue is deeply personal for many people and that there are a few opportunities to share such personal stories and to articulate your perspectives in a forum such as this to my fellow aldermen thank you for considering passage of this resolution while weighing in on a state-level level ballot question is not something we always do in this chamber is my feeling that this is an issue at the core of who we are as one community open to all and that it is important for us to reaffirm what we've already committed to local and state law at a time when those rights are being put into question
▶ 43:17 Manisha Bewtra: Melrose's commitment to our city motto and our active statements against discrimination are part of what attracted me to moving here and getting involved in this community. Mayor Inferna and Chief Lyle have already signed on to the Yes on 3 Coalition and Senator Lewis, Rep. Broder, Member of our local clergy and businesses, the Melrose Commission on Women and Melrose Human Rights Commission and many local residents have signed on or have submitted testimony to us tonight. Before reading the text of the resolution into the record I wanted to share a few additional statements that I received directly as well as the statement from Senator Lewis which we all received but he asked that I read it
▶ 44:07 Manisha Bewtra: to you all tonight so good afternoon or statement sorry and we need to read the entire email two years ago I stood with the LeMay family and representative Broder and advocated successfully for passage of a statewide law to include legal protections for our transgender citizens in public accommodations every person deserves to be treated with respect and dignity on this matter as on so many others the city of Melrose led the way and helped demonstrate to the Commonwealth that these laws should be conceived implemented and honored I encourage you to embrace your embrace of this resolution and thank you for the opportunity to communicate my strong support his floor remarks from that testimony two years ago are also included in the statement he submitted
▶ 44:59 Manisha Bewtra: which I will submit for our record additionally I received this email this afternoon from chief Lyle hi alderman Bewtra please forgive me that I cannot attend because of two other meetings tonight this is important to protect the rights of transgender residents as well as transgender individuals who visit and work in our community Thank You chief Michael L Lyle Melrose Police Department This is a statement from the Yes on 3 campaign co-chair, Casey Seferodini. Support for the Yes on 3 campaign is strong and comes from every corner of the Commonwealth. Knowing that the community of Melrose is once again standing up for the dignity and respect for all people, including those who are transgender, sends a powerful message that there is no
▶ 45:51 Manisha Bewtra: room for discrimination or harassment in our cities and towns. encourage everyone to vote yes on three to uphold our state's law and reputation as a place that is inclusive and welcoming to all we are thankful to the Board of Aldermen for their leadership on this important issue and my final statement that I received this one will be a little harder to read because it's a bit emotional is from a Melrose residents resident who sent it to me in confidence because they wish to remain anonymous to protect the identity of their child to the Melrose Board of Aldermen confession time since hearing about the potential adoption of this resolution I have sat down more times than I can count to try to share what I believe everyone should know about yes
▶ 46:43 Manisha Bewtra: on three when questions of this maggots magnitude are felt deeply in one's own bones the right words cannot can be hard to come by but I find myself in this chair again and again, drawn to the possibility of changing minds, even as I fear for my child's safety in a commonwealth whose ideals we, as its citizens, sometimes fail to live up to. It's now 3.54 on the day of your meeting, so it's now or never. I'll start by saying that when my daughter first told me she was a girl, I thought she was engaging in pretend play. I tried and tried and tried and tried to dissuade her of that notion. I painstakingly explained to her all the different ways I could think of to be a boy. A boy with long hair, a boy who wears pink, a boy who
▶ 47:34 Manisha Bewtra: wants to be Elsa, complete with internet searches for photos of David Bowie and RuPaul. There's no set way to be a boy, I explained. Boys can do anything and be anything they want. By the way, this is not something I ever thought I would have to explain to a child with so-called typically male anatomy, but there you have it. And then the day came, a few years after this pretend play began, when my child told me she wanted to kill herself. I'm sad in my heart all the time, Mama. I'm a girl on the inside. I don't want to pretend to be a boy on the outside. She was five. I was terrified, and if Google had a pay-per-query requirement, I would have single-handedly funded that search engine's operation for a solid six months.
▶ 48:32 Manisha Bewtra: I found books and websites and resources and professionals. I read extensively and met with more people than I can count. everywhere I went everyone I spoke with or whose academic work I came across confirmed what was becoming clear in my heart after my child went from depressive and withdrawn to outgoing and carefree with the purchase of a dress she could wear at home and the promise we'd allow her to grow out her hair after this child who had no relationships with other children who was cautious to the point of refusing to dip a foot in the water at the beach upon being recognized by others in the way she recognizes herself immediately gained the ability to form relationships with others and to live fully in this
▶ 49:17 Manisha Bewtra: world without fear if this is just pretend they said there's no harm in allowing it it will stop eventually and if it's not pretend they said affirming her identity will be the single most important thing you will ever do for child here's the thing when transgender people are not supported they die they die all too often at the hands of others but also they die by their own hand in staggering numbers upwards of 40 a statistic i know we've heard a few times tonight up to upwards of 40 some research indicates this number is closer to 50 of transgender people attempt suicide at some point in their lives. Many do so repeatedly. Too many of them succeed. Spend a few hours talking to transgender folks and ask them how many other trans people they have known who have been
▶ 50:16 Manisha Bewtra: murdered or took their own lives. Ask them how many trans people they know who have tried to commit suicide. I promise you this, you will not be the same after these conversations for people like my daughter and by extension for people like me yes on three is not a luxury it's a necessity it's a matter of access to equal rights and equal opportunity yes but it's above all a matter of safety both physical and emotional can you imagine being told you have to leave a public space because of who you are can you imagine being told you are not worthy of the ability to exist publicly it's not about bathrooms it was never about bathrooms it's about the right to exist pure and simple and do everyday things everyone does and no one bats an
▶ 51:07 Manisha Bewtra: eye i wish i could be here in person but my daughter though young already understands the danger as being of being perceived as different in this particular way she has as many other transgender children do decided she doesn't want anyone to know she's transgender by speaking publicly i would out her to folks who don't already know and i can't do that because her identity is hers alone to share still i hope you will hear these words with an open heart this evening i ask you from one person who loves a child deeply to other people who i'm sure also love children deeply with whether their own a god child a niece or nephew a friend or a friend's child please help protect transgender people in massachusetts please make a public stand so
▶ 51:59 Peter D. Mortimer: transgender people in melrose know that their board of aldermen has their back this sort of affirmation is sorely needed in a world that demonizes transgender people it can make all the difference in the world thank you for your time point of order madam chairman under our rules we have to recess this meeting and we can quickly start the full board of alderman meeting and then recess that and reconvene the appropriations meeting so at this time for that purpose although I wish we didn't have to do it at this time I wish we could go on but we will go on in just about five minutes I make a motion to recess the Appropriations Committee I think I think it's 30 I think we're over I think it's 30 minutes from 745 yes we started this at 730 has to start within 30 minutes of
▶ 53:05 Manisha Bewtra: the scheduled for all very very good thank thank you for pointing that out to me I will I would draw my motion to recess thank you I'll move you to you still have the floor sure well the next thing I was going to do is read the resolution into the record which it is a little long so we'll see our seven minutes 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 whereas the Massachusetts House of Representatives and Senate approved the addition of gender identity to the Massachusetts public accommodations law Mass General Law chapter 272 sections 92 a 98 and 98 a on July 7 2016 and
▶ 53:58 Manisha Bewtra: whereas governor Charlie Baker signed this legislation an act relative to transgender anti-discrimination Senate bill 2407 into law on July 8th 2016 and whereas the updated public accommodations law has been in full effect since October 1st 2016 and whereas two years prior to enactment of these protections statewide the city of Melrose demonstrated leadership on this issue when the Board of Aldermen unanimously passed an amendment to the city's human rights policy statement Melrose revised city ordinances chapter 15 article 10 section 15-50 on December 15 2014 Board of Aldermen order 2015 72 thereafter including gender identity and gender expression in this policy ensuring equal opportunity and protection from discrimination in housing, employment, education, public accommodations, city services, insurance, banking, credit, and health care in Melrose,
▶ 55:08 Manisha Bewtra: thereby making Melrose the 12th municipality in the Commonwealth to enact such legislation, and whereas on April 12, 2017, Melrose Public Schools issued a statement reaffirming its commitment to inclusive anti-discrimination protections and the rights of transgender students to a safe and affirming school environment after the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice rescinded policies directing these agencies to treat a student's gender identity as a student sex for the purposes of Title IX and its implementing regulations, and whereas the City of Melrose has demonstrated a deep commitment to its motto, one community open to all, and whereas the November 6th, 2018 statewide election includes a ballot question
▶ 55:58 Manisha Bewtra: seeking to repeal the provision in the Massachusetts Public Accommodations Law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender identity in places of public accommodation and whereas repeal of this law would have a devastating effect for transgender and gender non-conforming Member of our community and would be against principles we as a city uphold and reform and be it resolved, we the Member of the Board of Aldermen do hereby express our commitment to defend transgender equality in Melrose and will hereby pledge to sign on to the freedom for all Massachusetts yes on three coalition to say clearly discrimination has no place in Massachusetts and no place in Melrose be it further resolved
▶ 56:43 Manisha Bewtra: that on the sixth day of September in the year 2018 a copy of this resolution be spread upon the records of the Board of Aldermen I hope we're able to pass this resolute resolution tonight unanimously I know we're in this awkward situation where we have a acting mayor because Marin Furner's away but I know presidents work Oh supports this measure as well the real work is ahead of us to ensure that people know about this ballot question and that this is an opportunity for us to raise awareness for yes on three before the election thank you for your consideration and I'm happy to yield the floor thank you as As Alderman Mortimer pointed out, we do need to recess prior to 8-15 in order to start the full board meeting.
▶ 57:36 Peter D. Mortimer: According to our rules, we will be able to recess and come back to this fairly quickly. Is there a motion? Motion to recess, Madam Chair. Second. We have a motion to recess the Appropriations Committee made by Alderman Mortimer, seconded by Alderman Forbes. All in favor of recessing? Aye. Any opposed? This committee will be in recess briefly. It's required by our rules of order, and it's the procedure we need to follow to be in compliance with the state-based open meeting law. We need to start our meetings within 30 minutes of their posted time, and the full board of Alderman meeting was posted at 745. So we will open it and quickly recess it and resume the Appropriations Committee and take up the business on which we were working.
▶ 1:01:23 Peter D. Mortimer: So moved. Second. Made by Alderman Lemmerman. Alderman Lemmerman has made a motion to recess the full board, duly seconded by Alderman Forbes. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, hearing none, the full board is in recess at this time to reconvene later this evening. And we will resume in just about 30 seconds to the Appropriations Committee. Sorry for the disturbance, since we just had to follow up our procedures. state law the state open meeting law thank you for your understanding on that point thanks call to order the appropriations committee we are currently we are currently discussing order 2019-4 alderman Bewtra you have concluded your just to confirm you have concluded your comments are there any other Member of the committee wishing to speak on this order
▶ 1:02:51 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: Alderman Lipper-Garabedian. Thank you Madam Chairwoman and thank you Alderman Bewtra for presenting this resolution to us. I don't have much to say other than to say I'm proud to sit next to you and pleased that you have brought this to our attention. I appreciate all of the people who stepped forward to share your personal stories and your support for neighbors, friends, and family Member. It it was very moving not only those who were here tonight but also those who took the time to write us as the mother of a four and a half month old and another son who has just entered kindergarten I was particularly moved by the messages from other parents in our community and I am fully in support of this resolution tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Alderman Mortimer. About a minute ago, we all
▶ 1:03:54 Shawn M. MacMaster: just said the words, and liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Alderman McMaster. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to thank Alderman Bewtra for filing this resolution. In December 2014, when the Board of Aldermen passed an amendment to the city's human rights policy statement to include gender identity and gender expression in the policy, I was not a member of this board. however i was a commissioner on the human rights commission at that time a body that i later had the privilege and honor of chairing and in which i served with my colleague and good friend alderman Bewtra at that time i was incredibly proud of the board of alderman for joining just a handful of other communities at that time and enacting such legislation tonight i hope to feel proud again
▶ 1:04:40 Shawn M. MacMaster: the matter before us is more than just a resolution it's a reaffirmation of our values as a city our motto one community open to all needs to be more than just words it needs to be actualized and it needs to be actualized in how we treat one another our motto needs to be part of the fabric of this community which can only happen if we live the words of that motto and we as elected officials must lead the way transgender equality is at stake in november and frankly it's sad that we're having to even have this conversation tonight but it's a conversation that needs to happen and I'm confident that we'll do the right thing as a board thank you thank you this resolution just you clearly reaffirms the basic human rights that all people deserve it and insist
▶ 1:05:43 John N. Tramontozzi: upon as we have it here in this community i want to thank alderman butcher for bringing this forward in the many citizens that came out to speak on behalf of this resolution we also received many emails in support of this resolution from others in the community and i don't think i received any not even one email in opposition to it so again thank you alderman Bewtra for bringing it forward and look forward to voting on behalf of this ordinance thank you i'd like to make a motion to recommend passage second the motion to recommend for passage made by alderman future seconded by alderman mcmaster on discussion i i will just take a moment to say um I think most the most compelling arguments have been said tonight I
▶ 1:06:48 Scott M. Forbes: thank Alderman Bewtra for for bringing this forward thank every member of the public who wrote or came down or even spoke one-on-one with Member of this committee in favor of this and as a social worker as a mom I can't possibly think of something more important that we can do as a body than to reaffirm this value of our community so thank you any other further discussion alderman forbes thank you i just want just a quick comment um you know i appreciate everybody here speaking tonight through a lot of passionate uh comments this evening and just real quick in 2014 melrose stepped up as a community and passed local legislation in 2016 the commonwealth of massachusetts passed statewide legislation it is 2018. there's no reason to take a step backwards
▶ 1:07:35 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: from where we are right now so i just want to just add that to the record and uh thank you for passing this resolution this evening i appreciate it thank you we have a motion made and seconded all in favor aye aye aye any opposed this order will be recommended to the full board meeting later this evening the next item on our agenda this evening is order 2019-5 acceptance of a cyber security grant in the amount of twenty thousand dollars Motion to suspend the rules that we may hear from our Director of Informational Services. Second the motion. We have a motion to suspend the rules made by Alderman Mortimer, that's seconded by Alderman Forbes. All in favor of suspension? Aye. Any opposed? We are now under suspension of the rules and we are joined this evening by our Information Technology Director, Mr. Ellis.
▶ 1:08:24 Thank you for being here. Would you like to give us just a brief rundown of this grant before we move to questions? Sure. So the grant was initially The George Pazos, my predecessor, initially found the grant and worked with Mike Lindstrom to get it moving and I kept it going. I furthered the paperwork and what not. We recently undertook a whole cyber security assessment of the entire network inside and out. And this grant accepted would pay for that cyber security assessment. It's incredibly comprehensive. They really, really get down to the nitty gritty. It's really granular. They found things that we knew they would find. Things that we didn't think they would, well, we didn't know that they were out there.
▶ 1:09:31 So they found them. It was basically broken down into a few phases. The first was the open source intelligence reconnaissance. Basically, they scanned the dark web for usernames and passwords that may have been picked up by employees of the city. And they did find quite a few for different platforms, like Facebook or Twitter or they may have logged into something at some point in an insecure network that something was picked up and then in they know that people use the same passwords across the board that they if they would use them for Facebook they might use it for their account here thankfully they weren't successful in getting into our network using any of those passwords and username so that was good but as a result of that we could step up our game on the password
▶ 1:10:35 complexity move toward password phrase is just more complexity in that the second thing was external vulnerability trying to get in from the outside they did a penetration test that came out well as well the the one caveat on that is that they couldn't do like a really brutal attack on us given that they didn't want to disrupt our network or any of our services in-house by really you know going for broke so what they could do in normal testing they couldn't they couldn't get in but they did find some vulnerabilities that we can we can work on the phase four was wireless security they did a wireless security they only find one with two flaws that we've already fixed that were kind of minor social engineering was the
▶ 1:11:34 basically was a phishing test I don't know if you know what phishing is basically send emails to people that look like they're from me really what they did they said they made a new web a new you a new domain on the on the internet basically that was called city of and they made it our nl rose org so that they are in the end if you look at it quickly looks like an M so they sent an email for me to people I know it's sneaky but I mean that's what that's real that's real life you know so saying that they needed to log in to a website uh and they mocked up a website that looked like it would be our a website for us or whatever and they needed to log in with their username and password uh i think 15 people responded
▶ 1:12:25 i don't know if they were able to get any passwords out of that we rated really highly on that uh so that was that was that was basically the the top five they gave us a you know comparative results to other towns and cities or municipalities that were similar in size and number of employees and that kind of thing and the write-up was quite extensive and you know there were definitely definitely things that that they found that we're gonna need to put a lot of effort into possibly funding I don't know how we would fix all right to give you an example I mean and it gets really nitty-gritty but there were 8,000 pages of things to look at and read I mean it wasn't 8,000 pages of specifically specific vulnerabilities
▶ 1:13:20 was a lot of it was descriptions on what they found why it can be and that could go for pages but it was 8,000 pages I mean to try to and it's growing you know every day every day we have somebody finds another vulnerability in our software you know every day we have software not every day but very often we have software that goes out of out of maintenance so their end-of-life programs even Microsoft Office our server we have servers that run still have servers that we need to change over from 2000 2003 2008 2008 is still under um it's not end of life but it's 10 years out of date we're constantly patching it so uh you know we can't really afford at the moment to upgrade a lot of those servers because you know we just don't
▶ 1:14:15 have the funds to pay for a new license um or hardware to put them on so from that standpoint we're kind of in trouble but uh yeah it was a great eye-opening project to go through the entire process so any questions does anyone have any questions so this was a state grant that we received and I'm just when you were referring to they who who was doing all of these different okay so so he plus was the hired contractor there are a state vendor they have a subcontractor they have a person in in-house who does, who's actually a Melrose resident. Very highly credentialed and he worked with us to try to figure out what we wanted to kind of see. We're looking for what to attack. They do the regular attacks if there's anything specific that we want to have looked at.
▶ 1:15:24 And they subcontract with a security vendor who can, who has all the tools and staff to really attack it. Because a company like E-plus might not have, really that doesn't make sense for them to have all these people because they don't do security every day, all day long, and these companies do so, yeah. And was this a competitive grant that we were awarded or was this something that the state agency provided to municipalities on the common law? It was a competitive grant as far as I know from the, from the, like I said I wasn't there at the outset. I believe it was a, a, a community, um, uh, competitive grantor, a community, yeah. Okay. Uh, I can tell you in a second, is a community compact, best practice program.
▶ 1:16:20 Manisha Bewtra: Great. Well, um, I'm glad that we were a recipient of a competitive award and, um, it sounds like there we got some real value out of the work that we we had done so thank you for presenting that just curious what kind of like training did any training come with this for staff or other training that you have available to city employees and others who use the city network in terms of recognizing increasing security risks, things like that. That's a good question. No, we did the, I thought that it might. But when we actually got down to what the money would cover from the process of just getting through the network and seeing what we had for vulnerabilities, it ate up the whole $20,000 and the subsequent report that they created for us.
▶ 1:17:22 So I guess in order to do that, we could do in-house training based on the things. One of the things that I'm definitely going to do here in the city and for the schools, because a lot of the stuff that they found on the city side transfers over to the schools. It's basically the same network, is create policies for security. And that can get into other things. I've written a policy that we need to, for the fobs and just physical security that we need to get through other things like things we should and shouldn't do. I think we need a policy like we do on the schools that I wrote this year for social media and use because a lot of that comes into how do you how do you use your electronics in-house and out again passwords make sure you don't use the same password
▶ 1:18:25 Manisha Bewtra: change your passwords often even for things outside here because they do impact us inside so definitely policies I'm gonna be working on a lot of policies for security and we'll try to get some training in there as well thank you just curious I mean I it's been amazing to see how more clever and sneaky some of these emails are so even those of us who might consider ourselves savvy fall for it sometimes so it's good to know some of those tips and tricks just like what you should look for when you open up your inbox that kind of thing but thank you I will yield to all of them look at reading okay thank you very much so this $20,000 has been spent yes so this is just pro forma for us to be making a recommendation for passage and then passage later on at the full
▶ 1:19:27 board of acceptance of this grant yes I apologize that it's it's it's all right I'm just late I in and others when I took the role of CIO from what I was told the money was already accepted in an account and then when i went looking for it to pay for when we were in the process and doing the and i was talking to the state as well and they were like oh no you need to you need to get this going you need to have a contract in order to keep this going for another two years if you want to renew it because i had started in in the it you know we hadn't done the grant and it needed to be done so i didn't need to elongate it and uh I assume that the money was already in our coffers, but essentially that stuff had never been done before, so yeah, I apologize that it's-
▶ 1:20:21 Peter D. Mortimer: That's all right. No, it's all right. I can understand how the situation occurred, but essentially it's pro forma. We're just going through some motions here tonight on the financial side. It's nice to get the explanation for the benefit of the public, and there's no matching on this. There's no matching on that. they did guarantee us the funds though right so we don't have to dip into the city coffers to match anything and uh just so people might realize i mean obviously this is a very serious issue in terms of security and i'm not sure whether or not it was before you arrived to work at the city of melrose but and i'm not telling tales out of school because it was in the newspaper but there was a time and i think it was about five or six years ago
▶ 1:21:09 Peter D. Mortimer: when some cyber gangsters hacked into our system and demanded to be paid off to the tune of $5,000 in Bitcoin, and we paid them. We paid them. And that's no joke. They shook us down, and they got us. It has happened. And in Bitcoin, too. Yeah, Bitcoin. It's pretty... Thankfully, it was only $5,000, but on the other hand, it was $5,000. Oh, yeah, I know. it's you don't want to it has uh it basically what happened there uh in that case was that it was loaded into an email and it was clicked on which which unloaded a payload into the system that has happened twice again thankfully when i started i stepped up the backup process So that when it occurred, again, through the police department, we were able to go back about a half hour before the attack
▶ 1:22:21 and roll all of those files back to wipe out what was infected. And we couldn't get access to those files. So we were able to just roll it back a half hour, clean everything. And then we made, we kind of got ahead of the process by locking down all the files and folders to individual people in departments so that whoever, if the person is part of a department, whatever they have access to will get affected. So say it's the police department, only the police department files will get affected and not the whole entire city's files. that's also true of locking down user users to like specific folders what they have access to computers making sure that they don't have administrative rights to other things that
▶ 1:23:18 Peter D. Mortimer: they they don't need to as long as they're a user it shouldn't spread beyond what they have access to so and just so the public can see where all this good work went on those two subsequent attempts no extortionate demands were paid off no so burn me one shame on me burn me twice and they didn't burn us twice no we took care of it excellent excellent job thank you very much madam chair that's all I have motion recommend second sure I just and thinking about the conversation you had with Alderman Bewtra I'm sure you're aware that the governor created a new executive office of technology services and security and I just returned to work from maternity leave yesterday and found that I needed to do a new cybersecurity
▶ 1:24:15 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: training that had a lot of really good videos and questions and I expect that EOTS is also creating some model templates of policies so perhaps that would be a point that you don't have to recreate the wheel you might I'm happy to follow up with you on that but you also could probably find some things on their website there is a home there is a a matching grant program that's not cybersecurity but it's physical security that we're looking into at the schools that's that's another Baker started a program for a matching grant for scary So, we'll try to apply for that as well. Thank you. Seconded to recommend this order for passage. Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? This order will be recommended for passage in just a few moments in our full board meeting.