City Council — 2018-09-17

City Council Regular Meeting

This meeting starts at 1:01:42 in a recording that covers several meetings.

Attendance

Manisha Bewtra present · Alderman at Large; Robert A. Boisselle present · 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 present · Alderman at Large; Peter D. Mortimer present · Ward 6 Alderman; John N. Tramontozzi present · Ward 1 Alderman; Francis X. Wright Jr. present · Ward 3 Alderman; Michael P. Zwirko present · President, Alderman at Large

Agenda

Minutes

CITY OF MELROSE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BULLETIN● SEPTEMBER 17, 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 Present 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 Present Peter D. Mortimer Ward 6 Alderman Present John N. Tramontozzi Ward 1 Alderman Present Francis X. Wright Jr. Ward 3 Alderman Present Michael P. Zwirko President, Alderman at Large Present

ORDER-2019-10 Appointment Appointment of Karen Smolens, 10 Ravine Road, Melrose, to the Melrose Commission on Women for a three-year term; said term to expire on the last day of February 2021. Assigned to Committee Health, Education & Welfare Committee

ORDER-2019-11 Appointment Appointment of Miles Selena Wentzell, 473 Lebanon St., Apt. 1, to the Melrose Commission on Women to fill the unexpired term of Elish Barker, said term to expire on the last day of February 2019. Assigned to Committee Health, Education & Welfare Committee

ORDER-2019-12 Grant Acceptance of FY2018-2022 Traffic Enforcement and Equipment Grant from the Commonwealth of Mass., Executive Office of Public Safety and Security's Highway Safety Division to Fund #4023. Assigned to Committee Finance Committee

ORDER-2019-13 Appointment City of Melrose Page 1 9/19/2018 3:04 PM Minutes Board of Aldermen September 17, 2018 Appointment of Robin Peevey, 308 East Foster Street, to the Historic District Commission for a term to end on the last day of February 2019. Assigned to Committee Health, Education & Welfare Committee

ORDER-2019-14 Appointment Appointment of Kevin J. Erb, 16 Everett St., to the Historic District Commission for a three-year term; said term to end on the last day of February 2019. Assigned to Committee Health, Education & Welfare Committee

ORDER-2019-15 Resolution A Resolution recognizing National Hunger Action Month Placed on File

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. Passed City of Melrose Page 2 9/19/2018 3:04 PM

Transcript

▶ 1:01:42 Michael P. Zwirko: is being recorded according to the Massachusetts open meeting law it can be viewed by clicking on the link on the city website as well as at mmtv3.org at At this time, I'd ask that Madam Clerk calls the roll. Alderman Bewtra. Here. Alderman Boisselle. Here. Alderman Forbes. Here. Alderman Lemmerman. Here. Alderman Lipper-Garabedian. Here. Alderman McMaster. Here. Alderman Medeiros. Here. Alderman Mortimer. Here. Alderman Tramontozzi. Here. Alderman Wright. Here. President Zwirko. Here. All members here, it constitutes a quorum. If everyone could stand and please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag, and the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

▶ 1:02:36 Michael P. Zwirko: Before we begin this evening, generally after the Pledge of Allegiance, we move directly to public comment. At this time, as folks are probably well aware, the city of Melrose lost one of their own this past week. Mr. John Daugherty was a longtime resident of Melrose and a dedicated and loyal public servant here for the Department of Public Works. We are terribly saddened by this loss and we can only hope that in these times his family can find peace. Out of respect for Mr. Daugherty and his passing as well as his family I ask that everybody please rise and join us for a brief moment of silence in his honor thank you thank you everyone motion to open the floor for public comment mr. president we have a motion on the floor to open the meeting

▶ 1:03:45 Michael P. Zwirko: for public comment that has been made by alderman Mortimer has been seconded by alderman Boisselle all in favor aye any opposed this is the portion of the meeting where any member of the public could come and speak to anything any item that is on the agenda this evening are there any members of the public willing to speak this evening could you please come sit down write your name address and tell us what's on your mind please good evening everyone thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about this issue my name is Tom Schinkel and I live on the corner of Upham Street and Lebanon Street on the issue of so I'd like to make two points I moved into moved into Lebanon in to Lebanon and up

▶ 1:04:32 in that house four years ago first year I was totally unprepared for the snow and I decided to take action and I bought myself the strongest residential snow blower I could find and I went to place in Minneapolis where they know a lot about snow and I found a beautiful very strong powerful snow blower everything good we got the first round of snow and my driveway it's clear now I'm working the sidewalk and of course I have a long sidewalk on two sides of the street and the first round everything is clear now come the snow plows barreling down from Appam Street and they take a sharp turn on Lebanon and they blow four feet of snow right back on my sidewalk to the point that even my snowblower from Minneapolis

▶ 1:05:31 cannot handle the snow. I cannot get through. So for the next two months, there is a pile of snow and it blocks the entire corner. It's an important corner. There's a lot of elderly people living there but also a lot of younger people parents with strollers with young kids that want to cross the streets and it is during the winter a real mess and as a resident there is no way i can handle this by myself with my residentials no bro there's no way so if i had a backhoe at my disposal I would be more than happy to volunteer to run backhoe over the various corners there that would not be a problem but with my residential equipment I cannot do it there's too much snow that's number one my second point is that on my side of the corner of the street I have to do

▶ 1:06:34 the cleaning myself on the other side of the street invariably every couple of days i think the city cleans the street and i'm thinking how come they can't do it on my side i also like the point you made namely it is the sidewalks are public property i think you're very eloquent sir and i fully support what you say i again um if there is an opportunity to volunteer with equipment so that i can help out on that corner i'd be more than happy to do it but my own resources are insufficient for that corner thank you very much thank you sir for your time motion to close public comment second any other members of the public willing to speak at this time go right ahead thanks kate sure thank you sir if you don't mind just stating

▶ 1:07:29 your name and address please sir uh my name is mal i live on eight mystic ave okay so uh about the snow ordinance so this has been brought up as a public safety issue and yet there has been no public safety numbers that have been brought up as the gentleman alluded to earlier so how can we say the public safety issue if we don't have any public safety numbers to go with secondly um uh you say like yeah with this administration you won't use this as a revenue um gaining initiative but maybe you guys might not but maybe future administrations might decide to use it as a revenue positive uh uh thing and second thirdly um they were saying that only maybe two percent of the population don't uh clear the snow right also you can impose

▶ 1:08:13 a punitive thing on 98 of the other population that do uh shovel the snow doesn't seem right to me thirdly uh chairman issue uh alluded to that other cities uh are doing this so we should do it because other cities are doing it doesn't seem like a valid argument i mean uh just because they're doing it doesn't mean they uh is valid i mean they might not value their civil liberties as people in melrose do i mean i do not take lightly uh the city taking away my rights and uh imposing your uh you know for for something that two percent of the population don't do you're gonna impose your um thing on me i mean i value my civilly more i value my civil liberties more than those other people in the other uh cities you know i give up their rights just because you know they

▶ 1:09:04 Michael P. Zwirko: want their uh for one two percent snowplow so uh that's my those are my comments thank you sir for your time any other members of the public wishing to speak on any items that are on our agenda this evening seeing none motion to close public comment mr chair mr president a motion made to close public comment by alderman mortimer is seconded by alderman Boisselle all those in favor aye aye any opposed now move to communications from her honor the mayor and other city officials order 2019-10 appointment of karen smallins 10 ravine road melrose to the melrose commission on women for a three-year term said term to expire on the last day of february 2021 that order will be sent to the committee on health education and welfare order 2019-11

▶ 1:09:56 appointment of miles selena wenzel 473 lebanon street apartment one to the melrose commission on women to fill the unexpired term of alish barker said term to expire on the last day of february 2019. that order will also be sent to the committee on health education and welfare order 2019-12 acceptance of 2018-2022 traffic enforcement and equipment grant from the commonwealth of massachusetts executive office of public safety and securities highway safety division to fund number 4023. that will be sent to the committee on finance order 2019-13 appointment of robin pv 308 east foster street to the historic district commission for a term to end on the last day of february 2019 that order will be sent to the committee on health education and

▶ 1:10:48 welfare order 2019-14 appointment of kevin j erb 16 everett street to the historic district commission for a three-year term said term to end on the last day of february 2019. that order will be sent to the committee on health education and welfare we move now to new business order 2019-15 a resolution recognizing national hunger action month alderman medeiros i'd like to move for immediate consideration of this order alderman medeiros moves for immediate consideration of order 2019-15 is there an objection seeing none you may proceed i'd like to uh move to suspend the rules to come to the podium to read the resolution and be joined by people from the board of the bread of life second the motion to suspend motion to made to suspend the rules by

▶ 1:11:37 Monica C. Medeiros: Alderman Medeiros. It has been seconded by Alderman Mortimer. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Rules are suspended. You may come up to the rostrum. Thank you. I filed this order. It's a resolution in recognition of National Hunger Action Month as we have done so in the past and this board has recognized nationally it's National Hunger Awareness Month in the month of September and this is a very important issue that affects all of us in Massachusetts, in the world, and right here in Melrose, there are many people that we are not always aware of who are hungry. So as, if you'll bear with me, I'd like to read the resolution. So it's a resolution in recognition of National Hunger Action Month.

▶ 1:12:34 Monica C. Medeiros: Whereas September is Hunger Action Month, when Feeding America nationwide network of food banks unite to urge businesses and individuals to take action in their communities, whereas chronic malnutrition weakens the immune system and can lead to stunted growth, poor cognitive ability, fetal defects, mental retardation, and even death, and whereas approximately 3.1 million children die from undernutrition each year, and whereas a recent study shows that 34 percent of those at risk for hunger in eastern Massachusetts earn too much to qualify for government-provided emergency food assistance. And whereas the Greater Boston Food Bank serves residents of 190 cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts distributing enough food to help over 142,000 people monthly.

▶ 1:13:31 Monica C. Medeiros: And whereas locally, the Bread of Life is in the top 10 percent of the member agencies of the greater boston food bank distributing over 1.5 million pounds of food and whereas the bread of life provides over 1 million free meals through its food pantries evening meals and food delivery services to residents of communities north of boston including melrose therefore be it resolved that we the members of the board of aldermen hereby proclaim the month of september 2018 as hunger action month within the city of melrose and urge every citizen to be sensitive to the problem of hunger and attentive to how he or she may help provide assistance to those lacking in food within the city of melrose the commonwealth

▶ 1:14:22 Monica C. Medeiros: of massachusetts and throughout the world be it further resolved that on this 17th day of september in the year 2018 a copy of this resolution be spread upon the records of the board of aldermen signed by members of the board of all and i have with me tonight andrew mcneely from former president of the bread of life that's an organization that does a lot of work for melrose i think he can say it best and they have a walk upcoming yeah and uh i'd like to have you say sure i just want to say thank you on behalf of the whole organization the board of aldermen and the leadership in melrose including mayor former mayor dolan as well certainly as monica has been a great resource for us have supported us over the years and we're

▶ 1:15:17 just very very thankful as she referenced the impact and the problem as far as we're concerned based on what we can see is getting greater and not worse, unfortunately. The fact that we served over a million meals again last year is kind of interesting, right? We're helping a lot of people, but it's unfortunate because the goal for us would be that we're out of business, so to speak, right? We're not a corporation that's trying to grow, right? We're trying to retract. And so, but that's the reality of the situation. And I think Melrose, quietly, there are people in need in Melrose. Of some of the statistics that Monica referenced, over 200 individuals in Melrose have consistently taken advantage of our service.

▶ 1:16:10 And that includes, unfortunately, children and families. I think many of you are aware of the fact that the Town Line Motel up on 99 is actually a state overflow shelter. And so that's one of the areas in the groups that we serve every week. So we've provided groceries to them for the last three years, and unfortunately those numbers have increased as well. And so in addition to that, we serve just north of 150 elderly people, residents in Melrose, with groceries on a consistent basis every month. And so, again, just thank you. Doing this shines a light on the problem. It kind of increases visibility for our organization, which is obviously very, very helpful. And as Monica mentioned, we do have a walk every October that takes place, at least it starts, at Pine Banks in Melrose.

▶ 1:17:11 And it has been, frankly, a little bit of a struggle to get, to have Melrose participate to the degree that we hoped and wanted. I think part of it is there's a conflict with another worthy cause on that day, typically, or that week. domestic violence is it MAVE so I just wanted to also just create some awareness for that event it's a huge fundraiser for us it generates almost a third of our budget every year and so I guess it's a plug for that event as well spreadoflifemalden.org spreadoflifemalden.org is the website yeah phones now I know they can't. I know they can't. Nice job, Monica. Don't forget your resolution. I know. Motion to place on file. Second. Alderman Medeiros has moved to place order 2019-15 on file.

▶ 1:18:29 Michael P. Zwirko: It has been seconded by Alderman Mortimer. All those in favor to place the order on file? Aye. Any opposed? The order is placed on file. we move now to orders out of order there are none any orders from committee this evening alderman lemmerman thank you i'd like to move to remove order 2019-8 acceptance of a regional tobacco prevention grant for sixty thousand dollars per year for ten years from the massachusetts department of public health from the appropriations committee second the motion to remove the order from committee mr president motion has been made to remove the order from committee it has been been made by alderman lemmerman seconded by alderman mortimer all those in favor any opposed the order is now removed from committee motion for passage second

▶ 1:19:12 there's a motion for passage that has been made by alderman lemmerman seconded by alderman mortimer this is will require a roll call vote on further discussion none madam clerk alderman Bewtra yes alderman Boisselle yes alderman forbes yes Alderman Lemmerman. Yes. Alderman Lipper-Garabedian. Yes. Alderman McMaster. Yes. Alderman Medeiros. Yes. Alderman Mortimer. Yes. Alderman Tramontozzi. Yes. Alderman Wright. Yes. President Zwirko. Yes. That order passes. We now move to reports under Rule 53. Are there any Aldermen that have to report on? Yes, Alderman Boisselle. A report from the Traffic Commission. There were a number of new businesses during the meeting. One of those was the request by the Merrill

▶ 1:20:00 Robert A. Boisselle: School Department to make parking regulation changes along the northbound lane of Tremont Street from the Lindfels Parkway to Union Street Monday through Friday 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. to allow for student parking. A number of residents in the area and businesses and others came out against this concept and it failed doing the final vote to allow this parking change. The next is the Melrose School Department was a request to make Albion Street a one-way street in the west direction and or do not enter from a Melrose Street Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. This was part of a massive change by the school department in the DPW to make the area safer for dropping off of

▶ 1:20:53 Robert A. Boisselle: students if you go up merrill street you'll see bump out areas you'll see identification of areas for drop-off areas and you actually have an indentation into the property that just gets the cars off the roadway and just leaves the students off in a safe area and they come back on and go down melrose street to the lynn phill's parkway and the albion street the number of residents did not like the idea of a one-way street doing all day but they were open to do not enter from Melrose Street between 7 and 9 and 1 and 3 in the afternoon if you go down that street today you'll see that sign mounted there and the traffic seems to be flowing very very smoothly and congrats and thanks to the DPW group for putting that roadway together it looks very good also the

▶ 1:21:45 Robert A. Boisselle: next item was the elimination of a traffic signal on Warwick Road and Perkins Street consideration in addition of a raised intersection maintaining a four-way stop now this was a real questionable decision this was not decided upon at the meeting it was more research that to be done to it and for the evaluation the finances of actually constructing this you would actually come to an intersection and the intersection would be raised up to the street or sidewalk level so it's almost an eight to ten inch rise in the roadway it's almost like a speed bump and the traffic light that was there before wasn't working traffic was just sapping right through the lights or just not stopping at the red lights in that street so right now there's the lights

▶ 1:22:35 Robert A. Boisselle: are still there but research is going on for more research and construction of a raised intersections. It's going to be the first in this particular area to see that and it's going to be interesting. The last item on the agenda was crosswalks on Warwick Street. If you go down Warwick Street now you will see a series of new crosswalks and street narrowing and if you go down Warwick you see a number of the side streets have a wide entrance onto Warwick now that's going to be closed up and it's going to be European illuminated crosswalks they're going to be very bright and outstanding and you're going to from what I understand you can probably see that from the space station up north up into the sky but

▶ 1:23:28 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: this I believe is pretty well completed at this time is and I correct you're still working on it now so this should be finished in the next couple of weeks and it's in John's Ward and so forth and that was it from the traffic Commission Thank You alderman Boisselle any other aldermen willing to report alderman liver Garabedian sure just a quick report from the school committee the school committee had a retreat on Saturday morning for about three hours it was their third or fourth year in a row where they've done an annual goal setting retreat it's an open meeting and they were focusing on the roles between the school committee and the superintendent and staff with the school committee really working on the vision and mission of the schools and then the

▶ 1:24:14 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: superintendent and staff really focused on the execution they also discussed a little bit about finances and what the district is going to need going forward and they have sent out for a demographic study so we've heard a number of updates I think about the growing enrollment here and the trends and a wave that's coming through so I think this seems like a good idea to have another look at what we can anticipate and what that would mean for our schools and the needs of our community so I think they're working on selecting a consultant and with respect to numbers we're up to 324 kindergartners and the next steps for them will be to look at the goals that they've discussed on Saturday and then

▶ 1:25:05 sort of finalize them I believe at the next meeting which will be on the 27th of this month Thank You Alderman any others seeing none that concludes the rule 53 portion of the meeting we have no other items before us we would take a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn made by Alderman Mortimer seconded by Alderman Forbes all those in favor aye any opposed the meeting is adjourned we will now conclude with the meeting of the committee on Public Works Public Works Committee is back in session and the next speaker on the agenda is all Alderman Letter, Letter, Darabedian. Let the gentleman come back up. Thank you all for being here. I wanted to ask a few follow-up questions based on some of the conversations you've had with my colleagues.

City Council — 2018-09-17

Attendance

Agenda

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