City Council — 2018-12-03

City Council Regular Meeting

This meeting starts at 6:29 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● DECEMBER 3, 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-2019-29 Resolution A Resolution Congratulating the Melrose League of Women Voters on Their 70th Anniversary and Recognizing Their Service to the Community Placed on File

ORDER-2019-30 Amending Revised Zoning Ordinances Amending Melrose Revised Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 235, Article XI, Section 235-73.1 Affordable Housing Incentive Program Assigned to Committee Appropriations Committee

ORDER-2019-31 Amending Revised Zoning Ordinances Amending Melrose Revised Zoning Ordinance, Chapter 235, Article XI to create a new Section 235-73.4 and amend Section 235-5 (Definitions), Section 235-16.1 (Site Plan Review), Section 235-17 (Table of Use and Parking Regulations) and Section 235-61 (Special Permit Granting Authorities) to regulate Marijuana Establishments Assigned to Committee Appropriations Committee

ORDER-2019-32 Presentation City of Melrose Page 1 12/5/2018 10:16 AM Minutes Board of Aldermen December 3, 2018 An Order to Review Potential Policies regarding Lime Bike and other cyber rental bicycles Assigned to Committee Legal & Legislative Committee

ORDER-2019-33 Resolution A Resolution Supporting the Massachusetts Municipal Association’s Comment Letter to the Federal Communications Commission Regarding Franchise Fees Placed on File

ORDER-2019-34 Amending Revised Ordinances Amending Melrose Revised Ordinances to add Chapter 222, Article IV: Shared Mobility Vehicles Assigned to Committee Legal & Legislative Committee

ORDER-2019-19 Classification of Property Request to set a Public Hearing on Classification of Property for November 26, 2018 at 7:30 P.M. and subsequently determine the Classification of Property Passed as Amended

ORDER-2019-27 Appropriation An Appropriation from Free Cash (01-324001) in the amount of One Million, One Hundred Sixty Two Thousand, One Hundred Eighty Seven dollars ($1,162,187.00) to various accounts as set forth herein. Passed City of Melrose Page 2 12/5/2018 10:16 AM

Transcript

▶ 6:21 Michael P. Zwirko: aldermen full board before the end of the year I am Michael's work oh I am the board's president at this time this meeting is being recorded in accordance with the open meeting law it is available on the city's website as well as local access to cable TV and mm TV 3.org at this time I would ask madam clerk to please call the roll alderman Peter 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. 11 present. At this time we will rise to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I would just ask those that are here present to remain standing afterwards as we will

▶ 7:11 Michael P. Zwirko: acknowledge a moment of silence for the passing of the 41st President of the United States over the weekend Americans learned that the 41st president United States George Herbert Walker Bush passed away his life was marked by public service starting at an early age of 18 when he joined the US Navy as a seaman second class in the Navy's flight training program. He then later went on to Congress, then as an ambassador to China, then as an ambassador to the UN, then as the head of the CIA, then vice president of the United States, and finally, president of the United States. Truly remarkable career that is deserving of our recognition. Personally, I was always admired that he went skydiving at the age of 90.

▶ 8:04 Michael P. Zwirko: I ask that everyone join in a brief moment of silence to honor our former president, H.W. Bush. Thank you. motion to open the floor for public comment okay mr. president has been a motion made by alderman Mortimer to open up the floor for public comment has been seconded by alderman Boisselle all those in favor any opposed this is the portion of the meeting where any member of the public that has joined with us this evening may come before us stating their name and address and provide any comments to any items that are on our agenda this evening motion a motion to close public comment second and a motion to close public comment made by alderman Mortimer seconded by alderman Boisselle all those in favor aye opposed public

▶ 9:04 Michael P. Zwirko: comment is now closed we move to section 3 communications from her honor the mayor and other city officials order 2 0 1 9 dash 29 a resolution congratulating the Melrose League of Women voters on their 70th anniversary and recognizing their service to the community this order was sponsored by Mayor Inferno it has been immediate consideration rather has been sought by alderman Bewtra is there an objection to immediate consideration of the order by any member there are none I move that we that may we suspend the rule so that mayor inferna can join us join presidents work out the podium to read the resolution most second the motion Alderman Bewtra moves to suspend the rules and has been seconded by alderman Lemmerman all those in favor aye opposed mayor Infernus

▶ 9:59 Gail Infurna: before us thank you at this time I'd like to invite the members of the League of Women Voters up to the podium here ready I think everybody's in position so a resolution in recognition of the 70th anniversary of the Melrose League of Women Voters, whereas the National League of Women Voters was founded in 1920 to help women become informed so they could better exercise their newly won right to vote, and whereas the Melrose Chapter of the League of Women Voters was founded in 1948 by Marion Hartswell, who was a member of the planning board at the time, and whereas the League is a non-partisan group that promotes civic responsibility through informed and active participation at the federal state and local levels of

▶ 11:49 Michael P. Zwirko: government switch for team tagging whereas the Melrose League has been instrumental in the creation of a municipal recycling program the cleanup of El Pond and the establishment of the Melrose Human Rights Commission and the Melrose Alliance against violence and whereas the league further promotes responsible citizenship through voter registration, offering rides to the polls, producing candidate forums in all contested elections, local elections, and meeting with the mayor for an annual discussion on the state of the city. Be it resolved that we, the mayor and the members of the Board of Aldermen, do, by this resolution before us, congratulate the Melrose League of Women Voters on their 70th anniversary and offer our gratitude for the hard work that they

▶ 12:30 Michael P. Zwirko: have done and continue to do to make Melrose a better community for each and every one of us as well as better citizens and further we wish them many more years of success we certainly would like any members of the league to come up and speak regarding this momentous occasion 70 years no less on an evening where we just elected a female president for the year of 2019 so by all means there's 70 years has obviously done great work for us and others I've benefited from it directly knowledge alliance against violence so if you have anything to say please feel free my name is Joyce designer and I just like to introduce our seasoned member Jane Milliotis who has been with the group for quite a number

▶ 13:39 of years and thank you so much for the declaration it's very very nice thank you I move that we place that order on file second the motion alderman butrum moves that we take the order 2019-29 and place that order on file it has been seconded by alderman mortimer on discussion hearing none all in favor aye any opposed that order is placed on file order 2019-30 amending melrose revised zoning ordinance Chapter 235, Article 6, sorry, Section 235-73.1, Affordable Housing Incentive Program. Alderman Lemmerman. Thank you, Mr. President. I move to remove the order, or I'm sorry, ask for immediate consideration for the purpose of setting a public hearing. Alderman Lemmerman moves for immediate consideration for the purposes of setting a public hearing under Chapter 40A,

▶ 15:18 Michael P. Zwirko: a joint hearing of the alderman and Planning Board is there an objection at this time to the immediate consideration seeing none you may proceed thank you I make a motion to set a public hearing on this order for January 14th 2019 at 7 30 p.m. second the motion alderman Lemmerman moves to set the public hearing as forementioned at 730 on January 14th 2019 has been seconded by alderman mortimer on discussion all those in favor aye aye any opposed the public hearing has been set the balance of the order is sent to the appropriations committee order 2019-31 amending melrose revised zoning ordinance chapter 235 article 6 to create a new section 235-73.4 and amend section 235-5 definitions section 235-16.1 site plan review section 235-17

▶ 16:21 Michael P. Zwirko: table of use in parking regulations and section 235-61 special permit granting authorities to regulate marijuana establishments alderman lemmerman thank you i'd like to uh ask for immediate consideration for the purpose of setting a public hearing on this as well alderman lemmerman moves for immediate consideration of the order for the purposes of setting a public hearing is there an objection hearing none you may proceed thank you i make a motion to set the public hearing on this order for january 14 2019 at 8 30 p.m second the motion to set the public hearing similar to the last order alderman lemmerman moves to set the public hearing for 8 30 p.m on january 14th of 2019 for the purposes of a joint public hearing between the

▶ 17:06 Michael P. Zwirko: alderman and the planning board at that time it has been seconded by alderman mortimer on discussion all those in favor aye aye any opposed the balance of that order that order passes the balance of that order will be sent to the committee on appropriations we move now to new business order 2019-32 in order to review potential policies regarding lime bike and other cyber rental bicycles that order which was sponsored by ward 6 alderman peter mortimer will be sent to the legal and legislative committee order 2019-33 a resolution supporting the massachusetts municipal association's comment letter to the federal communications commission regarding franchise fees mr president i request immediate consideration alderman mortimer seeks

▶ 17:57 Michael P. Zwirko: immediate consideration of order 2019-33 is there an objection you may proceed mr president i make a motion to suspend the rules that we may read the resolution we're still under suspension from earlier you could come up into the roster yes sir just a little background on this order uh for for those not only here but watching at home. On Friday, September 14, the Federal Communications Commission initially published its intention of a rule modification that would harm funding for public, educational, and governmental channels. In addition to that change, the FCC further proposed to strip local authorities of the ability to regulate cable operators' access to public use of rights of way. Should these modifications go forward, as proposed,

▶ 18:46 Michael P. Zwirko: it could have significant impact on the funding sources for our very own MMTV going forward as well as this body's ability to regulate enhancements to our own rights of way this is a wholesale change of doing business since 1984 to that end I seek this resolution so that we the Board of Aldermen for the city of Melrose place our reply comments on record with the FCC in agreement with the Massachusetts Municipal Association's letter dated November 2nd 2018 of the same in their letter they wrote, quote, we strenuously oppose the proposed rule changes and we urge you to reconsider and then reject these proposals. We ask you to safeguard the public interest by maintaining the current franchise fee structure and honoring the authority of cities and towns to control the

▶ 19:29 Peter D. Mortimer: rights, the public rights of way. Approval of this resolution will cause a copy to be filed with the FCC by the necessary December 14th deadline by our city clerk. Thank you very much, Presidents Michael Zwirko, members of the Board of Aldermen, our City Clerk, and Clerk of Committees. This is a copy of the resolution offered by President Michael Zwirko and I, because MMTV is in Ward 6. Whereas, since 1984, when the Cable Franchise Policy and Communications Act became law, U.S. cable companies have been required to fund local organizations to provide training and access to media technology and cable distribution on the local cable systems, and whereas the Federal Communications Commission has proposed changes that will disrupt franchise fee collection

▶ 20:26 Peter D. Mortimer: and additionally the proposal will remove power from local government authorities to to regulate the rights of way when providing non-cable services, and whereas the Melrose Mass Television Inc., also known as MMTV, is the local public access cable provider for public educational and governmental content, which is the subject of the FCC's proposed changes, and whereas franchise fees, which are currently collected from cable TV subscribers, necessary and required governmental and community programs for Melrose seeking to offset the franchise fee through a proposed in-kind order will weaken the funding sources for MMTV, and whereas on November 2, 2018, the Massachusetts Municipal Association submitted a comment

▶ 21:20 Peter D. Mortimer: letter to the FCC citing their grave concerns regarding the FCC's proposal. Further, the Massachusetts Municipal Association stated that the inclusion of in-kind franchise requirements would ultimately drain the desperately needed funding resources for PEG access providers and whereas the FCC's proposal also seeks to allow certain cable operators to bypass local regulation and construct facilities, infrastructure, and equipment within public right-of-way without compensation and whereas the FCC has stated that these proposals seek to promote competition by fostering parity which will increase the number of providers in a community however Melrose currently hosts a competitive cable environment with two providers and has successfully

▶ 22:19 Peter D. Mortimer: negotiated favorable terms with each that directly benefit its residents and and have enhanced MMTV's production and operations. And whereas, in supporting the MMA's comment letter, the Melrose Board of Aldermen strenuously opposes the FCC proposed changes on franchise fees and preemption on use of the right-of-way and respectfully requests the FCC to reconsider its position and reject its proposal. and therefore be it resolved that we the members of the board of aldermen of melrose have approved this resolution as a formal reply comment which is required letter in support of the mma's comment letter dated november 2nd 2018 direct the city clerk to submit this resolution to the FCC by its December 14, 2018

▶ 23:16 Peter D. Mortimer: deadline. Basically the FCC is coming in and trying to muscle Melrose, cut us out of some money, and tell us how to run our own cable networks. And we're doing a very good job of it here at the local level. So it's bad news. It's bad news for us, and it's bad news for the people of Melrose. And I really applaud President Zwirko for submitting this. He was the progenitor of this, and he made sure that we got it in by the deadline of December 14th thank you very much thank you president's worker thank you at this time the chair would entertain a motion to place this order on file with the caveat that the clerk submit this under the december 14th deadline as proposed so moved second second that has that motion has been uh

▶ 24:06 Michael P. Zwirko: offered by alderman forbes that has been seconded by alderman medeiros on discussion all those in favor aye any opposed that order is now placed on file order 2 0 1 9 dash 3 4 amending Melrose revised ordinances to add chapter 2 2 2 article 4 shared mobility vehicles this order was sponsored by alderman at-large Monica Medeiros this order will be sent to the committee on legal and legislative you move to orders out of order there are none any orders from committee there are none but Oh orders from committee you I think you have an order under 53 right okay yeah correct so we now move to which is reports under rule 53 of the Board of Aldermen's rules this is a portion of the meeting where any member of the board that serves on a committee outside

▶ 25:01 Robert A. Boisselle: of this chamber can use this time to now update the public and ourselves alderman boys oh yes I like to just educate the public that there will be a traffic Commission meeting just coming December 19th at 5 30 a.m. of p.m. suit sorry 5 30 p.m. in the in this office you can surprise how many people are up at 5 30 a.m. commuting yes that's correct so that meetings the again December 19th at 5 30 p.m. in this room here Thank You alderman boy thank you and yet alderman for your obedience sure thank you um president Zwirko just an update on the school committee's meeting from last week the two things i think would be of interest to our board and perhaps to the larger community is one there was a presentation from this school district on the

▶ 25:53 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: implementation of the new massachusetts history and social science frameworks as well as an update related to the civics bill that was recently enacted and you know this is another example of sort of the state working to modernize our state standards and the curriculum of course that then necessitates adaptation on the part of our local schools in terms of the professional development the teachers need to undertake the types of materials that need to be made available for the students and with respect to the civics bill which requires a student-led civics project that's going to entail a level of a significant level of development and attention the second item on the agenda that I think is of interest for

▶ 26:36 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: us is that the state the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released the statewide results for all districts related to the accountability system and our test results as you probably are aware there have been a number of years now where the state has been transitioning between different types of final summative assessments at the state level there was in the MCAS then we were with Park for a while now we've got moving toward an MCAS 2.0 system so that's a lot of change which is to say that the results from this first year relate to the first year that most of those tests were taken online by our students except for grades 3 and at the high school and of course we're not able to sort of compare results this year to last year or the year before so

▶ 27:22 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: it's a time of transition and therefore there are some caveats related to these results nonetheless they're pretty important to take a look at and so at our elementary schools of which there were five last year the way that they worked out the accountability rating is they looked at how students were performing on the state test the MCAS both the overall student population and then there was a new student subgroup called the lowest 25 percent of performers through the bottom quarter and they also took took a look at them and weighted their performance as well as the overall school performance they also looked at things like absenteeism the degree to which students at the higher grade levels were accessing advanced placement courses or dual

▶ 28:07 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: enrollment courses and that sort of thing so anyway the the presentation was really impressive from the school district and the materials also have a breakdown that's really helpful I think may be produced perhaps by desk you're perhaps by our district itself by school but the the results showed that at the elementary school the the five elementary schools three of them met targets and two partially met them and when it came to the lowest performing students four of the five elementary schools met their targets and one partially met at the middle school and the high school I would say that the results are somewhat more concerning other than that the one elementary school and so far as the middle school also partially met targets the high

▶ 28:55 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: school partially met targets but neither met the targets for that lowest performing student population and at the high school the only seven they only a seven percent of the possible points for lowest performing students were achieved at our high school so there certainly seems to be some room for improvement and the superintendent and her staff noted they were well aware of some of these challenges they're focusing on how to address it using the evidence that's been provided so they're targeting the different subjects and schools a meeting with teachers to focus on student subgroups but I would encourage you to take a look at the charts that are provided in the November 27th materials they have a nice breakdown by school that's it Thank You Alderman for

▶ 29:43 Michael P. Zwirko: Garabedian any other member willing to provide an update at this time seeing none will then move to the calendar order 2 0 1 9 dash 1 9 request to set a public hearing on classification of property for November 26 2018 at 7 30 p.m. and subsequently determine the classification of property this order comes to us with a recommendation from passage from the Appropriations committee but before we move i just wanted to explain because it's a little loaded so there are four items that were voted on at that time and i'll just read the four that were ultimately recommended for passage one was not to grant a residential exemption two was not to select green space designation three was not to grant a small business exemption and then four was to

▶ 30:27 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: accept a tax differential and rate shift among uh residential and commercial of 1.68 percent that came to us from the Appropriations Committee with a recommend for passage. Motion for passage. Second. But a motion for passage on said order made by Alderman Lemmerman. It has been seconded by Alderman Mortimer on discussion. Alderman Lipper-Garabedian. Sure. I really appreciated the presentation last week from our assessor and also the robust conversation that we had here. I know that there was another tax shift option that was discussed but I would remain in support of the one that the balance or the majority of the members selected last week I note that the other the alternative that was suggested would

▶ 31:13 only save the residential property tax owners an average of $11 per year whereas the hit to our commercial property owners would be three hundred and twenty one dollars per year so I think that the result that we came to it seems like a good one thank you all the money for Gary beating any other member willing to speak at this time hearing no further discussion this is a roll call vote I would ask that madam clerk please call the roll Ottoman Bewtra yes Ottoman boys oh yes Ottoman Forbes yes Ottoman lemmerman yes Ottoman Letter Garabedian yes Ottoman McMaster yes Ottoman Medeiros yes Ottoman Mortimer yes Ottoman Tramontosi yes Alderman Wright yes residents work oh yes yes that order passes unanimously order 2 0 1 9 2 7 an appropriation from free cash account 0 1

▶ 32:11 Monica C. Medeiros: dash 3 2 4 0 0 1 in the amount of 1 million 162 thousand 187 dollars to various accounts as set forth herein this order also comes to us from the Appropriations Committee with a recommend for passage I'm sorry motion for passage second it's been a motion for passage made by Alderman Lemmerman has been seconded by Alderman Mortimer on discussion Alderman Medeiros thank you I just wanted to point out I had asked for the balance of the free cash and I wanted to point out that there is an email from Carrie Ann Golden from the auditor's office in IQM to in the online portal which states that if order number 2019-27 is passed which is this order the one million one hundred sixty two thousand one hundred eighty seven dollars then the free cash balance will

▶ 33:02 be two million four hundred twenty nine thousand six hundred and ninety four dollars so in total that would have made the the beginning balance about three point six million thanks thank you all the men Medeiros any other members wishing to speak at this time hearing none this is also an appropriation which require a roll call vote I would ask the clerk to please call the roll 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 unanimously before will we entertain a motion to adjourn this evening I just wanted to state that

▶ 33:52 Michael P. Zwirko: it is my father's 70th birthday today happy birthday dad motion to adjourn president second there's been a motion to adjourn made by alderman Mortimer has been seconded by alderman Boisselle all those in favor aye any opposed Board of Aldermen is now adjourned

City Council — 2018-12-03

Attendance

Agenda

Minutes

Transcript

Original documents