City Council — 2018-12-17
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
- Communications from Her Honor, The Mayor And Other City Officials
- ORDER-2019-35 : Acceptance of FY2019 Traffic Enforcement and Equipment Grant
- New Business
- ORDER-2019-36 : A Resolution Honoring Michael P. Zwirko as President of the Melrose
- Orders Out of Order
- Orders from Committee
- REPORTS - RULE 53
- Calendar
- Adjournment
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BULLETIN● DECEMBER 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-2019-35 Grant Acceptance of FY2019 Traffic Enforcement and Equipment Grant Assigned to Committee Appropriations Committee
ORDER-2019-36 Resolution A Resolution Honoring Michael P. Zwirko as President of the Melrose Placed on File City of Melrose Page 1 1/2/2019 12:55 PM
Transcript
▶ 0:00 Thank you, Bob. I appreciate that. Thanks for the warning. I don't think they start putting the sound on until he hits the gavel, though. Right? Are you down there? Pat? Who's down there? Who's downstairs? is good evening everyone this is a regular meeting of the city of Melrose Board of Aldermen I am Michael Zwirko the board's president it is Monday December 17th of 2018 at this time I'd ask madam clerk to kindly call the roll Alderman Peter here Alderman Boisselle here Alderman Forbes here Alderman Lemmerman here Alderman Lipper-Garabedian here Alderman Alderman McMaster? Here. Alderman Medeiros? Here. Alderman Mortimer? Here. Alderman Tramontozzi? Here. Alderman Wright? Here. President Search? Here.
▶ 1:20 Michael P. Zwirko: Eleven present. Eleven present. If everyone could please join me in standing in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Before we get to public comment this evening, I just wanted to state that this meeting is being recorded in accordance with the open meeting law. It can be accessed on the city's website as well as mmtv3.org. Motion to open the floor for public comment. Second. Second. A motion made by Alderman Mortimer to open the floor for public comment has been seconded by Alderman Boisselle. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? No, the floor is now open.
▶ 2:05 This is a portion of the meeting where anybody in the chamber may speak on any of the items that are before us this evening. Seeing no members in the chamber of the public. Motion to close public comment, Mr. President. Second. It's been a motion to close public comment made by Alderman Mortimer, seconded by Alderman Boisselle. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Public comment is now closed. move to communications from her honor the mayor and other city officials order 2 0 1 9 dash 3 5 acceptance of fiscal year 2019 traffic enforcement and equipment grant that order will be sent to the committee on appropriations move to new business order 2 0 1 9 dash 36 a resolution honoring Michael P's work Oh
▶ 2:45 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: as president of the Board of Aldermen of Melrose that order will be sent to the committee on Alderman Lemmerman thank you I'd like to request immediate consideration is there an objection to immediate consideration thank you I move to suspend the rules so we may read the resolution motion to suspend the rules made by Alderman Lemmerman second the motion to suspend the rules and seconded by Alderman Forbes all those in favor to suspend the rules aye any opposed rules are now suspended you may come forward this resolution is in recognition of and honor of our president for the past year 2018 and his service to this board and to Melrose which I will read into the record a resolution honoring Michael
▶ 3:37 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: Pease-Wercoe as the president of Melrose Board of Aldermen for the year 2018 whereas alderman Michael Pease-Wercoe has served as president of the Board of Aldermen for the City of Melrose for the year 2018 and whereas the Board of Aldermen congratulates Alderman's Wercoe for completing his third year as alderman-at-large for the City of Melrose and appreciates his commitment to serving Melrose, and whereas the Board recognizes that Alderman Zwirko dedication to our community extends beyond his efforts in this chamber, and whereas that Alderman Zwirko has volunteered to assist many causes and organizations, including the Melrose Alliance Against Violence, and whereas that Alderman Zwirko serves as the Massachusetts Municipal
▶ 4:14 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: Counselors Association District 5 representative, and be it resolved that we, the members of the Board of Aldermen, do hereby express our sincere appreciation to Alderman Zwirko for his able administration of the office of the President and for his efforts on behalf of the City of Melrose and in recognition thereof direct that the gavel wielded by him be suitably inscribed and presented to him and be it further resolved that on the 17th day of December in the year 2018 a copy of this resolution be spread upon the records of the Board of Aldermen and that a special copy be signed by each member of the Board and presented Alderman Zwirko, retiring president of the Mauros Board of Aldermen. Thank you.
▶ 5:10 Michael P. Zwirko: I deeply appreciate that. Thank you very much. I think it's broken because the gavel won't move, but I did actually prepare some remarks, so if you could just indulge me for about a two or three minutes, I'd appreciate it. It looks like all we have left on the agenda this evening are reports from other committees. So I would like to state my deep appreciation for the kind words that you wrote Alderman Lemmerman and also for the members of this body for allowing me the opportunity to preside before you in 2018. It will remain a position that I am most proud of and have been afforded. I also wanted to thank each of you for your patience and work this past year. It was a year like no other. JFK famously said that change is the law of life and those who look only to the
▶ 5:56 Michael P. Zwirko: past or present are certain to miss the future. He is still right about that today. In fact, for Melrose in 2018 and the few weeks leading up to it, it was all about change. We've appointed a new city clerk, Amy Camosa, when long-standing clerk Mary Rita O'Shea retired in March. We also appointed a new clerk of committees, Kristen Foote. We've seen three new members of this body two of whom were elected in the most recent election and one who was appointed when alderman refer to ascended to the office of mayor in fact over the last five years half of this board's membership has changed and all of these changes have been positive we have not missed out on the future in fact we are prepared for it our community too is changing this is
▶ 6:38 Michael P. Zwirko: undeniable with that change comes new challenges but also old ones many of our challenges remain they are seen they're the same challenges that this community has faced for years and if not for decades next year the entire first quarter will be played out against the backdrop of the override ballot question following that the next quarter will be concentrated on budget deliberations how the second quarter will play out will deeply depend entirely on the result of the first the fiscal challenges we face are real and they are a direct result of an unequal proportion of residential and commercial property taxes tax parcels coupled with the ever-shrinking state aid and growing mandates this question
▶ 7:18 Michael P. Zwirko: is not easy or appetizing but it is factual and the last few weeks alone have indicated our economy isn't as stable as it once was for the last decade cracks are beginning to show and we must be mindful of what that could mean for our future one aspect of 2018 that I am proud of has been managing these transitions and working diligently to be the steady hand personally 2018 was very difficult but that was personal that should not have any place in what it is that we do here with that I decided early on that I would bring members into the fold regardless of where they were I wanted to balance experience with fresh perspectives we created new roles for our members and we increased community communication amongst ourselves and the public yet
▶ 8:01 Michael P. Zwirko: through it all knowing the unique year that we had in front of us I was most proud of this chamber for always keeping the residents of Melrose in their focus for many the start of this year was very scary it was uncertain but this body stepped up the people in this room knew how important it was to put the personal behind and the work ahead we proved that when needed we could be called upon to do the tough work we did that and I know that the residents are proud of it we have a stable government here from school committee to the office of mayor we could have played to our demons but instead be played to our better angels we didn't just group ourselves into factions we didn't play politics we just
▶ 8:39 Michael P. Zwirko: did our jobs. I personally want to thank each of you for that and I hope that this continues into 2019. Thank you again for all of your help, your support, and your dedication to this city. You helped make a transition difficult transition smoother and allowed the residents to see how great government can be when it works collaboratively. You allowed me the opportunity to lead this wonderful institution inside this great chamber. I can only hope that my tenure was rewarding of that opportunity. It is a pleasure to serve in this role and a great honor to work with each and every one of you. Thank you. With that we move to orders out of order. Motion to place the order on file Mr. President. Second.
▶ 9:24 Michael P. Zwirko: Apologies. No worries. There has been a motion to place the resolution on file that was made by Alderman Mortimer. It was seconded by Alderman Lemmerman. All those in favor place the order on file. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. The order placed on file move to orders out of order there are none orders from committee there are none now reports under rule 53 this is the section of our meeting on the agenda where any member of the board that serves on a committee that is not of the board may provide an update on said committee and Manisha alderman Bewtra thank you the library strategic planning committee continues to meet we're meeting about monthly at our last meeting on December 8th we broke up into sub subcommittees so we have one committee working on the
▶ 10:16 Manisha Bewtra: community profile which is sort of a general introduction to Melrose statistics including demographics and sort of a general overview of the community community a survey committee which is working on putting together a a questionnaire and thinking about ways to disseminate that both in paper and online a stakeholder committee that's coming up with a list of various folks that whether affinity groups or non ones and various populations that we'd like to reach out to through the strategic planning process and a document committee intended to think about how to make this document more accessible to public i think an underlying theme of the work of the library strategic planning committee is a real
▶ 11:08 Manisha Bewtra: effort this year to make the strategic plan a very public-facing document where it's been much more of sort of an internal document publicly available but internal document for library staff and the intention behind that is kind of gearing up and preparing for future conversations around potential renovation and expansion of the library but also considering on how to make the library more accessible in the 21st century thank you Thank You Alderman Bewtra any other members wishing to update us at this time Alderman Lipper-Garabedian thank you presidents work oh last week the school committee met and interest I think to this committee in the broader community it were two enrollment projection studies that were completed and discussed at the
▶ 12:04 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: school committee one by the Collins Center and the other by NASDAQ the two looked at data such as births per year the in migration of new families of real estate pre-k enrollment and also migration in and out of the system over the course of the K through 12 and so although there's no crystal ball to this both of the both of these studies were using data-informed projections and they ranged in terms of looking out over the next decade from a low of 619 additional students entering the system to 840 and you'll compare that to the increase over the last decade of 201 students. Superintendent Taymor also had one of her data specialists do a projection as well using their numbers and I think they went with a slightly more even more conservative approach and that in-house
▶ 13:01 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: analysis found that there would be a minimum of at least 400 more students entering the school system over the next 10 years right now we're at three thousand nine hundred and fifty one so that's quite interesting I think and important as we consider the override next spring both of the projection summary reports are available online under the school committee's agenda for last week and I would encourage you all to take a look and then the other thing just to share is that the school committee selected at O'Connell as its new chair in 2019 and Margaret Driscoll will serve as vice chair thank you thank all the number Gary beat an alderman boys out just to notify the public the traffic commission will have their meeting this coming wednesday 12 19 at 5 30 p.m in this chamber
▶ 13:56 great thank you any other updates from any other alderman hearing them we move on to the calendar there are no items motion to adjourn has been made by alderman mortimer has been seconded by alderman all those in favor aye aye any opposed hearing none we are adjourned thank you very much Merry Christmas to all those who celebrate.