City Council — 2019-02-04
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
- Minutes Approval
- Communications from Her Honor, The Mayor And Other City Officials
- ORDER-2019-44 : Appointment of Allan I. Alpert to the position of Emergency Management Director.
- New Business
- ORDER-2019-45 : Home Rule Petition to Amend Melrose City Charter, Section 2-11: Filling Of Vacancies, As Set Forth Herein.
- ORDER-2019-46 : An Order Creating an Education, Public Safety & Substance Abuse Prevention Stabilization Fund
- Orders Out of Order
- Orders from Committee
- REPORTS - RULE 53
- Calendar
- ORDER-2019-42 : Application of Jiebo Zhu for a Common Victualer License: Sushi Corner, 18C Essex Street, Melrose, MA
- ORDER-2019-43 : Renewal of Surety Bond of City Clerk, City of Melrose in the amount of $15,000.00 for the year 2019
- Adjournment
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BULLETIN● FEBRUARY 4, 2019 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 Absent 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 Alderman at Large Present
ORDER-2019-44 Appointment Appointment of Allan I. Alpert to the position of Emergency Management Director. Assigned to Committee Protection and License Committee
ORDER-2019-45 Home Rule Petition/Special Act Home Rule Petition to Amend Melrose City Charter, Section 2-11: Filling Of Vacancies, As Set Forth Herein. Assigned to Committee Appropriations Committee
ORDER-2019-46 Establishment of Fund An Order Creating an Education, Public Safety & Substance Abuse Prevention Stabilization Fund Assigned to Committee Appropriations Committee
ORDER-2019-42 License - Common Victualler Application of Jiebo Zhu for a Common Victualer License: Sushi Corner, 18C Essex Street, Melrose, MA Passed
ORDER-2019-43 Surety Bond City of Melrose Page 1 2/27/2019 3:11 PM Minutes Board of Aldermen February 4, 2019 Renewal of Surety Bond of City Clerk, City of Melrose in the amount of $15,000.00 for the year 2019 Passed City of Melrose Page 2 2/27/2019 3:11 PM
Transcript
▶ 1:10:06 be accessed later on the City of Melrose website and the MMTV3.org site. Madam Clerk, would you call the roll? Alderman Bewtra? Here. Alderman Boisselle? Here. Alderman Forbes? Alderman Lipper-Garabedian? Here. Alderman McMaster? Here. Alderman Medeiros? Here. Alderman Mortimer? Yeah. Alderman Tramontozzi? Yeah. Alderman Wright? Yeah. Alderman Zwirko? Here. President Lemmerman? Here. Ten present. Ten present. If you could stand and join me for 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. We have a motion to open the floor. So moved, Madam President.
▶ 1:11:01 We have a motion to open the floor for public comment made by Alderman Mortimer, seconded by Alderman Zwirko. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? This is the portion of our meeting that any member of the public can come forward to speak on any of the items before the agenda of the full Board of Aldermen. Seeing none, motion to close public comment. We have a motion to close public comment made by Alderman Lipper-Garabedian, seconded by Alderman Boisselle. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? that concludes public comment we have a motion to recess made by Alderman Wright so that we may return to the in progress legal and legislative committee meeting second second by Alderman Boycelle all in favor aye any opposed we stand in
▶ 2:16:35 with my stuff it's nice good evening i'm calling back to order the meeting of the full board of aldermen for the city of malrose we left off at item number four communications from her honor the mayor and other city officials oh I'm sorry forgive me president Alderman under minutes approval ah yes could I could I have before me the minutes from our joint meeting with a planning board that took place at 730 on January 14th this was about the affordable housing recommendations I was make a motion to enter those minutes into the record without a reading second we have a motion to accept the minutes from the joint meeting with the planning board made by alderman libra garabedian seconded by alderman mortimer all in favor aye aye any
▶ 2:18:06 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: opposed except those minutes into the record without reading thank you alderman garabedian moving on to communications from her honor the mayor and other city officials order 2019-44 appointment of alan i alpert to the position of emergency management director that order will go to the committee on protection and license we can move on to new business order 2019-45 home rule petition to amend melrose city charter section 2-11 filling of vacancies as set forth herein that will go to the order to the community appropriations order 2091-46 in order creating an education public safety and substance abuse prevention stabilization fund we'll also go to the committee on appropriations are there any orders out of order no orders from committee
▶ 2:18:58 Francis X. Wright Jr.: Alderman Wright. One order coming from the Legal and Legislative Committee. Order 2019-39 accepting Clause 22H of Section 5 of Chapter 59 of the General Laws as amended by Section 15 of Chapter 218 of the Acts of 2018 as relates to a real estate tax exemption for the parents or guardians of soldiers and sailors killed in the line of duty or designated as missing in action and presumed dead second the motion to take the order from committee we have a motion from Alderman Wright to remove order 2019-39 from the legal and legislative committee where it comes to us with a motion for pass it to recommend for passage the motion is seconded by Alderman Mortimer all in favor aye any opposed the orders before you I move for passage second I got a
▶ 2:19:53 motion for passage made by Alderman Wright seconded by Alderman Mortimer all All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That order passes. Any further orders from committee? Show point of information out through the president. Do we want to take the other one that was given a motion to place on file? Or do you want to leave it in committee? I don't have it before me, so I will leave it in committee for this evening. Thank you Alderman Mortimer. Thank you. Okay, so that concludes our orders from committee. Thank you Alderman Wright. Moving on to reports from boards and commissions around the city, pursuant to Rule 53. Alderman Bewtra. Thank you, President Lemmerman. Buckle up, I have a slightly lengthy report to read
▶ 2:20:51 Manisha Bewtra: from the Water and Sewer Rate Committee. It was my first time serving in that committee and it was also the first time sort of through the process of rate setting. so I anticipate this update's a little longer and future updates will be brief. So the Water and Sewer Rate Committee met on Thursday, January 31st. Representatives from the Department of Public Works, Office of the Treasurer and Collector, and the Auditor's Office presented an overview of the Water and Sewer Enterprise Fund accounts and water and sewer operations, including updates on infrastructure conditions, meter billing, revenue, and reserves. goal of the committee is to make its recommendations for 2020 water rates by april 30th in time for
▶ 2:21:36 Manisha Bewtra: the board of aldermen to approve it in early may approve the rates in early may the committee is going to meet several times between now and then city engineer elena proakis ellis represents melrose on the executive committee for the massachusetts water resources authority advisory board or the mwra advisory board which helps us maintain strong communications between them and us city staff emphasized the benefits of aggressive preventative maintenance and the importance of maintaining a 10 reserve in our enterprise funds they mentioned issues that other communities have faced with mid-year increases something melrose is actively avoiding by closely monitoring usage projecting anticipated changes in usage based on demographic shifts and working with consultants
▶ 2:22:28 Manisha Bewtra: and the mwra to monitor the system regularly for example dpw with some help from its consultants as well as mwra closely monitors water consumption patterns to identify if there are any leaks in the system in december we had a spike in our water consumption that they were able to detect turned out to be an irrigation feed and hydrant fire protection line near el pond that had formed a puddle large enough for ducks to wait in it several thousand gallons of water were lost directly into el pond as a result of this leak that feed has now been turned off for the winter and will be repaired in the spring prior to irrigation season in another area of melrose city personnel discovered 11 feet of crumbled sewer main while responding to a blocked sewer call
▶ 2:23:20 Manisha Bewtra: the repairs were made immediately by dpw crews dpw also prefer performed a city-wide system leak detection evaluation of the water system all leaks found that evaluation were all leaks found with that evaluation were repaired by the the crew water main replacement projects were also completed last year on warwick and perkins on florence street and on ashmond ashmont street and ashmont park working the garfield and east emerson project started and will be completed this year thanks to efforts to remove infiltration and inflow our sewer flows have decreased and our overall percent share of the mwra's total total sewer flow has also decreased in addition repairs to our water system and due to water conservation mainly in homes
▶ 2:24:17 Manisha Bewtra: have resulted in decreasing water uses citywide which has also decreased our percent share of the mwra's total water consumption dpw remains hopeful that both of these together could result in lower percentage rate increases from the mwra than some of our neighbors in the upcoming fiscal year the city's automatic water automatic meter reading and water meter replacement program is 99 complete with about 251 250 accounts out of 8 400 remaining these remain remaining 250 accounts continue to be charged the manual fee passed by this board these new meters make it easier to the new meters make it easier to detect leaks homeowners can monitor monitor them on their own and the city looks at the readouts when preparing water bills and notifies homeowners
▶ 2:25:13 Manisha Bewtra: of suspected leaks as well one of the resident representatives on the committee mentioned that his neighbor benefited from this new meter metering system because the city had notified the neighbor of an irrigation irrigation system that was left on some larger developments and building accounts are not part of this program as they require larger meters and their current these dpw is currently monitor monitoring those and evaluating them for replacement the city's been working to install cipp or cured and placed pipes which are a type of lining on older sewer pipes in areas throughout the city which seals them without requiring complete replacement this has helped to further reduce infiltration and inflow while creating less disruption than complete
▶ 2:26:04 Manisha Bewtra: replacement as a reminder ini or infiltration and inflow is when rainwater and groundwater flow into our sewers and overload the system making it less efficient and driving up costs other repairs and replacements including open cut replacement of sections of pipe as well as manhole repairs also continue as mentioned previously in this chamber the city now offers monthly billing although there's some additional cost for providing more frequent billing there is benefit to residents of potentially having more affordable monthly payments versus quarterly and it can also help residents and the city identify issues more quickly you can sign up at any time by contacting the dpw water billing office at 781-979-4175
▶ 2:26:52 Manisha Bewtra: or emailing water bills at cityofmelrose.org to expedite service please include your name account number account location billing address and telephone number and specify your interest in signing up for monthly billing this information is also available in your water bill additionally residents age 65 and older may be eligible for water and sewer discount from the city or a condo owner sewer and water credit we currently maintain a 10 reserve in our water and sewer enterprise accounts. The current balance for free cash in these accounts is $738,945 for water and $718,929 for sewer, which carries over from year to year. So long as we can maintain a reserve, some of this free cash may be diverted towards additional capital improvements
▶ 2:27:42 Monica C. Medeiros: and equipment for our water and sewer systems. More to come in early March. Thank you, Alderman Bucha. Alderman Medeiros thank you as the school committee liaison I'll be brief and say that the school committee has in fact begun some of their budget deliberations at the last meeting of the school committee the superintendent presented her budget message and as you know she is putting together two budgets one if the override passes and one if it does not so you can see there's a very different scenarios and one with the override passing includes the addition of almost 30 new positions and the one where it doesn't the superintendent has indicated that she's nervous about meeting contractual obligations so this will continue to play out over the next
▶ 2:28:40 Monica C. Medeiros: couple of months and in particular the next meeting of the school committee on february 12th they will discuss the staffing portion of the budget as well as on March 12th the non staffing portion and the at the additional meetings throughout the next two months you know there will be more budget deliberations but those are two of the main dates and to look forward to you can see all of the information on the school website Melrose schools comm or again an IQ m2 the city meeting agenda portal which is linked to the same place where you see our agendas and you can see the details yourself thank you thank you any further reports under rule 53. thank you we will move to the calendar please order 2019-42 application of jibo ju for a common victual
▶ 2:29:39 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: license sushi corner 18c essex street melrose mass this order comes from the protection and license committee with a recommendation for passage motion for passage second we have a motion for passage made by alderman mcmaster seconded by alderman boisselle on discussion alderman Letter garabedian yes i just wanted for the good of the order to share with my colleagues that um it was we we enjoyed meeting mr ju last week and i was looking through his materials one last time and noticed that um he didn't mention this but he um in his his uh application indicated that he has an establishment in north andover and when i looked it up i couldn't find it but i confirmed with the city officials and through my own google map views that his establishment
▶ 2:30:20 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: is within a market basket so it is legitimate and also um i wore it on the street as he was here today down in the building inspector's office getting some additional work done so looking forward to that establishment um coming up thank you for that additional information we have a motion made and seconded to uh for passage of this order all in favor all right any opposed order passes order two zero nine one dash four three renewal of surety bond of City Clerk City of Melrose in the amount of $15,000 for the year 2019 this order comes from the Finance Committee with a recommendation for passage motion for passage second we have a motion for passage made by Alderman Bewtra seconded by Alderman Mortimer on discussion thank
▶ 2:31:07 Michael P. Zwirko: President Lemmerman just a quick it's really just a it's a knit here on the third page of the attachment of the surgery bond there's a statement that leads up into the power of attorney know all men by these presents I'm sure that that's common nomenclature for a document of this touch but it would just be nice to noted that you know if we could have some more gender-friendly language on there it'd be appreciated in the future thank you that's if that's an a motion to amend I'll second it because it's not okay thank you we have a motion made and seconded for passage of this order. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? The order passes. Motion to adjourn, Madam President. We have a motion to adjourn made by Alderman Mortimer,
▶ 2:31:47 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: seconded by Alderman Boisselle. All in favor of adjourning? Aye. Any opposed? We are adjourned. Thank you.