City Council — 2019-02-19

City Council Regular Meeting

Attendance

Manisha Bewtra present · Alderman at Large; Robert A. Boisselle present · Ward 4 Alderman; Scott M. Forbes present · Ward 7 Alderman; Jennifer L. Lemmerman absent · 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 · Alderman at Large

Agenda

Minutes

CITY OF MELROSE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BULLETIN● FEBRUARY 19, 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 Present Jennifer L. Lemmerman Ward 2 Alderman Absent 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-2019-47 Utility Petition Petition of National Grid for multiple pole and conduit relocations throughout Melrose as set forth herein as part of Electrical Transmission Line Upgrade Project. Assigned to Committee

ORDER-2019-48 Utility Petition Petition of National Grid and Verizon New England, Inc to relocate 3 jointly owned poles on Howard & Green Streets-- poles 176-1,177, and 208 out of the center island of the intersection of Howard St and Green St per request of the city of Melrose. Work Request #27869322, dated 2/12/2019 Assigned to Committee

ORDER-2019-49 Administrative Order An order to limit the location of any Marijuana Businesses in Melrose to Route 99, also known as the Newburyport Turnpike. Assigned to Committee Appropriations Committee

ORDER-2019-50 Appointment City of Melrose Page 1 4/1/2019 9:31 AM Minutes Board of Aldermen February 19, 2019 Reappointment of Melissa Ripley as Assistant City Clerk for a one year term; said term ending on March 1, 2020. Assigned to Committee Board of Aldermen

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

ORDER-2019-32 Presentation An Order to Review Potential Policies regarding Lime Bike and other cyber rental bicycles Placed on File

ORDER-2019-39 Acceptance 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 Adopted

ORDER-2019-40 Acceptance Acceptance of Section 3A of Chapter 64G as amended by Section 6 of Chapter 337 of the Acts of 2018 Placed on File

ORDER-2019-41 Appointment Appointment of Josh Robbins, 18 Albion St., to the Human Rights Commission for a three-year term; said term to end on the last day of February 2022. Adopted

ORDER-2019-44 Appointment Appointment of Allan I. Alpert to the position of Emergency Management Director. Adopted City of Melrose Page 2 4/1/2019 9:31 AM

Transcript

▶ 0:00 Ladies and gentlemen, it is 7 45 on February 19th and this is the regular meeting of the Melrose Board of Aldermen. Our president, Jennifer Lemmerman, Alderman Jennifer Lemmerman, is on vacation, this being school vacation week, and as the longest serving member of the Melrose Board of Aldermen, I'm here to open the meeting. Our first order of business is to appoint a president pro temp, a temporary president for this evening's proceedings and the floor is now open for nominations to that end alderman's worker please thank you president pro tem mortimer at this time i'd like to nominate alderman mortimer to serve as president for this evening's meeting thank you very much alderman's worker seeing no further nominations at this time i will close nominations all in favor of peter

▶ 0:55 mortimer for president pro temp for this evening's board of alderman meeting please say aye aye aye any opposed hearing none thank you i will serve motion passes and i will serve as president pro temp we will now proceed to public comment the flag take attendance oh thank you very much appreciate that just a second please i jumped the gun a little bit thank you very much uh madam clerk would you call the roll please yes thank you alderman Bewtra here alderman Boisselle here alderman forbes here alderman Letter garabedian here alderman mcmaster here alderman merderos here alderman mortimer here alderman Tramontozzi yeah alderman wright here alderman Zwirko here president alderman lemmerman is absent ten alderman being present that constitutes

▶ 1:51 the quorum would you all please rise and join me in saluting the flag of the united states of america 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 is there a motion to open the floor for public comments so moved second alderman forbes has made a motion to open the floor for public comment duly seconded by alderman boisselle we have two members of the public here who are going to come forward and make some public comment thank you you're welcome do i have permission to give to the all of them present this evening some paper we have put together about the roundabout down green street and high street if no alderman objects it will

▶ 2:46 be allowed seeing no objection please proceed excuse me ma'am right now the people at home cannot hear you so thank you for pushing that out but please go to the chair and the microphone and then state your name and address for the record and then please proceed you there will be another public hearing on this I understand yes we're here because we think there's an opportunity to keep the island it's good for the neighborhood it's been there as long as we've all been here the thing we want to do is slow down the traffic that's our goal we all know it's too busy there we want to have safe crossing areas we would like to keep the Bowman Square Island and the green space and the War Memorial and we want to keep our on street pocket that's

▶ 4:26 very important so how can we slow down the traffic so on the picture you will see there used to be a flashing light as you came from Franklin Square toward the island there was a flashing light with a cover on it showed everyone to slow down we should have one on each corner that used to be there when the road was done done over they took it down by mistake then there's stop signs we have two stop signs on the island they're very good stopping is important it slows down traffic they need to have a very gentle light around them to draw our attention now a crosswalk right now across from the Green Street Baptist Church there is crosswalk that has no lights all it has is a sign that needs to have the

▶ 5:22 push-button lights that will slow people down on Howell Street there's a sign that says how fast you're going it has been determined by the traffic Commission but that sign makes that how fast you're going makes people slow down we need another one on Green Street as you leave Franklin Square people come down Franklin Street or from Main Street and they come around that bend and they just pick right up we need one right there how fast you're going so we need a crosswalk there with lights the crosswalks already there and how fast you're going now they see the flashing light on the island that tells them to slow down now how to get across the street my grandkids live on clifford street they come across that island every day

▶ 6:18 going to and from the middle school we need cross lights on each end of the island there's a stop sign have a crosswalk there cross the island there's another stop sign have a crosswalk there people cross with that flash that new light system we have for crossing the street and the stop sign we get everyone across the street i think that's it that's our idea thank you very much go ahead sir no that's that's all we just listen my husband jerry will have another point of view yeah as my point of view here is that as a resident in that area for 58 years uh we've been in business also there for 43 years I think that this could be a bad decision for the whole area, residential area, having this roundabout.

▶ 7:15 We're going to be losing nine spaces, which is residence and business. Since the last four years, we've added 12 new resident units in that area. None of these places have guest parking. So I don't know where the people are going to park when they come to visit. The church has no parking, which is the Green Baptist Church, and they need most more parking as they can get in that area and also the businesses now i understand the traffic commission has worked hard on this i understand that they've come up with some good ideas but i think the roundabout in this such a a small area is really cramping something that really going to put a lot of people having to be aware what's actually going on If you look at the pictures of the original roundabout, there's crosswalks going through

▶ 8:13 the roundabout. Now it's going to be busy enough trying to figure out how they're turning, where they're going, and having crosswalks in there also, and if I look at it, I don't know what the actual distance is so that you can visually see crosswalks, which is a lot of curves coming into that roundabout and i really think that having crosswalks in there is going to be very dangerous the other thing is is that that area right now the triangle that can do snow plowing with the triangle with the roundabout in there they're going to have to remove the snow there's just no place to put it either that or going to end up in everybody's front yard the uh the triangle adds a lot of had some green space people use it with their

▶ 9:14 dogs or whatever they kind of just use it it's been here a long time I've seen a lot of different accidents there but nothing really serious it's no different in vaccines I hear all over the city these are these small fender benders the amount of traffic is there it's amazing they get by there whatnot but I think with the proper lighting and other things of work there's a lot of truck traffic in that road and going around that roundabout with trucks is going to really be a challenge the other thing is when the plenty of people don't realize that right now with the island there when they go around the traffic the lights in there from those cars and stuff do not go into their room, into their houses and the windows. With that

▶ 10:07 roundabout there, which is just going to be a slab of cement and tar, when eight people go around that roundabout, the lights are going to go right through all through their windows. I don't think they even understand that, and that's going to be very annoying. I don't think they're going to be very happy with it. I think that this can be done with no added expense to what the money has been appropriated for this but i do understand i think that there's not enough money to do what they want to do now but i'm pretty sure the money they have they could do the improvements i understand the traffic commission worked on this very thoroughly i went to their meetings i they had another alternative which i didn't think was going to work they wanted to put stop

▶ 10:55 signs everywhere it didn't seem like it would work because traffic was sat backing up it is a very busy area I've seen traffic gone in there probably five times what it was when I first moved in so anyways we just wanted to let you people know that we think that this could be a better alternative thank you very much sir thank you madam clerk of committees have the public commentators giving you their name and address would you please both state your name and address for the record please okay would you say it out loud oh sure I'm Winnie like the poo canton c-a-n-t-i-n 164 Green Street Melrose the girl that has the health food store and this is your husband Jerry yes my name's rod and I live at

▶ 11:48 164 Green Street also just one other old one turn it away we're talking about light poles we're moving light poles and I don't know how many you're gonna pose you're going to have to put in there but people are not going to be very happy having new light poles in front of their yard and that's what's going to be because there's a way those light poles are set up you're going to at least put four in here thank you sir yep and i like to say green green street natural food store is a great place i've been going there since i was a little kid and it's it's excellent it's an excellent uh business here in melrose thank you very much thank you very much sir a lot of nice people come there very pleasant yes

▶ 12:26 Peter D. Mortimer: indeed thank you thank you ladies and gentlemen is there a motion to close public comment please motion to close public comments second alderman boyce ellis made a motion to close public comment duly seconded by alderman forbes all in favor please say aye aye any opposed hearing none public comment is now closed we have a motion yes acceptance of minutes yes i'd like to make a motion to accept the minutes of the full board from january 22nd without reading without reading yes alderman lippi garabedian has made a motion to accept the mo the second minutes from uh january 22nd duly seconded by alderman boyce without reading uh all in favor of said motion please say aye aye aye any opposed hearing none those motions from the meeting of january 22nd are

▶ 13:15 Peter D. Mortimer: accepted we proceed now to roman numeral number four communications there is not no communications from iran and the mayor and other city officials we proceed now to roman numeral five new business first order is order 2019-47 it is a petition of national grid for multiple pole and conduit relocations throughout melrose as set forth herein as part of electrical transmission line upgrade project alderman Tramontozzi please yes mr president i asked for immediate consideration of order 2019-47 for the purpose of setting the public hearing alderman Tramontozzi has made a request for public for immediate consideration is there an objection seeing no objection the order is before us please proceed alderman thank you i'd ask that we set this order down for a public

▶ 14:08 Peter D. Mortimer: hearing on march 18th at 8 p.m alderman Tramontozzi has made a motion to set this business down for a public hearing on march 18th is there a second please second duly seconded by alderman forbes on discussion seeing none all in favor please say aye aye any opposed hearing none the public hearing is set for march 18th and the balance of the order will be sent to the committee on public works the next order we have before us is order 2019-48 it is a petition of national grid and verizon new england incorporated to relocate three jointly owned polls on howard and green streets polls 176 177 and number 208 out of the center island at the intersection of howard and green street per request of the city of melrose work request number two seven eight six nine three

▶ 15:01 Peter D. Mortimer: two two dated two twelve twenty nineteen mr president alderman Tramontozzi is making requests for immediate consideration and regarding order 2019-48 i asked for immediate consideration for the purpose of setting a public hearing is there an objection to said request for immediate consideration seeing none of the orders before us i asked for uh to set this order down for public hearing on march 4th at 8 p.m second alderman Tramontozzi has made a motion to set this matter for a public hearing on march 4th duly seconded by alderman Medeiros all in favor of setting set setting such public hearing please say aye aye any opposed hearing none the public hearing is set for that day and the balance of the order will be sent to the committee on public works

▶ 15:46 the next order we have before us madam clerk order 2019-49 in order to limit the location of any marijuana businesses in melrose to route 99 also known as the newburyport turnpike this order will be sent to the committee on appropriations order 2019-50 reappointment of melissa ripley as assistant city clerk for a one-year term said term ending on march 1st 2020. this order will be sent to the committee on finance seeing no orders out of order there were no orders or out of order we'll proceed to the next section section roman numeral seven any orders from committee seeing no orders from committee we will proceed to roman numeral section 8 under rule 53 reports from outside committees on which alderman serve and participate alderman Medeiros please

▶ 16:44 Monica C. Medeiros: thank you i have a report as the school committee liaison at the last meeting the school committee focused its school spotlight on the lincoln school miss st george was here and she chose to highlight some of the inclusive practices that they've instituted at the school she worked hard to make sure that the student voices were heard in the presentation which highlighted such things as a quiet room for lunch and what the students were most excited about which was flexible seating so the school has been piloting a program that was started by the teachers who had received a grant from the Melrose Education Foundation and it's been continued on through the generosity of the teachers and the PTO and the

▶ 17:29 Monica C. Medeiros: students can choose from a variety of chairs including butterfly beanbag and yoga balls and this helped the students feel more comfortable and focus their energy on their work one of the kids talked about how he could you know bounce on the bouncy chair and on the yoga ball and it actually helped him to focus more school committee member mr. Bremsky made it clear that these chairs that we have that we sit on are nowhere near as comfortable as the butterfly chair but the override continues to dominate the budget discussions as everyone here is aware the superintendent has presented two budget scenarios one assuming that the override vote passes and one in which the question to be voted on April 2nd fails so last meetings focused on staffing

▶ 18:26 Monica C. Medeiros: levels and the members definitely echoed their support for the higher funding levels that would be provided if the override passes so the budget discussions will continue and the next meetings are scheduled for February 26 also March 12th we'll do discuss the budget but non salary items in March 26 with the possibility of a March 19th meeting so stay tuned and please keep an eye on the Melrose schools website and of course the agenda packets the details of which are outlined for the public to see thank you thank you very much alderman Medeiros seeing no other further reports from outside committees we will proceed to Roman numeral section 9 that is tonight's calendar please proceed madam clerk of committees order 2 0 1 9 3 0 amending Melrose revised

▶ 19:23 Robert A. Boisselle: zoning ordinance chapter 235 article 11 section 235 dash 73.1 affordable housing incentive program this order comes from the committee on appropriations with a recommendation for passage alderman lippi garabedian so moved alderman lippi garabedian makes a motion for passage second duly seconded by alderman Zwirko on discussion alderman voyzel please according to my notes of the appropriations committee of january 14th in doing the discussion of the affordable housing aspects and the amendments there was a discussion concerning of uh finances from the fees collected from these operation and about 200 i guess about 200 i have 200 000 here of affordable housing was put into some sort of an account which wasn't

▶ 20:21 Peter D. Mortimer: listed anywhere and i just want to know they were supposed to discuss it with the auditor to create an account to put this money into it and i just wanted to know if that's been done at this point for the record before we approve the regulations itself i did too ask about that matter and i have not received any correspondence or information back from the administration have uh madam clerk of committees have you received anything i have not filling in for uh city clerk have you heard of any i haven't heard anything uh apparently uh that matter to at least to the knowledge of uh anyone here if anyone else cares to chime into the discussion uh we have not heard about that at this point uh alderman boyce okay um oh excuse

▶ 21:08 Robert A. Boisselle: me yeah may i just clarify was this something that was uh requested to move forward to the audit department meaning we would follow up with them at the last that meeting it was a request they were going to discuss it with the auditor to put into the appropriate program and so forth and I dropped into the auditor the following morning and to ask if he was aware of this particular amount of money outside of the regular accounting system and he said no and he was going to talk to the planning board or planning office to clarify it and put it into the appropriate accounts and I'm just looking for either I missed the email or I haven't heard anything anything has been done about it and i know there the planning office is really follows

▶ 21:58 up quite clearly with this type of method i can follow up yeah don't don't think you missed an email okay thank you all right thank you very much all the boys sell any uh further discussion on the motion for passage by alderman Letter garabedian second by alderman forbes seeing no further discussion this is a roll call vote requiring eight votes uh madam clerk would you call the roll please yes alderman brutra yes alderman Boisselle no alderman forbes no alderman Letter garabedian yes alderman mcmaster yes alderman marderos yes alderman mortimer yes alderman Tramontozzi yes alderman wright yes alderman Zwirko yes uh alderman lemmerman is absent 8, yes. The order passes. Madam Clerk of Committees, please proceed.

▶ 22:56 Michael P. Zwirko: Order 2019-32, an order to review potential policies regarding line bike and other cyber rental bicycles. This order came from the Legal and Legislative Committee with a recommendation to place on file. So moved. Second. Alderman Medeiros has made a motion to place this on file. Seconded by Alderman Boisselle. On discussion, oh, Alderman Search, please. I just wanted to state that I think that the discussion that we had along with the attached items, which is the PowerPoint presentation, was very good information on the program. So thank you for filing the order and bringing that before us with the help of the planning department. Thank you very much. There's been a motion to place this order on file by Alderman Medeiros, duly seconded by Alderman Boisselle.

▶ 23:46 Peter D. Mortimer: It's a voice vote requiring six. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, this order will be placed on file. Quota 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. Motion for passage. Thank you very much. This came from the Legal and Legislative Committee with a recommendation for passage, and Alderman Wright makes a motion for passage. Second. seconded by alderman boy cell on discussion alderman Rita please thank you certainly the language in the order is not self-explanatory however as the members of this board will recall this is an order that will pursuant to a recently passed state statute which requires the local

▶ 24:41 Francis X. Wright Jr.: acceptance of acceptance which we have now done what we were about to do I I should say, would create a real estate tax exemption for the parents or guardians of a soldier or a sailor who is killed in the line of duty or is missing in the line of duty and presumed dead. So there are some restrictions as to length of time they must live in the community as well as the soldier or sailor but generally speaking uh it's a way to recognize and show our appreciation for those who uh not only serve in our name but make the ultimate sacrifice thank you alderman wright uh seeing an alderman wishing to be heard seeing none we'll have the vote then it's an roll call vote requiring eight votes madam clerk would you call the roll please alderman Bewtra yes alderman voyzel yes alderman

▶ 25:43 forbes yes alderman Letter garabedian yes alderman mcmaster yes alderman medeiros yes alderman mortimer yes alderman Tramontozzi yes alderman wright yes alderman yes alderman lemmerman is absent this uh required eight votes it has ten so it passes on to the next one order 2019-40 acceptance of section 3a of chapter 64g as amended by section 6 of chapter 337 of the acts of 2018. this comes from the legal and legislative committee with a recommendation to place on file alderman wright please uh move to place on file alderman wright makes a motion to play second order on file duly seconded by alderman's worko on discussion seeing none this is a roll call vote requiring eight votes madam clerk alderman Bewtra yes alderman Boisselle yes alderman forbes yes

▶ 26:45 Peter D. Mortimer: alderman Letter garabedian yes alderman excuse me alderman mcmaster yes alderman medeiros yes alderman mortimer yes alderman Tramontozzi yes alderman wright yes alderman Zwirko yes alderman lemmerman is absent um that was actually because it was to place on file and that actually changed an ordinance that should have been a uh my mistake that should have been a uh voice vote requiring six so just to uh belt and suspend us the situation i think we did more than we needed to but uh all in favor please say aye aye any opposed hearing none uh that order that motion to place the order on file passes the next order we have before us is order two zero one nine dash four one appointment of josh rob robbins from 18 albion street to the human rights commission

▶ 27:41 Peter D. Mortimer: for a three-year term said term to end on the last day of february 22 and this order came from the appropriations committee with a recommendation for passage i'll have been looking at everything i move to recommend uh to accept the appointment appointment alderman Letter garabedian makes a motion for passage of disorder duly seconded by second alderman boy cell all in favor this was a roll call vote requiring six and uh the motion passes so that motion passes madam clerk release order zero two zero one nine dash forty four appointment of alan i albert to the position of emergency management director this order came from the protection and license committee with a recommendation for passage alderman master please motion for passage second

▶ 28:32 Peter D. Mortimer: alderman mcmaster makes a motion for passage of this order the appointment of alan albert to the emergency management director position duly seconded by alderman forbes on discussion seeing them discussion seeing no discussion this is oh i'm sorry go ahead please uh Alderman Wright. Are we voting to appoint or are we voting to confirm the appointment? We are voting to confirm the appointment. Thank you. You're welcome, sir. Any further discussion? Seeing none, this is a voice vote requiring six. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, Mr. Alpert will be appointed to the Emergency Management Director position. Alderman Swirko. Thank you, President Pro Tem Mortimer. Before we adjourn this

▶ 29:22 Michael P. Zwirko: evening, I just wanted to say thank you to the Melrose Fire Department for their actions over the weekend. There was a fire and a structure on First Street and while it looks, appears to be a total loss, there was no loss of life and that's a testament to the work of the men and women of the Melrose Fire Department. So I just wanted to publicly state my thank you and appreciation for their work well said and i concur wholeheartedly that uh building of the chicarellas was in uh front in ward six and i too greatly appreciate the uh quick and excellent work of the uh morrow's fire department motion to adjourn second okay anybody else on any other personal privilege no we have a motion to adjourn by alderman Boisselle duly seconded by alderman forbes all in favor

▶ 30:07 please say aye aye any opposed hearing none the board of aldermen for february 19th is hereby adjourned thank you

City Council — 2019-02-19

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Agenda

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