Finance Committee — 2019-03-04
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
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE FINANCE COMMITTEE CALENDAR● MARCH 4, 2019 Aldermanic Chamber, Melrose City Hall Committee Meeting 7:15 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 The public should take notice that the Melrose Board of Aldermen may, on certain occasions, have a quorum in attendance due to standing committees of the Board of Aldermen consisting of both voting and non-voting members. Members attending this duly posted meeting are participating and deliberating only in conjunction with the business of the standing committee. Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Manisha Bewtra Chair Present Monica C. Medeiros Vice Chair Late 7:18 PM Francis X. Wright Jr. Voting Absent Scott M. Forbes Voting Present Michael P. Zwirko Voting Present Jennifer L. Lemmerman President/Ex Officio Member Present Peter D. Mortimer Nonvoting Present Robert A. Boisselle Nonvoting Present John N. Tramontozzi Nonvoting Absent Kate Lipper-Garabedian Nonvoting Present Shawn M. MacMaster Nonvoting Absent
ORDER-2019-50 Appointment Reappointment of Melissa Ripley as Assistant City Clerk for a one year term; said term ending on March 1, 2020. Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen City of Melrose Page 1 Updated 3/6/2019 10:56 AM
Transcript
▶ 0:00 Manisha Bewtra: The hour being 7.15 p.m. on Monday, March 4th, 2019, the Finance Committee is called to order. I am Committee Chairwoman Alderman Manisha Bewtra. Present are Committee Members Alderman Forbes, Alderman Zwirko, and President Jen Lemmerman. Non-Committee Members in attendance are Alderman Mortimer, Alderman Boisselle, Alderman Lipper-Garabedian. This meeting is being recorded pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 30A, Section 22A, broadcast live on MMTV. The recording will be available on the city website and on mmtv3.org following tonight's meeting. The Finance Committee has one order before it this evening. Before this committee addresses that order, is there a motion to open the floor for public comment?
▶ 0:53 Manisha Bewtra: Second. The motion's been moved by Alderman Zorco and seconded by Alderman Forbes. The floor is now open for public comment. Seeing none, motion to close public comment at this time. Second the motion. Thank you. Public comment is now closed. The one order before us this evening is Order 2019-50, reappointment of Melissa Ripley as Assistant City Clerk for a one-year term, said term ending on March 1st 2020 is there a motion to suspend the rule so that we can bring miss camosa and miss Ripley forward to share updates from the clerk's office and to make a statement regarding mrs. Ripley's reappointment motion to suspend madam chair second the rules are now suspended thank you for being here tonight if you want to come up to the podium thank you I thought if
▶ 1:57 you want to start with this statement that would be great and then we can open it up for questions from any of the alderman um thank you good evening hello I'm the city clerk Amy camosa and I'm here to bring Melissa Ripley Florida to recommend her reappointment as assistant city clerk Melissa's done an amazing job this year as most of you know we've had a lot of turnover in the city clerk's office over the last year and Melissa's really spearheaded a ton of efforts to improve some of the processes we've had modernize things bring a lot of payments and forms online and I think she's doing an excellent job and I believe you had some updates you wanted to share with us as well sure um so if I may a few things
▶ 2:48 just to note about the clerk's office and the elections office at this time one is that dog licensing is ongoing but as of March 15th we will implement a $15 late fee on your dog license so when everyone in town received their census form there was a green sheet of paper behind it which is a new process that Melissa implemented we hope that that people really see the fact that you have a dog license form you need to either return to us you can also renew your license online you'll see a cute dog on the homepage of the website just click on that and it'll take you to where you need to go second update last day to register to vote if you want to participate in the special election in April is March 13th the elections office will be open until 8 p.m. that night but
▶ 3:35 you can also register to vote online again follow that's through the state but you can do that until March 15 March 13th excuse me the last is even though the census form that you received in the mail says you need to return it within 10 days we still accept those census forms and we'd appreciate you everyone in the city returning them because we actually have to send you a postcard reminder if you haven't returned it which of course cost the city money and it would just be easier if we return it the first pass thank you thank you any other questions from thank you chair Bewtra hello good evening so Melissa you are now have been in this role I believe is just over a year is that correct because I know that you you your previous role or excuse me you were
▶ 4:29 under the previous administration with Mary Rita O'Shea and now with Amy Kimosa could you talk about some of the changes that have occurred in your tenure and what improvements have been made to the office since you've been there sure one of the most important things I think that we've done is we've made it our office more accessible to members of the public so in the past people could would come in they could pay with cash or check only we've made it so people can now pay with credit cards cash and check in the office we've We've also implemented the online dog licensing so people can license their dogs with credit card or e-check. And they can do it from home any time of day. We mail out the dog licenses within 24 to 48 hours so everybody gets their dog licenses,
▶ 5:15 which has also improved the return rate on the dog licenses to date. The other thing that we've done is we've put the vitals online, payment with cash check and credit card. Online, you can do an e-check or credit card. We have people calling us from all over the country asking for their vital records. In the past, they had to mail it in, they had to wait for the mail to get to us, and then mail it out. We can turn around vital records within 24 to 48 hours so people are not waiting for their vital records. MR. That's great. I know everyone being so busy and in the online economy, it's nice to have that benefit. So appreciate those upgrades. And have you noticed a large uptick and electronic payment as well as online activity yes so I would think so on a
▶ 6:03 regular basis we probably bring in about $8,000 a month on online payments that's in addition to the in-office payments which are probably between twenty five hundred and four thousand a month granted because of the real ID we are getting more and more requests for vital records but I think based on the fact that we are doing it online more people can participate thank you very much appreciate all the work you've done to improve the office and it has been noticed so thank you for that look forward to supporting you and your reappointment this year those are all the questions I had at this time madam chair just a quick comment I know the city clerk's office is the front line for residents as they walk in so I know you've been a welcome addition to that
▶ 6:50 Peter D. Mortimer: office and like I say you've been here for for a year now and you've settled in And I'd be happy to support this reappointment, so thank you for being here tonight. Thank you. And with that, go ahead. Go now, I think you were finished, go ahead. I got to make a motion. With that, I present a motion to recommend. Excellent, do I have a second for that motion? Second. On discussion, Alderman Mortimer. Thank you very much, Chairman Peter. It's true, you are an excellent customer service Representatives. I come here many days a week. My schedule permits me to come in in the morning, usually around 8.30 before I start the rest of my business day. And as I see you talking to the public and helping the public,
▶ 7:32 Peter D. Mortimer: I notice your manner is very affirming, positive, pleasant. And it's a credit to our city hall staff. And also, I'm around town a lot. I work here in Melrose as well with kids in the school, go to the Y. Pretty much, I can go months at a time without leaving Melrose. I don't know whether that's good or whether that's sad, but I hear from a lot of people that you are excellent at customer service at the front desk there. One end of the building we have our other excellent person who presents customer service, Kristen Foote. People walk in that door and get a nice response from Ms. Foote, or they walk in the other door and We get a nice response from you, or Amy, or the other Amy, Ms. Camosa, Mrs. Camosa, I should say.
▶ 8:22 Manisha Bewtra: And so it bodes well for the representation, the face that we see for our community as people come in the door, and you're a very big part of it. Thank you very much for your service. Thank you for the kind words, Peter. That's all I have, thank you. Thank you, well I just want to echo my colleague's comments. you for your emphasis on customer service and for making the ease of payments through online payments and credit card that is a huge convenience for the city but I think more so just the friendly faces at City Hall make a big difference in terms of the reputation of the city of Melrose motion is there a motion for passage oh we did that already sorry all in favor aye order 2019 and dash 50 has been recommended for passage and will be sent