City Council — 2019-09-23
Attendance
Manisha Bewtra ; Robert A. Boisselle ; Scott M. Forbes ; 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
- Minutes Approval
- Public Comment
- Communications from Her Honor, The Mayor And Other City Officials
- ORDER-2020-29 : Appointment of Julianna Hanlon, 7 Short Street, as an Associate Member of the Board of Appeals for a two-year term; said term to expire on the last day of February 2021.
- New Business
- ORDER-2020-26 : A Resolution Recognizing Hunger Action Month - September 2019
- ORDER-2020-27 : Application of Joana Baka Valle for a Common Victualler License as part of a Transfer of Ownership of My Diner, 399 Main St. , Melrose
- ORDER-2020-28 : A Resolution Honoring Jennifer L. Lemmerman for her Service as President of the Board of Aldermen and for Many Years as Ward 2 Alderman.
- Orders Out of Order
- Orders from Committee
- REPORTS - RULE 53
- Calendar
- ORDER-2020-23 : Application of DOVALES ENTERPRISE D/B/A CERTIFIED AUTOMOTIVE for a Class II Motor License
- Adjournment
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE BOARD OF ALDERMEN BULLETIN● SEPTEMBER 23, 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 Kate Lipper-Garabedian Alderman at Large Present Shawn M. MacMaster Ward 5 Alderman Absent 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-2020-29 Appointment Appointment of Julianna Hanlon, 7 Short Street, as an Associate Member of the Board of Appeals for a two-year term; said term to expire on the last day of February 2021. Assigned to Committee Appropriations Committee
ORDER-2020-26 Resolution A Resolution Recognizing Hunger Action Month - September 2019 Placed on File
ORDER-2020-27 License - Common Victualler Application of Joana Baka Valle for a Common Victualler License as part of a Transfer of Ownership of My Diner, 399 Main St. , Melrose Assigned to Committee Protection and License Committee
ORDER-2020-28 Resolution A Resolution Honoring Jennifer L. Lemmerman for her Service as President of the Board of Aldermen and for Many Years as Ward 2 Alderman. Placed on File
ORDER-2020-23 License - Class II Motor Vehicle Application of DOVALES ENTERPRISE D/B/A CERTIFIED AUTOMOTIVE for a Class II Motor License Passed City of Melrose Page 1 10/1/2019 2:38 PM
Transcript
▶ 0:03 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: Good evening. The hour being 7.45 on September 23rd, 2019. I call to order this meeting of the Melrose Board of Aldermen. This meeting is being recorded and it is being broadcast live on MMTV and can be accessed later on the City of Melrose website as well as the MMTV website. Madam Clerk, if you could call the roll, please. Alderman Bewtra. Here. Alderman Boisselle. Here. Alderman Forbes. Here. Alderman Lipper-Garabedian. Here. Alderman McMaster. Alderman Medeiros. Here. Alderman Mortimer. Here. Alderman Tramontozzi. Here. Alderman Wright. Here. Alderman Zwirko. Here. President Lemmerman. Here. Ten present. Ten present. Alderman McMaster asked me to relay that he had an unavoidable work conflict this evening. He sends his regrets. Please rise and join me in saluting the flag.
▶ 0:51 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: 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. Madam President, I make a motion to open the floor for public comment. Second. We have a motion to open the floor for public comment made by Alderman Mortimer, seconded by Alderman Boisselle. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? We are now open for public comment. This is the portion of the meeting where any member of the public can come forward to speak about any item on our agenda You're joined by Mayor Gallinferno this evening welcome. Thank you Thank you for allowing me to speak today I just want to take a moment here to congratulate Jen Lemmerman on her years of service to Ward 2 and to our community
▶ 1:44 Gail Infurna: After serving with Jen and being now in the mayorship, I see how Jen does it. She does it with grace, dignity, and she really serves the people of Ward 2 well. When she comes around the horseshoe, she has always looked out for what's best for the greater good of our community, and as a ward alderman, sometimes it puts you in a little funny spot, but she did it really well. So I just want to congratulate you. You will be missed, but I know we'll see you as a town member up in Andover. So good luck. Thank you. Thank you very much. Are there any other members of the public wishing to speak this evening? Motion to close public comment, Madam President. Second. We have a motion to close public comment made by Alderman Mortimer, seconded by Alderman Boisselle. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Next up on our agenda, we have minutes from previous meetings. Alderman Lipper-Garabedian. Yes, I move to enter into the record and approve minutes from July 15th and August 1st.
▶ 2:45 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: We have a motion made by Alderman Lipper-Garabedian to approve the minutes from July 15th and August 1st. This motion is seconded by Alderman Forbes. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Those minutes have been approved. We can move on to communications from her honor the mayor and other city officials. Order 2020-29 appointment of Juliana Hanlon, 7 Short Street as an associate member of the Board of Appeals for a two-year term said term to expire on the last day of February 2021 moving on to new business order 2020-26 a resolution recognizing hunger action month September 2019 Alderman Medeiros thank you I'd like to move for immediate consideration of this order we have a motion by Alderman Medeiros for immediate consideration is there an objection seeing none the order
▶ 3:38 Monica C. Medeiros: before you I'd like to move to suspend the rules to approach the podium and with members from and to read and present the resolution the motion to suspend we have a motion to suspend the rules made by Alderman Medeiros seconded by Alderman Mortimer all in favor aye any opposed we are under thank you I'm I'm joined this evening with Cindy Robillard from the Bread of Life, Pat Fish from the Pantry of Hope at the Baptist Church, and Joan Dean from a Servant's Heart Pantry at Faith Evangelical Church. I just want to take a quick moment to say I'm really pleased to have the opportunity to offer this resolution on behalf of the Board of Aldermen and the City of Melrose. it's definitely an honor and a privilege that I feel to be from this position as
▶ 5:04 Monica C. Medeiros: an alderman to be able to bring some awareness to this issue and how many people are among us our neighbors who are facing housing and in food insecurity and to bring some awareness to it to let them know about the resources that are available to them and to let our community know how they can take action to support our neighbors so with that I will read the resolution whereas September is hunger action month when the feeding America nationwide network of food banks unite to urge businesses and individuals to take action in their communities and whereas chronic malnutrition weakens the immune system and can lead to stunted growth poor cognitive ability fetal defects mental retardation and even death and whereas approximately 3.1 million
▶ 6:00 Monica C. Medeiros: children die from undernutrition each year and whereas 1 in 11 people in Massachusetts and 1 in 9 children in Massachusetts are at risk for hunger and whereas a recent study shows that 34% of those at risk for hunger in eastern Massachusetts earn too much to qualify for government provided emergency food assistance and whereas Massachusetts has economic obstacles that contribute to hunger including food transportation costs from the west coast to the east coast and higher housing costs relative to other areas of the country in cold winters that create higher heating costs whereas the Greater Boston Food Bank serves residents of a hundred and ninety communities cities and towns in eastern Massachusetts distributing enough food to serve more than one hundred forty two
▶ 6:56 Monica C. Medeiros: thousand nine hundred people monthly and whereas locally the bread of life is in the top ten percent of the member agencies of the Greater Boston food bank distributing over 1.5 million pounds of food and whereas the bread of Life provides 1 million free meals through its food pantries, evening community meals, and food delivery services to residents of 10 communities including Melrose, Malden, Medford, Everett, Saugus, Stoneham, Wakefield, Redding, North Redding, and Winchester. And whereas the Pantry of Hope at the First Baptist Church of Melrose provides free groceries neighbors in need and whereas a servant's heart food pantry at the faith evangelical church provides melrose residents free groceries and a monthly community meal for neighbors in need
▶ 7:52 Monica C. Medeiros: therefore be it resolved that the board of aldermen hereby proclaims the month of september 2019 as hunger action month within the city of melrose and urges every citizen to be sensitive to the problem of hunger and attentive as to how he or she may help provide assistance to those lacking in food within the city of Melrose the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and throughout the world and this is signed by each member of the Board of Aldermen and I would like to present thank you the city of Melrose for acknowledging bread of life's commitment to helping our neighbors I'm honored to accept this on behalf of bread of life bread of life serves 260 Merrill's individuals through our malden food pantry six percent of our total and 140
▶ 9:02 Merrill's senior citizens living in subsidized housing with our senior out nutrition outreach bread of life will continue our mission mission until we win the battle to end hunger please think of us for volunteering opportunities in donations of food and resources thank you very much first of all I just want to thank our wonderful city of Melrose for all of their support I have been the coordinator for 23 years here we are open to Melrose residents only now when we first started out we did 17 communities we're up to 160 around 160 families and that's about our limit right now that's the only reason we're saying Melrose residents only we have a community dinner each month the third Friday of the month at 6 o'clock and that's free and that's open
▶ 10:09 to any anyone from this community or any other community we do know fundraising just so you people wouldn't know that the third Sunday in September the servants hot food pantry does an ice cream sundae over at the park across the street this is just to thank the folks from Melrose for all their donations we do have a shed in the back of our church which is on Albion Street so if anybody needs to make a donation there they can leave it or they can call the church we only have basically one problem with donations expired food so that's that's that's our biggest quest because we really don't have enough people to volunteer to be doing everything that's expired so I just thank the the the churches and the scouts and the schools they do a wonderful job thank you not
▶ 11:14 least Pat fish from the pantry of hope I also would like to thank everybody for the generosity this the city of Melrose is a most generous area I will tell you we are supported we do use the Greater Boston Food Bank and we do serve people from outside of Melrose about 24% I believe of the people that we serve are from this city the rest are from surrounding communities fifth we have been having around 55 people each Tuesday we're open from 3 to 5 on Tuesdays and they can come every other week so that's 55 and then the next week it's a different 55 that's a lot of food and when you think about how much food is going out it is we have 24 volunteers and that includes people who go into the Greater Boston Food Bank who stock the shelves who shop for extra things that
▶ 12:12 we don't get from the food bank etc it's quite an operation and as Joan just said it's just an amazing thing to work with the public in this we do not fundraise but we are having a fundraiser for the first time and it is October 5th and along with many other things as we were saying earlier it's a busy time and that will be at the church and that will be all the money will be going to the to the food bank but it is quite a group we hear so many stories from different people and it's not only just giving food it is welcoming people with a big smile and listening to their stories many times and just being there for people so we thank you and thank you for this resolution it is a wonderful thing
▶ 13:02 to do so thank you for your support I'd like to also point out that to the public that at the front door once you come into the front doors of City Hall from the Essex Street side on the left hand side are two bins where you can leave food for both a servant's heart and for Pantry of Hope so people can make donations here at City Hall and I believe it's some other areas that throughout the community so I just want to thank everyone tonight and I'd like to move for a just a two-minute recess to take a photo call this meeting back to order we could proceed to the next item under new business order 2020-27 application of joanna baccavale for a common victual license as part of a transfer of ownership of my diner 399 main street melrose that will go to the committee on protection and license
▶ 15:16 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: order 2020-28 a resolution honoring jennifer l lemmerman for her service as president of the board of aldermen and for many years as ward 2 alderman alderman lipper garbedian yes i move for immediate consideration we have a motion for immediate consideration made by alderman Lipper-Garabedian is there. Opposition to immediate consideration? Seeing none, the order is before you. I think we're under suspension of rules, so may I join you? Please do. Madam President, before we proceed, we have a previous order of business left unfinished. We need a motion to place on file the resolution recognizing hunger month. Second. We have a motion made by Alderman Mortimer to place order 2020-26 on file seconded by Alderman Medeiros all in favor aye any opposed so that order is
▶ 16:08 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: placed on file so if anyone wants to object to immediate consideration I'd entertain that objection to keep you around a little longer this is a resolution recognizing President Jennifer Lemmerman and I'll read it into the record whereas Alderman Jennifer L. Lemmerman has served as president of the Board of Aldermen for the City of Melrose for the year 2019 whereas the Board of Aldermen and congratulates President Jennifer L. Lemmerman for serving her sixth year as Ward 2 Alderman for the City of Melrose, whereas the Board recognizes President Lemmerman work to further gender equality through her efforts to establish the City's Commission on Women, whereas President Lemmerman advocated for and sponsored the efforts to change the Melrose Charter to rename
▶ 16:59 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: our legislative body to better reflect the presence and contribution of all of its members, matter age or gender, from the Board of Aldermen to City Council. Whereas President Lemmerman has demonstrated that her compassion to serve extends beyond her role on the Board of Aldermen, including through her professional training as a social worker and through her career in advocacy and government affairs for nonprofit agencies. Whereas President Lemmerman has continually demonstrated overall diligence and focus and has been especially a proponent of and attuned to the needs of public safety personnel and an annual advocate of Police Week and whereas President Lemmerman children Eleanor Cleo and Silas John were born into the Melrose community and her
▶ 17:42 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: family always will have a home here be it resolved that we the members of the Board of Aldermen thank President Lemmerman for her commendable and invaluable service to the city of Melrose and therefore be it further resolved that on this 23rd day of September and the year 2019 that this resolution signed by each of its members be spread upon the records of the Melrose Board of Aldermen and that a special copy thereof be prepared and presented to President Jennifer L. Glimmerman, signed by the members of the board. You're welcome. Thank you. Thank you very much, Alderman Lipper-Garabedian, and thank you to everyone on the board and to those who are here this evening for this resolution. I have to be honest and say I didn't really prepare anything to say because I
▶ 18:46 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: I knew that I would get very emotional, so I just want to say that the time on this body, on this board, and further the time in Melrose over the last 11 years have been some of the best of my life, and some of the best things that have happened to me have happened here in the city, and it's always going to have a place, a home in my heart, and I am not gonna go far and you'll see a lot more of me and I really appreciate all of your support and how many of you have welcomed my children and welcomed me into this role and into the city so thank you I will miss you all but I'm not going too far thank you very much we have a motion to place the order on file so moved we have a motion made by Alderman Mortimer to place the order on
▶ 19:37 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: file seconded by Alderman Poizel all in favor any opposed this order will be placed on file thank you all so much i will cherish this a motion for recess for a picture with our president that would be great we have a motion for recess uh to take a photo made by alderman Medeiros seconded by alderman forbes all in favor any opposed we are under a brief recess oh yes call the meeting back to order moving along on our agenda we have no orders out of order and and we have no orders from committee. Reports under Rule 53. I will. We have first in queue, we have Alderman Boisselle. Okay, this is from the Traffic Commission. They had a meeting on September 18th, 2019 at 5.30 in this chamber. The new business that they had was basically
▶ 20:44 Robert A. Boisselle: request by residents where do not enter residents only or other options at east end of Circuit Street the intersection with Hurd Street. It was decided to have a do not enter sign put up for a 90-day trial which may turn into a one-way after the 90 days and that will be decided after the 90-day trial. We have requests by residents for no parking opposite driveways signed across from 29 Gould Street and that was disapproved. Requests by residents for a stop sign on Sanford Street at Florence Street that was disapproved also request by residents for a stop sign on Martin Street at Maple Street that was approved we had a request by residents a resident to have a four-way or two-way stop at the intersection of Hawes Avenue and Bay State Road a two-way stop sign was
▶ 21:38 Robert A. Boisselle: approved then we had the request by the police and fire chief this for this particular for those who not under understand where Eastman place is it's right next it's Starbucks that will use that as our landmark request by the police and fire chiefs to add to the current restrictions on Eastman place which prohibits parking on the private way on the north side from Main Street to a hundred and thirty feet into the street and also to designate this location as a fire lot fire lane and to add to the current restriction on fields court which prohibits parking on the private way on the south side from Main Street a hundred and twenty feet in an easterly direction to similarly to similarly designate this location as a
▶ 22:25 John N. Tramontozzi: fire lane so that Eastman places you're going to have a lot of yellow lines so be careful I hear that the police officers or when they get their coffee in the morning I'm going to be looking for you at the same time and that's That's the end of my report for the traffic commission. Thank you. Alderman Tramontozzi. Thank you, Madam President. So I am the board member of the Capital Improvement Program Committee, and we have been meeting and the department heads have submitted their proposals for capital projects that they wish the administration to look at. And we will be conducting our meetings beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, September 24th, between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m., where the committee will review department heads' submitted proposals.
▶ 23:21 John N. Tramontozzi: We will also meet again on Wednesday, September 25th, also 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Both meetings will be in the Cassidy Conference Room here at Monroe City Hall on the second floor. an open meeting anybody who's interested in attending to hear from the department heads Tuesday's tomorrow's the DPW infrastructure projects the DPW building projects in the fire department capital projects will be introduced and on Wednesday information technology Memorial HALL POLICE DEPARTMENT PARKS DEPARTMENT IN THE LIBRARY CAPITAL PROJECTS WILL BE DISCUSSED AND REVIEWED THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU AS THE LIAISON TO THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT THE PUBLIC IS AWARE THAT THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE WILL BE MEETING TOMORROW NIGHT AT 7 P.M. HERE IN
▶ 24:17 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: THE CHAMBER THAT'S THE 24th OF SEPTEMBER AND THEY'RE EXPECTED TO GO OVER THE detail of where the override funds have been allocated so that should be on people's radar and will be happening tomorrow. Thank you. Are there any further reports under Rule 53? We can move on to the calendar. Order 2020-23 application of Dovali's Enterprise doing business as certified automotive for a class 2 motor license. This order comes from the Protection and License Committee with a recommendation for passage. Motion for passage, Madam President. We have a motion for passage made by Alderman Bortimer, seconded by Alderman Lipper-Garabedian. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That order passes. Before we adjourn, if I could just have one moment of personal privilege. There's
▶ 25:13 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: no secret due to our earlier resolution that this is my final meeting of the Malrose Board of Aldermen and I would just like to take a moment to formally read my letter of resignation into the record dated September 18th 2019 to the Honorable Gail Inferno mayor of Melrose dear mayor Inferno please accept this letter as formal notification of my resignation from the Melrose Board of Aldermen my last day will be September 23rd it has been a true honor to serve Melrose with you and the members of your administration as well as my colleagues on the Board of Aldermen thank you Jennifer Lemberman it has been copied to the city solicitor and deputy mayor Van Campen as well as every member of this board of aldermen and once again i just before i step down from this podium would like to thank
▶ 25:53 Peter D. Mortimer: you all so much for your support and your friendship and your partnership over the years thank you i don't think it's overstating it to once again give outgoing president jennifer lemmerman a nice round of applause for her service to melrose procedurally why i'm here is i am the senior member of the board of aldermen and in as much as president lemmerman has resigned Just a few short seconds ago. We need to have a president pro temp Just in case god forbid anything could happen to mayor inferno. We need to have a president who could step into the gap So I will not run in two weeks or a little more on October 7th We will have an election for a president for the remainder of the term into early January
▶ 27:11 Peter D. Mortimer: I will not run and seek the presidency at that time but usually the way this works is we have a nomination and a vote and then in the two-week gap between now and then I would be the president pro temp again if there were to be an emergency that required the president to step into the role of mayor to run the city if any emergency should occur and of course we all hope and pray that will not occur, of course. So I would now be seeking a motion to open the floor for nominations for president pro temp. Alderman Wright, I couldn't tell whether it was you or Alderman Tramontozzi, Alderman Wright has made a motion to open the floor for nominations for president pro temp, duly seconded by Alderman
▶ 28:01 Peter D. Mortimer: Boisselle. All in favor, please say aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, we are now open for nominations for President Pro Temp. Alderman Zwirko, please. I nominate Peter Mortimer to serve as President Pro Temp. Alderman Zwirko has nominated Peter Mortimer to serve as President Pro Temp. Is there a second, please? Second. Second by Alderman Forbes. Are there any further nominations at this time? Seeing no further nominations at this time, is there a motion to close nominations? So moved. Second. Alderman Zwirko has made a motion to close nominations at this time. Duly seconded by Alderman Boycelle. There being only one alderman nominated for the office of President Pro Temp, we will now call for the vote.
▶ 28:46 Peter D. Mortimer: All in favor of Peter Mortimer for the office of President Pro Temp, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, hearing none, Peter Mortimer is hereby elected President Pro Temp for that time. Before we entertain a motion to adjourn for the evening, We are under suspension, and I have had a request from State Representative Paul Broda, who is here in the gallery tonight, that he would like to, from the offices of the State House, bring forth a resolution to honor outgoing President Jennifer Lemmerman. State Representative Broda, please. Thank you, Mr. President Pro Tem. Thank you for the opportunity. I'll do my best to be brief. I first met the first lemmer man I met was actually Jen's wife John I was at
▶ 29:41 Paul Brodeur: the Winchester Hospital he was handing me a gown and saying change into that and off we went from there was something of an awkward and intimate conversation I suppose given the the state of my appearance and he very quickly told me about his wife and how interested she is in politics and public service and that is how we first first got to know each other and learn about each other and figure out you know how we can both do do our part for the city and it's been my pleasure to get to know you and your family and to see Silas here kind of along along for the ride whether whether he likes it or not and it's not lost on me that we are here you just recognized this National Hunger Awareness Month and
▶ 30:31 Paul Brodeur: And for those of you who don't know, Jen is now kind of in a very senior position at Project Bread, doing that work across the state and being an advocate for public policy changes that will help the people that we just spoke about here earlier tonight. If I have a regret, it's that we did not get to serve together. That would have been a pleasure for me. I'm not sure how it would be for you. but I've done several of these but it's my real pleasure to do it tonight and that is I'll spare most of it and note that it is in recognition of Jennifer Lemonman for your six years of service in the Melrose Board of Aldermen your leadership of president to the board and your unwavering dedication to the city
▶ 31:18 Scott M. Forbes: of Melrose signed by myself and speaker DeLeo on behalf of a very grateful Commonwealth. We will miss you, you're not far away, but Melrose's loss is certainly Andover's gain and congratulations to you. Thank you very much Representative Broda. Alderman Forbes please. Just a moment of personal privilege. This Saturday September 28th is our sixth annual Melrose Veterans Open Golf Tournament. As many of you know this has become the critical funding source for the memorial projects that we have here in the City of Melrose. It is our honor and our duty to recognize those servicemen and women that gave the most ultimate sacrifice as we know that there are local heroes that walk among us in the city of Melrose so if there's anybody that has nothing to do on a
▶ 32:13 Peter D. Mortimer: Saturday we would love to see you up at Mount Hood registration is 8 a.m. we hope to tee off by 830 and there'll be an awards ceremony and lunch at the VFW post 1506 on 428 Main Street so we hope to see you there if you have the time and thank you very much. Thank you Alderman Forbes. In as much as there was no further business before us or further notifications by any Alderman is there a motion to adjourn please? So moved. Second. Alderman Tramontozzi has made a motion to adjourn duly seconded by Alderman Boisselle. All in favor please say aye. Any opposed hearing none the Board of Aldermen for sub 23rd is hereby adjourned. Thank you one and all.