City Council — 2019-10-07

City Council Regular Meeting

This meeting starts at 6:23 in a recording that covers several meetings.

Attendance

Manisha Bewtra present · Councilor at Large; Robert A. Boisselle present · Ward 4 Councilor; Scott M. Forbes present · Ward 7 Councilor; Kate Lipper-Garabedian present · Councilor at Large; Shawn M. MacMaster present · Ward 5 Councilor; Monica C. Medeiros present · Councilor at Large; Peter D. Mortimer present · Ward 6 Councilor; John N. Tramontozzi present · Ward 1 Councilor; Francis X. Wright Jr. present · Ward 3 Councilor; Michael P. Zwirko present · Councilor at Large

Agenda

Minutes

CITY OF MELROSE CITY COUNCIL BULLETIN● OCTOBER 7, 2019 Council Chamber, First Floor, Melrose City Hall Regular Meeting 7:45 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Manisha Bewtra Councilor at Large Present Robert A. Boisselle Ward 4 Councilor Present Scott M. Forbes Ward 7 Councilor Present Kate Lipper-Garabedian Councilor at Large Present Shawn M. MacMaster Ward 5 Councilor Present Monica C. Medeiros Councilor at Large Present Peter D. Mortimer Ward 6 Councilor Present John N. Tramontozzi Ward 1 Councilor Present Francis X. Wright Jr. Ward 3 Councilor Present Michael P. Zwirko Councilor at Large Present

ORDER-2020-31 Proclamation Proclaiming October 2019 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month Placed on File

ORDER-2020-32 Grant Authorization to Accept a Grant in the amount of $219,028.00 from the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) through the Green Communities Division; and Authorize the Mayor to Execute a Contract with the Department of Energy Resources; funds to be deposited into Fund #4030 Assigned to Committee Appropriations Committee

ORDER-2020-30 Authorization Emergency Management Services - vehicle acquisition request Assigned to Committee Public Works Committee

ORDER-2020-33 Election of the President Election of the President of the City Council for the remainder of Year 2019 to fill vacancy created by the resignation of Jennifer Lemmerman. Placed on File

ORDER-2020-34 Utility Petition City of Melrose Page 1 10/30/2019 10:24 AM Minutes City Council October 7, 2019 Petition of National Grid to install install 1SO Pole on Summer St beginning at a point approximately 10 ft South of the centerline of the intersection of Summer St. and to Install guy stub pole and side walk anchor fixture. Set Public Hearing

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 Passed

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. Passed City of Melrose Page 2 10/30/2019 10:24 AM

Transcript

▶ 6:03 Peter D. Mortimer: Second. Motion to adjourn made by President Mortimer, seconded by Councilor Boycelle. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right, we stand adjourned. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. The hour being 7.45 on Monday, October 7th. This is the first official city council meeting for the city of Melrose. legislature the legislature having taken action to finalize that order that was initiated by ex-president Jennifer Lemmerman some time ago it has finally happened and is official I am the president pro temp of the City Council at this time the first president of the City Council as we move forward into the the new millennium. It's an ironic twist of fate that the last president, ex-president

▶ 7:08 Peter D. Mortimer: Jennifer Lemmerman, the person who put forth this order to move us forward into this new millennium, this new decade as we hit the 20s, was the last alderman in Melrose who did not become a city council. That's an ironic twist of fate for her that she was the last alderman who did not become a city Councilor and because melrose was the last municipality in the commonwealth to adopt the name city council and shed the term board of aldermen for their legislative body she was also the last alderman who did not become a city Councilor in the entire commonwealth of melrose and she put forth the order to get it all started so that's a very ironic twist of fate for her but of course we thank her for her service and

▶ 8:03 Peter D. Mortimer: we appreciate very much her contributions as an alderman and as president of the board of aldermen for the years and having said that uh to appreciate ex-president jennifer lemmerman we will begin our business this evening i would like to say that this meeting is being recorded by MMTV and is available for future viewing on MMTV and is also available on the City of Melrose website. Madam City Clerk, would you call the roll, please? Councilor Bewtra. Here. Councilor Boisselle. Here. Councilor Forbes. Here. Councilor Lipper-Garabedian. Here. Councilor McMaster. Here. Councilor Medeiros. Here. Councilor Mortimer. Here, Mr. President. Councilor Mortimer. Thank you, President Mortimer. Councilor Tramontozzi.

▶ 9:01 Peter D. Mortimer: Here. Councilor Wright. Here. Councilor Zwirko. Here. Ten present. Ten present. We have a 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. At this time, I would welcome a motion to open the floor for public comment. So moved. Second. Councilor Forbes has made a motion to open the floor for public comment, duly seconded by Councilor Boycelle. All in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the floor is now open for public comment by any member of the public

▶ 9:54 Peter D. Mortimer: wishes to come forward and put forth any questions or make any comments for the consideration of the councillors seeing no one stepping forward motion to close public comment second Councilor forbes has made a motion to close public comment said motion duly seconded by Councilor boisselle all in favor of the motion to close public comment please say aye aye any opposed hearing none public comment is now closed we will begin with communications from her honor the mayor and other city officials order 2020-31 proclaiming october 2019 as domestic violence awareness month council's worker please i move to seek immediate consideration of this order mr president council's worko has made a request for immediate consideration

▶ 10:44 Peter D. Mortimer: Is there any objection to this request for immediate consideration? Seeing none, please proceed, Councilor Zwirko. Mr. President, I also ask that we suspend the rules at this time. Councilor Zwirko has made a motion to suspend the rules, duly seconded by? Second. Alderman, excuse me, Councilor McMaster. I knew it had to happen sooner or later. That was the first one. Hopefully no more. By Councilor McMaster, all in favor of the motion for immediate, excuse me, motion to suspend the rules, please say aye. aye any opposed hearing none the rules are now suspended and we will ask that the mayor come up to read this proclamation on domestic violence awareness month and we also ask that members of maeve alderman mcmaster and alderman Zwirko counselors sir counselors please come up

▶ 11:35 Gail Infurna: to the the front that's two it's gonna be hard don't sit back down okay i wasn't gonna good evening I have a proclamation whereas domestic violence is one of the most critical and far-reaching issues of our time affecting individuals of every age culture class gender and religion race and religion and whereas according to the US Department of Justice domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44. Every 21 days, a woman is killed by domestic violence and more than 3 million children witness acts of domestic violence each year. And whereas since last October, 17 people have died in Massachusetts as a result of domestic violence, all women. Whereas for the past 24 years, the Melrose Alliance Against Violence, in conjunction

▶ 12:59 Gail Infurna: with the police department and the Melrose public schools has taken important steps to reduce domestic violence in our community through education outreach and support services as well as programs to prevent violence such as mentoring peer leadership and bullying prevention now therefore I Gail M Inferno mayor of the city of Melrose Massachusetts and the Melrose City Council do hereby proclaim the month of October 2019 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month and we recognize the accomplishments of the Melrose Alliance Against Violence on its 24th anniversary and she needs no introduction but I would like to ask that Rebecca say a few words without Rebecca leading this group and leading our community against domestic violence we wouldn't have this

▶ 13:51 somewhat success that we do have here in Melrose so thank you for everything so I'm really happy to be joined tonight by members of our board of directors our staff and members of our annual walk committee it really is a team effort Versilia Cataldo Matarazzo of Everett neighboring community of Everett was 50 years old with three grown children when she finally decided to leave her abusive marriage last December she was staying at her parents house she was in her own car sitting in their driveway when her estranged husband shot her and killed her. She's just one of the victims that we'll be honoring at our candlelight vigil on October 20th and her daughter, Amada, will be lighting a candle and

▶ 14:42 reading her name in her honor. Last year there were 10 victims of domestic violence homicide. This year there are 18. There's been one more since the proclamation was written you may have heard about it October 3rd in Worcester we will continue to hold this event until there are no more victims I want to thank the Melrose City Council for your ongoing support and invite you and everyone watching at home to attend our walk on October 20th we come together to take a stand and to take steps against violence the vigil starts at 4 o'clock at the middle in the middle school auditorium the walk is a little less than two miles through downtown Melrose and around El Pond and we come back to the middle school cafeteria for refreshments and as somber as the vigil

▶ 15:32 is the walk is also a celebration of all that we've accomplished together all ages are welcome the event happens rain or shine let's hope for shine and we hope that you will join us and thank you again so much for your support I'll make I want to place on file. Councilor Search, please. Yes, so at this time, I'd like to make a motion to place the order on file. Councilor Search has made a motion to place the order on file, duly seconded by Councilor Lipa Garabedian, on discussion. Yes, I just wanted to also share my appreciation for the mayor and for the work of Maeve and my colleagues who are so supportive of it, and remind our community that this is, We haven't had a victim here in terms of a death, but we heard just this year that our

▶ 16:49 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: domestic violence calls to the police department were up to 141 through May 13th of this year compared to only 103 the year before. So this is certainly something that afflicts our neighbors, and I'm glad that we continue to shine a light on it and look for opportunities to provide resources and support to those victims who live among us thank you for that information that will certainly help increase awareness and we do have a motion on the floor from counselors work Oh duly seconded by council Letter Garabedian to place this order on file seeing no further discussion all in favor please say aye opposed this order will be placed on file the next order we have before us will be read by our clerk of committees order 2020-32 an authorization to accept a grant in the amount of 219 028

▶ 17:46 Peter D. Mortimer: from the department of energy resources through the green communities division and to authorize the mayor to execute a contract with the department of energy resources funds to be deposited into fund number four zero three zero thank you and this order will be sent to the committee on public works we will now proceed to roman numeral number four on our agenda it is new business and the first order of new business that we have is order two zero two zero dash three three madam clerk of committees please order two zero two zero dash thirty three election of the president of the city council for the remainder of year 2019 to fill vacancy created by the resignation of jennifer lemmerman thank you very much madam clerk of committees i will now welcome a motion

▶ 18:37 Peter D. Mortimer: to open the floor for nominations for the office of president for the remainder of this council term which ends in the first couple of weeks of january so moved we have a motion to open the floor for said nominations by Councilor mcmaster duly seconded by Councilor Letter garabedian all in favor please say aye aye the floor is now open for nominations council mcmaster please thank you president Mortimer it is my honor to make a motion to nominate Councilor scott forbes to be the first elected president of the melrose city council thank you council mcmaster council mcmaster has made a motion to nominate Councilor scott forbes for the office of president for the remainder of this term is there a second please second said nomination duly seconded by alderman

▶ 19:32 Peter D. Mortimer: medeiros are there any further nominations at this time seeing seeing none is i was going to close the motion to close them that's that's what i was just about to ask for councilman Zwirko Councilor Zwirko has made a motion to close nominations second duly seconded by Councilor Boisselle. All in favor of the motion to close nominations, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, nominations are now closed. We will now have a vote for the Office of City Council President for the remainder of the term and this will be done by a voice vote called by our city clerk. She will call off each alderman's name and each alderman will respond to the name of the candidate for whom they would like to vote please proceed madam clerk of

▶ 20:21 Peter D. Mortimer: committees Councilor Bewtra Councilor Forbes Councilor Boisselle Councilor Forbes Councilor Forbes Councilor Scott Forbes Councilor Lipper-Garabedian Councilor Forbes Councilor McMaster Councilor Scott Forbes Councilor Medeiros Councilor Scott Forbes president Mortimer Councilor Scott Forbes. Councilor Cimantozzi. Councilor Scott Forbes. Councilor Wright. Councilor Scott Forbes. Councilor Zwirko. Councilor and veteran Scott M. Forbes. Thank you Madam Clerk. The vote being unanimous for all members present. Councilor Scott Forbes is hereby elected president of the City Council. be escorted to the podium by the chair of the Appropriations Committee, Counsel Lippa Garabedian, to be sworn in.

▶ 21:32 Mr. Frazier, I do solemnly swear. Do solemnly swear. That I will bear true faith. That I will bear true faith. And allegiance. And allegiance. To the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. To the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. And will support the Constitution thereof. And will support the Constitution thereof. So help me God. So help me God. I. I, Scott Forbes. Do solemnly swear. I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as President of the Melrose City Council, according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the rules and regulations of the Constitution and Laws of the Commonwealth. So help me God, so help me God, I, I, Scott Forbes, do solemnly swear, do solemnly swear, that I will support the Constitution of the United States, that I will support the Constitution of the United States, so help me God, so help me God, congratulations, thank you very much, all right, I'll be short and brief in my comments, I just want to say thank you to my fellow councillors, your support is the biggest compliment I could ever receive, and I thank you for that,

▶ 23:15 Scott M. Forbes: president of the city council is an honor and a privilege and something that I will not take for granted although there were just a handful of meetings left in the calendar year we do have an opportunity to file some meaningful legislation and I do look forward to working with each and every one of you and finally as many of you know I'm not running for re-election so this does capstone the six years of public service to be able to serve in the same capacity as my father who is a 10-year member of this board and truly a lifelong resident and advocate for the city of Melrose so on that I just want to say thank you very much and I look forward to working with each and every one of you thank you

▶ 23:51 Michael P. Zwirko: Councilor McMaster president Forbes I would make a motion for a brief recess to allow your family to come forward for a photograph very good council McMaster's made a motion for a short recess seconded by Councilor Boisselle on discussion counselors work yeah just a quick comment sorry to delay the revelry but I just wanted to acknowledge the short yet important service of our pro tem president Councilor mortimer always available to step in and do the job that is before him so uh personally wanted to say thank you to you for your short but important service here here thank you very much all right so we have a motion for a short recess uh duly second and all in favor any opposed we are in recess

▶ 27:31 good all right we now continue the order of business for the melrose city council we're going to continue on item number three on communications from her honor the mayor and other city officials order 2020-30 emergency management services vehicle acquisition request that'll go to the department of public works uh on to new business order 2020-34 petition of national grid to install i1so pole on summer street beginning at a point approximately 10 feet south of the center line of the intersection of summer street and to install guy stub pole and sidewalk anchor fixture mr president council chairman tozy thank you mr president um i ask for immediate consideration of order number 2020-34 for the purpose the sole purpose of setting a public

▶ 28:32 Scott M. Forbes: hearing. Council Tremontosi has asked for immediate consideration on this order is there any objection? Council Tremontosi may continue. Thank you I ask that this order be set down for public hearing on November 18th at 8 p.m. Second the motion to set the public hearing. An order has been made to set the public hearing for November 18th at 8 p.m. seconded by Councilor Mortimer. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Order passes. I ask for the the balance of this order to be laid on the table second we have an order we have a motion for the order remainder of the order to be laid upon the table made by alderman alderman there's one council chairman tozy seconded by Councilor mortimer all those in favor aye aye any opposed that rest of that order will be laid on the table

▶ 29:19 Scott M. Forbes: thank you are there any orders out of order there are not are there any orders from committee council mcmaster mr president i would make a motion to remove order number 2020-27 from the protection and license committee second the motion council mcmaster is ordered to remove order number 2020-27 from committee seconded by Councilor mortimer all those in favor aye any opposed the orders before you motion for passage mr president we had a motion for passage made by Councilor mcmaster seconded by Councilor mortimer all those in favor aye any opposed that order passes we have any reports from rule number 53 this evening seeing none we can go to the calendar order 2020-29 appointment of juliana hanlon seven short street as an associate member

▶ 30:13 Scott M. Forbes: of the board of appeals for a two-year term said term to expire on the last day of february 2021 This order came from the Appropriations Committee. Councilor Lipper-Garabedian. This came with a recommendation for passage, so I would move for passage. Councilor Lipper-Garabedian has recommended this order for passage. Second. Seconded by Councilor Tramontozzi. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? I'd abstain. Is that possible? We have one abstention. Order passes. Do I have a motion for adjournment? So moved. Seconded. motion for adjournment made by Councilor mortimer seconded by council Boisselle all those in favor any of those opposed for adjournment Councilor uh first city council meeting is now adjourned stay tuned for legal and legislative

City Council — 2019-10-07

Attendance

Agenda

Minutes

Transcript

Original documents