Legal & Legislative Committee — 2019-11-25

Legal & Legislative Committee Meeting

This meeting starts at 5:56 in a recording that covers several meetings.

Attendance

Manisha Bewtra present · Vice Chair; Robert A. Boisselle present · Nonvoting; Scott M. Forbes present · President/Ex Oficio; Kate Lipper-Garabedian present · Nonvoting; Shawn M. MacMaster present · Nonvoting; Jeff McNaught present · Non Voting; Monica C. Medeiros absent · Voting; Peter D. Mortimer absent · Nonvoting; John N. Tramontozzi present · Voting; Francis X. Wright Jr. present · Chair; Michael P. Zwirko present · Voting

Agenda

Minutes

CITY OF MELROSE LEGAL & LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE CALENDAR● NOVEMBER 25, 2019 Council Chamber, First Floor, Melrose City Hall Committee Meeting 7:10 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 The public should take notice that the Melrose City Council may, on certain occasions, have a quorum in attendance due to standing committees of the City Council 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 Francis X. Wright Jr. Chair Present Manisha Bewtra Vice Chair Present Monica C. Medeiros Voting Absent Scott M. Forbes President/Ex Oficio Present Michael P. Zwirko Voting Present John N. Tramontozzi Voting Present Peter D. Mortimer Nonvoting Absent Robert A. Boisselle Nonvoting Present Kate Lipper-Garabedian Nonvoting Present Shawn M. MacMaster Nonvoting Present Jeff McNaught Non Voting Present

ORDER-2020-40 Acceptance An Order Requesting the City of Melrose to adopt Massachusetts General Law, Chapter 33 ,Section 59 (effect of military service on salary, seniority, and leave allowances of public employees) Hold Legal & Legislative Committee

ORDER-2020-21 Amending Revised Ordinances Amending Melrose Revised Ordinances Chapter 198 by adding Article VII – Sustainable Food Containers and Packaging; further add Section 198-13 “Use of Sustainable Food Containers and Packaging,” as set forth herein. Recommend as Amended Legal & Legislative Committee

ORDER-2020-20 Amending Revised Ordinances Amending Melrose Revised Ordinances Chapter 198-2 refuse receptacle(s) as set forth herein. Hold Legal & Legislative Committee City of Melrose Page 1 Updated 11/26/2019 2:29 PM

Transcript

▶ 5:47 Francis X. Wright Jr.: adjourned thank you very much thank you paul have a nice day same to you you all enjoy your holiday this is a meeting of the norwalk city council legal and legislative committee my name is frank Right, I am the chair. We are joined this evening by Manisha Bewtra, the vice chair, Scott Forbes, the president ex officio, Councilor Zwirko, and non-voting members John Tramantozzi, and Jeff McNaught, and Robert Boisselle. This meeting, I should say, is being recorded and in accordance with the open meeting law the meeting will be available on MMTV as well as on the city's website the agenda tonight has three items on it. We have a motion for public comment. So moved. Second. Seconded by Councilor Zwirko to open the floor for public comment. Seconded by President Forbes. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Do we have anyone in the audience tonight who would like to speak on any matter on the legal and legislative agenda this evening? Mr. Driscoll.

▶ 8:33 Good evening. I'm here to speak on order 20, I just moved up the screen, but it's chapter 2040. So good evening. My name is Bob Driscoll. I am the chairman of the Maryland Veterans advisory board um in full disclosure i'm also a member of the massachusetts air national guard and prior the air force reserve i've had the honor to wear the uniform of the air force for the past going on my 35th year now for half of that time i've been an employee of the city of melrose to be able to support to serve as long as I have and to have the success that I have had takes the support of a family and also your employer I would not be a colonel select today without the support of both of my family and my employer

▶ 9:49 just a little history on this the city has four current members three in the police and one in the fire that also wear the uniform i being the member of the fire in my going on 18 years as city employee i've never come before the board with this request we have a town hall meeting every year where we tell the veterans community what's going on at the state level. We have our state contingent there. We tell them what the board is doing, projects we're working on. But then we solicit feedback from members of our veterans community as to what they would like to see us work on. And this year the feedback was to work on Chapter 33, Section 59. Right now, Melrose has a policy that closely mirrors this Mass. General Law.

▶ 10:58 Policy, though, can be changed tomorrow. So a policy, to me, tells me you support me today. An ordinance tells me you support me tomorrow and the day after. And you support my family also. So, speaking for myself and the other three members, much of the training we receive while we're away on military duty, we bring back to the city and it makes us more valuable employees. We have a junior lieutenant in the police department. a lieutenant in the army guard and he's also a leadership position in the in the police department so all this leadership training he's getting through the military he brings back to the Melrose Police Department and it makes him a better police officer a better sergeant a better supervisor we learn teamwork we

▶ 12:02 learn resiliency there's a lot of things that we learn that we bring back to our jobs here in the city this was brought up in april we are bringing it forward now around that time you're all aware the city had other issues overrides and in other items that have directed the attention although i will point out it's never the wrong time to do the right thing the brave act was signed 2018 in August we have with us tonight Jim Keene who's our legislative liaison on the Veterans Advisory Board Jim put this motion forward to members of the council in a letter asking this to be brought forward so I'm looking and requesting support from from all of you we talk all the time about how special Murrow's is we talk about all the time

▶ 13:08 how we lead the state supporting our veterans this is another would be another example of how we do that we would be walking the walk not just talking the talk so before I close I just want to read a quote that I saw from George Washington he said the willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war no matter how justified shall be directly proportional to how they perceive the veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by their nation so in closing I want to thank you for all each member of the council for their support you are always there when we have events you're always there when when we need help and I know in my heart of hearts you're not doing it because it's a politically correct thing to do I know

▶ 14:08 you're doing it because it's the right thing to do so to all the outgoing counselors, Councilor Forbes, Councilor Boisselle, Councilor Boutrois, Councilor Twerko, Councilor Medeiros, Lemmerman, I thank you and of course Councilor Wright, I could not forget you and also Council Mortimer, I want to thank you all for the support you have given to the veterans in this community over the years and I I look forward to working with Councilors Trematozzi, Councilor McMaster, and Councilor Lipper-Garabedian, and the new board, Councilor McNaught, to continue making Meadows the number one place for veterans and members of our military. Thank you. I am Jim Keene. I'm a member of the Veterans Advisory Board,

▶ 15:13 and I'm here to second the remarks of Bob Driscoll. But I'd just like to point out a few things to you. Since the advent of the all-volunteer military, there's been a real fear that there's a growing distance between the civilians, we, and our military. In other countries, the military stands as a separate class, separate and distinct from the people. And New England is the founding area of the citizen-soldier, the American citizen-soldier. these reservists and national guardsmen are in our community and that bridges that gap between the military and the civilians and that lessens that fear that the military will become a separate and distinct class from us that we are all part of this that these are our neighbors so in this

▶ 16:11 way we ask that you support those men and women in the reserves and in the guard and keeping in mind the citizen-soldier concept of this region thank you my name is Brian Ladner I'm Colonel Driscoll he promoted me and also demoted me in one sentence I'm he called me a lieutenant and a lieutenant I'm actually a sergeant on the Melrose police I serve as the officer in charge in the day shift I am number one on the lieutenant promotional exam though I can tell this audience that and then in the Army National Guard Melrose own nation's first the 102nd infantry I serve as a captain so that's where he he had me demoted there but that was a recent promotion so I'll give him a pass on that one I guess I just wanted to

▶ 17:06 reiterate Colonel Driscoll's sentiment of appreciation I've done two tours in Iraq one in oh four and also in oh nine the first was for a civilian employer that was also very supportive uh 2008 i was hired here and i was subsequently uh deployed right out of the police academy which was very nerve-wracking it was uh you know a time i'm concerned about my my i had just switched careers i'm concerned about um my new employment and the leadership here the community was incredibly supportive and that's not something that is automatic or assumed in a municipality it's not assumed on the civilian side and it's it's not I think a lot of people just say oh well yeah you work for a city or yeah it's

▶ 17:55 not like that I know people through my networking in the Army National Guard that they don't have it so good there's some of that I have it a little better but Melrose is always been incredibly supportive I guess beyond that showing expressing appreciation I just wanted to offer a takeaway when I'm briefing you know my battalion commander at the you know 182nd they want to know the so what what's the takeaway and I guess I wanted to give you the takeaway the purpose of the Guard has completely changed since I joined in 2000 when I was at Paris Island, this was pre-911, the reserves and guard were known as a support or a reinforcement. They didn't actually deploy forward. That changed very quickly in 911.

▶ 18:54 When I was in Iraq in the Anbar Province in 2004 to 2005, the ratio to guard and reserve to active duty, there was more guard and reserve in Anbar Province in Fallujah than there were active duty. was about 51% to 49%. So just in that matter of a few short years, everything's changed. Going forward from Iraq and Afghanistan, which is a counterinsurgency effort, and I'm trying to give you the big picture here, at the general strategic level, the Army is now incorporating the Guard and Reserve into brigade combat teams so that we can be deployed at a moment's notice. our brigades are intertwined with active duty. It's no longer that we would be activated as a reserve or as a backup. It's we're basically in a regular rotation

▶ 19:49 on a general scale. I don't know if that, I'm trying to make as much sense with that as possible. So I guess with that comes, and I could provide documentation upon request, over the past couple of years, It's basically our tempo has increased. One week a year, two weeks a year, one week in a month used to be enough and now it's not. It's just if we just show up to our very basic training without trying to do anything additional, we've essentially run out of the time allotted. It's not something that's guaranteed, it has to be given. But once again, it would be appreciated. And I just wanted to give you that larger picture. That's all I had. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, I'm Karen Welch. I had a 22-year career in the United States Army, both active and reserve. I'm a nurse. The Army trained me as a nurse practitioner. Right now, I cover five nursing homes. I juggle the care of at least 120 patients every week.

▶ 21:16 My training in the Army is what allows me to be able to think on my feet, to work long hours and to do what I need to do. I will echo my colleagues. We learn how to think on your feet, you learn how to make decisions readily at the drop of a hat. I'm a Desert Storm veteran. So I, as a female, I left my family behind with my husband to take care of my two children. I did it knowingly. I did it willingly. Was it tough? Yeah, it was probably the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life. I'm now the commander of post 1506. As a reservist, I'm trying to work the same type of job I do now as a nurse practitioner and meet the requirements of being a nurse in the army reserve it was two weeks you know out of the year there was extra training to go back to school

▶ 22:26 command and general staff school cast cube they're all leadership programs that we are required sometimes the timing for them doesn't fit into your two weeks of annual training we also do weekends some of them were muted fives which meant that that was a Friday in addition to my Saturday and Sunday my family supported me my employer in Missouri at the time when it came up for deployments they were like what are we gonna do because if I'm not there I'm not seeing patients so most of the time my two weeks of annual training was also my vacation time from my employer so that was something another sacrifice my particular family had to make as a chief nurse of a 220 bed army surgical hospital my biggest job was keeping my corpsmen my doctors and my nurses fully trained

▶ 23:25 that meant all of our military training our annual training your skills assessments keeping them fully trained my corpsman on average where I was deploying corpsman after 9-11 during Afghanistan on an average of six months deployments I was every six months we were sending out a new group of my corpsman my docs are on three-month rotations so the docs instead of maybe having one six-month rotation every three or four years some of them were being deployed every year for three months they were surgeons they were ear nose and throat specialists they were internal medicine specialists they were cardiothoracic surgeons and so for them to be deployed for the three months in there three months as reservists when

▶ 24:18 you're deployed your time starts when your boots are on the ground so that means your time starts when you get to your deployed location extra training preparedness for deployment you could be gone an extra month that's not your deployment time so that's another month that you sacrifice your family and you sacrifice time away from your job it's it's a big responsibility when I was on active duty sadly I would see the reservists would come through we go yeah here's the weekend warriors again look they're overweight yeah yeah yeah until i became a reservist myself and to be a reservist or in the national guard keep a full-time job keep a family and meet all of your responsibilities to wear the uniform it can be daunting

▶ 25:14 but i'm proud and i would do it again thank you thank you anyone else would like to speak on any any matter on our agenda this evening. Good evening, my name is Trudy McDonald and I'm here to speak on the Sustainable Food Container and Packaging Ordinance. I'm a member of the Zero Waste Melrose Committee and several other members are here tonight as well. Last month I spoke on this and why I thought we needed this ordinance. Tonight I'd just like to reiterate that I and three other members of this group have spent a considerable amount of time and made a concerted effort to inform the business community and to get feedback from them as to what impact this ordinance would have on them. We've paid a visit to all the businesses in Melrose

▶ 26:30 that we think might be impacted, and that's probably a little over 50 stores, shops, coffee shops, bakeries, restaurants, et cetera, including Shaw's. We spoke with the owners, the managers, the employees, and left them with written information about the risks, the environmental problems and risks. We left everyone with a pretty clear list of why we wanted this ordinance passed, and we also left them with a list of alternatives so that they have a way to find something to use instead of polystyrene. So a number of the merchants were already aware these concerns and some have already made the transition to alternative packaging most notably Dunkin Donuts within the last few weeks has replaced

▶ 27:18 their styrofoam cups with something else so while some of the managers a few of them were concerned about the slight increase in cost for the alternatives the majority were really quite understanding when I met with the manager of Shaw's just last week John pyres he indicated that he was expecting an ordinance like this anytime because he was aware that Shaw's in other cities and towns have already made the transition in fact 40 cities as of this week have already transitioned just in Massachusetts and there's three states that have passed similar bans in Maine Vermont and Maryland anyway John told me that when he was a manager in Brookline five years ago he was they passed a ban similar to this so he's already been through this he seemed to have the

▶ 28:11 experience and felt confident that a July 20 2020 start date would provide ample time for a seamless transition to accommodate the ordinance so in summary I just want to say that there's nothing there's nothing that we use for five minutes should threaten our health and pollute our environment for hundreds of years if we can just ban this polystyrene one of the worst single-use plastic items we use we will have taken a giant step and it's easily implemented a step towards a cleaner and a healthier city and planet thank you thank you so anyone else was any comment on any matter on our agenda this evening hi rebecca into bartolo 33 will then to have um i just wanted to thank everyone for their taking

▶ 29:24 the time to consider this the ordinance on polystyrene everyone who's taken the time to meet with us and reached out to us with the questions and concerns um it's definitely been something that we've worked hard on we've met with i've met with the school several times we've met with all the businesses i think it's um it's been a lot of foundation put in place and people have been given plenty of time to look at alternatives there's plenty of alternatives out there that are about the same uh in terms of cost so i think it's really the right thing to do in terms of our environmental impact so thank you for your time and your consideration thank you good evening karen burke the veteran service officer for the city of melrose and i

▶ 30:15 just wanted to speak briefly on chapter 33 section 59 that's on the agenda for tonight I, as a veteran surface officer, in support of this being adopted as an ordinance here in Melrose. I know currently we have a policy that has been released from human resources that supports this legislation, but I think by taking the extra step and adopting it as an ordinance helps to show the veterans in our communities that we put veterans high up on our priority list of taking care of them. What can be awfully stressful time, not only the commitment of deployments, but the burden of training to maintain their efficiency as the warfighter for what they do and if that's one less burden that you have to worry about with how you're going to be able to go and do that training

▶ 31:04 and not have to worry about where you're going to find your time off from work in order to do that that makes a big difference for our warfighters so i think showing our veterans that we support this adopt this and make it an ordinance here in melrose it does takes a big step towards that support thank you hi I'm here to support non-veterans and people that provide a service and that their hours are very important to a lot of people in the town and that I don't think that they should be penalized for any of it I guess that's all I have to say but everybody that provides a service in this town does a good job the policemen the firemen especially thank you thank you good evening my name is Jim Wilson I'm both a member of the zero waste committee and

▶ 32:45 and I'm also a retired chemist and I'm here to speak on support of the sustainable food container ordinance and in my mind there's really two reasons that you would you would consider trying to put an ordinance against the use of polystyrene with food and the first is that quite frankly we have no ways to read to recycle this type of material that if you if you allow sales of polystyrene to insulate TVs like Gray's might produce when you get your TV, there are some institutions in Massachusetts that will compress that material and make a good material out of it. But no institution in the United States will accept any kind of polystyrene that's been in contact with food. So number one, we have a problem with anything that's been contaminated with food.

▶ 33:41 We just can't get it recycled, JRM will not pick it up. And number two, I think without trying to overemphasize the chemical impact, to be honest, polystyrene is made up of building blocks of carcinogenic materials, styrene. So what you have is you have a material, polystyrene, which itself isn't all that toxic. What's toxic from polystyrene is when you have broken up components of polystyrene, which is the styrene molecule. And whenever you make polystyrene there are some residual molecules of styrene in it as well as when you break it down you can get more styrene and it is carcinogenic. Now I don't think anybody knows exactly what the exposure would be if you have a cup of coffee that's been in a styrene cup and what the age would be before you are drinking that

▶ 34:37 that you would develop some sort of carcinogenic exposure to it. But we know that it isn't something that you want to ingest and when the easiest way to get the styrene out of the polystyrene is to subject it to heat and then subject it to a food that can extract that styrene molecule. So that's where the danger is. So when people are using a cup of coffee because it insulates the coffee and keeps it warm, they have the chance of getting some styrene molecules from the cup and it actually doesn't add anything good to the taste I think most of us know styrene does not impart a good taste but we're using styrene plates in our schools we're putting food on it we're probably sometimes putting hot pizza and hot food on the styrene

▶ 35:25 plates that we're using in the schools and there are other ways particularly people are taking packaged meat and that's on styrene and they're putting it in their microwave so it's that kind of exposure that we're concerned about and the easiest way to deal with this is to eliminate that as a container for food that we think is sellable in the city of Melrose thank you hi everybody I'm Dana Weber Wilson and I'm not a retired chemist however from my perspective whenever you want to give have an ordinance or require people in the population to change behavior we've heard that businesses don't really object to the you know to the change that they can deal with it what I where I come from is talking with people who are friends or acquaintances and how

▶ 36:39 they feel about things I have friends who are somewhat attached to hanging on to being able to use plastic straws I have friends who are like oh I really like the plastic single-use plastic water bottles because of convenience I have never heard from anybody that I know that they want their styrofoam so So in terms of objection to an ordinance like that, I think you've got the population on your side. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else have a... Karen Schweiss. I'm also a member of Zero Waste Melrose and I'm not going to repeat what you've already heard. I just think that this is a very welcome thing to the community. I again canvassed the community with other members and everybody, most people were on

▶ 37:45 board i won't say everybody was on board but i think that the the health issues and the environmental issues that polystyrene styrene brings to our community is unnecessary there are alternatives and i really hope you will support this movement thank you thank you Thank you. Motion to close. Public comment? Mr. Chair? Motion to close. Public comment? Second. All in favor of closing? Public comment? Aye. The comment is closed. We'll now move on to the agenda, the orders. First item on our agenda is Order 2020. Chairman Wright? Chairman Wright? Chair Wright? I'm sorry. I'm just a point of personal privilege. Do we need to recess this meeting for the public hearing that's supposed to start at 7.30 for appropriations or am I, do I have that wrong?

▶ 38:50 We have a public hearing tonight on the classification of property that's scheduled for 7.30. We do. So I think we need to recess just to open that for the public hearing and then we can come back to this meeting. We can. We have up to half an hour. But I'm not a voting member so I can't make that motion. have up to a half an hour but since we haven't started the order orders and it probably doesn't make sense at this point to recess for that purpose so moved motion by councillors work out to recess this committee for the purposes of entering into the public hearing on the selling the tax rate and do we have a second on that second second from council of buta all in favor aye aye opposed Thank you very much.

▶ 44:12 Scott M. Forbes: President Forbes thank you I appreciate all the comments that were heard tonight um i i'm in lockstep with with you you know in in terms of service when you're a member of the reserves or national guard and especially when you get into a leadership position it i want to echo the words of brian ladner it's not one weekend a month and two weeks a year if you're part of a leadership team not only you attend drills twice a month because you're going to be a part of the management weekend you're also going to be part of that friday night planning meeting so you literally you're doing five days a month five days a month times 12 is 60 days and that does not even include a two-week annual tour does not even include a

▶ 44:54 Scott M. Forbes: week certification and because the fiscal year for the department of defense ends in september you can do one two-week tour in the spring and you can do another two-week tour in this in the fall and have it count towards a calendar year for your job but in terms of service it's in different different fiscal years so these days add up towards the end of my military career i did 75 to 80 days and if you have a weekend job and if you work in a municipality and you're trying to find a shift schedule to somebody to fill in your slot those days add up and that flexibility goes away and you have a hard time with your employer i experienced both ends of the spectrum i had a good employer that went above and beyond the call and i had an employer that did the bare minimum

▶ 45:42 Scott M. Forbes: and did not make that experience good for myself or for my family so this is personal for me when you look at a policy you really want something that's a little bit more robust and at my job i'm actually rewriting policies and procedures as we speak because there's deficiencies is a way that we can do things better so we take a deep dive and can look at everything so what is there today may not necessarily be there tomorrow so you want to have something a little bit more permanent and something more substantial than a policy and a memo you want to have a source document and there has been a lot of conversation and dialogue back and forth i appreciate the dialogue and contributions i've had from human resources director marian long

▶ 46:28 Scott M. Forbes: i'd also like to include in that discussion city solicitor rob van campen and mayor paul broder both who i've communicated with today um mayor broder was part of the legislative body that passed the provisions within mass general law chapter 33 section 59. so i'm definitely confident of we've that we will get there to where we need to be what i am going to propose is that we actually hold this order in committee uh being able to have a dialogue with with mayor broder and his administration if the city can produce the source document because in the memos in in everything that we have it says that the city of melrose has adopted chapter 33 section 59 of the massachusetts general laws on april 18th of the year 2000. that's 19 years ago so do where is that

▶ 47:18 Scott M. Forbes: source document you know i'm i i i live in the world of auditing so if we just have a memo that has a date saying that we adopted it you need to peel it back and just try to find the source document so if the city can provide that for us then we have everything we need to move forward and we can vote to either reaffirm this or vote it to place it on file whatever the whatever the best course of action would be however if the city cannot produce such a document then i feel like that motion will easily just be filed to adopt massachusetts general laws chapter 33 section 59 and again we will have everything we need to move forward i want to give this administration just a little bit a little bit of time to do some digging there will be another legal and legislative

▶ 48:03 Scott M. Forbes: meeting i believe on december 9th at which time a vote will be made to the city council and this will be voted on on december 16th so it may not happen in this committee and i'm not sure if that may frustrate some people here tonight but i think it's the right thing to do we measure twice and we cut once and finally i do want to recognize all the local veterans that are here this evening many of you are still serving many of us are not but it is our responsibility to ensure that the next generation is set up for success and that everyone has the supportive services they need in order for them to train and prepare themselves to answer that call whenever called upon so i i will hear any dialogue from my colleagues but i will make a motion to hold this ordering committee

▶ 48:51 Michael P. Zwirko: on discussion any member of the committee who counsels work out thank you mr chairman um first i'd like to say uh as well just echo some of the sentiments by my colleague president forbes to the folks that showed up tonight to speak on behalf of this order we all have busy lives and to give a personal story off add some important background to these orders into why they're filed so thank you very much for that and for your service in addition to what this order seeks to do i would just want to make sure if we are going to be requesting additional information from the administration that in between the time that their records or policies are updated if any benefits have been sought under the change and updated brave act proposals to ensure

▶ 49:40 Manisha Bewtra: that we were in fact compliant with the benefits requested at the time so i would just make that additional request that's all i had mr chairman thank you council's work on council of utah thank you um i just wanted to thank um president forbes for bringing this order forward as well as to the um members of our service members and veterans who came tonight um i think this is is you know certainly we all talk a lot about the sacrifice made by members of our military and veterans and their families but i think this really just helped put that in more concrete terms in a way i personally hadn't understood or thought of before so i just wanted to express my appreciation and i'll follow your lead in terms of what you think the right um uh you know i think

▶ 50:32 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: the order or motion to hold it in committee makes a lot of sense um that's all for now thank you Any other discussion from committee or noncommittee members? Councillor Lipper-Garabedian. Thank you, Chair Wright, and thank you, President Forbes, for bringing this forward to us and for the members of our community who have come forward to share your stories and your perspective. I'd echo what we've heard here tonight, and I think Councillor Zwirko suggestion is well taken because the memo that we received a while ago mentioned that this adoption happened in 2000, and I had looked up just the history of this particular statute and there have been three amendments to it since then by the general court most recently in

▶ 51:15 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: 2018 but there were also some changes made in 2014 and 2016 that maybe expanded some of the coverage and the the types of allowances that were provided to our veterans so I think it would be really helpful to hear from the city to confirm that throughout the this time that we've had this particular ordinance supposedly in place we've also been keeping up with whatever the allowances have been from the legislature that would be helpful thank you thank you we have a motion second I second the president's motion we have a motion to hold this matter in committee by President Forbes is seconded by council Azurko all in favor aye opposed the ayes have it this matter will be held in committee thank you second item on our agenda this evening is order 2020-21 amending

▶ 52:17 Michael P. Zwirko: melrose revised ordinances chapter 198 by adding article 7 sustainable food containers and packaging further add furthering add section 198-13 use of sustainable food containers and packaging as set forth here in council's work thank you mr chairman um pleased to be here tonight i'm very happy about this order and some of the work that has gone on um in our community regarding this and um really i've been taken aback by not only the the comments that we received this evening but also that we've received via email and i just want to remind folks that when we first heard this order back in the beginning of October we had a member of our community the youth a sixth grader at the time come and speak about the

▶ 53:24 Michael P. Zwirko: importance this was to her and I made some outreach afterwards and the amount that the item of recycling climate waste reduction is on the forefront of our youth minds is something really that we need to kind of behold and just wanted tip my hat to that individual who came before us that evening and spoke so here we are this evening we have had this out in the the public for about the late august of this year but that does not signify the mountains of work that has occurred on this and i before i proceed to just some structural changes i just wanted to say thank you to the members of the metals recycling committee which is now known as the zero waste melrose committee for their work in really helping to

▶ 54:17 Michael P. Zwirko: not only educate but bring about awareness for this and as was alluded to earlier by a member of the public the market the private market is actually moving in this direction so while we still will be on the forefront of the communities in massachusetts that are making a change to ban polystyrene food storage items the market itself the private market is actually already moving ahead most recently and obviously a big splash it being Dunkin Donuts as we have seen how popular that product is here in Massachusetts as well as New England so the times they are changing as an order once stated but what we've done so in the meantime i had a conversation last week with a member of the shaw's corporate office and i was really just picking the gentleman's brain

▶ 55:15 Michael P. Zwirko: about other municipalities in melrose and do they have any you know issues with this and they said no they're coping with it but he did offer to me two small little tweaks to the ordinance that would be gratefully um helpful to their their business and i'll explain um but before i do so there is a um an email that i had our clerk of committees uh miss foote put in each of my colleagues mailboxes as well as electronically yeah i apologize we're going to have to recess again oh because of the appropriate the appropriations committee meeting it has to be open within 30 minutes of the scheduled time which was 7 30. well mr chairman this is actually a good time to take a pause before i get into the proposed amendment so at this time i would move

▶ 56:05 Francis X. Wright Jr.: to recess and just for the purposes of the people who are here and the people who are watching this will under our rules a meeting has to begin within 30 minutes of when it's scheduled therefore since we have a 7 30 meeting for the appropriations committee on tonight's agenda That has to begin now. We will open it and it will immediately recess for the purposes of allowing us to return and finish the agenda for the legal and legislative committee. So we will need a motion to recess. I did make a motion. It was not a second. I'm sorry. Yep. Councilor's workload has moved to recess. We have a second from President Forbes. All in favor recess? Aye. opposed hearing none we are in recess so I call back to order the meeting of the

▶ 1:10:49 Michael P. Zwirko: Councillor Zwirko, you were in mid-sentence when I interrupted you. Mid-sentence but well-timed. So thank you, Mr. Chairman. So as I was saying, I had a conversation with a gentleman at the Shaw's corporate offices and before i get walking through this amendment which is actually a very formative one i just want to give a little bit of an explanation so as folks may know if they go into a supermarket in the not only in the sections like the bakery the produce the butchery you'll come across items that are wrapped not only in cellophane but generally are in a polystyrene tray um i'm going to categorize categorize for just discussion purposes two of them one is what i will call proprietary which is labeled wrapped and put out for consumption

▶ 1:11:42 Michael P. Zwirko: excuse me by shaw's itself and then there is that which would come from another manufacturer or a third party which is also in butchers like a poultry company etc so i'm speaking with this gentleman he had said look we'll be responsible for everything that we do whether it's produce whether it's in the butcher anything that's in the store that we wrap or sell we will use a material that is compliant with this proposal but he cautioned against us extending that to these third parties noting that again the market is changing hopefully food third-party vendors like Tyson's, Purdue, etc. will be modifying the packaging in which they've sold, but they don't really have an option. Their only option is not to sell those goods,

▶ 1:12:37 Michael P. Zwirko: and that would be very harmful for their business. So in the spirit of compromise, in speaking with this gentleman and understanding that other like-minded and well-willed communities in the commonwealth have adopted such a provision i have proposed two very small changes to two definitions in the definition section which is section c to allow for this this carve out so in one of the definitions which is disposable food container i am adding a phrase that phrase is on the food provider's premises that will be added after or packages prepared foods so the new definition will read and I'll read it with the insertion of that phrase disposable food container means all food and beverage containers bowls plast plates trays cartons cups designed for one-time or

▶ 1:13:37 Michael P. Zwirko: non durable uses on or in which any food vendor directly places or packages prepared foods on the food providers premises or which are used to consume foods this includes but is not limited to food service where for takeout foods and leftover food from partially consumed meals prepared at food establishments so again I'm just inserting a phrase on the food providers premises noting that the companies that I'd mentioned like Tyson and Purdue there's nothing that there has been prepared on those premises then finally in the definition for prepared food it will now read and there's two strikeouts here so it will read prepared food means any food or beverage packaged or prepared for consumption on the food providers premises using any cooking or

▶ 1:14:31 Michael P. Zwirko: food preparation technique or provided from further food preparation what is struck in that definition is the term weather and then or off so again containing it to on the premises for which the proprietary package is sold so this this mirrors the this is belt and suspenders for a company like a corporate conglomerate like Shaw's and other supermarket retailers and it is in line with what other municipalities have done i will also add that they have complied a community like newton for example um this uh this polystyrene ban is already in place and they have a star market in that municipality so um i just wanted to explain that and i wanted to once again say thank you to the members of the zero waste coalition that is the language that will

▶ 1:15:25 Michael P. Zwirko: be before you to amend this ordinance but given the work that we've we've done as a community for this i would like to make that amendment and also favorably recommend this for passage throughout the committee but i will leave it there without a motion at this time mr chairman just so i can hear the comments of my fellow colleagues on discussion do we have any other comments from members of the committee from non-members very none counselor's workout so i moved to amend this uh order before us this evening mr chairman um as i had previously stated and again um to make it easier did not come out in this print but i did send a copy via email and there's a hard copy before us so as the two definition changes i had so um spoke about earlier

▶ 1:16:18 Francis X. Wright Jr.: Councilor Zwirko has moved to amend the order to reflect the changes that are set forth in the email that he forwarded to the Clerk of Committees and was left for each of us earlier this evening. Second. Second. We have a second from Councilor Bewtra. Do we have a motion to move the order? order we don't okay so you're just moving just to amend to amend the order as presently on the agenda okay so we have a motion we have a second all in favor any discussion all in favor of the amendment aye opposed the amendment passes on the motion on the order as amended i would move uh we recommend for passage to the full board of the amended order okay councilor zyrko has moved for passage of the order as amended second seconded by councilor Peter do you have any discussion

▶ 1:17:26 Francis X. Wright Jr.: on the order as amended hearing none all in favor of recommending this order as amended to the full board aye aye close the order will be recommended to the full board at its next meeting thank you thank you the third item on our agenda is autumn 2020-20 amending melrose revised ordinances chapter 198-2 refuse receptacles are set forth herein and sponsored by council zirko and Councillor McMaster thank you mr. chairman happy to talk again so this this this order actually showed up at the same time that we just discussed the last order there is I had some takeaways actually many more takeaways on this order than I did regarding polystyrene before I go in I just like my colleagues to some who supported the past order all right so what this seeks to do and I

▶ 1:18:37 Michael P. Zwirko: I will also add that trying to get items before the members here this evening, I also had the clerk of committees circulate in the same way I did with the last order, proposed changes for this. But essentially, over the past three or four years now in the spring, because we've had very mild winters and it seems that we're going to be on trend for further mild winters, have seen an uptick in various types of rodents and wildlife in the spring generally harsh winter is very harmful to offspring and it hasn't been the case so we have seen an uptick in rodents so to that I have also noticed on trash day in my neighborhood and throughout the city that bags of trash will just be left out on the curbside for pickup generally in the spring in the summer

▶ 1:19:33 Michael P. Zwirko: when it's warmer this is just open available for the taking so seeking to try to mitigate some of the instances with rodents that we've experienced I didn't think that it was too much of an ask to require that trash be placed in a receptacle for pickup previously when we spoke about this in October I noted that the trash can should be covered and securely fit but through discussion at that meeting there was some concerns raised by my colleagues about trash lids blowing away being thrown and strewn around the neighborhood so I understood that and I also was asked to do some additional research on our surrounding communities as to what ordinances may or may not exist for refuse being placed in

▶ 1:20:28 Michael P. Zwirko: a container whether covered or not I also have some of that information and what I will say is it does overwhelmingly trash for pickup is required to be in some sort of a receptacle those could be contingent on whether or not there is a specific type of recycling and trash reduction program in that municipality I for purposes of the request made by my colleagues I reviewed the communities of Medford Saugus Wakefield Malden Redding Winchester and Stoneham I figured that was a good enough bellwether because it does contain our surrounding communities I'll take the two easy ones first Stoneham has no ordinance regarding a container or a receptacle and it says quote bags must be closed and tied if not in barrels so that is their standard

▶ 1:21:26 Michael P. Zwirko: Winchester they have a transfer station as many folks may know so there's no need for a barrel there unless you want to put it in a barrel in your car reading states for a private receptacle and that placement of garbage and rubbish in receptacles is required Malden as folks may know they do have a pay-as-you-throw plan but they do ask and they define receptacles for their removal Wakefield states that each household is assigned a trash collection bin this was also brought up by a colleague at the meeting that we had in October there are some as I alluded to earlier some municipalities that have specific plans that also assign barrels in communities because they have certain type of trash removing trucks that actually have robotic arms etc so

▶ 1:22:23 Michael P. Zwirko: Wakefield is a little bit different Saugus was interesting although they did state the need for a container or a receptacle but they really just require that the Board of Health promulgate kind of any regulations there too and I couldn't find anything further what I did quote in this instance though was just the idea that it needs to be stored in a proper receptacle for no more than 24 hours and then Medford of course is actually very similar to Wakefield in the sense that they have a program where the city assigns the receptacle and it actually needs to be authorized by the Department of Public Works I will also add that the contract for trash services here in Melrose is up for renewal in 2021

▶ 1:23:14 Michael P. Zwirko: which is probably anywhere between 12 to 18 as most 24 months so certainly there could be discussions about that but that was likely to be two springs from now so the the spirit of this order really was simply just to have trash bags removed from the curbside they're sitting there in the Sun they're sitting there all day sometimes overnight and it is just open game season for for rodents it's a it's a quality of a life issue it's something that we can do as residents to just place a bag in a receptacle and put it curbside my proposed amendments which I'll make sure after I hear from my colleagues is to address some of their concerns and some of their questions so I have asked that it be I've proposed

▶ 1:24:03 Michael P. Zwirko: that we remove the requirement that it be covered and I've also asked I've replaced language that allows for the trash to be placed on the curbside the night before I struck that previously and the only other change that I made is just to ensure that if trash is in a receptacle that it doesn't overflow so those were just some small changes that I made to the existing order in the hopes that we could get this to pass I just do think it's important that we just have trash bags in a proper receptacle like I said for folks that walk early in the morning either with their dog or with their son or daughter to school or even on their commute especially on some of those mornings in July where it's 85 degrees at 530 in the morning you have multiple bags of trash

▶ 1:24:52 Michael P. Zwirko: that generally contain food waste sitting in the Sun and it is just a quality of a life issue and it's another way that we can mitigate the growing rodent population in the city so with that that's my opening and I look forward to hearing more feedback from my colleagues thank you mr. chairman we would go to committee members first as this order is co-sponsored by councillor McMaster who is not a member of the committee I do want to entertain his comments before we go to committee members thank you mr. chairman just very briefly I wanted to thank councillor Zwirko for filing this order I'm pleased to have the opportunity to sponsor it as chairman Wright said I'm a non-voting member but just a couple quick points I

▶ 1:25:40 Shawn M. MacMaster: wanted to raise I agree that this is a quality of life issue as councilors work oh I said it's also a public health issue as I mentioned at the last meeting where trash serves as a food source for rats you know when bags are torn into it produces loose trash and debris. That makes its way into our stormwater sewer system. That then makes its way into our various waterways in the city, so it's a pollution issue as well. I think that this is a common sense order. There was one issue that was raised by Councillor Lipper-Garabedian at the last meeting about city barrels and if this would should apply to city barrels. I do think at some point we need to get there. I would like to give Mayor Broder and his administration

▶ 1:26:36 Shawn M. MacMaster: an opportunity to see if we can address that through a policy change. Not quite sure that needs to be legislated. We'll see how perhaps different pickup times and schedules could potentially change, whether or not the administration is amenable after that. If this continues to be a problem on Main Street and some of our other main roadways that we might look to purchase alternative barrels well with covers, but I think for the purposes of addressing the concerns that both councilors work out and I have that we should begin with focusing on Residents and the barrels that they put out on the curbside and work collaboratively on a parallel track with the administration to see if we can address the concerns about

▶ 1:27:34 Manisha Bewtra: barrels and overflowing trash on Main Street and other main roads. So I think that's all I have at this point. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Councillor. Any members of the committee? Councillor Bewtra. Thank you. City Council Abutra thank you I wanted to the one of my concerns is the under NMC the size of the container being no larger than 35 gallons so this afternoon I kind of think part of Grove Street had trash day today and then also took a look at the size of our own trash barrels at my home. A couple years ago we purchased 48 gallon trash barrels, which have wheels and they have a hinged lid, which have been very convenient to use. While I can, I mean, in terms of what any one household

▶ 1:28:37 Manisha Bewtra: might produce from one week to the next, 35 gallons would probably likely more than cover it, maybe with the exception of Thanksgiving or whatever holiday might be coming up. The 48 gallon barrels are, or even 50 gallons, I was kind of looking, forgive me neighbors for peering on the lids of your trash barrels, but I even believe I saw one that said a 50 gallon barrel. And I don't believe that those are very uncommon in Melrose. So I think that's one of the concerns I have at this point I understand and appreciate the intent of the order my concern is one these are can be pretty pricey to replace on not to mention wasteful for folks who already have a barrel in place furthermore if we do decide to move

▶ 1:29:36 Manisha Bewtra: forward with this I I would love to hear from the administration and kind of get better sense on timeline for how long something like this would take effect how it might affect folks with whatever existing barrels they may have that kind of thing and just sort of incidentally when i was earlier today trying to wrap my head around what a 35 gallon barrel would look like i um i did a web search and discovered that in other parts of the country um which i mean i know we are working on trying to reduce waste so i'm not necessarily advocating for larger larger barrels um here but but that other communities in other parts of the country do have programs like right size your your can and and it's the

▶ 1:30:31 Manisha Bewtra: minimum the smallest one is either 35 or 48 depending on the community and then they go up to like 96 gallons so um that was one of the things that pops out at me at this point um i understand uh why some of the edits were made although i think the watertight and having a cover were some of the things that made it uh stronger from the standpoint of rodent control but i also understand you know we're trying to find a a happy medium here um so that's my main concern at this point thank you thank you councilman any other comments councillor president i'm sorry president forbes thank you um i definitely appreciate the changes that were made to the order uh i i think i'm kind of in in lockstep here with uh with councillor

▶ 1:31:26 Scott M. Forbes: butrer about the size of the barrel then you're gonna get a lot of i don't say pushback but there'll be a little bit of resistance to the fact that i know that i have a 50 gallon barrel with a with a lid so if i end up getting a barrel and swap it out it may actually not be as good a quality as a of a product to keep rodents out that'd be the only thing that i can consider this everything else i i agree with the changes um i'm not sure if we're going to be at that point where we we have a vote on this this evening or not but i would be more in favor of increasing the size of the barrel i'm not sure if that's something that through the chair not something that would be something you'd be willing to entertain uh this evening or not but uh we can

▶ 1:32:05 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: have that discussion thank you thank you council of brigade thank you chair wright i just um i'm not a voting member of this body but i did want to just thank both of the sponsors for bringing this forward and the extra work that you put into it the research is really helpful so i'm really grateful to you for adding that to the record for us to hear about and i understand the changes that you've made or to try to hit the right balance um and you know while i think it's true that some of the um changes might um you know make it make the requirements a little less effective for rodents i still think they make it there's some way to address it there and it also does go to hold just the litter and the the quality of life point that you made because i think having things in a

▶ 1:32:50 Michael P. Zwirko: a receptacle as um you know assist with like wind issues and things getting strewn around during the um the week or at trash pickup day so those um i think that there's still value in this any other counselors for the first time councilor zorkov thank you mr chairman so um i just wanted to explain it and greatly appreciate the feedback you know not only the first time but also tonight on this I really enjoyed this is actually the stuff I like the most is working through these orders and trying to find a way to to make it happen but also still have some teeth and still be effective and I will also add that in the last two years I have learned way more about trash than I ever thought that I would learn about in this role and I found that I like trash don't

▶ 1:33:43 Michael P. Zwirko: quote that so the the reason for the 35 gallons just to give some perspective really was to try to hope in the whole you know zero wastes you know if you make a it's like roads right if you make more roads more people drive right so it's you know by having a smaller barrel hopefully we could also impact that but I hear you sometimes we have you know a really nasty fall and people like big trash cans to hold more you know yard waste and in the like I don't want people really the spirit of this is mainly quality of life and in rodent mitigation right so I don't want people to have to go home flip over their trash can and say geez I've got a 48 gallon trash can and now I'm in violation of this order I mean that's not really the spirit so if I have to amend to make it

▶ 1:34:31 Michael P. Zwirko: that's no larger than 51 gallons I'm happy to do so obviously hopeful with the spirit of all the work that's occurring in the community with trash reduction that it doesn't have to be 50 gallons you could have a smaller one right so so I understand that I will also say that it's obviously helpful that it be covered but it just seems so simple to me the trash be in a container and when I see on a trash day that trash isn't in a container I just I get so frustrated because it just you're just seeing bags of trash on the ground so if it doesn't have a cover that's okay I agree that it won't be as effective as a mitigator to the the road rodent populations but certainly it's going to be a deterrent which right now we don't even have that then the the final thing

▶ 1:35:24 Michael P. Zwirko: I will say is you know this this ordinance really came to be during a a transition of a DPW director so feedback from the city was scant if if at all and I think that now with these changes I think if we were to amend this order further and request that we receive some feedback not only from our interim director but also the new administration that wouldn't be a detriment to the hopeful future passage of this and I'm happy to even work further on this but I think right now it's it's it's it's in a really good spot that at least gets us over where we want to be which is just put your trash in a container for a whole host of reasons I will also add in this this isn't in this ordinance but it's just something to think about going forward

▶ 1:36:14 Michael P. Zwirko: which I thought was really pragmatic on a lot of the communities that I researched was that in terms of a penalty if you don't recycle they don't pick up your trash some communities and I fail to say that I don't know if we do that here in Melrose but it's a really good belt and suspender approach right and I would also add that in addition to you know a fine structure if your trash isn't in a container maybe we don't pick it up that's one way to help police the problem because you know we when we went through some improving of recycling practices here in the community we did some this is at the time when we had a recycling coordinator we did some recycling audits and those proved very very effective and we could do the same here so I just just wanted to put that

▶ 1:37:00 Michael P. Zwirko: out there I have spoken this is my second time and so at this time I would like to just move to amend the ordinance what I would like to do is I would like to move to amend it as proposed which was written although I'm making one small change which is I'm striking 35 gallons and making it 51 so what is before you are proposed amendments to section C D and E as we've discussed this evening so I would move that we further amend the order as outlined second the motion to amend the order has set forth by councilors work I was seconded by president forbes all members of the committee in favor of this amendment say aye aye opposed you guys have it the order is so amended on the order as amended is there any more

▶ 1:37:53 discussion thank you mr chairman i was just going to state at this time because i would like to have some feedback on this ordinance before we move forward i would just ask or move rather that this order to be held in committee councilor Zwirko has moved that we hold this matter in committee to allow the administration and the dpw um to further comment on it all in favor aye aye opposed the item will be held in committee no other items on the agenda for the legal and legislative committee do we have a motion to adjourn so moved motion to adjourn all in favor the appropriations committee is back online and we are moving forward with our agenda items so first up we have order number 2020-41 police fiscal year

Legal & Legislative Committee — 2019-11-25

Attendance

Agenda

Minutes

Transcript

Original documents