Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2020-03-23

Appropriations and Oversight Remote meeting

This meeting starts at 0:00 in a recording that covers several meetings.

Attendance

Christopher Cinella late, 8:06 PM · Chair; Jack Eccles remote · Voting; Mark Garipay remote · Voting; Jen Grigoraitis remote · President, ex oficio; Maya Jamaleddine remote · Voting; Shawn M. MacMaster remote · Voting; Jeff McNaught remote · Voting; Leila Migliorelli remote · Vice Chair; Robb Stewart remote · Voting; Cory Thomas remote · Voting; John N. Tramontozzi remote · Voting

Agenda

Minutes

CITY OF MELROSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE CALENDAR● MARCH 23, 2020 Web-based remote meeting Remote meeting 7:30 PM , 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 Christopher Cinella Chair Late 8:06 PM Leila Migliorelli Vice Chair Remote John N. Tramontozzi Voting Remote Shawn M. MacMaster Voting Remote Jeff McNaught Voting Remote Jack Eccles Voting Remote Mark Garipay Voting Remote Robb Stewart Voting Remote Cory Thomas Voting Remote Maya Jamaleddine Voting Remote Jen Grigoraitis President, ex oficio Remote

ORDER-2020-69 Bond Authorizing a Bond in the Amount of $2,311,205 for building repairs to Memorial Hall. Hold City Council

ORDER-2020-70 A Appropriation An Appropriation from Free cash (account 01-324001) and Capital Stabilization (account 84052-590000)in the amount totaling $984,925. to various capital accounts as set forth herein. Recommend as Amended City Council

(ID # 7944) Appropriation An Appropriation in the amount of $574,000 from Free cash (account 01- 324001) to various capital accounts as set forth herein. Hold City Council

ORDER-2020-71 Appropriation An Appropriation in the amount of $50,160 from Free Cash (account 01- 324001) to various accounts as set forth herein. Recommend as Amended City Council City of Melrose Page 1 Updated 3/31/2020 12:17 PM Minutes Appropriations Committee March 23, 2020

ORDER-2020-74 Grant Acceptance of a Seventy Thousand Dollar Grant from the Executive Office of Housing & Economic Development Mass Marketing Partnerships/Office of Travel & Tourism Program for Wayfinding and Creative Placemaking Recommend Passage City Council City of Melrose Page 2 Updated 3/31/2020 12:17 PM

Transcript

▶ 0:00 Leila Migliorelli: If you could raise your, physically raise your hand, if you'd like to speak, I will be keeping cue and Vice-Chair Migliorelli will hand you the floor. Lila, if you'd like to make opening statement. Okay. Good evening. The time is 7.53 p.m. and this is a meeting of the Appropriations Committee. I'm Counselor Lila Migliorelli, Vice-Chair. joining me are um councillor thomas councillor eccles councillor mcnaught councillor madam president Grigoraitis councillor Tramontozzi councillor Garipay councillor Jamaleddine councillor stewart and councillor mcmaster um pursuant to governor baker's march 12 2020 order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law and um in the governor's march 15 2020 order imposing strict limitation on the number of people that may gather in one place

▶ 0:59 Leila Migliorelli: this is the meeting of the city council appropriations committee that will be conducted via remote participation to the greatest extent possible we will post an audio or video recording transcript or other comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the city of melrose website and local cable access government channels mmtv as always public input on matters before the city council is always welcome and can continue to be submitted via email to city council at city of melrose.org as roll calls get taken we will do every bill is going to be roll call and i will call your name as directed by vice chair Migliorelli okay so we'll start with order um 2020-69 authorizing a bond in the amount of two million

▶ 1:45 Leila Migliorelli: three hundred and eleven thousand two hundred and five for building repairs to memorial hall vice chair before that could we have a motion for public comment all right yeah motion for public comment to suspend the rule 29 rule yeah so suspend the rule 29a counselor thomas motion by counselor thomas second by counselor Grigoraitis follow the role counselor all in favor counselor eccles yes counselor mcnaught yes Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councilor Garipay? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Councilor McMaster? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. President Grigoraitis? All in favor. Any opposed? I'll take the roll. Councilor Thomas? Oh no, we're fine. Thank you, sorry. Moving along to orders. order dash 20 dash 2020 dash 69 authorizing a bond in the amount of two

▶ 3:07 million three hundred eleven thousand two hundred five four building repairs from Memorial Hall president Grigoraitis I turn to you madam chair pursuant to the March 18th memo submitted by mayor Broder chair Sinella and myself to the council regarding priority orders during the current global pandemic I am making motion to hold this order in committee i second uh motion to hold in committee made by councillor Grigoraitis seconded by councillor Jamaleddine on discussion is there any counselor yes uh can we make uh sure that uh the um letter from the mayor dated march 18th is uh in the record yes the um letter dated uh march 18th will be added to the record we have a motion and second for that please

▶ 4:08 i make that motion but we don't we need to finish with the motion that's currently for us don't we we have already have a motion correct we have a motion made by the president correct so with that we have to vote on that before we can hear consular Garipay's motion correct i withdraw i withdraw okay so there's a motion on the table for to uh table this uh from councillor Grigoraitis second by councillor Jamaleddine all in favor roll call vote right do i call the role councillor thomas yes councillor eccles yes councillor mcnaught yes Yes. Councilor, President Grigoraitis? Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councilor Garipay? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Yes. Okay. So motion passes.

▶ 5:12 Councilor Garipay adding the add to file? Yes. I'd like to make sure we add the add to file. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. uh make sure we add that uh email from the uh mayor dated march 18th uh put into the record second a motion to add into record uh made by councillor Garipay seconded by councillor mcmaster all in favor aye any opposed councillor thomas yes councillor eccles councillor mcnaught councillor Tramontozzi Yes. Yes. Councilor Garipay? Yes. Councilor Saladin? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. President Grigoraitis? Yes. That passes. Okay, so next up is Order 2020-70, an appropriation in the amount of $1,308,925

▶ 6:50 Mark Garipay: three hundred and eight thousand nine hundred and twenty five from free cash account number zero one dash three twenty four zero zero one and two hundred fifty thousand from the capital stabilization account eight four zero five two dash five nine zero zero zero zero to various capital accounts is set forth here in. Councilor Garipay? Yes, in light of everything that has transpired over the last couple of weeks, I'd like to make a motion that we hold this in committee. I think it's the prudent thing to do at this time, especially with what we're experiencing economically. There are a number of items on this order. And if this order does fail by any chance, They will not be able to be, they will not be able to come forward in front of the board for another 6 months. I would prefer prefer this not to happen.

▶ 7:47 Mark Garipay: I do not want this to be taken that I do not support public safety. That is the farthest thing from the truth. But by holding this order in committee, it also gives us more time. to hear from the administration on where they think we'll stand financially in the next few weeks so they put that you know like the motion is to keep this in committee second that for at least the purposes of discussion okay councillor Garipay pay motions to hold this in committee seconded by councillor McMaster? We would need a call vote. On discussion. On discussion? On discussion. Are we, Kristin, are you doing a roll call for the, for discussion? If it's on to people. Dr. Girgiridis? Just just because of the complexity of the format we're doing this in, do we have any

▶ 9:00 members of the administration who are quote unquote here virtually to speak tonight on behalf of any of the items in this in this order I know it's hard for us to know if they're in attendance but I would want to make sure we also have an opportunity to hear from them is the clerk of committees no if anyone's here councillor Grigoraitis it's the city clerk yes there are attendees in waiting to speak including Elena Proekes Ellis Rick Stinson on most of these orders and also chief Kalina from the fire department thank you I think we're on suspension of rules so can we hear from chief Galala we motion to suspend the rules and the rules I'll entertain a motion to suspend the rules we have a motion on the table that's on discussion can we not discuss that the rules are

▶ 10:15 suspended can i can i remove that motion uh for the purpose of uh letting the um administration so i'll withdraw the second which second which one are the motion i'm withdrawing the motion and counseling second so all right now we uh we got a motion to suspend the rules to hear from the administration yes there's a second by uh councilor thomas i'll call the roll councilor eccles councilor Garipay yes councilor mcnaught yes yes all right chair Migliorelli yes ramantosi yes Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Jamaleddine? Yes. Councillor McMaster? Yes. Councillor Grigoraitis? Yes. Suspension of rules passes. We have, we're suspended, the rules are suspended, we, I can't visually see who's here to speak

▶ 11:47 first. Is Chief Polina online to be able to speak? Yes. Can you hear me? yes all right can you see me I just hear me I can just hear you okay can I interrupt for one moment um a city uh this foot if you switch him to panelist if you click on the attendee list you can transfer him to panelists and then you'll be able to see him at least now he's a square we can hear you chief but we can't see you but that's okay okay I can appreciate this these trying times that we're in right now but i have a prepared statement that i'd like to read into into the record as best but uh again ahmed kalina fire chief of the city uh respectfully request the adoption of water before you for the purchase of a new fire engine uh also known as a fire

▶ 13:12 pumper truck for the fire department cannot emphasize enough um importance of purchasing a vital piece of fire equipment as i've previously stated our fleet is aging it's tired and unreliable and we've frequently experienced delays in our responses due to mechanical issues our vehicle repair over the years has increased significantly our oldest engine is now over 20 years old the national fire protection agency known as the nfpa standard states their vehicles This old should be mothballed, i.e. retired. Recently, this engine pumper failed its pump test, and it cannot perform at its rated pumping capacity. With the purchase of a new pumper, I would move the 07 pumper truck, currently located at the Tremont Street Fire Station, into the spare apparatus category and place a new pumper.

▶ 14:17 engine to station which is the tremont street we would then retire the 1999 pumper truck which is now over 20 years old a pumper is critical piece of a fire equipment it's used to pump water from the trucks on board water tank through hose lines and into structures to attack and extinguish fires is also carry large amounts of hose used for water supply from the fire hydrants in the streets to other fire engines other equipment carried ground ladders medical equipment biohazard equipment and most important the personnel who executes their duties most most of the times in hostile environments and i guarantee the safety of the public and the firefighters if the city doesn't provide us with equipment to achieve our goals my professional opinion this pumper is essential to public safety

▶ 15:21 John N. Tramontozzi: that is why the city's cip committee ranked the pumper high on their list of priorities i respectfully request and we appreciate your consideration of support for this order thank you any questions vice chair Migliorelli i have three people in queue uh yes so Tramontozzi was first Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes, thank you. Thank you, Chief Colina, for coming in. Just to give a little background information on the benefit of the public as well as the counselors. Beginning in June of 2019, the fiscal year 20 capital improvement program committee was established by the mayor to review the city's capital improvement projects i was the city council representative at the time and also members of that committee included members of the administration jimmy scafie the auditor

▶ 16:33 John N. Tramontozzi: at delarusso the treasurer at flavin public works director rick stinson martha grover uh school committee member ed o'connor and a community representative lisa lewis uh it was up our goal and the purpose of the committee to evaluate the administration's capital improvements and i need to mention this because we looked at the city's needs for the future and rated them uh in terms of priority of uh of needs and uh the we grouped them in group a b c d and e starting a's urgent high priority projects down to e which was very low priority the the equipment the fire equipment and that's in this order were all part of the group a a category a group a being urgent high priority projects that should be done if at all possible

▶ 17:34 John N. Tramontozzi: a special effort should be made to find sufficient funding for all the projects in this group so um i just want to just bring to the attention of the the council that uh the pumper as well as as the other fire equipment and the front fight at the floor of the of the station we're all classified by our committee as a group a urgent high priority needs now obviously this was before now coronavirus over at 19 situation and I would leave that to the vote of the council whether or not we can put behind us these urgent high priority projects i would ask the chief how urgent is the need for this particular vehicle thank you council the um the apparatus once we execute um contract it would go um into manufacturing phase and it would take a pumper truck about

▶ 18:44 12 months to 14 months to manufacture so anything that we do now or delay it's just it's just going to take that much longer about a year maybe a little bit more before we take delivery of that apparatus is the public at risk if we delay the uh the appropriation of this monies the public's at risk anytime our apparatus doesn't start uh fails to move forward being able to pump at its capacity these are the challenges that we have right now not exclusive to one piece of apparatus an aging fleet purchase of this pumper would be the start of placing thank you i appreciate it i'll defer to other members who might have some questions really counselor mcmaster was next counselor mcmaster hey madam

▶ 19:52 Shawn M. MacMaster: chair good evening thank you for being here chief um can you talk a little bit about the uh costs that uh we've accrued last few years relative to our apparatus and let me back up for a minute and i just want to make sure that i understand um the plan for this vehicle correctly So if I understand it correctly, what will happen is if we approve this appropriation and this goes out to bid, the engine is customized for our needs, it will replace – what will happen is engine four will go out of service, and engine two will replace engine four, and the new vehicle will replace engine two. Do I have that correct? you do have that correct yes okay so with respect to engine two can you talk a little bit about the costs that we've incurred over the last few years how

▶ 20:56 Shawn M. MacMaster: however far back you can go so we get a sense as to how much we're putting into engine two currently yeah so yeah we'll put in a hundred hundred thousand dollars give or take hundred dollars for engine tools specifically for the last three fiscal years and do you have a sense can you break that down a little bit so we have an idea of what that looks like on an annual basis are we seeing more costs over from one year to the next and I assume some of that's going to depend on the nature of the repair it depends on the nature of the repair but I'm sorry to interrupt madam chair I just given the time it's 8 14 p.m. and per our rules we need to gavel into the full council meeting by 815 I'd like to make

▶ 21:57 a motion to recess this and come back to it to recess made by councillor Grigoraitis seconded by councillor Thomas call them councillor Eccles yes McNaught yes chair Cinella yes councillor Migliorelli yes councillor Jamala Dean councillor Garipay yes councillor Tramontozzi Stewart yes master one more time yes all in favor the appropriations committee is committee is now been in recess stay tuned for the full council be tuned for the full council okay we just we just go right into it email handholds privileges over to you sure Amy are you all set second yeah I'm I'm just waiting to get host privileges. Okay, also just for the record, and obviously we'll acknowledge it during the roll, but Councilor Cinella is now present as well.

▶ 28:26 Shawn M. MacMaster: discussion with uh chancellor mcmaster was on with uh chief kalina still have the chief okay thank you chief you were talking a little bit about the uh the cost that we've incurred over the last uh three years i think you said is about a hundred thousand dollars are you able to break that down for each of those three years so we get a sense of what the costs have been for each consecutive year yes in um year 18 we spent 13 226 dollars for Engine 2, the 2007 Seagrave. In fiscal year 19, we spent $65,779 for the 2007 Seagrave. And to date, this fiscal year, we spent $20,046. always so between last year and this year we've already or i'm sorry between 2018 and 2019 we increased our vehicle maintenance for that particular apparatus by 52 000 approximately is

▶ 29:46 Shawn M. MacMaster: that correct that would be correct yes and at this point in the fiscal year we've spent over 20 000 correct and how about engine four chief do you have how much we've spent over the last three years for that particular apparatus on those uh three same three fiscal years in 18 we spent 879 dollars um for engine four and in this way in 19 we spent 99 2027 and in fiscal year 20 to date we spent ten thousand eight hundred and forty nine dollars i'm not sure if i caught all that was that about twenty one thousand dollars that would be uh that would be correct so over a hundred and twenty thousand dollars about a hundred and twenty one thousand for engine two and engine four over the last three years which this particular purchase would look to look to address that's

▶ 30:53 Shawn M. MacMaster: correct because again engine engine four will go out of service engine two will replace engine four and the new vehicle would replace uh the um what would take over for engine two yeah that would take on the workload of the uh okay chief you talked a little bit earlier and i'm not sure if i caught it all about the nature of the calls that uh engine two uh typically um goes out on each day beyond the the fire related calls and when I say fire meaning responding to a fire you talk about some of the specifics that you know you might see this new vehicle in potentially replacing engine to be dispatched on so the running assignments would still be the same run on all medical aid falls in that district law but in districts that company was busy

▶ 31:51 Shawn M. MacMaster: uh would also provide mutual aid but um we provide all service of different types of services hazmat right now currently under the situation we're in every every medical aid is considered like a biohazard so there's extra equipment on our apparatus now if needed that we would have to gown up we have to take extra precautions so we don't put our crews in risk Chief, I think it's important for the public to understand, for a medical call, whether it's a person down, a senior citizen suffering some sort of a medical emergency, overdose, whatever it might be, what is the reason that an engine or a ladder truck would respond in addition to the ambulance? Just so folks have an understanding of not just the nature

▶ 32:51 of the call, but why we would be dispatching an additional piece of equipment. That's a great question. So the fire stations are spread out throughout the city. So it's all about time, response time. And so we do have one in-service ambulance coming from centers headquarters center house right here in the city response time is critical to the survivability of someone having a cardiac event certainly an overdose so all our apparatus have first in bags they have pretty much all the equipment minus the gloves that are on the ambulance we have defibrillators we have a lupus device with automatic cardiac compression machine we have not can we have all the other stuff plus all our members all but four members of the

▶ 33:52 Shawn M. MacMaster: emt level frame for the higher tremendous amount of qualified staff that's why we would send out our engine company or ladder company through medical aid more hands there to do lifting more hands here to carry the equipment needed for medical aid to and from the apparatus so that that once the medics are on scene, they can totally focus on patient care, not have to worry about running back to get equipment so that we don't leave it at the house. And Chief, you'll recall, and I think I referenced this when you came before us last, but the last two budget cycles, when you appeared before the Appropriations Committee, I asked you about the vehicle maintenance line item. and last year it was 36 and a half percent.

▶ 34:46 Shawn M. MacMaster: I believe it was a similar amount the year prior. As you're preparing for budget season, do you expect that number to go down at all or do you expect it to be leveled or increased in light of the issues that we've been continuing to experience with our apparatus? I expect it to be the same, if not more, again the equipment is aging and it's hard to pinpoint exactly what the problem will be next it seems like every other day there's a problem with one of the apparatus uh i had a tube just last week uh down on potomac street a hydraulic line because of a hazardous material That apparatus, we were able to get it back to headquarters here, but it was still leaking product, so we had to contain that, and once it dripped down dry, we were able to take

▶ 35:49 it to the repair shop, where our first new ladder truck was up, so Monroe's had no ladder truck for almost eight hours of that day, until we were able to get ladder 2 fixed. That call that that Ladder 2 responded to was for a downed line, correct? And it happened to be in my ward, correct? Yeah, I believe it was in Ward 5. It was a dangling wire and it was in the street causing a, it couldn't cause a hazard, it wasn't an electrical wire, and what we decided to do to mitigate that hazard was to raise the boom of the aerial and we were going to go up and just snip the wire. it appeared to be a uh a line that wasn't being used anymore by one of the cable companies so chief if that was a if that was a call though not for a down wire but a fire or a medical emergency

▶ 36:44 Shawn M. MacMaster: what what would we have done in that scenario it was dead once you lose your hydraulics you can't move the step it all works on hydraulics if that was a house fire not only would we have the hydraulic oil spill which creates a slippery environment but we would have a ladder truck right in front of the house where we need it in October. That ladder truck is 25 years old. I just have one more question so I can let my colleagues ask any questions they have. So you said that we're likely to see the same amount as a line item for vehicle maintenance in the budget that will come before us in the next few weeks I think what I want you to reflect on just for the purposes of our new counselors is that's your best estimate correct because last year due to similar

▶ 37:39 issues with the apparatus you had to come before us and ask for I believe $100,000 on top of what was already allocated in in addition to that particular vehicle line item vehicle maintenance line item correct that's correct I think that's all I have no madam chair thank you Thank You councillor McMaster um I believe the mayor is with us today to answer some questions if we would like to have him speak on these orders if a Pullman may Mayor Broder, one second. You are becoming a panelist. Mayor Broder, can you hear us? Mayor Broder, can you hear us? You've been brought in as a panelist. Any other suggestions? I don't see a video or audio feed. Mayor Broder, can you hear us? We can't hear him.

▶ 39:06 We're losing, we don't have your audio. We can't hear you. Mayor Broder, can you go up to the top of your screen and look at the menu that says communicate and check your audio connection? right now it looks like your phone was on and but he was muted and then he did something to turn it off let me try one more you guys hear me yes all right we shut this down good evening everybody can you no longer hear me we can hear you mayor yeah okay thank you I very much appreciate the time you're taking in the unusual circumstances that we find ourselves with due to COVID and some of the restrictions. I very much appreciate you all setting up this kind of format so we can continue to do business as best we can. Regarding the free cash order, I know that the CFO, Patrick

▶ 40:41 Paul Brodeur: De La Russo, has taken time to discuss the order with folks. I hope as much as they felt like they needed to I know from talking to him he spent a lot of time so I just to put a little bit of a finer point on it recognizing that you are going to be hearing from other folks from within the administration about the particulars of each item but in regard to the financial position of the city as you know this this order was originally a bit larger and there are some things that would really help the city that we've taken off that was taken off the list that the things that are before you tonight the five items on the order I respectfully suggest are critical items to the immediate needs of the city and will

▶ 41:35 Paul Brodeur: have to be done essentially no matter what that I mean we absolutely need a new truck we absolutely need the breathing apparatus that is in the order the library elevator is completely not functioning while the library is closed right now the library cannot reopen or should not reopen I should say if we're going to make sure there's access for everyone without that elevator being repaired the station floor is condemned that that work needs to go on as soon as possible to make sure that the station is as safe as we can manage under these circumstances and finally the the road work that that is mentioned the Lebanon street work is money that is designed to tap into matching funds that are now available the the

▶ 42:40 Paul Brodeur: future of the city i've sent y'all a some information in response to some terrific questions about our financial situation from council of mcmaster what the good news is this such as it is, is that the federal government, as you know, while struggling through some partisan problems, is in the midst of building a $2 trillion aid package or stimulus package that will include, by most estimates, somewhere around $250 billion for cities and towns. In conversations with our federal delegation, both Congressman Clark and Senators Warren, and Markey. While the details are still a little bit up in the air, there was consensus around the idea that unusual personnel costs around public safety, so DBW, police and fire, would be at the

▶ 43:44 Paul Brodeur: top of the list as compensable things for cities and towns. So while I respect and appreciate what we're all trying to do in terms of making sure in these uncertain times that the money is there um i do think we have pared this order down to our most critical needs in particular with respect to um the fire apparatus chief kalina is in the midst of doing a terrific job about that um but the fact of the matter is it will be one year roughly in chief please correct me from the time we approve funding, meaning we can commit to a contract, before we will get that truck. He can tell you all kinds of things about, as he has been, about the problems with the fleet. One thing that wasn't mentioned, but is in the capital information, the CIP plan, is that the

▶ 44:40 Paul Brodeur: pieces are designed to have a 10 to 12-year operating life. I believe there's a frontline apparatus it though the pumper we're talking about was purchased in 2007 it is now 2000 2020 and obviously we won't take be taking delivery until sometime in 2021 so to the extent it you you you find it within your wisdom to appropriate the funds for that truck I think it'll serve the city well thank Thank you, Mayor Broder and Councilman, we do have a couple of people in queue. Yes. Councilor Stewart was next. Yes. Councilor Stewart. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Chief Kalina and Mayor Broder. Thank you for attending tonight. Just want to give you a couple of opportunities to address some of the concerns

▶ 45:41 Robb Stewart: that we've heard as counsel and maybe clarify how the money being appropriated differs from some of the staffing that's going on to secure your force out in the field. Some of the concerns that have expressed was if we buy a truck, it may, and there's a significant downturn because of the pandemic that it could impact potentially uh some of the staff on in your fire department chief kalina so i'd like to give you an opportunity to address that the apparatus as you know is expensive and it's uh it's not going to get any less expensive the longer we delay purchasing the new you can expect the cost to increase approximately four percent every year as far as the manning of the fight apartment we've been clean for many many years

▶ 46:51 Robb Stewart: there is no uh really meat on the bone we're almost down everybody works hard and it's almost a one-to-one replacement uh when someone's out on vacation Thank you. Thank you. You broke up toward the end there, but just just that's okay. Just to clarify, though, do you anticipate potential for losing additional staff because of the expenditures on this fire apparatus given that there's also potential concern for the budget based on unforeseen challenges that we have with this crisis ahead of us. Okay, thank you. Also, and I know that Council McMaster touched on this a little bit, but I'm interested in understanding what your contingency plan is today for the current fire truck when it does go out of service and what that looks like, how that impacts you and what again describe that contingency plan.

▶ 48:11 if you could so we have um i've got the ladders going up now um we have one spare pumper the pumper is the 1999 pumper that we uh we're talking about so if engine two or engine three even goes out just for preventive maintenance going all day so my plan is to remove the spare pumper in place because when the spare pumper was gone for a month this past summer well just like i said the other day earlier that both laptops don't have a third ladder but we need a third we have staff and we need to put them on apparatus our apparatus just it's becoming more a chronic problem that we have a multiple issue that's not going to change thank you chief cleaner that's all I have manager my shim really next in queue

▶ 49:23 Christopher Cinella: was a chair Sunilla thank you madam vice chair for running this meeting due to my technical difficulties I'm sure council garrick they won't let me live this one down but more personally I want to go on record let the public know and maybe you can speak to this but engine 3 and engine 2 most recently engine 3 had windshield wiper issues is that correct about month or two ago that's correct on engine 3 and engine that engine was gone for about four months basically they were putting rain acts on the windshield so they could get that fixed that's correct we had troubles getting them all from the we essentially had a fire engine going out on call with no windshield wipers using rain X okay and

▶ 50:28 Christopher Cinella: then that that to me is unacceptable the second question I have is is it true engine 3 over the summer it was a fire and they couldn't get the air compressors going while there was smoke in the air and people were coming up to fire station to say that there was a fire around the corner and they had to wait to get the system to compress to get going that's correct the uh the transmission of warning reagents is live that's the air pressure uh rises kind of fading out did you just repeat that yeah yeah so the the apparatus uh needs to build to 120 pounds of pressure um so that it can release the air brakes that hold the But we weren't engaged, we weren't able to drive the house fire on the forestry, caused a little bit of a delay.

▶ 51:29 Christopher Cinella: And that's the same, that's the same engine with the, the windshield wiper issue? That's correct. Okay, so it, so it has trouble starting or getting going. And we drove it around for a while, essentially, because, so, you know, we can, we can delay this all we want. But we need this now. I know a 30-day, 60-day, 90-day, whatever, you know, I know that we had some folks in the community that reached out to meet them, but we need this piece of equipment. It's clear. That's all I wanted to say. Thank you. Vice Chair, Councilor Jamaleddine is next. Councilor Jamaleddine. Good evening, Chief, and thank you for being with us tonight. knowing the challenges that our community community is facing would you find this

▶ 52:29 Maya Jamaleddine: purchase do you think that this purchase can wait I know it's very important to have this engine and I know it is to serve to better serve this community and you know help in and you know help them during a dangerous time or moment but do you think that this engine knowing that our community doesn't know what we're heading to and how we what might we use this money for do you think that the purchase can wait thank you great question I can be sympathetic to the need what greater need is here day and night 7 in a 65 days you know we're the only department in the city never close the schools prices prices like we have right now who are you going to call the fire department we're here to help you and all and

▶ 53:41 Maya Jamaleddine: we need the tools to be able to do that it's a fire apparatus absolutely so we our community would be is depending on you on the fire department to help them uh if we are in any you know uh crisis or uh critical time um however if how long it's gonna take to uh till we receive this engine uh like we said earlier it takes about 12 to 14 months 14 months so so hopefully hopefully we don't know when this crisis is gonna end but do you think that we can you know if something happened within this 14 months do you think that the fire this engine can serve or the fire department can serve uh based on the chronic problems yes it can serve but uh can i guarantee timely response times Okay, thank you. Councillor Garipay was next in queue. Councillor Garipay.

▶ 54:59 Mark Garipay: Thanks, Chief, for being here. Quick question. We were talking about 12 to 14 months for delivery. If we were to hold off on this 30, 60 days, I know it's an unknown, but what you think it'll do for delivery I mean what he heard from the manufacturers have you been in touch with them in the last week to see not in the last week but once you go he was telling me three hundred and three working the shots are locked down they can have the radars to make an apparatus okay in my day job it's kind of similar I'm in the leasing business with that said in these tough economies there's a possibility that people will withdraw orders also I would assume I've been getting it all week and that could also speed up delivery if we

▶ 56:08 Mark Garipay: were on production on a vehicle also correct we wouldn't do that take to say that that could also happen people can withdraw orders in the pipeline and we can move up on the list even if we waited 30 or 60 days that's also a possibility all that would be a possibility one way or the other okay and and if we were to wait 30 or 60 days the economy takes into a hope hope doesn't happen but a recession is a possibility is it a possibility that the cost of the engine we have now could be a little lower? Are they willing to maybe if the cost does come down adjust the price accordingly? I've been on for 35 years and I've seen economies go up and down. I'm sorry? You could be a guess at the apparatus.

▶ 57:11 Mark Garipay: When you were talking about the maintenance cost, you know it was 30 like 30,000 over the 30,000 a year averaging or 30,000 over three years on the engine two years yeah how much of that is is the routine maintenance compared to heavy maintenance meaning engine work transmission you know there is a difference if you're doing the heavy work there's life on that and it's not that I think this thing's this units going to last three more years I'm just wondering if if a lot of heavy work was done on that would that buy us that extra two two or three months to be able to potentially push this purchase off a little bit as far as preventive maintenance at least in the last 18 months we've increased our vehicle

▶ 58:05 Mark Garipay: renovations maybe about 3,000 dollars of that one specific pieces so 3 000 of it was it was just preventive right that's what i heard so so some of the other heavier repairs were completed um that means the uh you don't want to extend the life of the vehicle but we've already already been invested the engine wise so in theory um that may be able to last a couple extra months um not saying in a couple years by no means but we've already invested a lot of money into say engine work uh transmission whatever that may be um that's correct we have invested into a substantial amount of money engine two is not the one that i'm trying to get rid of i'm trying to do it into reserve so that we can have it for the next seven years one year one year engine needs to be retired

▶ 59:14 Mark Garipay: chief your audio is having some issues yeah i can't i can't hear him let me know you're coming in now so the engine that we're replacing the pumper what's the uh what was the maintenance cost on that over the last few years the last few years um is that twenty one thousand dollars twenty one thousand and um any idea on how much of that was um heavy maintenance engine transmission work that you know there's certain certain intervals you do you're replacing this the stuff's going to go anyways but um i'm just i'm just wondering if we can band-aid it we were talking 12 months you know if you know 14 months you know what i mean if with all the heavy work we've done well that band-aid at the extra two two three months we may be looking at and it could be

▶ 1:00:08 Mark Garipay: less if if uh if if we were able to get better slot dates for production um if people if people backed out so just wanted to get your opinion on that i don't know about the other comp other departments throughout the country back and out. This is probably where we have a critical need to outflow for these patients. As soon as we get the order in, as soon as we can deliver that, that's my position. With contingency plan, as Dr. Stewart mentioned, contingency plan, what's your contingency plan if one of these engines goes down for an extended period of time between now and the time we get our new new piece of equipment potential new piece of equipment oh we can't run have the spare and one of our main line my piece of those jobs and I was my metro

▶ 1:01:07 chiefs all in Boston I would request okay and that would be the same contingency plan whether it was 12 or 15 months before we got the new one right and one of our pieces before that um okay thank you i'm all set thank you vice chair counselor thomas was in queue counselor thomas hey first and foremost thank you very much for being here and thank you for the work that the melrose fire department the melrose police department is doing keeping us safe in this time of need um how long is engine four been a top priority class a replacement need people brian who retired in 2012 a uh plan to replace uh how many how many years has that been or he's been gone now eight years you know our last new pump was 2010. all right i i hate to play devil's advocate though um but you you have

▶ 1:02:26 Cory Thomas: been waiting for quite some time for this replacement um to echo some of the words that council garrett have been saying we've waited a number of years you know possibly waiting another month or two months um based on the you know the situation we're currently dealing with the public health crisis um that might be in line obviously it's a need uh we don't want to see the fire department go without apparatus that they need but because of the current health situation we're dealing with um it might be prudent to put this off for a few months So thank you for that information and thank you for all you guys do. No, I counselor. Thanks for being here. Um, most of my questions have already been answered. A lot of them sort of revolved around what's already been heard about, um.

▶ 1:03:26 Jack Eccles: The urgency and in the next 30 or 60 days and having a clear picture after all that. I just kind of a question, um, counselor, so now I brought up brought up the issue with the windshield wipers. the pressurization issue that's not one of the vehicles that were replacing right right okay that's that's engine 3 which is up at the common that was mostly Michael so so council demology and already brought this up but but the operational impact of response time which is obviously the most critical I'm talking about any first responder equipment 30 to 60 days could it cause an impact can you kind of talk about that or maybe what issues you've seen with some of your older equipment and how that can impact response time because that's obviously the most critical well

▶ 1:04:19 it may it may in fact it may not so what happens is if i'm unable to secure my apparatus we could go down so like last week the two ladder trucks closed we had no ladder truck and ladder trucks are hard to come by so we had to call more than to say on request could we get a ladder truck and so now instead of responding to nulls a lot of trucks and if they're on a call then our next in line for a ladder truck would be uh everett are you in everett i'm going to come here whenever it's on the highlands you know significant delays that's for a ladder truck engines are a little bit more um there were you get an engine from anywhere but again they would be responding from day to day but we've been having a little bit of issues here

▶ 1:05:21 and yeah i you cut out there for a sec give it up yeah when you might just repeat in that last part yeah so what i was saying is that the built-in delays any time uh our apparatus is tied up will account for the cannibal reasons which includes a weight field storm or even so i guess they're coming from their quarters because it's built in delays ours we it's a small city so we have uh excellent response times because the way the uh fire stations are laid out but anytime you rely on from usually community they don't have familiarity with the city or the neighborhood like we do small fire is a big fire cardiac arrest you got four to six minutes any other counselors councilman mcnaught thank you madam vice fair thank you chair i thank

▶ 1:06:43 Jeff McNaught: it's you for being here I don't really have any questions I think they've all been asked and answered but I do want to mention that we're asking if we can put band-aids on things and I know that we weren't talking about the specific truck that you're trying to replace but we are talking about putting a Rain-X on windshields of fire trucks in the city of Melrose we're already putting band-aids funding um this is a top five capital improvement project i think counselor mcmaster outlined or what it seemed to me was building a case that the repair costs for this vehicle were starting to bleed and it certainly doesn't uh make a lot of sense to me to wait a year because we're not really waiting a year or 12 or 14 months we're waiting 28 months

▶ 1:07:39 Jeff McNaught: Because if you wait a year, you're waiting an additional 12 to 14 months. So I just wanted to say, for the record, I think we're out of Band-Aids. This is just my personal feelings on the matter. I don't know if it's the last few days or what's been going on recently. I feel like all I hear is fire engines all day long. I appreciate all that you're doing. I don't know if that's a real statistic or not. chief maybe you can speak to it but um it could be what's going on in the world right now people are calling the fire department that much more i think that is the case um but i think we need to move on this uh at this time not making a motion for anything thank you thank you councillor mcnaught um i think all counselors have asked questions for the first time so

▶ 1:08:33 John N. Tramontozzi: So Councilor Tramontozzi has a second question, follow-up question. Yeah, I just got a couple of suggestions. First of all, we're talking about order 2020-70. And the original order had one, two, three, four, five, six, seven items. And apparently the mayor's March 18, 2020 memorandum we're reducing the request for this appropriation for one two three four five items is that correct so far we're reducing this this order to four items and i believe the um the elevator order is in a separate item okay yeah um do we have the the amounts for each of those items the four items listed in this order separately identified because great um whoever answered that could you just tell me what the uh what those amounts are

▶ 1:09:44 Leila Migliorelli: and because because yeah it's vice chair Migliorelli speaking i can give you i can run down the amounts if that's helpful for everyone yeah they are in the attachments but um given that we're going through some unusual circumstances i'd be happy to read them um so the the pumper is at seven hundred and sixty nine thousand nine hundred and twenty five thousand nine hundred and twenty five feet repairs on Lebanon are a hundred and twenty nine thousand the fire equipment I believe this is the breathing apparatus 110,000 and then the fire station floors a hundred and five thousand okay all that's in order 2020-70 okay and okay so what I'm gonna suggest is and we'll hear from the chief on the other fire apparatus item to the

▶ 1:10:46 John N. Tramontozzi: fire items the floor that you contain breathing apparatus and I think it might be appropriate to invoke rule 42 in motion to divide this order and we can vote on each individual line item separately as it seems to me that there may be some concerns about certain items on this rather than doing it all or nothing for the order and at the appropriate time and if now's are okay any I would make a motion to divide the order it would be the same order number but a b c d a can be the pumper b would be the floor the fire station floor c would be the firefighter self-contained breathing apparatus apparatus and d would be the lebanon sylvan drainage replacement grant match so i'd like to make the motion now sorry counselor mcmaster

▶ 1:11:50 John N. Tramontozzi: didn't hear i councillor Tramontozzi made a motion to divide the order councillor mcmaster is that a second the second yes roll call Kristen counselor Eccles yes Gara pay yes I'm so Jamala Dean McMaster yes I'm not yes good early yes Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Thomas? Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi, may I have the order? Yes, yes. President Grigoraitis? Yes. Chair Cinella? 11 yeses. And seeing that that motion has passed, what I would suggest at this time, we've heard from the chief on the pumper, Certainly, other council members might have some additional questions, but I would like the Chief to address Part B of the order, is the floor of the fire station and see the self-contained breathing apparatus.

▶ 1:13:04 If we can talk to Wes a little bit about that, and then we'll entertain further questions. Thank you. So, starting with the floor, the floor was condemned in late 2011. certainly by an engineer in 2012 for vehicle traffic so that anybody that knows the fire station in the rear is a uh garage door that leads into the avenue on the city hall side we have not used been able to use uh that day for apparatus the ambulance, the brush truck, the housing for them for live loans to begin with. And it was safe for pedestrians to walk into the back of the station. Over the years, we've noticed the cracks are expanding, where the two floors meet. we have the main apparatus floor that was the rear floor starting to give up almost two inches

▶ 1:14:21 we've been sagging in the middle so we brought an engineer and actually keep clearing uh had somebody look at it and they recommended showing up the main beam underneath however it wasn't done by an engineer this this past summer we brought a structural engineering and they look like they're underneath, and some of the old constitutes that came through the station doors and saw the condition of the floor come underneath. There's a lot of metal bar joists and metal decking that have completely rotted away. So, the floor is really just being supported by whatever bar joists rebounded through the concrete. A lot of it flew out of the way, but it's still holding. The structural engineer last August aimed at unsafely shoving up the temporary show to keep it from falling into the basement.

▶ 1:15:30 that's the condition of the floor i don't know if uh rick's dancing yeah but we can uh talk more kind of background components certainly dangerous thank you chief any questions for chief about the floor moving on um while we have while we have the chief here do we want to move on to questions regarding the um breathing apparatus yes please chief go ahead okay so yeah so the scba it stands for self-contained breathing apparatus but all firefighters use to breathe uh clean here not oxygen it's just compressed here in our cylinders it gives us approximately the 30-minute bottles but under exertion press gives us about 22 minutes of working time per model so our bottles were purchased back in 2009 and then they're going to be a stress test hydraulic tested uh next month that'll be the

▶ 1:16:52 last time that they can test it so anytime a bottle is tested uh they won't be able to repair if it has a leak or whatever, so we'll take that bottle out as well, but we have, in our fleet, we have about 50 bottles, bottles that's been working long for a period of duration. It could be a hazardous material scene, it could be obviously a structural fire, but under these current situations that we're in now with the pandemic, we can't get supplies for or a mask, or the N95 mask, or the surgical mask, supplies that there is not. We, you know, the union and myself, we've met, we've discussed options. If we don't get supplies the next week or two, we have to draw this out. We're going to be relying on our SCDA.

▶ 1:17:52 We can still do our mission and help our citizens. That's why this SCBA is critical. So because of the age, you know, the bottles themselves, they won't be able to be repaired. But more importantly, it's our compressor that's in the back of the station. And it's three cylinders, tubes that the bottles fit in, and that's how we fill our bottles. And two of them haven't worked in two years. We can't get Todd to replace them. That machine is over 25 years old. So it's time to replace the compactor machine, the compressor, and fill our bottles. And that is the biggest expense of that. The quicker we can fill our bottles, the quicker we get our apparatus back into service. Currently, right now, we're only able to fill one bottle at a time.

▶ 1:18:57 If I assume that we use 12 to 15 bottles, if we lost you at the end there stay closer to the mic if you could okay just saying that if we use a large amount of water that applies to take us and I and a half to two hours to fulfill all these moves at a fire scene and that delay is putting out that apparatus back into service all our bottles do you have a question yeah just uh what's um what's the time to delivery say we passed this tonight and the mayor signed it what do you think would be the time between between now and delivery uh this this year would be short order I believe we probably have to put it off a bit but I believe the vendor that we use it's all state we need prices to begin with so I

▶ 1:20:21 think by the somehow anyways excuse me any other questions any commission yes counselor Eccles motion to recommend order 2020-70 section a for passage motion section a for passage by councillor Eccles second seconded by councillor Grigoraitis at president Grigoraitis itis just just we're clear on this this is order a of 2020-70 which is the fire apparatus pumper Thank You councillor Tramontozzi we sir Kristen could you call the roll discussion could you repeat that this is passage of 2020-70 section a pumper only correct as we've divided the order so that would be the pumper own only and there and we can have further discussion in the council McMaster as it further discussion discussion is is anyone going to make a comment yeah this is at least relative

▶ 1:22:04 Shawn M. MacMaster: to the pump or something that I do plan to support the the problem that we've been experiencing over the last seven is not just related to this particular piece of apparatus really symptomatic of our entire. I've seen this over the last couple of years. Councilman Tosi has seen it in much longer than I have. At some point we need to address the core problem and the core problem is replacing vehicles that are broken. Because the cost of fixing our apparatus will eventually exceed the cost of purchasing something new I think it really would behoove us at the point to start making the purchases that we need to make on top of what we recently approved in the form of the ladder truck that we voted on in committee I don't

▶ 1:23:01 Shawn M. MacMaster: think we can really afford to kick this I can down the road any longer we have the the money now to do this I'm not confident that six months from now or even a year from now that we'll be in the position that we are today yet what will happen is we will continue to find our fleet in a precarious state things are not going to get any better the condition of the vehicles are going to continue to age with time as chief Kalina said the cost is not going to get any less expensive as time goes on so I think we should look to approve this this evening in committee Thank You madam vice chair Thank You councillor McMaster councillor president Grigoraitis they saw your hand yes Thank You madam madam vice chair and just to echo the comments of councillor McMaster I feel

▶ 1:23:53 Jen Grigoraitis: really strongly that we need to move forward with this I think none of us 60 days ago could have imagined that this would be our life right now and I the fact that we have health care workers and our own first responders asking for n95 masks i certainly don't want to be in a position where we could have improved the safety of our first responders and our residents and did it you know and let it go so i feel very strongly that we move forward with this thank you thank you president Grigoraitis edis council Garipay was in queue council Garipay i had uh just a procedural question is it possible i know there's a motion on the floor but is it possible to um when when this was divided to hold hold it in hold a portion of it in committee

▶ 1:24:40 Mark Garipay: uh just had a procedural question on that counselor Tramontozzi please correct me i believe it's been divided we're actually debating item number a in the division that's right so we we we got a motion on the floor of to recommend uh the divided portion of the order in a that's the motion that's on this for discussion now in terms of holding it's not an appropriate motion at this time i i understand that but would that have been a motion if this was to fail to hold that hold that um this section a or number a in committee can you does it have to be the whole order that gets held in the committee but now that it's been divided can you hold certain certain parts of this order in committee yeah yeah you could hold certain parts

▶ 1:25:36 Mark Garipay: of the order many different motions to so do so is entertained we have to deal with some motion that's currently before us so my concern I think everyone knows my concern with this in light of the economy and then what we're dealing with with right now my fear one of my fears is if we do if this does not pass meaning it needing a supermajority this cannot come back in front of us for six months so I I have concerns with the dollar amount at this time so I'll be honest with you I'm not sure which which way I'm I'm going to vote at this at this time on this but that's why my original motion when we started the meeting was to to hold this in this in committee that was that was my suggestion based on based on that and I know there's there's items in here that

▶ 1:26:46 Jack Eccles: I fully support I fully support the pumper but not not necessarily at this time due to the large dollar amount so just Yeah, I'm not sure which way I'm going to vote at this moment on this, but I just wanted to clarify to see if there was an option down the road to keep it in committee once it was divided. Thank you. Councilor Eccles was next in queue. Thank you. I'm inclined to support this as well. I think that, you know, waiting 30 or 60 days, I don't see another item being more critical. So even if we do head towards a recession, I think we're going to end up having to buy this within a year or two years. So we're in the midst of recession, we have to buy it then versus buying it now. And just to address

▶ 1:27:40 Jack Eccles: the concerns of you know buying this versus you know potentially having to deal with personnel layoffs in the future this is a free cash appropriation and it's my understanding that we generally aren't funding personnel through free cash ever so I don't think that it's an either-or I think that if down the road we end up in a bad situation we won't be we won't be alleviating that with free cash so this is a free cash appropriation and I support it because I think we're gonna have to end up using it down the road anyway thank you yes I'm fully behind the fire department I think you know the new public safety buildings are a must for the police and the fire department the fact that we have a condemned floor on the fire department speaks volumes

▶ 1:28:34 Cory Thomas: the fact that it needs to be repaired obviously is a top priority for the city however I think based on the current public health emergency that we're currently faced with I think we need more time to discuss the financial matters before us when it comes to section a the fire pumper it is the largest cash amount before us I think it is the fiscally responsible thing to do is to hold this in committee for at least another two weeks or possibly four weeks before making a decision on it thank you Thank You councillor Thomas Anyone else for the first time? I actually have a question myself. Given the discussion here, Chief Kalina, can you just speak to, I have one question. You mentioned that you had talked to the manufacturer last week or the week prior and that everything seemed to be on track.

▶ 1:29:30 Leila Migliorelli: um would you do you have any indication that whatever is happening right now um would you know the current situation as of this week um could that slow production for any reason is there any or would you be reaching out to the manufacturer to find out if there are any delays perhaps given everything else that's going on i'm just not sure what the connection might be between what's happening now versus production sorry chief you're breaking up I can't hear so said the factory has not closed but the factory is open uh again though with their staff if they have anybody that phones and not come on the web so i would imagine with everybody else that workforces will be defeated a little bit rather than maybe some delays but what i was trying to

▶ 1:30:46 Leila Migliorelli: say was that usually once you start the process uh customers go out to the factory out of the design process thank you and just to point out that I think the counselors we received an email today regarding the free cash balance currently is three three point nine million dollars so if that helps people in their decision-making process regarding um how much money we may have or need um to make decisions moving forward in this crisis i just wanted to throw that in there as well counselor stewart yes thank you madam vice chair just as a correction that 3.9 million would be the amount after uh the appropriation was made uh not before thank you counselor anyone else for the first time counselor Garipay uh yes i just uh

▶ 1:32:05 Mark Garipay: want to make um one of the one other item known i mean we have we have the free cash available right now and um as as councillor thomas said it's maybe the prudent thing to do to to hold this um for a few more weeks and keep the cash um i remember two weeks ago or a week and a half ago we taught we had the cfo in front of us who talked about the the long-term debt capacity so if we would need this free cash for something in the next two three months we all we still have the opportunity the the administration would still have the opportunity to put this out on on a long-term bond long-term debt um we had that grid last week that we still had that capacity available to us so i just uh want people to think that um you know if you know by keeping

▶ 1:33:00 Mark Garipay: the cash it doesn't mean that this project would necessarily be um you know we can figure out other financial um funding uh funding sources for this i know it may not be the ideal or what the uh administration wanted to do but this um that's still that's still an option based on what i understood on the um on the availability of our um of our four five percent cap uh long-term cap councilor thomas thank you madam vice chair uh i just want to be on record as well um i'm fully for getting this pumper truck um i just can't help but think back two weeks ago two weeks ago um my kids are in school um they're preparing for their spring sports seasons and then the whole world turned upside down um it's a it's a different world we're living in

▶ 1:33:55 Cory Thomas: than we were two weeks ago so to put this off two weeks i don't think you know as chief kalina said Engine 4 has been a Class A need for replacement for over eight years. We're not asking to put this off for a year or two. I'm asking to the rest of the Council to put Section A of this order just into committee for another two weeks so we can have more time and see where we are as a city, as a state, and as a nation, and as a global community with the COVID-19. I think we owe it to what's going on and the taxpayers are numerous so again thank you thank you counselor thomas um so the motions before us um i'll entertain a motion for passage there's already a motion for passage on the floor made by uh counselor echo seconded by counselor mcmaster you should take on that motion now yes

▶ 1:34:58 i don't believe we have anyone to the role unless kristen or amy is watching available we we lost we lost our um so this is for order 2020-70 a is that correct yes okay Okay. Councilor Cinella. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? I have it Kristen. I got it. Yeah. Cinella, sorry. Yes. Councilor Eccles. Yes. Councilor Garipay. No. Councilor Dimaladeen. No. Councilor McMaster. Yes. McNaught yes councillor Migliorelli yes councillor Stewart yes councillor Thomas sorry I was on mute no councillor Tramontozzi just unmute yourself councillor sorry about that yes president Grigoraitis so we have one two three four five six seven eight yes and three now at this time I would make a motion for passage of order 2020 70 fire station headquarters floor repair

▶ 1:37:04 motion to entertain passage first section B of order 2020-70 made by councillor Tramontozzi seconded by councillor Grigoraitis on discussion if there's any further discussion discussion further discussion we can take the vote seeing none we can take the vote councillor Eccles yes councillor Garipay yes councillor Jamaleddine councillor McMaster yes councillor McNaught yes councillor Migliorelli yes councillor Stewart yes councillor Thomas yes president Grigoraitis yes chairman Sinella yes 11 yes order passes and will be heard at the full council meeting later this evening Councillor Tramontozzi yes thank you madam vice chair at this time I would like a motion to passage of order 2020-70 C the firefighter self-contained breathing

▶ 1:38:27 apparatus second motion for passage made by councillor Tramontozzi seconded by councillor Eccles for order 2020-70 section C discussion any anyone for discussion no discussion Krista Mouillecourt's role councillor Eccles yes councillor Garipay yes councillor Jamala Dean yes Councilor McMaster. Councilor McMaster, you unmute yourself. Yes. Councilor McNaught. Yes. Councilor Migliorelli. Yes. Councilor Stewart. Yes. Councilor Thomas. Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi. Yes. President Grigoraitis. Yes. Chair Sinella. Yes. Eleven yes. The order passes and will be heard at the full council meeting later this afternoon. Councilor Tramontozzi. Thank you again, Madam Vice Chair. At this time, we're under suspension of rules.

▶ 1:39:42 If we can hear from the administration regarding the Lebanon-Silverdrainage Replacement, D of this order. Is, I'm just rolling through here, is Elena should still be here. Elena's still here. let me find her one second you did elena i just made her i just made director i just made elena paracas ellis analyst can you hear us i can hear you fine yep can you hear me yes okay um so uh you're here to speak about the um drainage project on lebanon street Yes. So, we had applied for a FEMA grant for the drainage issues at Sylvan and Lebanon Streets, which requires an upgrade of drainage through the cemetery. And so, the MEMA has indicated that they're recommending our grant for funding, but we are actually still awaiting

▶ 1:41:15 FEMA their official decision as to whether or not we're going to get the funding. So I would say this one isn't quite as urgent as the fire department's needs. It is something that if we get the grant, as soon as we get it, we're going to want to have this money available, which is why it was included initially. But we don't have the money finalized quite yet. So if this one needs to wait a little while longer, there's not an issue with that. And actually, just to clarify one more thing, let me just give you the numbers. Hang on, I just have to pull it up on my screen here. But okay, so the total project costs $598,000. And the city share if we get the grant is $149,000. portion of that is in-kind services and the portion that is a cash outlay is 129 000 so

▶ 1:42:21 John N. Tramontozzi: that's where the 129 000 comes from thank you director progress alice um chris i don't know if you've been keeping track who's first i saw a council of tremendous and a few others next yes thank you vice vice chair miguel uh good evening Good evening. Good couple questions for you, Elena. So the total project would be $598,000. Yes. And our match would be just $149,000? Yes, 25%. I've rounded the numbers off, but yeah, 25%. Do we need to have to guarantee the match before we get the grant or we get the grant first and then come forward with the match? we had to authorize when we applied for the grant that if we got the grant we have the money so we didn't have to say that we had the money um encumbered or you know specifically allocated

▶ 1:43:29 but we had to confirm that if the grant comes through we have the money available um you know fairly immediately but um we didn't have to say that we had it already all right so i i think you know if you come to us if we get the grant well let me ask you this if we don't get the grant do we still need to do this project how urgent is it this is a project that we should continue to pursue because it is an ongoing problem for the residents in that neighborhood um they had repeated flooding over the years so it's certainly something we should do it's not um it's not at the top of the cip list i guess i would say the since it was included in the cip um the generator project that we've also applied for funding for through fema is the much higher

▶ 1:44:19 John N. Tramontozzi: priority fema project but the timeline on getting that money is a little bit longer so um it's certainly something we we need to keep our eye on and we need to do as soon as we have the funding available but it's not according to the cip committee it was not the highest priority in the city right yeah it's my my my thought is that we don't need to encumber that those funds now if if we get the grant and you come before us i think in light of the the the amount of the grant that we're going to get we certainly can make um free cash available we'll find some funds for it i'm sure uh to do the project uh since it's only 25 percent uh to match so i'm i'm inclined to think that this might be an appropriate one to either hold in committee

▶ 1:45:04 John N. Tramontozzi: uh yeah maybe maybe hold it could be how soon do you think uh you know with all that's going on the crisis and everything how soon do you think you're going to know about this grant it's so hard to tell we applied for this grant last july actually we first applied in april and then they asked for revisions and we submitted those in july and then we got a letter maybe last october saying that we were being recommended to fema for funding so and now we just wait but i've heard that the typical timeline is within a year that you hear back so hopefully you know within the coming few months we'll hear back yeah i don't think i just don't think we have the the financial ability to fund the entire project without the grant so i'm probably inclined to just think about uh suspending

▶ 1:45:48 and holding off on this part of the order but appreciate it okay i'm finished thank you councillor Tramontozzi we have a couple people in queue yes i have someone that'd like to go uh i believe uh mayor broder would like to come in mayor broder i'm gonna make him please hold do we need to suspend the rules to allow have him speak we are already under suspension yeah we can come in okay thanks mayor broder terrific can y'all hear me okay the answer is yes okay so i wanted to to put a little bit of a clarification on that and to To extend my thanks to Ms. Proekes-Ellis, when I was earlier making my rather long-winded speech about the free cash orders, I misspoke and she was good enough to correct me.

▶ 1:47:23 Paul Brodeur: As I understand it, the funds for this repair for the Lebanon street work have been approved by mima but that fema still has to take action on the grant before we can uh before we would need to do a match uh given that that is the case um i would be um delighted if the council decided to hold uh this particular piece in committee mayor broder counselor stewart was next in queue counselor stewart uh my questions were addressed thank you thank you counselor thomas thank you madam vice chair and thank you elena um for being here and mayor broder for being here as well um this uh this matter is near and dear to my heart uh it's also near and dear to my house uh it's around the corner from where i live it's the corner of lebanon and sylvan street

▶ 1:48:26 Cory Thomas: um i watched the water from my backyard on the mother's day storm in 2006 creeping across lebanon street and the water rising to the height of the cemetery wall at wyoming cemetery um it was quite a sight to see but based on information that mayor broder just gave us i'd be happy to see this go to committee as well it's definitely something that's needed uh for the community in ward seven so i'd love to see this go forward but understanding if it has to go to committee now i agree with that thank you um question or council echoes council echoes his motion to hold on committee do i hear a second by president Grigoraitis uh roll call councilor eccles yes councilor Garipay yes council of Jamaleddine yes councilor mcmaster yes councilor mcnaught

▶ 1:49:32 Leila Migliorelli: Yes. Councilor Migliorelli. Yes. Councilor Stewart. Yes. Councilor Thomas. Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi. Yes. President Grigoraitis. Councilor Cinella. Yes. 11 yes. The motion to hold the committee stands. So this will be held in committee. We have now completed the divided orders in 2020-72? President Gervaitis. Madam Vice Chair, I'd like to make a motion to send the remaining parts of the initial, of order 2020-70 to committee. I'm sorry, to hold them in committee. Okay, motion to hold the remaining parts of dash, of 2020-70 in committee. I'm sorry, Madam Vice-Chair. I had a point of information. Through you, Madam Vice-Chair, to the President, just some clarity on the motion. Is the motion to hold, when you say

▶ 1:50:49 Leila Migliorelli: the remaining items, are those the items that were reflected in the original order that have been pulled by the Mayor's office in light of the situation that we face with COVID-19? correct because while they the memorandum recommended holding those they had all already been sent for this committee and we're on the agenda so I believe procedurally we need to make sure that we actively vote to hold them Thank You madam president Thank You mr. councillor Garipay we just make sure we read those items so they're in the record for the motion motion the feeble is to hold the following um order uh 2020-70 in um in committee that would be item zero one nine three zero seven seven three dash five five

▶ 1:51:43 Leila Migliorelli: one one six four department equipment school um security um the next one zero one nine three zero seven seven three dash five five one one six four um department equipment school did i just read that no and then item zero one nine three zero seven seven three dash five one five five one zero seven two Department Equipment School IT and I think that's it I'm correct I believe that's all Thank You president Gerritus so motion to hold these in committee made by president Gerritus seconded by Councillor Thomas. Councillor Eccles? Yes. Councillor Garipay? Yes. Councillor Jamaleddine? Yes. Councillor McMaster? Yes. Councillor McNaught? Yes. Councillor Migliorelli? Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Thomas? Yes. Councillor Tramontozzi? Yes. President Grigoraitis? Yes.

▶ 1:52:59 Leila Migliorelli: Yes. Chair Cinella? Yes. 11 yes. Motion to hold in committee passes. Moving on, we're on to order 2020-71, an appropriation in the amount of $100,160 from free cash account 01-324001 to various accounts to set forth you're in um this order has two components um one being zero one zero zero one four zero two two dash five two seven seven zero zero municipal building repair and the second zero one one five two two dash five two nine zero zero zero hr professional services sir Garipay did i see you Do you raise your hand? Yeah, I make a motion to based on the email that we received from the mayor on March 18th to adjust the total dollar amount on this order, reduce it by $50,000 and just keep the municipal building repair of 50,160

▶ 1:54:20 Mark Garipay: and reduce the order by 50,000. So, the new dollar amounts on this on this motion would be 50,160 for the municipal building with their. Motion to reduce the order, reduce, reduce the dollar amount by 50,000 for HR professional services. So, the new total dollar amount will be 50,160 dollars and that was based on the mayor's. mayor's request in his email on March March 18 so motion to order made by councillor get a second second by councillor Jamala Dean on discussion if we could discussion yes upon discussion could we can we just clarify what the municipal building repair is that money is for and then what was originally the HR professional services if we have that explanation the municipal building

▶ 1:55:29 repair as the mayor had stated on is for the library elevator repair okay yeah I just want to clarify that yep HR professional services I don't know that we have that information the time or perhaps that's looking through the memo right now I don't see that but I don't know then it sounds to me like a good so the elevator repair is a definite emergency requirement and yeah thank you thank you for that motion in that clarification madam you're welcome any further discussion seeing no one for discussion motion for reducing the order but made by councillor garipay seconded by councillor Jamaleddine um now a roll call vote councillor eccles councillor garipay yes councillor Jamaleddine yes councillor mcmaster

▶ 1:56:32 Leila Migliorelli: yes councillor mcnaught yes councillor Migliorelli yes councillor stewart yes councillor thomas yes council of Tramontozzi yes president Grigoraitis chair sanella yes 11 yes it's a motion to reduce the order um uh to just the municipal building repair for 50 160 was made um counselor echoes for discussion on this order 20.51 as amended I'm sorry you cut out for a motion to pass their motion to recommend passage 2020-71 as amended councillor Eccles motions to pass the order as amended seconds second second by councillor Tramontozzi all in favor or roll call councillor Eccles yes sorry councillor Garipay. Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine. Yes. Councilor McMaster. Yes. Councilor McNaught. Yes. Councilor Migliorelli.

▶ 1:57:46 Leila Migliorelli: Yes. Councilor Stewart. Yes. Councilor Thomas. Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi. Yes. President Grigoraitis. Yes. Chair Cinella. Yes. 11 yes. Motion passes. um okay so next we have order 2020-74 acceptance of a $70,000 grant from the executive office of housing and economic development mass marketing partnerships slash office of travel and tourism program for wayfinding and creative placemaking I believe we do I don't know if the minors here wants to talk about that or if the memo that the council received from director of planning Denise Gaffey has been included or read into the meeting? I have nobody in queue. Okay, Councilor Tramontozzi. Yeah, thank you Madam Vice Chair. There is a a memorandum from uh the cip chair denise gaffey uh dated is that the one november 13th

▶ 1:59:16 no there was a memorandum that just came down today i thought um right so i want to make sure that that is part of the order we can submit that as part of the order and based on that memorandum i think we have sufficient information to uh to take a vote on this council chairman is that an official motion to attach to the record? Yes, it is. Okay, so motion to attach Denise Gaffey's memo to record made by Councilor Tramontozzi. Seconded by Councilor Thomas. Call the roll. Councilor Eccles. Councilor Garipay. Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine. Yes. Councilor McMaster. Yes. Councilor McNaught. Yes. Councilor Migliorelli. Yes. Councilor Stewart. Yes. Councilor Thomas. Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi. Yes. President Grigoraitis.

▶ 2:00:19 John N. Tramontozzi: Yes. Chair Cinella. Yes. 11 yes. For that memo to be read into committee passes. The if there's no discussion, I will entertain a motion for Pat Tramontozzi. thank you thank you sorry so this is just according to the memorandum it appears that we this is just for an acceptance of a grant that we've received from the executive office of housing and economic development marketing partnership with the office of travel tourism it doesn't you know that it appears that it is a grant and it's just a matter of accepting of the grant that's my reading of it thank you Thank You councillor Tremont is a counselor McMaster Thank You madam vice chair is there anyone from the administration still on the line who might be able to at least summarize this for the public

▶ 2:01:24 Shawn M. MacMaster: we didn't get the memo until twenty past five this evening so the public doesn't have the benefit of having the memo in front of themselves to at least look at so i i'm not quite comfortable uh voting on this tonight unless we have some summary from a public summary given by a member of the administration whether that's mayor chief of staff or somebody in miss gaffney's uh stead is there anyone still available is that question to me council mcmaster uh through the chair yes sure i'll uh i'll uh add mayor broder just takes a minute in my audio audio on yes so this comes to you from the legislature from back when I was the state representative it was a near mark in the FY 2020 budget for $70,000 for wayfinding and this would this is that money coming to the

▶ 2:02:49 John N. Tramontozzi: City Mayor Broder Councilor Tramontozzi yeah thank you and thank you mayor for for being here tonight with us it's greatly appreciated so I'm assuming that this is a money that this that the state is providing to the city and it does not require any city matching funds that's correct thank you that's all I needed to No. Very good. Thank you, Councilor Tramontozzi. Any other questions for discussion? Seeing no questions, a motion for passage. Motion for passage. Motion for recommendation. We're still on the Appropriations Committee. So motion for recommendation. Second. Second. Okay, couldn't hear the second. Motion for recommendation by Tramontozzi, seconded by? Councilor Stewart. Councilor Stewart.

▶ 2:04:02 Yes. Call the roll, please. Councilor Eccles? Yes. Councilor Garipay? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. Councilor McNaught? Yes. Councilor Migliorelli? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Thomas? Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes. president Grigoraitis yes chair sanella yes 11 yes i told that because he touched his face like two hours ago that's nonsense i can still hear you okay so the motion passes motion to adjourn motion to adjourn i would like to second that motion thank you well now we are adjourned let me take on stay tuned though for the full board right yes word is now happening do we need to do a roll call for the adjourn yes here we go councillor Eccles all right

▶ 2:05:23 Jen Grigoraitis: councillor garipay yes so Jamala Dean yes Councilor McMaster? Yes. Councilor McNaught? Yes. Councilor McGillivray-Hilley? Yes. Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Thomas? Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councilor, I'm sorry, President Grigoraitis? Yes. Chairman Cinella? Yes. We are adjourned. okay um so we'll resume the council meeting that was previously begun at 8 16 p.m this evening we are currently at item 2 on our agenda communications from his honor the mayor and other city officials just make sure amy you're on yes okay committees do we have any communications from the mayor and other city officials at this time we do not uh committees do we have any new business at this time? We do not. Do we have any orders from committee to bring

Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2020-03-23

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