Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2021-05-26
Attendance
Christopher Cinella ; Jack Eccles ; Mark Garipay ; Jen Grigoraitis ; Maya Jamaleddine ; Shawn M. MacMaster ; Jeff McNaught ; Leila Migliorelli ; Robb Stewart ; Cory Thomas ; John N. Tramontozzi
Agenda
- Call to Order
- Public Comment
- Orders
- ORDER-2021-122 : City of Melrose Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2022 in the amount of $91,000,522.33 (Ninety-One Million, Five Hundred Twenty-Two Dollars and Thirty-Three Cents).
- ORDER-2021-128 : Reauthorization of City of Melrose Revolving Fund table as first adopted by City Ordinance June 18th, 2018 and annually thereafter. Revolving Funds are further authorized under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 44 Section 53E 1/2.
- ORDER-2021-140 : A transfer from Health Insurance, account 019142-549201, to Human Resources-Schooling, account number 011522-540700.
- ORDER-2021-131 : An Appropriation from Free Cash, account 01-324001, in the amount of $100,000 to Human Resources Professional services, account 011522-529000.
- Resolutions
- RES-20-21-3 : Health Director Ruth Clay
- Adjournment
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE APPROPRIATIONS & OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CALENDAR● MAY 26, 2021 Web-based remote meeting Budget Hearing 6:31 PM , Melrose, MA 02176 Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Jack Eccles Vice Chair Present Jeff McNaught Chair Present Shawn M. MacMaster Present John N. Tramontozzi Present Mark Garipay Present Jen Grigoraitis Present Leila Migliorelli Present Robb Stewart Absent Maya Jamaleddine Present Christopher Cinella President, ex oficio Present Cory Thomas Present
ORDER-2021-122 Operating Budgets (City, School, Regional School) City of Melrose Operating Budget for Fiscal Year 2022 in the amount of $91,000,522.33 (Ninety-One Million, Five Hundred Twenty-Two Dollars and Thirty-Three Cents). Hold Appropriations & Oversight Committee
ORDER-2021-128 Revolving Fund/Reauthorization Reauthorization of City of Melrose Revolving Fund table as first adopted by City Ordinance June 18th, 2018 and annually thereafter. Revolving Funds are further authorized under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 44 Section 53E 1/2. Hold Appropriations & Oversight Committee
ORDER-2021-140 Transfer A transfer from Health Insurance, account 019142-549201, to Human Resources-Schooling, account number 011522-540700. Recommend Passage City Council
ORDER-2021-131 Appropriation City of Melrose Page 1 2/22/2022 2:28 PM Minutes Appropriations & Oversight Committee May 26, 2021 An Appropriation from Free Cash, account 01-324001, in the amount of $100,000 to Human Resources Professional services, account 011522-529000. Recommend Passage City Council RES-20-21-3 Resolution Health Director Ruth Clay Place on File City of Melrose Page 2 2/22/2022 2:28 PM
Transcript
▶ 0:00 Jeff McNaught: The recording. Good evening. The time is 6 31 p.m. on May 26, 2021. This is a meeting of the Appropriations Committee. I'm the chair of that committee, Councillor McNaught, and this is one of our budget hearings of the summer, which you'll see every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday for a few more weeks. In lieu of a roll call attendance, joining me this evening are the following voting council members, Vice Chair Eccles, Councilor Tramontozzi, Councilor McMaster, Councilor Migliorelli, Councilor Garipay, Councilor Grigoraitis, Councilor Jamaleddine, Councilor Thomas, and President Sinella. And I just wanted to announce that our fellow Councillor Stewart is at his daughter's orchestra concert tonight and cannot be with us this evening.
▶ 0:58 Jeff McNaught: So, we wish her and them the best and enjoyment at that. But the roll call that I did call or the attendance I called provides notice of quorum for the record. Pursuant to Governor Baker's March 12th, 2020 order suspending certain provisions Of the open meeting law, and the governor's much March, 15th, 2020 order, imposing strict limitations on the number of people that may gather in 1 place. This meeting of the appropriations committee will be conducted by a 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 Merrill's website and on 3.
▶ 1:47 Jeff McNaught: Dot org, we're at the portion of our meeting where folks from the public can speak to any item on our agenda this evening, the public comment section and. Unless there's any objection, I will move by unanimous consent. To open the floor for public comment. Seeing no objection, the floor is open for public comment. Madam clerk. Do we have anyone would like to speak. you're in the audience and you'd like to speak please just raise your digital hand and we'll bring you in one at a time we have one individual is karen chetty making you up sorry can you hear us i sure can can you hear me yep right awesome all right well thank you for the opportunity to speak you've already received two communications from me today so i i promise to be very brief
▶ 2:57 Manjula Karamcheti: um for today i just want to fiercely advocate as as much as i can for you to approve the hr department's budget and for the director of hr's request for free cash and as i was thinking about whether i would speak or not um tonight during public comments i got stuck on something and i I really just wanted to share it more than anything. I am just curious how we ended up in a situation where free cash is really the only option for funding for DEI and anti-racist work. It just sort of leaves me wondering, did no city hall employees involved in the development of the city budget put in or advocate for any DEI line item related to programs, initiatives, or professional development? It's actually, to me, an indicator that Melrose has a bigger implicit systemic racist infrastructure if literally no one asked for or advocated for this at the city level.
▶ 3:59 Manjula Karamcheti: But there is hope, and you are that hope, City Councilor, with your vote for the HR budget and for the request for free cash from the HR Director, you can ensure that DEI and anti-racism work does continue in Melrose. and I really do hope that you vote that way. Thank you very much for your time and just appreciate everything that you do for Melrose. Thank you, Ms. Carmichaeli. Madam Clerk, do we have- I don't see any other hands up. There are none that I see either. At this time, I see no further hands raised in the attendee room. If there's no objection, I will move by unanimous consent to close public comment. Seeing no objection, public comment is now closed. At this time, as we will be speaking to many people outside of this body this evening,
▶ 5:03 I will move by unanimous consent to suspend the rules if there is no objection. Seeing no objection, the rules are now suspended. I'd like to make a motion to take Resolution 2021-3 out of order. Second. We have a motion to take order, which is Resolution 2021-3 out of order, made by Councilor Garipay, seconded by Councilor McMaster. On discussion, seeing none, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Chair McNaught. Yes. Vice Chair Eccles. Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi. Yes. Councilor McMaster. Yes. Councilor Garipay. Yes. Councilor Grigoraitis. Yes. Councilor Migliorelli. Yes. Councilor Thomas. Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine. Yes. President Sinella? Yes. 10 yes. Motion passes. Councilor Garipay, I'm gonna let you have the floor
▶ 6:26 Mark Garipay: for the resolution. Yes, is there any way that we can bring in the, Ruth Clay, the Health Director? Coming in now. Thank you. Can you hear us? Yep. Thank you. This resolution is sponsored by all 11 members of the City Council honoring the retirement of Ruth Clay. Whereas, in 1996, Ruth Clay joined the City of Melrose as Director of Health, a position that she held for over 24 years, working under seven mayoral administrations. And whereas, Ruth Clay was awarded a Bachelor of Arts in History and a Master's of Science in Civil Engineering from Tufts University, along with a Master's of Public Health from Harvard University School of Public Health, as well as over 30 accreditation and certificates.
▶ 7:28 Mark Garipay: And whereas, Ruth has always been a dedicated and committed employee, working tirelessly approving license for Melrose businesses, setting up inspections, and providing education on how to run a healthy and safe business. And whereas, she was instrumental in creating one of the first border health coalitions in Massachusetts with our neighbors, Malden, Medford, Winchester, Stoneham, and Wakefield. And whereas Ruth Clay has spent her career educating and preventing Mowers youth from engaging in substance abuse behavior as a member of the Regional Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. Locally, she has created the Substance Abuse Prevention Program and Youth Action Program with the aid of Mass In Motion and Education Program grant funding.
▶ 8:18 Mark Garipay: And whereas over this past year, she aptly led our health department and the city through team pandemic by setting up vaccine and flu clinics, creating COVID-19 testing sites in July and January with limited notice, creating a contract tracing team and providing pool testing with Morris Public Schools. It be resolved that we, the members of the city council, thank Ruth for her dedication in years of service to the city and send well wishes for her retirement. Also, therefore, it be resolved that on the 26th day of May in the year 2021, this resolution be spread upon the records of the City Council and forever preserved in the records of the City of Melrose. Thank you. Thank you for your service, Ruth.
▶ 9:12 Paul Brodeur: Thank you, Councilor Garipay. At this time, I'd like to make a motion to place this resolution in file. I could hold you for 1, 2nd, um, Madam Claire, can we, uh. Mayor broader would like to say a few a few words if we could bring him into the room. Mayor border you hear us I can thank you. Madam clerk and thank you. Mr. chairman and council members. Um, I'm the. Um, I hope for the last boss that she ever has. And, um, I think it's no secret that Ruth was considering retiring. uh a year ago we had kind of a neat conversation about the pandemic which um i don't know if you remember ruth but uh you described this to me as kind of like the super bowl for local public health directors um and that is happily for us that is true she stayed on and i think it's fair
▶ 10:20 Paul Brodeur: to say we won and it was uh it is a fight that still goes on to be sure but with ruth's voice at the table and really at the at the small rooms at the uh at the highest levels of state government um made sure that cities and towns voices uh were heard not always listened to that's something we certainly uh have a little bit of chagrin but certainly she was an example of what a great public health department and a professional can accomplish particularly when and the chips are down and nothing but good wishes, and certainly a fervent hope that you stay in touch. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Director Clay. I just want to say thank you for your many years of service to the city and Wakefield and everything that you've done.
▶ 11:16 Jeff McNaught: It's quite a good run of service, so thank you very much. On that note, I know that we're moving on to our budget orders. If you'd like to hang tight, we can move forward with your group first. I know that's not where we were scheduled, but I figured that might be convenient for you this evening. Sure. Okay. First, we have Order 2021-122, City of Melrose. Oh, I'm sorry. I know what Councilor Dramaluddin is going to say. We didn't place this yet on file. Thank you, Councilor Dramaluddin. Councilor Garipay, would you like to make your motion now? Yeah. I'd like to make the motion to place this resolution on file. 2nd, thank and thank you again. Council. So we have a motion from, uh, counseling to place, uh, resolution 21, 2,021 dash 3 on file seconded by accounts of.
▶ 12:24 Jeff McNaught: Madam clerk, can you please call the role chair? Yes. Vice chair, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Yes. Councilor Garipay? Yes. Councilor Grigoraitis? Yes. Councilor Migliorelli? Yes. Councilor Thomas? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. President Sonnella? Yes. Yes. That motion passes. Next up, we have Order 2021-122, the City of Melrose operating budget for fiscal year 2022 in the amount of $91,522.33. Again, first, we will take the Health Department this evening with Director Clay, which is Department 511 along with the Health Revolving Account 2021. Director Clay, if you'd like to give us a review, we're ready to hear you. I think you might be on mute, Director Clay. Sorry about that. I think by now, I've learned.
▶ 13:59 Obviously, a summary of the last year is COVID. pretty much exclusively COVID until about the last month or so. So our COVID activities kind of did the range based on where we were in the pandemic. So at the beginning, when masks were scarce, we procured masks and worked with the other departments on distributing masks. As caseloads got larger, we worked with the hospital to make sure that they had a overflow facility, started doing contact tracing. That was an all-hands-on deck. At the peak, we had 35 people doing contact tracing. We still couldn't keep up, And many of you, I'm sure, are familiar with the state's community tracing collaborative. So some of those cases were done by the state. We did as many as we possibly could.
▶ 15:07 We had an extra pot of money because we are a health district with Wakefield. So as a health district, we were eligible for an extra amount of money that we did use. um on contact tracing ppe supplies um you know a variety of things like that and then of course with all the governor's orders over 60 i believe at this point of the governor's orders there were a lot a lot of education and questions that we answered from the public and the businesses And of course, some enforcement, unfortunately. And then vaccine became available. We were not slated to be doing vaccine clinics. We were told we wouldn't be. And then all of a sudden we were. So we kind of switched gears quickly and held, as many of you were at, the clinics at Memorial Hall, as well as we did the clinics with Wakefield at the Converse building that were very successful.
▶ 16:20 Most recently, we did a COVID clinic for 12-year-olds and older for Melrose, any Melrose students, whether they're in our public schools or private schools, which we did last week, and we'll do a second dose in three weeks. So, fortunately, our caseload is decreasing rapidly. Our need for a lot of extra help with contact tracing is going down commensurably with the elimination of essentially all the rules this Saturday. that's actually created a lot of questions from people, although it's very straightforward that pretty much there are no rules. People are uncomfortable. Some of our people are uncomfortable with that transition to all of a sudden, so we're doing a lot of education and discussion with people about that. And we've gotten a lot of views out of behavioral health
▶ 17:28 services. We have a new grant that we have from Melrose-Wakefield Hospital. It's a small grant for three years that one of our staff is working on four hours a week, carriage hours. And the goal of this grant is to decrease stigma associated with mental health and increase access to behavioral health services for some of our marginalized communities. The first year is a lot of assessment work. So we, that literally just started a month ago. So that is a new grant. We will be saying goodbye to our substance abuse prevention grant, which was the regional grant for basically, for mostly alcohol use. That grant ended and has been absorbed by a different grant that will be led by Medford. So the work will continue.
▶ 18:26 The lead will be Medford rather than Melrose, and our current staff person hopefully will be transitioning to Medford so there's no loss of employment for her. Our tobacco control program continues and we are slated to get an increase in that grant amount for next year. We've been underfunded the last few years and have scrambled to get additional funding at the end of every fiscal year to get through the year with the budget, state budget, hopefully going through with additional monies for the tobacco control program. and we're hopefully going to be fully funded. We're the lead for that for five communities. Let's see, we also have the school nurse grant, which is a 10 year, $5,000 a year grant,
▶ 19:23 except this year where they gave us an additional 15,000, which has gone to help pay for contact tracing that the school nurses have been doing throughout the year, as well as PPE for the school nurses and a new hearing screening machine. Starting next fiscal year, it'll go back to the $5,000 a year. I believe that is a summary of our grants. And I did send to the city auditor, my traditional spreadsheet of all the positions and what sources of payment they have, because we do have a lot of different payment sources, whether it's the city budget, the Wakefield budget, or different grants. That's my summary. I'm not muted. I am muted. Oh, shoot. Any questions for Director Clay? Thank you, Councilor Grigoraitis, by the way.
▶ 20:44 Jen Grigoraitis: That was- Could have been me. Council Grigoraitis. Thank you, Chairman McNaught. Thank you, Ms. Clay, for being here. I just wanted to echo the sentiments of the resolution. I know in March, I think it was St. Patrick's Day weekend of 2020, which feels like a lifetime ago. I sat in the chamber with you and Mayor Broder and other city department heads, and we had no idea what was happening and you were such a beacon of professionalism and calm. And I think that many of us had looked to you in the past 15 months. So thank you for that. And I also just wanted to thank the Board of Health. I know that this is not what they signed up for either. And just two comments on the budget. I'm thrilled about the mental health grant.
▶ 21:28 Jen Grigoraitis: I know we're all seeing a massive increase in mental health needs at all ages, partly due to the pandemic and some of the increase in child abuse and domestic violence we're seeing as a result of that. And also, I believe if I'm reading the budget correctly, we're seeing some increases for nurses, which I'm really happy to see given the heavy load that they all carried this past year. I think some folks don't realize that school nurses are a part of the health department and I know they did an incredible amount of work this year and I wanna just acknowledge that and thank them for that as well. So thank you to your team for getting us through this. Thank you, Councilor Geraitis. Anyone else have questions for Ms. Clay?
▶ 22:12 Jeff McNaught: Seeing none, what is the will of the committee? Motion to move the bottom line. We have a motion to move the bottom line for Department 511, the Health Department made by Council McMaster, seconded by President Cinella. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Chair McNaught? Yes. Vice Chair Eccles? Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. Councilor Garipay? Yes. Councilor Grigoraitis? Yes. Councilor Migliorelli? Yes. Councilor Thomas? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. President Sinella? Yes. Then yes. The motion passes. Thank you, Ms. Clay, for being here. Madam Clerk, if I have my procedure correct here, I know that we need to hold the revolving account order in committee as it will come up again.
▶ 23:31 We also need to vote to pass that line item. I'll entertain a motion on line item that- 6-5. Item 2659, Revolving Account. Thank you. Item 2659, Revolving Account. I'll entertain a motion to move the bottom line on that. Make a motion to move the bottom line on the Revolving Account. Second. Motion to move the bottom line on item 2659, made by Councilor Garipay, seconded by President Cinella. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Chair McNaught? Yes. Vice Chair Eccles? Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. Councilor Garipay? Yes. Councilor Grigoraitis? Yes. Councilor Migliorelli? Yes. Councilor Stewart? I'm sorry, Councilor Thomas? Might be faded. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes.
▶ 24:49 Jeff McNaught: Counselor, President Sinella? Yes. Yes. That's 10 yes. The motion passes and we can hold that order after we get through all of our budgets. Okay, good. Director Clay, thanks so much for being with us. We wish you the best in all of your future endeavors. Next, we have the Human Rights Commission, Department 544, and I believe we're bringing Mr. Stankovich into the room here now. Good evening, everyone. Good evening, Mr. Stankovich. Thank you for being with us. Yes, please call me Mike. I'll do. The floor is yours, Mike. Great. Thank you. So, yeah, we're here to request our annual budget remain the same with $3,000. In the past year with the pandemic, we modified our usual programming. We had a Martin Luther King event held online, and we had well over 100 attendees.
▶ 26:07 We've had someone come in and give a part of our speaker series speech on traumatic events geared around COVID and the holidays. We have a big pride event coming up in June. And so, you know, we're hoping to get back to more in-person events or Pride event this year will be a hybrid, we'll do some in-person events at the Beebe Estate, and I believe at the middle school parking lot. And then we will also do some online programming as well. And so, you know, I don't need to tell everyone here, but I mean, I think that the mission of the Human Rights Commission is more important than ever. I feel like, you know, the issues that we're dealing with on a continual basis continue to come up nationally.
▶ 26:53 Maya Jamaleddine: And I think it's important that we don't remain silent and we speak out. So that way people know that Melrose is a place that is welcoming to everyone and wants to increase this diversity. So with that, I'll keep this brief and just ask for our annual budget to remain the same of $3,000. Thank you, Mr. Stankovich. Mike, sorry. Councilor Gervaladine. Thank you, Chair. I just want to tell Mike how much we miss the Human Rights Commission. I'm sure my fellow councillors who were former commissioners share the same sentiment. Human Rights Commission has been a dear and close and dear commission and a very um good start for us to get more involved in this community and give that uh we definitely know how much is important
▶ 28:00 Maya Jamaleddine: these moments um to get approved for this budget and we know that we went through that before um and um you guys give way more than what the budget is so i definitely feel um the the budget that is allocated for you is um way less than what you guys do and way less than what we needed and um rose but we appreciate your work um and i would like to move uh and make a motion to move it to bottom line second we have a motion to move the bottom line on on Department 544, the Human Rights Commission, made by Councilor Jamaleddine, seconded by Councilor Migliorelli on discussion. Seeing none, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Chair McNaught? Yes. Vice Chair Eccles? Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi?
▶ 29:06 Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. Councilor Garipay? Yes. Councilor Grigoraitis? Yes. Councilor Migliorelli. Yes. Councilor Thomas. Yes. Yes. Councilor Domenico. Yes. President Cinella. Yes. 10 yes. Motion passes. Mike, thank you for being with us. Thank you for what you and the Human Rights Commission do all year. I'll say that on behalf of all the alumni here in the city council we're we're stocked we're chuckled thank you um next we have the city solicitor i believe mr van campen can you hear us mr van campen i can hear you can you hear me yes i can hear and see you perfect thank you mr shaman for um having me can you hear me Yes. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for having me. Members of the committee,
▶ 30:34 Shawn M. MacMaster: I'm here before you this evening to present the FY22 budget for the legal department and can report that other than the salaries line, there are relatively no changes to any line items in the department. I'm here this evening, Mr. Chairman, simply to answer your questions and that's why you're having entertainment this time thank you mr city solicitor do any countries have any questions for mr van campen council mcmaster thank you mr chair i actually don't have a question for mr van campen but uh as um all of you know this is his last time uh appearing before us i think today is his last day with the city so i just wanted to thank you mr van campen and um acknowledge your years of service with melrose you're really a true asset a real
▶ 31:33 Jeff McNaught: public servant. It's been an honor and a privilege working with you. I will miss working with you personally. You've always been highly responsive and a real class act and I wish you the best and your family the best in the future. Thank you, Councillor. Mr. Van Kampen, I'd like to echo what Councillor McMaster said and also say that you and I met in the legal community before I became a city councillor and I can say there are a few attorneys out there, like yourself, that are an absolute pleasure to work with. And, you know, let's not say all attorneys are bad. This isn't a lawyer joke, but it's pretty rare when you have opposing counsel that you would rather not refer to as an opponent because you're excellent to deal with and you're an honorable opponent.
▶ 32:29 Jeff McNaught: As Council McMaster said, a huge asset to the city of Melrose and you will be missed. Thank you. Thank you. I should say, for the record, I would have invited my wife to watch this meeting tonight so she could hear all these accolades. Appreciate that. Thank you. Seeing no other hands raised, what is the will of the committee on Department 151, the city solicitor? motion to move the bottom line motion to move the bottom line made by council Migliorelli seconded by councillor Garipay madam clerk we please call the roll chair McNaught yes vice chair Eccles yes councillor Trey Montozzi yes councillor McMaster yes councillor Garipay yes councillor Vigoritis. Yes. Councilor Migliorelli. Yes. Councilor Thomas. Councilor
▶ 33:37 Jamaleddine. Yes. President Cinella. Yes. Councilor Thomas. Yes. Ken Yess. I apologize I'm having some technical difficulties. That's okay Councilor Thomas. It's a pleasure as always counselor Thomas Thank You mr. van Kampen and so long for now thank you mr. chairman just so the committee knows I'm also here for the Liquor Commission order as well okay all right so next up we have department 165 the Liquor Commission Thank You mr. chairman the Liquor Commission is basically being level funded from the prior fiscal year just by way of explanation. The two line items that comprise this budget, one dealing with professional services, those are things like mailings, any required notifications, any documentation that has to be generated. COVID-19 resulted in a
▶ 34:43 Jeff McNaught: relatively quiet year in that regard. Compliance checks are funded through the Liquor Commission. They're conducted by the Melrose Health Department and as you can see from the history here there have been no expenses from this line item but it is held simply for the purpose of ensuring that we do those compliance checks on a on an ongoing basis so I request favorable action on this budget mr. chairman thank you mr. van Campen it do any councils have any questions on department 165 the liquor Commission Seeing no hands raised, what's the will of the committee? Motion to move the bottom line. Second. We have a motion to move the bottom line, made by Vice Chair Eccles, seconded by Councilor Garipay. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Chair
▶ 35:37 McNaught? Yes. Vice Chair Eccles? Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. Councillor Garipay? Yes. Councillor Grigoraitis? Yes. Councillor Thomas? Yes. Councillor Migliorelli? Yes. Councillor Jamaleddine? Yes. President Sinella? Yes. Mr. Chairman could I just offer just from from myself to the members of the city council my own heartfelt thanks for working so collaboratively during your time in office i'm basically the old man in the crowd these days but you know over the last two years this city council has really done a tremendous job and and doing it during you know a 100-year pandemic i stand in awe of the city council and i do want to thank all of you for the service i know how difficult your job is on a day-to-day basis and you're called on to make
▶ 36:41 some decisions some are popular and some are unpopular so i commend you all for the work you do i wish you all nothing but the best in the years ahead and uh i suspect our paths will cross at some point thank you mr chairman thank you so much next we we have the human resources department 152. i believe we have miss lata coming into the room can you hear us miss lata i can i am joining right now good evening good evening can you hear me we can hear you and see you on the floor is yours great thank you uh my name is paulina lata i'm the hr director for the city of melrose and i'm here to present uh four budgets the human resources department workers compensation unemployment compensation, and benefits or health contractual budget. You have the HR
▶ 38:10 responsibilities outlined in the document that I shared with you earlier. We have two staff members, I and the HR coordinator, Diane Barrett. Over the past four months, Marian Long has been assisting on very part-time basis and i wanted to acknowledge her huge help because without her it would have been very challenging to recruit and hire the speed that we have been doing it and in addition i just wanted to acknowledge uh some of my co-workers who support me on daily basis the legal department being one of them kelly cogovan the executive legal assistant and she she She assists with processing injured claims, unemployment, processing cars for new hires. Rob Van Kampen, who guides and advises us in so many areas, and his departure will be greatly, greatly missed.
▶ 39:09 It's been an honor to work with him. And the finance office that consists of so many talented employees, Jill Irving, Katie Canwell, Kerry Golden, the assistant auditor who has been instrumental with the budget presentation, Donna Cardillo, and of course, Patrick De La Russo. And finally, I just wanted to recognize you and working with you has been really great. I want to thank you for approving the funding for the much needed company class study as well as the funding for the needs assessment audit. And I'd like to extend to tonight again, your support to pass my budget and to pass the funding for the audit implementation. This is just the beginning of the road. And we need your support in the funding in order to.
▶ 40:07 accomplish much needed change in the areas of anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion for the City of Melrose. So this is just my little intro, and I can start going over my budgets. We don't have too many changes, too many increases in the HR budget, the human resources salary the advertising line item has increased and the reason for the increase is in order to diversify recruiting efforts so therefore again we need funding to recruit widely use different avenues also the salaries line item has increased I have requested for an HR funding for an HR assistant for fiscal year 22 the hr assistant's role will help free much of my time to focus on the important di initiatives and other priorities as this person would take on some of them
▶ 41:21 recruiting assisting with recruiting clerical responsibilities managing leaves accruals as well as workers' compensation management. I'm doing all of this currently. As I transitioned into the role, I still have these responsibilities. So having an HR assistant will really free my time to focus on and drive all these other important priorities. And under the HR budget, the other line item is the flexible spending account. We have increased it by a thousand dollars and that's due to um enrollment higher enrollment in flexible spending account um i think that's with my human resources department budget i guess i'll continue on and if anybody has questions um my next budget is the workers compensation budget it has been
▶ 42:30 in level funded, except for the expenses line item, which has increased by $10,000. We have hired an outside counsel to assist on as needed basis with some litigation cases and some more complex workers comp cases. And that's just part of the, I guess, doing business, the cost of doing business. Otherwise with workers compensation, with level funding, We currently have 3 long term recipients of workers compensation. Benefits, I will continue to my unemployment budget. The unemployment budget has been level funded as well. We have had quite a year with unemployment, um, 6. We have had quite a year with unemployment, um, Lots of fraudulent cases were coming along, but we have been able to respond swiftly
▶ 43:42 and research and resolve them as they come. So I have to actually recognize Kelly Corgovan for these efforts. She has been great with emailing employees, contacting the Department of Unemployment, fraudulent unit our third party administrator and then the next step on my end as i see any any type of cases on our bill fraudulent cases i dispute them right away um as well as well as donna cohen who is the school a benefits administrator who disputes the school unemployment cases so um i think that's for the unemployment budget we're level funding for now Now, we are, we're getting a lot of credit for unemployment cases that have been fraudulent cases that have been resolved by the, uh, so that's, that's a good sign.
▶ 44:43 And I think that's, that's all I have to say for the unemployment, but if you have any questions, you can ask me after. Thank you. Oh, sorry, I have 1 more. Sorry, I didn't write it through at that bottom 1 yet. Go ahead. I apologize. Yeah. And lastly, the health insurance budget, so the health insurance budget. There's an increase of approximately 715,000. The average increase on the plans for health insurance plans for fiscal year 22. Was anywhere between 3% to 12% ranging. So the average increase was 5%. And actually, that's what. How it's translated for the city of Melrose as well of 5% based on the current enrollment and the type of planes are employees enrolling in. The criteria that we used projecting fiscal year 22 budget was using the actual April enrollment.
▶ 45:55 And using fiscal year 22 rates. We also took into consideration some of the, the vacancies that we have retirements and some added positions. And we took, we assume the average cost of a family plan for all of these. Open positions and vacancies is kind of like the worst case scenario. If we have new employee, we're assuming they're the average cost for family plan. In order to predict the fiscal year 22 budget. I think, I think that's, that's all and I'll just open the floor for any questions that you may have for me. Thank you director. We do have Council McMaster has his hand raised. Do you have anyone else? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. At this time, I'd make a motion to conjoin departments 152, human resources, 912, workers compensation, 913, unemployment, and 914, health contractual.
▶ 47:16 Jeff McNaught: Second. Okay, so we have a motion by Council McMaster to conjoin Departments 152, 912, 913, and 914 all falling under Human Resources, seconded by Councilor Garipay. On discussion? Seeing none, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Chair McNaught? Yes. Vice Chair Eccles? Yes, yeah. Yes. Counselor McMaster yes. Consulate yes. Council of Grigoraitis yes. Council, Emily really? Yes. Counselor Thomas yes. Yeah, yeah. Yes. And yes, the motion to conjoin all line items. under human resources passes. Councilor Migliorelli, you had your hand raised as well. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Ms. Latza, for being here tonight. Just have a couple of clarifying questions about your budget. You mentioned that it's a new position,
▶ 48:34 Leila Migliorelli: the HR assistant is a new position, but the salary doesn't look like it's increasing of like an entire position. Can you just clarify that for the public? Yes, I can clarify. So it's a new position, and it will be paid 50% through the health insurance budget and 50% for salaries, which is the way that the HR coordinator's salary is broken down. There isn't too much of an increase because Marianne Long retired, so her salary was much higher. And then I changed positions. My salary in my previous role was higher. So, um, that was kind of the reason for the absorption. Thank you. Um, I will probably motion to add this email to the record at some point, but just wanted to reference the email that you sent earlier to the council.
▶ 49:31 Leila Migliorelli: Um, and it just touching upon this free cash item. So. The, you know, the plan that I think the council had been aware of was that this 100,000 dollars was going to help implement the work of the consultant that has been has been hired and work is underway. I'm wondering if you could just fill in the council a little bit about the progress on that. Yes, absolutely. So, the work with Visions, which is the firm that we have hired to conduct this audit, started a little bit late due to the Chief of Staff's departure, and he was leading the efforts. Well, since then, Brianna Garcia in the Mayor's Office, she's the Administrative and Communications Coordinator in the Mayor's Office, has taken the lead on the coordination's efforts.
▶ 50:21 So the work started technically sometime in April, and since then, a working group of six people was compiled, and these people have expertise in different areas. Brianna Garcia is the Communications Administrative Coordinator, Emma Schnoor, she represents the Office of Planning and Community Development, Dr. Margaret Adams, who is the Assistant Superintendent, Manjula Karamchetti, who is a TI Professional, Emmanuel Andrade, Architect and Urban Planner, who has expertise in promoting equity in the architectural field, and Caitlin Beattie, an attorney with much civil works, civil rights work and social justice reform expertise. So they all have been working very closely with Visions. They've had three or four meetings, I believe
▶ 51:22 three meetings so far. They're completing the planning and the assessment portion of the study. They are finalizing, or they have actually almost finalized the focus groups, which will collect qualitative data. They have, during the process, again, almost finalized the survey questions to obtain the quantitative data. And within the next week or so, they will test the functionality of the survey. and this survey will be sent out widely to City of Melrose residents, City of Melrose employees, parents of Melrose students. Following the survey, Visions will hold individual interviews with Melrose leadership and with the focus groups and that will happen, that's set to happen sometime towards the end of June. Of course, with the data obtained after the study, the data will be
▶ 52:26 Analyzed and presented to the larger community. Uh, with a report in a report with recommendations, and that's scheduled to happen something before the end of the summer. Um, HR has not been involved in the initial stages. Uh, but we'll certainly be involved in the implementation stages. Um, and the interview, of course, stages of the. Of that process, and that that is why I'm here to ask that. The city council approves the funding of 100,000 from free cash because although yes, we do have the audit under the underway. That's only the very beginning. We need to implement if you want to make a difference if you want to commit to anti racism and then inequity in a stronger community, building a stronger community, we have to commit to the funding.
▶ 53:23 Leila Migliorelli: And that's why I'm here to ask for that funding tonight. That's thank you. Yeah. Yeah, thank you. And I realized I kind of jumped ahead in the agenda on skipping to a question regarding the free cash order. So my apologies for going out of order, but just to tie it back to the budget. And this may also link to the free cash request potentially. So, if. will there be um are you is the hr department responsible for um professional development regarding like di training is that something that would come out of your department or just each department is that um you know more uh just siloed within each department how or is that something you how is it now and how do you see it going in the future so um right now what i have
▶ 54:13 done over the past few months. We don't have funding for professional development or training but I have been able to find resources that were free and we have started a training calendar for managers and I have created this calendar for the months to come and diversity and equity training is part of this training calendar so i am the one who's coordinating it again we just started on a department head level um but this would fall i can imagine on the in the hr department um the results of the dei um recommend audit recommendations um i'm sure will point to to some train that has to be done because it is important. So that will fall on the HR department, the funding, yeah. All right, thank you, Ms. Latta.
▶ 55:15 Mark Garipay: That's all for my questions right now. Thank you, Councilor McGillivray. Councilor Karamcheti. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Ms. Latta for being here. I have one more probably informational question regarding the health benefits. The health benefits that includes the school department, correct? Yes, okay, so on the school department benefits, the city absorbs all the health benefits of the school side of the salaries in their budget. Correct, so any additional. Employees that are hiding each year. The city continues to absorb those benefits. So. Okay, I think I think that's good to get out there for the, for the public to see when you see the number of 13Million, it doesn't just include the city side. It is also the school, the school department side that the, that the city budget is paying for the health benefits.
▶ 56:14 So, I think that's just more of an informational. I think when you look at the 13Million, I think that's a, that's a number that, um. Jumps out at you, so you, uh, I think I think it should be out there just so everyone sees that. Thank you. No, that's a very good clarification because the, this number includes any current vacancies for the school school and city retirements for the school and city and additional positions for school and city. Thank you next. I have council greatest and culture and following. Am I missing anyone else? Thank you Chairman McNaught. Thank you Ms. Lata for being here tonight. I just have a couple quick questions and Councillor Garrapace that gave me a very nice setup. Mine is related to schools.
▶ 57:07 Jen Grigoraitis: I know that one of the asks on the school side that went unfunded in their budget process this year was some HR support. They obviously have also had really significant HR needs this year due to COVID. I know all of that falls on your department. Do you anticipate that this additional FTE will enable you to help meet some of those unmet needs on the school side of HR? The additional FTE that's simply on the on the city side, there's, yeah. That is on the city side. I mean, we we are available for uh this for the school uh benefits administration to whenever they need us but no this position is strictly for the city uh city employees in hr assistance for the for the city not the school okay so it will not be helping to
▶ 58:05 Jen Grigoraitis: fill that need on the school side no okay um and then another question i see that you um increase the budget for advertising as you mentioned to increase where we're putting out job applications i know you've had a very busy year of hiring i would assume probably a typically high um i know we said goodbye to two of your colleagues earlier tonight um are you seeing a benefit in increasing the diversity of applicants thus far for all of the positions that we've been posting given some of the new methods you put in place i uh yes i actually i am seeing applicants of different backgrounds, diverse backgrounds applying, which is, I think, thanks to the various sources that we are using, more targeted sources. So yes, I'm definitely
▶ 59:00 seeing a difference. So you're starting to collect data so we have an understanding of how many candidates of color, how many veterans, how many persons with disabilities are, you know to sort of measure the effectiveness of our change and how we're seeking candidates well I have to say it's a little bit hard to collect data because often we would just have a name and so I don't always know but when we go for the interview then we know okay well this person is a person of color otherwise it's sometimes difficult to tell who is applying and we I don't have in my department right now the capacity to collect data with the number of openings we have and the number of you know people that are coming through the door applying for position i'll give
▶ 59:57 Maya Jamaleddine: you a simple example that we posted a labor's position we had over a hundred resumes and that's just one position that i had to review so uh we don't have currently the capacity to collect data okay thank you i have no other question thank you councillor Grigoraitis councillor chabality thank you thank you uh for being uh with us today um miss clara and i do um actually i did have two questions but i wanted to continue um the question that um my fellow counselor um started um so you said that you started seeing some changes in the applicants so based on what you felt that there is changes and progress uh based on where they're um you know where they're applying from so depending on the channels that we are using
▶ 1:01:07 Um, sometimes we have been using a lot of LinkedIn and, um. There are diverse applicants because they, you know, you can see pictures and they can, uh, they can often add it in their resumes. Um, but I don't know, I can't tell you the number of diverse applicants we have had. Okay, so so so your answer is based on. Um, on the number of applicants, or on the pictures. That we've seen what I'm trying to say is that, let's say, with LinkedIn, you know, have been on LinkedIn, you would often see. Applicants come through and they will have their pictures. They can tell. Okay. So diverse applicant. Then we would interview applicants and we'll find out that they're diverse applicants that we may not necessarily.
▶ 1:02:05 Maya Jamaleddine: We, I have been trying to. It's very difficult right now, blind resumes and where blind resume review where we are covering the name. And the, um, the name address contact information. So that when we interview via Zoom or Webex, we're not always, we don't always know who's going to be on the other side. We don't know they're diverse until we see them. So I can tell that we have more diverse applicants. We may have even more, but it's hard to capture. I understand. My next question was, so during when Mrs. Long was, you know, um you know still um the director how many positions did we have in hr two so it was you and mrs long yes and um and it was was it the same amount of work you want workload or was it
▶ 1:03:16 different well uh workload changes with the times and especially over the past several years our workload has increased due to federal and state requirements, reporting requirements, due to the number of employees we are hiring, the number of retirees we have. Retirees leave longer. Our workload has been really not sustainable prior to the pandemic. We have requested for traditional staff several times but um at the time it wasn't a priority since the pandemic the workload has increased even further so if you think of the you know trying to prepare the city for all the operational challenges that the pandemic brought to trying to interpret state federal laws employees on them and then focusing on the diversity recruitment focusing on
▶ 1:04:24 Maya Jamaleddine: performance management that was a focus for the mayor and me as an hr director so our and now with a tremendous change in departments retirements and resignations and overall changes in departments our workload has significantly increased. So it wasn't really sustainable prior to the pandemic, but since the pandemic, it has gotten worse. And in order to be able to provide the best services to the city, we need another person. Okay, thank you for clarifying. So my, from my understanding, the reason why we created your, you know, you're proposing to create this new Um, position is actually because the load work has increased. And, um, that would explain. The new position that you would like to add.
▶ 1:05:24 Jen Grigoraitis: Yes, okay. Okay. Thank you. Yes, a motion to move the bottom line is conjoined Mr. Chairman. The motion to move the bottom line. Of. Human Resources lines 152, 912, 913, and 914 that were already previously conjoined, made by Councilor McMaster, seconded by Councilor Garipay. On discussion, I see Councilor Grigoraitis has her hand raised. Thank you, Chairman McNaught, and I'm happy to move the bottom line. I just, given the way this conversation has gone, just want to say that I really hope, Ms. Lata, I know you're managing a very heavy load and are understaffed, but I really think we've got to move toward a situation where we're collecting data and asking people to self identify. I think there's so many forms of diversity that are not readily apparent from a photograph and I really want, you know, I know we're all in this shared mission of wanting to see our city be inclusive.
▶ 1:06:36 And I think that there's definitely room for growth for all of us and how we do that. So, I look forward to hearing how this increase in funding on the advertising line, hopefully helps us develop more robust data to see how it's actually impacting who we hire. So, thank you. Claire, can you please call the roll? Chair McNaught? Yes. Vice Chair Eccles? Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. Councilor Garipay? Yes. Councilor Grigoraitis? Yes. Councilor Migliorelli? Yes. Councilor Thomas? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. President Sinella? Yes. Yes. The motion passed. Ms. Lanta, if you would like to hang with us for a couple of quick minutes here, we're just going to hold a couple of other orders that we have to do procedurally,
▶ 1:07:42 Jeff McNaught: and then we'll be moving on to the two orders that fall into your department. Welcome to stay or hop out and come back, but it should be really quick. At this time, I will entertain a motion to hold 2021-122 in committee. That's the city's budget. So moved. Motion to hold 2021-122 in committee, And by Councilor McMaster, seconded by Councilor Garipay. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Chair McNaught? Yes. Chair Eccles? Yes. Councillor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councillor McMaster? Yes. Councillor Garipay? Yes. Councillor Grigoraitis? Yes. Councillor Migliorelli? Yes. Councillor Thomas? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. President Cinella? Yes. And yes. Motion passes. The budget is held in committee until tomorrow evening when we reconvene again, but we've got to do the same
▶ 1:08:55 Jeff McNaught: with 2021-128. I'll entertain a motion to hold that in committee. So moved. motion to hold 2021-128 in committee made by council mcmaster seconded by president sanella adam clark will you please spell the role chair mcnaught yes vice chair eccles yes councillor trey Manisha yes councillor mcmaster yes councillor Garipay yes council Grigoraitis Yes. Yes. Councilor Migliorelli? Yes. Councilor Thomas? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. President Cinella? Yes. And yes. The motion passes. And next we have order 2021-140, a transfer from health insurance account 019142-54920124. Human resources schooling account number 0, 1, 1. 5, 2, 2, 5, 4, 0, 7, 0, 0. I don't know if you have anything to present on this, or if anyone.
▶ 1:10:23 And the council has any questions for you on it. I can just share just very briefly that the reason for this transfer sort of the city of minerals. Can meet the obligation under the clerical union contract. Um, we have an employee in the clerical union who has, um, successfully passed, um, completed a course related to his work here and under the, it's our obligation to, um. To process tuition reimbursement for him. Thank you director. Um, seeing no hands raised what is the will of the committee. Motion to recommend for passage. Second. Motion to recommend for passage made by Councillor Garipay, seconded by President Sinella on discussion. Councillor McMaster. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Director Lochte, I don't see the actual transfer amount on the agenda.
▶ 1:11:32 Jeff McNaught: For the public certification, how much? It's 5,000 5,000 dollars. I believe it looks like a 5,000 dollar tuition reimbursement. So, yeah. Okay. Yes. Any other questions, Madam clerk, please call the roll. Chairman not yes. Yes. Vice chair Eccles. Yes, yes. Yes. Councilor McMaster yes. Yes. yeah councilor Grigoraitis yes yeah council megliarelli yes councillor thomas yes councilor malady yes yes president senella yes and yes motion passes and last we have order 2021-131 And appropriation from free cash account 0, 1, dash 3, 2, 4, 0, 0, 1. And the amount of 100,000 dollars to human resources, professional services account 0, 1, 1. 5, 2, 2, dash 5, 2, 9, 0, 0, 0. If you would like to preview that for us, you may.
▶ 1:12:58 Yes, thank you. Uh, the human resources department is requesting a transfer from a free cash in the amount of 100,000 dollars in order to implement the recommendation of the diversity audit. That's currently under. Undergoing conducted by visions. The work of the consultant has began and it will end with the recommend recommendations by the end of the. Summer, and the next step is for the city of minerals to implement. To fund the implementation of. The recommendations, as I said, this is a really. Really important funding in order to ensure that any decisions that are made. Are made through the lens of equity and anti racism, diversity and inclusion. I would ask that the City Council have a standing.
▶ 1:14:04 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you, Director Lata. Do any councillors have any questions for Ms. Lata? Councillor Garipay? No questions. I was going to make a motion for recommended passage. Second. Motion by Councillor Garipay to recommend for passage, seconded by President Cinella. On discussion, I see Councillor Jamaleddine hand raised. I just wanted to mention something before we move. It's just because it was said publicly and I feel as an elected official, my role is to acknowledge it publicly. I think the answer that was provided about Identifying our applicant by their picture was very inappropriate. I would like to apologize from our community. And that this was not supposed to be said. We should not identify anyone.
▶ 1:15:10 Jeff McNaught: Based on the way that they look, and I cannot say, I cannot identify a person. if they are from the LGBT community from the way that they look or veterans or Muslims. So this was very inappropriate and I wish and I hope that Mrs. Lata would review that. I apologize. I did not mean any disrespect and I apologize for that. Thank you. I appreciate this. When you said that you were referring to people applying through LinkedIn, when that application comes through on LinkedIn, where most people have their picture posted, does their picture come with the application? Yes, well, I have to click on to download the application. Sometimes the picture comes with the application. Yes. So, you see the person who's applied, you're not going and searching the person to see what they look like.
▶ 1:16:15 Jeff McNaught: Was applied no, no. Okay. I just wanted to clear that up. Yeah. Yeah. I wanted to clear up that. Nobody has to tell. You anything about themselves when they are applying for a position, any identifying information that's not required either. Correct? That is not required. That's correct. We don't have it in our best information that we gather once we hire the employee in our demographics form, but not prior to that. Right and I say this is a steadfast supporter of all of our DEI initiatives. I just want to clarify these things for the purposes of our discussion this evening. Thank you, Ms. Latta. Anything else from any of the other councillors? Councillor Migliorelli. Thank you, Mr. Chair and thank you again Ms. Latta for speaking tonight.
▶ 1:17:04 Leila Migliorelli: I think just a point of clarification, I think the, if I don't want to speak on behalf of councillor jamala dean but i think she's just referencing the fact that you can't make a judgment about what someone looks like by just their photo so whether they apply with a photo or without a photo that's i mean we can look around this uh virtual page and and not know exactly what um anyone's backgrounds are just by sight but that all being said i think this is um you know it's thank you ms lata for your apology and i think that this is a great learning moments and um a good opportunity uh for us to invest in dei so that it's not only about things that are overt but it's sometimes uh you know a miss misspoken phrase or not understanding
▶ 1:17:48 the impact of of what words are on certain populations and i think um while you probably did not intend it it's a learning moment and i think it's something that um that that we should should be investing in so I will be supporting this order for free cash for DEI thank you thank you madam clerk we please call the roll chair McNaught yes vice chair Eccles yes councillor Trey Manisha yes yeah councillor McMaster yes councillor Garipay yeah councillor Grigoraitis yes Yes. Councilor Migliorelli? Yes. Councilor Thomas? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. Councilor, excuse me, President Cinella? Yes. Tanyas? Motion passes and that concludes our business for the evening. Councilor McMaster? Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
▶ 1:18:52 We did receive citizen correspondence relating to this order, so at this time I would make a motion to attach to order 2021-131, the citizen correspondence that we've received via email and any other correspondence that may have been communicated in writing to the council. Again. I motion to attach all correspondence related to order 2021-131 made by Councilor McMaster, and I believe that was seconded by Vice Chair Eccles. Adam Clark, please call the roll. Chair McNaught? Yes. Vice Chair Eccles? Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. Councilor Garipay? Yes. Councilor Grigoraitis? Yes. Councilor Migliorelli? Yes. Councilor Thomas? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. President Sinella yes and yes.
▶ 1:20:00 Motion passes entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion of adjourn second. Motion to adjourn made by President Sinella seconded by Councilor Garipay. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Chair McNaught? Yes. Vice Chair Eccles? Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. Councilor Garipay? Yes. Councilor Grigoraitis? Yes. Councilor Migliorelli? Yes. Councilor Thomas? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. President Cinella? Yes. Ken Yess? We are adjourned. See everybody back here tomorrow night, 6.30.