City Council — 2021-07-19

City Council Regular Meeting

This meeting starts at 47:50 in a recording that covers several meetings.

Attendance

Christopher Cinella present · President; Jack Eccles present · At-Large; Mark Garipay present · Ward 4; Jen Grigoraitis present · Ward 6; Maya Jamaleddine present · At-Large; Shawn M. MacMaster present · Ward 5; Jeff McNaught present · Ward 2; Leila Migliorelli present · At-Large; Robb Stewart present · Ward 3; Cory Thomas present · Ward 7; John N. Tramontozzi present · Ward 1

Agenda

Minutes

CITY OF MELROSE CITY COUNCIL BULLETIN● JULY 19, 2021 Council Chamber, First Floor, Melrose City Hall Regular Meeting 7:45 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Christopher Cinella President Present Jack Eccles At-Large Present Maya Jamaleddine At-Large Present Leila Migliorelli At-Large Present John N. Tramontozzi Ward 1 Present Jeff McNaught Ward 2 Present Robb Stewart Ward 3 Present Mark Garipay Ward 4 Present Shawn M. MacMaster Ward 5 Present Jen Grigoraitis Ward 6 Present Cory Thomas Ward 7 Present Pledge of Allegiance

ORDER-2022-1 Appointment Appointment of Sarah MacLellan, 66 Wheeler Ave, to the Board of Assessors for a three-year term, said term to end on the last day of February, 2024 Passed

ORDER-2022-2 Appropriation An appropriation from Capital Stabilization, account number 84052-590000, in the amount of $20,000.00 to Veteran's Professional Services, account number 015432-529000 for restoration of the Veteran's Honor Roll. Assigned to Committee Appropriations Committee

ORDER-2022-3 Grant Authorization of Accept Two renewable AFDA grants in the amount of $2,500.00 each for the Health Department Assigned to Committee Appropriations Committee

ORDER-2022-4 Grant Authorization to Accept a Grant in the amount of $28,822.75 from the MassDOT Shared Streets and Spaces Program; and Authorize the Mayor to Execute a Contract with MassDOT; funds to be deposited into Fund #4043 Passed

ORDER-2022-5 Grant City of Melrose Page 1 7/22/2021 12:34 PM Minutes City Council July 19, 2021 Authorization to Accept a Grant in the amount of $104,663.00 from the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) through the Green Communities Division; and Authorize the Mayor to Execute a Contract with the Department of Energy Resources; funds to be deposited into Fund #4030 Passed

ORDER-2022-6 Appointment Appointment of Greg DeLaurier, 90 Grove Street Apt B, to the Council on Aging; said term to expire on the last day of February 2024. Assigned to Committee Health, Education & Welfare Committee

ORDER-2022-7 Appointment Appointment of David Kourtz. 64 Moreland Rd., to the Council on Aging; said term to expire on the last day of February 2024. Assigned to Committee Health, Education & Welfare Committee

ORDER-2022-8 Appointment Appointment of Gwendolyn Orford. 28 Otis St., to the Conservation Commission; said term to expire on the last day of February 2024. Assigned to Committee

ORDER-2022-9 Appointment Appointment of Thais De Marco, 323 Grove Street, to the Affordable Housing Trust, for a two-year term, said term to expire the last day of January 2023. Assigned to Committee Health, Education & Welfare Committee

ORDER-2022-10 Appointment Appointment of Lillian Yargood Kelly, 117 Boston Rock Rd., to the Board of Health for a three-year term; said term to expire on the last day of February 2024 Assigned to Committee Health, Education & Welfare Committee

ORDER-2021-160 Request Requesting that the Honorable City Council review and take action relative to recommendations made by the Board of Registrars of Voters for the consolidation of non-ADA compliant polling locations in the City of Melrose in accordance with information provided by Secretary of State William Galvin's office. Assigned to Committee Legal & Legislative Committee

ORDER-2022-11 Informational City of Melrose Page 2 7/22/2021 12:34 PM Minutes City Council July 19, 2021 An Order on the Status of Various Park Commission Projects Assigned to Committee Appropriations Committee

RES-2021-4 Resolution A Resolution for Expanding Access to Local Government in the City of Melrose

ORDER-2021-155 Appointment Appointment of Lindsay Toghill to the Historic District Commission; said term to end on the last day of February, 2024 Passed

ORDER-2021-158 Utility Petition Petition of National Grid to install approximately 880 feet of concrete encased electric ducts from existing manhole A-510 to an existing pad mount transformer at 585 Lebanon St. in accordance with Rowe St. Plan #27967397 Placed on File

ORDER-2021-159 Utility Petition Petition of National Grid to relocate 1 JO pole (# 1570) on Orient Ave beginning at a point approximately 276 feet north of the centerline at the Orient Ave and East Emerson St intersection. To be moved +/- 14 ft north Placed on File City of Melrose Page 3 7/22/2021 12:34 PM

Transcript

▶ 48:31 Christopher Cinella: Here. Councilor Migliorelli. Here. Councilor Stewart? Here. Councilor Thomas? Here. Councilor Tramontozzi? Here. President Sinella? Here. 11 present. And please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. All right. first item this evening if there's no objection I would like to approve our June 21st minutes without reading into the record and seeing there's no objection those meeting minutes are now approved if there's no objection I'd like to open the floor for a public comment if there's anybody in the audience wishing to speak on any matter that's before us this evening please

▶ 49:31 Christopher Cinella: come forward um anybody remotely there's just one individual from the previous meeting let me just ask if you would like to speak at full council please raise your digital hand okay if there's no objection i'd like to close public comments public comment is now closed madam clerk communications from his honor the mayor and other city officials order 2021 2 excuse me dash 1 appointment of sarah mcclellan 66 wheeler ab to the board of assessors for a three-year term said term to end on the last day of february 2024. mr president um i'd like to request immediate consideration okay we have media consideration on this order before us and seeing no objection this matter is now before us we do have some uh we can get a suspension of the rules motion to suspend the rules

▶ 50:31 Paul Brodeur: Second. Motion to suspend the rules. Made by Councilor Goodright. Seconded by Councilor Migliorelli. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Our rules are now suspended. I believe we have Mayor Broder with us this evening. Good evening again. I appreciate, Councilor, the immediate consideration so you can consider this incredibly qualified candidate. So Sarah McLellan may be known to many of you because she has been in the community some time but more importantly in terms of your experience she has been employed by the city for a number of years first in the auditor's office and then in the assessor's office and now is very well positioned to take over where mr. Wilcox left off as you know this office is one that sometimes presents

▶ 51:30 Paul Brodeur: challenges as folks have concerns about their their tax bills or whatever the case may be that's one piece of it but it's a very very important customer service piece the office has had high standards and i know that miss mcclellan is part of that is part of her her work ethic in addition if you take a minute to peruse her resume as i know you will have you will see that she is incredibly credentialed and competent and importantly has relationships within city government so that if folks need to collaborate on things like the treasurer's office, needing information about property values, tax certifications, whatever the case may be, she's already done that kind of work and is very much well positioned to lead the

▶ 52:25 department. And so I am very enthusiastic about coming before you today to offer her candidacy to you and with that I'll turn it over to thank you and thank you to the counselors for your consideration as you know for the past several years I've worked in the assessor's office with Chris Wilcock Chris has been a great mentor to me and he certainly leaves behind big shoes to fill I love working with the Melrose community and I'm excited for the opportunity to bring my background and my experience and assessing to um the role and the position on the board of assessors great um i welcome any questions that you have any questions no questions council Grigoraitis thank you president snella thank you mary broder and thank you ms mcclellan for being here i've had the opportunity to work

▶ 53:20 with ms mcclellan and some of her work in the community most notably the melrose ed foundation i know the dedication you bring to everything that you do i'm thrilled to see you stepping up to fill what we all know are some very big shoes um i look forward to seeing what you do i support this nomination thank you all right motion for to recommend for passage second i should recommend for passage made by counselor Grigoraitis seconded by counselor Garipay any other further discussion seeing none all those in favor all right any opposed seeing none welcome aboard thank you congratulations thank you very much thank you madam clerk order 2022-2 and appropriation from capital stabilization account number eight four zero five two dash five nine zero zero zero zero in the amount of

▶ 54:13 twenty thousand dollars to veterans professional services account number zero one five four three two dash five two nine zero zero zero for restoration of the veterans honor roll all right that'll go to appropriations committee that'll go to the appropriations committee correct order 2022-3 authorization of accept two renewable afda grants in the amount of two thousand five hundred dollars for each of the health department that is on appropriations order 2022-4 authorization to accept a grant in the amount of twenty eight thousand eight hundred twenty two dollars and seventy five cents from the mass d.o.t shared streets and spaces program and authorize the mayor to execute a contract with mass d.o.t funds to be deposited into fund

▶ 55:04 Denise Gaffey: number four zero four three at this time i'd like to move for immediate consideration of 2022-4 immediate consideration is being seeked for this order seeing no objection this order is now before us yep somebody going to speak to the order this is 2022-4-4 and our rules are under suspension still good evening miss kathleen hi it's a pleasure to be here tonight my name is denise gaffey i'm the director of planning community development and i just wanted to speak on behalf of a grant award that the city just received from the department of transportation and it's a shared street and spaces grant this initiative is a collaboration between the planning office and the public works department and we applied for funding in order to provide some improvements to the

▶ 56:09 Denise Gaffey: central terrace alleyway in collaboration or in conjunction with a mural that has been funded by our previous wayfinding initiative and that is planned for for that alleyway space so there's no additional matching funds required for this grant we would really appreciate immediate consideration as we have the muralist ready to go and we've also been waiting for this funding so we could do This as a comprehensive initiative, which will include paving the alley with new pavement closing off the curb which was a completion of an action that the Traffic Commissioner took a while back in order to To close off that alley from from vehicle travel given some of the safety concerns there it also adds a parking space on main street which were i think is a great is a win for the business

▶ 57:04 Denise Gaffey: community so we'll be able to complete all of those those elements of the of activating that space including purchasing some some furniture for seating for outdoor dining and and for other types of act informal activities so we hope to get this project underway right away and if we are successful in getting your consideration tonight appreciate it counselor Thomas Thank You mr. president miss Gaffey welcome we're having a good summer it's nice to see you thank you as any indication been given by the muralist of what the mural might be oh yes she's some she is she has given us some some sketches we actually have a meeting planned with the abutting properties that the mural is going to be on the pavement and then it's going to

▶ 57:58 Denise Gaffey: extend up the side of the YMCA building and that side alleyway area and so we are going to meet with the Y director as well as the Turner family and the resident at the very end of that alleyway we've been in touch with him as well and and go over some of the sketches she's provided a couple of different sketch concepts. Thank you very much. Anybody else have any questions? Councilor Grigoraitis. Thank you President Snell. Thank you Ms. Gaffey for being here. I just I'm thrilled about this project and I know I happen to witness a driver attempt to go down that alley recently and actually do some damage to both their car and the planter so I'm really happy from a safety perspective that we're pursuing a more permanent solution and one that brings art into our

▶ 58:46 community and some shared outdoor seating so i would make a motion for passage second got a motion for passage made by council Grigoraitis seconded by i think council mcnaught but council ackles did you raise your hand yeah i just i just wanted to call out if i could have a sec just that this was also part of the parking study right to make some improvements to that it was it's in it and also our master plan right yes so i just wanted to thank you appreciate it any other questions on discussion all right madam clerk if you could call the roll councillor eccles yes councillor Garipay yes councillor Grigoraitis yes councillor Jamaleddine yes councillor mcmaster yes councillor mcnaught yes councillor Migliorelli yes councillor stewart

▶ 59:34 yes councillor thomas yes councillor Tramontozzi yes president sanella yes 11 yes next up thanks very much order 2022-5 authorization to accept a grant in the amount of one hundred and four thousand six hundred sixty three dollars from the department of energy resources through the green communities division and authorize the mayor to execute a contract with the department of energy resources funds to be deposited into fund number four zero three zero mr president at this time i would move for immediate consideration of order 2022-5 i believe we have miss grover here to speak council mcnaught seeking immediate consideration on 2022-5 seeing no objection this is now before us and um miss grover good evening the floor is all yours uh i

▶ 1:00:29 sent you all a memo um this week that pretty much laid out what this great um grant award that we were just that we were just notified of um a week or so ago and this is our sixth green community grant we're now in the competitive green community grant phase and as i noted in my memo in the old days we used to be able to apply for 250 000 we're now in the 750 000 clubs so we're limited to a hundred thousand dollars so uh we consulted with our facility staff in dpw and we chose these two great projects to convert the original huge thousand gallon hot water tanks and system at the high school for the days when it was built when kids used to actually take showers after gym and downsizing the capacity to for electric heat pump hot water heaters and then converting all of the lighting

▶ 1:01:37 the lincoln to led and we've already done the roosevelt and we're we also are planning on doing a number of other schools this year during the conversion before the incentives run out but we decided to use go after the green community funding to go out to do these two projects and asking for immediate consideration tonight because we'd really like to get the domestic hot water project done before school opens so I'm here for questions if anybody has any Council McMaster Thank You mr. president Thank You miss Grover my apologies I didn't see the memo I just wanted to know if there was a match required by the city oh I forgot to mention that no match thank you any other questions what is the will motion to amend second approve made by

▶ 1:02:32 Councilor McNaught, seconded by Councilor Garipay on discussion. Seeing none, Madam Clerk, if you could call the roll. Councilor Eccles. Yes. Councilor Garipay. Yes. Councilor Grigoraitis. Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine. Yes. Councilor McMaster. Yes. Councilor McNaught. Yes. Councilor Migliorelli. Yes. Councilor Stewart. Yes. Councilor Thomas. Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi. Yes. President Samela. Yes. 11 yes. Order 2022-6. Appointment of Greg DeLaurier, 90 Grove Street, Apartment B, to the Council on Aging. Said term to expire on the last day of February 2024. That'll go to Health, Education, and Welfare. Order 2022-7. Appointment of David Quartz, 64 Mooreland Road, to the Council on Aging. Said term to expire on the last day of February 2024.

▶ 1:03:30 That'll go to Health, Education, and Welfare. Order 2022-8, appointment of Gwendolyn Orford, 28 Otis Street, to the Conservation Commissioner, said term to expire on the last day of February 2024. I'll go to the Committee on Public Service. Order 2022-9, appointment of Thais DeMarco, 323 Grove Street, to the Affordable Housing Trust, for a two-year term, said term to expire on the last day of February 2023. I've got to go to Health, Education, and Welfare. order 2022-10 appointment of lillian yargood kelly 117 boston rock road to the board of health for a three-year term said term to expire on the last day of february 2024 that'll go to health education and welfare and order 2021-160 requesting that the honorable city council review and take action

▶ 1:04:17 relative to recommendations made by the board of registrars of voters for the consolidation of non-ada compliant polling locations in the city of melrose in accordance with information provided by secretary of state william galvin's office and just some clarity around this particular order this is returning nearly for purposes of sponsorship and that'll go to back to legal and ledge do we have any new business we do order 2022-11 in order on the status of various park Commissioner projects that'll go to appropriations okay and we don't have any orders out of order we have some orders from committee Councilor McMaster yes Mr. President just a point of inquiry going back to order 2022-1 appointment of Sarah McLellan 66 Wheeler Ave to the board of assessors

▶ 1:05:13 Shawn M. MacMaster: for a three-year term said term to end on the last day of February 2024 I was a little confused during the presentation and I thought perhaps I was missing something the the agenda is for an appointment to the Board of Assessors which makes sense in that mr. Wilcox served on the Board of Assessors by virtue of his position but the presentation in the materials before us were for the actual position of chief assessor so I do think we need some clarity from the administration on what its intention was tonight because what we actually voted on was an appointment to the Board of Assessors which would be different than an appointment of a department head which typically wouldn't be done on the on the first night

▶ 1:06:02 Shawn M. MacMaster: anyways in the first reading of it so I do think we just I think the the the intention of all of us I think I can speak for myself was an appointment three-year term to the Board of Assessors the presentation and materials before us the resume and the cover letter um seemed to expect that tonight's hearing was on an appointment of a department head and that's not what we voted on so i do think we just need some clarity um and if the intention is to send that back before us um i think that that just needs to be made known to the administration that what we voted on tonight was an appointment to a three-year term on the Board of Assessors not on a nomination from the mayor for a department head here's the honorable

▶ 1:06:52 Paul Brodeur: mayor yes if you want to just add some clarity around as a technical point and it is a fairly technical point it is my understanding that technically the Board of assessors actually hire the chief assessor and concomitant with that if you will is we have often like with Mr. Wilcox in the case of some other candidates the that person has also served on the on the board of assessors okay any other further questions I don't think at this point thank you mr mayor so uh we have some uh orders from committee and does anybody want to pull up the resolution from appropriations thank you mr president at this time i i'd like to pull up resolution 2021-4 resolution for expanding access to local government in the city of melrose

▶ 1:07:59 Christopher Cinella: So it's a motion to pull that out of committee. And did I hear a second? Second. Seconded by Councilor Thomas. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Seeing none, so this matter is now before us. What is the will of the committee? Motion to place on file. Motion to place on file made by Councilor McNaught. Second. Seconded by Councilor Migliorelli. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. That's placed on file. Next, do you want to pull up any other orders from committee? We have 2021-155, Councilor Jamaleddine, or anybody- Which one you're referring to? The order in your committee this evening. Yep, I can pull it from committee, and at this time I would like to make a motion to recommend.

▶ 1:09:11 Christopher Cinella: first we'll take your motion to pull it up out of committee seconded by councillor Grigoraitis all those in favor aye any opposed seeing none now this order is before us since now it's before us I would like to this order comes from health education and welfare committee with a recommendation for passage at this time I would like to make a motion for passage second motion made for passage by councillor Jamala Dean seconded by councillor Eccles all those in favor aye any opposed seeing none that appointment passes and we had a couple things in Public Works yes we did so Thomas like to make a motion to to pull order 2021-158 out of the public works committee motion to pull 2021-158 from the public

▶ 1:10:21 works committee made by councillor thomas second seconded by councillor Garipay all those in favor any opposed seeing none that matter is now before us recommend order 2021-158 motion to place on file made by councillor thomas seconded by councillor mcnaught all those in favor aye aye any opposed okay i have to make a motion to pull order 2021-159 out of public works motion to pull 21-159 out of committee maybe council thomas seconded by counselor eccles all those in favor any opposed none this matters before us i'd like to make a motion to place on file order 2021-159 all right we have a motion to place on file made by councillor thomas seconded by councillor mcnaught all those in favor any opposed seeing none that is now

▶ 1:11:21 Christopher Cinella: placed on file um anything to report under rule 53 from any of our committee liaisons seeing none I guess we'll entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second motion to adjourn made by councillor Eccles yes we did counseling I went to appropriation it's really hot in this room so so a motion was made to adjourn I believe by councillor Eccles seconded by councillor McNaught I don't know if there's any discussion around that I don't think so all those in favor aye any opposed seeing none meeting is now adjourned

City Council — 2021-07-19

Attendance

Agenda

Minutes

Transcript

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