Legal & Legislative Committee — 2021-09-20

Legal & Legislative Remote meeting

This meeting starts at 29:31 in a recording that covers several meetings.

Attendance

Christopher Cinella present · President, ex oficio; Jack Eccles present · Voting; Jen Grigoraitis present · Chair; Shawn M. MacMaster present · Voting; Leila Migliorelli present · Vice Chair; John N. Tramontozzi present · Voting

Agenda

Minutes

CITY OF MELROSE LEGAL & LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE CALENDAR● SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 Web-based remote meeting Remote meeting 6:50 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 Jen Grigoraitis Chair Present Leila Migliorelli Vice Chair Present John N. Tramontozzi Voting Present Shawn M. MacMaster Voting Present Jack Eccles Voting Present Christopher Cinella President, ex oficio Present

ORDER-2022-16 Amending Revised Ordinances Amending Chapter 198 of the Revised Ordinances of the City of Melrose Solid Waste and Recycling Ordinance Update and Schedule of Fees Recommend as Amended City Council

ORDER-2022-21 Amending Revised Ordinances Amending Chapter 228 of the Revised Ordinances of the City of Melrose Water, Sewers, and Drains Recommend as Amended City Council

ORDER-2022-25 Amending Revised Ordinances Amending Chapter 198, Article II , Section 198-2 of the Revised Ordinances of the City of Melrose Collection and Disposal Recommend as Amended City Council City of Melrose Page 1 9/27/2021 12:45 PM

Transcript

▶ 29:31 Jen Grigoraitis: uh good evening the time is 6 50 p.m on monday september 20th 2021 and this is a meeting of the legal and legislative committee i'm jen Grigoraitis the chair and joining me tonight our vice chair Councilor Migliorelli and voting members councillors Tramontozzi uh mcmaster eccles and president sanella x officio i'm going to for purposes of the virtual room not list the names of any counselors who do not have their cameras on but they are of course welcome to join these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the city of melrose website and on mmtv3.org the public can find online access instructions to view this meeting at the city of melrose website and at this time i will without objection open the floor to public comment okay seeing no

▶ 30:39 Jen Grigoraitis: objection we'll now move to the public comment portion of our meeting this is when any member of the public can speak to any of the free items on our agenda um and if you are interested in speaking in public comment if you can please raise digital hand or i think it might be a checkmark. Also, can you hear me? I think I was having some tech issues. Yes, okay. Mr. Clerk, do we have anyone wishing to speak in public comment? I do not see anyone with a checkmark or their digital hand raised at this time. Okay, so we don't have anyone wishing to speak in public comment. So without objection, I will close public comment. Okay, so moving on, we are now at the portion of orders. We have three orders before us tonight and i believe we have members of the administration here to speak on

▶ 31:34 Jen Grigoraitis: the first two orders so i will entertain a motion to suspend the rules motion to suspend the rules second we have a motion to suspend the rules made by Councilor eccles seconded by vice chair Migliorelli mr clerk can you please call the roll chair Grigoraitis yes vice chair Migliorelli yes Councilor Tramontozzi yes Councilor McMaster yes Councilor Eccles yes President Zanella yes six yes okay thank you so the rules are now suspended um so the other request that I would make of the committee and please let me know if I'm losing audio um is and to entertain a motion to take order 2022-21 amending chapter 228 of the revised ordinances of the city of melrose water sewers and drains out of order we have one

▶ 32:48 Jen Grigoraitis: member of the administration who's here solely to speak to that order tonight so as a courtesy i wanted to try to bump this up um if the committee is so inclined yeah move into uh take it out of order 2022-21 second so we have a motion to take order 2022-21 out of order made by Councilor Tramontozzi seconded by Councilor eccles mr clerk can you please call the roll chair Grigoraitis yes vice chair Migliorelli yes Councilor Tramontozzi yes Councilor mcmaster yes Councilor eccles yes and president sanella yes six yes okay thank you so that passes so we now have order 2022-21 amending chapter 228 of the revised ordinances of the city of melrose water sewers and drains before us and i believe we have ms proacus ellis and ms reese coming

▶ 34:00 for us? Can you hear me? Yes. Are we waiting for Vani? Yeah, I think Vani, she texted me a couple minutes ago. I think she is on. Do you see her, Andrew? Yes, she's coming on right now. Okay, there she is. Oh, there she is. Okay. All right, and I will turn it over to you. So, an issue that I had identified when I first started with the city six years ago was that the water and sewer ordinance was extremely outdated. And when new regulatory changes had been made at the MassDEP level and others, they had been sort of shoehorned into the existing ordinance and it was never really fully updated to reflect current practice and just modern standards of ways that water and sewer systems are typically run.

▶ 35:18 also um largely there was language in the ordinance that just didn't um just didn't match up with either the the typical practice of the department or the city staff um and there were references to very specific language in the state law that was basically quoted verbatim but as those laws have changed the language wasn't updated especially pertaining to backflow prevention industrial wastewater the references to the mwra still said metropolitan district commission so that dates back to the 90s those updates had never been made permitting processes for what's required to apply for water and sewer service or to replace services were not um not clearly spelled out ownership of uh of service or utility service lines

▶ 36:21 it's always been that we own the water services from the main to the property line and the property owner owns inside of that and on sewer the property owner owns all the way out to the main but that the the language that specified that was very um just vague and not uh But really, it was a bit challenging when we would get into those discussions with property owners, even though even though it was known that that was the policy. We have some fees that were specified within the ordinance, others that were not for things like inspections, turning on and off water. We had very old fees that were listed that are far from accurate at this time. so we proposed moving all of the fees and the rates out to a schedule of fees

▶ 37:12 just to be very clear we're not proposing any changes to who sets the rates how the rates are set how the committee the water to rate committee votes and then the council and the mayor approved the rates that is all still exactly the same we're just proposing to pull the listing of the rates out of the ordinance so that we're not updating the ordinance each time and the definitions were different in one article from another which made things very confusing there were references to drainage systems within the sewer section because we formerly did not have a drainage section and this committee recently approved article 5 which was the new stormwater section for the ordinance and And so we were able to remove any duplicate language now from the sewer section.

▶ 38:04 And as provided in the memo that I sent to the council a couple of weeks ago, in general, we just wanted to clarify, modernize, and better organize our ordinances for water, sewer, and drain that you previously approved, but it all falls into the same article. I did take a last read through today, and I identified some very minor, actually there are seven extraordinarily minor items that I think may warrant a change from what was submitted to the council. And so, if it's appropriate, I'd like to just run through those quickly. Chair Grigoraitis, is that appropriate? sure are you you just want to are you referencing the the tracked changes version just so people can maybe follow along so i would actually look at the the non-tracked changes version because the

▶ 39:02 track changes version is just so cumbersome um so number one is just that we in the definitions in Article 2. We just missed the definition for division, which is a term that we use fairly extensively later in the ordinance, and so that would be the City of Melrose DPW Water Division. Number two is the definition for inspection. It should really say backflow inspection because it used to specifically live within the backflow article, and once we moved it to a consolidated definition section for water it just didn't it needed to be clarified number three is the definition of owner again that was moved from the backflow section but we use the term owner throughout articles two and three to refer to the owner of record of

▶ 40:09 any property and so i'd like to just define it as owner of record of any property item four is in section 228-6 and we converted throughout the entire ordinance we eliminated any his or her or him or her language and replaced with their or them and we just missed one in item a it says his or her agent and i'd just like to change that to there item number five is in section 228-14 it says under b it says all water meters up to it says under one inch in size will be furnished and placed to maintain by the city that should be up to one inch in size the way it's worded right now it talks to it talks about under one inch and over one inch and it forgets to say that what happens to a one inch meter so it should be all water meters up to one

▶ 41:14 engine size and then finally i think i have two more um number six is just in section 22819 this is just a formatting error there should be the four paragraphs should be items a b c and d and lastly section 228-24 is where we removed the backflow definitions from and so we just forgot to put the note this section intentionally blank that should appear in there's nothing now into 2024. so those were the only edits um bonnie did you have anything you'd like to add before we get into questions i don't think we can hear you i still can't hear you i think we just yes Yes. Yes. I'm all set. Okay. So, with that, we'll open it up to any questions. Do we have any questions from the committee? And I just – Council McMaster, I don't – I can't see you, so, for some reason, I don't

▶ 42:54 Jen Grigoraitis: know if this is the issues in City Hall, but we don't have video on you, so I don't know if you're raising your hand. Are there any questions from the council? All right. we have any emotion either to the suggested amendments to what's proposed before us or any counselor tram and tozy you I don't know if there's something you to say no that's right I was I'm gonna make a motion to recommend the order as amended this evening second so we have a motion to recommend for passage of the order as amended by those seven amendments that were outlined by Ms. Proekes-Ellis made by Councilor Tramontozzi seconded by Vice Chair Migliorelli is there any discussion seeing none Mr. Clerk can you please call the roll

▶ 43:55 Jen Grigoraitis: Chair Grigoraitis? Yes. Vice Chair Migliorelli? Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. Oh there we go okay he's just said let me know he's having some technical issues. Councilor Eccles? Yes. president's no yes six yes okay six yes so the motion carries and now we'll move on to order 2022-1 16 amending chapter 198 of the revised or city of Melrose solid waste and recycling ordinance update and schedule of fees and I believe is Reese is leaving us thank you for joining us and we're going to be joined by miss Scott as well we can bring her in ah and we found council McMaster excellent well Lisa's joining I believe she was going to give a brief presentation and so Andrew if you're able to give her the ability to share or

▶ 45:23 else if you're able to share the presentation I believe it was posted on iqm too can you all hear me just barely yeah can you hear me now is that better much better thank you we can't see you though okay oh oh there you go how's that i have the presentation on my computer if you want me to run it through mine andrew yes i've made you a presenter so you should be able to share it okay great okay are you able to see that great okay Thank you, Councilors, for your time tonight. My name is Lisa Scott. I am the Environmental Outreach Coordinator for the Melrose Department of Public Works. The following slides are going to show proposed changes to the City of Melrose Ordinance Chapter 128, Solid Waste, Article 2,

▶ 46:32 Collection and Disposal. These changes are designed to update language to reflect current practice. There are a number of fees associated with curbside pickup services, city yard drop-off items and special yard events two of these fees are currently mentioned in city ordinances the metal goods item pickup fee and the annual trash fee many other fees are not included in article 2 like those for disposal of electronics tires and propane tanks at the city yard we propose the adoption of a comprehensive schedule of fees to be maintained by the dpw Director and published on the DPW website for transparency. The fees are designed to cover vendor costs, not generate income. Currently, Article 2, Section 198-3C2 lists the metal pickup

▶ 47:32 fee as $20, when in practice the fee is $25 and has been since late 2016 or early 2017. Thanks to a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and in preparation for a statewide waste disposal ban on mattresses, the DPW has begun a mattress recycling program. We offer curbside pickup by a vendor or drop off at City Yard. We propose adding the language shown on this slide, which is similar to that of the existing metal item pickup. In practice, the City limits residents to four barrels or bags of trash per week, and each are 45 gallons or less and 45 pounds or less. We propose including that language in Article 2, Section 198-3, Part B. The Council may decide to leave this determination up to the City at this time, so that is up for discussion

▶ 48:45 tonight could be a variable. The city does not currently provide recycling containers to residents and hasn't for about five years since the old supply ran out. We propose changing the language in Article 2 to reflect current practice, and there is no limit to the number of recycling receptacles that may be placed curbside. Article 2, Section 198-4A3 currently defines what is considered acceptable recyclable waste to be put out for residential curbside collection. In practice, details of what materials are acceptable are determined by current recycling markets, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and the city's contracted Materials Recovery Facility, or MRF. We propose removing language from the ordinance

▶ 49:47 that defines the specifics of what is acceptable recyclable waste and leaving the determination to the Director of Public Works with guidance from MassDEP and the contract in MRF. The recycling bin can be a confusing place. Are pizza boxes recyclable? For a while, they were not accepted, but now they are. What about plastic takeout containers? Clear, white, and orange plastic containers are recyclable, but black plastic takeout containers are not accepted. Why? They aren't sorted properly at the MRF because they blend in with the conveyor belt. Because of these quirks of the recycling system, we recommend removing the specific language out article 2. these are recommended changes meant to reflect current practice relating to solid waste

▶ 50:42 and recycling thanks for your time and now i'd like to turn it over to director proakis ellis who will provide an update to our proposal hey lisa that was very helpful um in conversation earlier today with chair Grigoraitis and um in review of the of the language one last time while speaking to the chair um we did identify again three very minor items um that i'm proposing should be updated from the language that's that's in the draft ordinance um the first item is incredibly minor in section 198 3a just to eliminate the capitalization of um curbside pickup services drop-off items and special events so city art would still be capitalized but all the other items would not um secondly we have another his or her

▶ 51:50 that i'd like to change to there in item g 198 3 g and then lastly with regard to the the types of receptacles that are allowable um we had said we'd use the word may so residents may use plastic or metal barrels under both the solid waste section and the recycling section there's that same language that says may and we'd like to change that to shell in those two places because um to clarify that you know it's not really a choice it's not an option that they may use those or they may use something else of their like to their liking like a plastic bag for recyclables or or um or the like so we're proposing to make those changes um in addition to that as lisa mentioned the the specifying of the types of containers and of the limits that we

▶ 52:56 presently do have and we do enforce um whether to include those in the ordinance or not is really up for debate and um you know subject to the the will of this committee uh they've never been in the ordinance before and they've always just been city policy and posted on the city's website and that may provide added flexibility for future changes um But on the flip side, it may behoove us to slightly revise this language, leave the limits and the sizes and the barrels in, and take out the word bags. If the will of the committee is to recommend not allowing bags without a barrel, especially for trash, but also for recycling, nothing should be in a plastic bag anyway. so these are these are slight um changes that could be made that are up in the air and we

▶ 54:03 Shawn M. MacMaster: could either strike those sections all together we could modify those sections to just specify the type of receptacle and not the limits um or we could just keep it as proposed change may to shell and take out the word for bags thank you uh miss proicus ellis and to miss scott as well and i believe i have uh counselor mcmaster thank you good evening thank you both for being here miss paracas i'm wondering with respect to um striking the word bags if we might want to consider keeping the word bags in there but uh specifying that bags would relate to yard waste um responded your thoughts on that before i guess i wouldn't want to send a mixed message to the public with respect to the next order that comes before us filed by consular gregarious and i

▶ 55:01 that somehow bags that contain yard waste would have to be put inside of a barrel so the first reference to bags is specific for solid waste collection so in that instance that would be 193 B in the proposed language so that is instance if we wanted to take out the words or bags that would be clear that it pertained to solid waste the second instance pertains to recycling and so that could be construed to include yard waste and so maybe and actually we have the word bags right now in that one um let me see lisa do you know is there a reference to specific to yard waste on what type of receptacle i'm looking for that right now um it's possible we didn't include that section because it was not being changed oh here okay wait

▶ 56:17 um 198-3 ashes and rubbish yard waste metal goods collection fees and then um fee under that calendar all leaves and grass clippings provided that such materials do not violate any regulation um leaves and grass clippings shall be placed at curbside for city pickup in plain brown paper bags or barrels subject to such reasonable limits as may be set by the director of public works no loose materials will be collected the director of public works shall operate a drop-off yard waste collection program in conjunction with this subsection so i guess the only place we'd be removing bags then would be in reference to solid waste specifically. That sounds like a thank you both. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any other

▶ 57:22 questions from the council? Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Ms. Parikas-Allis and Ms. Scott. Can I just, I don't know if I heard you correctly, Ms. Parikas-Allis, did you mention something about enforcement i just wanted to to get that or no okay no other than i may have said you know that the the limit that we enforce right now is the four barrel limit we don't pick up if someone puts out 10 barrels at their property jrm does not pick it up if it's a single family home it's supposed to be per household so presumably if it was clearly a two-family home they would pick up more than four barrels but if it's a single family home and someone puts out 10 barrels jrm will skip that address they end up calling and then uh

▶ 58:22 John N. Tramontozzi: our office will explain to them why they've been skipped thank you counselor Tramontozzi yes i thank you uh i miss uh miss ellis um what is the what's the rationale for uh are the thoughts behind eliminating bags in the solid waste ordinance because right now the ways the way it works is we can put out barrels with or without lids we can have trash bags put out on the on the curb in or out of trash barrels so what is right now the way it is worded the solid waste collection you can have plastic or metal barrels or bags so you can put bags out so you are suggesting that we could if we wanted to eliminate bags and just require the use of barrels and I wanted to know the rationale for suggesting that so this

▶ 59:35 came up subsequent to our submitting this order and these proposed changes and there was an order that I believe you're hearing next submitted by the council that relates to public health concerns and rodents and the like and so the potential requirement of covered receptacles would then preclude the use of bags and so i wanted to ensure that the language that we were presenting tonight for our needs doesn't conflict with whichever way you ought to vote on the the subsequent order so when we put this forth and our language it was all reviewed by the city solicitor um as was the all the other language in the prior order that we discussed i forgot to mention that um you know this all passed muster for everybody in the city but then having seen the proposed

▶ 1:00:43 John N. Tramontozzi: order for the covered receptacles the use of bags is just somewhat contradictory and and we didn't want to hold up the voting of these necessary changes for that other discussion so the city can uh the staff can adjust whichever way the council decides right so i that's that's a good point um uh miss ellis because um uh through madam's chair through you to the makers of these the third order on the agenda this evening um because i think that order also addresses uh that uh that issue and um and i know we haven't discussed that yet and we will uh the issue of the bags barrels lids and so forth so um and so it seems to me that if we choose we could change that language as a result of adopting the next order uh so

▶ 1:01:40 John N. Tramontozzi: my thinking is at this point would be to um to recommend the order as as made of the the after this particular order um leave it as is including the language of the bags and then we can address that with this third uh subsequent order uh and see where that goes but um my suggestion would be just to leave it as you as as you have done uh in your um amendment to this particular uh proposal in this particular order and then just move on and then see where it goes with the next order how's that so um with that in mind i'll make a motion to recommend as as a as written um amending chapter 198 of the revised ordinance the city of mero solid waste and recycling when it's updated uh and motion to recommend as most recently amended this evening

▶ 1:02:44 Shawn M. MacMaster: by the minor amendments uh that you've suggested and then open it up for discussion so i'll make that motion at this time so we have a motion to recommend order 2022-16 um for passage uh with the three minor amendments that were proposed tonight um do we have a second counselor mcmaster thank you madam chair just point of information um through you to consulate or point of clarity um just so we understand the rest of that i understand the motion that's on the floor um are you suggesting um council chairman tizzy that the word um trash bag or bags uh not be removed uh until we know what's going to happen with the next order uh before us and if that order uh passes favorably that when the order before us now goes before the full council that a motion

▶ 1:03:46 Jen Grigoraitis: could be made to eliminate the word uh backs yes thank you that thank you for that clarification council mcmaster that would be my intention for the motion okay thank you do we have a second i'll second that manager okay so we have a motion made by Councilor Tramontozzi to uh recommend as is second with the three amendments seconded by Councilor mcmaster is there any discussion okay seeing none madam clerk sorry i knew i was going to do that tonight mr clerk can you please call the roll the chair Grigoraitis yes vice chair Migliorelli yes Councilor Tramontozzi yes Councilor mcmaster yes Councilor eccles yes president simelo yes that's six yes six yes so the motion carries so this will be recommended with those

▶ 1:05:00 Jen Grigoraitis: three amendments um and i believe that concludes um your the portion of the city thank you and if you could just send the um a written draft of those amendments to the clerk that would be really helpful because i think only you have them right now yes thank you all right thank you very much have a good night thank you all right so our final order before us is order 2022-25 amending Chapter 198, Article 2, Section 198-2 of the Revised Ordinances of the City of Melrose Collection and Disposal. And I am one of the co-authors of the order. I will turn it over to Councilor McMaster as my co-author. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to members of the committee. I first just wanted to acknowledge Counselor Grigoraitis.

▶ 1:05:58 Shawn M. MacMaster: I think it's important to recognize that sometimes when you sign on to co-sponsor an order, someone signs on essentially in support. Counselor Grigoraitis has been very proactive in the lawmaking process here, offering insight and counsel along the way, and having communications up until earlier today with the administration on this so i appreciate um council graveyard your your role uh in drafting uh this this ordinance uh in terms of background this amendment was filed in an effort to help combat the rat problem here in melrose a problem that many other communities in the greater boston area are also dealing with although not exclusive to melrose there are a number of factors that have compounded this

▶ 1:06:47 Shawn M. MacMaster: problem in our community with very rocky leggy terrain the landscape here provides a natural haven for rats so too does the two and a half miles of railroad tracks although no area of the city is immune to this problem council of Grigoraitis and i both represent wards with problem areas hers being the downtown area where there are more trash spirals and dumpsters than in other parts of the city mine being a ward where there has been significant construction over the last two years on the east side of the ward lower main street was under construction for quite some time on the west side of the ward the construction at oak grove station and at the old marty's furniture building as well as the underground utility work on brazil street has been ongoing

▶ 1:07:31 Shawn M. MacMaster: for well over a year now all of this above ground and underground construction has disrupted and displaced rats from their burrows who have found refuge in the wooded rocky terrain on the east side of boston rock road and 5-1 and in the backyards on the west side of brazil street all the way to the malden line where an expansive ledge runs across the back side of the properties this order although not a cure-all is a concerted effort to eliminate the most common yet controllable food source for rats household trash and the order is rather straightforward what it does is that it amends our current order on refuse and disposal by one requiring that all household refuse be placed in a trash barrel with a tightly fitted lid and two creating an

▶ 1:08:19 Shawn M. MacMaster: enforcement mechanism and corresponding fine structure the latter to begin with a written warning in support of this order i do think that it's important to reflect on two points made by the exterminator who spoke at mayor broder's educational forum last month and some of the council some members of this council were present at that forum and remember that the exterminator said quote if you want a community-wide program that works it's going to come down to one word sanitation end quote the exterminator mentioned the word sanitation at least two dozen times during the forum he went on to say quote the rats in your neighborhood know what day trash collection is i'm going to reflect on that for a moment we think about that the rats in your

▶ 1:09:08 Shawn M. MacMaster: neighborhood know what day trash collection is i believe that this order is a common sense step albeit a first step at targeting a rat problem in our city with all of that having been said i asked my fellow members of this committee for your support in favorably recommending this amended uh amendment uh to the ordinance tonight thank you and thank you madam chair thank you counselor mcmaster do we have any questions or comments from our colleagues president sanella thank you uh chair Grigoraitis um i just want to thank the makers of this this order um you know i think as the legislative body this order is one way that this council can address some of the residents concerns i don't think it's an unreasonable request to ask

▶ 1:10:01 Christopher Cinella: residents to secure their trash both from road issue as well as litter that we've seen around my business in downtown debris blowing out of trash barrels and or coming out of bags ripped open i've spent 10 years in a budding community with a similar ordinance That seemed to work well. I would like to make a motion to amend the order to add in an effective date, say, of March 2022 to go into effect. That way it'll give the administration time to alert residents through quarterly water bills. Trash fee on that is monthly. Thank you. So I made a motion to amend this to add that effective date. So we have a motion by President Sinella to amend the order to add an effective date of March 1st, 2022.

▶ 1:11:08 Shawn M. MacMaster: Do we have a second? Second. We have a second by Councilor Eccles. Is there any discussion? Councilor McMaster. you madam chair and thank you mr president i appreciate your support i'm perfectly fine with an amendment that uh has an effective date um so that this doesn't necessarily go into effect immediately and cause confusion or put the administration in a position where it hasn't had a chance to figure out how to enforce this even though there is an enforcement mechanism into i think council of Grigoraitis and i both recognize the need for public outreach and awareness. I do think six months is longer than necessary to effectuate the outreach and the enforcement operational side of this ordinance. I would think 45 days should give the administration

▶ 1:12:05 Shawn M. MacMaster: adequate time, but six months when we're really on the precipice of what is a public health crisis or could be a public health crisis considering what we've been seeing, what we're hearing from our constituents um does concern me so i i would certainly uh be okay with something less than six months um but six months to me is just too long considering what we're facing right now thank you manager any other counselors on discussion counselor tram and tozy great thank you madam chair so i just thought we'd get some clarification here and i will i do want to thank both uh counselors uh for uh for this fine um piece of legislation i think uh there is and i've heard of the problems that we've been having in the community so i think this is a good way to

▶ 1:13:00 John N. Tramontozzi: address uh the issue of the rats in the community so um going back to my previous uh questions to directed to um director ellis correct us uh so this this will change this ordinance would in effect require that the residents use uh trash barrels whether it's plastic or a metal with lids is that correct to the chair to mr to what council mcmaster council mcmaster yes uh council It really is that simple. It just requires that residents no longer put trash on the curbside and that trash at all times, whether it's on the curbside or sitting next to a home, has a cover on it. Great. Thank you. And then the issue about bags, there's nothing prohibiting a normal homeowner from putting trash and bags except that bag has to then be put into a receptacle uh metal or plastic correct

▶ 1:14:12 John N. Tramontozzi: through through the chair yes constantly right that's i just that's the clarification i wanted uh that's good i appreciate that um i i agree uh with uh council mcmaster about the uh six months seems to be a long time to you know especially when uh we're having this problem now let's see get it working uh that six months is a little bit too long uh to uh give you that grace period i think most residents pretty much up to speed and use receptacles now as it is in 45 days 60 days might be a little bit more reasonable uh but i'll leave it to the rest of the uh the board to uh to talk about that but uh thank you madam chief that's all i have Thank you, Councilor Tramontozzi. Do I have any other councillors on discussion? Vice Chair Migliorelli.

▶ 1:15:02 Leila Migliorelli: Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to – through you to the makers of the chair, you being one of the makers of the order – makers of the order, not the chair. What – I asked Ms. Prakas-Allis about enforcement. You guys referenced that here. It also leads me to think of you know some of the other questions and concerns that other residents may have about you know well what if i don't have access to a barrel or i'm elderly or having a hard time getting a barrel out and i just wanted to i think some of the length of time in terms of implementation is to perhaps give the city um it's the city's responsibility to implement this and and this is a suggestion for how to take care of uh trash i just wonder if the makers order can

▶ 1:15:48 Jen Grigoraitis: talk a little bit about um the sort of distinction between what you're setting forward here versus what perhaps the next steps in terms of implementation might look like in your minds i'm sure is that for you or for me i'm happy to be a little breaking protocol and answer it i i think um i want to i just i agree with both the time sensitiveness of this and the fact that um i think we really want to make sure that this is communicated to residents i think as this body well knows the mayor's office has a much bigger microphone and platform than the council. So we obviously need to rely on the administration to broadcast this to residents. And I would like to make sure that we're taking advantage of not just newspaper ads and social media, but trying to get

▶ 1:16:34 Jen Grigoraitis: language added into the quarterly water and sewer bills that get put out, possibly getting something added into the annual street listing that goes out in January to really make sure residents are aware of this i um have had conversations with both the mayor and with mr wake as well as who was incredibly helpful today in our conversations about you know how do we address um issues for people for whom there is a severe financial burden i think just like we handle those issues for residents around you know not needing help with the gas bill or with not being able to pay their water and sewer fees i think there's a mechanism that the city can put in place i don't think that have to be codified in this ordinance but i would want to make sure they you know that some that

▶ 1:17:17 Jen Grigoraitis: there's sufficient time to work toward that um i'm wondering if kind of a way to meet in the middle is to have this be effective within 45 days but that enforcement doesn't begin until march 1st so that we're giving residents a grace period to kind of get up to speed on this um many surrounding communities do this they many of them have also purchased the barrels for residents i don't think that's something that the city is prepared to do at this time but i think we can also look into if there's opportunities for barrels to be bought at cost that can be available to lower income residents i think there's a lot of options for implementation i know i've already talked too much um does that council mcmaster do you think that covers it go ahead yes manager i do think

▶ 1:18:03 Shawn M. MacMaster: that is a good compromise i would be satisfied with that if president sonella would withdraw the motion and make a a new motion to amend um the one thing i would say and i know council Grigoraitis that you and i are committed to this is um working with the administration not just in terms of figuring out the enforcement side and the public outreach side but to the extent that we can work with the administration to ensure that any problem areas that are identified between now and when the enforcement provisions would take effect that there is to the extent that resources allow some outreach to problem areas or to you know habitual violators of the intent of this spirit of this ordinance so I really would urge the administration to look beyond planning but

▶ 1:18:54 Shawn M. MacMaster: also in the meantime for those areas that have been identified as problematic doing the type of of door-to-door outreach to those properties. I think it would behoove all of us for that to occur if we're really gonna try to tackle this issue most effectively and as timely as possible, understanding some of the constraints that the administration is facing. Thank you, Councilor McMaster. Anyone, President Sinaloa, sorry, did you have your hand raised? Yes, I will withdraw my original motion and make a motion to amend, to go into effect for 45 in 45 days with enforcement starting in march i'll withdraw my second and second that motion madam chair so we have a new motion before us made by president snella seconded by

▶ 1:19:46 Leila Migliorelli: Councilor eccles for the regulation the changes to go into effect within 45 days of today and with enforcement to begin by the city as of march 1st 22. is there any discussion uh vice chair Migliorelli um i'm supportive of this motion i just wanted to maybe uh point of clarification or order i think we're aware that we have um an audience uh watching tonight and that i think this is the city council has just for the public to understand limits as to what we can do to help um mitigate the rat problem that is in melrose um and that we've been approached by and um i think you know i thank the makers of this order for um taking the initiative to kind of come up with one way to maybe uh mitigate that order um but this is is not really this is not a comprehensive rat uh

▶ 1:20:38 Jack Eccles: you know you know strategy to get rid of rats in the city and this is just one piece of it so i just wanted to make that point of clarification as people are watching um thank you Thank you, Vice Chair Migliorelli. Councilor Eccles. Councilor Eccles Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to both you and Councilor McMaster for putting this forward. I'm supportive of this motion. I generally am of the opinion that many people like to follow the rules, so an effective ordinance date hopefully will bring some people who are not currently in compliance in compliance and then we can kind of work out the details over the next six months. I concur with Councilor Migliorelli that this is one of the few levers that the City Council

▶ 1:21:23 Jen Grigoraitis: can pull and look forward to more mitigating programs either put forward by the City Council or the administration. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Eccles. Before we call the roll, I do want to just point out one, I think it's a point of clarification and I will certainly defer to our two more senior parliamentarians and how best to address this. regard to the previous order tonight that we just recommended for passage that included language saying that barrels can be no more than 45 gallons or and what the draft that you have before us I believe says 60 so I'd like to address that discrepancy so that those two things are in sync I had recommended the 60 just based on what I had read in other communities I again

▶ 1:22:10 Jen Grigoraitis: had a chance to talk with Director Proekes-Ellis today, and 45 seems to be the standard for within Melrose. I checked my own barrels there, 45. I do think the putting in a limit is important from an OSHA perspective for those people that are picking up our trash. We certainly don't want anyone being injured by a 90-pound trash barrel. So I don't know if I can motion on a motion or if we should wait until we do it separately. Counselor McMaster. thank you can you hear me now yes my apologies i think at this point rather than uh asking uh the president and counselor uh eccles to withdraw and make a more comprehensive amendment uh if we vote on the uh amendment uh before us and then somebody makes a new motion with respect to the

▶ 1:23:03 Jack Eccles: size of the barrels to comport with the order that was before us tonight i think that would be the most appropriate way to do it at this point and probably the most efficient in terms of time Councilor Eccles? Thank you. Also, just to, like, a little point of clarification of when 45 days is, either when the amendment's read, is it 45 days from Council passage, should the mayor choose to sign it, his signature? Can we put a date on that? And then March 2022 is obviously an obvious effective date for March 1st. Thanks. If we could just clarify that. Councilor McMaster. thank you that's a good uh point council echoes we may just to the uh the motion want to add the language um uh from the time of uh passage um just i do want to be sensitive at the time and

▶ 1:23:57 John N. Tramontozzi: the mayor does have 10 days so if we can get ahead of this uh within that 10-day period i would i would prefer that um under the charter the mayor does have 10 days to sign it so i think um rather than from the time that his honor the mayor affixes his signature from the time that this order passes the full council would probably be um the best way to go about doing this counselor Tramontozzi uh yes uh thank you i i'm in full agreement with uh with the the approach uh on the uh the date and also the uh the barrel um size the the only comment i have is uh right now the trash collection is picked up the way they're doing it is they're just picking it up and and lifting the barrels into the truck.

▶ 1:24:44 John N. Tramontozzi: I think those larger containers, 60 gallon or so, are in those communities where the trucks that collect the trash actually lift the barrels themselves with the mechanism. And I don't believe we have that in our, the way our collection contract is designed at this point. In the future, if that occurs, could go with the the larger barrels but i think we have to uh go with the uh the standard 45 gallon uh barrels because of that um that that's my understanding i i don't know if anybody else has any thoughts about that but um but yeah i think that's the difference between the 45 and the 60. that make sense yes i think that's probably accurate so um just to since i've made a bit of a procedural soup out of all of this we currently have uh a motion before us to

▶ 1:25:42 Shawn M. MacMaster: recommend for passage with a implementation date of 45 days out from the mayor's signature i'm just making yes and an enforcement date of march 1st 2022 counselor mcmaster My apologies, Madam Chair. I had suggested 45, well, enforcement of this, it would take effect within the time that the full council passes this. The enforcement piece would be 45 days from, excuse me, six months from the time of the mayor's signature. I do think also that that second part which we added we already had a motion on the floor so I do think the effective piece and the part with respect to the gallons needs to be in a second most motion together right before us right now the motion on uh on the floor is the amendment that

▶ 1:26:39 uh president Sinella put forth not to my apologies for complicating this but usually I think we just just have to do you're cutting out and I think we lost counselor McMaster is that just for me I think we lost them overall okay all right um so sorry presidents now can you repeat your motion so my motion is to amend this effective on the City Council's passage 45 days from the mayor signing enforcement in March starting March 1st and that's seconded by Councilor Eccles yes okay I believe we is there any discussion I believe we may have lost our clerk I don't see him he might be with Councilor McMaster oh he might be out but we have can you hear me we can madam clerk how are you i'm great i've been following along thank you so we have a motion

▶ 1:28:07 Jen Grigoraitis: before us to amend for i hope i get this correct implementation 45 date no yes 45 days from passage by the council and enforcement march as of march 1st 2022 made by president sinala seconded by Councilor eccles no discussion um madam clerk or mr clerk whoever wants to call the role it's nice to have both of you andrew you live i think so yes do you hear me okay all right i'll call the roll chair Grigoraitis yes vice chair Migliorelli yes counselor Tramontozzi yes counselor mcmaster i will message counselor mcmaster for this or counselor eccles yes uh president sanella yes counselor mcmaster has just confirmed he has voted yes on the matter okay thank you so that's um yes yeah six yes so the amendment

▶ 1:29:33 Jen Grigoraitis: carries um this time i would entertain an amendment to the um 60 gallons to be reduced to 45 gallons in compliance with the other parts of the um section of the city code motion to uh from in that portion to reflect 45 gallons okay we have a motion by counselor Tramontozzi to amend to reflect 45 gallons seconded by president sanella is there any discussion okay seeing none mr clerk can you please call the role council uh chair Grigoraitis yes Vice Chair Migliorelli? Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. Councilor Eccles? Yes. And President Cinella? Yes. We have six yes here too. Okay. Thank you. Six yes. So that amendment from 60 gallons to 45 gallons passes. So what is the will of the committee?

▶ 1:30:46 Jen Grigoraitis: Councilor Tramontozzi. Yes thank you. Motion to recommend for passage as amended. So we have a motion to recommend for passage as amended by Councilor Tramontozzi, seconded by President Cinella. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, can you please call the roll? Sure. chair Grigoraitis yes vice chair Migliorelli yes councilor Tramontozzi yes counselor mcmaster yes councilor eccles yes and president sanella yes we have six yes here six yes so the motion passes so this will be recommended for passage to the full council and with that that concludes our business tonight in legal and ledge i would entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second second we have a motion to adjourn made by counselor echo seconded

▶ 1:31:51 by vice chair Migliorelli mr clerk can you please call the role chair Grigoraitis yes vice chair migliorelli yes councilor Tramontozzi yes councilor mcmaster yes councilor eccles yes president sanella yes six yes six yes thank you legal and ledges adjourned and thank you Councilor Jamaleddine and i know we got it in with seven minutes remaining thank you all thank you um we can we can now start the health education and welfare um good evening um my name is maya jamel dean the chair of the health education and welfare joining me tonight vice chair layla mcleary voting members jack eccles rob stewart corey thomas and president christopher personnel up. First one to the suspension of certain provisions of the open meeting

Legal & Legislative Committee — 2021-09-20

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