Public Works Committee — 2021-11-29
Attendance
Christopher Cinella ; Jack Eccles ; Mark Garipay ; Shawn M. MacMaster ; Robb Stewart ; Cory Thomas
Agenda
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE CALENDAR● NOVEMBER 29, 2021 Web-based remote meeting Committee Meeting 7:05 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 Cory Thomas Chair Present Mark Garipay Vice Chair Present Shawn M. MacMaster Voting Present Jack Eccles Voting Excused Robb Stewart Voting Present Christopher Cinella President, ex oficio Present Non voting members present include Councilor McNaught.
ORDER-2022-30 Request An Order on the Status of Green and Howard St. Electrical transmission Line Hold City of Melrose Page 1 12/6/2021 12:28 PM
Transcript
▶ 0:00 Cory Thomas: We're live. All right, good evening. The time is 7.05 after some minor technical difficulties. It is Monday, November 29th, 2021. This is the meeting of the Public Works Committee. Excuse me, and I'm Councilor Corey Thomas and the chair of the Public Works Committee. In lieu of a roll call vote, joining me in attendance are Vice Chair Garipay, Councilors McMaster, Councilor Stewart, President Ex oficio, Councilor Cinella. Pursuant to an extending certain Pursuant to an act extending certain COVID-19 measures signed by Governor Baker on June 16th, 2021 that extend the remote meeting provisions of his March 12th executive order suspending certain provisions of the open meeting law. This meeting of the public works community will be conducted to be a remote participation to the greatest extent possible.
▶ 1:09 Cory Thomas: We will post a comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the CMOS website. And on 3 dot, or the public can find online access instructions to view this meeting. At city of Melrose dot org slash remote meetings. For the members of the community joining us at home now is the portion. Of the meeting for public comment. In barring any objections, I'd like to. Move by unanimous consent to open public records. Seeing no objections, Mr clerk, are there any members of the public. In joining us tonight for public comment at this moment, we don't have anyone here for public comment. All right, seeing no one in the joining us online for public comment. I'd like to move firing any objections by unanimous consent to close public comment.
▶ 2:19 Cory Thomas: We have 1 order on the docket tonight. Order 2022 dash 30 in order of the status of green and Howard street. Electrical transmission line seeing we have members of the. City of Melrose and outside parties. I'd like to make a move by unanimous consent. To suspend the rules, seeing no objections. The rules are suspended Mr. clerk. Do we have any members. Outside of this console that would join us tonight. We do on bringing them in as we speak. Great. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Well, good evening and welcome. It's raised. Good seeing you. Thank you. Um, it's nice to see all of you too. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. We're joined by Miss Merritt. And Mr. Paul Graham as well. Are you both from national grid?
▶ 3:50 Mark Garipay: Ever source ever source. Okay. Well, thank you and welcome. Are there any members of this committee that have any questions? Or is both on this race? Do you want to make any statements with the public works? Or do you want to just go into the questions? I think we will just we're here to answer any questions that you have about the work on Howard street. So we can just jump right into that. Sounds good. Council. Vice chairman Garipay. Thank you. Mr. chair. Um, yeah, a couple probably 454045 days ago. We brought this order in front of front of the committee to. Try to get an understanding on where we were on the project on Howard Street and. Also, to express some concerns, ongoing concerns that the neighbors had had due to.
▶ 4:43 Mark Garipay: Detour and traffic and part of our rules is we have to have to bring out the order on. Every 45 days and make an act on it, or ask more questions. So. um my one question was when we left that last meeting it was i know there was some talk that we had expressed some concerns regarding the neighbors and the detours and the condition of the roads and um there was uh we were led to believe for based on the conversation that uh there were some talks between eversource in the community of melrose in order to uh see what we can do to help where all that detour traffic went with the uh with the road condition especially in cochrane and car lighter so uh with that uh with that said i'm curious to see if we uh if
▶ 5:33 there's an update on that uh if you could provide us one so i i would be happy to start that conversation and then um obviously meredith uh can jump in if necessary but um so dpw director has had some conversations with Eversource and done some negotiating on the part of the City of Melrose for extra funding to help put towards our road projects to look at repaving and fixing some of the road conditions in the especially Carlita road area and the agreement that we have arrived at with Eversource is they'll be giving us $20,000 to put towards that effort, which is, you know, will go a long way. We also had originally, before they even started the first part of the project, before they had to come back and fix the fault, had had discussions with Eversource about a contribution
▶ 6:42 Mark Garipay: towards our road program and then um they had also done some work on main street and we discussed with them compensation for disturbance to the roadway on main street so um all together uh we have negotiated with that resource for about sixty thousand dollars to go towards our road program and road repairs as a result of this project. I know you mentioned Carlita, but have you taken a look at last time we hear Cochran from Boardman to I think it's Glendale is in pretty rough shape as a result of the detour traffic. Ms. Reese, have you looked at the condition of that road and will that be part of the road project along with Carlita? So, that is something that is is still being looked at. We also.
▶ 7:42 Have been in, you know, as, you know, we, we also. Regularly meet with national grid as to what their next phase of their gas projects will be. And I believe that. That boardman Cochran section is. Part of what they will be putting in new gas main. uh coming up so that so we we're looking at how to phase this best and um use this money the most effectively um but we're definitely you know we're definitely aware of the impact to the neighborhoods when when you say um uh national grids looking to potentially uh uh reduce some gas lines over there uh in the future uh is that meaning help me out is in the near future would that be next season are we talking three four or five years down the road because
▶ 8:37 Mark Garipay: once again these neighbors and their quality of life has been impacted considerably and we are here to advocate for them as a city councilor so um you know do we have any indication on when national grid at times table when national grid will be doing that i do i do not have the specific answer to that question i can get that for you um obviously that's a that's a discussion that you know we can have with you as a city councilor and the rest of the city council um it's outside of our agreement with eversource though i'm aware of that but with the twenty thousand dollars i'd like to see if we can do as much even if it's a temporary fix on on cochrane with all the uh with all the uh with all the potholes and everything that are over there so
▶ 9:26 Jeff McNaught: um yeah but uh that's all i have right now uh mr chairperson and and we can still take a look at that councillor Garipay thank you thank you vice chair Garipay council McNaught thank you mr chair and um thank you for letting me speak i'm not a voting member of this committee but i did co-sponsor this order with councillor Garipay and i just wanted to ask um twenty thousand dollars doesn't seem like a lot of money to fix the damage that's gone on um is this covering howard street the curb to curb renovations that we spoke of and all of the detour routes it just doesn't seem like that's going to go very far and it sounds like we're totaling um the cost between main street and the horace man area um at sixty thousand which would lead me to believe that forty thousand would
▶ 10:23 Jeff McNaught: go to main street i'm just trying to put it all together in my head and all together 60 000 seems like a really really low number for the horace man area alone never mind what needs to be fixed on main street can you talk a little bit about how you arrived at sixty thousand so i i apologize if i wasn't clear the um so the twenty thousand was specifically for the side streets like carlita off of howard street the repairs that they will be doing on howard street which include curb to curb paving in the areas where trench pits were um put for the free stents for fixing the fault um that is outside of this agreement that is in addition to so they will be doing that work on howard street um in addition to this uh cash settlement that we're talking about um the money
▶ 11:19 Jeff McNaught: for main street was actually about eight thousand dollars for some work that they did on lower main street and um and then the remainder of those funds um roughly about roughly about thirty thousand dollars is is what was negotiated um by the director when they started this project at the beginning so um in terms of the money that's available for those neighborhoods around howard street almost all of that money is available okay and i know i asked this the last time um can we get you know a commitment um as to what work we're going to do and that it's going to be covered by these funds and i mean i'm in i'm in ward two i live right in the spot where you all have been working for the last i think we just passed the two-year mark
▶ 12:18 Jeff McNaught: um within the last couple weeks um can we can we draw up a plan um not necessarily by timeline you know exact timeline but just what streets are going to be done what's going to be done and what funds are going to be used for them yes so that that would be part of our annual roadway paving plan or roadway program plan and we and we project out more than just one year so yes we we at the DPW can make that commitment to you to come up with a plan and be able to tell you what roads are going to be paved and can we possibly I know that's a different exercise which I'm certainly not don't want to try and muddy the waters with maybe we can have an email exchange where we say the streets that are going to be fixed what's going to
▶ 13:10 be curb to curb what sections of Howard I think that would be satisfactory for the time being would you be willing to do that yes absolutely but I think you know once we develop our our roadway program I know Elena has a very specific procedure for doing that and and we would be happy to share that when it's finalized with anybody who anybody who wants to see it of course it's always done well and we appreciate it thank you mysteries okay thank you that's all i have thank you council mcnaught any members of the committee for the first time have any questions for our panel tonight seeing none councillor garfield for the second time vice chair garrett yeah i just want a little uh clarification uh when we when you first spoke
▶ 14:01 Mark Garipay: you mentioned $20,000 was negotiated for the Howard Street Project. And then you said, you talked about Lower Main, you said a total of $60,000 and $8,000 for Lower Main. Did I understand that? And the rest would be going to the Howard Street Project? Can you just clarify that for me? So when they first discovered the fault in the line, after they initially installed the transmission line they they discovered there was a fault um they thought it was further down and they thought it was on lower main street so there was a portion of lower main street a very small portion that was dug up and excavated and then they determined that that was not where the problem was and they went back to howard street um that so in in return for us taking
▶ 14:57 care of repaving that in the spring, that was settled at $8,000. The work to repave Howard Street and fix the areas that were disturbed from this work to fix the fault is completely covered and completely separate from the settlement. And then the remaining funds, They agreed 20,000 again, in lieu of going in and paving and fixing the roads around that area. Then the other money was what they had originally agreed on to give to us towards road repayment as well. Initially, we went in with getting 32,000 from Eversource. There was some work on Main Street, so they're compensating us for that, but then we're getting an additional 20,000 on top of what was originally negotiated at the beginning of the project.
▶ 16:02 Mark Garipay: Okay. So is that, does that help? Is that? Yeah, no, that, I understand what you're saying there, but typically when we negotiate money up front for our, when a utility's doing a project like this, Do, and I believe it was what the 30, 30, roughly 30,000, 32,000, I think you said, right? So, when whatever source want that to be done to, to take care of, um. The, um, the neighborhoods where they were doing the project, wouldn't that be directed as it? So they just give us a blanket blanket check. We can use wherever we don't. They don't, um, say, you know, it needs to be used for the surrounding streets that maybe were impacted due to a 2 year construction project. They're not, um, they don't really tell us.
▶ 16:56 Mark Garipay: Where they want us to use it and they, you know, it is, it is, um. You know, the intention is to help towards our road program and. So, it's really up to us, I think, to come up with the most efficient and best way to use those funds. And we certainly will focus on the area around the project that was impacted. And if we were to, like, to not rebuild the whole road, but if you were to scrape the section of of Carlisle, kind of like we've done on, we did on Grove Street, we've done on Upham Street before Um, and then put a code of, uh, top over it. How, how, how far would, uh, with 20,000 take take Carlita? Would it would it would it handle that whole section? Because then it would leave Cochran.
▶ 17:50 With with nothing left over, but I don't know how far 20,000 would would take. Oh, we have we haven't. dug into the details yet on this and you're making a very good point um one of the discussions we have been having internally in the dpw is there are different road treatments that can prolong the life of roads that can um that can essentially get you an extra five years before you have to do um a major repaving project and so we will be looking at all of that as part of this to try us to try to get the most out of our money okay thank you very much no more questions mr chippers any other members councillor mcnaught thank you i just wanted to say uh thank you uh for coming and i have a 13 year old constituent uh who lives right off of carlisle road he happens to be
▶ 18:50 president sanella's son who asked me every time i see him hey when are you going to pave carlisle road for me um so he'll be he'll be thrilled to know that that's coming down the pipe Good look at Chris is going to kill me for that 1. Thank you. Council will make not president. Thank you. Um, his dad has remained silent because he wants the cars to slow down. So. When I keep it that way, thank you. So, so you're advocating for more potholes is that is that what I should take? No, I have a Jeep. I like the bottles. Duly noted president. Any other members voting and non voting of the public works committee have anything for our panel tonight. Seeing none, thank you all for being here. What is the will of the committee?
▶ 19:48 Cory Thomas: Council, I make a motion to hold this in committee. And you wouldn't want to 2nd, that motion 2nd. Motion to hold the committee by counselor, vice president, vice chairman, seconded by council McMaster. Mr. clerk, do you mind calling the role please all in favor of the. Sorry, yes, vice chair. Yeah, counselor McMaster yes. Counselor Stuart yes. And president, yes, that's 5. yes. Thank you. Mr. clerk everyone. Thank you very, very much for joining us. Um, thank you for being here. Hope you all have a. Very nice holiday season. Take care. Thank you. Bye, do I have a motion to that? That brings our meeting to a. Close that was all we had on the agenda. We have a motion to adjourn. Moved 2nd, motion adjourned by counselor.
▶ 21:05 Jeff McNaught: McMaster seconded by vice chair. Mr clerk, can you please call the role? Sure, Thomas yes, vice chair. Yes, counselor master. Yes. Counselor store. Yes, and presence. Yes, that's fine. Yes. Thank you. Mr clerk. We are adjourned. See you all in 4 minutes for appropriations. Thank you. I resumed the recording. Thank you. Mr clerk. Good evening. The time is 731 PM on November 29th, 2021. This is a meeting of the Appropriations Committee. I am Councilor McNaught, the Chair of this Committee. In lieu of a roll call attendance, joining me this evening are Councilor Tramontozzi, Councilor McMaster, Councilor Migliorelli, Councilor Garipay, Councilor Grigoraitis, Councilor Stewart, Councilor Thomas, and President Cinella.