Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2023-05-15
Attendance
Christopher Cinella ; Jack Eccles ; Mark Garipay ; Jen Grigoraitis ; Maya Jamaleddine ; Manjula Karamcheti ; Shawn M. MacMaster ; Leila Migliorelli ; John Obremski ; Robb Stewart ; Ryan Williams
Agenda
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE APPROPRIATIONS & OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CALENDAR● MAY 15, 2023 Council Chamber, First Floor, Melrose City Hall Budget Hearing 7:00 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Leila Migliorelli Chair Present Maya Jamaleddine Vice Chair Present Shawn M. MacMaster Present Christopher Cinella Absent Jack Eccles Present Mark Garipay Present Robb Stewart Present Manjula Karamcheti Present John Obremski Present Ryan Williams Late 7:01 PM Jen Grigoraitis President, Ex Oficio Present
APPRO-2023-28 Operating Budgets (City, School, Regional School) Fiscal 2024 Operating Budget in the amount of $101,173,341 (one hundred and one million, one hundred seventy-three thousand, three hundred forty-one dollars and 00/100 cents) Hold Appropriations & Oversight Committee City of Melrose Page 1 5/24/2023 3:44 PM
Transcript
▶ 0:05 Leila Migliorelli: Good evening. The time is 7:00 PM on Monday, May 15th. This is a meeting of the Appropriations and Oversight Committee. I am counselor Lila Elli chairwoman. And joining me tonight are Vice Chair Jamine counselors, Eckles GAR Pay, Carm McMaster, Osky Stewart, and President Bri Exo Officio. This serves as a notice of a quorum for the record in accordance with Open Meeting law. This meeting is being recorded and broadcast live on MM t v. Um, please note for the record that Council Williams has joined us. Um, now I'd like to motion by Ian Ms. Consent to open the floor for public comment. Seeing no objection, we are now open for public comment. This is a portion of the meeting where anyone can speak on any item on our
▶ 0:53 Leila Migliorelli: agenda tonight. Mr. Clerk, is there anyone online? There's no presently online. Okay. There's no objection. I'd like to close public comment. Seeing none, we are now closed for public comment. Since we have members of the administration here tonight, I'll entertain a motion, um, or no, I'd like to motion by unanimous consent to suspend the rules before we proceed. Seeing no objection, the rules are now suspended. Um, tonight is the first night of our annual budget hearings where each department in the city comes before the council to present their annual operating budget for FY 24. These hearings will continue over the next five weeks in the scheduled departments is available online for the ben bit of the public.
▶ 1:34 Leila Migliorelli: This means that you'll see the same agenda item on our budget for the next five weeks until the council passes the full FY 24 budget later next month. So tonight, um, let's, well, starting with the first order appropriation 2023 dash 28, fiscal 2024 operating budget in the amount of $101,173,341 and 0 cents. Tonight, we have the following departments in front of us, the mayor's office, which includes community events, the city solicitor's Office, human resources, which includes workers' comp and unemployment. So first up is the Mayor's office, and tonight we have Marga Marga Fleischman here with us. Good evening Chair McLay Riley, members of the Appropriations and Oversight Committee. I am Margot Fleischman.
▶ 2:24 Paul Brodeur: I'm the Mayor's Chief of staff here to present, uh, the Mayor's o Office budget. Um, I do expect that the mayor may be joining us shortly, and he may have a few remarks to share at that time. What about this? Haha, sorry, folks. All right. In that case, I'll turn it over to the mayor for his opening remarks, and then I'll present the budget. They will be brief. You're not gonna hear anything, um, all that different than when we previously met in joint session. Madam Chair, pleasure. Uh, ladies and gentlemen of the committee. Uh, welcome to budget season. Your health is not the first time for any of you, but it's always, uh, an exciting and challenging time. Um, so I joined tonight. We are kicking things off,
▶ 3:05 Paul Brodeur: and I want to offer just a fewer marks to get things going that are mostly going to focus on, um, the revenue picture for the city. The budget does in fact include an increase to the school budget of apri, of not approximately exactly 3 million over last year's approved budget. We will meet our, all our requirements around net school spending and foundation budget. We will be bringing to you balanced budgets for water and sewer, mount hood and ambulance enterprise funds. Um, and here's essentially the revenue piece that I think you have heard, uh, in some detail. But to be clear about it, uh, in terms of revenue growth over last year, we can expect 1.8 million in new tax revenue, uh, as a result of the allowable increase of 2.5%, uh,
▶ 3:59 Paul Brodeur: in our tax levy. As you all know, that is, that is state law. That is the maximum that we can expect, we can expect to, uh, grow by. It is also, um, the best thing about that number is it's very predictable. It's very easy to do the math of what we took in in 23 and add two and a half percent to that. And know from that perspective exactly what we have. Uh, we are estimating $500,000 in new growth. We have outpaced that a bit, um, over the last couple of years. Um, particularly this, the current fiscal year. There's a little bit of unusual growth, as I think you all know, as a result of some utility work. That is not the kind of thing we can expect. Um, year over year, our net increase in state aid, which I think y'all know,
▶ 4:48 Paul Brodeur: is what the state actually gives us. They give it on page one of the cherry sheet, and they take it away on the, uh, on the, um, second page of the cherry sheet. I will admit that is, um, that number as we sit here, what the number we use is $2,390,249. Uh, that's principally driven by Student Opportunity Act. I do want to note that is not, uh, a final figure because the, um, obviously until the legislature passes and the governor signs a budget, then we can't count on that. But it is, it is, um, highly predictable. The Senate budget that they have, um, started deliberations on today, um, indicate as we sit here that Melrose will do a little bit better to the tune of maybe $80,000 in, in the context of a hundred million budget. Uh,
▶ 5:46 Paul Brodeur: that is not game changing revenue, but it does suggest that our number is, um, that we're working with right now is quite reasonable. Um, we have, in terms of how much we are devoting to, um, the budget from local receipts, as I think, you know, our historic P practice was to make our best estimate and devote 75% of that to operating budget, uh, to create, uh, a cushion that I know we all value when things get a little bit, uh, unpredictable. We have upped that, uh, both in amount and percentage, so that that is now at 82 and a 5%. Uh, I think the long term, uh, practice ideally would be to bring it back to, um, 75% over time. I know that is a very challenging, uh, proposition. We are also committing in the context of this budget to
▶ 6:41 Paul Brodeur: $250,000 in revenue from the education Public Safety Substance Abuse Fund, you will call was created, uh, in 2019 when some marijuana revenue came online. This particular bucket of marijuana money is the repeating recurring revenue. It is distinct from, um, the host community agreement funds that are very much, uh, in jeopardy and can't be relied on on the long term. That is money that I would expect and the CFO expects will be able to devote every year towards operating without worrying about, um, overlying on that money. And, um, finally, we will be requesting, um, as part of a free cash offer, uh, order an additional $242,000 into special ed stabilization. Um, that is the, that, that sounds like a weird number.
▶ 7:37 Paul Brodeur: That is to bring it up to $750,000 or quarter of a million dollars, which would be a historic high for that fund based on the volatility we have seen in special ed. We think that is a wise investment. And finally, I think, you know, from some of the discussions that the school committee had, uh, in settling the school department budget, uh, that will be asking for $500,000 in free cash to supplement, uh, school related expenditures, focusing, focusing specifically on, um, one time capital expenditures. So things like, uh, a curriculum investment as opposed to things that might be recurring. Um, that, as you all know, it is not great practice as much as we can avoid it to not use that technique, though, we will be leaning on it. I will admit somewhat, um,
▶ 8:34 Paul Brodeur: we will be requesting about $615,000, which is about a little more than eight and a half percent of certified free cash to be deposited into city stabilization funds. Um, that is lower than historic practice. But given the, um, the financial needs, the operating financial needs of the city, we feel that is wise. Um, that will bring our total in stabilization over all the funds to over 8.3 million, which, uh, the CFO F o will discuss with you when he appears is a critical foundation to long-term finance fiscal stability and stabilization of our, our bond rating. Um, it sounds a little bit, um, geeky or sometimes hard to dig into the intimate details of municipal finance, but the bond rating piece is tied directly to what we paid to borrow
▶ 9:29 Paul Brodeur: funds. Uh, which as you also know in, uh, in normal times is a very normal practice of how municipalities finance things particularly long-term capital investment. Uh, you also find in your budget packet, um, a bunch of information about, um, all our revolving funds. We have several revolving funds, as you all know, those are segregated and essentially, um, earmarked for use by department heads with, uh, or designated personnel with certain review structures, uh, in place. Those do have to be reauthorized every year until they're subject, um, to obviously auditor oversight and control. But as an overall practice, your oversight and control in terms of the amount that can be taken in and the
▶ 10:22 Paul Brodeur: amount that can be spent, uh, out of the revolving funds, you will be able, uh, I hope it's obvious to question the individual department heads that are in control of those funds as they appear both for their, the revolving fund piece and for their department, uh, budget. Uh, we've already talked about the challenges this year, so won't belabor it other than to say our over on overall number one priority is to safeguard the assets of the community and to provide a balanced budget, which you all know we have to do by law, while maintaining, at a minimum a stable level of service across city and school departments, the operating budget does accomplish those objectives. Uh, thank you in advance for the, uh,
▶ 11:11 Paul Brodeur: the long days and now the long nights that you're gonna put in and, uh, look forward, uh, on behalf of my department heads for the conversation going forward. And with that, I'll turn it over to my chief of staff, Margaret Fleishman. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have a brief presentation on the Mayor's office, uh, budget fiscal year 24. Um, our mission is to serve the Melrose community through supporting the mayor and all of his duties, meeting the needs of department heads, conducting community engagement and outreach, and providing constituent services. This is our, uh, our team. These are the members of our team, and we do all work together on almost everything that we do. We really are our team,
▶ 11:52 and I couldn't be more grateful to have such excellent colleagues. We come to work every day looking forward to doing things together that have a real impact on the community. As you can see from this timeline, um, the mayor's office helps to put on many events throughout the year. This keeps us very busy on our, our toes. Some things are one time, but many of these recur And we support the general administrative work of the city, including doing a lot of the back office work for the appointments and reappointments and other orders that come for you, come before you in the normal order of things. Um, we have management and reporting functions. We write grants, we manage earmark requests, we prepare presentation materials,
▶ 12:33 analyze data, and much, much more. One of our most important jobs is to get timely information out to the Melrose community. And thanks to the exceptional skills of Lilly, Martin Communications on behalf of the city across all platforms are growing both in reach and in professionalism. We've worked very hard this year to make sure that anyone who, um, comes to our office or interacts us in any way has a good experience. Um, but especially this year, we focused on people visiting City Hall as we've returned to a normal, um, course of, uh, post pandemic or almost post pandemic, uh, visitors to the city hall. And we've included innovations like a volunteer greeter who helps orient people when they arrive,
▶ 13:23 and orientation signage that we've installed on all the floors. Our office supports the Melrose Emergency Fund and other civic efforts to assist community members experiencing need. And we also, um, coordinate the annual participatory budget process with the Melrose High School students and staff. And again, many thanks to Lilly Martin for her hard work on that. Through the work of Lauren Grim, the city's first ever economic development director, our office has been active in providing economic recovery grants, actively recruiting businesses, and helping to attract new types of businesses through activities like proposing updates to our regulations to allow brewery licenses to be granted. We manage many concurrent projects working with consultants on initiatives
▶ 14:14 including our ADA self-evaluation and transition plan, capital planning, the Utility Arrearages Pay Down program, and the Community Concert Conversations initiative. We've also been supporting the HR director in implementing the D e I equity assessment that you'll probably be hearing more about later. In summary, as you've uh, read in our budget memo, our proposed fiscal year 24 budget represents a 3.9699999999999998% increase over last year. The increase is due to the new salary plan that was recently approved by the city council, as well as a one-time professional development opportunity in fiscal year 24. There are no staffing changes proposed for the upcoming, uh, budget. So in conclusion, oopsy, uh,
▶ 15:00 Mark Garipay: we're grateful for the financial resources that allow us to serve the city of Melrose. And on behalf of the entire team, I wanna thank Mayor Broer for his service and for giving us the opportunity to do this meaningful work. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Questions from the council counselor? Gar, I'll go first. Uh, yes, thank you for being here. Um, uh, on your, uh, on your budget, there's an increase, um, uh, eight community outreach 18 five, it looks like. We continue to budget that at 18 five, and we don't meet that, um, every year. Why are we, we're in tough times, so why, um, why are we continuing to, uh, what's the plan to use that money? If not, can we allocate that somewhere else, I guess would be my question.
▶ 15:53 So, a few, a few years back, we, um, increased the appropriation from about 13,000 to about 18,000 to allow us to do the part participatory budget. There's a bit of a lag time with some of that, so in some instances, we don't actually get it all done in that fiscal year. But we do try our, our hardest to utilize the community outreach budget to the greatest extent possible for activities that allow us to, um, support community organizations having events, um, have, uh, uh, an opportunity to interact with citizens of the city. Um, so in, in addition to the 5K Your Way, we do the kindergarten welcome. Uh, we do advertisements for programs in newspapers, and we have our presence at different, um, civic events throughout the year. So,
▶ 16:39 Paul Brodeur: um, it's true that I think in, in, in some cases we don't wind up spending all of those funds, but we do want to have that $5,000 available additionally every year for the 5k your way. Um, participatory budget challenge, In particular, my fall on, on the 5k, uh, your Way, which is, um, a fairly modest but really important, uh, investment in student voice. So I'm not sure if y'all know how it works, where students develop proposals and they've really been integrated into the new civic education curriculum that goes on at the high schools part of, uh, part of state law passage. I'm happy to say editorially, that Melrose is very much ahead of other districts in terms of the implementation of a civics curriculum. And this is a thing that it is,
▶ 17:27 Paul Brodeur: it is organized around, and it has been a little bit of a learning curve. The first year we did it, um, you may recall we did the Amazing Grace Basketball Court and that $5,000 project cost about $40,000. So we learned a little bit about vetting the projects out of the gate to make sure that they will land within the confines of the budget we provide. And since then, uh, it has been a little bit easier because we have managed those expectations and have had, you know, hundreds of kids participate in it. So, I mean, I, I understand the concern, but in terms of the, um, the, the value of that, I think it is an outstanding value to continue to, uh, invest in our kids that way and to let them have a little bit of control
▶ 18:21 Mark Garipay: over, you know, what goes on in their city. I think they learn a lot from it. Yes, I don't disagree with that. We spent 92 19 in FY 22, um, just under 9,000 this year. Um, and the budget was 18.5, so there's still plenty of room in there for that $5,000. So, and we, we, I'd like to see If we, if in the future, if we're gonna continue to, to put this in the line item, I'd like to make sure that it's, it's gonna be used and we'll just not, It'll definitely be Used. Okay. Thank you. For sure. Um, in your, in your salary line item, we have, you have three, you have two full-time and a part-time employee. Um, what, what is the percent increase in the FY 23 budget that we approved last year in the FY 24? What percent increase per position in pay was that?
▶ 19:15 Mark Garipay: So from 24 to 23, the difference from 20, what we approved from 23 to what's proposed here in 24. Oh yeah. So it's a 3.7% increase in the salary line item across those three positions. Yeah. Um, what, what, what is it per position? Um, I Don't have some pos some positions, I think in the, in the compensation study got got more than others based on study. Yes. So is there any way, I had sent an email to the CFO last week to try to get this, um, so if you can, if you can get that, uh, to me, that'd be great. Sure. Absolutely. And just to be clear, the salary, um, classification did have different impacts depending upon, um, the difference between where it was classified previously and where it is
▶ 19:55 Mark Garipay: classified now. I understand. I'm just curious on the total, um, percentage increase Minus zero As it has been for, uh, a number, number Yes. That's a topic for another. Understood. Okay. Um, on the director of economic recovery and business development, um, that is being funded through opera. Yep. Correct. That is, goes until when, December 31st, 2024. And what is the plan to integrate that back into, into our budget full, full-time? Well, I mean, I think as with all of the, the, uh, that position and the, um, social services coordinator position that are the two primarily funded through arpa, um, there will have to be a decision make about whether or not they can be included at the conclusion of, um, I guess, you know, in the,
▶ 20:47 Paul Brodeur: in budgeting for fiscal year 25, you could budget for half a half a year's worth. Um, and then the following year, obviously similarly to this, uh, social worker over at the Milano Center, you would be on the hook for the en entire amount should the, uh, budget be able to accommodate it. So I just wanna make sure as we see things get, in my opinion, tighter and tighter over the next few years, we do have a plan to integrate that into the budget. So it's not gonna do a, I Wouldn't wanna speak for, for the next mayor, but I will say, you know, historically, um, the city has not added a lot of new positions. Um, it's just, it's just the way y'all know it, y'all have been at this, most of y'all have been, you know, this is probably your,
▶ 21:37 Paul Brodeur: maybe your fourth budget or your third budget at a minimum. And, um, just going off the top of my head, and I don't mean this to be gospel because someone will say, you forgot this one, whatever the case may be, but over the last, I think since fiscal 20, since my first budget, we have added, uh, on budget, um, a an FT E in June resources, we added the facilities director at D P W. Um, honestly, nothing else comes to mind. Those are the two big ones. We might have done something around it, but I honestly, I honestly don't recall. And that is it. The, the, the other positions that we have added are AREPA funded. Um, they add tremendous value, in my opinion. That doesn't mean that there's an easy answer. Um,
▶ 22:38 Paul Brodeur: um, cuz I mean, I get to see it every day. What Ms. Grimm does and the really unbelievable unmet need that we've seen around, uh, social services, both in, in bodies and support and in terms of the financial resources folks need, um, that don't always find their, their way to other programs to be it with the emergency fund or veterans benefits, uh, or whatever the case may be. We are adding, um, uh, assuming you approve it a part-time veterans services agent, uh, here in the city, that will be paid for honestly in large measure with state reimbursement. That's a nice feature of, uh, vsso services. And, what am I forgetting cuz there's one other, oh, we are half a Half a, uh, building inspector after January 1st some
▶ 23:32 Paul Brodeur: Additional hours for in inspectional services that, um, we will, uh, under separate legislation speak to you about fee increases that will, uh, pay for that. Because I, I think you all, we have all taken calls from, uh, residents, particularly with smaller scale projects that are concerned about the volume and the ability to turn around some of these requests. And, um, we can do better delivering that service and we have identified the funds to pay for it. So that should be neutral to the operating budget. Um, but again, that is the, the challenge and the frustration of running the city. We see things that we need and you do have to make choices and that's very, very, very slow to no growth on the city side.
▶ 24:30 Robb Stewart: Thank you. That's all I have. Councilor Stewart? Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you both for being here. Um, let's just, uh, going through the numbers that you provided Mr. Mayor at the beginning, um, and I'm just trying to reconcile, uh, just I think, I think it'll help us all because, um, how does the 2.6 million shortfall factor into the numbers that you provided? Uh, the short answer is it doesn't, by that, I mean, what I described earlier is purely the revenue picture. What more can we ex, you know, what is our revenue growth, a reasonable projection of revenue growth for f y 24 as opposed to f y 23? And, and here's why I'm asking is because if we're, if we're gonna be putting on an additional $3 million mm-hmm. Uh, essentially,
▶ 25:29 Robb Stewart: right? So top line we're adding 3 million and you're identifying the ways that there's growth in here, but I don't think you have to look at the top line. You have to look at bottom line, right? Because there was an impact at the bottom line based on a shortfall from last year. And that shortfall, as I understand, was 2.6 million. And so when I do the math, when I total up everything that you had here, which was the new tax revenue, the new growth state money, the substance abuse, the free cash from stabilization, and the free cash to focus on one time capital expenditure that totals to 5.682 million, um, or 5.6. And so when you factor then in the shortfall, you come right at 3 million, right? So five point x six minus 3.2 0.6 is,
▶ 26:19 Paul Brodeur: So there are a couple things going on. Um, like the, the 500,000 is more or less not operating right? It is, it is exactly off offline in that sense. It's a little bit of an apples and oranges case. But the, um, what we made clear, uh, when speaking about this with the, with the school, um, particularly last meeting where, um, CFO del La Russo led a conversation, we are in a situation where we do have a significant structural deficit in the school budget. And again, we have, uh, some unpalatable options. What we have identified essentially is a way to, um, his get through or in the sense of we can kind of keep this thing going, the whole, the whole kind of civic financial enterprise, um, by trying to slowly narrow that structural deficit honestly over a period
▶ 27:26 Paul Brodeur: of years. Um, but there is not, in our fiscal future, there is not, uh, huge opportunity for growth or innovation the current way we're doing. Thanks for sure. And so that structural deficit will be compensated by non-operating revenue. Correct. Okay. For a period of years. And that, honestly, that is, that went on at a, at a lower number, um, for a bunch of years before the, before the 2019 override. The number was. And there's a little bit of a myth that it was always $750,000. It was always around that it ebbed and flowed a little bit depending on, um, you know, revenue resources and the performance of the school department budget. Both in, you know, the management of funds but also unexpected expenses to a certain
▶ 28:24 Robb Stewart: Degree. Right. So, you know, and I don't wanna discount what you're trying to do with the schooling system cuz I think it's the right thing to do is to have a strong school system. We have a strong school system, we have a strong community mm-hmm. And that no one can argue that, uh, my only concern about this is that we're taking a pretty big bite here on that 3 million extra and it's gonna be, uh, and I know that, you know, with some of the new growth and tax revenue that'll compensate for some of it, but not all of it. And so my question is where do we look hard in terms of what could be trimmed elsewhere to help compensate for that, Um, everywhere and nowhere to a, to a certain degree. I mean,
▶ 29:12 Paul Brodeur: part of it there are, there are always efficiencies we're kind of running outta room on that use, uh, as an example. That's, that's kind of near and dear to my heart for my entire time doing this, which is going on 20 plus years. The city has never had a dedicated procurement officer. Now when you're talking about all the whizbang things that we wanna have happen that are excellent things to do, um, you know, figure out net zero, figure out our transportation, have robust schools, you know, raise your hand if you're excited about spending, I don't know, 90 or a hundred thousand dollars plus benefits to do something that doesn't go out in a pre, you know, does not deliver an obvious tangible benefit
▶ 30:04 Paul Brodeur: That's, that is not, you know, that is not best practice. Sure. But, but that is what we do. So, I mean that's ne never say never, but they're in a heck of a lot of places to look of any, it's the, what our bigger challenge is, um, controlling some of the uncontrollable costs of growth, you know, that old saw. But it is true health insurance going up over a million dollars. And that is, that's just the way it's, and even with, uh, slow readjustment in what employees are paying, you know, we're never gonna, well I shouldn't say never, we're never gonna beat that down. But we are also, I do not believe we are in a labor environment where it is time to ask our employees for significant concessions around,
▶ 30:55 Paul Brodeur: around that particular piece. So it is, uh, I'm trying to be optimistic and but realistic all in the all same at some point. Um, you don't do more with less, I'm saying suddenly. Right. If you think of something, you know, we are with the exception of Mr. Del Russo who's been, this is budget 31, there's no monopoly on wisdom here. Um, you know, concrete ideas as opposed to like, think outside the box, which really doesn't say anything Right. But if someone has a terrific idea, don't be shy cuz we'd love to hear it. Great. Um, has Mr. Lar Russo done any, uh, projections on what it looks like from a non-operating cost over the next several years and what the impact is gonna be based on trying to reduce that
▶ 31:53 Paul Brodeur: structural deficit? Uh, fairly unpredictable. I prefer that you ask him when he appears, cuz he does a lot of that kind of thing and it's very broad in scope. He considers, you know, the, um, borrowing capacity, but the impact on, you know, what's our bond rating gonna be, what a rate's gonna look like. So it can be a little bit fluid. But he certainly does his best in partnership with, you know, our outside auditors, our, our uh, our investment banks into our, you know, our borrowing counselors to say where does it all land? It can be a little bit dicey to project out too far. I use another example, um, and then I will stop cuz this is too much info probably, um, the Student Opportunity Act.
▶ 32:45 Paul Brodeur: You say we are on track to fully funding that in seven years. And I say this with all due respect to the legislature and as a former member, kinda understand the way sometimes this stuff works out. But if we had a recess, you know, there's no more significant federal money probably coming. If there is a recession, then the ability of the legislature to fund all the things they wanna fund is gonna become a little bit challenging. And, you know, some examples around fully funding special education as that was defined in statute took a bunch of years to hit that, uh, fully funding of charter reimbursements despite what is said in statute, very much a slow role and a lot of revisions along the way.
▶ 33:35 Paul Brodeur: So it is absolutely important to do those kind of projections, but we also have to be a little bit thoughtful about how solid they are. Got it. Well, thank you. I I just do want to express my concern that there's risk. Um, I think there's fairly significant risk here and it, it worries me, Madam, madam Chair. Um, anyways, but thank you for, uh, your candor. I do appreciate it. And I'll say in terms of, um, the, the state aid and the 3 million and chapter 70 and what that has to go to, that becomes a little bit of a elaborate discussion that I think is probably most appropriate for, uh, Mr. Kelly and Mr. Del Russo to talk about. Um, but that in and of itself is a little bit of a, you know, of a challenging conversation in terms of chapter 70
▶ 34:36 Paul Brodeur: has to be used on education. But that doesn't mean Chapter 70 has to be used on the school budget as the school defines the budget because as you all know, a lot of school related expenses fly out, the school depart, fly outside the school department, operating budgets like employee insurance, facilities maintenance, um, nurses salaries, those are choices we make that all get reconciled when we have conversations with the state about where we're spending our money in the appropriate levels. But that becomes, um, sometimes a little bit of a challenge in discussing it in public because people like, all right, well, chapter 70 all has to go to the school operating budget. It has to go towards school expenses,
▶ 35:22 Jen Grigoraitis: but it doesn't have to go to the school operating budget. Okay. I'll withhold my further questions for Mr. Del. Thank you. Thank you. Mad chair. Thank You. Um, president Gregory Rees, and just for a reminder for everyone in 10 minutes, we'll have to recess to go into The full council meeting. Thank you, Madam Chair. I, I promise I'll be brief. Um, I just wanna build on the questions asked by Counselor Gepe and Counselor Stewart. Um, in your comments, you mentioned two things that there'll be a request coming to us to put 250, approximately 250,000 in sped stabilization, and then a request coming to us to, um, appropriate money from the cannabis fund to the schools. And that's part of the budget, correct? Do you Correct. So at this point,
▶ 36:03 Jen Grigoraitis: the only agenda that those connects appear on for the council is June 5th. Do we have confidence that those will, those requests will be before us at our June 5th meeting. Okay. Just because, and those are each eight votes pending the sup that's before the legislature for sure. Okay. To get that money. Um, I think just so people have a total understanding that there's more steps involved, there's Some moving Yep. There's definitely some moving pieces here for Sure. Okay. And then just, um, going back to the questions about the economic, um, development director position in arpa, can you remind me what is the deadline for us to expend ARPA dollars? So the deadline to expend is actually 2026, but the, um,
▶ 36:41 guidance that we're receiving from our consultants who are more knowledgeable about the treasury guidelines is that that might be for, uh, projects that were in progress, but not for continuing costs. So their guidance is that, um, something like somebody's salary, um, were has to be incurred by December 31st, 2024, that that really is a, a firm deadline for, for those sorts of things. But let's say if you had, um, a construction project or something and not all the bills came in, you could continue to pay them through 2026. So that is what we're going on in terms of how we're addressing that particular issue. Should we receive different guidance or should the treasury rule be changed in any way? We certainly will reassess. Okay.
▶ 37:25 Paul Brodeur: So we certainly are, uh, mindful of the fact that, um, in the theme for the last 10 years, Washington is, is a little bit dysfunctional and part of the play around a part of the conversations around the debt ceiling and what might be part of a deal to make all that work would involve significant budget cuts, but also the potential of some kind of a clawback of unspent ARPA funds, I think, I'm guessing, but I think it is unlikely that that will affect us, because essentially we already have the money, so we will still be able to en like encumber it in the ordinary course. Uh, but we are, we are watching that very, very shift. We certainly, we don't wanna be in a position where we don't wanna blow it,
▶ 38:14 Jen Grigoraitis: but we're not given anything back. Okay. Yeah, I was gonna ask about, I've heard the same things about clawback. Um, I just was curious if there was a way to slowly build up the director's salary over time where you're, you're shouldering part of it on the city operating budget and part of it through arpa, but it sounds like we've chosen to do all or nothing and then there's kind of a cliff in terms of funding. Okay. Um, and then my only other question as it relates to the actual budget before us, um, is for the, um, community outreach line, um, I know in your memo you mentioned that we are at about $9,000 expended of the 18,000 because we haven't yet paid for the Memorial Day parade. Is that the remainder of that money is Memorial Day Parade expenses? Uh,
▶ 38:57 So the Memorial Day Parade expense expenses are from the other budget under the mayor's control. Um, which is, I can't remember. It's, I don't remember. Basically 6 52, I think is the, The Memorial Day. The Memorial Day parade is. Okay. So that's not a part of community Outreach? It's not Correct. Okay. And then, sorry, I had one more question. What is the increase in cost? You had mentioned that there's a one-time professional development opportunity. Could you say, tell a little bit about that? Sure. So, um, one of members of our staff, um, Ms. Grim has the opportunity to take a certificate program, a 25 week program that costs about $2,500. Um, so just for this fiscal year, we are gonna ask for an additional amount beyond the normal course of education
▶ 39:37 Paul Brodeur: opportunities that, um, we usually avail ourselves of during the year. No, sir. This is, this is a, a program that is a joint offering of Mass Municipal Association and Suffolk University. Um, it is, there's actually a, a semi competi enrollment process. We've sent others through the city, certainly has, um, sent others through the process. It really is an outstanding, uh, opportunity. Again, I think it's a very good value for what it is and we certainly what we do, uh, in a perfect world training would be much higher up on the list across the board of the opportunities that we provide for our employees. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Okay. Um, counselor Carm Shady, Um, President Kru asked my question regarding the education seminars and why the,
▶ 40:32 Maya Jamaleddine: uh, larger increase in what the content was. So I'm good. Thank you. Okay. Vice Chair Jam, Jamal Ladine. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, through the chair, I just wanted to clarify that, um, and emphasize that, that the city council role is in this hearing is to approve or decrease proposal that are coming from, um, the mayor's office. Uh, but I have no authority to make proposal or increase any budget fund. My wish is that we make priority for, um, the school and to invest in our, uh, students. Um, but that's sent as suggestion. Um, I do have a question. Um, I noticed that in every, uh, proposal there is, um, a question about if there is any event or changes anticipated in departments. Um, are these included in the, uh,
▶ 41:32 budget or this, are we anticipating that there will be request for more For the mayor's office budget? I'm sorry, I'm just, Uh, I am checking in the hr, um, budget that there will be a consultant. So I, I'm happy more Racial equity group. Oh yes. So, um, I'm sure that, um, Ms. Lada will be speaking to you a about that, um, that project is funded through free cash. So I don't, I don't anticipate any changes, but she can certainly speak to that. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Okay. I'm good. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay. Since we have three minutes left, I'll entertain a motion, um, to move the bottom line on 1 21 Mayor's Office. Motion to move the bottom line. Second. Motion to move the bottom line made by Counselor Eckles. Um,
▶ 42:34 Leila Migliorelli: and seconded by Counselor Stewart. Anyone on discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, will you please call the roll Vice chair Aldine? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. Counselor Eckles? Yes. Council Councilor Gepe? Yes. Counselor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Che. Yes. Cremsky? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Greg Goss? Yes. And Chair Elli? Yes. That's 10? Yes. Okay. That motion carries, um, what is the will of the committee on line 6 92 Community events. That would also be a motion to move the bottom line if that is something the council would like to do. Motion to move the bottom line on community events. Second. Motion to move the bottom line made by Counselor Williams. Seconded by Counselor Eckles. Anyone on discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Clerk,
▶ 43:31 Vice chair Jamal? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. Counselor Eccles? Yes. Council Gepe? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Karamcheti. Yes. Cremsky? Yes. Councilor? Uh, Williams? Yes. President Greg Regards? Yes. And Chair Elli? Yes. That 10? Yes. That motion carries. And with that, we will, um, adjourn temporarily. Thank you very much. Mad chair. I'll make a motion to Ajo chair. Ladies and gentlemen. Recess. Recess. You want Thank you. Motion recess made by Councilor McMaster. Second recess. Seconded by President Greg. All in fever. Aye. Aye. The opposed? Okay, we're now recessed. Good evening. Today is Monday, May 15th, 2023. The time is 7:46 PM And this meeting of the Miller City Council is called to
▶ 51:17 So we have a motion to place the resolution on file made by Council McMaster, seconded by Councilor Les. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? So that resolution is now placed on file. Madam Chair, make a, a motion to recess the full counsel. Second. So we have a motion to recess made by Councilor Stewart. Seconded by Councilor Wrigley re All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And we are recessed. We'll be back. Thank you. All right. We are now back from recess. Um, and next up is City solicitor Shannon Phillips to speak on, um, her operating budget line 1 51. Good evening. Welcome. Uh, so I'd like to just start tonight. Just give, to give everyone in the public just a brief overview of all the work our office
▶ 52:22 does. On behalf of the city of Melrose, the city's solicitor's office functions as a full-time law office providing legal services to the mayor, city council, school committee, department heads, all the boards and commissions and other municipal employees within the city of Melrose. Our staff of only three employees, which includes myself, my executive assistant, and the assistant city solicitor for schools and labor, are kept very busy on a daily basis on a variety of different legal matters on behalf of the city between myself and the assistant city solicitor, we handle labor matters and negotiations relative to the 12 collective bargain groups in the city of Melrose. And regularly advise on a variety of different legal areas like zoning,
▶ 52:59 employment, labor law, title IX issues, education, law, procurement, permitting and licensing, conflict of interest, open meeting law, public records, law and ethics. We assist in drafting legislation, reviewing and drafting contracts and leases deeds, providing help and representation relative to code enforcement, building and health within the city, and assist the city in implementing best practices and policies through a variety of city operations. In addition, my executive assistant regularly processes claims on behalf of residents through our insurance policies. She sits as a member of the retirement board of the city and also serves as a clerk to the Liquor Commission for the City of Melrose. As discussed in uh,
▶ 53:37 detail in my written memorandum that was submitted to City council prior to tonight's meeting, the budget for my office for fiscal 24 has stayed level funded for most areas with changes made to the following. So the first area, property and casualty insurance. So as you can see from looking at the solicitor's budget, a substantial portion of the budget for our office is used to cover the city's costs, uh, for property and liability insurance. Between this fiscal year and the last, the city's property and liability insurance coverage has increased. Unfortunately, given the current state of the insurance market and best efforts of our department, this is not something that could have been avoided in an effort to get the best
▶ 54:16 price possible relative to this coverage. We did solicit quotes from three different vendors this past fiscal year, starting in January. Only one company, as I mentioned in my memo, um, ended up supplying the city with a quote for the liability coverage this year. The main reason given to us, um, for this current situation is the property reinsurance market, uh, which has deteriorated and caused, um, the premiums to be escalated for various policy holders across the market. Um, and as a resulted in some not wishing to take on additional clients, the policy for property insurance for the city alone has gone up a little over 60,000. So as that policy in and of itself constitutes the majority of the increase in
▶ 54:56 the city's overall coverage for this fiscal year, most of the other coverages in the city's policies remained relatively stable or with slight increases across the board. The budget line item presented in the fiscal 24 budget for property and liability insurance, uh, reflects the new total cost of the insurance premium for fiscal 24. And it also accounts for, um, an anticipated estimated 5,000, um, to try and cover new vehicles or equipment, which when added to the policy ends up, um, escalating the premium. So we've tried to anticipate those costs for the coming fiscal year. It's hard to be exact on those cause we don't know when new equipment or vehicles will be received. Um, but we have added that to the budget for this year to try to prepare for that.
▶ 55:36 Uh, second. So this coming fiscal year, we also see a, an increase in the salary and wage wage line item for my department. The increase is a result of the city implementing the non-union common class study and also the estimated costs for interim coverage this coming fiscal year for my anticipated maternity leave in the fall. Last, our department has decreased the cost of its subscription for its legal research database, um, by 27.6% for this coming fiscal year by entering into a new three year contract, uh, with a new comparable vendor. Finally tonight, I wanted to just address the difference between the budgeted fiscal 23 property and liability insurance coverage and the actual fiscal 23 property and liability
▶ 56:16 insurance coverage on the operating budget sheet. At the time, the fiscal 23, uh, budget for our office was approved by council last year. Our insurer had not provided a final quote for that fiscal year's insurance coverage. Given the trends at the time of previous years, we had estimated a 5% increase at that time over the existing policies, not expecting the substantial increase that we saw starting last year with the property insurance. Um, while the total cost does exceed what was budgeted for, absent a cancellation of the city's insurance policies, that was an unavoidable obligation the city had to incur. So with that, I'm happy to answer any questions council might have. Thank you. Any questions? Council Gepe.
▶ 57:01 Mark Garipay: Thank you. Thank you for being here, Ms. Phillips. Um, I'm gonna ask the same question I asked the, um, previous department. Um, and if you don't have the information, if you can, uh, pass it along until we can get something from the, um, CFO's office. Um, percent increase per position within your budget from FY 23 approved to what's in the FY 24 budget. If, if you can get us that information, if you don't, if you do, do you know the percentage Through the chair? I do not. I only know that what has been provided by the auditor's office. Thank you. Yes, thank you. Um, going back to the property insurance, um, states here you say you reflects a total cost of new premium with no reduction in coverage from previous years.
▶ 57:47 Mark Garipay: Have we increased our coverage in anything that may have, may have, um, resulted in that, that large of an increase? Have we gone up on our limits? Everything's the same. We even, we even attempted to, uh, raise our deductible on a few of the claims to try to decrease the premium for property especially. And it only decreased at about 5,000 total on the premium. So it didn't end up being worth it. And is $5,000 gonna be enough? I know we have a lot of equipment on order for, uh, for new equipment, um, electric cars. Yeah. Do we know if an electric car could cost, um, is more to ensure that over a regular gas or diesel, diesel vehicle? I, I don't have those rates in front of me through the chair. Um,
▶ 58:33 I I was told historically that 5,000 is a very conservative estimate. I think this year our year-end auto endorsement might be around $800 additional they'll have to pay on top of the premium. But again, it's, it sounds from talking with departments, there's been a significant delay in the time between when they order these vehicles and when they actually get on the road. So it's not, so it's, it's a little difficult to predict when they will actually come on the road and then come onto our policy. But Did the departments happen to give you how much, uh, how, how many equip pieces of equipment we have on order that we could take delivery this year? Uh, I would have to get that additional information that goes directly,
▶ 59:07 Mark Garipay: I believe to the auditor's office. I'd have to get that information from them. Yes. Righty. And how many claims did we have this year compared to previous years? I mean, is it, is it pretty consistent every year or do we have an increase or There's, I, I know that there's not been an increase. Cause that was actually a comment when we were doing the quotes for the different insurance companies, they were questioning. Um, I don't have the exact number in front of me, but I'm happy to supply that We do have a year end, uh, last run report I could provide to council if you wish. Okay. Yeah, if you could, uh, send that information out. Thank you. One more questions. Councilor Stewart. Thank You Madam Chair. Um, council Gepe asked,
▶ 59:44 Robb Stewart: uh, the majority of my questions. I just, I would like to comment, um, on the clarity in which you've provided the information. I appreciate that. It's very helpful for all of us and also want to commend you for being able to negotiate a, a better contract on the electronic mass general laws. So thank you for doing that. Uh, every little bit have helps. So thank you Madam Chair. Any other questions? Seeing none, council Staff, Madam Chair, I'll, I'll motion to move this to the bottom line. Second. Second. Motion to move, um, to the bottom line number 1 51 City solicitor made by Counselor Stewart. Seconded by Counselor Eckles. Anyone on discussion? Say none. Mr. Clark, Vice Chair Jamine? Yes.
▶ 1:00:36 Councilor McMaster? Yes. Councilor Les? Yes. Councilor Garrette? Yes. Council Stewart? Yes. Councilor Che? Yes. Counselor Williams? Yes. President of GOs? Yes. And Chair Mcle? Yes. Uh, that's nine. Yes. Good. Motion carries. Great. Thank you. Thank you All. And finally, we have, um, human Resources Director Paul Lata here to talk about her operating budget 1 52 as well as 9 1 2 workers compensation. 9 1 3 unemployment and 9 1 4 health contractual. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Thank you for having me here tonight. So the Human Resources Department, um, supports employees and retirees in a various areas of benefits. Administration. Financial management leaves one 11 F workers compensation.
▶ 1:01:38 We interpret policies, procedures, and we ensure the city's in compliance with, um, state federal laws collective bargain agreement. Um, I wanted, before I started, I wanted to ask you if you would like me to go through each, um, budget separately and allow you to ask questions or I would have you asked questions af after every budget? Or do you want me to go through all of my four budgets and then anyone can ask questions on the four budget? What's your preference? Counselor Stewart? Thank you Madam Chair. I'd like to see, uh, questions, um, an opportunity to ask questions at the end of each, uh, description of the budget. Sure. All right? Yes. Sounds good. Okay. I will, I will do that. So the Human Resources Department consists of the Director of Human Resources,
▶ 1:02:26 um, the Human Resources Coordinator, Diane Barrett, and Human Resources Assistant, um, Matt Traverse. Um, I want to, um, acknowledge all the hard work that my, um, staff has been, uh, doing over the past year, and specifically command Diane Barrett, who is retiring at the end of this month for, uh, successfully in carrying out the open enrollment for school and city this year. It was a very busy time, and, and she did it with, um, care and detail, and it was very successful. Um, I also like to, um, thank my coworkers that I work closely with every day, the city solicitor's office, mayor's office in auditor's office for their expertise and knowledge and support during the year. So, first, the HR budget. Um,
▶ 1:03:15 we have had an increase in the human resources budget of 6.3%, um, in, uh, salaries and wages, uh, due to transitioning to the non-union compensation classification plan. And we have had some, um, movement in the advertising budget, uh, as well as, uh, movement in the physical exams. And this movement was caused by a more, um, I guess, better allocating funds. We have taken $2,000 from the advertising budget and moved it to the, uh, physical exams budget since, um, we had greater needs in the physical exams, and our cost has, uh, gone up this past year. Otherwise, um, anything else in the human resources line? Item 1 52, um, remains same. Anybody has any questions on that one? Council Stewart.
▶ 1:04:16 Robb Stewart: Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you Ms. Lata for that, uh, explanation. Um, just on the physical exams, uh, I see you in, thank you for explaining that you're increasing it, but you haven't hit budget for the last two years. I mean, you're at 50%, practically 50%, 56% I should say, of what you're intending to spend. So why such the increase? So, uh, actually last year, our vendor for pre-employment exams, um, gave us a few days notice, and they decided to close the doors last fiscal year. So we had to find a new vendor. Um, and I have been, um, kind of searching the marketplace, and every vendor that we have encountered comes with a somewhat of a culture shock of the prices that they're offering. And, uh,
▶ 1:05:12 the vendor that we selected is Quadrant Health. They, um, are very responsive. We felt like they're offering reasonable cost, but with that, uh, our pre-employment exams have increased. The cost per, uh, employee has gone up, which is why we are, um, reallocating resources. And to your question, uh, we always try to kind of level fund our, um, physical exams. We have an idea of what we anticipate, for example, with, uh, public safety. Usually we have an idea, um, maybe a year in advance of what we're going to be, um, who is going to be retiring, what type of vacancies we have. And right now for public safety positions, we, our cost is about $900 for pre-employment physical exam, and about three 50 for a pre-employment psychological.
▶ 1:06:12 Robb Stewart: So for one public safety employee, our cost is around 1200. Uh, so that's significant. And right now, we're in the process of hiring, uh, some firefighter paramedics. If we hire them before the, the end of the fiscal year, we'll certainly, uh, use up the rest of our budget. If we don't, we'll be able to carry it over to the next fiscal year, because these are known expenses that we, we know we have incurred this year. Okay. And so th this, this budget is for peop new people that are coming on and doing a physical exam. And so, Yeah, It's difficult to estimate because you don't know how many people are gonna leave and then you gotta hire somebody else. Is that, is that the reason why you have a buffer?
▶ 1:06:59 Right. We, right now we have, um, five candidates who we are interviewing, uh, for firefighter paramedics. If, if we are able to hire all of them and we schedule the pre-employment exams before the end of the fiscal year, um, most likely the invoices will come in fiscal year 24. So what we'll be able to do is we encumber the non-car cost from fiscal year 23 to fiscal year 24 to cover that, that Cost. Okay. Okay. I get it. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Much. Thank you, Madam Chair. Other counselors on 1 52, the HR main budget council Care, just for the previous departments, if you can set us a percentage increase per position from FY 23 approved to FY 24 budget. Yeah, I can provide this. Any other questions from counselors?
▶ 1:08:03 Leila Migliorelli: Um, I have a question if no one else is. Okay. Um, just had a question about the, you mentioned that, um, Diane, the HR coordinator is retiring and says you're in the process of training and onboarding someone new. So have you hired someone new or you're, that's you planning to train and onboard her replacement? No, We just hired her replacement. Okay. Uh, Diane is retiring at the end of May. Okay. May 31st. So there's going to be few weeks of overlap where she'll train with, um, Diane. Okay. Thank you. Um, and then just in your memo, there's a question about department salaries coming from the same budget. If not, please identify the split among mu multiple budgets. So, um, just if you could talk a little bit about the splits between the director
▶ 1:08:48 coordinator system position and between HR and health, um, salaries and wages. Yes. Yes. So the, Just A moment. So our salaries, um, are split between HR, salaries and wages and health, salary and wages. Uh, the director's salary is split, uh, 75% from HR salary and wages, and 25% from health, salary and wages. Uh, the HR coordinator salary split 50% HR salary and wages and 50% health, salary and wages. And the HR assistant is split again, 50% HR salary and wages and 50%, uh, held salary and wages. And what's the rationale between The two in, and the rationale is that, uh, the services that, uh, these positions provide, um, there's a great part of them. Um, well, with HR coordinator, 50% goes into, um, health,
▶ 1:09:51 Leila Migliorelli: uh, benefits management. That's, that's a big part of what the HR coordinator does. And, uh, the same with, um, HR assistant. Okay. Thank you. And, um, just a question about the, so the, in the last question, I think any events or changes you anticipate for the department, um, in the hrs role in working with the racial equity group, um, on the organizational equity and assessment study, um, that, that work is being funded through free cash, right? The and, okay. Mm-hmm. Yeah, just wanted to clarify that for the public. All right. Any other questions? Okay. Uh, president Gru. Thank you, Madame Chair. Um, I just thank you Ms. Lata, for being here. I just wanted to, um, ask about something that was in your memo that also hearkens back to,
▶ 1:10:38 Jen Grigoraitis: I know some of the budget requests from the school department. So your department provides HR support for All City and all school employees, is that correct? No, I have to clarify. So my department provides, provides HR support only for city employees. We manage benefits for city and school employees. Okay. So there's no dedicated HR staff for, for school employees? There isn't one. Okay. So when you say in your memo you highlighted that you helped a school, the school with an employee medical leave, I mean, I'm assuming in a staff of what's gotta be 200 people, there's more than one employee medical leave in a given. Um, so the function, the employee that was on medical leave normally handles,
▶ 1:11:20 um, benefits administration onboarding along with payroll and bunch of other responsibilities. And this employee has been on a medical leave for, um, a while now. And it coincided with open enrollment. Open enrollment was a very busy time. And as well as any, any onboarding, um, hiring exit, um, retirements. So we, we stepped in to help, uh, since they have twice the employees that we do. And there was a great need. So we, um, stepped in to help. It was, it was a lot of effort on our part, but it was necessary to keep Yeah. Keep operations. I, I misunderstood your memory. I thought it was that you helped with an employee leave not provided Coverage. Coverage, yeah. For a, a job function. Mm-hmm. Yes. So there's more school employees,
▶ 1:12:12 but no dedicated HR support. That's correct. Okay. All right. Thank you. Counselor Jamine. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, Ms. Lara, can you explain or elaborate more on your, on item number four in your memo? Um, yes. Um, I'm happy to. So, um, we f few months ago, we put out an RFP for the first, um, ever equity assessment, organizational equity assessment and DI training series. And, um, with the assistance with of the mayor's office di Task Force, we selected a consultant, a racial equity group, and they're going to be starting work on, um, conducting, uh, organizational equity assessment, which has more of an internal focus. Um, if you remember few years ago, we had Visions Incorporated the consultant who kind of did, um,
▶ 1:13:19 a racial, um, audit for the City of Maros climate audit. Um, and some of the recommendations of this consultant were along the lines of looking at our policies, procedures, um, practices, benefits, and as a result, we put out the rfp and now we are kind of following up on that initiative in hired a racial equity group to help us, uh, evaluate our policies, um, employment policies, procedures, our benefits, um, on the, specifically that my department will be leading these efforts, um, what we are offering to employees to ensure that there are employees who may be, um, impacted differently by these policies, procedures, and benefits. Uh, they will also look at, uh, they'll review a department specific communications. So they will speak with,
▶ 1:14:14 um, every department programs policies, again to ensure that the outreach, um, is effective, that policies are not, um, impacting one group, uh, differently than another. And they will also, um, work with the mayor's office again, to ensure that the communication that comes out of the mayor's office in the outreach is, uh, affected. And they'll make recommendations of, um, where the gaps are and, uh, what best practices are great in. And just in addition to that, uh, there will be d i training series. So the consultant will use the information from Visions, they'll use the information from the equity assessment, and then, um, also design a di training series to, which will be every employee in the city of me.
▶ 1:15:06 Maya Jamaleddine: So city Not school will be, uh, trained and the trainings will kind of build on each other. Um, anything from developing common language and understanding to, um, leadership training. And that will be, uh, taking place in fiscal year 24. Yeah. Do we know how much is that gonna cost? Yes, it's, uh, 85,085. Do we, did we already hire an organization that's gonna do that? Workforce us? Yes, we did. And we have signed the agreement. Do we have the name of that organization? It's called, Uh, racial Equity Group. So this is, uh, the same organization. Mm-hmm. And, um, is, uh, the workshops or training is gonna be on, uh, you mentioned on every level, right? Yes. Yes. That's the go to, uh, train every employee in the city of Melrose.
▶ 1:16:00 Maya Jamaleddine: And do we have a list of the workshops that it's gonna be? We have, I can provide a list of what was, um, discussed, but with the caveat that any of this may change, uh, depending on the organizational equity assessment, the results, if they identify that there's a greater need in one area versus another, um, this may change, but I'll be happy to email you the, um, the trainings that were kind of recommended. Awesome. And, um, one more question. Do we have some kind of follow up or action plan once the assessment or evaluation? So the consultant will help us create that. And would the consultant help the you as well to, uh, implement and execute that, uh, action plan or, Uh, they will provide guidance?
▶ 1:16:55 I think that's up to us afterwards to implement and execute. Okay. Um, I would love to hear follow ups on this process and, you know, if there is any update to keep us updated in that. Absolutely. I'll be happy to. Thanks. Any other questions? Seeing them, what is the will of the committee Motion to move the bottom line? Second. Motion to move the bottom line on 1 52 Human resources made by Counselor Eccles. Seconded by Counselor Stewart. Anyone on discussion? See none. Mr. Clerk, Vice chair Jamine? Yes. Counselor McMaster? Yes. Counselor Eccles? Yes. Counselor Gepe? Yes. Counselor Stewart? Yes. Counselor Chet? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Regards? Yes. And Chair mc? Yes. That's nine. Yes.
▶ 1:17:53 Mark Garipay: The motion carries. Um, next up is 9 1 12 Workers' Compensation. Yes. Uh, so, um, we administer workers' compensation for, um, our city employees and one 11 f for our public safety employees. Uh, for fiscal year 24. We are level funding our workers' comp benefits, expenses, uh, medicals, and one 11 f uh, line items. There's not no. Any changes. Council gar? Yes. Um, quick question on, um, this currently we're running, and I know workman's comp's unpredictable. Yeah. Workman's compensation's, unpredictable. So we're running over, we're already over our budget for 2023. Do you see any more large expenses coming in before the end of the year? And if so, how do we plan on fu uh, funding that? So, um, I had o requested, I think it was about, um, a,
▶ 1:18:54 a week ago, um, appropriation funding of $100,000 for our workers comp, uh, budget to be, uh, broken down to 30,000 for medical expenses for medicals, 10,000 for expenses, and 60,000 for benefits. And, um, the reason for that is to fund, uh, current known expenses. Um, the majority o of this is to fund current non expenses. Um, we currently have three long-term recipients of workers' comp benefits, and we have three short-term recipients of workers' comp benefits. We also have some surgeries that are pending that will be, um, needing the funding for I'm, I'm sorry, I I didn't hear the first part. You said there's a free cash order coming down for that this year. Did he? That was last week. It was last week. I'm sorry, this year?
▶ 1:19:49 Yes. Oh, sorry. Okay, Stop. Sorry. Um, and so the, then the p the procedure or policy will be going forward is, this will be funded through free cash in FY 24 if we run over, So this is for fiscal year 23. For fiscal year 24. We're just level funding our budget as, as you said, it's, it's really hard to predict with workers' comp. You really can't predict, um, what the year's going to look like. Um, I give an example. Last on Monday, last Monday that last year we had, um, s claims. Uh, and by claims, I mean we have trained our employees to, uh, report incidents. Any incident regardless whether it results in a medical, uh, claim or not. So we have 70 claims. Not all of them resulted in, um, medical, had medical cost attached to them. That was fiscal year 22.
▶ 1:20:48 Fiscal year 23, we have 50 so far. However, it's not just the number of claims, it's the type of claims, the complexity, whether there's a surgical intervention involved or not. So it's really hard to know, um, what their year is going to look like. Um, I can tell you on the worst workers' comp benefits line item, the three long-term recipients out of the 200,000, 162,000 is already known that this is going to be the cost for our long-term. The three long term recipients out of the expenses line item, which is 50,000, 30,000 is our administrative fee that we pay to our third party administrator. Out of the medicals, 100,000 line item close to 50,000 is for, um, long-term recipient and their prescription medications.
▶ 1:21:44 Mark Garipay: So these are known year to year, um, kind of expenses. Just want to clarify. So the, typically the policy is to use free cash when we go over in the, in the workman's comp budget, it would be used free cash to offset that difference. Has that been the policy? Kind of the policy, the procedure we Over, over The last few years, So we haven't had to, uh, come in front of city council to ask for money for a while now. Um, and usually when, um, there is a need such as this, um, I would reach out to, um, Patrick del La Russo and he would, uh, guide us as to the, you know, how we can request for these funds. Okay. I just, more and more I hear about free cash in the order coming down now. We're gonna be limited on the amount of free cash next year,
▶ 1:22:35 Mark Garipay: cuz it seems like we're promising a lot in free cash for a number of things. So I get a little nervous that, uh, we may be overpromising, especially if it comes in a lot less than we think. So. And, and with worker's comp, these are, the majority of it is non cause that we have to cover, that we obligated to cover. Yeah, I'm not, I'm not questioning that. I'm more concerned about overcommitting free cash in FY 24 and having to make tough decisions. Thank you. Councilor Stewart? Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you Ms. Lata for being here tonight. Um, I do want to reiterate, uh, what council Gar was saying because if you look year over year from 22 to 23, um, it's going up and your level of funding is. So if the trend continues,
▶ 1:23:23 Robb Stewart: uh, there's gonna be even more of a draw from three cash that we're gonna need to anticipate for fiscal year 24. And that goes beyond you. Mm-hmm. But the administration needs to know, recognize, and accommodate for that. Um, I do want to ask a little bit about indemnification. Sure. Um, I'm, uh, cuz I'm a little confused about it. Right. So is this something that covers, um, the in insurance premium that, uh, that, uh, that insurance does not cover? No. Um, the, in, so the indemnification, um, line item, just want to, uh, this line item actually covers, um, public safety, medical cost, so specifically for police and fire. Okay. And, uh, very little has gotten drawn on from the last couple of years.
▶ 1:24:25 Robb Stewart: Why is the, why is it so big? I'm sorry. I couldn't hear you. Very little was drawn from, uh, this particular line item in 2022 and 2023. It's been level funded at $70,000 in 2022. Um, $5,900 were, was drawn from it. And this year, thus far, only $2,300 has been drawn from it. Mm-hmm. So it's a pretty big number, $70,000 that we're not really drawing that much from, I'm just wondering why is it so big? Mm-hmm. So, um, we've had probably f three or four years ago, we've had, um, a year when we've had more, um, incidents and claims related to public safety and this number has been much larger. So it, it's a fluid budget, it's really hard to predict. Um, so this is the number that we have been comfortable using. Um,
▶ 1:25:18 and, and as you can see that we are not increasing our workers comp medical line item. Um, we're not decreasing the one 11 f and every year is so different. It's really hard to predict. So we feel like this is, um, a reasonable budgeting for our workers' comp budget. Okay. So it is insurance after all. Yeah. Yeah. Got it. Um, what happens to the money at the end of the year when you don't hit, hit? The, uh, where, where does that go? Uh, at the end of the year? Uh, we don't carry it over to the next year. Okay. We don't do, we don't encumber with the worker's comp. Okay. Okay. That's what I wanted to know. Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you Ms. Yep. Anyone else? What is the will of the committee? Madam Chair,
▶ 1:26:09 Leila Migliorelli: I'll make a motion to move to the bottom Line. Second. Motion to move 9 1 12 workers' compensation to the bottom line made by, um, counselor Stewart. Seconded by Counselor Williams. Anyone on discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, will you please call the rule Vice chair Jamine? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. Counselor Les? Yes. Counselor Gepe? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Chet? Yes. Counselor Williams? Yes. President Greg? Yes. And Chair Elli? Yes. That's nine? Yes. Okay, that motion carries. Um, next is line, um, budget number 9 1 13 unemployment. So, uh, with our unemployment budget, we are level funding for fiscal year 24. Um, the city of Melrose is a reimbursable employer. Uh, so what that means is a is a reimbursable employer.
▶ 1:27:07 Ryan Williams: We are responsible to play, to pay all costs related to unemployment. And, um, that's somewhat the trade off of not paying unemployment taxes, which would be much more expensive, expensive since it'll apply to all employees. Um, so this, um, past, uh, invoice, we've had three employees on the unemployment invoice and, um, we are, we are level funding. Any questions? Council Williams. Hi. Um, so I know because I am friends with the woman who works in the State's unemployment department mm-hmm. That there's a lot of fraud, right? There's a huge uptick in fraud happening right now in Massachusetts unemployment, and it was very sharp and, um, very high volume. And I know that Melrose has had some fraudulent unemployment claims recently.
▶ 1:28:03 Ryan Williams: Mm-hmm. So I'm curious about how you, um, prepare for the potential that fraudulent unemployment claim could blow up your, your budget or your costs. When do you have to make those payments to people? Do they typically get to the point where you know, you're actually paying the money out and you have to clot back? Or is it something that you catch early? Basically, is there some kind of risk we should be worried about with regard to level funding the unemployment budget at a time when fraud? Is it an all-time high? Sure. That's a good question. Um, thank you for it. So, uh, you are correct. We have been experiencing, um, increase in fraudulent claims and my department is trained to address them immediate claim. Uh,
▶ 1:28:48 what we do in order to address this fraudulent claim claims is we immediately respond to our third party administrator and gives the, give the information. It's a fraudulent claim. We file with the Department of Unemployment as well as contact the employee who has been affected, and we advise them on proper steps to take right away in order for them to report the fraudulent claim. Um, unfortunately, um, I was recently on the phone with the Department of Unemployment myself, trying to get a better understanding of why are we getting so many fraudulent claims. Um, how come some of these claims on our are on our bill after we have disputed them. And the unfortunately the Instagram getting from them is not very helpful,
▶ 1:29:38 is that they're trying to catch up and we just have to keep on disputing. And when they recoup the amount and they do their research on the fraudulent claim, then we are going to get the, um, the credit from them. Uh, to answer your question, as a reimbursable employer, uh, we are required to pay the full bill. Um, again, I just had the conversation last week with the Department of Unemployment and with our third party administrator, and we were told with no uncertain terms that we cannot hold back on the fraudulent claims. We are to pay the bill and then we get credited when this fraudulent claim is resolved and or when they have recouped the money is something that we have, uh, experienced during the, um, pandemic.
▶ 1:30:29 Ryan Williams: So this is not our first time encountering this type of issue. Um, we are trained to respond immediately, so try to get the information to the Department of Unemployment right away, uh, to address the claim. Um, and there's not much else we can do, um, at this time, but keep track on any claims that have been fraudulent and just keep on contacting them and asking them for status to report. Do you have an idea of how much we've paid out in unemployment claims at this time in the year? And do you think it's high, worrisome high? Was it kind of in an average range? I mean, Do I have an, uh, fraudulent unemployment claims or in general of our unemployment claims? Well, I guess If you knew exactly which ones were fraudulent or you suspected were fraudulent
▶ 1:31:22 Yeah. Do you think that, what are you paying out right now in unemployment? Fraudulent. We have been, um, good about keeping track of what we have paid for fraudulent claims. So it's about between nine to 10,000, uh, up until now. Okay. Yeah. So not a lot. Not a, not a little, but Yes. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. Right. But it's still, it's, it's something and it's money that we should have paid out, so yeah. Totally. Okay. Yeah. All right. Well thank you very much. Appreciate You're welcome. Any other questions? What is the role of the committee Push to move the Bottom line. Second. Motion to move the bottom line on 9 1 13 Unemployment made by Counselor Eccles. Seconded by Counselor Stewart. Anyone on discussion?
▶ 1:32:11 Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, Vice Chair Aldine? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. Counselor Eccles Eckles? Yes. Council Gepe? Yes. Council Stewart? Yes. Council Che? Yes. Council Williams? Yes. President Greg? Yes. And Chair Elli? Yes. That's nine? Yes. Okay, that motion carries. Um, finally, uh, 9 1 14. Health contractual. Okay. So, um, our health contractual budget is, um, our largest budget and it's our contractual obligation. It's, um, fluid budget that's, um, changes constantly depending on the economy, depending on life events, open enrollment, um, optout Medicare cost. Uh, this year, fiscal year 23, open enrollment was a fairly, um, dynamic active open enrollment since, um, the group Insurance Commission was in, uh, year five of their,
▶ 1:33:18 um, contract. And they're required to bid out, um, every five years. So, um, as a result, fiscal year 24, um, came with lots of, um, changes to copays, plan designs. Um, some ch some plans were no longer offered, uh, one way or another. Um, most of our employees were affected and this resulted in increase in our, um, health insurance budget. Um, the employee benefits line item increased by 7% in total. And, um, our group health, uh, line item increased by 7.8%. Uh, another um, line item in this budget, uh, that increased is our, um, Medicare Part B premium line item. Um, you will see there's a 16.6% increase from last year. However, um, it's only 3.8% of the actual cost as this, uh, line I item was, um,
▶ 1:34:25 funded lower for fiscal year 23 as there were other priorities of the administration. And then we have the health opt-out, uh, program. Um, my office was tasked in, um, trying to, uh, realize some, um, health, some cost, uh, cost savings. And we implemented, um, the following measures for our opt-out program. We produced the eligibility requirement for the program to six months, allowing more employees to enroll. We broadened the qualifying events for enrollment and we, we reduced the benefit amounts which resulted in 1.8% decrease in our opt-out budget. Thank You. Questions, councilor Stewart? Thank you Senator Chair. Ms. Lata. Thank you. Um, so is the difference between the, on the group health providers, between the,
▶ 1:35:37 the revised 2023 and year to date? Is that just because we need to pay the last month and a half? Yeah. Okay. The last month, yeah. Okay, great. Um, and for this fiscal year, why is Medicare spent higher than anticipated? Cuz it, it was budgeted at 7 85 or at 81 already. So, um, the Medicare Part B premium was, um, budgeted, um, lower than the actual cost. Uh, the City of Melrose space reimburses our retirees and their spouses 70% of their Medicare part B premium, and we use their known actual Medicare Part B cost. Now, um, retirees who uh, respond to our request for information and submit their updated part B cost year two year, uh, get the most updated reimbursement the most that they could get.
▶ 1:36:38 However, we reimburse about 670 retirees. So you can imagine there are some retirees who are not tuning in and ignoring or losing the paper. Um, so for them, we don't have the most updated information. So what we do in order to reimburse them is we use the last known amount. So it could be from three years ago, four years ago, when we budget from Medicare Part B, we do our best to project of what's known and then we assume, um, I assume normally kind of worst case scenario. So that was my, um, logic when I initially budgeted for Medicare Part B, uh, premium. Uh, however the decision was made to, um, fund this item lower than the budgeted since there were other priorities of the administration, um, at the time.
▶ 1:37:36 Robb Stewart: Got it. Thank you. Um, and, and I do want to commend you on the Health Opt program, uh, for saving 106 K uh, year over year. So I think that's, that's commendable. Appreciate that. That, that's all I have in MS letter. Thank you. Thank you Chair. Any other questions or what is the will of the committee? Madam Chair, I'll make a motion to move to the bottom line. Uh, number nine 14, employee benefits. Second Motion to move to the bottom line made by Council Stewart. Seconded by Counselor Eckles. Anyone on discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, will you please call the rule Vice chair Jim Modine? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes. Councilor Eccles? Yes. Council Gar Pay? Yes. Counselor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Che?
▶ 1:38:32 Leila Migliorelli: Yes. Williams? Yes. President Greg? Yes. And Chair Mcle? Yes. That's nine? Yes. Great. That motion carries. Um, in order to continue our budget hearings, um, I'll entertain a motion to hold appropriation 2023 dash 28 and committee motion to hold Second. Motion Hold made by President Greg Reis, seconded by Counselor Eckles. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion carries and will be held in committee. Now I'll entertain a motion to adjourn Chair. I'll make a motion to adjourn. Second. Motion to adjourn made by Councilor Stewart. Seconded by Counselor Carm Chik. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? We are now adjourned. Okay. And we are back to the full council meeting and I just wanna note for the record