Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2024-01-22
Attendance
Cal Finocchiaro ; Mark Garipay ; Ward Hamilton ; Maya Jamaleddine ; Manjula Karamcheti ; Leila Migliorelli ; John Obremski ; Devin Romanul ; Robb Stewart ; Kimberly Vandiver ; Ryan Williams
Agenda
- Call to Order
- Public Comment
- Orders
- ORDER-2024-17 : Request for the authorization to issue $1.650 million bond to fund for the roadway component of the City's Multi-year Utility and Roadway Improvement Program
- Information Items
- INFO-2024-3 : Information Item Updating City Council on Solid Waste & Recycling and Disposal Contract Negotiations
- INFO-2024-5 : That the Superintendent of Melrose Public Schools John Macero and Director of Finance for Melrose Public Schools Kenneth Kelley appear before City Council to provide an update on the current status of the Melrose Public Schools Fiscal Year 2024 Budget.
- Adjournment
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE APPROPRIATIONS & OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CALENDAR● JANUARY 22, 2024 Council Chamber, First Floor, Melrose City Hall Committee Meeting 7:50 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Maya Jamaleddine Chair Present Ryan Williams Vice Chair Present Mark Garipay Present Robb Stewart Present Manjula Karamcheti Absent John Obremski Present Ward Hamilton Present Kimberly Vandiver Present Devin Romanul Present Cal Finocchiaro Present Leila Migliorelli President, Ex Oficio Present
ORDER-2024-17 Bond Request for the authorization to issue $1.650 million bond to fund for the roadway component of the City's Multi-year Utility and Roadway Improvement Program Ought to Pass City Council
INFO-2024-3 Informational Information Item Updating City Council on Solid Waste & Recycling and Disposal Contract Negotiations Hold Appropriations & Oversight Committee
INFO-2024-5 Informational That the Superintendent of Melrose Public Schools John Macero and Director of Finance for Melrose Public Schools Kenneth Kelley appear before City Council to provide an update on the current status of the Melrose Public Schools Fiscal Year 2024 Budget. Hold Appropriations & Oversight Committee City of Melrose Page 1 3/4/2024 2:05 PM
Transcript
▶ 45:54 Maya Jamaleddine: with a recommendation for passage. Um, there's no other business on our agenda tonight, so I will Motion by unanimous Consent to adjourn hearing. No objections. Now adjourned. Sit down. It's fine. Good evening. The time is seven 50 on Monday, January 22nd, 2024. This is the meeting of the Appropriation and Oversight Committee. I am Maya Jamine, pronounced she and her the chair. And joining me today, tonight, vice Chair Williams Councilor, uh, RO gpe, Hamilton Abramsky, Ky Romano, Stewart and Ver and President m Exofficio. This serves as notice of a quorum for the record and in accordance with the open Meeting law. This meeting is being recorded and broadcast live on MMTV. I will motion by anonymous consent to open the floor,
▶ 47:35 uh, for public comment. And seeing no objection, the floor is now open. This is the portion of the meeting where anyone can speak on any item on our agenda for tonight. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. Joe Pal. Ryan, 70 Howard Street. I'm just here to, I had a few questions about this bond that the DPW is putting forward. Um, I'll just say before I get going that this format's kind of unfair because I'm gonna say some things and it's gonna be in a question format, and then somebody's gonna give an answer to it. And I might have another question, but I don't get to talk. So, moving forward, I'm hoping we can revise the way this works. Alright, so the city is asking for a $1,650,000. And on the first page it says City Hall Parking Lot
▶ 48:53 and Road Bonds. Yet when you kind of scroll down through, there's a list on how the money is gonna be spent. And nowhere in the list is the City Hall parking lot. It looks pretty good to me. I don't know why that's in there. The other thing that I was just kind of curious about is that The, uh, city is asking to borrow all this money yet for FY 26 in FY 27 for the total of 450,000 for each year. There's absolutely no identification on how the money's gonna be spent. And that seems crazy to me. But even more crazy is why are we borrowing the money now for one in two years down the road? Why would we be paying interest on that money if it's just sitting in a bank account? And the other thing that makes me a little nervous about
▶ 50:08 putting all this money in one fund is that we're all homeowners. Things happen. You had your vacation funds set up, the roof is leaking. Whoop, we'll take that money and move it over here. And I think that that has the potential here, where the school department is in such dire straits that this money might be there, but it won't be used for road repairs. It'll be used, maybe something broke. We need a new dump truck. You know, I'm not quite sure, but I just feel a little uneasy having money unidentified on how we're gonna spend it. And then the last thing is that the treasurer Is requesting, they like borrowing the money three years at a time, not one year for this year for 250,000, then next year coming back
▶ 51:08 and saying, oh, we need 400 K for this year. And then the following year coming back and saying, oh, we need 400 K for this year. Why does it have to be, oh, well, this is the way we like to do it. But I know you guys aren't borrowing money for two years down the road and letting it hang around. I don't know. I don't think we should be either. All right. Thanks for your time. Oh, one more thing. I know We're gonna talk about trash tonight, but I'm just gonna say, you know, I'm an active member in the community and there's a lot of confusion about this new trash program, and we'll get to that day that we could talk about it. But I think the city should be putting up a YouTube video or something showing what the trash barrels are.
▶ 52:01 Nobody knows what a 64 gallon trashcan is, what's a 45 gallon trashcan? And people are nervous. So we don't know which way to vote. Should we go collection every week or every other week? Just my thinking. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have anyone else, um, online wish to speak? Uh, we do. Let me unmute Ms. Katz. Can you hear us? Ms. Katz? Good evening. Can people hear me? Yeah, we hear you. Please, please proceed. I'm sorry, can you hear me? We can, we can. Okay. Sorry. Thank you. Um, so my name's Ellen Katz. I live at 70 Line Street. And, um, I just wanted to, um, make a brief, um, some brief comments about the recycling and trash item. I know that you're gonna be taking it up in more detail in a
▶ 53:07 few weeks, and I'll probably, you know, have a little bit more to say about it then. But I just wanted to, um, make sure you're aware that I, you know, I'm speaking for myself, but also many other people I've spoken to, um, around town who feel very strongly about keeping recycling every week. It would be a huge step to go backwards, um, to recycle every other week. And, um, you know, I I I think we're all somewhat price sensitive and, and aware of the increases and nobody wants to pay more fees, but the difference is, I believe $60 a year to actually cut recycling back completely in half. And, um, I just feel like it's the wrong direction the city is going in, in terms of providing services
▶ 53:57 and also on behalf of, of the environment and climate protection. So thank you for the time to speak, Ms. Vandi. Hello, my name is Janine Vandi. Uh, um, a resident of Altamont Mass. Uh, with regard to the recycling, this is a giant step back. I remember working for a decade to get curbside recycling. This finally became a reality in the nineties. Before that, starting in the early eighties, we had drop off at the city yard, starting with paper and cardboard and free trash pickup. There was no fee. Obviously, fewer households recycled, then we got biweekly and more joint and even more when it became convenient as putting out your trash every week. If we attach a growing cost and make it less convenient,
▶ 55:02 we will see a decline in recycling. Right now. Everyone in the city is suffering from inflation. It's hitting everyone everywhere. And then to have the city do this, it's really poor timing. If the city would return the city yards to being open six days a week as it was in the past decades, that would increase accessibility. For those who don't want to want or need curbside pickup, opening the city yard six days a week would not be much of an effort. We used to just have a volunteer on Saturday and Sunday. Yes, we had the city yard. Once upon a time open on Sundays, I think the city should go back to its budget and get the school budget under control so that it doesn't continue to take from other departments.
▶ 55:52 We haven't forgotten why we're here. It's because of the school department going over its budget and other things being canceled that were slated to be done. I recall the Lebanon Street Project that lost its funding. In the meantime, the city should use free cash. So it's not to have to cut the service or pass the additional cost to residents. Again, this is poor timing. Everybody is suffering from inflation, uh, and many people are now losing their jobs. We've seen this happen. People are getting laid off. Everyone remembers giving the city an additional 5 million with the assurance that services would not be cut or fees increased. That was only three years ago. Yet here we are, exactly that happening.
▶ 56:41 In addition, they will be reducing the amount that will be picked up weekly with the switch to containers. That's a big impact. I put out one small kitchen bag each week so I don't have to take a barrel back in. I like that it's convenient for me. So these, you know, it's not gonna really affect me in that regard. Um, in Europe, they have containers and various locations throughout the city to make recycling as convenient as possible for residents. That should be something that the city should look into. The know in the city how parking lot would be good locations. Uh, and if you could put that out there, that would mean people that for whatever reason, can't afford the increase in re, you know, the fee.
▶ 57:27 They could just manually handle their own recycling as we did in the past, you know, once upon a time called the eighties. Um, if we're going to increase the fee, it should go by usage rate and not by household as we do for water and electricity. I'm a smaller household. I should not be supplementing a household with three adults, two, two parents and three grown adults. They're gonna produce more trash and more recycling. This would not be diff difficult. This information the city has available from its daily census data. So it's not like that can't be found. As we know, the more people in a home, the larger of their consumption, whether they that be waste of water, slower households should not be have automatically
▶ 58:17 supplement either ones. That's just not fair. And that's not what we do for anything else. There also should be an option for those who cannot afford the higher cost to opt out and manually take their items to the city yard or these, you know, city locations. Also, I've read that most recyclables picked up are not actually being recycled since China is no longer taking this recyclable material material. If mirrors residents have to pay more for the service, we should have a full document of what and how much of what we pay to be recycled are actually recycled. And how we shouldn't know what the afterlife is for each recycled item and how much action makes it onto that purpose. We need to ensure the city is a better steward
▶ 59:07 of our money and trust. But again, we need to make sure that we take into account that other people are gonna feel this cost. You think it's just $60 and for many households, that's nothing. Um, but for some households we're they're, they're, they're struggling that that's a big cost and they'll have to cut something else. You know, it should be something that people get to opt in and out. Just like I don't have cable. I opt not to have that. I save that money. My neighbor chooses to have table, and they're willing to pay for that. That should be their choice, but it shouldn't be one that they make for me and I make for them. So please, uh, make this as, uh, user friendly and as many options
▶ 59:53 Maya Jamaleddine: for different households for their different needs. Thank you. Bye. Thank you. Do we have anyone else? I don't see anyone with their hands raised at this time. Okay. And, um, since we don't have anyone else, um, in, uh, public participation, if there is no objection, I would like, uh, to make motion to close public comment. Seeing none, we are now closed for public comment. And, uh, for tonight, since we have members of the administration here tonight to speak on, uh, the items before us, I would like to, uh, make motion by a unanim consent to suspend rule 37 B. Uh, before we proceed and seeing no objection, the rule 37 B is now suspended. And first on our agenda for tonight is order 2024 dash 17, request for the authorization to issue
▶ 1:00:59 1,000,650 bond to fund for the roadway component of the city's multi-year utility and roadway roadway improvement program. We have, um, city engineer Bonnie, uh, Reese. Ms. Reese, the floor is yours. Thank you. Um, and thank you for this opportunity to, um, be here tonight to explain this. And I will answer Mr. Re's questions. Um, as part of this hopefully, um, I'll do my best. I'll do my best. Um, in your packet is a memo that was prepared by DPW director Elena PERAs Ellis. Um, and, um, I wanna make one note. Um, the, uh, Catherine Armada, our treasurer, has, uh, requested that in the second paragraph, the last sentence, um, where it says, for these bonds to be issued for multiple years at once, um, that,
▶ 1:02:00 that be changed to, for these bonds to be approved for multiple years at once. A revised memo was added, um, on IQ M two today. And then also on, um, your packet is a small presentation of how our road program works. Um, and I know we've got some new members of the council welcome and I'm happy to address any questions that you have about how we manage our road program. Um, before I, um, get started, the one other aspect, um, we always put together around this time of year, we, uh, put together a construction calendar of what's coming for the next year. Um, and we do it, um, by year. But really in reality, we internally are looking several years out. Um, so we do think about what are we gonna be doing next construction season,
▶ 1:03:01 what are we gonna be doing construction season in 25, in 26. Um, and that's part of our entire process. And then, um, to the question about why we do the bond every three years, it's a lot of work and, and it, frankly, an expense to the city to put a bond, um, together. And it makes a lot of sense to bundle it like this. Um, the, I'll try to explain it as best I can, and if I don't do a good job, Catherine might jump in. Um, the first 750,000 will be bonded in August of 2024. That will be, um, probably bundled into a larger bond with some other items that we already have on the books. The next 2, 4 50, um, in 25 or 26 and 27 will be short term bonds that will then get also rolled into a larger bond in 27.
▶ 1:04:06 So we won't be borrowing that 900,000 now that's gonna, it's gonna be borrowed in those two different fiscal years. Um, so if that answers the question about why are we borrowing early and paying interest, um, that we won't be doing that, um, was that good? Um, so our road program is a multi-year program. We, um, look at, uh, water and sewer improvements that need to be done. We look at all of our infrastructure. We work with the gas company on what streets. They have old cast iron gas pipes that have a history of leaks, um, and plot out basically what our strategy is gonna be. Typically, we have the gas company go in and do their work, then we follow with sewer and water, and then we finish up with
▶ 1:05:10 new sidewalks, curbing new pavement. And so that can be a three or four year process depending on how much work needs to be done. Um, we also look at electric work and other utilities, but those are really the, the big ones that, that we look at. Um, our program also relies heavily on roadway condition assessment. So this, uh, we just, every three years we do a roadway condition assessment. It is, um, a very prescribed process. It's not, uh, subjective at all. The our, our team goes out, they drive every single road in Melrose. They have a criteria, you know, number of potholes with the road cracking are the cracks, alligator cracks are the deep cracks. Um, is there pavement missing? How old is, when was the last time this road was paved?
▶ 1:06:12 Um, and then we determine what the best treatment is. Um, paving is not one thing. It, there are many different ways that you can fix a road depending on what the condition is. Um, so we look at all of those things and we just finished doing our new roadway assessment. So in that handout, there is a color coded map of, um, what we have developed for this year. And this'll be our, our roadway assessment for the next three years going forward. And it'll help us to, um, work on which roads need the work the most, but also we'll coordinate with National Grid on, Hey, we're, we're looking at probably paving these roads in the next three years. Do you need to do any work before we get in and do that?
▶ 1:07:04 Um, also in addition to that, we have a very active lead water service removal program. And we are all, so that's one of the other things we look at. Do lead water services need to be replaced before we pave the road? So a lot of, lot of moving pieces, um, that we put together. Um, Elena asked me to just say a few words about private roads in Melrose. We have quite a few private ways. Um, most of them are very short, like two, 300 feet long with two or three houses on them. Um, typic typically they were, you know, a long driveway and then the lots got built out, or, um, they are private development and the city never took possession of the road. Um, on private ways. We provide snow plowing.
▶ 1:08:03 We provide trash pickup, we fix potholes. And, and we do that because most of those items are public safety items. They're access items. Um, so we, we do that, but in reality, if the residents want the road to be repaved, that road belongs to them. And, and that has always been our position at the DPW. Um, so there is, you know, obviously some distress from the residents when they, when they hear that if they live in a private way and they want their road repaved. Um, but we've been, that, that is, that is our policy and it's actually the policy of most communities, um, for private ways. But if you have any other questions about that, it'd be happy to answer it. Um, So we have many different buckets
▶ 1:09:01 that we get our roadway funding from as well. Um, we get chapter 90, and that's based on our miles of roadway that we have. And that, that has been pretty consistently the last few years, around $530,000. So we use the road bond money to supplement that Chapter 90 money we spend this year. We spent about 1.6 million on roads and sidewalks in Melrose. Some of that money came from ARPA funding. Some came from the Winter Recovery Funds. Um, some came from the quote unquote millionaires tax. Um, and the rest of it came from, uh, chapter 90 and our fiscal year 22 road bond that we already had in place. The question about the city hall parking lot, the city hall parking lot has been on our list of something
▶ 1:09:57 that needs to be done for a very long time. Um, we Had hoped to get it off the ground this year. It didn't happen. Some of the money that was in this year's funding is still reserved for the city hall parking lot. And a little bit of this new money will be used for the city hall parking lot, um, to the comment about making sure that the money gets used for the reasons that we, it was appropriated. It's, it's in the appropriation. You know, we can't, the schools can't come and say, we're gonna take your Chapter 90 money. 'cause Chapter 90 money can only be used for roads. Road bond money can only be used for roads. So, um, I hope that puts that fear to bed. And we're very, we're, we're very frugal in
▶ 1:10:52 how we try to spend this money. We try to get the most from every dollar that Melrose spends on these programs. We also sometimes get private utility contributions from Ingrid, um, to supplement our program, although they have gotten, um, a little stingier in the last couple of years. Um, and then develop our contributions as well. And then we're always looking at grants. We have, we did the Vinton Street, west Emerson intersection this year, uh, with a $77,000 grant that I got from the Shared Streets program through Mass DOT. Um, so we're always looking for free money that we can use to help supplement the road. Bond itself, as, as you know, is, um, we're, we'd like to set aside $500,000 for the tip project
▶ 1:11:47 for Lebanon Street. The, uh, the, the DOT estimate right now is $3.7 million, um, that the state would provide for us to do this work. That number will most likely go up, but that will be a conversation between us and DOT, um, to see if they can give us more, um, money. But the, right now, the estimate for the 25% design, which is the, which is a milestone in the TIP program, the estimate is about $300,000 more that we need right now. Um, once we're at the 25% design, DOT will program us into a tip year, meaning that we have 18 months or so to finish the final design, and then they'll give us the construction money. So even though the money for the tip design sounds like a lot of money, um,
▶ 1:12:49 and we will need more to get beyond the 25%. Um, so that's why there's 500,000 in here. Even though it sounds like a big number, we're going to get close to $4 million from the state. So they'll, they'll fully pay for the construction of the project. We just have to pay for the design. Um, and then in year, in this first year of this bond, uh, $250,000 toward the road program supplemental funding. So that would be combined with our 500,000, um, from the tip or from the chapter 90 money. So that'll give us about seven 50 next year to do the roads that we wanna pave. And then the two following years, the four 50 each, which will be combined with the Chapter 90 money. So about a million dollars each those years to do road work.
▶ 1:13:46 Um, and that's really about what we need to just to kind of maintain the status quo. There's, there, there are a lot of needs in terms of roads and sidewalks and in Melrose. And, um, it, the, you know, rough back of the envelope estimate is always about a million dollars a mile for roadwork. So, um, that's what we're looking at. We do about one and a half miles a year with a million dollars. So any questions? I just, I'm new at this, but I was looking back. Excuse point of order. The chair has to Announce. Sorry. No worries. Sorry. Um, and, um, I have, uh, counselor William on, um, uh, first and then, uh, counselor, uh, RO and then Counselor gpe and Counselor William, counselor Warren, go ahead. Thank you.
▶ 1:14:45 Ryan Williams: Um, sorry, just lemme grab my notes real quick. I dropped them by mistake. Um, okay. I have a couple of of small questions. 'cause you said something that jumped out at me. And then I want to ask some actual questions about some of these cost categories here. You said when you're doing analysis of the roads for the, um, uh, ranking program that you take into account the width of the road, what effect does the width of the road have to the roads ranking? Um, well, as you know, for some of our roads, we've, we've been, um, adding bike lanes and that kind of thing. Um, the width of the, the width of the road influences the cost of repaving. It, obviously 'cause it's more material. Um, and also some of the narrower streets,
▶ 1:15:25 Ryan Williams: they don't have curbing Mm-Hmm. Um, and so that causes the unraveling along the edges. So that influences the condition of the road. So when you're looking at the width, you're not using that to categorize the quality of the road. You're just adding that data point into the set. Yeah, I get it. Okay. Yep. Thanks. I was that, that jumped out at me, but I appreciate that. Um, is there a rough estimate for the cost of the parking lot work? Because they don't see it in the, in the, um, road program funding, uh, table? We don't have a design yet. Okay. For the, for the parking lot. Um, and honestly, we, we need to, we probably need to spend some money on it, I don't know how many years ago, but a design was done by Stantec and
▶ 1:16:12 Ryan Williams: because of the way the drainage is in the parking lot, I don't know if you've ever been there in a big rainstorm, but it's a lake. Yeah. Um, they, um, the consultant proposed putting in a giant underground storage tank, but the soils are peat and so that won't work. Um, so it's something that we need to figure out what will work in the parking lot. So I, I don't have a number for you. I can't answer that question right now. That's, that's fair. That's fine. So, I mean, the, the materials talk about the parking lot, but the parking lot's not actually, all these funds look programmed. So it doesn't look to me like this bond would pay for the parking lot because you've got your 500,000 for Lebanon, you've got 250 for the supplemental funding,
▶ 1:16:53 Ryan Williams: four 50 for FY 26 supplemental FY 27 supplemental. Would you just kind of see if you can fit some of the design work in there? Yes, I get it. Okay. Yes. Okay. Very cool. Um, are you, this, you may not know this. I'm gonna try, um, Senator Lewis and, um, representative Lipper Garabedian announced 250,000 some dollars for transportation. Yes. Is that going into chapter 90? That, that was the Millionaire tax that I was talking about, right? Yes. It's being distributed through the chapter 90. Great. Okay. And it, and so it's already, yeah, it's already in these numbers. Cool. Very good. Um, yep. Okay. About the Lebanon tip. We've talked about this for a very long time, right? Yeah. So it's very exciting to see it on the, um,
▶ 1:17:39 Ryan Williams: to see it on the agenda. Um, you're at a 10% design right now. The state, AKA, the MPO, the, the, the regional group that approves these things requires 25% design to be put into the cycle. Yes. To actually get a, a, a funding year. Okay. Assigned to you. And you said in the memo that the total cost of the design was a million dollars. Um, It says that at some point, let me re let me, um, let me guide this a little bit, a little bit better. Um, I think it would be helpful to have some breadcrumbs in the packet that show kind of the staging of these costs, maybe with the, um, the, uh, consultants. Is it Stantec? It is Stantec, yeah. With stantec's, um, you know, their bid sheet or whatever on there so that we can see,
▶ 1:18:30 Ryan Williams: because it, it, there's a bit of confusion that I have picked up on around like, is the whole design 500,000, is the whole design a million? Are we spending 800,000? 'cause you said 500 plus 300. Walk me through like what we've spent already, what we are, um, planning to spend with these funds. If you could please. We've spent already, we've probably spent about 150,000, um, that includes survey work. Um, they did a LIDAR survey that includes preliminary layouts and then it, that includes, um, the whole process of what DOT calls the 10% over the shoulder design and review, um, from DOT and meetings and that sort of thing. Um, we're probably, I think when, um, Elena put a million in here, she may have been counting some of that money.
▶ 1:19:27 Uh, Stantec gave us a number of about 830,000 to finish the design completely. And then they gave us that 300,000 just to get us to 25%. So we are potentially looking at about another 500,000 to finish the design after we get to the 25%. Um, I, you know, I don't wanna, I I wanna be transparent here. It's, it's expensive to design a tip project because of all the requirements from DOT. They have. Well, so just in the $308,000, uh, Stantec had six 1,659 hours Mm-Hmm. Of work. Um, and that's just to get us to 25%. So that gives you, you know, some order of magnitude of what these DOT designs require. So you think that, or you are saying that this road bond, the $500,000 will get us to 25%, or we're gonna need another cash infusion.
▶ 1:20:30 Ryan Williams: This is gonna get us past 25%. It's Gonna get past 25%. Yeah. Okay. But probably not all the way to the finish line. Yeah, Right. I got it. Okay. Um, and then anticipated tip cycle are ret, 'cause I know, um, for the public tips, tips come down from the federal government and then they're programmed into years, four years apart, 2024 to 2028 is the current year that's already been approved. Are we hoping to get in here 2025 to 2029? I don't think we'll have the 25% done for that. Okay. To be perfectly honest, we have, um, we have been in constant discussions though with the MPO and, and people at the TIP program to keep us on, on the radar. And they, um, they've been, so far, they've been very understanding about the fact that we are struggling
▶ 1:21:19 Ryan Williams: to come up with the money for design. Okay. Cool. Um, and then, you know, we've talked about this before offline, but I'm, I'm very excited to see the, the designs progress and I would encourage a lot of participation with the board counselor and, you know, the ped bike committee and residents and things like that. As we start to move closer to a more final design to help make suggestions, There will be a very, um, very open public process that's, that's also part of the TIP program. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Next I have Councilor Firo. Yes. Thanks. Hi. Thank you for being here. Um, so I'm supportive of anything that we can do for our roads. Um, but I was just looking back, um, is this amount fairly typical,
▶ 1:22:09 like the bond amount for three year? It is. Uh, we, the last time we came for three year bond, it was about 1.5. The time before that it was about 1.68. So yes. Yeah, I, I, I was just thinking around and I found an agenda for this meeting from 2015 and it was 1.55%. So just to give some context, it's not like it's, you're asking for, you know, it's $150,000 basically eight years ago. Yeah. This has been an ongoing program and over the last 10 years, this is probably about the average. Um, and the, um, per the interest rate right now that we're looking at is 5.5. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Next, um, I have, um, counselor, uh, gpe. Thank you Madam Chair. Um, thank you Ms. Resine here. Uh, couple quick
▶ 1:23:01 Mark Garipay: questions for clarification. We got the public works department road program funding 20, these are calendar year 24, 25, 26. Right. And then, because then it's fiscal year 25 road program, which is really 24 construction, correct? Correct. Okay. I Just wanna clarify. That's Where it very confusing. Yes. Yeah. Alright. Because the construction season gets split by the fiscal year, so, okay. Um, thank you. Um, yeah, you answered, uh, some of my questions that Mr. Pel Ryan had, uh, had said, um, the road assessment, um, FY 26 road program FY 27. Is there any way as a ward counselor, our, one of our biggest, um, we hear the most from residents who've regard the condition of the roads and they're
▶ 1:23:55 Mark Garipay: deplorable, especially this time of year. Is there any way now that we have the assessment to give the ward counselors an idea, and I know this is gonna change and things can change, but an idea on what roads will be done in FY 26 and FY 27. Um, we have, now that we have this done, you got it up here. So now that we have this done, I mean, we could, we could come up with a list of, you know, the top 20 or whatever. Um, but it also, you know, an even better indicator is what we see coming for our water main project. So, um, we do about $800,000 worth of water main replacement every year. Um, we do, we do that after the gas company and then, and then we do the paving. So we know, for example, next year
▶ 1:24:50 Mark Garipay: what streets we are planning to pave because they're the streets that we did water main on this year. Next year, meaning spring of 24. Spring of 24. Yeah. This, this year. I'm sorry. Yeah. This year. Um, so yeah, we, so, um, we could, we could definitely try to put something together as long as the understanding was that it's fluid fluid because, you know, some, you get, um, emergency water main breaks or emergency gas work or something like that. And that might change the priorities. Um, but we could definitely look at putting something like that together. Okay. That'd be, um, helpful. Um, on the FY 25, um, road supplement funding, so novel Henry Taylor, Elwood, Redding Hill, we've been working on that this past year
▶ 1:25:43 when we started that project. Why wouldn't that funding have been in the last bond? Um, right, Because those pro, okay, so those are the roads that we did the water Maine on this year. And the Water Maine work is funded through the MWRA water monies that we get. Um, and we pay for the paving through the chapter 90. So there are different buckets of money that it's coming out of. Um, and so the, the chapter 90 money will pay for roads that are done in that year that the chapter 90 money is given to you. Okay. Um, what else did I have? The tip project on Lebanon Street. Um, we've invested, um, 800, a thousand or whatever in the, uh, design or close to it. But my guess my question is, are we guaranteed if we get
▶ 1:26:51 Mark Garipay: to 25%, are we guaranteed by the department DOT to get that funding for that project to be complete? It's never a hundred percent guaranteed, but we have a letter of interest from DOT that says that they, um, that they think that the project is worthwhile and that if we, you know, fulfill all the design obligations, do all the design justification reports and all of that, that yes, we'll get the money, but it's never a hundred percent As we realize from the cemetery with fema. Right. Um, Right. Um, nothing to do with us, the federal government there. Right. Um, alright. Um, I think that's it for right now. Um, oh, uh, I'm sorry. One other question on the, um, on the as road assessment, and I'm gonna put my plug in for, um,
▶ 1:27:46 Mark Garipay: you have Rose Street in here as red, that, that was supposed to be done with National Grid. I know we talked to the residents there. I was under the impression it was gonna be done last construction season. That's still not done. And I don't see it on FY 25. It is, um, it is on for the ne for this construction season. National Grid owes us that work. I am very much aware that it hasn't been done and very unhappy that it hasn't been done. Um, it should have been done last construction season and, um, I, I apologize that it wasn't, but National Grid did not step up and, and do what they said they were gonna do. Okay. And we're gonna keep after them to do it. Is there any recourse with National Grid?
▶ 1:28:34 Mark Garipay: They're in front of us looking for conduit going underground or poles or any, any way we can put, put the pressure on them to, to follow through on their commitments as a, as a council? We'll, just, Elena and I are talking to, um, people there and we'll just keep, we'll just keep going. Okay. Um, and then the only other plug is we've talked about it from Bro Street, uh, Porter Mm-Hmm. Which is an access to the hospital via ambulances. We have that labeled as a, one of the worst that needs to be done. Yes. No, I see that here. I'm just trying To get a, I know a date from It. I, I do not disagree. I agree. Alright. The ambulance. I wouldn't want to be in an ambulance driving down that street.
▶ 1:29:17 Robb Stewart: No. So, thank You. Thank you. And, uh, next we have councilor uh, Stewart. Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you Mr. Reese for being here this evening. Um, just, uh, one side comment. Uh, you mentioned the, the work at West Emerson Vinton Street. I do wanna compliment you on that work. Um, oh, I've gotten several complaints about it and I don't care 'cause it's done. What it was initially laid out to is it slowed traffic down. So well done on that. Thank you. People complain. It's doing, it's what it, what it was intended to. So thank you. Um, I, I, and I'm sorry to be a little bit of a stickler, but I, I want to come back to, uh, the parking lot. Okay. Because I believe it was three years ago, uh,
▶ 1:30:06 Robb Stewart: certain members of this council approved the money to get that fixed. And when, and what I heard tonight was there hasn't even been a design done for that. So is there money reserved from the previous work, or can you talk a little bit about that? Because, um, it, it just sur surprises me a little bit that it's coming forward to us again when we thought it was gonna get done last time. So there is still money left in the fiscal 22 road bond, um, for the city hall parking lot. It's not the full two 50. We, at the end of, towards the end of this construction season, there were a couple of streets that we had been looking to pave that we decided to, to get done this year. Um, and so we spent the money there knowing
▶ 1:30:57 Robb Stewart: that we'd be getting more chapter money, chapter 90 money, um, next construction season and we can, and we basically swapped it out. So you pivoted. Right. Okay. Right. So, but there, but there is still, um, close to 200,000 left in the fiscal 22 road bond for the city hall parking lot. Okay. Okay. Great. Thank you. That's, that's helpful to know. Um, so on, I think all of us were looking at the map pretty closely, you know, in our, our neighborhoods and our wards and so forth to see which roads and, and we're all thinking, well, wait a sec, that road's not good. Excellent. It's, so is there any way or to give any feedback, uh, on, on the road evaluation and, and the reason being is, and I'm sure ev every council may have this,
▶ 1:31:48 Robb Stewart: but there are some areas that are really, I would say much, but they're, they're, they can be very small, specific areas. And the example I think of um, is it was last winter when, uh, the, the DPW came and fixed Circuit Street, that one stretch that had flooding. It was a disaster. And it was, it was done very nicely. It solved a lot of problems. Uh, is there a way to dispute or get smaller pieces of work like that done that would, I think go a long ways? Or is it this is the plan and this is what we're doing? No, there's, there's always an opportunity to give us feedback. You can just use the, um, the online system. Okay. For that. Uh, or, you know, your constituents can, um, you can always call me and you
▶ 1:32:38 Robb Stewart: and your constituents call me too. So, um, but yeah, we're always open to feedback on issues like that. Okay, great. And specifically, um, within your, your deck, you call out, uh, the work that's gonna be done on Washington and portions of Trenton. Is that gonna be the triangle area? Yes. So the city that was part of the city's water main project this year, also about four houses right at that triangle on Trenton. Um, we own paving that. However, we National Grid owns paving Washington Street along, um, all the way up to the Townline for what they did with their gas main work this past season. Okay. And are they gonna repave the, the disaster that they put in the, the, the new paving? Yes. They're gonna redo that. Yes.
▶ 1:33:31 So that was a negotiation that we had with them. Um, and we, we did a little horse trading and got them to agree to that. Great. Great. Thanks. Uh, and, uh, yeah, that's that. Well, just one last question on, so do you think there's any risk on chapter 90 given some of the, the pullback at the state level? I can't say. I mean, chapter 90 is a very well established program. Um, I think the programs that we're a little more worried about are some of the grant programs. Okay. Um, 'cause chapter 90 and chapter 90 is based on your miles of roadway and taxes collected. So, um, Okay. Okay. Great. Thank you Mr. Rua. Thank you Madam Chair. Um, thank you. And next I have, uh, councilor Ward. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Reese for being here.
▶ 1:34:34 Ward Hamilton: I just have a few questions. Uh, you mentioned earlier when talking about the City Hall parking lot, we know that there are drainage issues there. Yes. At one time it was a pond, and I think now that connects by culvert over to the, uh, el pond brook, um, and the soil's peat, which is problematic. I could be thinking of what Councilor Stewart referenced earlier from a few years back. But I have this recollection of Ms. Gaffey talking about his receiving a grant to, to deal with or address that, or am I mistaken? You are not mistaken. So the design that I spoke of earlier was paid for by, with a grant from the, I believe it was the Hazard Mitigation Program, which is under fema. Um, and then when we applied to them for money to do the,
▶ 1:35:25 to do construction, we weren't gonna be able to build that huge tank, but we were still gonna do, um, some improvements to the parking lot. They turned us down. Okay. So, um, we got money for, for that design, but we didn't get money for the construction. So when I say that we haven't done a design, we do have a design, but it needs to be refined a little bit better because of, um, we need to figure out how, what's the best way to deal with those drainage issues. So will those two projects occur in tandem we'll down the road some time? We'll, we'll deal with the drainage at before We That would be the plan. Yep. Okay. Exactly. Thank you. Uh, next question I have is when we look at the, um, where is it,
▶ 1:36:15 Ward Hamilton: I think it's the, uh, fiscal 25 roadway plan where we have the individual roads and streets. That's, that's all work that's, uh, performed by outside vendors, not in-house, by DPW. Is that correct? For the most part, yes. Um, under our capital plan right now, we have a, um, on-call contractor, DNR paving, they do all of the capital roadway and sidewalk work. However, the operations department also, um, does, um, the smaller, like localized, replace the sidewalk panel here, fix some curbing there kind of work. They use DNR also, um, for that work. But we do, we do a small amount of work in-house. Is that work that DNR does on call to be an on call vendor for the city? Is there any type of, uh,
▶ 1:37:08 competitive bid process that occurs? And if so, how often? It occurs every three years. It is a competitive bid. Um, it occurs every three years. We have the option to not renew their contract each year. So there, um, there's the initial award and then there are two opportunities to extend their contract if we choose not to, which is we actually did with the previous vendor that we had. Um, we put it back out to bid. Um, and all of the contractors who bid on the projects have to be mass DOT pre-qualified for paving. Um, and it's, um, you know, we follow all the chapter 30 30 B bidding laws. Um, is there any type of control over the time of the year that the work takes place? Or can repaving take place,
▶ 1:38:04 Ward Hamilton: for example, in the debt of winter? It cannot. Okay. Um, it's too cold. The, the asphalt would not set up properly and you just end up with a, with it cracking and failing. Right. Um, it's got, it's gotta happen in the summertime. And also most of the asphalt plants close between December and April or May. Uh, yeah. April. Um, one last question. Uh, when this work is scheduled, um, and I know it touches different departments in the city, like the police department and road details, when we, uh, or when we work, when we're working with DNR to create a schedule or a timeline, I know we've, it's not, it's been a couple years, but I can remember a few times between paving work and utility work, it could get challenging to,
▶ 1:38:56 to negotiate the city. Is there coordination between departments, um, and communications with, uh, grid and other utilities? Um, as far as scheduling these things or sort of Yeah. Ab absolutely. There, there is, um, we work with National Grid, in fact, well this wasn't, this wasn't paving work, but the, the movie crew that was here this fall, we had to, uh, tell National Grid to leave for a week so that they could film up on West Emerson. Um, but yes, we do. Um, so most of the crews, as long as the police have the bodies to fill the details, most of the crews have details every day. Um, and we know I get a daily report from National Grid, so I know where they're working. That's the email that I send out to everybody.
▶ 1:39:50 Kimberly Vandiver: Um, so yeah, we do our best to try to minimize the impacts to traffic and road closures and that type of thing. Great. Thank, thank you Also. Thank you. And next I have, um, counselor Bever. Hi. Thanks. Um, I wanted to follow up on Councilor Stewart question about Washington Street Mm-Hmm. Um, which, uh, it sounds like is National Grid's responsibility to repave. Um, uh, since we both share that section, um, between our wards, um, what type of notice since that work won't be done in-house, um, what type of notice can we get so that we can be proactive about, especially residents who have driveways coming off of Washington, making sure that they know about any, um, inconveniences that will come up?
▶ 1:40:34 Devin Romanul: What we can do is ask them to hold a neighborhood meeting. So before they go in and do Gas Maine, we always have them hold a neighborhood meeting and talk to the residents about any concerns we can ask them to do that before they start the paving project. Since that's a pretty busy section and, and it has the potential to have a lot of impacts. Okay. Great. Thank you. And next I have Councillor Romanul. Thank you so much for being here and answering our questions. And I'll, I have two very, very brief questions, I promise. Uh, one, um, whether or not it's the Lebanon Street tip or any of the other projects that you've outlined here, um, do you have a sense as to whether or not those are eligible for the Safe Streets for all, um,
▶ 1:41:21 Devin Romanul: planning grants under DOT and the bipartisan infrastructural law? 'cause I know that they're actually having trouble filling, um, from, from what I gather, they're having trouble getting enough applicants. Uh, so they, they have more money than they are giving out. Um, The shared streets does, Uh, that's what what I was told. Um, okay, so maybe we should talk about this Afterwards. Yeah, we should. Um, that, that's good news. Um, however, you can't use federal funds to pay for the design for the TIP program. Alright. Yeah, We already, we are, I did ask our consultants that question back at the beginning and they said, no, that is, but we might be able to use it somewhere else. Alright, Well, um, we should, uh,
▶ 1:42:03 Devin Romanul: I would love to talk more about that. Yeah. Um, but hey, if the Feds are willing to pay for planning grants, which they aren't typically, that, that will be outstanding. Uh, the other question I had was, um, I totally appreciate that we have a certain amount that we ask for every single year. Uh, you know, there's sort of a longitudinally, uh, predictable amounts of road that we have to pave. But is there a sense of, um, aspirationally like what a real needs assessment would look like to say, Hey, our, like I know my neighborhood, my kids love it because when it rains there are lots of puddles to jump in on the streets. And so, uh, they are big, big fans of when it rains you Usually hear the opposite complaint. Well,
▶ 1:42:41 Devin Romanul: But, uh, that's the case. They're not taxpayers. Right. So my, my sense is like sit on track. Has there ever been, have a conversation and I, I know that it's not practical, it's not economical, but like what it would take to have streets that we say like, yeah, we're, we are at a point where we're not having to pick between like things as they break down, um, that, uh, what it would cost for that maintenance and to have it be so that way the ward counselors could hear complaints that are not, um, you know, just potholes. Uh, 'cause I know I can verify that that is the, having been here only two weeks, that's the number one thing that I hear. So, um, I think it would take a significant amount more than
▶ 1:43:19 what we're sure. Spending now, um, to do that. Melrose has about 90 miles of roads and we're doing about a mile and a half a year. So, um, for a million dollars. So that, like if, and, and, you know, once you pave a road, you're probably good for 20, 25 years. Gotcha. But yeah. Terrific. Thank you very much. Thank you. And I have, uh, for the, do we have anyone for the first time? Okay. I have next, uh, councilor Gpe. Thank You Madam Chair. Um, just one other question and going back to the city hall parking lot and as award counselor, if, if there's any way that we can, I, I'm fine with the way the parking lot is right now. I know it's floods, but it's on a pa it's, there's a pond. I would like to see any of
▶ 1:44:11 Mark Garipay: that extra money get transferred over to paving more streets in the woods. Um, I don't necessarily know. I mean, it's, it's in, it's in tough shape, but I think some of the roads are in worse shape that cars, uh, residents cars are really getting taken a beaten on. So I'm just probably not a lot of money, but if we can, instead of taking that and allocating it for the city hall parking lot, if we can move it over to paving more roads, that would be my suggestion and recommendation. Thank You. Noted. Thank you. Next I have for the second time counselor William. Thank you. I just wanted to clarify a couple of things because these grant programs sound really similar and I know that we have some very, um,
▶ 1:44:55 Ryan Williams: eager ears in the room tonight. Thinking about grants. So the grant that we got for the parking lot was the MVP Municipal vulner Vulnerability Preparedness Designation. We were MVP community. We got the MVP action grant or whatever in 2019. So that's one thing. Um, shared Streets for all which Devin brought up. We do know that there's an application coming up, um, that's gonna open up in February. And we've been just tugging on the folks in the city's pants legs asking them to, to consider an application for this. Shared Streets and Spaces is the state grant program. So I think what Councilor Romanul was talking about was the federal, um, safe streets for all SS four A grant opportunity. That's what he's, that's what he's talking about.
▶ 1:45:37 Same answer I think. 'cause you can't use federal funds to program the TIP funding. But yes, there is an opportunity out there. And we do hope that the city, uh, aggressively applies for it because I have also heard that they cannot find people to take this money. Um, and that's all. Thank you. Thank you Councilor. Uh, Stewart? Yes. Madam Chair. I'll make cover my, uh, re motion, recommend this to the Full counsel. Second, We have a motion to recommend made by, um, councilor Stewart. Seconded by Councilor gpe. Um, Mr. Clerk, Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Gpe? Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Mki? Yes. Council Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver? Yes. Counselor Romano? Yes.
▶ 1:46:29 Jen Grigoraitis: Counselor Ro? Yes. Um, counselor, uh, president Elli? Yes. And chair Jamal? Yes. That is 10? Yes. Okay. And this, um, uh, motion carries. And, um, now we have Infu. Um, thank you Mr. Thank you. Um, and we have info 2024 dash three info item updating city Council on Solid Waste and Recycling and Disposal. Uh, contract negotiation. Madam Mayor. Good evening, Madam Chair. Good evening Counsel. Um, I had sent you all an email and just wanted to speak in the public domain that we, this is an order that was filed by the previous administration and I know was held and we're bumping up against the 45 day rule. And I just wanted to respectfully request that it be held a little bit longer so that I have some time
▶ 1:47:27 Jen Grigoraitis: to get acclimated and we can come before you. Um, my preference would be February 12th at obviously at the chair's discretion because we will have a companion order appearing on the full council agenda on February 5th that's related to a grant to help offset the purchase price of the new garbage cans. So we were hoping we could have a all things trash and recycling conversation with you all on February 12th, if that works for scheduling. And I would have Jim Troop and others with me. Um, I think as you all know, the contract has been signed by Mayor Broder. There is still, um, some decisions that I can make. What will be before you is purely informational. The decision about recycling and fees is, um, rests with the administration.
▶ 1:48:11 Jen Grigoraitis: But I wanna make sure you all are aware and we have your feedback. And we also have a survey that's gone out. We have had 1600 responses to date, which is great 'cause we, um, pick up trash and recycling for about 8,000 households. So, um, please feel free to share that with your networks. We've had really thoughtful and helpful feedback, including requests for YouTube videos. And I'm not sure we're gonna make a video, but we will at least have a photo of what the different toter sizes look like. So, and we're also working on an FAQ, so we will get that out to all of you in advance. But that would be my request for tonight for your consideration. Thank you. Uh, Madam Mayor, um, uh, counselor gpe. I was gonna
▶ 1:48:51 Jen Grigoraitis: Just make a motion to hold, hold us Second. Second. We have, uh, motion, uh, to hold made by counselor Gar, seconded by Counselor Stewart. Um, um, on discussion, Councillor Stewart. Thank you Madam Chair and through the chair. Um, thank you Madam Mayor for being here this evening. Um, you've heard a lot of opinion about one week versus two week. Can you share some thoughts on that? My personal thoughts on that? Well, I think we're, I think it's a reduction in services if we don't continue with one week recycling. But I also think it's really important to hear from the community, which is why it was put out first on the trash cards and then broader to the community. Because as I think has been said, none
▶ 1:49:37 Jen Grigoraitis: of the decisions we make exist in a silo. So, um, this is an increase in costs for residents regardless of what we do. But it is also a recognition that, um, it has consequences on the city budget. And we know that there are many challenges before us. So I think that's part of what we wanna bring back to you all. Um, as we discuss what's gonna happen, I think the other conversation we have to have is that there are real points of opportunity for education. That the contract is related to hauling costs. What we pay for tonnage fluctuates based on the amount of waste that we're putting out and on how, um, pure our recycling stream is. So the more contaminated our recycling is, at some point we reach a threshold where we get build more
▶ 1:50:18 Jen Grigoraitis: for not providing recycling that really can be used. So I think we also want to talk about using these next six months before we switch contractors in July to helping people understand that, you know, our individual actions will have environmental impact, but we'll also have some impact on the city's bottom line. So I think there's an opportunity there, um, and we're hoping to certainly engage with all of you on that as well. Great. Thank you for sharing that, Madam Mayor. Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you. And I also wanted to mention that, um, we have received a lot of calls and, um, questions from, um, constituents as well, but also as they call asking and sharing their concern, they're also sharing
▶ 1:50:56 Maya Jamaleddine: how much they appreciate the extra effort that is being made by your administration on, you know, getting all the information and details before you make that decision and before, um, in order for you to be able to share, um, um, you know, information with the public, um, as, um, this decision is being made. Um, so I do wanted to relay that and I appreciate your effort. Um, now we have, um, a motion, uh, to hold and I will, um, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. We will hold this, uh, order for when we have more details. Um, thank you Madam Chair. I'd like to make a motion to, uh, attach those, uh, emails related to this issue to the, uh, the order. They Second. Okay. We have, They have been attached.
▶ 1:51:53 Maya Jamaleddine: They have, yes. I'll, I'll track my motion. Retract my Second. You're way ahead of me. Thank you. And now thank you madam. Uh, mayor. And now we have the next order is, um, info, uh, 2024 dash five, um, that the Superintendent of Mayor's Public School, John Macero and Director of Finance for Merose Public Schools, Kenneth Kelly, appear, uh, before City Council to provide an update on the current status of the Merose Public Schools fiscal year 2024, budget Counselor gpe. Um, I will make a motion to, uh, hold this, uh, in committee till second. They're available. Sorry. Okay. So we have a motion made by, uh, councilor Repe, um, to hold, um, uh, this order, uh, and seconded by, uh, president, um, m And just
▶ 1:52:52 Maya Jamaleddine: for the record, this, um, order will be held for 2029 meeting, uh, for when the members from the administration are available to join us as we discussed this order. Uh, so if you have any question, please submit, um, your questions, uh, by Thursday, January 20 chair, I think we have to. January 29. Um, I think we have to vote on it, right? Yes. I just wanna give the information. Um, so if you have any question, you, uh, you may have, um, you can submit it by Thursday, January 25th to allow 48, uh, business hours, um, per the rules. Now we have motion and all in favor, aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Um, motion carries to hold and, um, councilor gpe, I was gonna make a motion to adjourn. Is that the last second?
▶ 1:53:53 Maya Jamaleddine: We have a motion to adjourn made by Councilor gpe. Seconded by Councilor Stewart. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Adjourn.