Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2024-03-25
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
- Appointments
- APPT-2024-18 : Appointment of David Roache, 8 Prescott Street, to the Zoning Board of Appeals to fill the unexpired term of Rita Mercado; said term to expire on the last day of February 2025.
- Appropriation
- APPRO-2024-13 : An Appropriation of Free Cash in the amount of $2,350,000 to the School Department Operating budget, transfer in account 0111-491003.
- APPRO-2024-14 : An Appropriation from Free Cash in the amount of $223,372 for Medicaid Costs
- Grants
- GRANT-2024-12 : Requesting the acceptance of the Foundation of Alcohol Education Grant in the amount of $4,000
- GRANT-2024-13 : Requesting the acceptance of the Emergency Management Performance Grant in the amount of $6,500.
- Information Items
- INFO-2024-6 : An Update on the Finances of the City of Melrose
- Adjournment
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE APPROPRIATIONS & OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CALENDAR● MARCH 25, 2024 Council Chamber, First Floor, Melrose City Hall Committee Meeting 7:49 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 Present John Obremski Present Ward Hamilton Present Kimberly Vandiver Present Devin Romanul Present Cal Finocchiaro Present Leila Migliorelli President, Ex Oficio Present
APPT-2024-18 Appointment Appointment of David Roache, 8 Prescott Street, to the Zoning Board of Appeals to fill the unexpired term of Rita Mercado; said term to expire on the last day of February 2025. Ought to Pass City Council
APPRO-2024-13 Appropriation An Appropriation of Free Cash in the amount of $2,350,000 to the School Department Operating budget, transfer in account 0111- 491003. Ought to Pass City Council
APPRO-2024-14 Appropriation An Appropriation from Free Cash in the amount of $223,372 for Medicaid Costs Ought to Pass City Council
GRANT-2024-12 Grant Requesting the acceptance of the Foundation of Alcohol Education Grant in the amount of $4,000 Ought to Pass City Council
GRANT-2024-13 Grant City of Melrose Page 1 4/1/2024 5:34 PM Minutes Appropriations & Oversight Committee March 25, 2024 Requesting the acceptance of the Emergency Management Performance Grant in the amount of $6,500. Ought to Pass City Council
INFO-2024-6 Informational An Update on the Finances of the City of Melrose Place on File City Council City of Melrose Page 2 4/1/2024 5:34 PM
Transcript
▶ 27:18 Maya Jamaleddine: and President GL Lee 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, uh, motion by unanimous consent to open the floor for public comment. Seeing no objection, we are now open for public comment, and this is the portion of the meeting where anyone can speak, um, on any item of, uh, on our agenda for tonight. Do we have anyone online, sir Clerk? Uh, there are no participants online at this time. Awesome. Since there is no public participation, if there is no objection, I will motion to close public comment and seeing No, uh, none. We are now closed for public comment. Um, since we have, uh, members
▶ 28:22 Maya Jamaleddine: of the administration here tonight to speak on the items before us, I would like to entertain motion by unanimous consent to suspend rules 37 B before we proceed. And, um, we have, um, now seeing no objection, the Rule 37 B is now suspended, uh, for, um, the first item on our agenda is appointment 2024 dash 18, appointment of David Roach, um, eight, uh, Prescott Street to the zoning boards of appeals to fill, uh, the unexpired term of Prita Mercado set term to expire on the last day of February, 2025. Good evening. Thank you. Thank you for being with us. Did I spell your name correctly? Yeah. Thank you. Good evening Counselors and Madam Chair. Um, thank you all for indulging us. I know that we had some scheduling difficulties the
▶ 29:27 last time this was on your agenda. So I am thrilled to present Mr. Roach for your consideration to the zoning board of appeals. Um, he has previously served in that role and is willing to come back, um, and brings a wealth of professional experience, um, including an understanding of what is happening in other communities and how some of that will and will not apply to Melrose, which is also the community where he's chosen to raise his family. So I really appreciate his willingness to lend his perspective and expertise. And I will turn it over to you to say anything. Sure. No, just thank you for having me, uh, here tonight. Um, I, um, I, I, uh, really appreciate the opportunity to come back to the board.
▶ 30:03 Um, you know, I I feel pretty strongly about, um, you know, the, the, the role in its in the majority of the role is, is, um, serving the people. Um, the vast majority of applicants are people looking for small things for their, their residences with our challenging zoning code and our lot sizes. And it's really helped, it's really great to help people and balance that, um, the need to help people against the, you know, the rules that are before us. And also, um, to help in, you know, in the role of, um, you know, revitalization in, in, in the redevelopment of certain portions of the town. And where it can be helpful in that regard. I know that we face quite a few 40 Bs that'll probably be coming our way.
▶ 30:38 Manjula Karamcheti: Um, and in helping to, you know, do our best to guide those to get the best results for this town, um, or city. Excuse me. I, I, I really appreciate the opportunity. Thank you. Do we have any question from colleagues? Councilor Ka. Hi Mr. Roach. Thank you so much for being here and for being, wanting to come back to the board of the zoning board of Appeals. Um, I'm the counselor for Ward one and have had a few 40 B properties. Um, so I've spent a good amount of time with the zoning board over the past two years. And I think one of the pieces of feedback I've gotten from constituents is just around engagement with the public, particularly around complicated housing, um, developments in terms
▶ 31:24 Manjula Karamcheti: of being transparent, sharing information, and being willing to have like, open conversation. And my question is just really around like, what is your philosophy? What is your approach in terms of how you might engage on the zoning board of appeals, knowing that these can be like very emotional situations for people, particularly those who are directly impacted. And I'd just love to hear sort of your take on it. So of course those are most impacted, the most immediate residents are obviously those are gonna have the greatest level of concern, and we have to respect their, their concerns and, and take them as, as, as seriously as possible and try to communicate as openly and friendly with with them as we can.
▶ 32:02 I believe that, um, you know, by running meetings online has been kind of a double-edged sword where it makes it easier for people to participate, but it also has created a little bit of a, a visual throttling, for lack of a better term, of, of participation when you're trying to look through when there's anonymous faces. So I think that's probably one of the biggest challenges that there, there has been, you know, the, the 40 Bs have coincided with remote meetings and that's been, that's made it difficult. So I think it's gonna be, it's gonna take an extra level of, um, acknowledgement of that from the board to make sure that we are, uh, facilitating that communication effectively. It's pretty difficult. So I, I, you know, that's a, uh, I'm,
▶ 32:39 I'm glad you brought that concern up because that is something that I find a little bit challenging. Um, and, uh, I always, uh, would encourage the proponents of any project or any, you know, application to reach out to the abutters in advance and would always, you know, I've always tried to encourage that to people when they come back and they feel like they're having a bit of challenges. It's, it's, it's easy to point out to them. Well, it's better to have that play out one-on-one when you can talk human to human rather than trying to do it through a board where it's not gonna be as effective. Thank you so much. I very much appreciate that answer. Thank you. Thank you. And next I have vice chair William.
▶ 33:18 Maya Jamaleddine: I'd like to make a motion to recommend to the full board Second. Second, We have motion made by vice chair William, uh, seconded by counselor, uh, Stewart. Um, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. You, congratulations. Thank you. And now it will be, thank you, um, sent to the full council. Thanks. Thanks, Thanks. Um, thank You Adam, Chair. Um, I'd like to make a motion to move out of order info 2024 dash six, an update on the finances of the city of Melrose. Um, just given that we have the mayor and the CFO and financial department here to talk with us about that. Um, okay. And we have a motion made, um, by, uh, president, um, uh, to move info item, um, 2024 dash six out of order second. And seconded by, um, Councillor Stewart. All in favor?
▶ 34:27 Jen Grigoraitis: Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Now, um, this item is before us. Sure. Thank you all, and I appreciate your willingness to take this out of order, I think, or I hope some of the context that we give will be helpful in some of the items we talk about later this evening. Um, I have with me tonight Ellen Donahue, who has been serving as our interim CFO and Carrie Golden, who is our deputy auditor. And we wanted to have an opportunity to really have a conversation with you all and give, what I would argue is a 30,000 foot view of the city's finances. Um, in about five weeks, we'll send down the FY 25 budget for your consideration and start to begin the typical process of having you all have an opportunity
▶ 35:22 Jen Grigoraitis: to hear from each department. But what I, when I sat in your seats, felt like was lacking from that process was really a broader understanding of the context in which each of those departments operate. So we wanted to provide that tonight about the current fiscal year, which is FY 24, which we are obviously, um, largely through, but really wanted to talk a little bit about some historical context and what we see as the current budget drivers as we're building FY 25. Um, and before I turn it over to the two experts that were with me, I do wanna thank the entire fiscal team, um, Patrick LaRusso, who I think many of you know, has retired but is quietly helping us behind the scenes and has really built a phenomenal team, um, with Carrie,
▶ 36:03 Jen Grigoraitis: Jill Irvin, Donna Cardillo, who are every day doing phenomenal work on behalf of the residents of the city. So I am personally so grateful for the help that they have provided. I've literally worn a path in the carpet between my office and the finance office. I'm grateful to Ellen for coming out of retirement to be here with us tonight. So, um, I will turn it over to the two of them to talk a little bit about where things are at. Sure. Um, so tonight I'm looking to just kind of frame, uh, how the FY 24 operating budget was developed. Um, and so I recognize that there's some new counselors, um, who weren't part of the budget process last year. Um, so last year when we developed the fiscal 2024, uh,
▶ 36:47 operating budget, um, we saw a 6.21% increase over fiscal 23, which equates to $5.917 million. Um, one of the largest drivers behind, um, that is the revenue increase in state aid that we saw last year. Um, there's often a term called a cherry sheet thrown around, um, in municipal government. And so what that is, it's the, um, uh, both the revenues for chapter 70, um, aga, which is unrestricted governmental aid, um, and, you know, other, uh, the library offsets, um, as well as school choice and charter school assessments. So, um, last year we saw an increase, um, and quite a substantial increase. And this was the second, uh, year of this. So from FY 22 to FY 23, we saw a 13.1% increase in state aid.
▶ 37:47 And then from FY 23 to FY 24, we saw a 21.4% increase in state aid. So that equated to $2.58 million worth of chapter 78, um, for the schools. And so prior to fiscal 23, the state that we received was very inconsistent. It varied. So in FY 20 we saw, um, a 2.8% increase. FY 21, we saw a 3.29% decrease. And that's net state. So there's page one of the cherry sheet and page two. So page one is all your revenues. And then page two is are your assessments for charter schools and BTA, um, so net state aid and FY 21 decreased by 3.29%. And then in FY 22, it also decreased by two point, uh, zero 1%. Um, so then, um, and this compromises about 18% of the revenues that we see for the operating budget.
▶ 38:51 Um, then the largest piece of the revenue for the operating budget is the property tax. So that compromises 72% of the operating budget. Um, so for fiscal 25 net for allowance of abatements and exemptions, otherwise known as the overlay. So what that is, is if cases go to the appellate tax board, um, the senior work off program, those are allowances and abatements that hit the overlay. So, um, we recognized $75.5 million, um, which is approximately like a 1.8% increase. That's what the prop two and a half equals annually. On top of that, um, the board of assessors, they projected that we would see $500,000 in new growth. So new growth is, um, captured through building permits. Um, and it has to be captured as of January 1st
▶ 39:49 and online, um, for that year. Uh, so we, we had an estimate of $500,000, uh, for like a five year estimate. It's come in, um, an average of like $750,000. Uh, local receipts which compromise about, um, 7% of revenue are made up of, um, our largest local receipt is motor vehicle excise tax. Um, when we do budget these receipts, we budget them pretty conservatively 'cause there is, um, there's a lot of volatility with this, and it's driven by the economic conditions. So, you know, if we're in a recession or, um, you may see people not purchasing new cars, um, going out to dinner, there's meals tax, um, or doing, uh, a building, uh, project in your home. Uh, building permits are also part of that.
▶ 40:49 And so we have to be mindful that oftentimes we may have a one-time building permit. Um, like a couple years ago, I think it was FY 21, we saw a one-time building permit of $494,000. So we wouldn't wanna build that into the base the following year because that's kind of a one time, uh, thing. And I think it was fiscal, um, 20 or 21, we saw a million dollar payment from waste Management. So that's what we call like a miscellaneous non-recurring revenue. Um, so again, you don't wanna make that part of your, um, base. And one of the biggest things like, um, when interest rates were down mortgage rates, there was a lot of individuals refinancing purchasing homes. So, um, part of that is a municipal lien certificate.
▶ 41:37 So like that was a one time bump in those revenues. Insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but it's a, it's another example. And also just the interest rates that we are receiving on our money. Um, you know, I'm sure people have seen it that the interest rates, um, if you're saving money right now, you are, uh, you're recognizing higher interest rates. So we've definitely seen movement there as well. Um, one of the last pieces to the operating budget, um, that we base, um, other revenues on, and it's an insignificant amount, it's 3%, um, it's called other funding sources. So as part of the budget, there's a sheet that's sent down and it shows all of these other funding sources of the budget.
▶ 42:26 One of the largest, um, pieces of that are the indirect cost. So within the city of Melrose, there's currently four enterprise funds, water, sewer, mount hood, and ambulance. So those all kind of operate as their own business. They all have fees that sustain that, however, they share services. So there's indirect cost associated with that. So, um, for the treasurer collector's office, the auditor's office, um, we're processing payroll, paying all the invoices for that. They don't have, um, their own staff. Um, and so then another piece of that is the debt payment, um, that Mount Hood pays annually to the city. Um, and so there was a field project and as part of that field project, special legislation was passed
▶ 43:19 that Mount Hood would be allowed to pay, um, that debt payment on behalf of the city. Last year for the first time we used, um, the public safety stabilization fund. And, uh, we utilized 250, um, thousand dollars from this. And so what that is is, um, we cannabis excise tax, and so it's 3% on retail mar retail cannabis. Um, and so with that 50% goes to the general fund and 50% goes to a public education and safety stabilization fund sued that $250,000 was drawn from that, um, to go to the schools last year. Um, and it has a very specific use. Um, it was established, I believe in 2019 and it had a sunset provision in 2022. Um, and it was voted to continue to split that money, uh, 50 50. Um, so those are kind of the revenues that we use
▶ 44:28 to build the FY 24 budget. So, um, part of the financial process for the budget last year as well was investment in city, uh, city stabilization funds. And so typically what happens during the budget process, um, appropriation orders are sent down and we utilize what we call, uh, free cash. Um, I'm sure you've heard that term as well. And so last year, um, between two orders and one was an order that was redirected, um, to that capital stabilization fund. Um, but between the two of those orders we invested just shy of $1.1 million in our stabilization funds, uh, which allowed us to have a balance of $8.8 million collectively in all of our stabilization funds. So our stabilization funds, we have a general purpose capital stabilization fund,
▶ 45:23 and then, um, a host of other special purpose stabilization funds. We have a special education capital stabilization contract stabilization, um, we have opep, um, trust fund and um, I think an OSHA one. And I, uh, suits and claims stabilization funds. So those are all the stabilization funds we have. So as part of the budget package last year, there was investment in those funds, um, because we wanna demonstrate that we can, uh, we have money in those funds to be able to weather negative economic conditions. Um, and also part of all that we do on the finance team here is, um, tied into our bond rating. And so we wanna show our outside bonding agencies that we're also making an investment in ourselves
▶ 46:18 and, um, growing those reserves as the budget grows. So the target would be to have, um, anywhere from five to 10% in those reserve funds. So then, um, as far as the budget was concerned last year, one of the focuses on the prior administration and I think, um, all administrations and the previous CFO was to maintain a level of stability within, um, the community and stable level of services. So one of the things that we did see as part of the operating budget last year was a significant increase in special ed cost, um, as well as special ed transportation costs, uh, to the two point 14%. So, um, some of the, the, um, the prior administration had gone to school committee during the budget process, uh, both the previous CFO
▶ 47:19 and the mayor, um, to discuss the, the other order that we're here for tonight. Um, but when we present the budget for fiscal 24, we had a balanced budget, um, that totaled $101 million. Um, 1 0 1, 1 7 3 3 41 is the exact figure. Um, and it was a balance budget, um, which is required under mass general law. And so as part of that operating budget, um, there's the school piece. And so that's just one piece. We, we, the city council approves the appropriation to the school, but the school committee approves the school committee budget, uh, or the school budget because they have their other offsets as well. Um, as far as the fiscal 2024 budget drivers, um, so some of the largest drivers last year was our health
▶ 48:21 insurance obligation. There's about 750 benefit eligible employee benefit eligible employees in the city of Melrose. Um, we are part of the GIC, uh, we did make some adjustments within the health insurance budget last year. So there's a health insurance incentive. Um, it's called the opt out program. And it's a cost diversion program where, um, a new hire you can either opt out or you can elect to have a benefit plan and there's a whole process to opt out. Um, but prior to FY 24, the opt out for families had been $6,500 annually. And for, um, a single employee it had been 3000. So those were reduced from, uh, to 50 202,000 respectively. And that, I think saved about $250,000 in the operating budget.
▶ 49:21 But even with that, we still saw an increase of over a million dollars in the health contractual budget. Um, a lot of these items that I'm gonna speak to are kind of non-negotiable. Um, so the Vogue School in Wakefield, um, we saw an increase of $225,600 last year to the FY 24 budget. Um, debt, which we have we're obligated to pay every year. That was an increase of 214 between temporary and permanent debt. Um, I talked about health contractual and then Medicare was 35,000. Um, and coupled with the increase in state aid, um, the school got $3 million. So all in all, that's about $4.8 million of the increase that we saw last year. Also during fiscal 23, um, we settled a significant amount of contracts,
▶ 50:21 both I think the school did as well as the city. And so as far as the city contracts that were settled, those were contracts that had been out collective bargaining agreements. And so they were not built as part of the FY 23 budget. And so what happens when you get to the year FY 24, you have to recognize that cost. So, um, FY 24 recognizes the cost of some of those contracts. And I think we had both of our, uh, police contracts out, uh, in FY 23, our laborers and our clerical union. Um, so those are kind of some of the expense drivers. Um, Sue as far as FY 24, um, where we stand as of today, so this is more than a mid-year review 'cause the information we're looking at is as of, uh, February 29.
▶ 51:20 So we're really like 67%, two thirds, uh, done with the year through the end of February. Um, and so there were some revenue snapshots that were, um, posted into IQM two as well as and, uh, budget. Um, so as far as the budget, like some of the departmental questions, you may, if you have questions about a specific department, um, you should reach out to those departments. Um, they're probably better served to answer some of those questions. Um, and this is just to kind of show a high level of where we are today, um, as far as 24 with some of our revenues. Um, so one of the good things is we estimated new growth at 500,000. It came in at $772,000, which is good. Um, so that's a positive of $272,000.
▶ 52:20 Um, as far as other revenues, they're pretty much in line with prior year, uh, that revenue snapshot that was posted, captured year over year. And some of those have since also corrected themselves in March. Uh, specifically like motor vehicle excise march, um, that's when the commitments go out for motor vehicle excise. So we, we will recognize, um, a bulk of the revenue in March. Um, and I think I have looked at some of the revenues. Um, and so as far as our projections, I think, um, at the end of February for local receipts, we were about 65% of revenues collected. And at the end, or through today were 87% collected of our estimated revenues. Um, so we've seen, um, some growth there. Um, as far as some of our expense items,
▶ 53:24 uh, that we're concerned about right now, um, one of them, and it, it's historically been, um, something that we come back for, um, is public safety overtime. Um, there have been some staffing, um, vacancies in both departments, uh, both police and fire. And so with that, um, with the minimum manning requirement, you have to backfill. Um, a lot of the jobs even, you know, in education, all of them all have to be backfilled that cost typically can't go unfilled. So, um, so as far as public safety over time, we probably will be back before the end of the year. Um, as well as Medicare. Medicare, um, we have an employer portion that we pay and that is, uh, 1.45%. So we anticipate having to come back
▶ 54:21 and we would hold off on those until we get closer to May, June to have the best estimates. Um, and as far as we know right now, um, there's one extra student at Essex Agricultural. So when we set the budget for some of these items, um, you know, typically we aim to have the budget done like mid-April, so we can produce reports and, um, get everything done. And so a lot of that timing doesn't align with, um, some of the things that we have going on behind the scenes such as open enrollment. Um, I know Essex Agricultural, their movement, um, I've talked with the business manager there previously. They're kind of going through their acceptance period in mid, um, April. So, um, we had a late acceptance there.
▶ 55:14 Um, so that's about $17,000 there that we will be coming, um, back for pretty soon. Um, the good news about the operating budget, um, we had a very mild winter. So as of the end of February, the report may be misleading, um, because the public works department, they put in purchase orders to anticipate and estimate costs for snow. Um, and so then because we've been hit with late storms in 2018, there was a significant storm, I think it was March 18th, so we're, you know, they're constantly monitoring the forecast. So as of the end of, or as we stand right now and into the near future, it doesn't look like there's any snow. So that's good news. So we had initially held back about $800,000 in free cash to address any potential snow deficit.
▶ 56:10 So now we're able to redistribute that free cash, um, to other capital needs. Um, and it looks like we're actually gonna have a surplus in snow. So, um, that's great news. Um, and just with some of the staffing, um, vacancies, so we don't save on overtime cost, but we do save, um, on benefit cost. So, um, with that we, there's potentially, um, there will be not potentially there will be money in health insurance. It's just at this point we don't know how much. Um, so that's really the operating budget. Um, as far as free cash, um, our free cash was certified just over $5 million, um, this year. And we recognized positive retained earnings in all four of our enterprise funds. So that's the equivalent of free cash, um,
▶ 57:12 for the enterprise funds. Um, so one of the first priorities of free cash is that we wanted to address the special education and transportation costs for the school. Um, the next stage you'll see this order in the near future is to make investment in the stabilization funds. And then finally we're going to evaluate some capital and operational needs, um, because we do have to rectify any known deficit prior to June 30th. Um, otherwise those deficits get raised of the tax recap, um, which that process happens in November. And um, it takes away from what you can do with that next year's budget. Um, it suits some of the good things, um, about the city. Were, you know, we did recognize free cash.
▶ 58:04 There's some communities that can't say that. Um, we have the $8.8 million in, um, stabilization funds. And I think, um, you know, one of the things we talk about a lot is our bond rating. Um, so our prior CFO, he had come here, um, in the early two thousands and Melrose was not in great shape, it was in junk bond status. And over the course of the years, um, he was able to build the stabilization funds to where they are today, as well as, um, with a lot of hard work, um, get us outta junk bond status. And so we have the second best bond rating you could possibly have. Um, and it's more important than ever as we're about to embark on the historic, uh, public safety debt exclusion project. So, you know, one of the things we wanna, um,
▶ 59:04 keep focus on is remaining in, uh, in keeping our, our service level is stable. Um, 'cause that is one of the things that they do look at, um, for the bond rating. Um, and so then, um, as far as the budget process, um, there's a couple other funds to just, uh, be aware of or types of funds. So, um, one of the budget orders that comes down every year is for revolving funds. So we have about eight departments that have revolving funds and some of them get a, a general fund, uh, subsidy. So to use recreation for an example, um, they've, they have a minimal appropriation on the city budget. It's about $85,000, but they operate, um, a revolving fund and, um, they're able to run most of their programming out
▶ 1:00:05 of the revolving fund. Um, so as part of the budget process, every year there's a table that comes down and shows what each one of those fund numbers is, um, and the spending cap. And they have authorized spending caps that if there were to be an increase in that spending cap, it would be, uh, through council vote. Um, but they also have a very specific use and a specific revenue source. Um, so that's one of the things that will be discussed, uh, during the FY 25 budget. And then, um, last I just wanted to talk quickly through our enterprise funds. Um, so we have the four enterprise funds within the city, water, sewer, ambulance, and mount hood. Um, so if you look at some of the revenue projections
▶ 1:00:53 through, uh, February, they're a little off. And unfortunately those are kind of driven. Um, water sewer and mount hood are all kind of driven by weather. So, um, you know, if it's a wet summer, it impacts the water usage. Um, if it's a dry summer, then water usage goes up. I think that there, um, you know, over the past couple years there's been some issues, um, when everyone got sent to work from home, you know, all of a sudden usage, um, goes up. So, um, some of those funds, the revenues are down, um, a little bit year over year. Um, but as far as Mount Hood, they're doing very well. Um, they entered a new contract with a new management team in January of 23, um, Sagamore. And um, their revenues are up and they're doing great.
▶ 1:01:51 Um, so they've been a really good partner. So yeah, that's a lot. So I don't, but we're happy to take questions. Yeah, thank you. Um, anything anyone wants to add before we open up for a question? Thank you. Um, any question from my colleagues? Counselor Repe? Yep. Thank you all for being here. Just a couple of clarifying questions on the local receipts. The cannabis host fee is that, uh, I'm sorry, the cannabis was 179,000 last year. Zero this year. Is that the host fee that went away? Yes. Yes. That's the And um, non miscellaneous, non-recurring on the bottom, um, it's down 184,000. Yep. So those are t that those are often one time receipts. So actually an FY 23, um, the opioid settlement money came in from the state.
▶ 1:02:56 And so at the time, um, there was no provision to segregate that revenue into a special revenue fund. Uh, so $101,000 came in in local, in that miscellaneous non-recurring, um, account in FY 23. Since then. Um, as part of, uh, the free cash certification and encompass in that $5 million is that $101,000 DLS has, um, passed guidance that we can segregate that money into a special revenue fund. So there'll be an order, um, in front of the council in the near future to move the 101 that came in through the general fund into a special revenue fund, uh, for opioid settlement. And there's very specific purposes that that money can be used for. Okay, thank you. And then, um, just curious on the ambulance enterprise fund,
▶ 1:03:54 Mark Garipay: that's down about 12 to 13%. I mean, it's not based on usage, right? But, um, I know we have an outside company I think that handles all the billing Mm-Hmm. For that, yes. Um, is it, is it based on, this is a pretty important enterprise fund, right? It pays for a lot of the Yes. A number of fire, fire, uh, positions. Um, are we having trouble collecting money or is it just, just usage right Now? No, no. So it's based on, um, so it's based on number of runs, um, and I think what some of the staffing challenges as well. Um, you know, the fire department I believe has 11 vacancies. Um, but it's, um, it's based on number of runs, but it's also based on product mix if you're a Medicare, um, patient versus a private insurance insurance patient.
▶ 1:04:46 So we could, um, you know, you could have the same number of runs but a different mix within that. So it is definitely something that we're watching, um, because also, um, for each of these funds, uh, sewer, water, mount hood and ambulance, they also have their own savings accounts as well. Um, so if if there were any concerns with that, then um, we would look to have an appropriation before year end. Okay. Um, this is probably for the fire, the the fire chief, but um, when you ba when you said a number of runs, um, are we not using the ambulance? I know we got Cataldo as a backup. Are we, do we have the ambulance? Is it always in service? Do we know? Or is it, um, that more for the fire chief?
▶ 1:05:39 Mark Garipay: Yeah. Okay. For the fire chief. Um, 'cause that would affect, if we're using gaal, there was a, as a third party option, then that, that would affect this number, right? Mm-Hmm. Yeah. And then, uh, just one other, uh, thing I saw on the budget, total budget is 48%, we're nine months in, is a lot of the expenses back loaded or 'cause one would assume we're, most of our costs are fixed, we should be up around maybe 70%, um, used for the budget as of now. Yeah. You would expect to be like about 67% if we're nine months in. Right. So, um, we'll see some, um, like some of the park expenses come at year end, getting the fields ready and stuff. Um, but we're kind of in line with where we were last year we're a little bit under.
▶ 1:06:27 Kimberly Vandiver: So last year as of, uh, the end of February, we were at 50.2% and I think we're at like 48, so we're kind of right there. So we shouldn't see. We shouldn't, um, as we're sitting here today, we shouldn't anticipate big windfall coming in under No, no, no. Thank you. No, we will call you. Yeah. We'll have a party. Yes, we will. We'll have a party. Um, next Councilor Vandiver. Uh, thank you for being here tonight. Uh, I, I'll try to stick to a few higher level questions. Um, so I'm looking at the, the budget report Sure. That you included. Um, so on page 21 of the budget report, um, it, it has the school section Mm-Hmm. Um, and it's showing, um, zero expended under salaries in school. So what happens, um, all of the school,
▶ 1:07:22 Kimberly Vandiver: the school budget is contained within a separate fund. So the general fund for the city is fund 0 1 0 0. The school is 0 1 1 1. So that, um, is the budget, but there's also a transfer out in that amount. Um, and it's probably not captured on this report 'cause it's not department specific. So we take that operating budget and transfer it out into the school fund. Um, and so that has happened. Okay. They, it's, yeah. Okay. And, um, on page 52 of the report, um, it's a section, uh, about the cherry sheets and it's, it's showing, um, about $3 million, uh, split across these seven lines. Um, but showing $0 appropriated towards them is, is there a reason that isn't represented in the budget? Sue? As far as the cherry sheet, um, it has never been part
▶ 1:08:18 Kimberly Vandiver: of the appropriation. Um, it's looked at as net state aid. I've tried to capture that since I've been here. 'cause it, it just allows for historic purpose, um, reporting purposes. It's easier to track. Um, so it is factored into the overall operating budget. Mm-Hmm. Um, but it's not included in the 1 0 1. Okay. And, um, I guess my, my only other high, high level question would be, would it, is it possible to get this, this report that's in A PDF, is it possible to get a CSV version of the report? Um, to be able to, you know, look at the numbers and the percentages that way? Yeah, that would be great. Thank you. Any counselor? Um, just a clarification for me, just 'cause I'm still learning about this, but the five to 10%
▶ 1:09:12 that's put aside, um, for the free cash or the stabilization fund, is that recommendation from the Department of Local Services? Or is that, is that the Best practice? Yes. Okay. Excuse me. Best practice from the Department of Local Services. Um, and some of it is also turnbacks, but the majority of it, I think is, is from not budgeting all your money. And again, as Carrie said, we're going into a period where you're gonna have a lot of capital expenses. Um, we came very close, we thought last year to getting the AAA bond rating. Uh, Catherine and Marta was kind of surprised that we stuck with the double A. So we think it's really important to stick with that Mm-Hmm. To the extent that we can, so that we lower your costs
▶ 1:09:49 Robb Stewart: as we go out to bid in a few years upon this project. Mm-Hmm. Okay. Great. Next I have Councilor Stewart. Thank you Madam Chair, and thank you all for being here this evening. Um, great explanation. Uh, one, just one clarification. You talked about the model of winter and, uh, the $800,000 that is gonna go back to free cash. You mentioned that it's gonna be used for, used for other capital needs. Did you really mean operational needs? No. So, um, when free cash is certified every year, we kind of put placeholders in for what we'll utilize free cash for. And we always set aside a reserve, um, for snow and ice. And so of the 5,000,047 that was certified by DLS, um, we set aside 800,000 of that
▶ 1:10:42 for snow and ice deficit. However, we don't, we're not on the hook for that, um, because of the mild winter. So then we would book to use that money for other purposes. Uh, for other free cash appropriations. The city has a long list of, you would call them capital projects maybe because DPW is going to do them, but they're short term, they're smaller amounts of money, so you really wouldn't bond those. Um, so we have a, a laundry list of requests that we're still putting together from the agencies, seeing what their priorities are with some of the bigger, um, problems are that we could fix in a relatively short period of time. Uh, those will go to the marriage, uh, for her final decision for a recommendation to the board.
▶ 1:11:24 Jen Grigoraitis: And what are you gonna recommend? Stay tuned. Uh, I mean, if you all didn't realize we, we entered, um, free cash time tonight. And the reason why we wanted to do this tonight and then also the schools are here, is because we're looking at free cash as in order of priorities. So we need to pay our bills first and foremost, hence the request for the schools to be the first thing out of the gate. We can't really assess capital needs until we know that we're gonna close the year. Um, in the black obviously. 'cause that has huge implications for the city. Um, so that's request one. We are, you know, assessing internally we had had an $800,000 placeholder for snow and ice. Um, it seems like we're gonna be able to free that up
▶ 1:12:02 Jen Grigoraitis: to hopefully do other capital projects. Um, our next request to you all that you'll probably see on your April 1st agenda. Yes, I got in first, um, is to fund some stabilization accounts. So I'm looking at this as we need to pay our bills, we need to make sure we're doing savings for anticipated costs, which would include, we are back in, um, collective bargaining agreements with both fire and police. So getting ready for hopefully for those contracts to close and know that they'll be cost associated with them. That we wanna do some savings for, obviously funding our special ed stabilization accounts since all we talk about are special education costs. Um, and then looking into capital projects.
▶ 1:12:37 Jen Grigoraitis: So we're prioritizing, you know, the CIP, which is a list that exists that we need to kind of revamp that process. But what have been high priority projects? What are things particularly in school buildings that we can get done this summer. Um, so those will likely be the first requests that come to you so that those projects know that there's a funding source and we can get moving while we don't have kids in buildings. Um, and then looking at some other critical infrastructure needs. So I would anticipate, as you all think about free cash, it's gonna be stabilization accounts. And then as Carrie mentioned, as we get closer into the end of the fiscal year and feel more confident about particularly our overtime costs, um, capital projects.
▶ 1:13:15 Devin Romanul: Great. Thank you. Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you. Anyone else? Councilor? Sorry, very quick. I promise. Um, first of all, thank you for all this, this was outstanding. Um, and I'm a hundred percent for setting aside money because I'm imagining, I'm really curious about the anticipated interest savings that you would have, AAA versus aa given the volume of money that we're gonna put out, would probably far out script the amount of money we'd be talking about setting aside out of this. So anyway, I'm just curious what those numbers are, but we have to talk about it right now. But we can Talk to Catherine to Get Yeah, yeah. The, um, on that just it's morbid curiosity. So, and Stay tuned. She's gonna come before
▶ 1:13:51 Devin Romanul: you to do an informational order about bonding, so, um, can't Wait. Yes, it is hugely important. I, I did want to ask, um, just very quickly, what is the, and forgive my ignorance on the subject, this being my first go around here, but what is the driver of the volatility in the state aid? And is there a way to, is there, other than the madness of the legislature? Um, I think sometimes it depends upon what their revenues are, what they're hearing from their constituents. Um, as Carrie said, it's been some years we've had very large increases and some years not so much. I think some of those, not so much years were around the time of the pandemic when they were a little uncertain about their own revenues.
▶ 1:14:22 Sure. When we look at this year's budget, unfortunately the governor's budget is not a great budget for us. I think it's under 2%. Um, unrestricted state aid is a little higher, but when you average it out with the schools, the school aid came to is not very high at all. I think it's not, uh, 0.9%. Um, and then I think that's not the final number. The house ways and means typically releases their budget the Friday before April vacation. But when I went back and looked at five or six budget cycles, the house often replicates what the governor does. The highest number has typically over the last several years been the Senate number. So we'll see what happens. Um, we'll know soon enough about the house.
▶ 1:14:59 Maya Jamaleddine: As I said, they come out right before school vacation. They do their amendment process that week. And so we know by, uh, late April, and then the Senate usually comes out sometime early to mid-May now, US Senator is on, uh, I think a absolutely a member of ways and means, and I think he's the vice chair. He may be the vice chair. So hopefully that bodes well for us. Duly noted. Thank you very much. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, what is the will of the committee Motion to place on file? Second, I have a motion to place on file made by, uh, president Ali, seconded by councilor. Um, um, Karen Sheti. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Thank you. Thank You. Thank you. Next Stand up here. Yeah,
▶ 1:15:51 Jen Grigoraitis: Thank you. Next in app appropriation, uh, we have appropriation 2024 dash 13 in appropriation of pre-cash in the amount of, uh, 2 350, uh, thousand to the school department. Uh, operating budget transfer in account 0 1 1 1 4 9 1 0 0 3. Thank you, Madam Chair. Brought the whole team together. Um, and I'm, you know, it's very intentional that we're all up here because I, we really have, since January been trying to operate as a team and sharing information across the school and, um, cityside as we work to, you know, collectively make sure we're funding all of the services for our community. So I wanna thank Superintendent ERO and business manager Ken Kelly for being up here tonight. You'll obviously hear more from them.
▶ 1:16:46 Jen Grigoraitis: Um, again, as I just said, this is here before you because we need to get this done. I know none of us are pleased that this is how we're funding our schools. Um, but this is where we are for this year. I think it was a well-known, um, reality for everyone given the conversation that occurred last year, um, at this, starting at this time when we realized that there was a shortfall. And I think the school department has worked really hard to make sure we are minimizing the costs that are being put on this free cash request. And I'm very appreciative of to them for that. Um, we wanted to do this tonight because the reality is we need to know sooner rather than later if we are gonna be able to end this year in the black, if we're not,
▶ 1:17:23 Jen Grigoraitis: that's gonna be decisions that need to be made. Um, they're gonna be broad ranging in their impact, and they're gonna need to be executed very quickly. So we wanted to bring this here. Now that we are confident that this is the number, this will be one and done. We are not anticipating coming back before you all for additional, um, revenue. That's something the superintendent and I talk regularly about. Um, but we need to make sure that we are ensuring that the schools are able to pay their bills, um, as we get to the final quarter of the year. And that we know on both the school and city side, whether or not we're gonna be, um, operating in the budget that we have been, you know, under the impression is the budget
▶ 1:18:00 we have for this fiscal year. So I'll turn it over to the superintendent, but that's sort of the framework for why, why tonight. Thank you, mayor. I just wanted to add too to the mayor's comments. First of all, thank you for having us here tonight. Um, you know, last year when, when, I can't believe we're already into almost April and it'll be about almost a year that I was appointed to come on as the interim superintendent. And I do want you to know that the moment that I became, that I did sign on, it wasn't until July that I started working. I actually started working on melrose's issues probably sometime in mid-May when we started to hire people that we were moving in, uh, to these roles.
▶ 1:18:44 I do recall a couple of times having conversations with the superintendent and Mr. Kelly about, well, can we put that person in that position for that amount? Or this person wants that. And I remember Mr. Kelly saying, no, this is what we have allocated moving forward. And I said, then no, then we move on that. So it was a known factor from that moment that we were going to work on making sure that we were going to take everything into effect and do our best to come forward to you later, a year later to this point, to ask for the free cash that we needed to, um, solve the budget issue for this, you know, to balance the budget as we move forward. Um, as I stated to you before, I've never walked into a situation like this
▶ 1:19:38 where I've been in, where I've started a year or where I would, I knew from the city that the budget was going to be balanced later. Uh, that we were going to start off the year knowing that we would end with the deficit. And how would that happen? So what we were told at that time was, and I was told we were at between 2.4 to 2.7 anywhere. That was the projection of it. I will tell you, it was my goal, and I am, I feel that we have pushed Mr. Kelly and I and the whole school department, I have to give a lot of credit to our principals, to our people that handle to our special ed, uh, assistant superintendent of special education, our assistant superintendent of, of, um, curriculum and instruction to know that we needed
▶ 1:20:29 to be very conservative and make sure that we did, when we walked in, we, we balance, we froze that budget that first day of July. We sent a memo out to the entire staff of the schools. We probably put some people in a panic by doing that right off the bat. But we did it for a reason, because we wanted to make sure that every aspect of what people were coming forward is something that they needed to have. Not just, oh, well, this is what we have for a budget, so let's just spend that. So we really walked through that process. We really worked hard to make that happen. Um, tonight we are here, of course, uh, we are fully confident that we believe that 2.35 is what we need to conclude this year to balance the budget.
▶ 1:21:20 I know there've been multiple questions about how does, how did we come to that numbers where we're at? Uh, Mr. Kelly is here to talk about that, but that number includes getting us to the end of the year of June 30th, that 2.35. Um, and so that's, that's where we are. We are, um, I don't know, Mr. Kelly, if you want to add some points and then we're happy to Madam Chair to answer any questions. Thank you for having us this evening. I do have a, just a few slides. I don't know if I, if I can plug in there. I don't wanna interrupt what's going on now with any kind of live stream either, so I can certainly just talk it through. Okay. So again, thanks again for having us tonight. Um, this slide, sort of just as a recap, snapshot of, um,
▶ 1:22:54 where we were last spring, last May, um, our school committee, uh, voted to approve a, a budget of over 47 million, uh, as assistant auditor. Um, golden was talking about the city appropriates funding for the schools. So we were appropriated about 38 and a half million dollars. That was, uh, city resources plus the chapter 70 from the state. We as, uh, the school district bring in, um, about $4.75 million in offset revenues. We have several grants that also provide revenue to the district. And so that provided funding for us for about 44, uh, million 300,000. That created a, a, a gap of about $3.2 million. And the city was able to, um, generously also at the end of, uh, FY 23, appropriate another $500,000 in onetime funding,
▶ 1:23:45 which was very helpful for, um, several specific items within our budget, which brought that gap down to $2.78 million, which is where everybody's sort of been talking about that 2.3, 2.5, $2.7 million number. And as Superintendent Macero has said, we've worked pretty diligently, um, over the course of this year to really stay within bounds with that. We do understand we are one department in, in, in a, a big city with a lot of needs. And so we've tried to work, uh, we've been very, um, fortunate. We've had high levels of collaboration with our, our city team with assistant auditor, golden, uh, retired CFO, uh, LaRusso, um, the interim CFO Donahue and the mayor. Um, there's been high levels of collaboration
▶ 1:24:30 and communication, so we've tried to make sure that we are, there's no surprises as superintendent Ms. Sarah has said, we really, um, you know, there's been plenty of surprise surprises the past couple years. Um, so we're trying to really kind of eliminate that, have everyone in the know and, uh, be able to move forward. Mr. Kelly, can you zoom in so that everyone is able to see it? Thank you. I dunno if that helps. I dunno if that's zoomed or not, but It's okay. We'll, we'll attach it to the Sure. Um, Just a couple things that we've done to try to, um, uh, build in some, uh, um, information for, you know, the, the, the community, the greater community. Um, we started a new, um, line item budget
▶ 1:25:25 that shows pretty comprehensively the cost of the district. We've made that available online so that anyone can look at it and access it. And, and it's a resource for anyone that wants to engage in, in the budget discussion, which is an important one. So as assistant auditor Golden said, the, the, uh, city is appropriated funds, um, the city appropriates funds to the schools. So, um, in that Munich report that was referenced earlier, this is the amount of money that the school is appropriated in uni. And this comes from two places. This $43 million comes from the 38 and a half million plus the, the 4.7 in offset revenue that the district is bringing in. So that's the, the, the available resources we have right now in the Muni system
▶ 1:26:08 is for our operating budget. The school system's budget is, is, um, over a little over 92 90 3% fixed costs, things like salaries, um, tuition's, transportation for special education. These are fixed costs. So we only have about 7%. That's discretionary. Um, the entire, um, supply materials line for all eight schools is, is just under half a million dollars. So, um, we've, we've got, um, pretty extensive fixed costs within the school budget. So we just recently gave our mid-year update to school committee. So this was, uh, as of the beginning of March at the, uh, I'll backtrack for one second. At the, um, Beginning of each year, um, the school committee votes to, uh, have different categories within our budget.
▶ 1:27:00 So this year we have six categories. We've got our, our early childhood center, we have our elementary school systems, we have our middle and our high school special education. And then, um, district-wide admin, uh, administrative expenses. So you'll see that far left column, that's the appropriation down to the 43 million that we, um, we have in our muni system right now for our operating budget, what we spent to date, what we have encumbered. And right now we are one point a little over between 1.1 and 1.2 million into that, that gap that we've all been talking about. And so for the rest of the year, the team at the business office has worked very hard to try to come up with an accurate projection of where we think we'll land.
▶ 1:27:43 We have fixed costs that we know will come up. We have had some, um, an increase in the number of leave of absences this year. We just have our contractual obligations that we have, uh, every year. We have longevity, retirement payouts, um, teacher leadership stipends. We have our springtime athletics coaches, uh, extracurricular activities, uh, legal and consulting fees. Um, and so, uh, these are costs that we project within those different, um, school committee categories. Um, and for this year is a little unique. Uh, we are really trying to dedicate every available resource towards minimizing that gap, knowing that, that the one-time funding with the city, um, is also used for other departments
▶ 1:28:24 and other very important things throughout the city. So here's where we got our number so that the, the existing, you know, 1.1, 1.2 deficit on, on, uh, the operating budget now, plus an additional about 1.1 million. We project between now and the end of the year, Kim comes in about a little over 2.275 million. And we did at respectfully, uh, request that the mayor, um, uh, send a request for 2.35 to build in a little bit of a buffer, uh, for any unanticipated costs. So if you take the 2.35 million in addition to the, the 43 that's in the operating budget, we would commit about 45 million, uh, $45.6 million. And that number, again, is the, what's the resources allocated by the city, and also our offset, uh, um, revolving funds
▶ 1:29:16 that the city operates, which I'll, I'll talk about in just a second. So this would be the difference between what was appropriated, uh, for FY 24 at the beginning. And if the supplemental budget request is considered and approved, we would end up with that 45.6 million number. And that's the, the, the different school committee categories. So these are the revolving, um, these are the offsets that we, um, generate revenue for. And this is anything from, uh, you know, school-based fees. Um, our education stations before and after school program. Our, uh, the Medicaid program, which is also another request on, on tonight's agenda. Um, our, uh, Franklin School tuition, um, program. So, and our circuit breaker
▶ 1:30:01 for special education reimbursement. So at the beginning of the year, we budget amounts that we think are realistic for, um, revenue to come in. We've changed these over the past two years. Like for, um, for a long time the athletics revolving was, was 3 25, 3 50. That was just a mark we consistently didn't hit. So we've, we've reduced that facility rentals too as well. Um, and our education stations and ECC revenues, we have, uh, uh, incrementally increased those as well. And we did see an increase last year in our, uh, Medicaid reimbursement, which has translated to this year as well. So, um, the far right is just the variance as to how far or how close we're getting. I would say the, the biggest concern would be our
▶ 1:30:42 ECC line right now. Um, when I started the ECC was running a deficit. The program itself, uh, will not run a deficit. I'm just a little concerned about meeting the actual budgeted offset amount at this time. So just some points to consider. Um, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. Um, this is a projection, you know, a budget is a best guess. Um, this is where we think we're gonna land through the end of the year. And as the superintendent and, um, the mayor have, have said, and I would, I would reiterate, uh, we really are trying to come one time saying, this is what we had anticipated last spring. This is what we think will close the year. And, uh, um, to try to just one time say, this is
▶ 1:31:20 what we would need to, to close the year, uh, balanced. Um, we do understand we are just one department in, in the city. Um, we're, we're the biggest department, but we are, uh, one department of many that have many needs. This year. We have been running things lean to, to keep that, that number as small as possible. Um, as Superintendent ERO said, we froze the budget on July 5th. Um, we had talked about, you know, considering, you know, throughout the year if we would, uh, be able to lift that. We've, we've visited that many times and just decided we have not been able to lift that freeze. Uh, knowing the current financial climate, we did generously receive the 500,000 one-time money last spring.
▶ 1:31:57 Um, we developed our line item in budget. Um, there have been some positions that we just did not fill. Um, no, west public schools is not overstaffed. Uh, you know, when someone is not filled, that creates a need on, on some other, uh, positions within the district. We've had some paraprofessional positions that we have not filled. And the middle school is understaffed based on enrollment, based on programming. That is something that will need to be addressed in FY 25. Um, I just sent a memo out to the, to the district that said, as of April 1st, there will be no more purchasing. Everything will have to come through our office. Um, sub coverage has been very challenging. Each building is assigned, um, one to two substitutes.
▶ 1:32:39 Um, that's, that's not adequate. We could have more than that. We have not filled, we have not, um, uh, increased our sub coverage at the building level. And we haven't replaced, um, any real technology this year. The students are all working on Chromebooks for things like i-Ready Diagnostics and MCAS testing. And we are, um, our ID department is dynamic. They're working to repair any broken, um, technology so that students have what they need, but we haven't purchased any student replacement technology this year. So, um, these are some of the things that we've tried to either hold off or defer on, knowing that we're trying to, um, uh, minimize the, the request at this time. Um, and the one thing I'll say is, uh,
▶ 1:33:19 I'll backtrack for one second. So the, the budget that came in, go back to this slide for one second. So, when we had the gap, when we load the budget into Munis, we're only allowed to, um, book in the revenue that we know we have. So the, the gap actually was in the special education line. It wasn't because it was an overrun, it wasn't because it was a, um, uh, something that wasn't budgeted. Superintendent Berman does a very nice job with her budget. Um, that was the line that could support that, this kind of a gap. So we are not allowed to reduce salaries. Things, um, that are, we're just not allowed to reduce in the budget. Uh, the special education line is not an overrun, but that is the line that could currently hold the gap,
▶ 1:34:06 Ward Hamilton: knowing that we would be requesting the money, um, to, um, uh, increase the budget by the, that, that gap. And I would be happy to answer any questions that you have at this time. Thank you, Mr. Kelly. Um, anyone else would like to add anything before we open questions? Thank you all. Um, any questions from my colleagues? Um, counselor, Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Kelly and Mr. ero especially. Um, since you appeared before this body on January 29th, we've had the opportunity to meet in person to exchange emails and communicate. And, uh, I appreciate your responsiveness and it's, it's helped me to be able to frame this, this picture and put things in context. Um, certainly I'm cognizant of the challenges
▶ 1:35:07 Ward Hamilton: that the district faces and, um, as one of the four counselors, uh, who was not serving when the last council approved this budget, you know, I may have a couple more questions than, uh, some of my colleagues, but last fall when I was a candidate, I was asked by several people when this moment came, what would I do? And the answer is, I'm gonna give the schools money because we need to. And, um, I've been asked that question so many times and, um, I feel bad, frankly. I mean, I, I support the schools and, and wanna support you, but I, and I will. And, uh, I do have some questions because a couple of items are confusing. Mm-Hmm. Uh, to me, as the lay person, the 4.75 million in offsets is a little more than 10% right.
▶ 1:36:00 Ward Hamilton: Of the budget. And so it's important that those numbers are on, uh, anything less than that adds to the deficit. Um, one thing that's confusing when I look at the, um, the table that we shared with us is each month we see what the balance was in that particular account. But it's hard to understand like, uh, what are the total, what would the total receipts be for this fiscal year? Is that something that we track? So that's what this report does track. This is a report that we generate each month, just like you said, and we submit that to school committee as part of our monthly budget report. So a lot of these lines are, are multipurpose, they're revolving accounts. So there, there's money coming in
▶ 1:36:41 Ward Hamilton: and there's money going out, right? So at the end of each month, the business office, uh, goes in and reconciles the encumbrances based on, on, um, you know, revenue brought in. And so that is the balance that existed at the end of each month. So at the end of March, excuse me, we'll go through the calculations again and, um, post out to the, the report as to what the balances are. Alright. So I guess just to pull one item out of here, um, our ECC revenue line, we budgeted 525,000. We're in the red 613. Um, when we've met and talked actual, uh, revenue from tuition this year, we're anticipating between 1.7 and 1.8 million. Help me understand. Sure thing. So the, that, um, the ECC tuition revenue is dual purpose.
▶ 1:37:34 It's, it also, it pays salaries for the, um, you know, the, um, the credentialed educators that work at the ECC and then also above that we use it as a budget offset. Now we've, you know, at last spring, um, school department was trying to do its part, so we did increase that offset. Um, that is probably my, my biggest concern right now. I don't think the, the ECC itself, the tuition, the, um, the salary line will run a a deficit. We, we are projected to be able to pay all those salaries from the tuition revenue. Okay. The offset amount is what I would be concerned about making. Okay. Um, I think finally in closing, uh, you, in your presentation, you answered my question as far as how did you arrive at
▶ 1:38:20 Ward Hamilton: that 2.35 number, and I understand, um, from speaking to Mr. Ro and, uh, mayor Greg, is, um, the interest to come once or the intent to come just one time, um, with a full quarter still ahead of us, we must be pretty confident that this number is on. Yeah, I think one of the things that we did this year is we tried to encumber everything we knew was going to be a cost. We've encumbered all of our salaries. And that's true also why you see that red for the e CCC line, right? And at the end of November and the beginning of December, we encumbered all the salaries there. So obviously not having raised that revenue yet sure that that's what turned out. And then now as you can see that as the months go by,
▶ 1:39:01 it's starting to get closer and closer to being back in the black. And then, so, you know, we've got salaries encumbered and, and like I mentioned in the other slide, there are still some things outstanding. We do have some contractual obligations that will have to be paid at the end of the year. Right. Um, we did just have another recent retirement that will have a little bit of a financial impact. So, um, you know, those are things that we try to plan for. Um, and, uh, so we've, we've made a pretty best guess effort what we think, we'll, we'll close the year, but I agree with you. We, we were just trying to come one time. Okay. And, and finally, um, after you shared the Munis report Friday morning, I, uh,
▶ 1:39:36 Ward Hamilton: printed it and highlighted every line that had available budget, and that totals almost $3.1 million more. How much of that 3.1 million more do you think we'll spend between now and July? All of it. Yeah. So right now, that bottom line, that negative 1.12, 1.11 million includes that, that three. So, okay. That column totals out to that bottom. So those two numbers together, 4.345 million is, So that wouldn't be $4 million. That would be the, the, the total of the available combined with what is all the lines that are overrun is, is what we knew was going to happen. That was something we knew would happen. We was gonna happen on July 1st. That, um, that has come into the negative now. Okay. Alright. Again, thank you for, um, spending extra time
▶ 1:40:30 Mark Garipay: with me and in my emails and answering my questions. I appreciate it and it's been very helpful. Anytime. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Um, I'd like to ask questions, counselor. Gar, and then we have Councilor Kara, Thank you. Thank you for being here. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to touch base. Um, but I don't think my questions are, are that difficult. It's, I I do, do wanna follow up on, on on some of the offsets, um, like athletic revolving, is it safe to say that's, we're just getting into the spring season, so we're not, we haven't experienced the user fees. That's correct. Yep, that's correct. We do collect the fees by season. Okay. Um, I will just say the spring is our lightest season,
▶ 1:41:14 Mark Garipay: so that would be our, our lowest revenue coming in. Mm-Hmm. Less equipment, less cost, I'm sorry, less equipment, less cost. True. Um, the ECC revenue, just following up, um, the e CCC C revenue is, that's the tuition based program. Right. Um, and when we had talked just earlier, so we are basing 525,000 in tuition that we're gonna cover the salaries. So the 1.3 million from the budget, that, that is the salaries, and this is an addition. So it's about 1.8 total that we were anticipating to commit. Now I will say enrollment's a little lower than what we had projected back in last April when we were looking at this. So that's why I was saying I'm a little concerned about that line because the enrollment's a little lower than we
▶ 1:42:03 Mark Garipay: had used when we were projecting that out. And I'm not saying that this program, this is the valuable program, but if it comes in, if, if the tuitions do not cover the expenses, where does that money come from? Within the budget. So they'll cover the expenses. I, I, I fully anticipate it would cover the expenses. The, the offset amount is probably something that we would, we would need to look at alternative funding. And I, I, you know, this year I think our circuit break coming in a little higher than we had thought. So that's possible avenue. Um, and we would have to look at other, you know, like it's possible the ED stations could come in a little bit higher, that has historically come in a little higher.
▶ 1:42:40 Mark Garipay: Um, so those are things that we could use to, um, balance off a, a lower ECC number. And I don't want this to get taken the wrong way. What my concern is that we have tuition based programs that do not cover their costs and we're taking revenue from required services to DSI for the other, for the rest of the school district. Right. Um, I guess maybe just clarification on, I'm not Understanding the question. Well, if there's certain services, if we can't cover the costs, it has to come from somewhere within the school budget, right? Mm-Hmm. So if it's within the school budget, the, um, all all that, if we're moving it from somewhere else, those are services that would be provided that, that are required by DSI for a K
▶ 1:43:19 through K through 12. Right? Sure. We wouldn't move operating funds to do that. We would try to do that through other offsets. Offsets. Okay. And, you know, OO obviously a long range goal is to build these up, just like assistant auditor Golden was saying, for some of the stabilization funds, you want a little bit of of stability. So if there is, you know, something that comes outta bounds, you're able to absorb that within the budget. So we, our long range goal is to build up some modest balances in these revolving funds that could, you know, take care of unanticipated costs. Mm-Hmm. Going, I think it's important to just point out though, that the ECC, the revenue that's coming in is paying for the ECC.
▶ 1:43:56 The issue here is that are we receiving what we projected as, you know, a more for the offset to help with the overall of what we wanted to add in there? And at that point, what Mr. Kelly is saying is that we may not reach that area, but we may reach it in other offsets that are gonna count for it. Um, so I think that that's important that to, to make that clarification that currently the ECC is not running in a deficit, it's bringing in the revenue that we need to cover the staffing of the program that we're doing there. It's where we're looking at is, is it bringing in what we've projected as a revenue source on the other end to help us with the offset? I, I, I understand that. I appreciate that.
▶ 1:44:43 Mark Garipay: But we also have to realize that the benefits for all for those employees are anticipated on the city side. And we've had this discussion understood. If we want to, if we want to really look at it as a program, it's a whole then we, we, I'd like to see the benefits moved in. I'm not saying that the tuition would cover that, but, um, or even if it would be feasible. Mm-Hmm. But it's something I'd be curious to take, take, take a look at. Um, and same with education stations as you met, some of these offsets are a way to, in, in a tough economy, I mean, tough financial situation for our, for our city education stations. My son did it. It is a really great value. Um, and I think it's, it's a way to, you know, we have,
▶ 1:45:31 Mark Garipay: we have enterprise funds, we have, it's a way to generate some additional revenue. Um, not saying continue to do 10% increases, but I think I saw one of the meetings it was 60 cents or something. Yep. I mean, um, I think, uh, it's a good service. Um, and I think, um, we should really, uh, take another, take another look at that. Um, I do applaud you. Um, I think, what would we say, three, 3.28 million is what we thought the anticipated deficit was gonna be. And we're down to 2, 2, 3 5, um, right now. Um, I, I applaud your, uh, your work on that and getting that down. I really, when we talked a few months ago, I thought we were gonna be three eight. So, um, is, do you, if we continue the way we're going, I know it's,
▶ 1:46:23 Mark Garipay: do you think we're gonna peck away at this deficit? We're at three, 3.3 0.28, now we're at two three. You think if we continue down this path over the next year, we can peck away at the, uh, the deficit and get it, get below two next year? It won't be, won't be you, unfortunately. But We are doing a lot of work towards next year as we work at the end of this year. You know, we're, we're, we're trying to structure and work on that, and that's, information will come out later as we keep going. But, um, you know, we, we are doing our best here to make sure that any expenses has to be a necessity at this point from, from July 1st on to this. It, it has to be a necessity of what we're spending our money on and what we're doing.
▶ 1:47:11 Mark Garipay: Um, and we will continue, you know, to, to drive that. And then as we plan for next year, we're, we're doing the same thing. Okay. Um, and last year when you, when, um, the school department was in front of us looking for the free cash allocation, I was a big advocate to, to really delay it a little bit or give a portion of it so we didn't, so we kind of knew what the final number was. Um, we ended up, um, proving it and then came back for another additional 500,000. And I know you've said it, but it's, I'm, I'm in the back of my mind. I'm still nervous. Yeah. I Don't blame you. I mean, you really feel confident that you're not gonna have to come other than potentially, uh, stable, uh, special ed stabilization
▶ 1:48:01 Manjula Karamcheti: or something along that line. Yes. Okay. All right. I appreciate you both. Thank you. Thank you for all your hard work. Thank you, Councilor. Thanks. Thank you all for being here. And I also just wanna appreciate the communication, the presentation, just giving us as much information as possible to help us understand the why behind all of this. Um, the communication and transparency has increased since where we were last year, and I know that's something we were really hoping for. And so I appreciate the city side and the school side for trying to come together and figure that out. Um, I will say I am all for paying the bills and understand why this free cash request is coming now and the timing.
▶ 1:48:48 Manjula Karamcheti: Um, and none of us who were here last year are surprised. Right. We knew this was gonna come. Um, so what I'm really interested in, and hope you can shed maybe a little light on this now, but I more as a prelude to what I hope can be discussed more in the 20 24, 20 25 budget. Um, I've heard from a lot of constituents over the past, over this past year, more than I have in the, in the past in some ways, um, from constituents, families, community organizations, really, again, being concerned about special education, wanting to stay in Melrose and not feeling like that is an opportunity for them. Um, and also historically marginalized populations in Melrose as well. Um, and just, you know, we've had families report the increase
▶ 1:49:38 Manjula Karamcheti: of the n word in our schools at all levels. We've had an anti-Semitic acts as well, mental health issues among our students and not being able to really provide them the supports that they need and equities among our athletic teams, um, our out of district placements, sort of all those things. So I think what I'm interested in, while we are wanting to pay our bills and settle out this year, how have, how, what has planning looked like this year to anticipate how we might spend funds, um, over the course of 24 25? Um, what Im, what work is being done in the district to, to pro to promote systems and trust structural transformation like around instructional vision, around multi-tiered systems of support.
▶ 1:50:30 Manjula Karamcheti: And so to figure out what funds we need for next year, like, what does the work look like this year? So I'm just curious if you could shed any light on that. And then, you know, all of it takes money and I get that. Um, but also, you know, what work has been done with the strategic plan with supervision and evaluation, sort of some of those structures that already exist in the district. So what I will say is that we've talked quite a bit of this, of these items at our school committee meetings. So if you, if you, and I don't mean to deflect it on there, there's a lot that we are, 'cause this what you've asked, there's a lot of information and I could go on for hours for it Yeah, yeah. To go into all of that. And so I would advise folks
▶ 1:51:16 to watch the school committees. We did a whole thing on strategic planning. We've done quite a bit of what we're talking about as far as the budget as we're moving forward to next year. But one of the things that I will just kind of sum up and then ask any of my colleagues here, if they would like to, is that the thing that I've noticed the most that I have really come through from the Covid era into now we're trying to, we, we would say we're into the second year of what we would go back into that of a normal C school year type of thing. However, that still doesn't take care of all of the past issues that our kids have gone through that, you know, being secluded for so long, dealing with different types of things,
▶ 1:52:06 it just doesn't click away overnight that says, oh, okay, now we're back to normal. They know how to work into that type of environment. Are we seeing behavioral issues? Are we seeing different types of problems that go on? Yes. How do we resolve those? How are we looking at that? What is, what is the strategic planning as we're moving forward? Part of what I'm really prioritizing is that our most vulnerable kids that we have right now, I believe, are our middle school students who are not getting all of the services and structures that they need because we are understaffed in that building. So regardless of where we are going next year, and regardless of how that budget is, the number one priority that Melrose Public Schools has
▶ 1:52:54 to do is fix that issue, that problem at the middle school by making sure that we have the right amount of staff that give the opportunity for our kids that are in pain or crying out that need support to know that they have that support. So that's one of the things that we are taking a look, we are looking at more restorative justice. We are looking at more restorative practices that we need to bring into the, through the district, through our professional development, with our staff, through our professional development on, on all fronts. So there's quite a bit that I could keep unpacking. And what I would suggest is over the next, tomorrow night is gonna be a big meeting on the middle school and the high school,
▶ 1:53:44 and how we're going to be taking a look at the program of studies and what the schedules look like and how the schedule now we're gonna reshape and how we're gonna take those into effect. And then as you get into the April meetings, we're gonna really be talking about the budget needs and how, how are we going to be, how are we gonna make sure that what the priorities are get done as we move forward? And then, you know, how do we bring our kids together and our staff? So I don't know if you, it's Not as elegant as what you said. No, I, I was just gonna say thank you for providing an opportunity to highlight that tomorrow night. And I want to acknowledge my two school committee co colleagues who are in the audience, um, chair,
▶ 1:54:22 Jen Grigoraitis: just scroll and member mc, Andrew. We do have our public hearing on the budget and the school committee. And so for those constituents, I think that's a great opportunity to come and tell the school committee in that role what it is that they wanna see. Um, you know, I know you all know this, especially those of you who have been sitting in these seats for a bit, the budget process is messy and imperfect. The school committee began in January. A lot of us are new. The state is not obligated to pass a budget by July one. We are, um, so a lot of this is trying to figure out how we get all of the puzzle pieces to fit together when we don't have everything that we need all at once. Um, and so I think it's really the more we can hear from
▶ 1:54:59 Maya Jamaleddine: folks, um, you know, whether it's coming to the school committee or coming to all of you, the help. More helpful that is for all of us as we're trying to balance all these pieces. So tune in tomorrow night if you wanna come back to this room. Thank you Madam Mayor, and thank you, uh, superintendent. I appreciate you giving us, um, you know, a highlight on what is the plan for next year. And I would like to invite all of us to focus on 2024, uh, fiscal year 2024, so we can, um, have really an extended, um, understanding of where we are currently. I have next, um, counselor Romano. Uh, thank you so much. Um, I'll be very quick. Uh, I just wanna say, first of all, thank you so much for the presentations, plural
▶ 1:55:43 Devin Romanul: and, uh, your incredible efforts at lowering this number. Um, I'm deeply appreciative and, uh, I'll just say, uh, for my piece, really excited to, uh, I mean, I'm acknowledging those efforts and also want to, uh, express my excitement to reorient the conversation around how do we run the best school district and how do we create a, uh, high functioning, nurturing environment, you know, uh, to create the best outcomes and all sorts of issues for our kids. So anyway, um, I'm not saying that's not what's happening, but, um, I, uh, would really love to say like, what, what do we need to do as a city, as a community to, to aim for that? So anyway, um, just three very quick questions. Um, and maybe I'll just give 'em to you
▶ 1:56:26 Devin Romanul: and then you can respond as you'd like. The three things that I was interested in are, number one, um, that percentage of discretionary dollars that is comparatively really low. I'm wondering how that compares to surrounding communities, if that's sort of right in line. Um, uh, the second was I was asking for your, I wanted to ask your opinion for what might account for the ECC shortfall, um, saying as someone who's loved that program and, uh, really excited for my kids to attend or my youngest anyway. And, um, and number three, I'm obviously, uh, incredible effort. Went into deferring a ton of costs as you outlined. I'm guessing that at some point we gotta pay the piper and what does that look like for FY 25, you know, ballpark,
▶ 1:57:07 and how can we do some longitudinal planning to ameliorate, you know, deferring too many times year over year? Thank you so much. Sure thing. So the, um, the discretionary, yeah, I'd say that's typical. Um, prior, um, this is my second year in Melrose that those discretionary lines that the schools would be typical nowadays, um, there is, uh, not a lot of room for discretionary spending. They do get an, you know, there are materials, you know, schools need paper and toner. Those are our biggest needs. Um, and then things like, um, uh, Chromebooks, like those are technology that's a, you know, something we are going to have to really look at. Um, we should have a formal cycle of replacement or, um, each year.
▶ 1:57:42 Um, so that is something we are talking about, uh, if it's feasible for the FY 25 budget. Um, and as far as the, the ECC, um, it's enrollment is lower than we had looked at and projected. Um, you know, that's a, um, that's kind of rolling, uh, admission. So if students exit, um, there's no, I don't believe there's a current waiting list right now. So, um, it would be just, uh, that enrollment is a little lower than we had anticipated it being. Thank you. Excellent. Thank you so much. Thank You. Next I have, uh, counselor Reky. Just a, a question regarding the comments on the middle school. Just, um, so if we were to look at this year's budget, I know we have a $2 million deficit, but if we were to go back and look at this year's budget,
▶ 1:58:25 Kimberly Vandiver: and you were to really staff that school in the manner that you thinks appropriate, what's a dollar figure that you would put in an increase in a budget for the middle school? It's about 1,000,035, about, you know, 1.3, About 1 million, 35,000, 1 million, about 14 positions, 14 positions. Mm-Hmm. Thank you. Thank you. Next, um, councilor Vandiver, Um, thank you for the presentations. Uh, I I just wanted to ask if I can restate my understanding of the ECC revenue line since it's come up several times and make sure that it's accurate. Um, so if we're looking at these offset projections we see in July, August, September, October, November, we see positive numbers indicating that at that time we were paying salaries
▶ 1:59:14 Kimberly Vandiver: and we were accepting tuition, and we were running positively. And then we see in December, we suddenly jump extremely negative. And as you said, that's because at that time we put in all of the anticipated salary payments for the rest of the year. That's correct. Um, and now we see month over month jumping up by about 200,000 a month as we accept payments, but we do not pay additional salaries because those have already been taken care of for the rest of the year. Um, and so we see the budgeted amount was about 500,000. And so when we're showing this negative 600,000, that's, that's 600,000, meaning at this moment we are minus 88,000 on top of a budgeted surplus of 500,000. Correct. Given the amount we're jumping up month over month,
▶ 2:00:01 Mark Garipay: we will almost certainly have a surplus in that line. It's just a question of how much and what, how it compares to the 500,000 number. Yep. That's a great question. And that's, yes. Excellent summary. That's exactly it. Okay. Thank you. Yeah, sure. We, we still have a few months to go of collecting revenue. Awesome. Anyone else? Okay. Um, for the second time, uh, counselor ante? Yes, thank you. Hey, um, sorry. Sorry. Thank you. Sorry. No long, long couple days for me. Um, I lost my train of thought transportation. Um, last year when you were in front of us, uh, the, the vendors were, seems like they were fluctuating the invoicing, right? They were all over the board. Um, all of a sudden we're getting out really something low
▶ 2:00:51 for two or three months and we'd get hit with a big one. I see here that we spent 1.5 million for, I guess, are they doing a better job at that this year? No. Special education. Transportation is a very volatile market, right? It remains. Um, you know, it, it's, um, we have some vendors that we work very closely with that have, we have good relationships with. And we have some vendors that, um, you know, we strictly need them for a specific purpose 'cause they go on a separate, a specific route. Um, and so, um, it's a very fluid, very volatile market. That's probably another one of our biggest concerns going into FY 25 is, is transportation. We, that was another, like we, um, we own five vans
▶ 2:01:29 that we use for special education, transportation. We could have replaced those last year. Dodge doesn't make the caravan anymore. That's the gold standard of student transportation right now. So, um, that means buying a Kia, that means buying something else, and those are more expensive. Um, so we opted to re-up our leases with, um, some, uh, some of our used vans. And that's a total credit to Rick D'Angelo, our transportation coordinator. He's meticulous with maintenance on the vans. They're in really good shape. So it was, it was easy to re-up the leases on those, um, knowing they're reliable and avoiding the costs. Um, but to your point, we at some point we'll need to replace the vans. So that's the reason for the, uh, fluctuation.
▶ 2:02:06 Maya Jamaleddine: We are at 1.5 million, um, nine months into the year. And we, we still have 1.1 encumbered, so we still like to Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Next, uh, vice chair William, I make a motion to recommend this to the full council. We have a motion to recommend, uh, to the full council made by vice Chair William seconded. Second by, um, councilor Stewart. Um, council clerk, Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Repe. Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Che. Yes. Councillor Brisky. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councillor Romanul. Yes. Councillor Finocchiaro. Yes. President Ulari? Yes. And Chair All? Yes. That's unanimous with 11. Yes. Thank you. And I would like to, um, make a motion to,
▶ 2:03:02 Maya Jamaleddine: um, attach your slides, Mr. Kelly, uh, to the, uh, minutes of this item. Um, Thank you. Motion to attach the slides to the presentation. Second. So we have a motion, uh, to attach the slides, uh, made by, uh, president Ali, seconded by Councilor Stewart. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank You. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you very much. Um, next is, um, or the appropriation 2024 dash 14 in appropriation from free cash in the amount of 223, uh, 372, uh, for Medicaid costs. We have, um, at a mayor again with us. Um, Sue, this is just a housekeeping item. Um, every year we come before the city council with this request, so per statute, um, in FY 23, we collected that Medicaid money
▶ 2:04:17 Kimberly Vandiver: through vocal receipts. And so we just reappropriate back to the schools and the subsequent, uh, budget year. So Thank you. Any question from my colleagues? Um, counselor? Uh, Uh, so, uh, just to make sure that, that I understand, uh, so the, the Medicaid receipts came to us because we provided services to students at the schools that, that Medicaid sent Melrose money for. And, and so now we need to move this money back to, from our, from a general account back to the school accounts, correct. For that reason? Yes. Okay. Thank you. This money came in through, um, during FY 23 and is part of that certified free cash, um, of 5 million. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Any other question? Um, counselor Gpe,
▶ 2:05:12 Maya Jamaleddine: Uh, just make a motion to recommend. Second, We have a motion, uh, to recommend made by Councilor Garipay, seconded by Councillor Ro and Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Garipay. Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Chetty? Yes. Councillor Brem. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Van Devin? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Council for naca? Yes. President Elli? Yes. And Chair All? Yes. That's unanimous. 11. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Um, mad Mayor can say, I'm here for the next two as well. Next we have, uh, grant 2024 dash 12 requesting the acceptance of the Foundation of Alcohol Education Grant in the amount of for thousand dollars. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm here tonight on behalf
▶ 2:06:15 Jen Grigoraitis: of Health Director Anthony Choi, and I know he provided, um, both the application and a memo in the packet. This is a small grant that comes with no match for the city and will be used, um, in partnership with the public schools to execute an MGH um, alcohol diversion program within the Melrose Public School System. I will do my best to try to answer any questions, Any question from my colleagues. Councilor gpe. I was Gonna make a motion to recommend to the full council. Second, We have, um, motion made by Councillor gpe, seconded by Councillor Karen Che. Um, on discussion, Mr. Clerk Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Gpe. Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Chetty? Yes. Councillor B Mki? Yes.
▶ 2:07:09 Jen Grigoraitis: Councilor Hamilton? Yes. Councilor Vandiver. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor naca. Yes. President Elli? Yes. And Chair Jamal? Yes. Unanimous Lez. Thank you. Next Grant, 20 20 24 dash 13 requesting the acceptance of the Emergency Management Performance Grant in the amount of 6,500. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm here tonight on behalf of our Emergency Management director, and I believe there's a memo, um, in IQM two explaining this is money that we are eligible for every year. There's no match associated with it. We've used the funds for a variety of different emergency management, um, equipment or procedures. And our plan for this year is to be implementing, wait for it, a, a, um, photo ID system for city employees.
▶ 2:07:58 So, um, that's, we'll be looking to get some equipment and have the ability to have cards that swipe Nice. That's what people have in 2024. Yeah. I'm happy to try to answer any questions. Thank you. Any question from my colleagues? Councilor Stewart? Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair. I'll make a motion to recommend this to the full council. Second, We have a motion to recommend made by Councillor Stewart, seconded by Councilor Carpe. Um, on discussion, seeing none, Mr. Clark, Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councilor Repe. Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Chetty? Yes. Councillor Brisky. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councillor Romanul? Yes. Councilor for DeCaro? Yes.
▶ 2:08:46 Maya Jamaleddine: President Elli? Yes. And Chair Jamal? Yes. That is Unanim. Miss with ez. Thank you. Thank you very much. Madam Mayor, we have no more items for you. I'm chair. I'll make a motion to adjourn. Second, We have a motion to adjourn made by Councilor Sewer. Seconded by Vice Chair William. All in favor? Aye. Any applause here we adjourn. I.