Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2024-05-09
Attendance
Cal Finocchiaro ; Mark Garipay ; Ward Hamilton ; Maya Jamaleddine ; Manjula Karamcheti ; Leila Migliorelli ; John Obremski ; Devin Romanul ; Robb Stewart ; Kimberly Vandiver ; Ryan Williams
Agenda
- Call to Order
- Public Comment
- Orders
- ORDER-2024-29 : Order to Place General Override Question on the June 18, 2024, Special Election Ballot
- Appropriation
- APPRO-2024-25 : Fiscal 2025 Operating Budget in the amount of $104,140,412 (One Hundred four million, one hundred forty thousand, four hundred and twelve dollars).
- Ordinances
- ORDNC-2024-2 : Reauthorization of the City of Melrose Revolving Fund Table for Fiscal 2025.
- Departments
- Adjournment
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE APPROPRIATIONS & OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CALENDAR● MAY 9, 2024 Council Chamber, First Floor, Melrose City Hall Budget Hearing 7:02 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Maya Jamaleddine Chair Present Ryan Williams Vice Chair Present Mark Garipay Present Robb Stewart Present Manjula Karamcheti Absent John Obremski Present Ward Hamilton Present Kimberly Vandiver Present Devin Romanul Present Cal Finocchiaro Present Leila Migliorelli President, Ex Oficio Present
ORDER-2024-29 Ballot/Overide Order Order to Place General Override Question on the June 18, 2024, Special Election Ballot Ought to Pass City Council
APPRO-2024-25 Operating Budgets (City, School, Regional School) Fiscal 2025 Operating Budget in the amount of $104,140,412 (One Hundred four million, one hundred forty thousand, four hundred and twelve dollars). Hold Appropriations & Oversight Committee
ORDNC-2024-2 Revolving Fund/Reauthorization Reauthorization of the City of Melrose Revolving Fund Table for Fiscal 2025. Held in Committee Appropriations & Oversight Committee City of Melrose Page 1 6/27/2024 4:50 PM
Transcript
▶ 0:06 Maya Jamaleddine: Good evening. The time is 7 0 2 on Thursday, May 9th, 2024. This is a meeting of the Appropriation and Oversight Committee. I am Maya Jamal, Dean, she her, the chair joining me, our Vice Chair Williams Councilor Stewart Van Dever, RO Romano Hamilton, Gar Reky, and President Elli. This serves as a notice of the quorum for the record in accordance with the open meeting law. This meeting is being recorded and broadcast live on MMTV now for the portion of public comment. 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 on any item on our agenda for tonight.
▶ 1:17 Good evening. Good evening. Thank you for having me here. Sure. Uh, my name is Tom Cardhouse and I live on Sheffield Sheffield Road here in Melrose. Uh, I'm here tonight to address you as a co-chair of the Gold Melrose campaign. And as a parent, uh, first thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I recognize this is a stressful time of year and there are no perfect solutions. Uh, and that's why it's so imperative that we have community engagement, and you get to hear from, from all of us. Um, I'd like to start more from the angle of co-chair, uh, of the campaign to support our students, our teachers, and our community via the override. You know, there were a few arguments presented against the
▶ 1:57 override on Monday night, and that I've heard elsewhere that I found really intriguing. Um, the first was the comparison to the Melrose School system of the eighties and nineties. I didn't grow up here, so I did what I normally do when I went looking for data. Uh, luckily for me, the National Center for Education Statistics has information going back to 1989. I'd like to highlight a few takeaways. Uh, all of which are based on comparing Melrose to the average of 22 area districts, uh, including Melrose from 1990 to 2002, Melrose per pupil expenditures, a averaged 51st percentile with some years as low as 22nd, and others as high as 70th. In that timeframe, our per pupil expenditure averaged
▶ 2:44 roughly 3.4% below the peer group. But in short, Melrose was competitive with every surrounding town. Let's compare that to the recent times. Unfortunately, we only have dated a fiscal year 22, but importantly, that does reflect the last override from 2010 to 2021. Though in those same statistics, Melrose ranked 11th, averaged 11th of this, of the town of the surrounding towns, and our average was 18.3% below the peer group. In 2021, it was 19.6% below the peer group. We've lost our competitiveness. Um, and I just wanted that to sink in for a second. We're 22nd of 22 in fiscal year 21 after passing a $5.2 million Overrate not before. We're still at the bottom of the list. We're not overspending, we're not being frivolous.
▶ 3:49 In fact, if the current budget is allowed to go through as is current in its current state, we'll, we will barely be scraping by. That's scary. Um, let's be be clear like sky isn't falling. Our schools aren't failing. Uh, our educators and administrators have done an amazing job with the limited resources they have. You can see that in the outcomes for our students, which are at or above the peer group medium, like this is fantastic. Some might highlight as the reason that we don't need to invest more. So I might say that that's good enough. I don't know about you, but I've never striven for good enough. I don't want that for my kids. And the Melrose of the eighties and nineties that is so highly revered,
▶ 4:35 didn't want that either. And you can see that based on how they spent and invested in education. That's not really the point here, though. The point is that this is all at risk under the current budget. We'll lose 13 educators and we won't fail. We'll lay off 13 educators and we won't fill in additional four slots that are coming open due to retirement. How much longer can our educators and students achieve these outcomes when we continue to push them to the edge and underfund and under resource them? These, these results can't continue. Eventually we will fall, be be fall behind. That's the negative way to look at it. The more exciting way to look at it is if we can achieve these levels with minimal funding.
▶ 5:21 Like what are our students and our teachers capable of if they're properly resourced. I had like to find that out, and I think we owe that to our students to find out. The second point I heard from, from last Monday was around the rapid growth in expenses, um, at the school and city level. Frankly, I was a little confused by this because that's exactly our point. It's not the point against the override. It's the point for the override. The, and I suppose the difference may come down to how you categorize, review these, these expenses. If you view them as discretionary or not, they largely are not. We need a minimum number of people to operate all the city services. We need to pay them fairly to get them in the seats.
▶ 6:09 We can see that we're not doing this just looking at the fire department, which has had several unfilled positions for the last year. We can't get people to come here to work for us. This is a problem. Our city healthcare costs are skyrocketing. That's outside of our control. Our out of district, out of district placement costs are skyrocketing. That's outside of our control. The inflation in the general economy has been above, has been high for the last several years above the 2.5% property tax increase level that's outside of our control. We need the override precisely to combat these costs, to put ourselves back in a position to be able to be more proactive in how we deal with them. On that point, when we think about out
▶ 6:50 of district replacements, those are really expensive out. The number of out of district students has risen from 50 to 67 since pre override that 17 incremental students had roughly $100,000 per student all averages. That's $1.7 million. That's $1.7 million that comes out of the expenses that we could, funds that we can put towards educators that are sitting in the classrooms with our children. Guess what happens when that happens? More kids end up going out of district. That cost increase and then it further reduces it. This is a really negative cycle. We are not in a strong enough fiscal position to fix this, and we need to change that. We're making some steps this year with Superintendent Miss's program on languages.
▶ 7:29 I'm thankful that staying in the budget, regardless of which one passes, we need more of those. We need them now. Um, the, you know, the last point is simply around timing. Um, I know this feels fast. It is, but that's because the cuts that are coming down the road are coming quickly July 1st. These teachers lose their jobs. August. Our kids go into the schools that are underfunded and can't support them like we are in the midst of contract negotiations with public safety officials. Can we fund those with you? If we don't pass this? I'm not so sure. And if we have to fund those, what do we have to cut? We've cut all the fat. We've been cutting muscle and bone for years now. There's only so much more we can go
▶ 8:22 before we're, you know, whatever. I'll skip that analogy, but, so that's sort of the view as co-chair. We need this by July 1st. I'd like to take a minute to address you as a father. I have two children in the Winthrop School, one of whom currently qualifies for and is receiving extra help from the school for A DHD right now. He's getting the help he needs. He's worked his tail off to catch up with his peers, and I'm super proud of him. Also need to say thank you to his teacher, Ms. Pepe, who's a rockstar. We love you. Um, if this override doesn't go through, he may lose that help and that support and the attention he's received. Winthrop, the school that he's at is losing one special educator.
▶ 9:11 Uh, his grade, which is one of the bubble years, is losing a cohort. This means he's going from a class with 20 kids to one with maybe 27 or 28. And in addition, whichever whoever's teaching him has less support from the school. Uh, doesn't matter how good that teacher is, they just simply won't have the time or the resources to make sun, to make space for my son and his needs, or for other students in the class who have special needs. By the way, pre covid, that number was about six 50. Currently we're at about 770 students with special needs. That number is skyrocketing and we're pulling back on resources to, to the met. That just doesn't work. Uh, so I'm terrified what this means for my son
▶ 10:00 as superintendent ERO said the other night, even one bad year can have a lifetime impact on a student. Uh, I'm saying this as someone with means like, we have a diagnosis, we know the problem. We can afford a tutor. We have resources. Um, and I'm still terrified. Is even an hour or two with a tutor can't make up for a suboptimal 30 hours a week in the classroom. More so. What about everybody else? What about those who can't afford tutor tutors? Those who don't even know there's a problem yet? Good luck diagnosing it. If the teachers can't focus on the kids. Um, those who have worked so hard to keep up and are now at risk at backsliding, we need to support all of our students and we need the resources to do that.
▶ 10:47 Uh, without an override, many students will lose the only support system that they have that can't be allowed to happen. Uh, so we have a choice to make, and you all have a choice to make as a committee. Uh, I hope you vote to allow us to make it as a community and to do so before it's too late. Thank you for your time and consideration. Good evening esteemed committee members. Thank you for having me. Um, my name is Kaitlyn Beatty. I've lived in Melrose almost seven years. I've got three kids, um, in sixth grade, fourth grade, and first grade. Um, and I'm here to tell you, uh, why I think we need an override. Um, overall, we've had a very positive experience as a family in the Melrose Public Schools.
▶ 11:50 Um, I believe there are many dedicated and highly competent teachers, um, at Roosevelt where we started out, um, at Lincoln where my two younger kids are now. And at the middle school. Um, my eldest began sixth grade this past September. Um, she was very enthusiastic at the beginning of the year, but starting in the middle school, being a, uh, being in a new, um, environment, um, being out of elementary school. Then, um, couple months in, she began coming home telling her father and I about, uh, some larger class sizes that she's had, um, complaining about limited elective options. Um, several days. She was in the AU auditorium for two or three straight classes with large groups of other kids,
▶ 12:42 um, because with no instruction during that time, um, due to teacher absences and lack of, uh, numbers from for teachers essentially. Um, when she began her French class midyear, there was a short term sub, um, who was responsible for that class who did not speak French. Um, and so, um, my understanding is a few of those classes, uh, they just were on Duolingo. That was what they did. There was no instruction. Um, thankfully they were able to to hire a French, um, teacher, um, which resolved that issue. Um, but my point being her overall experience at the middle school has been, I think, less than ideal. Um, and I wanna be clear that I do not attribute that to, you know, any issues with the quality of, uh, teachers
▶ 13:35 or administration there. Um, I've been very impressed with my interactions there. Um, it's due to lack of resources and understand and understaffing, in my opinion, um, based on the knowledge I have. Um, so yeah, so my daughter's left. She is complained about feeling bored, um, and essentially not being valued. Um, she'll kind of make comments about, um, you know, oh, this happened again today. Like, I think her morale is kind of down, um, and she feels like she's getting lost in the shuffle a little bit. Although I support moving resources to the middle school, even if the override doesn't pass, which I understand is the plan. Um, and I support this because I think we need it sorely. Um, I'm extremely worried about how the elementary schools
▶ 14:27 and the high school will be impacted if we don't pass an override and we have to do that. Um, currently Lincoln seems stretched to times to me in terms of personnel. Um, I think significantly increasing certain classes at the elementary level would be a huge detriment to, to all students. Um, especially those who have greater learning and emotional needs. But, but everyone, I think, um, every child in those classes, underfunding our city seems, um, to me, like it also sends a message. Um, not, not passing an override would send a message, I think, to all of our city personnel, the teachers, firefighters, police, other city, uh, um, employees, um, that they're not valued. Um, and I worry what the impact on morale will be.
▶ 15:21 I've already been speaking with teachers at Lincoln about this and, and they're very concerned. Um, I think with this potentially on top of, you know, all that the teachers have experienced during the pandemic and contract negotiations, um, I just think it's, it's good. It's tough. Um, And sorry, I lost my space. Um, asking our teachers to take on longer, larger class sizes in a district that already pays below an average salary, will produce serious negative outcomes, including resignations that will be almost impossible to rectify once that happens. Um, my husband and I are both products of public schools. We feel really strongly that public schools provide a unique exposure and learning experiences
▶ 16:09 that independent schools just cannot mirror. At the same time, we're worried that our daughters will not live up to the, to their potential. If the Melrose schools are not properly funded, we wish there were currently more enrichment options than middle school. Um, and if an override fails, these offerings will only be cut. My family thought we would live in Melrose as the rest of our lives. We've lived here almost seven years. We have an amazing community. We find ourselves now questioning whether we should really stay in a city with a high cost of living. We count on quality schools in order to make the math work. I respectfully ask the council tonight to vote to allow constituents, constituents
▶ 16:51 to engage in the democratic process and voice whether the city should pass an override without an override pass pass. I do not think we're valuing our children, city employees. In short, our community members in a city that holds itself out to be one community for all. Thank you. Hi, Laura McGuire, 32 Albert Street. I am speaking in favor of the override. Let me be transparent. I'm a real estate agent. I am here in Melrose selling houses. I know this market well. I also know this community. My life is here, my kids are here. My everything is here. I have kids in the Melrose Public Schools. I have wanted Horace Man and one in the middle school. I would love more than anything to send them to the high school at this rate.
▶ 17:51 I do not know if I can. So, lemme tell you. There are two types of people in Melrose. There are the people that just bought a house for a million dollars, or the people that own a house in Melrose and wanna sell it for a million dollars. We are now a million dollar community. We're on the heels of the Winchesters and the Belmonts. Our tax bills are disproportionately low compared to these luxury communities. Since I moved to Melrose in 2015, my property value has doubled, almost tripled. So have yours and wait until you see what the spring market did to the property values. You are going to equal parts puke and be elated. These houses are selling for bananas. When we live in a community like this, a luxury community,
▶ 18:44 we are paying in Melrose a discounted tax bill. If we wanna be in a desirable community with top-notch employees, excellent city services, well-maintained buildings, and most importantly excellent schools with excellent teachers, we need to pay a tax bill that's going to reflect this desire. Keep in mind the schools drive the property values. If we want bragging rights to a luxury community, then we need to put our money where a mouth is. Anyone else who wishes to speak, um, during public comment? Good evening. Uh, my name's Leo Boudreaux. I live at 63 Windsor Street in Melrose. So I'm here today to discuss, um, the 10% pay cut for the veteran services. I ask that, uh, city council please, uh,
▶ 19:53 not cut Veteran Services. We're a very small minority of this community, and, uh, we need every single cent as we age and get older in this community. We need more and more help from our community. The veterans in this community have already paid their debt to society, and all we need is some help and return as we get older. I also ask that if, if they are gonna cut 10% off the veteran services, that everyone in this room steps forward and takes 10% less pay to equal out everything that's been going on. If you want to lead by example, that'd be great, but please don't cut the veteran services and the veteran service officer's budget. I appreciate your time. Thank you. Anyone else who wishes to speak, uh,
▶ 20:44 Maya Jamaleddine: in public comment for tonight? Do we have anyone Online? Not at this time. Okay. Since we don't have anyone in person or online to speak in public comment, um, I would like to make a motion to, uh, there is no objection. I would like to close public comment and seeing none. We are now closed for public comment. Since we have members of the administration here tonight to speak on the items before us. I would like to motion by unanimous consent, uh, to suspend the rules before we proceed. And seeing no objection, the rules are now suspended. First and only order on our agenda before we start our budget hearings is order 2024 dash 29. Order to place a general, uh, override question on the June 18th, 2024 special,
▶ 21:50 Jen Grigoraitis: special election ballot. And we have mayor before us tonight. I have some friends. Okay, we have everyone. Good evening counsel. Oh, I think we're good. John's coming over here. Scoot back. Good evening. Good evening. Um, thank you. It's lovely to see you all again. Um, I'm joined tonight by interim superintendent, Ms. Cero, current, um, deputy auditor and hopefully incoming CFO, Carrie Golden. And interim CFO Ellen Donah Hay to speak on my request for your consideration of an operational override to go in the ballot for 7.7 million. Um, I know you heard from me at length on Monday night, so I will be timely. But I just wanna echo many of the comments that we heard tonight, which is that, uh, you know,
▶ 22:49 Jen Grigoraitis: having been in this office since January and really prioritized funding and working closely with the folks at this table as well as Patrick LaRusso and Ken Kelly, um, we are at a point in this community where we are not able to continue to fund the services that I think folks need and deserve. And I especially appreciate the acknowledgement of Citi employees and the impact that that is having on them. Um, I'm not proud of the budget that's before you for your consideration. It is lean and it is cutting in places that we don't wanna see cut. Um, but that is what we've needed to do to do two important things. One, to get out of the habit of using free cash to fund operating expenses. I had the privilege of sitting with many of you
▶ 23:28 Jen Grigoraitis: for the past four years and have heard loud and clear that that is not a practice we wanna continue. And it's candidly not a practice we can continue. Um, the cost that we need to continue to close budget gaps is quickly growing to be bigger than what we can expect our free cash to be. Um, and it's also to really be forward thinking. Um, which I think is a thing I heard loud and clear from the community during the campaign cycle is that we wanna not just be talking about the crisis that's directly before us, but what do the next few years look like? And as we talk about city employees, um, we are currently a year out with our fire contract that needs to be settled. And we are absolutely out of market with pay there.
▶ 24:04 Jen Grigoraitis: We've talked about the 11 vacancies we've had and the impact that has on our ability to deliver services to the community and on our ability to retain and attract staff. Um, and we're about to also be in negotiations with police and fire. We need the ability to fund those contracts. Otherwise, next year's budget is going to look even more grim. We're gonna continue to be feasting from the buffet of bad options. So what is before you is a request for 7.7 million that would be split between 4.2 million for the Melrose Public Schools as previously identified during the school budget process for teaching and learning personnel services and materials. And then 3.5 million for the city, um, which would be split in a couple different ways.
▶ 24:45 Jen Grigoraitis: And in order to be, um, in compliance with state law as it relates to collective bargaining. I can't give you exact numbers, but we would be looking to have one to 2 million go toward, um, our collective bargaining agreements and overtime for police and fire personnel to replace, um, staff positions and salaries that we are not funding, including the economic development director, the sustainability manager, and the social services coordinator to bring up to whole, um, a part-time position at the Council on Aging. Working with our seniors to add a public health nurse to put a teen librarian in our library to bring our rec department back on the budget and to replace the cuts in the budget that are currently recommended.
▶ 25:25 Jen Grigoraitis: As we heard talked about in public comment, um, I'm asking for June 18th, which I know is soon. And I know that there is some folks in the community that think it's too soon, and some that feel like this should have been done the day I walked into office. Um, the reason for June is that any ballot that takes place after July 1st means we are implementing the cuts and the budget that you all approve at the end of this month. So, um, by state law, pink slips are gonna be going out to the 17 educators that we're eliminating on June 1st. Um, and then we are already planning for city staff not to have raises and to work with the, um, budget cuts that are before you. And obviously you all may choose to cut departments further.
▶ 26:04 Jen Grigoraitis: So June is because that is for us to have a choice and for the community to have a say about what they wanna see next year before we're in next year. Um, I think all of us who lived through the pandemic know that when we, we take something away, it doesn't just come back right away. And so we would be looking at a year without these positions and possibly never having them back, but at least a delay if we went for a later date. So that is the request. The rough math for folks that are interested is that the ask would be a $1 tax increase for every $1,000 of assessed value on your home. I know, um, the assessor, Sarah McClellan, who's here tonight, had provided you all with some information.
▶ 26:44 Ward Hamilton: And, um, we also have that available on our website as well as the Divi Department of Local services. So that's the ask, and I'm happy to answer questions as is anyone on my team? Awesome. Anyone from my colleague o uh, counselor Hamilton. Thank you. And I'd like to preface my statement in, in, in questions by saying that I will vote yes to put this on the ballot. Absolutely. And I'll get into that in a moment. Um, but I want to touch on something. Um, I think we want to be careful in the next, the short window, um, that we don't craft a narrative that the schools have been underfunded to this point. So fiscal 22, the budget that was proposed was approved. Mm-Hmm. And there was a, a deficit found and we filled it.
▶ 27:41 Ward Hamilton: And 23 was based on that. And we filled it and 24 required free cash be set aside and we did it. So this body, which I'm just a part of for the last few months, um, never said no. Right? So, and, and, and I don't think, um, so I just wanna put that out there. And, um, what I do want to say is that, um, looking at the budget that this administration is put forward just four months in office, US probably get myself in trouble here with some people. But if this administration, if this mayor wasn't a Democrat after her name, if she was a Republican, people would be praising you for presenting a balanced budget. And no matter if you identify as democrat, Republican, or unenrolled as I do, I thank you for, for doing this.
▶ 28:38 Ward Hamilton: So now getting into my rationale for supporting the, uh, debt ex or not debt. We approve that one. Um, the rationale for the override, the administration has done its job and asked the various department heads to give a balanced budget, which they have done. And we're gonna see in the next few weeks, several weeks what that looks like. And then through the override process, this community will weigh in. And I think that's the epitome, that's democracy at its essence. The people of this community will decide what should we do? And I've always thought that override measures, which are a part of the whole prop two and a half process, it's not just two and a half every year and make it work when you need something more.
▶ 29:23 Ward Hamilton: That's what an override is there for. When that happens. The override process is a referendum on how the community feels about the performance of its municipal government. Now we only have four months by which to judge you and your administration, but so far you've done the right thing. And that gives me a lot of confidence. So I will vote yes to put the, um, you know, to move, to have a ballot on June 18th. And I trust the community. We will pay attention to our hearings that they will pay attention to, uh, discussion as to why they should support this and what that looks like. And they'll make a decision. And I'll respect that. I think that's what we should do. Thank you. Thank you Council.
▶ 30:11 Mark Garipay: Um, councilor gpe. Um, thank you Madam Chair. Uh, I also am gonna vote to put on, put this on the ballot. Um, just a couple suggestions. Mm-hmm. First of all, thank you Mr. McClellan for spending time with me yesterday, trying to go over the numbers, uh, to come up with that, uh, dollar amount per thousand. I've had some residents asking me what that financial impact would be. Um, Ms. Miss Mayor, you were, you were part of the last override as, as I was, um, some of the founding members. But one thing, just a suggestion is as clear as we can be on what positions, and, um, I know you mentioned it tonight, but in our summary it was, it wasn't as detailed. If we can get a little bit more detail on what's involved,
▶ 30:56 Mark Garipay: I think that's gonna make some of the residents feel a little bit more confident. Um, last time in the schools we had positions, right? Um, we had getting rid of, uh, funding the pv we had getting rid of, um, the deficit of, uh, I think it was three quarters of a million. Um, I would like to see, I think it would benefit the community as a whole to see more detail in, in this, um, over the next, hopefully a couple days. 'cause this is a short campaign. Last time we had 18, 18 months and, and it was a, it was a grind. So, um, I just want to say that's my suggestion and I voting to put this on the ballot. Thank you. Thank you. We will definitely work on that. Anyone else from my colleagues who wishes,
▶ 31:40 Ryan Williams: wishes to speak on this order? Uh, vice Chair Williams. Thank you. Um, excuse me. I wanted to thank you all for all the work that you've put in on this. It feels like the entire city has rallied together in terms of the department heads to, um, find a way to produce a balanced budget. We've heard tonight that there's people who feel pain from this, and that I think, uh, is, is well noted by every member of this council and by all the members of the community. Um, and, and I personally and I, I speak for, I hope several of my colleagues want to want to, um, put this on the ballot, get this passed, and get the money into the city so that we can effectively see these services maintained and improved.
▶ 32:24 Ryan Williams: Um, you know, I I thinking about the discussions we've had, uh, of the budget and, and the level service budget and, um, the aspirational budget and all these things and inflation, um, I always keep the Bureau of Labor statistics consumer price index inflation calculator handy. Um, I use that on my own parents when they, uh, bugged me about the cost of things. And I wanted to point out that the cost of inflation since the last override in 2019, I know we hear 9%, 8%, the cost of inflation is 24% since 2019. That's the cost of inflation. 2019 to 2024, it's 24%. So when we think about whether or not two and a half can keep up, it can't even come close. It, it's a whole factor behind. And, um, aside that point, you know, it's not just about
▶ 33:16 Ryan Williams: bringing things up to the bare minimum, it's about having pride as well. And this is a city that has made great strides in sustainability in, in providing services in the school, uh, in the schools. And I, I, I would be thrilled to see it continue to grow and become that million dollar community that, that we've become, um, and see the services to reflect that and the schools to reflect that. So appreciate all the work y'all are doing and bringing it before us tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Councilor Romanul, Thank you so much for all the detail and, and agree with Councilor Gpe on, on making that tangible case, uh, in terms of the, uh, counterfactual of the budget that were presented versus, uh, you know, uh,
▶ 33:59 Devin Romanul: what you've laid out here, um, when it comes to landing on the $7 million figure 7.7, is that right? Mm-Hmm. Um, where would you say it lands in terms of the, uh, spectrum of, you know, just keeping up with inflation, um, versus, uh, some more aspirational goals or coming up to parody with other communities and making sure that we're, um, have given ourselves enough wiggle room to endure whatever cost of, you know, um, cost increases might be coming our way. Some, uh, not to crib Don Rumsfeld here, but some of our known knowns, uh, in so far as contract negotiations and some of our unknown unknowns, um, of, of whatever programs you might envision for the, uh, back three and a half years of your term.
▶ 34:43 Jen Grigoraitis: So it's a great question. Our it is okay if I say our, um, um, is that this, it should be, this should be, should this be successful, this would be able to sustain the city and the schools for the next three to four years so that we would not be looking to come back. I am a Democrat, but I'm not looking to raise people's taxes every single year. So, um, that is sort of our intention with this, obviously. Are there things that I know people in the community wanna see that aren't included in here? Absolutely. But it would hopefully enable us to provide a level of certainty and be able to sustain the staff that we have and we restore the services that are being cut. Great. Excellent. Thank you very much.
▶ 35:20 Kimberly Vandiver: And I promise not to reference Don Rob Salt again. Thank you. Uh, councilor Vandiver. Uh, thank you. Uh, so I, I also think this, this override is an important step, um, that we should bring to the voters and that we should take as a community, um, to bring our spending in line with our needs and our expenses. Um, and, uh, you know, I've, as I'm sure many of you have, have spent the, the past few weeks watching the school committee meetings, reading budget documents, following up with the finance team, reading constituent emails. Um, and based on that, I just wanted to emphasize a few points and, and, uh, uh, talk about some of the common misunderstandings that I think are, are important to continue to dispel
▶ 36:05 Kimberly Vandiver: or get ahead of with people. Um, one that I think is actually really frequent, even among supporters of the override is that, uh, is about the way that Proposition two and a half works at its most basic level. Um, you know, if if my house is suddenly 10 times more valuable and nobody else's house changes, yes, I'll, I'll pay more taxes in Melrose because I would, that would be redistributed. But if everybody in Melrose's house is twice as valuable or 10 times as valuable, we're all still only paying two and a half percent more dollars than last year. We're paying a much lower rate on our taxes, and that doesn't keep up with their houses. Um, and so I think that's really important for people to,
▶ 36:43 Kimberly Vandiver: to realize that, that their, their taxes are not rising as quickly as their value in their houses rising. Um, and you know, as I know many people here already know this, but you know, the, the cost that the mayor mentioned about fuel, labor, materials, all those things are going up at a really, um, fast rate. And, you know, and they're going up for private businesses as well who can easily pass those costs on the consumers. But the difference is that the city has to ask and has to get the approval. And so, you know, that's why we are here today. Um, I also wanted to, um, repeat the superintendent's point that he made at this week's school meeting, um, about when we compare the previous school budget
▶ 37:25 Kimberly Vandiver: with this year's school budget, that there was that planned infusion of free cash. And when we look at percentages, we need to look at the amount that was, that was approved for the budget and the amount that was always earmarked and planned to come in via free cash. That was last year's kind of comparable budget to this year's budget. And that's what we need to look at as far as percentages. Um, you know, IIII also wanna emphasize the clean audits that we've seen come through of school spending and city spending. I think those are really important. Um, and that, um, you know, and that we're at the point of, you know, the cuts past the fat as people are saying, and, and the point where we can spend
▶ 38:06 Kimberly Vandiver: money to actually save money. So when we look at, um, the special education director has told us that this new language based learning program, which includes four people, a teacher, two paraprofessionals, and a speech and language coach, that program will pay for itself with only two children, two elementary schoolers in it because it's so expensive to send them out of district. Um, and, and lastly, we're, we're looking at choices that will impact anyone who doesn't have the means to, to spend their way out of it. So for example, um, you know, the school budget is increasing, the extracurricular activity fees, the sports fees, you know, that's going to impact families here on the edge of whether their kids can afford to play that sport.
▶ 38:49 Kimberly Vandiver: Um, we're also as a city cutting the recreation budget as of right now, um, which includes a line for scholarship money. So, you know, if you can't afford to play on a rec league team, um, where the cost will be going up and you need that scholarship in the first place, that won't be able to happen as of right now. Um, so and related to that, I know we, I, I think we also need to make sure we have those supports or exemptions for people who truly will experience a hardship if this override goes through. And I think we need to make sure those supports are there and that people know what they are. Um, but I think Melrose as a whole can afford this override and it will lead to a more stable budget, better services,
▶ 39:27 Leila Migliorelli: and a stronger community. So that's why I intend to vote to put it on the ballot. Thank you. Anyone else? Um, president, uh, gl Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you all for being here. Um, I also will be voting to put the override on the ballot because I think we need to put the decision directly in the hands of our voters. Um, we have had people come and public comment and like we've heard before, talking about having the city. This how the city needs to live within its means. And I think that is the budget, the FY 25 budget that has been put down. I've heard, you know, sort of, uh, misinformation about how much the school budget's going up, that's not happening. I mean, this is a cut to school and city services.
▶ 40:13 Leila Migliorelli: That's what's happening here. I think that, um, I, I'm not happy about it at all. It scares me. It terrifies me as a resident, as a parent to see these types of cuts being proposed. I hope that I, I think that it was a really smart decision, um, on behalf of the mayor to put this down now. And I, I'm the first to say that I think the timeline scared the heck outta me as well. Um, and trying to figure out, wow, how are we going to do both things at once? But after, once you look at the numbers, it is like, as a mayor said the other night, a math problem. We do not have the revenue to meet the needs and increasing costs that are out of our control. And the only way to do that would be to increase our revenue.
▶ 40:56 Leila Migliorelli: And the only the tool that we have is by as an override. And for us here in the council, I think while, you know, the, the best we can do and offer, and as Councillor Hamilton said, is to offer the residents the opportunity to weigh in on this democratic process. Um, I also wanted to agree with, uh, Councillor Vandiver. I think the, a thing that we could do, um, in tandem with the, the city administration is to talk about the ways and supports that there are for people who are trying to, um, who are living, um, paycheck to paycheck and what options they have. Um, but I think overall, as someone also mentioned in in public comments, you know, this is a city that, um, we have rising property values
▶ 41:37 Jen Grigoraitis: and we are not keeping pace with that. So, um, I, I am happy to put this on a ballot. Happy to have voters weigh in and, um, and hoping that we can support this moving forward because the, the live within its means budget that's being proposed is, is scary. Thank you. Thank you. Next I have Councilor Stewart. Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you Madam Mayor for being here. Um, I do plan on supporting this to go on the ballot. I do have a question though, and it's for people who truly, uh, are gonna struggle, uh, with the tax increase that we're talking about. Can you address this and, and offer what resources they have that, that your administration can provide to them so that they can get assurances or the help that they need?
▶ 42:29 Jen Grigoraitis: Uh, can you talk a little bit about that? 'cause I think there are gonna be, uh, a certain, maybe small but portion of the community that are going to come up against a little bit of a wall. And I think it's important that we support that, that section of our community. Absolutely. Um, and I know, I think Monday night we're gonna talk more about, um, some of those mechanisms. So we have several, um, options for folks to seek relief on their property taxes. So one that this council helped put in effect in 2020 is the senior tax circuit breaker, which allows, and I'm not gonna talk very broadly and I'm looking at Sarah because if there's specific she can jump in. Um, but that, that is, there's means testing related to that
▶ 43:08 Jen Grigoraitis: that does allow residents over age 60, um, to seek relief. And that is something that we Melrose put in place. We were one of only about a dozen communities that had that. There has subsequently been expansion of that program at the state level. So now the, um, there's a greater amount of money that residents are able to seek relief on that will have to come back before you and FY 25 to renew it. But right now, Melrose is in that program. We also offer the senior tax work off program, which I have a request before you, we Melrose has by, um, code caps that as at a thousand dollars for all residents age 60 plus, there is no means testing for it. So it is just as long as you were 60 plus one member
▶ 43:47 Jen Grigoraitis: of your household can seek that exemption where you come and do work in a city office. And if any of you have ever stopped by the mayor's office or see an greeter at the front desk, I think we even now have somebody who's managing pickleball. Um, those are all senior property tax work off positions. We've had about 37 people a year who take advantage of that. Obviously the numbers are a little, um, off because there was a few years during Covid where people were not working, but we're, that's what we see. And then that is, um, their discount is reapportioned amongst the rest of the property tax payers. So that is a discount that's available with no means testing the request before you is to increase that to the state maximum
▶ 44:26 Jen Grigoraitis: of $2,000. So conceivably, if there's someone age 60 plus who is feeling like this, even if they meet a means threshold, but this is just an added burden. We know that inflation is being passed along to all of us at the individual level. They have the ability to participate in that program every year. We're also asking you all to add in the ability for someone who can't physically perform the work, um, to have a proxy come in and do that for them. So that will expand those folks. The last thing that we need to talk with the council about is the Veterans tax Relief program. So that is something that there's no age limit, it's merely that you've served, um, and there are income thresholds, I'm looking, sorry,
▶ 45:02 Jen Grigoraitis: no income thresholds you've served. It allows you to take $1,500 off your tax bill. The council approved the state statute to allow Melrose to participate that in that back in 2013, and then never enacted, um, the programmatic requirements for that to happen. So that's something we wanna work with you all to do. So that come January 1st, that would be available to all veterans in the community with no age requirements. So there is a state law that says that everyone has to pay 10% of their property tax bills. So we can't get folks down to zero, but there is, I believe, significant relief options available to people, especially if you all wish to expand those. Thank you, Madam Mayor. And who would they reach out to
▶ 45:41 Jen Grigoraitis: for learning more About this? They would reach out to, for the senior program to the Council on Aging to Erica Brown. Um, and for the, until the veterans one is enacted, I think we could say they could reach out to my office and we'll get that up and running. Great. Is that right, Sarah? Yeah. Otherwise, otherwise, Sarah, the assessor's office. Thank you Madam Mayor. Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you. Anyone else who wishes to speak or ask question? Sorry, I forgot one thing. Go ahead To Councilor Stewart. We also do offer the ability, again, it is means tested, but for folks to completely defer payment of tax increases until they pass away or sell their property. That's been in existence in Melrose for quite some time.
▶ 46:24 Maya Jamaleddine: We have four households that take advantage of that in the city. Perfect. Thank you. Sorry about that. Thank you everyone. Um, um, um, I don't have question. I just wanted to take a moment of, uh, uh, person, you know, moment of person privileges and just wanted to, um, make some clarifications in terms of comments that were made, um, whether today, tonight, or, uh, before. Um, and such as you've only been in this position and role for the past four months and you are making this, uh, this big decision and that we have been on the council for the past four years. So in a way, we led the city to the situation because we are the decision makers. And for that, as a member of this council and for the past four years
▶ 47:19 Maya Jamaleddine: and for having the honor to serve with you, uh, Madam Mayor, I would like to name that. Uh, we as city counselors, we approve the budget presented to us, but we cannot increase the budget. We were never, I, I personally was never happy with the budget that was presented to us, but unfortunately we didn't have the means to, um, increase it or to even, um, to have a increased budget presented to us. In a way we've always heard the former administration, um, uh, saying that we are short on our budget and we, we, we are running on, um, a stretched budget. So for that, this is not a new concern. This is not something that we just discovered. Um, it's something that you inherited unfortunately, and I appreciate you for accepting, uh, to, uh, to take
▶ 48:17 Maya Jamaleddine: that challenge on. And instead of patch it and just try to, uh, do a quick fix, you are addressing the root cause of this issue so that we don't have to face it every single year. Um, the special education, uh, students have always been underserved, underrepresented, and it is, um, it's uh, always an area where, uh, this, uh, the school budget has not been balanced specifically for that, um, uh, for a special education. Um, so thank you so much for presenting this for us and, uh, willing to, uh, put it on, uh, on the ballot. Um, what is the will of the committee? Madam Chair? I, I apologize. I have one more question. Yeah, Go ahead. Okay. Sorry. Um, so over the next several weeks we're going to review
▶ 49:23 Ward Hamilton: and I imagine approve a balanced budget. I apologize if I'm messing with the timeline and it's still evol, it may be still evolving, but I'm imagining that on Monday the 17th we're gonna vote to approve this budget, which is balanced. In the next day, I imagine we're gonna have an override ballot, which would then create an additional $7.7 million. What I don't understand is what happens next? How do we access that money? How mm-Hmm. How do we touch it? We haven't reviewed or consider it. So if you could speak to that. No, absolutely. That's a great question. So, um, should the special election happen on June 18th under the city? I'm looking at President mgl like code charter. Um, you won't actually meet on the 17th
▶ 50:13 Jen Grigoraitis: because the council by code doesn't meet the night before an election. I know. Who knew? Um, so you, um, the request would be to have a meeting to have you make a final approval of the budget on the 20th where we would increase the bottom line. I wanna be clear that every dollar that would be approved on either the city or the school side will require to be approved by the council. So I think our first immediate ask to you all would be to restore, um, the cuts that are in this budget. Um, and then we would be coming before you to make, to add in probably as transfers. I'm looking at Carrie. Um, yeah, We would come, come with a supplemental, um, budget document to be approved. Okay. So we're gonna go through the budget season
▶ 50:55 Jen Grigoraitis: department by department with all these cuts. Yep. We're not gonna have a final vote on the 17th because there's probably going to be a ballot right on the 18th. Then two days later we're going to meet and consider adding back in all these things that we never talked about. You would vote in the total dollar amount and then we over the fall would present you with a supplemental budget. We need to pass what that is prior to setting the tax rate, which this body typically does in December. So I think if there are budgets that are un unimpacted, we would not bring them before you, but otherwise we would present supplemental budgets for you all to vote through as they're, as they're being amended.
▶ 51:36 Ward Hamilton: Okay. So crucially the schools just logistically, or I dunno if that's the right word, but like how does that work? Right? Because on the 18th, say the override measure passes Yep. And then we meet on the 20th. You don't wanna let people go, you wanna start to fill these positions that are part of that. That all is okay. I mean that, So yeah. So we've talked with both of the city solicitors. What we can't do, and I think often happens in towns, but as a city we can, is present you with both, with like a budget A and budget B, which had been our initial. Um, I think you sort of have that on the school side because we talked about that. Um, but we can't officially present that to you for the school.
▶ 52:17 Ward Hamilton: They will, the school committee will also need to meet on the 20th, preferably before the city council and vote to increase their request for funding to the city council. And then you all would vote on that increased amount of money where that money goes within lines is the purview of the superintendent and the school committee for this. 'cause they're a department. So I, I think it would be helpful. And I've read the memorandum from the various, uh, directors and managers and senior leaders in the city of the various departments and I think they've done a pretty good job of identifying where they're making these cuts. Yep. So as we go through the next several weeks, uh, for me it would be helpful if that was addressed
▶ 52:56 Ward Hamilton: and we didn't um Yep. Purport to be moving forward. Absolutely. A budget full of cuts and then two days after an override and here's all this other stuff. Yep. Uh, so I think that would, that would be very meaningful and helpful and I think that would add a level of transparency to, for the community to see, you know, here's what it would look like, balanced budget, if the override passes, here are the things that we're not going to lose or things we could add. And I think that that would be very helpful. So thank you. Absolutely. Thank you. Thanks. Next, uh, councilor ro. Yes. So my fellow counselors kind of mentioned some of the points that I wanted to make, but I just wanted to say, um, well thank you everybody
▶ 53:38 Cal Finocchiaro: for being here tonight, but, um, thank you for putting together a balanced budget. Um, we appreciate that and I appreciate you also pushing for an override because I think it's important for our community to get out there and vote. And, um, so I, I feel like you're giving our city options, you know, you're saying I'm not gonna pass a budget with a deficit, but I'm also gonna give the community an option to, you know, not live with this budget and maybe do something differently. So I appreciate, wanna say I appreciate that. Thank you. And, um, councilor Gu. Thank you Madam Chair. I have to blame, uh, councilor Hamilton for making me ask another question. Um, and it just goes back to my original one.
▶ 54:21 Mark Garipay: Um, I think with the supplemental budget, it makes, um, makes it even more important to know where, what the 4.2 or the 3.5, what, what it makes up. Um, you know, in 2019 we were very detailed and we hear a lot that that override worked. Let's face it, that override worked. It did it what it was supposed to. We had a situation after as someone who supported it. It does it. I I I, I get, I get frustrated when people say it didn't work. We got rid of the deficit covid hit. It was an unfortunate situation. Um, so I think it makes very, it makes a lot of sense to be as detailed as we can, especially as, you know, I, I like the budget. Mm-Hmm. I look at it, I, I I, you know, I want, I'd like to see where Mm-Hmm.
▶ 55:09 Ryan Williams: The, the extra money, the positions, would they be going at least on the city side? 'cause that's in our perview, you know what I absolutely, thank you. Okay. Um, counselor, um, vice Chair Williams for the second time. I'm sorry, I had something in my head and it al I almost forgot it. And then everybody talking, especially Councilor Hamilton got me thinking about it. So again, you can blame, I can care And I'm, I'm a little, you know, I'm a little thick skull, so if you, if this is something that someone has already, you know, discussed, just feel free to let me know. Um, so the, there's teachers, there's 17 teachers that are getting pink slipped on a date, June. So I'm, I'm thank you for bringing that up. Yeah.
▶ 55:51 Ryan Williams: I just wanted to clarify, regardless of what happens, we have contractual obligations. So on June 1st, we would be giving those, uh, people what you would call like a pink slip. Sure. Um, now if the override passed, then we would be able to then re bring them right back right after that budget is taken care of What happens to them and their paychecks between June 1st. Oh no. So they get, they'll, they'll get their paycheck. Okay. They, they, they, it's what it is is that they would be done at the end of the school year. Got it. Okay. So, alright. That was like number one thing. I, there were some members of the community that had heard about the, the gap and there was a concern that these people would just be,
▶ 56:30 Ryan Williams: You know, no, no, that's not twisting in the Wind. We, every year we can. So what happens every year is that we have the, um, what they call non-professional status. So through the evaluation process, we may not renew some teachers. And so by contractual agreements we have to do it by June 1st. And so if that's the case, and then, and in this particular case, that could still happen too. We would non-renew some folks maybe because of other purposes. And then, but those positions would be filled versus in this particular case, we might be renew, not renewing people because we just don't have the budget. Understood. And, and what I was going to say, if the, if they had turned out that there was some kind of gap was
▶ 57:10 Ryan Williams: to question whether we could use stabilization funds, contract stabilization funds to close a gap in the, that two week period or one week period. I don't know if that's necessary or not. I would support it if it was, if it's not great. Um, but I know we have some cash. Thanks to the mayor putting some money away in the stabilization fund. So it's nice to know that we have a little bit of a cash buffer for what happens in between those two weeks. And then thanks to Councilor Repay, who referenced this specter of, um, what happened after the override passed in 2019. Right? Probably huge biggest complaint is that people feel like they don't know what happened. And so I would love to see if it passes,
▶ 57:49 Ryan Williams: and I hope it passes, um, after that happens to do this thing, this win the win on this, right? Like media, um, you know, pr local stuff. Not like big, you know, NBC blitz or anything like that, but to share some of these stories, you know, um, share some of the stories of the classrooms and how they've gotten better. And, um, show the community in, you know, in real terms what happened. You know, here's a, here's a classroom, here's a music room that's got a teacher and, you know, instruments, and here's a, here's a sports team that has equipment and, you know, here's a, a, a class that's whatever you, you, you see what I'm saying? Mm-Hmm. Um, I, I would, and I would love to, to, for each of us on the council
▶ 58:33 Maya Jamaleddine: to be a part of that if we could, you know, to just find any way that we can to broadcast the win to the community and show them how their, how their support is, uh, is working for us. Thank you. That's it for me. I promise. Thank you. Vice Chair William, uh, the second time, uh, councilor Stewart. And then I have Councilor Van. Madam Chair. I was, uh, going to, uh, make a motion to recommend order 2024 dash 29 to the full council. Okay. We have a motion to recommend made by Councilor Stewart. Second, seconded by, uh, president ly on discussion. Councilor, Uh, I just wanted to, um, mention whether one other concern I've heard about, you know, as this is potentially happening during the summer, people may be out of school.
▶ 59:23 Jen Grigoraitis: Um, if you could briefly address what, um, options besides the day of that election, people would have to, uh, vote one way or the other. Yes. So I, I will probably preface it because I think some, many of it is things that you all have to officially approve. Um, so my understanding is that there will be a, there will be vote by mail, um, which, um, and for those folks that received a postcard from the Secretary of State some time ago, if you checked, you know, I wanna vote all 2024 elections vote by mail. You will automatically be mailed a ballot for this. There will be absentee voting, which folks can do either, um, depending on their location, online or by mail, or even in person the day before the election.
▶ 1:00:06 Maya Jamaleddine: And then there will be an early voting day that needs to be recommended to you all by the Board of Registrar Voters and voted on. So, I'll, um, you know, hold off for them to talk about that, but I know that that's in the works. Great. And understanding that none of that is final and, and we're involved in that as well. Yeah. Just wanted to make sure that there, The city clerk has been working really hard. Yeah. Thank you. Um, uh, superintendent, I, I know that in my previous, um, statement I said, uh, in my previous comment, I, I mentioned about how much our, um, uh, special education is being, um, under, uh, budgeted and our special education students have been, uh, underserved. But I also wanted to name that I hope,
▶ 1:00:51 Maya Jamaleddine: hopefully this override passes. I do hope that we include, um, trainings and, um, uh, education and support, uh, for, um, antiracism and discrimination and also some resources for our medical students, uh, so that everyone can get, um, can benefit from this overrides specifically our, um, uh, marginalized population. Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. Um, Mr. Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Garbe? Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Cremsky? Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councillor for Nicaro? Yes. President Elli? Yes. And Chair Jamal? Yes. Bet's unanimous with 10? Yes. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you. Next, uh, for tonight is the first night
▶ 1:01:52 Maya Jamaleddine: of our annual budget hearings, uh, where each city department comes before the consult to present their annual operating budget for FY 25. These hearings will continue over the next five weeks, and the schedule of departments is available online, uh, for the benefit of the public. This means that you'll see the same agenda item on our budget for the next five weeks until the council passes the full FY 25 budget later. Um, next month now we have appropriation 2024 dash 25, fiscal 2025 operating budget in the amount of, uh, $104,140,412. Tonight we have the following departments in front of us, Sorry. Um, we have, uh, the mayor's office, uh, number 1 21, which includes, uh, community events. Uh, number 6 92.
▶ 1:03:12 Jen Grigoraitis: Where is yours? Good evening. So this is just a presentation on the Mayor's, um, budget, which you all have before you. Um, there is overall a 2.3% increase, which is largely due to increases in staffing costs. Um, we are continuing to maintain, as I think you probably know, there's been almost a complete transition in staff between the two administrations. So we now have Lauren Grimm as the Chief of staff. Thomas Dalton, who started last week, is our communications person. Um, Diane McDonald, who's doing our, is part-time doing our constituent services and, um, answering the phones as well as we have several senior tax work off folks who assist us in the office with answering calls and administrative tasks.
▶ 1:03:56 Jen Grigoraitis: Um, I think the most noticeable changes is that we eliminated the, um, $8,000 budget for community events, which had been historically to go toward the Memorial Day Parade. We worked with the Veterans Advisory Board, um, to recognize that that was not a celebration that they wanted to see happening. Um, and I appreciate and agree with their candor. So our intent should an override pass is that we would be looking to have that 8,000 transferred to veteran services for whatever they feel is an appropriate celebration. We have a, a new memorial coming online that we know we need to see. Um, annual plantings for that currently is really struggling. We're really struggling to budget. So that is one of those buffet of bad options items
▶ 1:04:37 Jen Grigoraitis: that our intent had been to see that money transferred out. Um, but instead we were just had to eliminate that money entirely. We also pay two of the cities' memberships, one to the Massachusetts Municipal Association, which I think all but one or two cities or towns in the entire state are members of. And to the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, we access those memberships for a variety of support on grants, um, and then also professional development. And they do do legislative advocacy for municipalities at the state level. Um, and then we have reduced the community outreach line under Mayor Broder. There had been, um, the 5K our way participatory budget process through the schools, which had,
▶ 1:05:19 Jen Grigoraitis: I think the most noticeable project it had, um, produced was the Amazing Grace Basketball Court that did cost a lot more than $5,000, but it's an incredible asset. Um, so given the budget, we did reduce that, my hope would be to see something like this actually land in the school side of the budget. Um, for those of you that had the opportunity to attend the Leaders in Civic Action showcase last week, we have a really incredibly engaged group of high school students working on projects in our community a lot with really great, very tangible things that with a little bit of money we could fund. So I think that would be something, again, in a more flush time, it would be a really meaningful way
▶ 1:05:57 Mark Garipay: to see young people engaged in government. Thank you. Um, anyone from my colleagues? Councilor? Yeah. Thank you. Uh, Madam Mayor, I agree with you on that. Uh, I was, I was gonna say that if, if we have that extra money Mm-Hmm. To put back for that civic, uh, the civic projects that was, there were some amazing, uh, projects, but, uh, at this time, I'd, uh, make a motion to move the bottom line. Second, We have a motion, uh, to move to bottom line made by councilor, seconded by, um, Councillor Stewart on discussion. Just quick question. Do I have to say the bottom? Do I have to say the total dollar amount or just move the bottom line again? Just, just through the, Through the chair. Move the, you just motion, move the bottom line on. You
▶ 1:06:51 Maya Jamaleddine: Could say account number 1 21. Yeah. Um, um, so, um, councilor Gar, motion to move the, the bottom line on, uh, number 1 21, uh, mayor's office and was seconded by Councilor Stewart. Uh, do we have anyone on discussion? And I believe that would also be in also on 6 92, the events budget at the same time. Um, okay. I was gonna do it separate, so I'll That's okay. That's fine. Um, Mr. Clerk, Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Repe? Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Bruski? Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councilor Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Naro? Yes. President GL Yes. And Chair Jamal? Yes. Unanimous. Thank you. And now, uh, what is the will of the committee on line number 6 92?
▶ 1:07:58 Maya Jamaleddine: Community Event Counselor Van Dever? I'd make a motion to move the bottom line on number 6 92. Second, Uh, counselor Van Dever. Uh, motions to move the bottom line on 6 92. And seconded by Councillor Stewart. Anyone on discussion? Mr. Clerk Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Repe? Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Bruski? Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councilor Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councillor for Nicaro? Yes. President GL Yes. And Chair. Aldi? Yes. That's unanimous. Thank you. That motion carries. Next up is Commission on Women Presented. Uh, me. So, um, Madam Chair, I know the chair, Karen Blackburn was hoping to be here tonight, but had a last minute family situation, so I am happy
▶ 1:08:59 Maya Jamaleddine: to speak to, on their behalf. It's a, um, level funded budget, or if the, if the committee so wishes to hold it, we can have her come back on a different night. Um, councilor Gar, I'll Make a motion to move the bottom line of 5 42 Second. Okay. Uh, so, uh, councilor Gpe motions to move, um, uh, the bottom line on number 5 42 and seconded by President on discussion. Okay. Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Repe. Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Bruski. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver? Yes. Councillor Romanul? Yes. Councilor for Cal? Yes. President Elli? Yes. And Chair Jamine? Yes. Unanimous. That motion carries. And now we have the Human Rights Commission, um,
▶ 1:09:59 number 5 44. And presented by Chair Clapp. Uh, good evening Counsel. My name is Bonnie Clap. I am the current chair of the Melrose Human Rights Commission, and I'm here to present our fiscal year 25 budget memo. I was, uh, guided to keep it brief, which was, music to my ears as public speaking is not my jam, uh, especially in front of all of you who I hold in very high esteem. So I'm going to just cut right to the end 'cause I did give a detailed, um, budget memo. I hope to you all. Um, as listed in our budget memo, the Melrose Human Rights Commission is hoping to take on some new and some innovative partnerships and some programming for the next fiscal year. And we hope to use our $3,000 appropriation for training,
▶ 1:10:49 resource and support development and community educational opportunities. Uh, with that said, I would like to ask that this council commit to keep bringing our funding the same as it has been. And with it, I'll give you all a promise that we will be good stewards of the funds allotted. Thank you. Do we have any question from colleagues? Okay. Oh, Councillor Vandiver. Um, I'll take one. Um, thank you for, for being here. I just wanted to ask, um, you mentioned in the memo that, that you've been assessing, um, the needs in Melrose. And if you had any, you wanted to highlight as the most prominent current needs in Melrose that, that you're looking to address? Um, I think to be totally fair and honest, um, we've only been able
▶ 1:11:36 to spend the last meeting, uh, our April meeting, really taking a look at the current human needs, uh, human rights needs of Melrose. Um, and so probably can give you more information that at, in that after our May and our June meeting, as well as exactly what support and resources we wanna provide the community after that. Thank you. Vice Chair Williams. Motion To move the bottom line on account number 5 4 4. Second. Um, so we have councilor, uh, vice Chair William Motion to move to, uh, the bottom line on item number 5, 4, 4 and second. And Vice President Elli. Anyone on discussion? Seeing none, Mr. Mr. Clerk will be callable. Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Repe? Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Reky? Yes.
▶ 1:12:29 Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councillor naca? Yes. President Elli? Yes. And Chair Jamal? Yes. Mad Unanim. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Madame Chair. Um, and this motion carries. Um, next, uh, we have, um, the Veteran Services, um, on line item number 5 43. And, um, we have ms. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam President, fellow counselors. My name is Rosary on Female Kelly. I'm the Director of Veteran Services for Mel Rose Wakefield in S August. So thank you for this opportunity to present my budget and answer any of your questions and also to highlight some upcoming events that we have, which many of you have volunteered for last year. So I hope you continue to volunteer.
▶ 1:13:29 And also a summary on the Hero Act. It's a fact sheet that looks like it's going to pass, which will impact the budget for veteran services greatly next year. Greatly. So thank you. Um, any question from my colleagues? Councilor Gpe? Yes, Madam Chair. Um, I see that we were the bene, uh, benefit line items down 11%. We've, uh, checked it to be 2 27. Um, we had budgeted 2 25. Do you think that's gonna be enough Under Mass General Law Chapter one 15? Any veteran or family member of a veteran who meets the threshold of the financial guidelines that we have has to be accepted. So if I have 10 veterans walk through my door tomorrow, and they are in financial need, as long as they meet all the criteria, then we have
▶ 1:14:21 to afford them the right, the line item for the amount on that line is not a true description of my budget because the following year, the City of Melrose will get reimbursed. 75%. I'm in compliance. My department's in compliance. Um, I forgot to mention my Colonel, Bob Driscal is our board chair for our Veterans Advisory Board and he oversees the revolving fund. Um, so lemme make sure that my department is in compliance. So we do get the 75%. Thank you. Okay. And you had mentioned the Hero Act. Will that affect, you said that that could affect your budget drastically, drastically. Would it affect this line item? Drastically. Drastically, because the definition of veterans is changing. Mm-Hmm. So now to be a veteran, you have to serve,
▶ 1:15:09 Mark Garipay: have served 180 days active duty. So the proposed change by the governor is that, uh, to be a veteran, you'd have to only serve 90. And training does not count as training anymore. It counts as active duty. Mm-Hmm. So more and more veteran, more and more military personnel will count as a veteran. Those who serve at the National Guard of the Reserves will now be considered veterans from day one. Okay. And just one other question. How has that, I don't know if, if you've had to run into this situation, how has that been handled in the past? Has that been via free cash or, uh, transfers from other departments? Maybe Mr. Driscoll, if Colonel Driscoll, if you know that answer. Well, from, from my memory, I believe, uh,
▶ 1:15:51 Devin Romanul: in past administrations it would come out of free cash. Alright. Thank you. Thank you. And you, counselor Romano, Um, thank you so much for the memo and the, the events certainly will try to make as many of these as possible. But, um, wanted to get a sense of if the administration or any sort of independent analysis has offered you any guidance on what that delta is between, uh, the 90 day definition versus the, you said 180 days. And, and just so we have an idea as we are approaching an override, um, and as we're budgeting here and considering free cash next year, we wanna make sure to provide free full services. So it'd be great to, um, and maybe this is not a right now question, but we would love to work with you on what
▶ 1:16:31 that full service load would be with the, with the new, uh, benchmark. It would mean more financial assistance for those low income veterans are surviving family members. So to qualify for Chapter one 15, if you're the surviving family member of a veteran who would've been deemed, um, eligible for this benefit, you get the benefit. So right now we have several spouses on our roles and, uh, one dependent child, adult child on our role. So the reason why I pushed the VA claim so much is to offer the veteran a lifelong change. So, for instance, one of our recent clients who we got his a hundred percent VA disability for was getting close to $2,000 a month from the city of Melrose. We pushed for his VA claim,
▶ 1:17:21 it went through the appeal process. It literally took, so I've been here close to 22 months and it took me, um, about 18 months to get this through because I had to go to con Congressman Clark's office for assistance on this veteran who is terminally ill. He's a young Marine and he is terminally ill. So now through VA benefits, he's getting about $3,400 a month as well as, um, the $2,000 a year annuity. And he got his excise tax waived. And he's get eligible for no cut, no sales tax on his vehicle. He doesn't own property. So that saves the city on property tax abatement. However, these are services that he's so needed for so many years. And now with his VA benefit, he, he's able to live a little bit more comfortably
▶ 1:18:09 Devin Romanul: than what we were giving him. Yeah. Well, thank you so much. And it's, uh, the tales to these kind of programs were really long. I think we just paid off our last Civil War pension just a few years ago. Um, and, uh, actually after the Civil War, all of the records were bound in red tape in Washington dc which is where the term comes from. So, um, anyway, And, and if I may, just for the, uh, benefit of the, uh, newer people on the, on the council, the chapter one 15 is unique to Massachusetts. Um, what it is, is it's the same guidelines as as welfare, but back in the day, they didn't want veterans to have to stand in the same line as the welfare recipient. So they made this chapter one 15 basic same guidelines.
▶ 1:18:52 Robb Stewart: Thank you very much. So in the past we've had several veterans come off due to either the VA claims are death, and we've had a couple of veterans come on as well. Thank you. It's a balance. Thank you, madam. And And it goes with the economy too, and I mean, when times are bad, there's more people who need services. Thank you both for the, um, all the information. Uh, councilor Stewart. Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Troon Elli, uh, just one quick question, follow on to that. Uh, does, uh, that change from 180 days to 90 days for immediate family members of a veteran apply retroactively? Postmortem? Yes, sir, It does. So in other words, if someone has died in 2020, but they do now, they did serve for 120 days,
▶ 1:19:45 Ryan Williams: then they can turn that on. We could, they could turn that on. And I have to petition to the state to allow that. Okay. Okay. Great. Thank you. That's helpful. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank You. Vice Chair Williams. Thank you. Um, sorry I lost the file here. But, um, so we know that with this budget, that every department's been asked to provide some reductions and, um, people are gonna really get in this room, are gonna get tired of hearing me say it. And I, and councilor, uh, excuse me, chair Jamal already said it, but I will repeat it, uh, because it bears repeating. The city council cannot increase budgets. Right. It can only eliminate budgets or, um, or pass them as is, uh, it's an up or down vote.
▶ 1:20:26 Ryan Williams: Um, and so with that being said, do you feel that this 10% reduction, what do you, what do you think the impact of this is going to be if it cannot be, um, kind of reimbursed potentially after an override vote? So, with all due respect, if I come to you saying that I need more money in this, more money in this line item for these veterans, you cannot say no to me. If you do say no to me, then I go to the state, I have no choice. I'm bound by law to do that. So again, this line item is not a true representation because you will get reimbursed 75%. The EOVS, which used to be DVS, department of Veteran Services, is now Executive Office of Veteran Services. 'cause we have a secretary in the cabinet.
▶ 1:21:12 Um, he and his staff are trying to eliminate that year long gap to six months. However, now because of, um, the changes in executive office of veteran services, they are now down to two to three authorizes, which takes me longer to balance our books. And with all of the VSOs that represent all the 351 communities, we're all screaming at our authorizes, Hey, I need this. I need this passed. I need this passed. I need this passed. I need this approved. So, um, it takes a little bit longer, but we're always on top of it. And hopefully that will change where the reimbursements of the city will be less than a year, hopefully by next year. No promises. Thank you. Thank you. Um, councilor Vandiver.
▶ 1:22:01 Kimberly Vandiver: And next I have, um, councilor Stewart. Uh, thank you Chair Jamine. I, I guess I, I wanted to clarify for myself. So, um, I, I know there is a reduction in, in the largest line item here, which is for veterans benefits. Um, uh, but it also does look like as far as 2024 year to date spent, we're, we're already well below. We're currently well below that. And so are there, are there a lot of, you know, end of the year, last two months of the year expenses that we're expecting to see? Or, and, and I know this act also applies and, and may increase the amount, but, but to me, it, it doesn't look like we're at risk of running into running outta funds just because the 2024 as of May 1st spending was not hitting up against that limit.
▶ 1:22:46 Is, is that accurate or is, is that not accurate? I'm hoping not to have too many more. Uh, we, my department works a lot of extra hours to try and help veterans or their surviving family members. Um, I have several part-Time VSOs, which we are now compliant in Melrose. 'cause we have a part-time VSO who recently started this past week. So we are out there doing claims to try to keep veterans off the chapter one 15 roles because if they get their VA claim answered and awarded, that makes them have a better life, a better quality of life. It also gives them healthcare. Okay. And we provide so many other items. Um, we provide food cards, thankfully, thankfully, to the Veterans Advisory Board.
▶ 1:23:29 We have food cards, we have relief funds to also help with them. I push VA healthcare all the time for my veterans. Um, so that's savings and costs. I also push the surviving family members of my veterans to go on Mass Health because they qualify for that. So I try to use as much as many local, state and federal resources that I could possibly get over and above what we give in Melrose. But the Chapter one 15 is a guesstimate. It's how many people walk through the door. Um, the number of teachers you talked about earlier that might get slips if they were all veterans and showed up at her door, then we'd have to, we'd have to help 'em out. But it's based on previous years and what we've had before.
▶ 1:24:13 Maya Jamaleddine: Great. Thank you. And, and thank you for all the work that, that you've done to connect them with resources. And It's been my honor as a veteran. Um, thank you. It's, um, 8 28. Uh, we are, we are going to have to, uh, recess to go to finance. Um, if you can I, I'll make a motion to recess. Madam Chair. Thank you. Second. So I, we have a motion to recess made by counselor, uh, Stewart, seconded by Counselor Gar. Um, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. They need to start the next meeting within a certain number of minutes of its scheduled time, but then they'll come back to this meeting. Oh, so Are we? Yeah, you're, I think we're, we're going to do Another committee meeting. We're just gonna dabble inab in and
▶ 1:27:20 Motion to recess Made by Council by President Elli. Seconded by Councilor Williams on discussion. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? We are in recess. I dunno what Penny Hill is. He knows a couple more pension documents. Oh, there is. It's true. To reinforce the floor in the capital basement. Welcome back. We're, um, back to, uh, to the item number, um, 5 43, the Veteran Services. And, um, anyone from my colleagues who wishes to ask any question, Can I motion to move the bottom line on five four. Three Second. We have, uh, a motion, uh, made by Vice Chair Williams to move bottom line on, uh, number item 5 43. And seconded by Councilor Repe. Anyone on discussion? Okay. Vice Chair Williams. Yes. Councilor Repe. Yes.
▶ 1:28:43 Maya Jamaleddine: Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Brisky? Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councilor Ver Yes. Councillor Romanul? Yes. Councillor Finocchiaro. Yes. President Elli? Yes. And Chair Jamaleddine? Yes. That's unanimous. Thank you. Um, you are staying with us for the ordinance 2024 dash two reauthorization of the City of Merose revolving fund table for fiscal 2025. Um, and this will be, um, account number two, uh, 6 0 7. Yes. Um, just wanna open it if there is anything that you would like to add on this, um, item. Well, On these items, these, um, these are not funded by the city. These accounts, these are all come from, uh, donations or fundraising or, um, things like that. So none of it is, um, it's,
▶ 1:29:49 although it's maintained in city accounts, it's not, uh, funded by, by the city. Thank you. Any, uh, one from my colleagues who wishes to ask, question, or speak. Okay. Seeing none, what is the will of the committee? I will motion to move the bottom line on account. No, sorry. Chair through The chair. Yes. The, it's a motion to hold in committee. Excuse me. Is there are other revolving funds. Thank you. Approve. Second. So we have, Yeah, go ahead. So it would be a motion just to approve this line, and then at the end we'll hold the, the order in committee. Yes. So motion to approve this line. Ah, Yeah. 26. 26 0 7. Oh, Sorry. Yeah. My apologies. That's Okay. I don't know either. Obviously. Second. So we, uh,
▶ 1:30:40 Maya Jamaleddine: we have a motion, uh, to approve, uh, to recommend, uh, made by counselor. Well, uh, vice Chair Williams, seconded by Counselor Gar Pay. And, uh, on discussion. Mr. Clerk, Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor gpe. Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Brisky. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councilor Romanul. Yes. Councillor DeCaro. Yes. President Elli? Yes. And Chair All? Yes. That's unanimous. Okay. This motion carries. And next, uh, thank you both. Thank you ma'am. Appreciate, thank you being with us tonight. Next we have, um, item number, uh, six 11, uh, for the library. And we have Director Gardner. Hi. Hi. Um, for those I haven't met, I am Linda Gardner. I am the director of the Public Library.
▶ 1:31:55 Thank you for having me here tonight. Um, I'd like to take a quick moment while I'm here to recognize the work of the library staff in the past year. Um, I have to say their ongoing good humor and creativity in our interim space at the baby school has really been fantastic. They engage in outreach opportunities, travel to partnering locations for programs, and they hold programs outside in the playground and on the grounds whenever weather permits. Um, I've received many comments from patrons over the year that despite the admittedly temporary and limited nature of our facility, it still feels welcoming and that is a hundred percent down to the efforts of the staff. Um, and I just want them to know
▶ 1:32:45 that I appreciate everything that they do. Um, and I thank you all for your time in this process, um, and the work that you do. Um, I am happy you have my budget and my budget memo before you and, um, I'm happy to answer any questions that you might have to the best of my ability. Thank you. Um, any question from my colleagues? Counselor Vanderberg, Uh, thank you. Uh, I was wondering if you could speak to the, the comment you made in your memo that additional staffing would, would be required to fully utilize the new and renovated building space at West End or sim. And what would that look like and what would you ideally want to see there? So we have new amenities in the facility. Some notable items are we will have a teen room,
▶ 1:33:39 which we've never had before. Um, so we have had a librarian who is focused on teens, but they've always been stationed at the main circulation desk. So now we have a separate room. Um, and we would want a staff person overseeing that space and helping the teens in their space. Um, so that takes a person away from the main desk. And also we, um, we would like to add a part-time teen librarian so that we can really be fully staffing that available space. We also have a discovery zone, um, which is the term I picked at the time. Um, essentially a makerspace, it will have a 3D printer, um, a cricket machine, which I didn't know what that was when we first started talking about it, but does all kinds of crafting, um, techniques
▶ 1:34:42 and also three sewing machines. And that space is designed to adapt over time as the interests of people come along. High tech, low tech, um, just sort of a creative space. And obviously we would need, it doesn't need a full-time staff person, but it needs the flexibility to be able to teach people how to use these items and have hours that the public can come in and use, use that space. So we would need to be able to be bringing staff off of their regular duties, um, to go and really maximize that space. Um, we're also going to have the ability building wise, to do more programming than we have been able to do before. Um, in the previous building, for those who remember it, we had one, really one space
▶ 1:35:40 to accommodate community meetings, adult and programming for all ages, adults, children, everyone. And it was a room at the back of a children's room. Um, so we had situations like if we wanted to have a big adult program, we would close the children's room early. Um, so we're resolving that We have a program space that will be shared by children and teens. And then we have a separate large space that will be for adults. Or if the kids are doing a really big program, they could also use that space. Um, in order to really maximize this, you need both the time to get staff again off the desk to go run the program. Um, and also for that much programming, you need time to plan it. Mm-Hmm. Okay.
▶ 1:36:34 Ward Hamilton: And, and that is something that is desired and additional, but it's not a, a cut to something existing. So that would not Is that something if, you know, if we were to pass a override that would not automatically come into the budget or that would be under consideration? Or, or are you aware of if that would be in the list? I think it's, it's being talked about with the auditor and the mayor. Okay, great. Thank you. Thank you. Counselor Hamilton, next. Counselor gpe. So I think to Counselor Van Deaver's point, here we are night one, the first evening and you're asking a question about, you know, here's your budget. If an override passes, is this item that you're talking about gonna be part of that override?
▶ 1:37:17 Ward Hamilton: And so, uh, I, I don't understand, and I hope we'll get some guidance as to what this is about because we're reviewing a budget and we're talking in a speculative manner about what might be added later if an override passes. And I think that's problematic. And, um, I don't know. Um, I just, I just see us now that we know there's not gonna be a vote on the bottom line on the 17th. 'cause there's gonna be an override on the 18th and we're gonna come in on the 20th and all of a sudden we're gonna have all of these things that we've talked about, um, sort of slid in. So that's just more or less, not a question, but a, um, a comment. Um, I'm gonna be the bad guy and I'm gonna ask the question. So unless I'm misunderstanding, this is your budget
▶ 1:38:08 for the next year and, and is this an increase of 4.7%? It, it is, but there's a, but um, if you look at sebi percentage changes are driven by that 2024 original budget. And you'll see that I have a 2024 revised budget with a different amount. And the reason for that is that, um, we went into 2024 with a union contract that was under negotiation. So that salary and wage budget that you see there was essentially a placeholder until the, um, contract was negotiated. So the revised budget reflects that negotiated contract. Thank you. That makes sense. That's all Madam Chair. Point of order. I'd like to just, uh, point out that everything needs to run through the chair and not directly at another council.
▶ 1:39:07 Ryan Williams: Thank you Madam Chair. Um, uh, counselor, uh, vice Chair Williams. Sorry, I forgot what I was gonna say. Oh, I remember. Um, in the budget IC line items for computers and office supplies, you're talking about 3D printers, cricut machines, sewing machines, and those things have consumables. Are you including in here? Have you, do you know how much that's gonna cost? I mean, I imagine this is gonna be pretty popular. Um, so typically in the past, what we have done, we have a friends group and we also have donations. So when we have something new like this, we initially fund it using those funds until we can wrap it into subsequent budgets. My kids would do this all the time. All the time. So that's great. Okay. That's my only question. Thank you.
▶ 1:40:16 Mark Garipay: Thank you Counselor gpe. Thank you Madam Chair. Um, the, uh, salary, uh, line items is all contractual. Is that Yep. The increase. The increase is all contractual? Yes. Okay. And do we have any open positions right now in the library or are we fully staffed? We are fully staffed, pending, you know, those other positions that we had talked about, but we have no vacancies. Have We lost any positions? Um, I shouldn't say. Has there been a reduction in positions from the old library to where you're the temporary space? There have not. We've had some reductions in terms of, um, sometimes if somebody's on vacation we don't need to fill in quite as many hours. But we've also, because we've been working with so many, um,
▶ 1:41:06 Mark Garipay: offsite partners for our programming, it also means that, you know, if we have somebody who's two blocks away, we also need somebody at the desk. So it's just been deployed a little differently. Okay. And, uh, one question regarding the new library coming online. Was that that every third quarter or, uh, I'm sorry, the New library coming online, is that gonna be in the third quarter? The opening? We're Hoping for the fall. I'm sorry. The fall. Yeah. Okay. And, um, do you expect any costs for that opening to come out of this budget here or is it gonna be for The opening? No. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. And, and next I have counselor Ro. Hi. Thanks for being here. Um, I just have a question about the books and periodicals.
▶ 1:41:59 Um, it's a big decrease at 15,000. So what, what's that about? That is one of the reductions, um, that was not a reduction in my original budget. Okay. And so how does that impact just, uh, you know, can you speak a little bit to that or? Yep. So we will need to be more strategic. Um, we will Be b right now we order when we have a lot of people on hold for a popular item and we will order extra copies. Um, we will be ordering fewer extra copies, so holds lines will be a little bit longer. Um, but I am also, we have money in a, um, fines and fees account. So I am planning this fall to transfer some funds from that account to, um, hopefully counteract. I, I had been planning to do it because we would be in a new building
▶ 1:43:02 Maya Jamaleddine: and to enhance the collections, but now it will go to mitigate the impact of that. Cut. Thanks. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Uh, before I give uh, the turn to Counselor Hamilton, I just wanna, uh, mention unless a counselor wanted to ask a question for another colleague, they don't need to go through the chair. And what I saw, uh, counselor Hamilton was just making comment, but not direct questions. So thank you so much and I have you, uh, next counselor Hamilton, go ahead. Sure. Just briefly, um, so with some of these library supplies and material costs or, or I don't see where else it would come in as you transition into the new library space, are there any opportunities for the FFE budget in
▶ 1:43:55 Maya Jamaleddine: that new space to offset any of these costs? Any chance for any savings there? Not that I'm seeing so far. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um, anyone else? Okay. What is the will of the committee? I'll make a motion to move the bottom line on fund 6 1 1 second Vice chair William. Um, in the motion to move, um, item number six 11 library to bottom line. And seconded by Counselor Romano on discussion. Okay. Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Repe. Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Reky. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councillor Naro. Yes. President Elli? Yes. And Chair Jamal? Yes. That's unanimous. Thank you. Thank you very much.
▶ 1:44:56 Maya Jamaleddine: And, uh, that motion carries. Thank you, director. Um, Gardner, in order to continue, uh, hearing from departments over the next month, I'll entertain a motion to hold appropriation 2024 dash 25 in committee. Councilor gpe. I'll make the motion to hold appropriation 2024 dash 25. Second, We have, uh, a motion made by Councilor GPE to hold appropriation 2024 dash 25 and committee seconded by counselor. Um, Hamilton, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. That motion carries. Motion adjourn. So you swing of order? Yeah. Counselor, second. Go ahead. I'll make a motion to hold, um, when it's 2024 dash two REAU reauthorization of the City of Melrose revolving fund table for fiscal year 2020 second.
▶ 1:45:57 Maya Jamaleddine: Thank you. Thank you counselor. Um, gpe, we have a motion, uh, made by Councilor Repe to who hold, uh, 2024 dash two reauthorization of the City of Mayors Republic party table for fiscal 2025 and seconded by Councillor Stewart, uh, on discussion. Okay. And, um, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. And now, uh, We have being her, We have a motion to adjourn made by Vice Chair Williams, seconded by Councilor Firo. All in favor? Any opposed? We are adjourned. Thank you. Okay. We are back in finance Committee. Um, we have one order before us this evening. It's order 2024 dash 33, calling a special election on Tuesday, June 18th, 2024. Given that, uh, the city clerk, uh, is not present this evening, uh,