Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2024-05-20
Attendance
Cal Finocchiaro ; Mark Garipay ; Ward Hamilton ; Maya Jamaleddine ; Manjula Karamcheti ; Leila Migliorelli ; John Obremski ; Devin Romanul ; Robb Stewart ; Kimberly Vandiver ; Ryan Williams
Agenda
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE APPROPRIATIONS & OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CALENDAR● MAY 20, 2024 Council Chamber, First Floor, Melrose City Hall Budget Hearing 7:30 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Maya Jamaleddine Chair Absent 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 Late 7:32 PM Cal Finocchiaro Present Leila Migliorelli President, Ex Oficio Present
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 City of Melrose Page 1 7/8/2024 5:54 PM
Transcript
▶ 0:06 Ryan Williams: Okay, here we go. I got Promoted. Good evening everyone. Today is Monday, May 20th, 2024. And this is a meeting of the Appropriations Committee of the City, council of Melrose. I am the vice chair of the committee, Ryan Williams. I'm filling in for Chair Aldine, and I am joined by voting members, counselors, Rob Stewart, mark gpe, ward Hamilton, Devin Rahul Romano, uh, John Osky and Cal Foc, chiro and President Lila Melli Exofficio. And this serves as a notice of a quorum. And so the meeting will proceed in accordance with Massachusetts Open Meeting Law. Tonight's meeting will be recorded and is being broadcast by MTV as well as live streamed on their website@mtvthree.org. And at this time, I would motion by unanimous consent
▶ 0:54 Ryan Williams: to open public comment. Okay, public comment is now open. Is anybody here to speak on the orders we have before us tonight, Mr. Clerk? Is anyone online? Uh, not at this time. Okay, Then I'll motion by unanimous consent to close public comment. Seeing no objections, public comment is now closed. Uh, this is the continuation of the series of hearings for the Melrose, um, city budget. Tonight we are going to be hearing Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Building Emergency Management, the council budget, the City Clerk's Budget, and the Election slash registrar's Budget and Liquor Commission What? And Liquor. Oh, and the Liquor Commission budget. Sorry, guys. Um, so, um, because we have representation here from the administration
▶ 1:47 and people from the Liquor Commission, et cetera, a motion by unanimous consent to spend Rule 37 B so we can have open dialogue. No objections. So, uh, rule 37 B is now suspended and first in line is the Liquor Commission. So please come forward, folks. And for the record, Councillor Vandiver just joined us as well. Good evening. Good evening. Uh, Joe Nevin, uh, four 15 East Foster Street, Melrose, uh, chair of the Liquor Commission. Commiss. Um, we are level funded this year, our budget's $2,000. It's, um, utilized for, uh, uh, compliance checks and, uh, incidental expenses around, uh, uh, postage and specific things that we might need during the year. So, and if you have any questions, I'd be happy to entertain them.
▶ 2:59 I'd like to make a motion to move the bottom line. Okay. Councilor Occhio makes a motion to move the bottom line. Second. Seconded by Councillor Stewart, is this a roll call or is it all in favor? Roll call. Roll call for this all of, okay. Roll call. Vote please. Yep. Vice Chair Williams. Yes. Councillor Repe. Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Reky. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councillor for naca? Yes. President gl? Yes. Uh, motion passes. Okay, thanks. Thank you. Thanks for your time. Have a good night. You too. You too. Next up we have the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial building. They'll be tonight. Aye. Good evening everyone. Good evening.
▶ 3:57 I'd like to just say that we appreciate everyone being here and, uh, looking forward to, uh, letting you know what's happening. Um, we, uh, this is for, um, Memorial Hall, and we have had a great year due to the, um, I'm having a good day today due to the, uh, friends Gallup, I'm sorry. Um, and without that, we have been waiting for funds to come in for the GAR room for probably 20 years, at least 20 or better. Um, and thanks to the women friends of Memorial Hall, um, they rarely took this challenge on and they completed it. And we made, not only did we have a great night, but we made a lot of money. And so hopefully you'll see some changes coming up over the next six months in the GAR room.
▶ 4:59 So that's what we're all hoping for. So, and the other person besides the women on the, uh, that, uh, we're on the committee, um, bill Butler, uh, was one of the chair people and also, uh, center, uh, downs, who also were responsible for taking care of all the major issues that had to be done. So we're grateful for their help and glad that we can get this project started, this long awaited project. So, anyway, without further ado, I just wanna let you know that Kathy has been chairman of, uh, the department, and we have, she has done wonders for Memorial Hall. I'll tell you, I've been there day and night when she has been still there. So she just deserves a lot of credit, even though she's gonna say
▶ 5:57 to me afterwards, why did you say that? Um, but some people just work so hard, and I just wanted to let you know that I have witnessed this day in and day out. So thank you, Kathy. Thanks, mayor. Why did you say it? Hi, I am Kathy Pagan Broda, um, executive director, operations manager of the Fabulous Memorial Hall. Um, I know you have my supplemental budget document and my memo. Um, so I would welcome any questions that you have regarding my budget. Councilor Stewart. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you both for being here this evening. Um, so this, just forgive me, but what is the GIR room or the gala Room? Um, it's the Grand DME of the Republic Room. It's the, the, you know, where we gathered beforehand, the second level?
▶ 6:47 Yeah, for the inauguration that, that's the Grand dme, the Republic, the Grand DME of the Republic is equivalent. Today's what the VFW was, it was, um, the soldiers and sailors, sailors from a civil war. That's why it's the Grand Diamond Republic. Got it. It's no longer in existence because there aren't any soldiers live from the Civil War, but that's what it started out to be. Okay, great. Thank you. And, and That was actually a post, that's why it's called the GAR, that's post number four. Sure. And the repairs that you're gonna do is fully funded from this effort. Do you need any additional funding from the city? Um, well, the planning office, God bless them, has applied for two grants and, um, there's matching funds,
▶ 7:29 but I've already secured the matching funds from the friends, and we're going to, um, take money out of the restoration fund, so we wouldn't be asked if we get the two grants. Okay, great. That's wonderful. Um, and just outta curiosity, how much revenue's generated on annual basis from God? You asked that? Um, my goal is always to get, when I first came here, it wasn't in the, it was in the low numbers. And my goal has always been to get it to six figures. And before covid, I got the revenue to six figures. Obviously, covid set me back, but, um, this year it looks like I'm gonna make the six figures. As of today, I'm at 98,662, but So approximately a hundred thousand. Right. Okay, great. Great.
▶ 8:16 Mark Garipay: Um, no other question. Thank you. Okay, councilor. Thank you. Um, I, I guess I just have one question. Councilor Stewart asked me, uh, one, um, first of all, thank you for being here. Um, d uh, the, the custodians, um, they re they're in your budget, not DPW? No, they're, first of all, they're operation assistance. Okay. Because they do a lot more than just custodial work when I'm not there. They're at the events, running the events. And when there's 800 people there, that, that's a lot of responsibility. They're responsible for closing and opening the building and also all the resets. But I have four of them, and they all work for Memorial Holiday and not in the DPW department. Okay. Thank you. Mm-Hmm. Councilor Vandiver,
▶ 9:02 Kimberly Vandiver: Uh, thank you for being with us. I just wanted to ask electricity costs. Um, those rates have been going up, um, everywhere. And what, what that will do. The budget, if that's priced in. I'm sorry. Say that, Um, will the rising electricity costs, the rates in general, will that affect the budget? Is is that something that you, um, expect to, um, to stay within the, the current electricity line? Or, or is that a concern? Um, Well, my electricity is depending upon the number of events. Mm-Hmm. So I'm working very close with the CFO. We're gonna leave it level funded for now because, um, even though the rights have gone up, we've been able to keep it in. Okay. Councilor Rio Finn. So You secured a hundred thousand dollars grant from Senator
▶ 9:50 Senator Lewis? Yes. And that is gonna be used for the GAR. Okay. And then how much money came from the, um, the gala? Do you Know how much? No, I don't know yet. Okay. No, but that, those funds we combined to just work With them. Yeah. Because the friends is a separate group, so I have no Okay. Exposure to the finances. It's an outside, non-profit agency. Okay. So, I don't know, I know that I did ask them if they would give me matching funds if we get one of the grants. And they committed to, yes. Okay. Great. Councillor Stewart? Yes. I'll make a motion to move this to the bottom line, Mr. Chair. Second. Okay. A motion by Councillor Stewart to move the bottom line. Seconded by Councillor Gpe,
▶ 10:29 Call Vice Chair Williams. Yes. Councilor gpe? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Brem. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Van Devin? Yes. Councilor Counselor Romanul? Yes. Councilor naca. Yes. President Elli? Yes. Motion passes. Thank You. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Next up, emergency management. Good evening. Alan Alpert, director of Emergency Management. Uh, in the essence of time, I'm going to start off by saying, since my appointment in 2018, the budget has not changed. And that was the existing budget when I was appointed. So nothing has gone up in emergency management. Uh, with the budget. I also submitted a memo, so I will be happy to answer any questions that any member
▶ 11:36 Mark Garipay: of the Honorable Council has. Council Gepe. Thank you. Um, I mean, It's level funded, so there's really not many, many questions. Uh, I just had one thing, and it's not necessarily regarding the budget. It, um, just maybe a suggestion that over the, oh, last, last winter, I think it was, or beginning of the spring, we had, uh, a situation in our ward where, um, a tree was covering Port Street for a day. And if there's any way we could try to get a, um, figure out a, a plan in order to help the residents up that upper end. If, if anything like this happens again, we couldn't get any fires, um, ambulances, anything up there, um, just try to come up with another row to, to access that end of Porter Street.
▶ 12:36 That's, that's the only thing I wanna say. Sorry. I know it didn't have to do with the budget, but, okay. Thank You. The agenda. Councilor Fiker, Make a motion to move the bottom line. Great. Second. Okay. We got a motion to move the bottom line by Councilor Eno Chiro. Seconded by Councilor Romanul. Call please. Vice Chair Williams. Yes. Councillor Gepe. Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Reky. Yes. Councilor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Finocchiaro. Yes. President M Yes. Motion passes. There It is. Okay. Thank you very much for coming down. Thank you. And everything you do, except we have ourselves, city council, It's Nice to be in a different seat.
▶ 13:36 Yes. Um, so good evening. Um, I just wanna present, uh, the FY 25 budget for City Council. It remains largely level funded, but before I delve into the numbers and, um, um, everything else, I just wanted to go over a few things. I have a short presentation here. Um, so 91 total meetings to be had, including today's, um, the breakdowns over there. This will be posted to IQM two later. I haven't posted it just yet. Mm-Hmm. Um, and then basically an FY 24 was very busy. Um, there was a lot of, uh, new projects that we undertook and things that we worked on, um, of significance was the boards and commissions software. We eliminated that at the mayor's request. Um, and we listed all the terms and members of each board
▶ 14:26 and commission under each webpage of each respective board and commission. So that was a lengthy project, but, uh, now it all fits in one place. It's very visible and very transparent. Um, also, I assisted in several different com, um, website inquiries, uh, to add users, remove users, uh, make, uh, changes in, in, in, um, in wording or graphics, uh, create new pages altogether. Another significant, uh, endeavor was, uh, the change o of, uh, the records access Officer. Uh, basically, uh, the city solicitor, uh, assumed that role, um, I believe in January. Um, and so I built a legal, um, department page and subsequently built a, um, a portal where, or a contact form, if you will, where people can submit these public records requests.
▶ 15:14 And I programmed it to go to certain individuals based on who is serving in those roles. Um, so that was a big endeavor. Um, and I worked with several other different departments to update their webpage and whatnot. So that, that's something I do on an ongoing basis. On a daily basis. Um, and so now we get to the numbers. Um, the budget remains largely level funded. Um, the biggest increases you will see in our advertising and printing lines. Um, and for example, over here I have, uh, public hearing ad for the required, um, budget hearings that we'll have. One's for water sewer, one's for the general operating budget, and one is for the ambulance rates. Uh, those are three separate ads, but in the spirit of, uh, saving City money,
▶ 16:00 we consolidated them, consolidated them to June 3rd. So we'll have one public hearing for all three. And this ad here, it's not this big, it's not, it's gonna be like a, a two by three inch ad in the paper. It's actually in this week's edition of Melrose Weekly, and we'll be in this Fridays as well. But basically, this ad costs, uh, $236 and 50 cents. So multiply that by three, we're ready to depleted that line. So that's why we see the increase for that. Um, so sometimes I'll have to dip into the printing line to cover those expenses. Uh, thankfully this year will be good. Um, as you will see, there is a 21.5% decrease in the IQ M two contract, and that's solely because of the $5,000 board
▶ 16:42 and commissions, uh, software that we cut out from the budget. There is still an increase there, uh, but the software that was removed helped create that, uh, deficit, if you will. Um, other, other, um, the website and the seminars remain largely level funded. Um, no change there. Um, now going on to goals, uh, so I don't know if you all heard, but, uh, IQM two is gonna be sunset in 2027. Um, and the support is gonna be ending way before that. So it's gonna be pretty, uh, difficult to, you know, fix issues that may arise when the sunset, the, uh, customer service support. Uh, so we are starting, uh, to, uh, research vendors, not particularly now, but this is gonna be a summer project that we'll start on, um, to see what vendors are out there
▶ 17:31 and what could be used to replace IQN two. Um, so that's gonna be a lengthy project we have to get on board with, uh, you know, the city council, of course, the school committee, uh, I know that parks uses it. Um, and other, and other departments. Uh, we just have to make sure that everything matches up and, you know, it serves the needs of all the boards and commissions that are gonna be utilizing this software. Uh, so that's gonna be a huge pull. Um, we're gonna work closely with it, but that's gonna be, uh, um, something that we're gonna work on, um, for the next several, uh, months leading up to the sunset of IQM two. Um, so that's, that's, uh, one of the biggest goals that we have going forward.
▶ 18:08 And, uh, I invite you to ask any questions that you may have. Councilor gpe, I Just want to thank, thank you, Andrew, for your support over the, over the last year for everything. Thank you. You've done for me. I appreciate That. I appreciate it. Thank you, President Elli. Just wanna echo that and thank you so much for all of your work and the presentation. You've really done a good job of supporting all of us, uh, through our meetings this last few months. So thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you. Councillor Stewart. Thank You, Mr. Chair. I'll make a motion to move this to the bottom line, and I echo The, The sentiments as well. Thank You. Second Motion to move to the bottom line by Councilor Stewart.
▶ 18:55 Seconded by Councilor Repe. And now our guest has to return to his job of doing the roll call vote Vice Chair Williams. Yes. Councilor Gpe. Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Brem. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor for Naro? Yes. And President? Yes. That's unanimous. Motion passes Also. Yes. Councilor Ben. Break over. Okay. Uh, next up we have the budget for the city Clerk's office. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We can look on together, honey. We can look on together. Thank you. Good evening. Thank you. I have some prepared remarks. If I, if the council will in indulge me. It's the only chance I get annually to publicly thank my staff for their dedication, their efforts.
▶ 20:14 Um, the newest staff member to read has really taken to the job. She's learning a lot about Melrose, and I always am amazed at Joanne Papa's ability to kindly, um, compassionately deal with the calls the residents. And, um, I am grateful for their service to the city and to me. So I would like to publicly acknowledge them. Um, I have some additional details unless the council would like to ask questions. It's, it's up to the council. You wanna, how would you like to handle? Go ahead. Okay, great. Um, looking at my clerk's, 1 6 1 budget, uh, directly right into it. The first I was able to do, we were able to do a decrease to the overtime because we hired two temp staff that would, um, reduce, they'll become fully trained
▶ 21:00 and reduce overtime for the elections administrator. Um, moving down there is, um, a 7% increase for printing. Uh, we were looking at online vital records, envelopes, um, cost of paper for the dog registration forms. Colored paper has gone up for the counter forms for people that come in and, you know, process still in person versus online. Um, moving down, um, anything anomalies. If you go into dues and memberships, 16.7, that's a hundred dollars increase. 600 to 700. Um, we added Mass cl, mass City Clerks Association. It's like a listserv. Very helpful for us from a reaching out for, um, assistance to each other. Um, they were just answering a question on, um, Robert's rules, so that was very helpful.
▶ 21:49 Mm-Hmm. Um, down one more, um, a thousand dollars from 3000 to 4,000. So State Vital Records just instituted a new, it happened today. We were all locked out of our passwords. It's called Maverick. Um, an online system. They went to a new software at the same time that the election system is getting updated. So they are having staff training. So all four of us will need training at a, an upcoming conference. Um, and then the security bond, it's a three year term. The insurer went up for the first time in almost a decade, from 150 to 2 55. And that's it for the clerk side. If you wanna move to elections, which is a little bit more complicated, um, part-time, salary and wage part-time, salary
▶ 22:38 and wages, we were able to reduce. That's what the separate public works police and DPW are paid out of. It went from 105 to 80,000 because we're basing that off two elections this year. That's state elections. They pay for most of that. Um, we just figured be able to decrease projection moving down. Um, decreased printing, 9,200 state supplies. The ballots, we don't have to print them. They'll supply those. Um, any big number, just kinda look at a big numbers. Uh, 10% increase a thousand dollars for contracts and equipment. 30, the biggest one was 37%. Um, under equipment maintenance, I made a quick list. So right now we have 28 pole pads, 30 pole pad printers, one high speed tabulator, 16 tabulators,
▶ 23:31 nine auto mock machines, one pole pad charging cart, one RTR computer, one high speed tabulator, and one AutoMark auto ballot opening machine. So we have heavily, thanks to the council, invested in election equipment and all of that, we want to use those dollars that we have invested wisely and make sure they're maintained. Make sure that we are taking care of that equipment that we have spent dollars on. At least I do. I wanna make sure that we are having them serviced annually, um, and taking care of the equipment. They're my tax dollars too, so I want them this stuff to be maintained. Um, the maintenance contracts go up, they escalate. They're a single sole source for a lot of the equipment.
▶ 24:14 There's nowhere else for municipalities to go. Um, seven to 10% is usually what they go up and they know they kind of can. So that's where we're at with that. Um, a lot of stuff was decreased, just going down the list. Um, the only other thing was posted goes up a little. We have something required by the state called confirmation cards. People that do not respond, respond to the censuses. We are required by law to send them, this will be our third, um, notice. We sent the initial census in January. We have followed up with in-house, done this in-house called the second notice. We send them, we print them and send them on our dime. We are now gonna follow up a third required census card. It's a, um, it is a,
▶ 25:00 um, little postcard. We pay postage out and we post pay, we pay postage back. It's called a bulk permit. We're required to do it. So we really don't have a lot of options with that. And then, uh, professional services, that line, I'm sorry, I'm kind of jumping around. Professional services with, so the 9,000 from 13,000 to nine, that's Camelot, where we rent the chairs for the election. The timestamp repair, it's about 300. And then if we have LHS, our vendor on site that day, if we have to call them for any assistance, that's what that, that's between twenty eight hundred and thirty two to hundred on per day if we need to have them on site. And that's kind of it. I'm open to questions. Okay. So we're gonna take questions.
▶ 25:41 Let's do this in order first in account 1 61 on the clerk's office. Uh, and then afterwards we'll take a vote on that and then we can ask questions about the elections line and take a vote on that. So right now we're dealing with the clerk's office. Councilor Stewart. Thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you Ms. Foot for being here this evening. Um, in your notes, you, you talk about Maverick, which is a state, um, initiative. Yep. Uh, is that gonna be publicly available? Maverick? Yeah, I don't think so. No, it's gonna, so it's gonna be within your department Access? It's it's the state terminals. Yeah. Yeah. It's a state system that they supplied all the municipalities. Yep. Okay. Okay. Great. Um, that's all I had. Thank you, Mr.
▶ 26:22 Thank you Chair. I'd love it to be, be available then everybody could go on and order their own. Well, it'd be great. You'd think I Would love it. Does anybody wanna make a motion? Make a motion to move to the bottom Line. Thank you. Councilor makes a motion to move 1 6 1 to the bottom line. Seconded by Councilor Romanul. Roll call please. Vice Chair Williams? Yes. Councillor Repe. Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Brisky. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councillor for naca? Yes. President? Yes. Motion is unanimous and passes. Thank you. And uh, next up we're going to do fund one or Department 1 62, which is, uh, elections. And we've already heard comments.
▶ 27:16 So what questions do we have for elections and registrar? Councillor Repe. Thank you. Um, I was having trouble hearing on the part-time, salary, and wages. Sure. The reason for the decrease on that. So 2024, we had three. We spent 76. 5 1 1. Yep. 2025. We have two. And those are state, so we figured we would spend less. So we budgeted down. Okay. And you said something about the printing. Um, down 69%. Sorry. Sure. Um, again, those are two state elections this fall. They supply all the ballots. We don't have to do any of thoses. That's all I had. Sure. Thank you. Sorry, one other question. Sure. Do you think we have enough money to make it through these two, two elections that we have coming up big for
▶ 28:25 Kimberly Vandiver: The state? So for September and November, right? Yes. Yes. This fall? Yes. Okay. Thank you. I do, Uh, Councillor Vandiver for the first time. Great. Thank you. And thank you for your presentation. Um, I really appreciate how, um, responsive this budget is and looking ahead to exactly, you know, the number of elections and who's paying for them and exactly what we're going to need. Um, I was just curious, you mentioned in the memo about the, um, vote by mail ballots and how for local elections, um, the city pays for that. Um, do you have a ballpark, um, figure of the cost per vote, per ballot, per election for that, For the local coming up in June? I can get it to you just Absolutely. Just curious what that,
▶ 29:10 Um, so just, just in generalities, the vote by mail processing, it's 13 steps. I actually have a flow chart. I will send that to you 'cause I will. It's very interesting. So you, you start with an application piece of paper and it used to be there wasn't an application. You'd show up, you'd check in, you'd get your ballot and you pass it through the machine. And we've had a lot of, um, education with state reps and senators and how changes that are helpful and, but what that meant on the back end. So I have an infographic, actually I think it might be 13 steps and they just come at a cost. So, um, I have, I can get some ballpark figures to you, you know, postage and cost of paper and how much things cost
▶ 29:54 and shipping and all that kind of stuff, right? Yeah. And, and it's an important service, you know, for people who need the mail-in process of course. But interesting that you know, that it adds some costs. And just curious what that is. Thank you. Sure. Okay. Councillor Stewart, I'd like to make a motion to move to the bottom line. Second. Motion to move 1 62 to the bottom line by Councillor Stewart. Seconded by Councillor Repe, please call the roll Vice Chair Williams. Yes. Councillor gpe. Yes. Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Bruski. Yes. Councillor Hamilton? Yes. Councillor Vanderberg. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor for naca? Yes. President Elli? Yes. Uh, this, uh, unanimous vote. Seat passes.
▶ 30:34 Ryan Williams: Thank you. Okay. That's everything. Um, lemme just double check. Yep. That's everything. Okay. So then I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. I'll make a motion to hold appropriation 2024 dash 25 in committee. Second. Thank you. Councilor Oppe motions to hold the appropriation and Committee seconded by Councilor Stewart. All in favor? A Aye. Aye. That's it. All right. Now I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. I'd make a motion to adjourn. Second. Okay. Councillor Occhio makes a motion to adjourn. Seconded by Councillor Romanul. All in favor? Aye. We adjourned. Good evening. The time is 8:03 PM on Monday, May 20th, 2024. This is a meeting of the Melrose City Council and I am President Milah Elli in accordance