Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2025-06-05

Appropriations and Oversight Budget Hearing

This meeting starts at 0:00 in a recording that covers several meetings.

Attendance

Cal Finocchiaro present; Mark Garipay present · Chair; Ward Hamilton absent; Maya Jamaleddine late, 7:05 PM · Vice Chair; Manjula Karamcheti present; Leila Migliorelli present · President, Ex Oficio; John Obremski absent; Devin Romanul present; Robb Stewart present; Kimberly Vandiver present; Ryan Williams present

Agenda

Minutes

CITY OF MELROSE APPROPRIATIONS & OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE CALENDAR● JUNE 5, 2025 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 Vice Chair Late 7:05 PM Cal Finocchiaro Present Ward Hamilton Absent Manjula Karamcheti Present John Obremski Absent Devin Romanul Present Robb Stewart Present Kimberly Vandiver Present Ryan Williams Present Leila Migliorelli President, Ex Oficio Present Mark Garipay Chair Present

(ID # 12675) Revolving Fund/Reauthorization Reauthorization of the City of Melrose Revolving Fund Table for Fiscal 2026. Hold City Council

(ID # 12678) Operating Budgets (City, School, Regional School) Fiscal Year 2026 Operating Budget in the amount of $107,575,802. Hold Appropriations & Oversight Committee

(ID # 12679) Operating Budgets (City, School, Regional School) Appropriations in the amount of $370,948.80 from Perpetual Care ($12,000), Sale of Lots and Graves ($50,000), Parking Receipts ($75,000), Bond Premiums ($33,948.80) and the Public Health Education and Safety Fund ($200,000) as funding sources of the Fiscal 2026 Operating Budget. Ought to Pass as Amended City Council

(ID # 12726) Appropriation An Appropriation from Free Cash(01-324001) in the amount of $60,000 to Office of Planning and Community Development (#175). Ought to Pass City Council

(ID # 12736) Appropriation City of Melrose Page 1 6/11/2025 4:26 PM Minutes Appropriations & Oversight Committee June 5, 2025 An Appropriation from Free Cash (01-324001) in the amount of $32,816 to Pine Banks (#652). Ought to Pass as Amended City Council

(ID # 12747) Appropriation Appropriation in the amount of $27,000 from free cash (01- 324001) to retirement (#911) to reimburse for pension costs. Ought to Pass City Council

(ID # 12748) Appropriation Appropriation in the amount of $150,000 from Ambulance retained earnings (6500-319000) to Salary and Wages, overtime. Ought to Pass City Council

(ID # 12752) Appropriation An appropriation in the amount of $189,659.08 from Peg Access Cable Fund, to MMTV in the amount of $151,727.27 and Melrose Public Schools in the amount of $37,931.81. Ought to Pass City Council

(ID # 12753) Appropriation Appropriation in the amount of $25,320 from Free Cash (01- 324001) to Fire (#221) for motor vehicle repairs to Ladder 2. Ought to Pass City Council

(ID # 12749) Revolving Fund/Reauthorization Reauthorization of the COA revolving fund #2811 limit to be increased from $35,000 to $65,000 for Fiscal Year 2025. Place on file City Council

(ID # 12750) Revolving Fund/Reauthorization Reauthorization of the Recreation Revolving Fund #2652 limit to be increased to $550,000 from $475,000. Place on file City Council City of Melrose Page 2 6/11/2025 4:26 PM

Transcript

▶ 0:00 Mark Garipay: That particular good evening. The time is 7 0 2 on Thursday, June 5th, 2025. This is the meeting of the Appropriation and Oversight Committee. Morning, I'm Mark Gar, the chair joining me. Joining us tonight is Councilor Stewart, council of Ver Council Van Council ra Council Ramal Council, uh, Williams Council Machete President, uh, Elli. This serves as a notice of a quorum in accordance with the open meeting law. This meeting is being broadcast and recorded live on MMTV. Uh, I will motion by unanimous consent to open the floor for public comment. This is a portion of the meeting where any member of the public may speak to any items on tonight's agenda. Comments expressing any viewpoint on other matters are welcome.

▶ 0:50 Mark Garipay: If there's anyone in the gallery looking to speak, seeing no one in the gallery looking to speak, is there anyone online? There is not. No, there is no one online. If there's no objection, I will close the public. Um, comment, uh, portion of the meeting with the unanimous consent, public comment is now closed. We'll move on to, uh, committee minutes approval. This time I will motion by unanimous consent to approve without reading the minutes of the May 8th, 2025 appropriation and oversight budget hearing meeting the May 27th, 2025 appropriation and oversight committee meeting, and the April 14th, 2025 appropriation, appropriation and oversight committee meeting. Seeing no objection, those minutes are now approved.

▶ 1:33 Bless you. Thank you. Um, moving on to department, uh, budget presentations. First up, we have Department 2 21 Fire Department. We have Chief White with us today. Welcome, chief. Good evening. Hope you're cool. Scott Hut There. The floor's yours, chief. Okay, thank you. Yep. Well, thank you for letting me come in today. Present our budget proposal for FY 26. Um, just to have, say a few things, how the sheet has gone. Um, as part of the city's broad effort to optimize municipal spending, made office conducted a review of Department of Budgets, adjusted the fire department's 30 line items for the upcoming fiscal year. As a result, seven budget lines were reduced, five were eliminated. Due to consistent underutilization

▶ 2:38 or lack of demonstrated need, the fire department remains fully capable of operating effectively and continuing to meet its service obligations. Adjustment reflects collaborative approach to fiscal stewardship, ensuring that public funds are allocated to the areas of highest impact. Um, the ambulance service update. Um, after consider careful consideration, fire department has made a difficult decision to include the city operated ambulance service. This decision was driven primarily by ongoing staffing challenges that have increasingly impacted the struggle to fill ambulance shifts, resulting in forced or holdovers and extreme overtime costs. Despite our best efforts to recruit and retain qualified personnel,

▶ 3:25 maintaining a fully staffed in-house ambulance service has proven unsustainable to ensure uninterrupted high quality emergency care for our residents. We have transitioned ambulance services to Armstrong Ambulance, who undoubtedly have the resources and expertise to meet our community needs. This change allows us to maintain the standard of care that our residents expect while addressing the operational realities that we are currently facing For. So in this year's budget of FY 26, um, FY 25 budget was 4,000,424 $604. It's been increased 17.6% to 5,201,301. Um, that's due to increase support staffing needs of 51 employees and new contract rates. The overtime for training was increased 15% from 10,000

▶ 4:23 to 11,500. And that's to support ongoing fire training and professional development. Next line, on the professional services, um, for FY 25, we have $37,912. And this cost was split between the fire budget and the ambulance budget. This year, we proposed an increase of 31.9% for $50,000. Um, the reasoning for that is because our trucks still will go to medical aids. We still need to have professional services, um, that since we won't have the ambulance, we won't have that source of income. We won't have that budget to pull half of that cost from. Um, And then cleaning station supplies was increased a thousand dollars up, 16.7% to $7,000. Um, New line item. This was talking about to support the ongoing need,

▶ 5:21 we have added a new $25,000 line item for EMS supplies. This will cover, this fund will cover the cost of critical medical supplies and equipment maintenance for our first responders. Could continue to continue delivering lifesaving care in the field. So some of the items that have been eliminated from our budget is the mutual aid line item, which is 1500. It was eliminated for lack of need. Computer purchases also was eliminated of 2000. Underutilized gas and oil line 500 lack of need. Paints was underutilized at 500 in turnout gear, which was 75,000, has been provided in free cash with the, uh, eliminated of 79,500 total. And then the decreases under motor vehicle repairs, we have a 20% decrease of $20,000.

▶ 6:19 Um, radio contracts, a 25 9% decrease to 3,500. Tie is a decrease of 1500 minus 25%. Batteries minus 50%, 750 minus and fire alarm system is minus 20%, minus $2,000. Then uniforms minus 8,000, which is minus eight $5,000. And educational reimbursement is down 4,356 for total decrease of 37,106, making the total decrease in our budget, $116,606. Um, as you we all know, we have been, um, severely burdened from being able to not hire and retain firefighter, firefighter paramedics and which has created an incredible burden on our overtime. Um, Just as our staffing going from July of 23, rapid at 53, um, staffing, um, went down October to 49. January 24 we're 48. April, we're back to 50 July, 24 51.

▶ 7:32 October 24 52. January 25, 54. Then in April, two more folks retired and we're down to 52 again, um, creating a burden, um, that I believe we're gonna be able to get control of with this budget. Um, we were also award in and Grants 4,022 from the Firefighter Safety Grant to help purchase SCBA mask and Thermal imaging cameras. We hired six firefighters between July and December. Um, this year we responded to 4,276 calls. We have promotions, um, promoted Ian McGregor to a permanent lieutenant c Parsons were promoted to permanent captain and Michael Bell was just promoted to lieutenant. We had retirements of firefighter, Chris Walsh, firefighter Bill Star, and at the end of this month be Lieutenant Ken

▶ 8:26 Kenneth McIntosh. Um, And that's what's happened this past year and how we've come about our current budget. The proposal for this year, Um, So this year's budget, we are proposed a budget of $5,201,301, which is up 17%. Um, in the salaries and wages overtime. Budget will remain the same as last year. Um, projected of the original budget was 409,000. It's back to 409,300. So that stays the same. Um, as we go down overtime training is increased by 15%. It went up, uh, 1,100 $500. Um, Coming to a total staff for salaries with an increase of 15.8% to 5,702 $101. Um, Going through the rest of the, by the contractual items, um, that's down 6.8%. Then supplies and materials is down. Proposed budget for this year will be down 36.4%.

▶ 9:46 Excuse Me. Other charges will remain flat at 0% changed. And then under, uh, miscellaneous, the education reimbursement will be down 17.9% reflected in total proposed budget of 5,989 $801, which is up 13.2%. It is our proposed budget. Thank you, chief. Um, does any councilors have any questions? Council Ro, councilor William, council ra, then Williams and Council Vanderberg. Thank you Chair. Um, thanks for the explanation of all those numbers. Um, I have a question about the firefighters that you staff. How many do you need in total to run the department? I know you said there's 52 and then it's 48. What's the number that you're comfortable with For right now? We're comfortable at, they always ask me this number.

▶ 10:46 I never remember it, but, um, so we have four on the ladder truck, three on each pump, which six x 10 fire alarm operator. Um, that's 11 over 44. 44 groups is firefighters. And there's staff of, um, myself, captain Gibson and Rachel Financial. So it's, we are roughly Should Be around 50 firefighters. So right now, as it stands, since we've transferred over to Armstrong Ambulance, we now don't have, we were running six, uh, six firefighters down. Now we are back to, we have four on the ladder truck and that fourth member on the ladder truck, we'll be able to, if someone on that group is out sick or on vacation, we are able to cover that. It was the past few years, it's been practically man for man overtime for all that stuff.

▶ 11:44 So hopefully we have, basically saying we have one man on the bench, on, on the four groups is what we have for staffing now. So 50 is a comfortable number to run. It's it's about a comfortable number. Yeah. And you feel like you won't, like, I know that overtime, um, for this year to date is pretty high. Is that because of the staffing issues? It's because, yes. 'cause we were down, when we were running the ambulance, we were down six firefighters there, we couldn't staff the ambulance with. And so we were filling that all with overtime. Um, which, you know, resulted in when people didn't take the overtime. We had the last 23 and 24, we had over 700 holdovers. Um, and that's not counting. And those were all paid overtimes,

▶ 12:28 but those were people who weren't able to go home at the end of their shift. Yeah, I, I, I know that that is taxing on the firefighters to do so many overtimes. Um, so, um, I, I guess moving forward, you think that we're good that at a good spot right now with or No, I think we're at a very good spot right now. Okay. Um, I think without anything unforeseen happening, um, we did carry, um, two of the firefighters that I mentioned retired. They were on long-term sick, um, and they finally retired. Mm-hmm. Um, we had injuries, um, maternity leaves, all those things that we still have to deal with. Mm-hmm. Um, but I think our number should be able to deal that, especially where, like I say, we essentially have one man on the bench that we can have.

▶ 13:14 My other thing, I have one firefighter attend the academy now. She'll be done in August. Another one will start at the end of June. He should be done at the end of September. And those will be the last firefighters have to senate the academy. And I just have one left in paramedic school who will finish in September. Right. And that will be, um, for the foresee, other than vacations, any staffing issues I don't see other than, uh, any schedule staffing issues I don't have at the moment. Great. Thank you. That's all. Thank you. Council. Council Williams. Yeah. Thank you. Um, hello. Hi. Hi. Thank you for being here. Um, so I have a, I have a couple of questions that I'm hoping that you can help me frame the overall cost

▶ 14:01 Ryan Williams: of the budget, particularly around, particularly around salaries, um, because I'm not sort of not understanding the trajectory of it. And let me sort of show you what I'm seeing. And I know you threw a lot of information at us, so please forgive me. You might have to repeat yourself once or twice. Um, we're looking at a 2025 budget of 4.9 million. It's revised up to 5.4 million, almost basically $500,000 over almost to the dollar. And then because of the ambulance situation with the overtime, we wind up spending another $200,000 over that. And a lot of that is the shift from salary costs into overtime. I could see that. Then when we go to the 2026 budget, I see the overtime going back down to the way

▶ 14:49 Ryan Williams: that it was in 2025 and 2020. Um, well, the budgeted way that it was in 2025, but the salary line sort of picks up all of the extra revenue, a million $0.20. Um, and so the overall budget over time goes from 5.4 in 2025. We've currently spent 5.6 at this point in time, and we're looking to spend 5.7. And so we've been sitting here and we've been hearing a lot of departments and I just, I haven't seen a salary increase like that, um, in any of the departments. Mostly we're seeing cuts or we're seeing, you know, minor, minor differences. Um, so could you just help me sort of understand like if this is the new normal, why is it the new normal? Why are we budgeting for, um, you know, like $800,000

▶ 15:41 of additional salaries over the 2025 original budget? Um, and, and are we gonna get hit with this and an overtime bump down the road? We should not be hit with the overtime bump down the road. I mean, barring anything that I can't see in the future. We are not, we are not, not now not in the position to have to hire paramedics, which was a huge burden. We could not find any, I hired six people this year. There was training for those people had to go to the academy. They had to be oriented. There was overtime costs and all of that for the people to train them. And then when they went to the academy to backfill them. Um, so like I said, I have two that are gonna finish up by September and that's it.

▶ 16:28 I should be fully, i'll fully staffed as of that date. So with the contractual obligations, with the collective buying agreement, that's the increase you see up. But the overtime should be pretty darn close to that 4 89. That's, um, that's barring, you know, forcing any injuries, any long-term injuries, any long-term, six maternity leave, anything like that. Um, as long as nothing crazy happens in that respect, I'm hoping I should not be back here like I have been. So, so are, are we budgeting a 17% salary increase because of the collective bargaining agreements? Basically? Yes. The, um, the salaries that two salaries, the ambulance part of the budget that we don't have anymore paid for eight,

▶ 17:22 Ryan Williams: but we were down six, so we're still paying for two now they're back to the fireside. And so that's, that bump comes out of that one. So it's gotta go up on the fire end. Um, so that collect, I mean, I think that comes up maybe two salaries come up into the bite that were in the ambulance side. Yeah. That's not counting the six that we didn't have, that we were playing, that were budgeted in 2025 that weren't there, but we had to fill them with all overtimes. Yeah. And operationally, I understand that the ambulance has been hard to fulfill Yes. To operate, yeah. Yes. Financially. Um, am am I, is there something, is there some, like we don't, we're not having any more revenue from the ambulance department, so losing the ambulance,

▶ 18:14 is this a net positive financially for the city or is it more about operational efficiencies? At the moment, it's a net positive for the city. We were, we were losing money because we were having to pay so much overtime to staff it. Of course. That's why, um, you know, it should, it should always be, I believe it was set up to maybe some years, make some money, some years make not money, but say it was roughly about a million dollars worth it's budgeted for. If it made a hundred thousand, that would be great. Yeah. If it costs 900,000 and we didn't, when we made 900,000, it cost us a hundred thousand to operate it for that year. However, the overtime costs have just been skyrocketing to fulfill these, um, to fill all these spots that,

▶ 18:59 Ryan Williams: Are there any new hires captured in the 2026 budget line or is this all existing staff? It's All existing staff. Okay. Okay. I have, I have, um, you know, with with, um, with candor I have, I have a hard time understanding this sort of consistent increase alongside the discussion that I've heard about. Um, you know, how eliminating the overtime burden is going to help us be more financially stable. 'cause it looks to me like it's actually increasing our costs as we go from 2025 to 2026. Right. So the 2025 original budget's like 4.9 and the 2026 original budget is 5.7. So that's where my mind is, you know, I'm looking at it like we've done the work and I understand the, the story, but at the end of the day, there's an additional $700,000 in

▶ 19:50 Ryan Williams: salary costs that are in the fire department in 2026 that were not there in 2025. And of course, it's in the backdrop of the school budget and everything else that we've been talking about, and people fighting over $150,000. So that's, you know, I'm looking for some like, help feeling good about, um, about that, about the increase. I don't know how to have made you feel better about it. However, the fire department has been, I believe, under budgeted for, for a long, long, long time. Mm-hmm. I believe we are finally now getting to a healthy footing. Mm-hmm. Um, with this FY 26 budget. Um, not foreseeing, I mean, not seeing anything unpredictable. We should be in very good shape. We've been struggling for many years now to hire folks

▶ 20:42 and probably at least back to 18, we've been struggling and struggling trying to do it, trying to recruit people. We believe now, now that we're gonna get our staffing, our budget budget items, people can feel they're being, um, budget staffed. There's no risk of losing in the firefighter's mind since we don't have the ambulance. We are roughly now down one firefighter on the fire ground. So to, you know, because we don't have the ambulance, we we're be responding. Um, so in essence, we have a compromise at, uh, a net one on the fire side, I believe, which we wouldn't have. Typically the ladder would be staffed with only three people. Now it's gonna be four. So we have a third person when everybody's there, the fourth person,

▶ 21:36 Kimberly Vandiver: and now we can function like a full ladder company that can now operate a ventilation. When two people go inside search and rescue, two people go on the roof to help ventilate. Um, otherwise with three, it's very difficult. Understood. Yep. Understood. Okay. I appreciate that. Thank you. Mm-hmm. What's that? Councilor Williams? I am. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, counsel. Vandiver. Vanderberg. Uh, thank you. Um, I appreciate, uh, through the chair. I appreciate, uh, the line of questioning. Uh, that was one area that I was also interested in that, um, that Councilor Williams I think has covered pretty well. Um, my other questions, um, I, I know you cut, uh, a line item about mutual aid. Um, I assume that's the planning for SP spending, but,

▶ 22:29 but any mutual aid agreements between cities are still In place? They still Yes, they're still in place? Yes. Okay. Um, that, that was a line item I believe that was always put there because if say there was a big fire and we had mutual aid companies, and typically the chief would go out and get like water replenishment supplies, food for the, for the personnel there. And so he had that item in his budget to use at the discretionary funds for that type of incident. But typically, um, things have changed over the years. Um, Armstrong Ambulance has a vehicle that they can bring that can bring, you know, cold drinks and stuff like that for us. So it's not something we really use anymore. Um, so that's why that one's out.

▶ 23:18 Kimberly Vandiver: We, we historically haven't used spend there. Um, Great. And, um, I, I also noticed you, you said over 4,000, um, calls last year. Yes. Um, which surprised me, that's about 10 a day, right on average. Mm-hmm. Um, could you, um, break down for us, what are kind of the top three? Is it mostly, you know, medical? What, what do you, what types of things are happening 4,000 times? It's, It's mostly medical aids. We do a lot of medical aids. Um, just as a matter of fact, just about 30 minutes before this, um, we had a medical aide at the Elmhurst Nursing Home. Then they had another one over on, I forget what street it is, but then the vote graduation is going on, and there was a call for medical aid there.

▶ 24:08 Um, so we had three going on at once. Um, and then the first one cleared up, they were able to go to that one at the high school field, and then a fourth call came in right after that up at Stillman Road for an alarm. Um, so that's basically a lot of things that we do. We go to medical aid, we do a lot of lift assist. We go to folks homes. Um, fortunately they're able to still live in their house and, but they fall, they just can't get themselves back up. They call for assistance, make sure they're not hurt, make sure they're okay. We help them up if they're okay. We, um, we say, you know, call us next time, can you help? And then if not, we call an ambulance to take them to the hospital. Um, then other calls or alarms, whether they're household

▶ 24:57 or commercial alarms, we respond to those. Unfortunately, most of 'em are false, um, or they're unintentionally triggered. Um, we really haven't had many fires. We had one on Upham Street, maybe a little over a month ago, just happened pass by, saw that one, um, started, got the mulch on fire on the front lawn, which got up in the porch. Luckily it was in the middle of the afternoon. Someone saw it and able to take forth too much damage, got to the house. Um, the same thing happened with the dump, I think, on Sixth Street. So it was remodel of the home fire started on the dumpster that's right next to the house passer by saw and called it. And we put that out for damage, the house. And fortunately, those for those folks were away.

▶ 25:41 Kimberly Vandiver: So luckily somebody went by and saw it. So we've been extremely lucky in that respect to catch these things. And they're incipient stages before they get too far away. Great. Um, and that's basically, other than then there's a lot of, um, we call 'em service calls. We have water problems, strange odors and things like that. Okay. And, um, hearing that and that, you know, a lot of those calls are not, you know, don't necessarily need the ladder truck for some of those types of things. Since we won't have the ambulance service, are we going to be sending out big trucks more often now because that's the vehicles that you have available to that type of call? Or is there any other type of truck or vehicle you could send to those types of,

▶ 26:25 So how, how we operate is for a medical, our medical aids, let's say we send the nearest fire department truck, whether it's engine two, engine three of the ladder and the ambulance, which was our rescue, which now is action ambulance. So we'll continue to operate in that. Okay. That respect, like the medical aid spoke about over at Fred Greenfield Engine two promptly went over there from right down the street, waited for Armstrong Ambulance to tend to the, the person. Um, and that went for all of those medical aids that we went to. Uh, that's just where we operate. Gives us a fail safe. Something happens with the ambulance, gets it to an accident, mechanical problems. We've already, we've already probably made

▶ 27:09 contact with that person. Um, so it's really just a backup. And then also, like I said, we do about 10 calls a day. Most of 'em are medical aids. We two people carrying 10 people out a day, that's pretty rough going. So the crews are also there to assist bringing gear in, help them package a person. Um, if they're waiting for them to arrive, they can get a medical history, start taking vital signs. We carry, um, a ED automatic defibrillator and the Lucas device to help do compressions. They can start CPR right away. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that, that, that makes sense. And, um, yeah, I'm glad that you're getting to people as soon as possible. I, I wonder if, and I know we're getting out of the city ambulance business,

▶ 27:54 but it, it sounds like it, some point down the road, it might make sense to have more additional small vehicles to like quickly get places as well. The, the, the trouble with that is, um, um, is if you take the smaller vehicle, let's say for instance we had like a pickup truck and we stand, instead stand the ladder, we're gonna take the pickup truck to the medical aid. So if they're on the medical aid and then a call comes for a fire, now they have to back to the station and get the ladder truck. Mm-hmm. So it's just a matter of, you know, getting them out. I know it's wear and tear on the trucks, but it is good to get them out running their, their, you know, they're trucks. See, um, um, but unfortunately the life of a firetruck is not easy.

▶ 28:41 Um, stopping and starting with not long runs, which trucks are made to do. Um, however, it just doesn't be how of us to have another set of vehicles to take to medical aids or smaller, small things. Lots of times, sometimes you can't get into the house. They call for the medical aid, you have to like try to get into a window or something like, so it's good to have a ladder or stuff like that. Mm-hmm. Okay. That makes sense. Especially that you wanted to keep the firefighters with the firefighting truck in case they need to go from there to some to Someplace else. Sure. And their equipment is with them, you know, um, also, and just as another back fail safe, even though the ambulance has the same

▶ 29:22 Manjula Karamcheti: or more equipment, they'll have a defibrillator and the, um, Lucas device, but they're all mechanical devices and subject to failure, they run on batteries. Batteries always run low. So we always have another set of gear there also. Mm-hmm. Great. That, that's all the questions that I had. Thank you very much. Oh, Thank you. Thank You Council. Common shady. Thank you Chair. Uh, thank you so much for being here, chief. I feel like some of my questions have been asked already. And so I just wanna say back to you what I think I'm understanding kind of as my question related to over time and staffing. So I think what I'm hearing you say is that this coming year, we are going to be towards that number of 50 that you feel like is really needed, um,

▶ 30:11 Manjula Karamcheti: to have like a full team. Yes. And so with that full team, it is very possible that we won't go over on overtime because we'll actually have the capacity to serve the community and not ask our firefighters to work double shifts, triple shifts, um, because we have coverage. Exactly. That's okay. Like I say, we have, we now have like one man on the bench on each group so that now instead before like this past year, the past few years, if one person was on called out sick, that was automatic over time on vacation, you tried to fill it. If you couldn't fill it, um, it's overtime, you know. Um, and then if no one takes it, then that per person gets held. So now that we have one man on the bench,

▶ 31:05 Manjula Karamcheti: if say one person calls out that man that the fourth guy on the ladder truck can now take that person's place wherever they're supposed to be. Okay. At least we at least have one. So it should, you know mm-hmm. Theoretically reduce this over Time. Yeah. Okay. And that totally, that's great to hear. And because I, I see sort of where the, the budget sort of gets us is in that overtime and you know, I'm seeing in 2025, it's almost 1000000.5, but if we are able to have a full staff and do what you're describing, then that 489,000 will just be what we need. And so while we see an increase in your budget overall, we'll actually potentially still be less than what we generally end up being at the end of the year

▶ 31:57 Manjula Karamcheti: because of that, those extreme overtime costs. Exactly. It's kind of how I'm processing it. We believe that these numbers and the mayor's proposal for 26 should be very solid numbers. That's, that's what we believe at this point. Um, so I'm hoping I don't have to come back at all. Um, No, this makes good sense to me. I really appreciate it. It's it, thank you for letting me kind of ask the questions over again and, um, it seems like the right way to go to be at full capacity and make sure that our firefighters get the rest that they need and that others are able to respond. Exactly. Injuries are so costly. Yeah. Thank You so much. I'm all set Chair. Thank you. Council Stewart. Thank You Mr. Chair. Thank you,

▶ 32:43 Robb Stewart: chief White. Um, and, uh, you partially answered the questions through some of this discussion, um, because, um, I was wondering a lot about the budgetary aspect as well, but the way I see it right now is plus 700, minus 500 on the, the overtime. And you have, um, the new negotiated, uh, rate based on the, uh, uh, collective bargaining, um, which could contribute partially to that extra $200,000. So it feels like you're actually pretty close to what you were last year. Um, uh, net. Net. And I have written it down that you're not coming back. You said it right here in the chamber itself. I'm Hoping I wrote it down. My fingers crossed Chief White will not come back. Let's give you 20 seconds. No.

▶ 33:29 Robb Stewart: Um, but I do appreciate, the other thing I just want to comment on is I wanna congratulate you on hiring in the market for getting six additional resources. Um, we hear it both on your side as well as on the, on the police side. Uh, the challenges, uh, because of the, um, the lack of, uh, qualified talent that's available in the market. So very well done. And it, it, it secures I think, us for, uh, a good position going forward. So thank You. Yeah, I think we're a good spot. And the foreseeable future in that respect is, is still looking dim. Um, yeah, you know, for the, the paramedic, um, market is so down. Um, I heard one, one thing I believe during the pandemic, it might have been 21 or 22, the national ERMT registrated,

▶ 34:20 typically they, they give 15,000 new paramedic license per year nationwide. And that one year it was like 500. So that's, that's the decrease in the, in the people coming into the field is almost nil. So that, and that's what nationwide where everybody is struggling. Alright. Temper state. Thank you, chief. Thank, thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you. Councilor Stewart, counselor, uh, remodel. Thank you mu uh, so much. Chief Boyd. Um, did you say that number was 300 just now or 500? Um, can't believe I misheard. Oh, 500. Yes. 500. Okay. So we're a third of nationally. Uh, the applicants are, well, That's it, it drops absolutely significantly. You know, that's remarkable. And, um, and then, and it's reflected now and,

▶ 35:03 Devin Romanul: and all the departments are running, ambulances are struggling to maintain their staffing levels. Yeah. Um, I had a couple of colleagues answer some of my questions, but I I wanted to ask, you know, similar to how we have made, um, equipment and, you know, Chromebook purchases for the schools in order to protect in, uh, FY 25 free cash to protect teacher salaries and ffy 26, you mentioned the turnout gear, I think was 75,000, um, to MA that we made for, uh, free cash and FY 25 to protect salaries and FY 26. I'm, I'm wondering, is that a, just for the public's, um, knowledge of how we think about budgeting every year, is that a line item that you think you'll need in FY 27? As we think about making those free cash allocations,

▶ 35:48 Devin Romanul: those theoretical one-time expenses are being made for categories now that will need every single year. Um, just as a sign of, of tightening times. I'm just curious if that's the kind of thing or other equipment purchases that you would normally work into your budget that were now funding via free cash? That's a very good question. We, the, um, turnout gear is not a one time thing. They have a lifespan of about 10 years, and each firefighter has two sets. And so Captain Noble, who's in charge of the turnout gear, has a list. So we, we are anticipating a large cost in FY 26, uh, to expenditure because say this year I hired six guys, so let's say theoretically I buy, gonna need 12 sets of turnout gear.

▶ 36:32 Devin Romanul: So in 10 years, just for those six, I'll need 12 and, you know, 10 years from now. And so unfortunately, as we would love to have it very evenly spaced out every year, it does not work out that well. Mm. So this year wasn't a lot purchase, but we're anticipating, I believe I, it's like eight 16 to 18 sets, something like that have to purchase. Um, I believe that comes very close to that $90,000, $8,000. Yeah. You said it's, how, how much is each set of turnout gear? I believe it's around 3,800. That's Helpful. Thank you. Um, and my other question was, you know, certainly don't want you to have to walk through the status update of, uh, where we are in every single truck in the fleet. But as we think about longitudinal budgeting, um,

▶ 37:23 Devin Romanul: anticipated capital costs such as needing a new truck, it's, you know, an x number of years. Are there those sort of big, um, step functions in terms of expenses that the administration or the council should start to think about? You know, as we are having budgetary conversations with the community, That, that's another very good question. Um, at the moment, we, we do have that a frontline truck should be on the, um, on the front line for about 10 to 12 years. So our old, our engine four, which is a spear, is a 2007. So that's gone past way past that. And our next door engine three is a 2010. So that's already coming past that. So we should be, we should have ordered, um, we should have ordered one to replace our spare,

▶ 38:11 to put our engine three to make that the spare. We should have ordered that already, but this year there was no, um, capital expenditure. Um, so I gotta wait another year. Unfortunately, the manufacturers are so backed up. The last time I spoke with our rep, it was a 40 month wait once you sign a contract. So in essence, I'll be looking at buying two pumps, you know, when we come around to that capital gains. And also, fire department maintains a city municipal fire alarm system that, um, superintendent Walsh uses uses bucket truck to take care of the wires. And that truck is in 1997, that is severe body rot, and that's looking to replace the cost of about 150,000 or fire trucks. Pumps are now getting close to a million a piece

▶ 39:05 Devin Romanul: with ladder about a million and a half. So there are some significant capital expenditures that we're gonna be coming across very soon. Um, that's remarkable. And I'm, I really appreciate you saying this to us and to the community so they understand that these are things that, you know, there, there is a cost to not investing in our infrastructure, uh, on a timely basis. Just Another point of having a spare. We have, we now have a spare ladder and a spare engine, and we also work part of our mutual aid agreements. Right now, our spare engine four is in Malden. Their engine one is out of service. So we let them borrow it. You know, if someone needs a ladder truck, we let them borrow a ladder truck,

▶ 39:43 FedEx point out we are down and we need a spare truck. We can, you know, work amongst all the people in our mutual aid agreement who has a spare one too. So we do have them and they do get used. We lend them out a lot, um, to help the other departments when they're in trouble, you know, so sort of a, you know, a good neighbor benefit to having those spares around. Yeah. That's great. Alright. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. You're welcome. Thank you. Um, anyone else? For the first time? For the second time, I got Councilor ro, then Councilor Williams. Councilor Ro, Thank you again for all this explanation. Um, I'll try not to long with this, but I just wanted to talk a little bit about just to, so

▶ 40:25 the general public can understand the reason why we don't have our ambulance is specifically because we cannot actually, we, we can't find a available trained paramedics to be to staff it. Correct? Correct. Okay. We, We, that's been very difficult. I think when we started our ambulance in 2012, we've lost 15 paramedics not due to retirement. Mm-hmm. They've gone off to other jobs. And so we've all, we've been struggling to backfill those guys this whole time. Um, and because COVID lack of interest in being in that, uh, field, it's been very difficult to replace those folks. The folks you hire typically are very new and the fire department has not set up an infrastructure in EMS to really train people.

▶ 41:19 Cal Finocchiaro: Mm-hmm. You know, we were very fortunate to get trained people when we hire them. That's not the case anymore. They're coming in very green and they need a lot of training and we just don't have the means to do it. Mm-hmm. So we have those, these a double, not a double-edged swords, like two swords. We just have can't do it. And it's been, as you can see in our budget crushing. Yeah. Um, just because of feedback from the community. It's a lot of disappointment that, you know, it's nice when you have familiar faces coming to your house. I mean, I've experienced that myself over the years living here. You have the same, you know, face is coming to your house to help you with a medical issue. Um, but, you know, people need to understand that this is

▶ 41:59 what, this is what happens when you just cannot and we can't just keep on paying overtime. And, you know, it's a lot of work for the firefighters to cover those shifts too, so. Right. One of the, one of the benefits of not having to hire paramedics anymore, paramedics were hired off the state firefighter civil service list. And so lots of them don't come from Melrose. We prior, when we just hire firefighters, they would have residency preference. Mm-hmm. So now we hiring firefighter EMTs and we'll hire them off the residence list. So hopefully we'll be getting back to seeing more familiar faces of your neighbors. Um, which is something that I've taken a lot of pleasure in my years of service, being able to go

▶ 42:40 Ryan Williams: to folks' homes that I know mm-hmm. To see that look of, they know they know me or they know one of people that I'm with get that sense of relief. You know, that help is there. Great. Thank you. Mm-hmm. Council Williams. Thank you. So I did a little quick math while we were sitting here and I wanted to test my assumptions 'cause I think I came up with a really good, uh, really good set of figures. So the budget that we're provided by the city is dated May 1st, 2025. Right. The fiscal year end six 30, which means that we're missing about 20% of potential expenses from these documents when we look at the 20, 25 year to date spend. Right. Your overtime is probably not really consistent. Would you say that's correct?

▶ 43:25 Ryan Williams: That you're overtime this big chunk of overtime? Like are you, are you continuously accruing more overtime in May and June of this year? That's a tough question answer. Sure, sure. Okay. Um, however, as we approach the summer months vacation period picks up. Yeah. Okay. So we, we do expect a a, a uptick Okay. In, um, Overtime and you have Vacation anyways, you Know. Yeah. And your salaries are consistent, right? Yes. Salaries are Consistent. So if you look at the 2025 number of $4.1 million for salaries, and you assume that that number is spread evenly over 10 months, the last two months of the year should cost us about $800,000. And if we have some overtime in there that could cost us, you know, eight 50, $900,000.

▶ 44:15 Ryan Williams: My assumption is that the actual 2025 year end spending for the Melrose Fire Department will be over $6 million and it will be closer to $6.4 million when all is said and done at the end of the year. Which means that a budget request of $5.7 million for the full year is actually a 10% reduction in the amount of money that we're gonna spend on the department this year. I believe you're correct. I mean, I think it helps, you know, 'cause the, the doc the documents are, are very challenging to read sometimes. Yeah. So as I look at my budget so far, year to date, um, I believe, when was this As of six four? Yeah. Um, under s salary and wages I've spent almost 4.6. Yep. That would be an extra $400,000 for that month.

▶ 45:06 Ryan Williams: And so I have left from, to get through this month, $331,000. Right. Um, however my overtime I've gone Oh, I mean, minus $194,000. Right, right, right. Okay. At this point in time. Okay. This makes a lot more sense to me in the context of, of the year to date figure in the budgets we have in the record being two months shy of a full year and actually shows a pretty big decrease in the amount of spending that we're planning for this year because of the tighter controls on salaries and hopefully less overtime. Exactly. I I think now we're gonna have much, much more predictable scheduling, um, and less overtime. Um, again, stress enough having a bench, you know, to at least not have the first person who's on vacation

▶ 46:01 Ryan Williams: or out sick causing overtime, man for man overtime is grueling. And all these numbers reflect that. Mm-hmm. But we're saying, um, believe this s**t, but we are gonna have one guy on each group's bench to at least catch that first one. Yeah. And that's all, and that's all good. I think that's all really important. I think for me the most important pieces, understanding that the numbers that we're seeing don't reflect the last two months of the year. So when it says there's a, you know, when it, when it talks about some of the increases, we're really not capturing the truth of the 2025 budget in this document, which is, is what it is. Um, but certainly, you know, a a a great thing to save 10% off the budget for next year.

▶ 46:43 Um, the second thing I want to do is just piggybacking on Councillor Vandiver, if you're not having the ambulance service in Melrose, do you have an open bay in the, in the plan for the fire stations? Um, we don't. We Okay. I'm the ambulance, you know, occupies the rescue bay now. Okay. Um, and this is something we did previously in the early two thousands I believe we had. Okay. Private ambulance service back then before we started our ambulance service back up. Okay. And that's where they ran out of headquarters, third Bay. Um, and there's a couple of rooms where they, they they stay. Um, and, um, we'll continue like that. We'll need to have an ambulance in the city. And personally I just feel

▶ 47:29 Kimberly Vandiver: when it's, and under my control under, in my, one of my facilities, I can really have a good eye grasp on where it is at all times. And, um, just like it's one of my own trucks. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Counsel Stewart, Mr. Chair, I make a motion to recommend this to full counsel. Second, We have a motion to recommend department 2 21, uh, the bar move, move the bottom line of, uh, department 2 21. Fire by Councilor Stewart, seconded by Councilor Chetty on discussion. Discussion. Council ver Thank you. Uh, two follow up questions. One is, um, when we, given, um, that we have Arm Armstrong Ambulance now, um, next year at the same time at the year when we get the update, will it, will the Melrose Fire Department have done 4,000

▶ 48:23 Kimberly Vandiver: calls again? Or would that be decreased because there would be some that are fully handed over to Armstrong? It should be the same. It should be the same. We, we always say, we always send the nearest truck to all medical aides. We don't send the ambulance alone. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I just, at some point, if the budget becomes constrained, it seems like we may at some point want to consider that because I, I think in my private life, if I, you know, were to call for an ambulance, I wouldn't necessarily expect the backup even though it would be good and helpful. You know what I mean? Like, I think there could be a scenario where an ambulance would be enough, um, that we might wanna consider at some point.

▶ 49:06 One of the things that folks have to remember is the, the call we get for the problem is most of the time isn't exactly what's going on. So we always have to, you know, hope for the best and plan for the worst. So that's why we like to have the firetruck with the ambulance in case they run into you or someone just happens to be really going down, um, to quickly get them outta their house, which is not an easy thing to do, um, in most cases. And get them to the hospital as quick as possible. I mean, time is of the essence. Um, would there be, just in terms of like routing the calls, so if a resident of Melrose or someone visiting Melrose for, for whatever reason, calls 9 1 1, so that would route and it would send both?

▶ 49:52 Kimberly Vandiver: Or is there, is there any way, does it always send both or depending on how they call, Who they call? Yeah. 9 1 1 calls go to the police station. That's what they call the psap. Okay. That, so they get all the nine one calls and, excuse me, nothing has really changed from near end. When they get the call and they get, it's a medical aid, they call the fire department and say we have a medical aid at 1 2 3 Main Street, and then we dispatch the nearest engine company or truck company and the ambulance. Okay. Okay. Understood. And, um, second follow up, um, would be given that, you know, this sub-functions are moving to Armstrong, um, how much visibility will we have into if average response time changes or cost to residents changes?

▶ 50:38 Um, just like visibility into how they're running their business compared to how we ran the ambulance. We are planning, um, part of this agreement, I've spoken with the mayor, um, about putting in an ambulance oversight committee. It's, it's, I believe it's in the charter already, the last time we had a private ambulance, two, to watch these things. Um, their costs, uh, you know, depend upon Medicaid, how much they get back and everything. So they're fairly regulated on that end. Um, and to the cost of the residents, I can't imagine would be any more because I know that our billing was pretty close to the top of that as far as we could get with the Melrose fire. That's what our billing was.

▶ 51:26 So we know we're at the top of line. We couldn't, if we didn't have, we continued on with the Melrose Fire Rescue when the mayor asked can we increase revenue? We couldn't increase our fees on that any further. We were at the top of that line. So I can't imagine the cost from Armstrong being significantly more than we were charging already. Okay. Thank you very much. Mm-hmm. Thank You. Um, just a quick note to the committee. We have, we're gonna have to gavel out in a few minutes to go to finance and then gavel back in. So is there anyone else? Council Just wanna make one comment through the chair. Um, to consulate van's point, I was told many years ago, if you have a real emergency, pull the fire alarm

▶ 52:06 Cal Finocchiaro: because the firefighters are always, and any emergency I've ever had, whether it was a, a kid with croup or somebody with a real, like terrible emergency, the firefighters are always there first. So I'm just saying like, I know we're questioning like whether we should send them out or not. I just find that if you ever look on an emergency on the highway or something, the firefighters are always first to get there. And actually a firefighter told me once, you know, always pull the fire alarm because they're first to respond. So, which The, the, the fire alarm system, you see, you see the boxes on the poles and on the building that actually, um, rings right in dispatch. Mm-hmm. The second you pull it, it's

▶ 52:45 that there's a number on each box and that number is associated with the address where it is the location of it. And so when the number comes in for that box, we just look it up, we find out where it is, and then we respond. So it's the fastest mm-hmm. Way to get a response would be by pulling it. But cell phones and everything, everybody's close to their phone. Most people don't really know where the nearest one is at all time. So that's taken over. But cell phones can be routed by law. They can only be routed three times and then they gotta finally get stopped and, um, answered. Um, so there could be, cell phones can have a round, round the way to get back to us. And in regards to, let's say this building has a fire alarm system

▶ 53:30 that's attached to municipal system. So a fire alarm goes off here, it's instantly ringing next door at the fire station, whereas the other options have a centrally monitored with a fire alarm goes off, it goes back to a company that monitors the equipment, then they call the fire department. There's that little delay. That's the difference in those systems. Yeah, I'm just saying anytime I've had an emergency, the firefighters are there first. So yeah, That's, that's, you know, what we hang our hat on. Quick response. Okay. We have a, uh, motion on the floor. We're on discussion. Anyone else? Okay. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? That bottom line will be Moved. Next up. Uh, actually let's take a motion to recess

▶ 56:21 and, um, thank you for all that you do, especially given this challenging budget season. Um, I think most of you know me. I am the director over at the Council on Aging. So, um, we manage the administrative portion of our department. We oversee the accessible transportation services and, um, administer the social services program as well as the Melrose Emergency Fund. Um, we also had the Milano Center, which provides, um, educational, recreational, and, um, health and wellness programs for members of the community over the age of 60. Um, I wanna take just a moment to thank my staff and volunteers who make everything we do possible. Um, this year has been both successful and challenging. Um, we've seen a large increase in daily attendance at the,

▶ 57:11 uh, Milano Center compared to previous years. Um, this calendar year, we are averaging so far about 94 different people a day, um, into the building. So, um, when I started back in 2021, that number was around 50. So we've almost doubled our daily attendance, which has been, um, you know, great for our, our goals of getting new folks in the door. Um, but also comes with some, you know, spatial challenges and, uh, some wait lists on events and trips and things like that. So, um, tonight we're not requesting, um, an increase in funding to support this, you know, proportional increase, um, of attendees. Uh, instead we are proposing to move, uh, roughly 45,000, uh, off of the city budget to our state formula grant.

▶ 57:59 Um, in order to support the city's budgetary constraints. Um, this move is the equivalent of the driver salaries for the year. Um, this will have, you know, direct implications for, for programming as that fund is usually what we pull from, um, to, to fund programs. Um, we may have to rely, you know, more heavily on other grant opportunities, um, going forward. Um, though some of our existing grant funding is, um, maybe up in the air due to the federal administration changes, um, we'll do our very best not to pass costs onto, um, our participants. Um, but this may look like scaling back a little bit on programming. Um, but we'll do our best to, you know, keep up our, our, our standards of, of, um, you know,

▶ 58:50 the level they're accustomed to. Um, well thank you for your time and I, uh, welcome. Any questions? Any questions from the committee? Council Stewart? Thank you. Mr. Chair, did you buy the van? Not yet. Not yet. I'm working on it. Okay, Great. I'm working on it. When do you think you'll have it by? What was that? When do you think you'll have it by? Um, the, one of the quotes that I have, they do have them available in stock. Um, so, uh, we're looking maybe in the next month or two, so. Great. Yeah. Great. Good luck with that. Thank you. Thank You, Mr. Chair. That's it? Yep. Council fro. Sorry. Just wanna make a quick comment. We were talking earlier. Um, just wanna thank you for all the great events that you do for the seniors.

▶ 59:29 Mark Garipay: This past Tuesday night, they had a prom. I was gonna try to make it there, but scheduling complex. Um, and you said it was a great time and I just think it's great all the stuff that you do there for the seniors, I think they, I think they really appreciate it and we appreciate you. So thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. And i's going to make a motion to move the bottom line. Second, We have a motion to move the bottom line by Councilor Ro, seconded by Council Stewart on discussion. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? That bottom line is moved second up. Uh, next up we have, uh, department 2 8 1 1 Council on Aging revolving account. Um, any questions on the revolving account or do you have anything?

▶ 1:00:17 Mark Garipay: Do you know the balance or, Uh, it's, I believe we're increasing it from 35 to, no, That's, um, oh, that's something else. We'll, we'll give That's next. That's another appropriation. Sorry. Are there any questions on the Council on Aging revolving account? No. Okay. Make a motion to move the bottom line. Second, We have a motion to move the bottom line of the Council on Aging revolving account by council fro second by council ti on discussion. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? That is moved. Um, just one thing, if, if the council, because we are, uh, running late. We have one order for, for Erica Brown, um, under request. Do you mind if we take that out of order? So Erica, Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion to take out

▶ 1:01:05 Mark Garipay: of order Request number. What's the id? Id, ID, 1 2 7 4 9 1 2 7 4 9. Okay, we have a motion to take ID. 1 2 7 4 9 reauthorization of the Council on Aging Revolving fund number 2 8 1 1 limit to be increased from 35,000 to 65,000 for fiscal year 2 20 25. Um, any questions? All in favor? What's the purpose Of, uh, we were take we were taking this out of order. Right? And we all Yeah, you're right. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Sorry. Opposed? This is now before us. Yes. Sorry. Uh, council Williams. Sure. What's the purpose For the increase? What's the purpose for the increase? Sure. Um, you know, we use the revolving account, um, as a money in money out account. Um, we pay our fitness instructors through there.

▶ 1:01:53 Mark Garipay: Um, we pay for, you know, uh, hired services like DJs and bands and things like that. Um, with the increase in participants and the increase in programs that we've, um, been able to put on, um, obviously more participants paying for events is more money in and then more money out. So, um, just increasing the cap to, uh, accommodate the growing numbers. Thank you. Council Stewart, I'll make a motion to recommend to the full counsel. Second, We have a motion to recommend ID 1 2 7 49 reauthorization of the Council on Aging Revolving Fund number 2 8 1 1 limit to be increased from 35,000 to 65,000 for fiscal year 2025, made by Council Stewart, seconded by Councilor Romanul on discussion. All in favor? Uh, let's take a roll call.

▶ 1:02:38 Mark Garipay: Vote on that if you don't mind. Sorry. Sure. Councilor Jamine. She stepped out. Okay. Councilor Occhio? Yes. Councilor Ra Chetty? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Elli? Yes. Chair Garipay? Yes. That will be, yep. I'm sorry. Okay, sorry. Passed. That'll be recommended for pastors. Thank you. Enjoy your night. Thank you Counselors. Have a Nice day. If I could also just, um, take another item out of, out of order. 1 2 7 3 6. Mr. Hank Keys has been with us patiently. Uh, could I someone give Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion to take, uh, ID number 1 2 7 3 6 outta order We have a motion to take id. 1 2 7 3 6 outta order and appropriation from PREC zero one dash 3 2 4 0 0 1 in the

▶ 1:03:28 Mark Garipay: amount of 32,000 8 16 2 Pine Banks number 6 52. Um, do a second by Council Romano, uh, on discussion. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? That order is in front of us. We have Mr. Hank keys there in front of us from Pine Banks. Just a little item. There was, uh, I don't know if there was a memo, but there is gonna be an amendment to this, um, to this dollar amount. Um, when it was originally done, it was, it was doubled up. Maldens gonna be paying half of it, so we'll do that at the end, but I will pass the, uh, The Floor over to Mr. Keer. Uh, just to explain, Um, What the purchase is. Um, I think it's, everything's been in your packet. Um, I believe it's a snowplow or some sort of snow. Okay. Am I correct in thinking that I'm out

▶ 1:04:18 of order but I'm not in trouble, Correct? Not yet. Alright, So did everyone get one of these? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um, the problem with Pine banks and has been since the beginning is you think about how much it costs to buy something. And the question is, well, is that per city or is that for the total? Then you're talking about increases and is that per city or just go around in circles. So what we try to do is on page five of this Book Is set up a common method of looking at this, um, which breaks out the prior year expense, the proposed budget, the flattened dollar increase, the percentage, increase the amount per city, and the dollar amount per city. Um, so if you get used to the columns and how they read, it's, um, pretty straightforward

▶ 1:05:22 and you avoid the question of who's on first, which has always been an issue with these. Uh, as I understand it, uh, one of the issues was an equipment purchase, which on page five is shown as item number 52. Uh, now 52 is a, it's marked as a type three. That means it's a one time capital expenditure, or it's amounts to amortize prior loans. So number 52 is for Ventra sidewalk Snow Removal Unit. Um, and that's a one time expenditure total, 31,000, 15,000 per city, which is pretty straightforward. Now, when we had our meeting with the board of trustees of Pine Banks, which included both mayors, uh, and I believe was circulated from the mayor's office to, uh, the board, uh, we had attached to that a copy of the invoice

▶ 1:06:32 and the flyer describing what the, uh, what the unit is. Essentially it's a, it's a thing that would do the sidewalk and it also has the ability to put down ice melt. Now the thing about pine banks is that it starts at the Forestdale Cemetery in Malden, wraps up to Sylvan Street and then goes over to Wyoming Cemetery, which is quite a rung for a crew of our size. So if we can find a way to do it efficiently, uh, this takes care of that. And we don't want people walking in the street. I think we've got a bus stop somewhere along that line. Um, and we're hoping to improve the general public gets an access to a non icy sidewalk. Um, the other items that were increased where utilities, and that's because fuel oil went up,

▶ 1:07:30 heating the house, and the other is that insurance went up. Um, I think everyone's read about that in the news. Insurance has gone up. Uh, Florida gets wiped out and California burns down and we all pay. Um, so those are the items. Uh, if you look at page five, there's a red box down there and that's where each of the, uh, financial folks upstairs carrying Chuck Han down in Malden, that's how much, uh, they're looking to send to Pine banks just for operations. Um, and that split 50 50, um, the equipment and capital purchases is on line, uh, 70, and that's $242,000 per city. Now. That includes amortizing a mass development bond in 2016, which allowed us to rebuild a rugby field, a baseball field,

▶ 1:08:39 and build the, uh, field house that's on a fixed amortization of 4%. Uh, it was done through mass development and East Boston Savings Bank, which is now, uh, Rockland Trust. And, uh, the good thing about that is that we have the ability to borrow some money without affecting the city's operations on debt. Um, the second loan on that is the, uh, supplemental facility loan that's on line 46. Um, that is a, uh, an additional loan amortizing, I think it was $800,000, uh, sufficient to make the, uh, the new shed, uh, which was put in line in 2022, replaced something that was put in line in 1963. And the first event that was there was the hosting of the Converse family reunion marking mere Converse's 200th birthday.

▶ 1:09:40 And we all enjoyed the party. Um, the third item on line 47 is, uh, amortizing a line of credit. Uh, the line of credit on that line is, uh, for a loan from the Adelaide Breed Baird Foundation. Uh, that's a foundation that was created by the owner of the Malden Indian News around 1926. Uh, it's got about 45 million in it, and I'm the president of it. The thing is that most of the people who are on that board played there, played at Pine Banks, uh, when they were kids, um, as the most of the trustees at Pine Banks Park played there. So the thing is, we were able to take that line of credit, it's based on a 4.25 10 year amortization. It's set up as a revolving line of credit pending the completion of construction.

▶ 1:10:38 We've been able to resurface the track. We've been able to resurface the, uh, baseball field by Main Street. I think there were photographs, uh, depicting that in this report. Um, those are completed. We've got a DA improvements over by the, um, the dog park. Uh, we've got a new playground that just came online. The playground is intended to be dedicated to, uh, Joan Bell, and I think there was another note of that. Uh, Joan and I worked on a lot of playgrounds, uh, so we're missing her, uh, working on this playground. Um, what else? Fixing the parking lot on Main Street in Malden. But the, uh, line of credit and the loan, uh, the good thing about that is that it has allowed us to the freedom to plan things,

▶ 1:11:31 Mark Garipay: get fixed prices, get it done, uh, and, um, keep the cost of it off the books. And the thing for the foundation, to be honest with you, it's as good a rate as we would've gotten with a bank, uh, with your fixed income investments. Thank You. Yeah, I, I, um, thank you. We are, um, in front of us as an, uh, appropriation of free cash. We've already approved the budget last, well, I don't even know these days are running together. Was it a Monday? Um, so the administration's paying, um, we're putting that into the budget through a free cash order, so in front of us as a free cash order for the snowplow. Very good. So our portion of that, so that's kind of, and you explained it in the memo that it's for

▶ 1:12:17 Mark Garipay: the sidewalks from Forest Steel to Wyoming Cemetery. Um, our portion of it is gonna be half of the 34,000. Um, so that's, um, that's kind of, um, why we had you here. Just explain a little bit about what the 30 well, what we thought was 34, You might think I like telling this story. We appreciate, we appreciate it though. We appreciate everything Pine D does for the kids. Um, I'm just going to, uh, hand the floor over to, uh, or hand it over to Const President Elli, just to make an amendment on That. Thank you. Um, Mr. Chair, I will, um, want a motion to amend the order. Uh, 1 2 7 3 6 2 appropriation from free cash zero one dash 3 2 4 0 0 1 in the amount of $17,296 to Pine Banks. Uh, 6 5 2. So that is increasing.

▶ 1:13:15 Mark Garipay: Um, the request amount is to account for the increases in expense line items totaling 1775 and for the Melrose share of equipment purchase, which is 15,520. One second. I'm sorry, we have a second by. Sorry. We have a second by Council Nucaro. Alright, we have a motion to re uh, to adjust the appropriation, uh, from 32 8 16 to 17 2 96 made by President Elli, seconded by Council Ro on discussion. Do I have Council Williams? Yeah, I just wanted to say this. So you're gonna, you're gonna plow the sidewalks around Pine Bank. That's the end of this. This is fantastic. That's the point. Yeah, It's fantastic. It's, it's, trust me when I tell you that this is one of, as a former Ward seven counselor,

▶ 1:14:05 Ryan Williams: and we have the current one sitting next to me, this is one of the things that I hear about with some frequency. And the armory is next. So convince them to buy a snowplow and we will be golden. Alderman Infurna was also equally a assertive in her Request. Yeah. So thank you for doing this and for thinking about this, and I really look forward to seeing it in action. Watch out for the fire hydrants. Yes. Just Point counsel. Yeah. Point of order. I just want to be sure that I'm, I'm clear. So all, all we're doing is we're cutting it in half because it's being shared between the two cities. Correct. Okay. Thank you. Thank You. So anyone else, um, on discussion, um, and Clark, can you please call the role for

▶ 1:14:45 Her? Yes. And Appropriation. Councilor fro? Yes. Councilor Caram Chetty. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councillor Williams. Yes. President Elli. Yes. Chair Garipay. Yes. Point of order. Is it, are we approving the amendment or the actual amend amendment? The amended. That was the amend. Do we need to, that was amended. Now we have to on it again. Yes. Now we need to recommend the amended orders. Mr. Chair, I will make a motion to recommend this item as amended. Second to the full counsel. We have, we have a recommended recommendation to, uh, to move, uh, to approve this item as amended by Council Williams. Seconded by council fro on discussion. Madam Clerk, can you please call the roll?

▶ 1:15:40 Mark Garipay: Yes. Councilor fro? Yes. Councillor Kara Chetty? Yes. Counselor Roman? Yes. Counselor Stewart? Yes. Counselor Vandiver. Yes. Counselor Williams? Yes. President Elli? Yes. Chair Garipay? Yes. That will be recommended for the full council. Thank you for AWAI Mr. Keer. Enjoy your night. See you soon. You, Hopefully you won't have to use that snowplow. Wouldn't that be nice? Alright, we're going back to, um, orders. We have, uh, order 1, 2, 6, 7, 5 reauthorization of the city of Melrose, revolving table for fiscal year 2024. 2026. Chair. I make a motion to hold the committee. We have a motion to hold order. 1, 2, 6, 7, 5 by Council Stewart Second. Second by Council Ro on discussion. All in favor?

▶ 1:16:37 Mark Garipay: Aye. Opposed? That order is, uh, held next up. Appropriations for FY 26 ID 1 12 6 7 8. Fiscal year 2026. Operating budget in the amount of $107,575,802. Mr. Chairman, make a motion to hold committee. Second, We have a motion to holding committee by Council Stewart Second. Seconded by Council Che on discussion. All in favor. A. Aye. Opposed? That is held in committee. Next up, we have ID 1, 2, 6, 7, 9 appropriation in the amount of 370,948. $948 and 80 cents from Perpetual Care. 12,000 sales of lots and Graves. 50,000 parking receipts. 75,000 bond premiums. 33,948 and 80 cents. And the Public Health Education Safety Fund, uh, 200,000 as funding source for the fiscal 2026 operating budget. President Mili?

▶ 1:17:40 Leila Migliorelli: Yes. Um, this order also needs to be amended. Um, so we are removing the appropriation request of 12,000 from Perpetual Care from this amendment. So the order is amended as follows, appropriations in the amount of $358,940 and 80 cents from sale of lots and Graves. 50,000 parking receipts. 75,000 bond premiums. $33,948 and 80 cents. And the Public Health Education Safety Fund, 200,000. Um, as funding sources of the fiscal 2026 operating budget. Mr. Chair, I'll second that motion to Amend. Okay. We have a motion to amend. Uh, ID 1 2 6, 7 9 made by President Meley Rally Seconded by Council Stewart on discussion. Uh, is this a roll call or can I just do voice on voice? You can do voice. Voice. Uh, all in favor? Aye.

▶ 1:18:46 Mark Garipay: Opposed? This order is in front of us as amended. Uh, I'd like to make a motion to recommend. Second. Second. We have a motion to recommend id. 1, 2, 6, 7 9. I'm not gonna read it again. Made by council Fanucchi sec. Motion to recommend as amended by Council Fanuc Chiro. Seconded by Council Stewart on discussion. Madam Clerk, can you please call the role? Yes. Council Fanuc Chiro. Yes. Councilor Kara Chetty? Yes. Counselor Roman? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Elli? Yes. Chair Garipay? Yes. Alright. All right. That will be recommended. Okay. Jumped around. Did just gimme one second. Alright, we're up to appropriations for 20. Uh, for appropriations for fiscal year 2025,

▶ 1:19:42 Mark Garipay: we have ID 1 2 7 2 6, and appropriation from free cash account 0 1 3 2 4 0 0 1 in the amount of 60,000 to office and planning and community development. Number 1 75. We have Ms. Laurie Masser with us. Hello. Thank you for having me. Yep. Um, so I'd like to, uh, request $60,000 of free cash to hire a consultant, um, to study two city owned properties. Um, that will be surplus soon. One is the police station as they transition to their new location, which is anticipated to be July 20, 27. And the other is the Ripley School, which will be vacant in July of 2026. Um, determining what to do with surplus land takes careful planning and study. Um, looking at the architecture of the building, the site,

▶ 1:20:28 the structural and mechanical conditions, materials in the building. Um, city's needs assessment and budget, engaging with residents in market analysis. Um, so it's recommended to hire a consultant to bring expertise to this process, uh, to ensure we have the best use of the properties moving forward. Council Williams, Is public engagement part of this contract or is that something the city's expected to do with the recommendations they receive? It would be part of the study of, um, you know, what the, the best use, um, looking forward. Um, So the, the consultants would conduct the public outreach as part of the study, right? Yes. Thanks. Council Nuo just Gonna make a motion to recommend. Second,

▶ 1:21:14 Mark Garipay: We have a mo motion to recommend ID 1 27 26 and appropriation for free cash. 0 1 3 2 4 dash zero uh, zero one dash 3 2 4 0 0 1 in the amount of 60,000. Office planning and community development number 1 75 made by Council ero Seconded by Councilor Romanul on discussion. Thank you. Council, um, is the 60,000 number, is that a quote that we've received? Or is that, is that, um, how specific is that? It's an, it's an estimate. Okay. At This point. Thank you. Alright. Anyone else? Madam Clerk, can you please call the rule? Sure. Sorry, sorry. Council Stewart. Thank You Mr. Chair. Um, thank you Ms. Ma, do we have, um, have you already identified who's gonna do the work? No. And is that gonna go out to bid for three? It,

▶ 1:22:06 Mark Garipay: Yes, we would go through the request for a qualifications. Okay. Okay. Um, I'm surprised it came before the that's what you typically do. Well, we need to know we have the money in order to put out the request Okay. To hire somebody. Okay. Sounds good. Thank you. Mme. Clark, can you please call the role? Yes. Councilor Occhio? Yes. Counselor Karen Chetty? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Vandiver? Yes. Counselor Williams? Yes. President Elli? Yes. Chair Garipay? Yes. That will be recommended. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, next up, um, we did on banks 1 2 7 4 7 appropriation in the amount of 27,000 for free cash count zero one dash three to 4 0 0 1 to retirement number nine 11

▶ 1:22:56 Leila Migliorelli: to reimburse pension costs. Um, we do not have Ms. Lata here. I don't know if, um, if anyone has any questions, um, Mr. Grimer can speak to it. Yes. Uh, or if no one has questions, I mean, what's it for? It says it right. Memo. My computer just crashed, so I'm trying to find it right now. Uh, president Elli. Okay. I'll just read that aloud and make a motion. But it's, uh, 27 to cover pension contributions for an employee that was on military leave appropriation Requestable cover the invoices received from the retirement office upon reconciling the employee's contributions. And with that, I make a motion to recommend the case. Second, We have a motion to recommend, um, where am I? 1 2 7. Four seven.

▶ 1:23:47 Mark Garipay: 1 2 7. Four seven. Yeah. Back page 1 2 7. Four seven. Um, made by President Elli. Seconded by, um, was it Council Williams or Council Hinney Ton. Council ache. Uh, on discussion. Madam Clerk, can you please call the role? Yes. Councilor fro? Yes. Counselor Kara Chetty? Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Elli? Yes. Chair Garipay? Yes. That will be recommended. Next up ID 1 2 7 4 8 appropriation in the amount of 150,000 from ambulance retained earnings. Count 6 5 0 0 3 9 0 to salary and wages overtime. And we have Chief White here. Evening. Welcome back. Um, Hi. Thank you for the opportunity. Um, you were asking for about $150,000 from the ambulance retained earning to go

▶ 1:24:52 to salary and wages and overtime. Excuse me. One second. Request here. So as we were talking about earlier, um, as we've gone through our, our sign, what we have left for the year, the appropriation 175, 150,000, um, we'll cover our, um, for our total salaries, we have a, a negative balance of six $6,661. Um, so with the 150,000, we'll cover that. We'll leave us 83,338 to get us through the rest of this year. Okay. Counsel Stewart? Thank you Mr. Chair, that's $66,661. What period does that cover? What time period does that occur? This is FY 25. The, so Just Double two. Okay. So you are over, this is over and above the $495,000 that was originally budgeted Way over, Or is it in addition to this?

▶ 1:26:10 Robb Stewart: Just trying to, so the $66,000 should cover a certain block of time, right? Because you're at, and the reason why I'm asking this chief is the, you're saying that you're gonna need another $83,338 to cover for the remainder. I'm just wondering how you got to that number Yes. To cover through June. Right. And, and, and how do you get to that number? We have, um, the original, the, the revised budget we have was $638,000. Salary wages with $125,000 in overtime. The year to date is for salary and wages is 5 67 2 5 8 with remaining for the rest of the year is $71,074. But in overtime we're over 262,000 as I year to date, 735, which gives us a Baal, a negative balance of 1 37 3 7 35 with a, you know,

▶ 1:27:15 Mark Garipay: adding the two together gives us a negative $66,661. Okay. Great. Okay. Thank you for that clarification. Uh, thank you Mr. Chair. Thank You. I'm sorry, who, uh, was there someone else I'll make a motion to recommend second motion to recommend. Um, ID 1 2 7 4 8 made by Council Machete. Seconded by Council Fanucchi on discussion. Madam Clerk, would you please call the, uh, role? Yes. Councilor Fanucchi? Yes. Counselor Kara Chetty? Yes. Counselor Romano? Yes. Counselor Stewart? Yes. Counselor Vandiver? Yes. Counselor Williams? Yes. President Elli? Yes. Chair Garipay? Yes. That will be recommended. Um, next up ID 1 2 7 5 2. And appropriate, Uh, Mr. Chair, can we move? Um, ID, 1, 2, 7 5 3 if the chief is gonna be here

▶ 1:28:11 Mark Garipay: to talk about the motor vehicle? Sure. So make, I'll make a motion to move 1 2 7 5 3 out of order. Second, We have a motion to move. 1, 2, 7 5 3 out of order made by President re second by, uh, council Stewart on discussion. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? That order is now before us. Um, I had a little more faith that we were moving pretty, pretty quickly then. Sorry. Um, chief, uh, next up is, uh, uh, ID 1 2 7 5 3 appropriation in the amount of 25,320 for from free cash. Zero one dash 3 2 4 0 0 1 to fire 2 21 for a motor vehicle repairs to ladder two. Yes. Thank you. I respectly request the supplemental appropriation of $25,000 319, um, to cover urgent necessary repair to our department's ladder two,

▶ 1:29:09 that's our spare ladder truck. Um, this is to address the, the Tiller steering, which is the very rare, has a steering, uh, component to it. And the steering component along with the suspension system has been made, has been made unsafe. So we had to have a send it back out in may, get an estimate for a pair of all that suspension and steering work of $25,000, $25,319. Um, currently our own, our budget line for vehicle repairs only has $23,713 in it. Um, that's why we're asking for this appropriation because we also have scheduled, planned, um, repairs to $10,000 to our engine two, 3000 to our engine three 5,000 for engine four and another 2000 for ladder testing, um, that we have planned for this month.

▶ 1:30:07 So to cover that repair we didn't see coming of the 25, um, $25,000 we're asking for this free cash. Um, that will cover our mechanical expenses through this year. Counsel Stewart? Thank you. Mr. Chair is Ladder two, the one that's lent out? Um, engine four is lent out right now. Engine two, I mean Ladder two is the ladder truck that sits at engine two on Tremont Street. Okay. So it wasn't, it wasn't lent out in any the, the recent past or anything? Oh, it was lent out to Revere, um, sometime in the winter for almost two months. Okay. And, and did we use it before or after that? Yes, because I, um, our ladder truck, um, I don't know offhand how many times it goes in and outta service, but once it goes outta service for repair

▶ 1:30:59 or maintenance, we bring ladder two in service. Yeah. Um, I don't have that right off the top of my how often that happens, right? Well, you see where I'm going? I mean, if Yeah, I see where you're going. If, If that, you know, I don't wanna pay for somebody else's damage is basically my point, right. Uh, if it's just, if it's wear and tear, are they contributing? If they're using it, Um, just as a, you know, a backup. I mean that's a 2007 truck that we've never done any steering or suspension work to it in its lifetime. Um, it just always passed inspection and we felt that it was good to go. So I, it would be hard pressed for me to try to, um, approach Revere Fi and say, I want you to contribute to our repairs.

▶ 1:31:46 Well, well let me, let me ask you another question. Is there reciprocal, uh, cooperation, uh, for similar type? And if there there is then it makes sense. Yeah. If there's something that's obvious they get into an accident or say they just hit a large pothole and something breaks right away. Um, the reci the community that's borrowing it takes care of those repairs. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Chairman. So will the committee, I'll make a motion to recommend. Second, we have a motion to recommend 1 2 7 5 3 made by Councilor Chetty. Seconded by Councilor Ro on discussion. Madam Clerk, can you please call the role Councillor Fanuc Chiro? Yes. Councillor Carrum Chetty. Yes. Councilor Romanul? Yes.

▶ 1:32:34 Mark Garipay: Councillor Stewart? Yes. Councillor Vandiver. Yes. Councillor Williams. Yes. President Elli. Yes. Chair Garipay. Yes. That will be recommended. Thanks Chief. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome to stay. I appreciate you off. 1, 2, 7, 5 2 in appropriation in the amount of $189,659 and 8 cents from peg access cable fund to MMTV in the amount of $151,727 and 27 cents in Melrose Public Schools in the amount of $37,931 and 81 cents. And we have Ms. McAteer Margolis with us. Welcome. Thank you. Good evening. I wasn't sure you wanted me here, but here I am. Okay. Always, always a pleasure. Yeah. Do you want to, uh, you wanna say anything or just Want to I did wanna remind you that, um, you know, we have a lot of new equipment

▶ 1:33:28 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: and in our studios to anybody wants to come down and expand on your roles here or discuss what's coming up in the fall. Um, in the political scenario of Melrose, we're always available to you and the rest of the general public. Of course. Alright, Great. Any, uh, any questions? Council Williams? What's, what's, I know we've talked about a downward, I know we've talked about a downward trend here. Um, are we still seeing that downward trend? Yes, I would say we are. Um, it's not pronounced, but um, you know, I'm concerned that it is going down gradually and we are supporting, um, legislation at the state level Oh, good for you. And federal level to, um, augment funding through, uh, internet and streaming ser streaming services in particular.

▶ 1:34:27 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: Um, it's always hope. Yeah. And we have, um, you know, we're a member of Mass Access and they have big advocates and a couple of the other, um, nonprofits. So hopefully That's great. And, and have you had any new conversations about your space? No, our space is great. Yeah. I mean, we actually just redid, uh, just reconfigured parts of it. Um, one of the main middle rooms. We, um, added some new monitors, big big monitors so we can see what's going out more visually. Um, you know, we're still, um, you know, we're, it, it's fine for, you know, working. We have the podcast station and, uh, we're actually hosting, um, again this year the rec departments film making class for a couple of weeks with, um, we have a lot of kids,

▶ 1:35:19 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: so it'll be interesting to see how we can squeeze 'em all in. But they're small, so. Yeah. No, we're, we're, we're we're plowing through. We're good? Yep. Good. Thank you. Council ro Sorry. Uh, thank you for being here. Um, the Melrose Public Schools, that's for the high school, correct? Yes. The programming Yes. That they do there. Mm-hmm. Yep. Which is excellent, by the way. Yeah. Thank you. And I know that the kids all love it. They do watch it. And We actually had four, um, senior interns this year, which, um, you know, the last few, what is it, six weeks, I think. Um, if they have a B or better average, they can choose an internship. And we had four of them this year and they were great.

▶ 1:36:02 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: They were great. And they did some really like, really, really good stuff. I mean animated and um, just really fun. So, um, it's exciting. You know, we always, they always come for like the six weeks and then a couple of them say, oh, can I come back over the summer before I go off to college? And yeah. So, um, yeah. So it's good. Yeah, It's really good. I have two kids in high school and they love the programming at the high school they put on stuff. Yeah. So well, we're happy that we were able to support it. Yep. Thank you. Yep. Anyone else? The will of the committee. I will make go. Go ahead boy. Thank you. I will make a motion to recommend to the full council. I'm Happy to second. Okay.

▶ 1:36:42 Mark Garipay: We have a motion to recommend ID 1 2 7 5 2 made by Council Williams, seconded by Councilor Ache on Ex on a discussion. Madam Clerk, please call the role Councilor Occhio. Yes. Councillor Karen Chetty? Yes. Councilor Romanul. Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Vandiver. Yes. Councillor Williams? Yes. President Elli? Yes. Chair Garate. Yes. That will be recommended. Thank you very much. Thank you for coming down. Appreciate It. Thank you to see you all at 360 Main Street. You're gonna see me there. Last up, last up we have ID 1, 2, 7, 5, 0 reauthorization of the recreation revolving fund number 2 6 5 2 limit to be increased from 550,000 from 4 75. It was kind of reversed, but caught me on that one.

▶ 1:37:37 I guess we have Miss Gr here to Yeah. Speak to it. I am here. Um, as you know, this order appeared for the first time just on Monday nights council agenda. Um, and so in scheduling the director of recreation, Frank Vie couldn't be here. So Team B, he got me here. Um, I know he spoke at length with you, you all on Monday night during his budget hearing about the need for, um, increasing this. Um, because recreation was moved off budget for fiscal year 2025 last year we did anticipate and now we're seeing that more funding for the rec department is needing from the needed from the revolving fund. Um, so this is requested to account for that additional spending. Um, and due to, you know, not only cutting the general fund,

▶ 1:38:21 uh, appropriation, but just increased costs. Um, and I know he is got some additional information he's gonna prepare for you all. So Thank you. Any questions, Mr. Chair? Make a motion to recommend this to the vote Council. Second, We have a motion to recommend ID 1 2 7 5 0 by Council Stewart seconded by Councilor Romanul. On on discussion. On discussion. Madam, please, please call the role Hence moment that guy's after you. He came at me too. Sorry. Please call the role Councilor Fanucchi. Yes. Counselor Karen Chetty. Yes. Counselor Romano. Yes. Councilor Stewart? Yes. Councilor Vandiver. Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Elli? Yes. Chair Garipay. Yes. That will be recommended. I know. Um, next up adjournment.

▶ 1:39:22 Mark Garipay: Uh, but one quick thing. We have Monday, we have I right now scheduled our last budget session. Um, if everything goes final vote to recommend the budget will be Monday and then we'll have next Thursday off and we'll come back for final vote the 16th. So moving right along. Motion Chair. I'll make a motion adjourn. Thank You. Uh, do we have to hope We have a motion to adjourn by Councilor Stewart? Seconded by Councilor Williams on discussion. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? We are adjourned. Aye. That's it. We are back in session for finance committee. Uh, we have six transfers in front of us this evening. Uh, the first transfer is ID number 1 2 7 3 5 A transfer in the amount of $85,000 from the health insurance.

Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2025-06-05

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