Legal & Legislative Committee — 2025-11-10
Attendance
Cal Finocchiaro ; Mark Garipay ; Leila Migliorelli ; Devin Romanul ; Kimberly Vandiver
Agenda
Minutes
Legal & Legislative Committee Monday, November 10, 2025, 7:10 PM City Council Chamber, 1st Floor 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER A. Attendees Meeting was called to order by Chair Jamaleddine at 7:10 pm Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Devin Romanul Vice Chair Present Cal Finocchiaro Ward 6 Present Mark Garipay Ward 4 Present Kimberly Vandiver Ward 5 Present Leila Migliorelli President, Ex Present Officio Member Maya Jamaleddine Chair Present Non-voting members Councilor Williams (co-sponsor), Councilor Karamcheti and Councilor Stewart were also present. II. MINUTES APPROVAL A. Legal & Legislative Committee Meeting October 20, 2025 6:45 PM Motion to unanimously Approve the minutes without reading made by Chair Jamaleddine. RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] AYES: Devin Romanul, Cal Finocchiaro, Mark Garipay, Kim Vandiver, Leila Migliorelli, Maya Jamaleddine NAYS: None III. PUBLIC COMMENT A. When: Nov 10, 2025 07:10 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Topic: Legal & Legislative Committee Meeting 1 Join from PC, Mac, iPad, or Android: https://cityofmelrose- org.zoom.us/j/95877605408?pwd=16gbmteNHwooPOQayMfygaGAvIuhas.1 Passcode:311318 Webinar ID: 958 7760 5408 Motion to Open public comment made by Chair Jamaleddine at 7:11 pm. There were no comments on the floor or via Zoom. Motion to Close public comment made by Chair Jamaleddine at 7:11 pm. IV. ORDINANCES A. Food Truck Operations within the City of Melrose Ordinance. Proposed Ordinance relative to Food Truck Operations within the City of Melrose.
(ID# 12951) City Solicitor Phillips explained the changes made to the previous version, including clarifying exemptions and simplifying the permit application process. Councilor Garipay proposed amending the distance to existing restaurants from 50 to 200 feet, which was seconded by Councilor Finocchiaro, though there was some debate about whether this should be temporary until approved locations are identified. The committee also discussed the need for written consent from restaurant owners and agreed that enforcement would be complaint-based through various city departments, with food trucks required to display their licenses in a conspicuous location. They debated language about providing or allowing dining furniture, with concerns raised about enforcement and inclusivity. The committee ultimately decided to hold the ordinance in committee for further review at their next scheduled meeting. Motion to Recess to start the Appropriations & Oversight meeting made by Councilor Garipay at 7:27 pm Seconded by Councilor Finocchiaro All were in favor and meeting was recessed. Meeting was reopened by Chair Jamaleddine at 7:29 pm. Motion to amend Section 127-14 regarding parking distance to a restaurant to be changed from 50 feet to 200 feet within the entrance of the restaurant. Seconded by Councilor Finocchiaro Motion passed. RESULTS: ACCEPTED AS AMENDED [5-1] AYES: Devin Romanul, Cal Finocchiaro, Mark Garipay, Leila Migliorelli, Maya Jamaleddine NAYS: Kim Vandiver Motion to approve the Solicitors changes and the amended changes proposed by Councilor Garipay and passed earlier in this meeting made by Councilor Vandiver. Seconded by Councilor Garipay. All were in favor and motion passed. RESULT: CHANGES ACCEPTED AND PASSED AS AMENDED [UNANIMOUS] 2 AYES: Devin Romanul, Cal Finocchiaro, Mark Garipay, Leila Migliorelli, Maya Jamaleddine, Kim Vandiver NAYS: None Motion to Approve the ordinance made by Councilor Romanul Seconded by Councilor Finocchiaro Upon discussion Councilor Garipay prefers to hold it and probably will not support this. Motion to Approve was withdrawn by Councilor Romanul Seconded was withdrawn by Councilor Finocchiaro. Motion to Hold in Committee made by Councilor Finocchiaro Seconded by Councilor Vandiver Motion passed RESULTS: ACCEPTED [5-1] TO: Hold in Committee AYES: Kim Vandiver, Cal Finocchiaro, Mark Garipay, Leila Migliorelli, Maya Jamaleddine NAYS: Devin Romanul V. ADJOURNMENT Motion to Adjourn by unanimous consent made by Chair Jamaleddine at 7:55 pm. Meeting was Adjourned. 3
Transcript
▶ 0:02 Maya Jamaleddine: Good evening. The time is seven 10 on Monday, November 10th, 2025. This is a meeting of the Legal and Legislative Committee. I am Maya Jamal, Dean, pronounced she and her the chair. Also joining me tonight, vice Chair Romanul, counselor Ro que, um, Williams and, and president, uh, ly Exofficio. Um, this serves as notice of a quorum for the record and in accordance with the open meeting law. This meeting is being recorded and broadcast live on MMTV. Um, for, um, for the portion of public comment, I will motion by unanimous consent to open the floor for public comment. Seeing no objection, we are now open for public comment. This is the portion of the meeting where anyone can speak on any item, uh,
▶ 1:01 Maya Jamaleddine: on our agenda for tonight. Seeing no one is present here in, uh, person. Do we have anyone online? There's No one online. Okay. No one online. And if there is no objection, I will motion to, uh, close public comment. And seeing none, public comment is now closed. Um, I will, um, um, uh, now, uh, on to approve the minutes from previous meetings and, um, Meeting of October 20th, uh, 2025 at 6 45. Um, I will, uh, make a motion to, uh, approve those minutes without breathing. Seeing no objections, those minutes are now approved. And for tonight, the only ordinance and item on our agenda is ID number 2025 dash 1 23 Food Truck operations with the state of Merose ordinance, proposed ordinance relative
▶ 2:06 Cal Finocchiaro: to food truck operations within the state of Merose. ID number 12 9 5 1. And for the record, um, we, the legal and legislation have been discussing, um, the suggestion that, uh, colleagues have been, um, proposing. And, uh, I will open it to consular Ro, who is one of the co-sponsors. Yes, thank you. And I know, um, city Solicitor Phillips is here and is going to speak, but I just wanna give some context before we start in. Um, right now, as a mobile food vendor, if you come to the city, um, you would go to the health department to get like a temporary, not, not even, so a temporary pass. It's more like right sign offs by the, the health department. Um, so that's what we're kind of calling the temporary one day pass right now, or permit.
▶ 3:00 Cal Finocchiaro: Um, but overall, this, um, ordinance is for an annual license application. Um, and we're gonna try to streamline it, streamline it so that if someone comes into the, the building, they would have to go to city clerk's office. And if they just wanna try out the city, um, operating here for one day, they would still have to apply for a one day pass permit. So we'll have basically two different permits. Okay. One would just be one so that you just come in, um, you just have to sign off on the health department and not all the other permit application requirements, um, that is required for the annual pass permit. Um, and the city clerk will actually keep track of that. So if they're only allowed to take out three
▶ 3:53 Cal Finocchiaro: of these one day permits. Hmm. Okay. So the city solicitor, I mean, sorry, the city clerk will track that. So after three applications of one vendor, you know, taking out three applications of these one day, um, permits, um, they'll be asked to move two pay for an annual permit. Okay. So I think that just a little, um, difficulty sort of, some people were having difficulty understanding that. Um, but ideally what we're, we're going after is for, um, food trucks or mobile vendors that want to operate business in our city regularly. And that would be the annual permit, which would use separate permit application through the city clerk's office. And that would be $500. Um, so I just wanna clarify that. Does
▶ 4:40 That make sense? Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Um, counselor Ro, um, we have city ster, um, with us, uh, the floor is yours. Excellent, thank you. So I took a look at the last version that council had, um, before you on the food check ordinance at the request of Councillor Frio. So I'm happy if, if you think it would be helpful to take you through some of the edits that I'm proposing. Absolutely. Um, so I did attach the Red Line version as well as the clean version, um, to the agenda for tonight. So I can take you through the various edits. Um, you'll see a lot of the deletions that I made, um, are just addressed in different sec, different sections of the ordinance. It was just a different way to restructure a lot of it.
▶ 5:22 Um, so starting with the, uh, 1 27 13 license required, um, that's the case for that. That's just a, a rephrasing of the language that had been there. The same meaning is still in place. The second, um, we did add the requirement, human consumption to the general public health director, uh, Anthony Chu did clarify for food service permits. We're not talking about, um, a private catering company that comes to someone's house for a private party. We're really trying to regulate food trucks that are open to the general public for consumption. That's where his office gets involved generally with food service permits. So we wanted to make that clear. Um, so we added that language into the, um, the second paragraph of 1 27 13.
▶ 6:03 Um, and you'll see we also included the purpose that Counselor Vandiver, that I I believe expresses the intent to counsel for this license ordinance. Just that it was, uh, intended to, um, apply to streamline the operation of these trucks, uh, within the city of Melrose, um, on a recurring basis within city limits. Um, and then the last paragraph of this first section, 1 27 13. This is where I put all the exemptions that I think council had previously had at the end of the ordinance. Um, and you'll see, um, they're consistent with what council had previously wanted, vendors associated with the farmer's market. Those would still go through directly through the health department, which they do now.
▶ 6:41 They pay, they pay a fee, um, for that. They get inspected by the health department, fill out an application, vendors selling food and beverages on a one day basis or for special events, same thing there. They also have, um, events. They also have, um, rental applications, I would say, through either DPW or the schools or whoever they're renting from. Um, and they also go and get food service permits from health beverage or snack cart services provided at Mount Hood Golf Course or Bellevue, uh, was exempted at the requested council. And then also, like I mentioned before, private events that are not open to the general public are not meant to apply. Um, this ordinance is not meant to apply to.
▶ 7:16 Um, and then the next section, again, this is just outlining the application process. I think it's consistent with what council had previously been proposing. The annual license fee of $500 a form prescribed by the city clerk, uh, which I believe will, will probably track initially the Common Vic, um, application. And we'll work off of that in order to craft one for this license. Um, b contains a lot of the license specific requirements for this mobile food vendor license. Um, it doesn't include everything, um, that the Common Vic might have. Just the standard. Um, it, it includes anything that might be different, I would say for the mobile food vendor license that council wants to put in place.
▶ 7:56 So, um, you'll see you need a food service permit issued by the Board of Health. You have to have the Hawker Peddler's license. You'll see it still has all the approvals like with the Common Vic that are required from the various departments. Fire would be an inspection, health department would be an inspection. Um, I did add in here, um, phrases relative to insurance, what we'd be requiring for insurance coverage, for example, not the specific limits, but if they're not operating on private property, we'd want an indemnification agreement, which I'd, I would probably add into the application that the clerk puts together, uh, for their sign off that they would indemnify the city if something were
▶ 8:29 to happen on city property while they're operating on this. Um, and also general liability policy. Um, the, we did change the language. The DPW engineering division, um, would issue occupancy permits if there would be any parking along the public way. So that's where a lot of, um, if a location is requested along the public way for one of these trucks to park, it would be worked out in advance before it got to council. So that's the point of having all of these in place. It would be part of the application process. So when it gets to council, everything would already be vetted by the appropriate departments. Engineering would already have given the occupancy permit dependent on council approval of the license.
▶ 9:07 Um, c after approval, after all the application materials were reviewed by the city clerk for completeness, it would go before counsel for a hearing. Um, you'll see we took out, um, the short term permit requirements. Um, again, I believe, uh, councilor Kyra mentioned previously, but, um, director Chu said he does issue these one days on a, you know, regular basis to various like Cookie Monster truck or something that's coming into Melrose just for a one-time event or for a fundraiser. So we didn't see any reason to really complicate it. Um, he said sometimes they get 14 day notice, so it didn't seem to make much sense to now put that in front of council and have to have you rush to improve these things, um, for these one time events.
▶ 9:54 Um, let's see. And then each permit, so I, we just deleted vehicle business information. Those vary the specific information that we had previously had in here. This is all gonna be on the, uh, food service permit. So we would have that anyways. Um, I think all of the rest of this, uh, approved locations of operations, I guess we can go to that now. Um, that I kept the same. Counsel wants to have, no, applicant shall be approved to park within 50 feet of an entrance of a restaurant unless they've received written consent from owners of any restaurant within 50 feet. Um, and then two, I just deleted out. Um, there was just general statements that locations in the city may be established by order of the traffic commission.
▶ 10:40 We took that out, be I took that out because we don't have any specific locations yet approved. There's nothing, um, saying they can't do that in the future. But as of right now, there's no designated areas. So, um, and I did review this with Director Ellis this afternoon. Uh, she re she suggested I add in as applicable by the traffic commission. Um, so we did add that language in there, which sort of envisions possibly in the future, them approving zones that may allow for these. Um, I think that's it for that section. And then conditions of operation, if we wanna go to that section 1 27 15. Um, so for this one, I largely kept A through D the same. Um, e we've changed the language of slightly just
▶ 11:28 because, uh, the occupancy permits issued by engineering division, those will usually alter, um, parking requirements and things like that. So we wanted to just make it clear, except a specifically allowed by the occupancy permit that they receive before they get to city council. They have to comply with any posted traffic and regulations because there's a lot of them they're not gonna have to comply with given the occupancy permit. Um, and then number one of that section, we just took out the reference of the specific 20 feet of an intersection. Uh, director Ellis just thought there's a lot of different measurements, um, and restrictions within the traffic code that she would also want to apply.
▶ 12:03 Mm-hmm. So instead, I think it would, I, I think it would make sense if we just cited chapter two 20 vehicles in traffic, which is the traffic code. And then when this actually went to get updated in E code, we could put a hyperlink where the two 20 is, and it would take any person that looked at this ordinance to the traffic code. Um, so that's why I folded that. And number one, um, of that section, um, f we, uh, I've just clarified a lot of other cities had had this, I added it for council's consideration, just that food vendors may not conduct business with people in vehicles, nor they, nor they should allow customers who stop or park vehicles in a vehicle or bike traveling near the mobile food vendor, uh,
▶ 12:42 that they will not serve those customers. So this is a lot of other communities that had this, I thought it sort of went along with the intent of council that they might wanna see this. So I've added that in there. Uh, g again, there'd be, there'll be no dining area tables, chairs, boosts, bar stools, benches, standup counters. I think that changes the nature of the mobile food vendor to more of a business that would require a Common Vic. Um, and then each of that section is just a catch all. They have to keep all of their underlying licenses. They have to keep all of their approvals, their state hawker and peddler's license, uh, comply with all federal, state, local laws, regulations, and ordinances in order to keep the
▶ 13:17 mobile food vendor license for the year. So the enforcement section, I've changed around a bit. I think I still included everything that council had previously intended on, uh, but maybe added a few more provisions in here just for clarity. Um, so a of this section, this is just in the situation that either the mobile food vendor wants to modify a license or counsel might wanna modify a license. Uh, it gives an opportunity in a process to do so. Um, so counsel for cause after reasonable notice to the licensee, um, can have a hearing proposing a modification to the license, or licensee can also request that, um, and have a hearing before counsel to modify it. Uh, b this just sort of gives an opportunity in case DPW police need
▶ 14:05 to move a food truck that has been given permission already by counsel through a license to be somewhere on public property or public way in the event of a snow emergency construction, other public benefit, that we have the right to do so and move them temporarily to another location. C uh, gives counsel the right as the licensing author to suspend, revoke or decline, uh, based on cause. Um, uh, the mobile food vendor license D again, is just referencing the licensing, a author, uh, the enforcing authorities. So that's the police department, DPW Fire Department, and the Health and Human Services director all are all authorized to enforce this ordinance. E gives, um, any of those individuals,
▶ 14:45 if there is an immediate public safety or health hazard, the opportunity to immediately suspend the license. I think council had previously had 30 days, I reduced that to 14 just for due process concerns that I think it would be smarter if we had a shorter window where we're shutting down the business. Um, so I did reduce it to 14 days and just set a public hearing would be held within that timeframe. Um, regarding the suspension, um, f I've added regarding, um, any me, any vendor that is operating without a valid license. Again, this is what consistent with what a lot of other communities are doing, and consistent with, uh, the ability of counsel to put this in here, that, uh, anyone operating without a valid license shall be
▶ 15:30 deemed a public safety hazard. Um, and that would give the opportunity for police, uh, to tow, basically to ticket or tow and pound the vehicle. Um, G again, is just 40 20 1D that's a violation each day. A violation will be, uh, they can be issued a hundred dollars per day ticket. Um, And that's under the non-criminal disposition procedure under state law. And again, the remainder of the deletions, I think, have been addressed. I don't think I've, I've tried not to leave anything out and keep, you know, the intent of the previous versions still in here. So I'm happy to answer any questions on the edits I made. Um, counselor, uh, gpe. Yeah, Ma, uh, Madam Chair, if, uh, we could gavel out and get into, um, appropriations with, I'm supposed
▶ 18:16 Mark Garipay: Okay. If there are no objections, I'll motion by unanimous consent to close the public comment portion of appropriation and oversight. Public comment is now closed. At this time, I'll make a, uh, I will entertain a motion to recess out of appropriation in oversight. So Moved. Second, We have a, uh, motion to recess by council Vanover second Council Romano, uh, on discussion. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? We're recessed. You're back up. Okay. We are back in legal and legislative. All right. We still have, um, we, uh, before us is, uh, ordinance, uh, for food truck. Uh, ID 2 20 25 dash 1 23. And I have, um, are you done or do you still have you wanna I have some questions. Okay. So we still have, uh, councilor Gpe for questions.
▶ 19:33 Mark Garipay: Thank you. Um, just bear with me. Um, one of the items that I'm trying to, um, item four on 1 27 dash 14, uh, it talks about public property, um, and locations where we don't have, and then, um, then we talk about locations in E two, and then again in 1 27 15, uh, a, let's see. Um, we just seem, I'm not sure why four has to be in one. That first, that first group, that first 1 27 first page, 1 27, 14 issue of licenses. Um, we have four there. And then we talk about, um, is that the one that talks about locations? I'm sorry. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And then we have it again, um, Down in, um, E two. And then it talks about locations in 1 27 15 conditions of operation. A um, it talks about specifically approved locations, which we don't have.
▶ 20:55 Mark Garipay: Mm-hmm. So, um, I'm not gonna be hearing too much. So what the ordinance that I want to vote on is kind of the ordinance I want see. Um, and right now we're talking about, uh, voting on a ordinance that specifically talks about locations that are not in here. So I'm having trouble supporting it as is, um, without having identified locations. So I don't, I don't know, through the chair to, to some of the makers of the order or whoever wants to just help, help me guide, guide through that. I have Counselor Williams on queue, so if you have answers. Yeah, Sure. I, I can throw, I can throw some ideas out. Um, in the, so first of all, I would say that the, the, um, the section on 1 27 14 just basically lists
▶ 21:49 Ryan Williams: what's required by the, by the application. So that's why it has information about locations on different properties, because we had that conversation about like, what if it's on Parkland, what if it's on school property? You know, they have to show that they've gotten permission from those bodies. And the issue of, um, specific locations, what we've talked about is having the traffic commission identify sort of a food truck zone. Um, I think the, as a non-voting member on the council, uh, on the committee, any member of the committee could propose an amendment that could make a restriction on the locations. Um, I think the intent of the ordinance is to create conditions for fair play among food truck vendors
▶ 22:32 Mark Garipay: that also doesn't unduly harm, uh, local businesses. And we only have a few places in the city that have a high concentration of restaurants. We have like two really. Um, so yeah, I mean, you know, amendments like that, um, I think are, are the purview of the committee. So, so one of the, um, things I've been thinking of since we talked earlier, council Williams, is we, um, we have a 50 feet, uh, proposal that you can't be within, uh, coastal Restaurant. Now, the original one we voted on, voted down about a year ago, said 200 feet. Mm-hmm. Um, until we have approved locations, I, I think I could support if we amended that up to 200 feet, at least back to what the original, um, original one was.
▶ 23:23 Mark Garipay: And then when you have, I don't know, I don't know if I'll be on the council or whoever's on the council, uh, next year. Um, and we identify locations. I'm assuming this ordinance, um, city solicitor would've to be amended once we identify locations or not this. So if we're Talking about traffic commission, if, if you want them specifically in the ordinance, it would have to be amended. But if we're just talking about traffic commission zones, that would just be a separate traffic commission vote. And I think we've made it broad enough that we would be able to encompass that in this ordinance. So that's why we added in as applicable by the traffic commission to number two. So I don't believe we would have to come back here
▶ 24:02 Cal Finocchiaro: and actually reference it unless council would want it specifically spelled out. Um, councilor Ra? Yes. Thank you. Through the chair. I just wanted to make it a note. Um, our first draft of this coordinate, we did have, we had listed out locations, um, something that we, uh, we had, you know, the three of us, councilor Williams and Counselor Roal had put together. And, um, we decided to take them out because we really needed to make sure that they worked for the city. Um, so the plan is I've reached out to the traffic commission. We're gonna get that on agenda for December. We're gonna come up with a list of the, uh, maybe the same locations that we had before. They're sort of zones and areas that we're thinking,
▶ 24:48 Cal Finocchiaro: and then sort of work through internal departments, Mel, the police, um, engineering, whoever else would, um, kind of weigh in. And then I would like to, um, and I don't know how everybody else feels, add that as a, you know, an amendment to this ordinance, but also list them on the permit application so that mobile vendors that come in, there's no questions. They just come look at the permit and say, maybe we can include a map. I know, um, director Ellis had mentioned maybe doing like a zoned map or something. And that way, um, oversight is easiest for both the city and for the, the troop food. The mobile vendors know where they're go, they're going, um, approved locations. So I, I think that is the kind of the process we're going
▶ 25:38 Ryan Williams: for going forward. Thank you. Um, counselor Williams, and then Counselor gpe. I just wanted to add that if, if it's the intent, if it's the intent of the committee to change 50 to 200, especially as a stop gap to get over the lack of defined parking spaces, I think that's fine in the short term. Um, 50 feet for reference is just about the width of a Melrose Street from door to door, including the sidewalk right away. So it is a little tight if you've got just one restaurant on a street when you're on Main Street, you can't go 50 feet from a restaurant between Grove and say Essex and Upham. Um, but certainly I think, uh, 200 feet would be, let's just say from the intersection of Grove and Maine down to about the MMTV building.
▶ 26:26 Mark Garipay: That's about two oh feet. Perfect Concern gpe? Um, yes. Um, I would, uh, I'd like to make a motion to amend section 1 27 dash 14 issuers of license fee in term Section E. Number one is from no applicant shall be approved to park within change 50 to 200 feet of an entrance of a restaurant, unless they have received written consent from owners, uh, of any restaurant. Uh, within 200 feet of the proposed location. We have a motion made by counselor, um, Gar paid to amend, um, uh, this ordinance, um, from, uh, the distance from 50, uh, feet to 200, uh, feet. Do we have a second? Second. Seconded by Councilor Finn Chiro on discussion, um, counselor Vandiver, Um, through the chair. Um, uh, wonder if Counselor Williams, how specifically,
▶ 27:41 Kimberly Vandiver: you know, that met that reference you gave between that intersection? Because of course, the MMTV building is where Hannah's brewery is, and might be a location that people are interested in parking a food truck. Um, so which would that be within 200 feet of any existing restaurants? Who would have to give approval? And if so, I might want to say a hundred feet or 150, or is that just outside that 200 feet from any existing restaurant right now? Have you actually, do you know that specifically? You know, it's funny you mentioned that. Just off the top of my head, I happen to know that it's 223 feet from the entrance of my diner, however, it is zero feet from the entrance to Dunking Donuts, which counts as a restaurant.
▶ 28:22 So in this example, Hannah's would need to get permission from the management of Dunking Donuts to have their food truck, but it would not need to get permission from my diner. Okay. Thank you. That, that's helpful. I guess, uh, personally I'm in favor of keeping the 50, although I understand the preference and, and intent, but, um, but that's helpful as a reference. Thank you, Counselor. Uh, RO Yes, thank you. Through the chair. Uh, I think this is something that we could maybe amend later once we have the approved locations, we could possibly go back to the 50 feet rule. I think Councilor Garra page is suggesting that because we don't have approved locations yet, So what, what I'm hearing from you, counselor ra, just
▶ 29:09 Mark Garipay: for clarification, is that this is a temporary amendment until we have a clarification and more clarity, uh, on identifying those locations. That's how I'm understanding it. I don't know if that's how council counselor Gar, uh, intending. I kind of, as, as Council Williams said, I kind of wanna stop gap until we can identify locations. Mm-hmm. But I think we all need to, I mean, we all talk about how much we wanna protect and build the businesses downtown. I mean, we all talk about it all the time. PE people can't paint on that, but we're gonna put a, a, a competitor right in front of 50 feet from another location that doesn't have the same expenses as a brick and mortar building. So I kind of, I kind of want to protect some
▶ 29:56 Leila Migliorelli: of the restaurants downtown also. Hmm. Um, councilor, um, uh, Stewart, Thank you, Madam Chair. And, uh, to the chair, as a non-voting member, um, I would not support 50 feet of the full council. I would support, uh, 200 feet. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, president cle. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, I agree with Counselor Vandiver in that I'm a little concerned that 200 is too far. Um, but I'm, I'm not necessarily opposed to voting on it. I just wanna clarify. We, there's no like, temporary amendment. That's not a thing. So we could make an amendment and the next council or whomever, next time you take this up, actually any other time after it's been voted on, can amend it again. Um, but I think, um, just
▶ 30:45 Maya Jamaleddine: to put my opinion out there, I I, I don't see an issue with 50 feet, mostly for the reason that most of our restaurants are clustered in business districts. So 50 feet would go beyond that. Um, but I, I'm not, I'm not opposed to the amendment. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I, I do have a question as well. Um, so how would we receive those approvals from the, um, owners of the restaurants? Um, is there a form that they have to fill out? Is there, is it going to be a verbal, um, approval? How is it going to happen? It, it says written consent in the ordinance. So just written consent. There is no, uh, and, and if there is multiple, um, restaurants, we will receive written consent as well. And who will be, uh, enforcing the violation of these.
▶ 31:48 Maya Jamaleddine: And by violation of, of that, um, I meant who will be monitoring if there is any kind of violation? Is it going to be per report, like constituents reporting that, or is it going to be like, continuously monitored and, and enforced? Are you referring to, so the enforcement of the ordinance? So that would be, I'm assuming it would be mostly complaint based. Okay. Um, and it would be by, uh, the same enforcing agents we have for a lot of the other ordinances. So the police department, public works, health and human services. Okay. Um, so my, my only concern, and, and that's also another suggestion, is, um, constituents will not know whether that food truck have the license or not. Um, so they may have the assumption they,
▶ 32:44 Maya Jamaleddine: they may have the assumption that they, you know, they already have that license and no one is going to report it. And on another hand, they may think every, uh, food truck, they don't have a license and they're going to report it. So I'm not sure if they have to post it on the truck. Um, so we did, I, it, it was one of the last sections in here. Maybe we can make it more clear, um, that we did have, they have to post the license in a conspicuous location on the truck. So it should be on there. Okay. We should be able to see it when you go up to the food truck. Awesome. Okay. I think it's, it's actually section I of 1 27 15. Okay. Perfect. I don't have any question. What is the will of the committee now that we have, uh, to,
▶ 33:29 Maya Jamaleddine: but we have a motion and we are on discussion. Any other, any other comments? Okay, we can take the vote. Um, all in favor? We're voting on the amendment specifically? Yeah. Amended. Okay. Yes. Okay. So for the voting members, all in favor, any oppose on the amendment? Okay. So we have four, um, and I am in favor. So, uh, we have five in favor and one opposing. Um, so this amendment pass, um, counselor, uh, William Madam Chair, is it clear to view who voted in which way? I believe so. Okay. That was my own showing hands again. So we have counselor, Gar pe, uh, president ly counselor, um, Romano, counselor Ro are and myself are in favor and only counselor v Dever is opposing. Thank you for the change of the fifth
▶ 34:43 for the amendment specifically. The hand thing is new to me. You just may wanna do roll call, just so it's clear for The record. Um, okay. Do you call Yes. Vice chair Romanul? Yes. Councilor Occhio? Yes. Councilor Garipay? Yes. Councilor Vandiver? No. President Elli? Yes. Chair. Jamal Ledine? Yes. Um, so this, um, amendment passes. Um, now we have the order as amended. What is the will of the committee? Sorry, I was asking queue to speak before and I hadn't gotten a chances prior to voting. Go ahead. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Um, I, I just wanted to ask, well, first I really appreciate the amount of work that's gone into this. I think it's great and overall is looking really good. Um, the one question I had was the section about,
▶ 35:45 Kimberly Vandiver: uh, section 1, 27 dash 15, uh, g uh, where we're talking about not, um, providing tables, chairs, booths, bar, bar stools, benches. Um, I, I think it talks about not provide or allow any, any dining chair. And I think personally, I think that goes a little bit too far. You know, if I were to walk up and put a folding chair on the sidewalk to eat my burrito, I like, I think that would be okay. Um, and I, you know, I wouldn't want the mobile food vendor to be responsible for saying, Kim, you can't have your folding chair. I, I don't know. I think that would be a difficult situation for them to enforce. Um, I don't know if there's any comment from council on that, but, but I would be inclined to
▶ 36:33 Ryan Williams: strike those two words. Counselor Williams. I'm not sure that or allow makes a lot of sense because the ordinance wouldn't necessarily be able, like the mobile food vendor may not allow any tables or chairs. Like if somebody showed up with a chair and was like, I'm sitting here now. The mobile food vendor shouldn't be compelled to allow that to happen. Right. Would it be okay to just say mobile food vendors may not provide any dining area and strike or allow, is that something that, because this seems to me like a bit of a legal thing, bit of legal ease here. Yes. Um, I mean, obviously you don't want mobile food vendors encouraging people to come with their own dining furniture to be in front of a food truck either.
▶ 37:24 Kimberly Vandiver: So I think this is just trying to be all encompassing. You can't provide it. You also can't allow people to be doing it. So, um, if it's, yeah, if council would like to just have, provide, um, but again, I think the language is just intended to cover every situation. Yeah, yeah. Even however hypothetical it might be. Yeah. I can just think of other times when we've had, you know, summer stroller, something like that. And we occasionally do have a food truck where I buy some food and I'm like, juggling a kid and I'm trying to figure out like where to sit, like on the side of city hall or something. Right. On like, on the grass or, but like, sometimes it actually would be convenient to bring something to sit on.
▶ 38:00 Mm-hmm. Um, so I just, in my personal experience, it seems like something I might want to do. I don't know how strongly everybody else feels about that would be a nuisance or a hazard in some way. I have counselor Gary PE and then Counselor Williams To the solicitor. If we remove that, does that allow someone to bring their own chair and pluck it on the sidewalk and could be in the way And not be the mobile food vendor's problem? Yes. So I, I, I would not support that. That's how I would, that's how I would read it. Yeah. Um, are you done, councilor? I'm all set. You're all set. So we have counselor, uh, Williams. Yeah, I just, it's actually not allowed in Melrose to impede use of sidewalk for any purpose.
▶ 38:44 Ryan Williams: So it would not, it's just sort Of repetitive, but Yeah. Yeah, it is sort of repetitive. Um, I don't think, you know, I think this may be something where we need to, um, monitor for consequences and see if it becomes an issue. But I, I always want, I wanted to add, I almost forgot. Um, the permit doesn't cover things like summer stroll. No. Right. So it covers, it's not, yeah, it's not that. It covers like the case where one mobile food vendor really wants to be in Melrose in a specific spot, eight hours a day, three days a week. That person can't start setting up tables and chairs and benches or allow a bunch of people to come in and do the same. Um, but for the, for the beer garden, for the farmer's market, for all the little uses
▶ 39:22 Devin Romanul: that we're sort of already allowing, those are exempt Counselor Romano. Yeah. Just a, um, one quick inquiry. Do we already accept the, uh, amendments from, from council? Uh, okay. Alright. This one Through, through the chair In the recent round of amendments. That was my only inquiry. I'm sorry, I didn't hear your question. Can you repeat it? Oh, My, my question was, do we already accept all the amendments that have been provided to us in this, in this copy? Oh, no, We haven't voted on that. I was willing. Alright. Thank you. So all the amendments that are in the in copy, we didn't vote on it yet. Um, so we are before us now. We only, we are only voting on the one amendment that was made by Councilor gpe.
▶ 40:11 Leila Migliorelli: Terrific. Um, president Mclear, I just wanna note for the time here, I don't wanna stifle discussion, but we have a city, uh, appropriations meeting to get back to. I'm not sure who in the audience is speaking on that. We have a city council meeting that starts, that I have to gavel into at 7 45, at 7 55. And then, um, several public hearings that, uh, have to start at eight o'clock. So, um, I'd like the committee to think about whether we want to pause and come back, I'm sorry, madam Solicitor, or if we feel like we are done with questions for the solicitor and can let her go for the evening and discuss after. Um, and then just in consultation with the chair of appropriations, Councillor Repe, if you know
▶ 40:56 Manjula Karamcheti: how we wanna handle this, but we do, I have to at least gavel into council and at least, and then do the public hearing. I'm just gonna take one, uh, more comment, uh, for the first time from counselor Kara Shetti. And then I will, um, ask what is the will of the committee, whether we want it to gather or, um, hold it in committee. Uh, thank you. Uh, Madam Chair. My, my question is maybe a common sense question, just thinking about that word allow, I'm just, you know, thinking about the elderly, someone with a disability, would we utilize a common sense approach in terms of how that was handled between a food truck vendor and any type of issue that might come in terms of where they're positioned to try
▶ 41:42 Manjula Karamcheti: to enjoy a food truck opportunity? Um, I lean towards the, not taking out the allow piece, even though I'm a non-voting member for those types of situations. We always wanna be thinking about inclusivity and access. Um, but just my 2 cents on the matter. Thank you Councilor Che. And I'll ask, uh, the committee, what is the will of the committee in terms of, um, this, uh, the ordinance? Um, whether you wanna hold it in committee or, Well, Councilor Vandiver. Well, I think, so we, I think perhaps we could at least accept this solicitor's changes and then hold it. So I'll motion to do that. A motion to accept the solicitor's changes, uh, to move this forward and clear out those red lines in addition to the already agreed upon amendment
▶ 42:35 Maya Jamaleddine: from Councillor Repe. So we have a, uh, motion to approve, um, all the amendment that, and suggestions that are coming from the council. Um, uh, second, that made by counselor ver seconded by counselor, uh, Gar pay on discussion. Seeing none. All in favor? Aye. A Aye. Any opposed? Okay. All those suggestions and amendments are being, um, approved. Uh, what is the will of the committee? Um, counselor, vice chair Romanul. Motion to approve the ordinance as amended. I have a motion to approve, uh, the ordinance as amended made by vice chair, uh, Romano. Any second? Seconded by counselor. Pin chiro on discussion. Counselor gpe, I Would just, um, prefer to hold it. Um, Well, we have, we have a motion. I,
▶ 43:36 Maya Jamaleddine: I I understand that. So I probably will not be supporting this As, okay. Can we, um, do a roll call please. Um, sorry. Um, before we, are we allowed to, Um, it is just for the time. Either you wanna withdraw your motion or you wanna take a vote? We could on discussion. No point of order. It could on discussion before the vote. Well, Given the timeline, I'll, I'll withdraw my, my Motion. Okay. So the motion is, uh, withdrawn by Vice Chair Romanul. Um, councilor, can you withdraw your Yes, I will Withdraw by second. And Councilor Kyra withdraw. Second. Um, do we have a motion to hold and committee? Yes. I'll make a motion to hold in committee. We have a motion, uh, made by Councilor Kyra to holding committee.
▶ 44:23 Maya Jamaleddine: Do we have a second? Second. Second. Seconded by Councilor Van Devin. All in favor on discussion. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. Okay. So we have one, uh, opposed by counselor, uh, or Vice Chair Romanul. Um, now that we have, uh, this ordinance is going to be held in committee, uh, for the next scheduled legal and lodge. And now since we don't have any, uh, other item on our agenda, I will make a motion to adjourn. Seeing no, um, objection. We are adjourned. Right there. Good evening. Excuse Me a minute please. Good evening. The time is 7 56 on Monday, November 10th, 2025. This is meeting of the Melrose City Councils called to order. I am President Meley Rally in accordance with Massachusetts Open Meeting Law.