Boards & Commissions Committee — 2026-03-30
Attendance
Cal Finocchiaro ; Bradley Freeman ; Elizabeth Kowal ; Christopher Park ; Kimberly Vandiver
Agenda
- CALL TO ORDER
- Attendees
- MINUTES APPROVAL
- PUBLIC COMMENT
- APPOINTMENTS/REAPPOINTMENTS
- Reappointment of Charlie McCabe, 14 Orient Avenue, Melrose to the Conservation Commission for a term of three years, said term to end the last day of February 2029.
- Reappointment of Jason Jancaitis, 16 Tappan Street, to the Melrose Conservation Commission for a three-year term, said term to expire on the last day of February 2029.
- Reappointment of Ellen Cobau, 79 Otis Street, Melrose to the Melrose Council on Aging for a three-year term, said term to expire on the last day of February 2029.
- Reappointment of Joe Viola, 134 Howard Street, Melrose MA to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, for a term of one year, said term set to expire on the last day of January, 2027.
- ADJOURNMENT
Minutes
Boards & Commissions Committee Monday, March 30, 2026, 6:45 PM City Council Chamber, 1st Floor 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER Kimberly Vandiver Vice Chair Cal Finocchiaro Elizabeth Kowal Christopher Park William Bradley Freeman President, Ex Officio Member Ryan Williams Chair Meeting was called to order by Chair Williams at 6:45 PM Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Kimberly Vandiver Vice Chair Present Cal Finocchiaro Ward 6 Present Elizabeth Kowal At-Large Present Christopher Park Ward 3 Present William Bradley Freeman President, Ex Present Officio Member Ryan Williams Chair Present II. MINUTES APPROVAL Boards & Commissions Committee Meeting March 9, 2026 6:45 PM Motion to Approve minutes by unanimous consent without reading made by Chair Williams All were in favor and motion passed RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] AYES: Cal Finocchiaro, Elizabeth Kowal, Christopher Park, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams, Bradley Freeman III. PUBLIC COMMENT When: Mar 30, 2026 06:45 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Topic: Boards & Commissions Committee Meeting Join from PC, Mac, iPad, or Android: https://cityofmelrose-org.zoom.us/j/97200397061?pwd=qn7LLAiL2shdknHCGr6RCnYXEafolt.1 1 Passcode:801819 Webinar ID: 972 0039 7061 Motion to Open public comment made by Chair Williams at 6:46 PM There were no comments on the floor or via Zoom Motion to Close public comment made by Chair Williams at 6:46 PM IV. APPOINTMENTS/REAPPOINTMENTS
A. (ID # 2026-308): Reappointment of Charlie McCabe, 14 Orient Avenue, Melrose to the Conservation Commission for a term of three years, said term to end the last day of February 2029. Motion to Recommend made by Councilor Vandiver Seconded by Councilor Finocchiaro All were in favor and motion passed RESULTS: PASSED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Cal Finocchiaro, Elizabeth Kowal, Christopher Park, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams, Bradley Freeman NAYS: None Comments and Discussion: Charlie McCabe discussed his first term's accomplishments, including invasive species removal at Ell Pond and working with volunteers. He highlighted upcoming challenges, including managing natural assets and addressing infractions on city land.
B. (ID # 2026-448): Reappointment of Jason Jancaitis, 16 Tappan Street, to the Melrose Conservation Commission for a three-year term, said term to expire on the last day of February 2029. Motion to Recommend made by Councilor Finocchiaro Seconded by President Freeman All were in favor and motion passed RESULTS: PASSED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Cal Finocchiaro, Elizabeth Kowal, Christopher Park, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams, Bradley Freeman NAYS: None Comments and Discussion: Jason Jancaitis discussed his experience serving since 2020, highlighting both administrative tasks and hands-on work including water chestnut removal and pond cleanup efforts. The biggest challenge identified was leveraging limited resources and volunteers, with particular focus on understanding new permitting requirements for future pond projects. The Council discussed the Community Preservation Act as a funding source for conservation and park improvements. 2
C. (ID # 2026-380): Reappointment of Ellen Cobau, 79 Otis Street, Melrose to the Melrose Council on Aging for a three-year term, said term to expire on the last day of February 2029. Motion to Recommend made by Councilor Vandiver Seconded by Councilor Park All were in favor and motion passed RESULTS: PASSED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Cal Finocchiaro, Elizabeth Kowal, Christopher Park, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams, Bradley Freeman NAYS: None Comments and Discussion: Ellen Cobau discussed initiatives to make Melrose a dementia-friendly community, including training for restaurant staff and caregiver cafes at the senior center. She mentioned plans to install a bocce court near the Senior Center to engage seniors and promote physical activity. She highlighted the importance of transportation services and digital literacy programs, particularly in collaboration with SDM, to support aging residents. The conversation also touched on her role as a certified SHINE volunteer, helping seniors navigate Medicare enrollment. The meeting focused on discussing outreach strategies for senior programs and reaching younger demographics. President Freeman shared insights from touring the Milano Center and suggested organizing a panel featuring people doing meaningful activities in retirement to engage younger audiences, along with making sure seniors are aware of the various tax abatement programs. The discussion highlighted challenges in reaching 50-somethings and men, with suggestions to explore voter registration data and consider hosting events in different parts of Melrose, including potentially using local clubhouses or private spaces. The meeting covered discussions about local events and programming for non-English speaking seniors, with Ellen planning to follow up with Councilor Vandiver about outreach efforts.
D. (ID # 2026-355): Reappointment of Joe Viola, 134 Howard Street, Melrose MA to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, for a term of one year, said term set to expire on the last day of January, 2027. Motion to Recommend made by Councilor Park Seconded by Councilor Vandiver All were in favor and motion passed RESULTS: PASSED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Cal Finocchiaro, Elizabeth Kowal, Christopher Park, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams, Bradley Freeman NAYS: None Comments and Discussion: Joe Viola shared his experience serving on the housing trust, noting its formation within the past year and their efforts to develop guidelines, applications, and strategies for addressing housing needs in the community. The meeting focused on discussing affordable housing opportunities in Melrose, particularly at the Ripley School site and other locations. The Affordable Housing Trust 3 Fund committee explored options for developing 10-15 affordable units for seniors, with the possibility of using city-owned land or private land through land leases. The committee also discussed the current 80% AMI affordability threshold and considered the potential for deeper affordability levels, while exploring funding sources including free cash allocations and CPA funds for sustainable trust fund capitalization. V. ADJOURNMENT The City of Melrose does not discriminate based on disability and is committed to hosting accessible meetings and events. Individuals with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication, written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures, in order to access the programs and activities of the City of Melrose or to attend meetings, should contactthe City’s ADA Coordinator, Polina Latta platta@cityofmelrose.org. Motion to Adjourn made by Councilor Vandiver at 7:29 PM Seconded by Councilor Finocchiaro All were in favor and meeting was adjourned 4 Charlie McCabe 14 Orient Avenue Melrose, MA 02176 January 8, 2026 Mayor Jen Grigoraitis City of Melrose Via email Mayor Grigoraitis, I would like to request reappointment to the City of Melrose Conservation Commission. I have served my first three-year term, having been nominated by Mayor Brodeur and confirmed by the Melrose City Council in 2023. Since my appointment, I’m pleased to have participated in regular meetings, weighing on decisions required by the state and city conservation regulations, and managing the ponds and open space owned by the city. I also took advantage of trainings offered to conservation commission members by state officials and the Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions. Following the unexpected death of our conservation agent, Eric Devlin in December of 2022, the committee kept the work of the committee moving forward, filling in aspects of the agent’s role. We also switched to meeting in person for monthly meetings going forward at City Hall. In addition to the regulatory work that the conservation commission has accomplished since my appointment, I am pleased to have contributed to the following: We completed three years of water chestnut harvesting on Ell Pond by a contractor through funding from city funds and a state grant in 2024. Beginning in 2023, we organized additional volunteer workdays to remove hard to reach water chestnuts in shallow areas of the pond, asking volunteers to bring kayaks and canoes to help gather and remove water chestnuts. I have coordinated the volunteer workdays since 2023, averaging 2 volunteer workdays of 3 hours each with approximately 18 volunteers each year. Since 2024, volunteers are solely responsible for ongoing water chestnut monitoring and removal. In 2024, Melrose residents donated two kayaks to the Conservation Commission for use for water chestnut removal and other pond management activities. I store those kayaks when not in use in my garage and bring them out for clean-ups and other activities on Ell Pond, Towners Pond and Swains Pond. I helped our conservation agent, Ingrid Winkler survey invasive species in and around (over, please) (Continued from page 1) Towners and Swains Ponds, using our donated kayaks to access portions of the ponds and shoreline not readily accessible by public access. I’ve led a series of volunteer workdays in the fall of 2025 to manage invasive vines and plants growing in and around Ell Pond Park. We’ll continue to work to manage invasive species there and we’re looking to extend our efforts in city parks and open space surrounding Towners Pond and Swains Pond in the coming year. I look forward to continuing to serve for a new 3-year term on the Conservation Commission. Yours truly, Charlie McCabe Cc: Ingrid Winkler, Conservation Agent Statement of Interest of Jason Jancaitis Conservation Commission Ingrid let me know that my appointed term on the Conservation Commission is almost expired. I have enjoyed being a part of the Commission for the past 5 years and would be interested in being re-appointed to the Commission. Since I have joined I have been involved with the administration of wetlands permits for projects throughout the City, the development of new encroachment regulations and procedures to protect the conservation land, and cleanups of trash and invasive species at Ell Pond, Towner's Pond, and other conservation parcels. I believe that the experience I've gained from being a part of the Commission over the past several years is beneficial to the City. Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to discuss further. Thanks, Jason Jancaitis February 2, 2026 Mayor Jennifer Grigoraitis Melrose City Hall - Second Floor 562 Main St Melrose, MA 02176 Re: Reappointment to the Melrose Affordable Housing Trust Dear Mayor Grigoraitis: With my current term on the Melrose Affordable Housing Trust ending soon, I am writing to express my interest in reappointment to the Trust. Our group has had a productive year, and I believe we’ve helped to create a thoughtful process to prioritize the use of scarce public resources in worthy housing development or preservation projects in the years ahead. By creating clear goals, guidelines, an implementation plan, and a formal application process, the Trust has moved from "planning" to "doing" -- as evidenced by our approval of a funding request for three units at 87 West Wyoming Avenue. I see the creation of housing opportunities as a critical need for Melrose. My goal for the next term is to work with my fellow Trustees to identify and secure funding to ensure the Trust has the sustainability it needs to make Melrose affordable to more people. I would be honored to continue serving the city in this capacity. Sincerely, Joe Viola 134 Howard Street
Transcript
▶ 0:01 Ryan Williams: Everybody ready? Yeah. Okay. Mm-hmm. Recording in progress. Good evening everyone. Today is Monday, March 30th, and this is a meeting of the Boards and Commissions Committee of the City Council of Melrose. I'm the chair of the committee, Ryan Williams, and I'm joined by voting members, Counselors Calfin O'Carroll, Elizabeth Cole, Christopher Park, Kim Vandiver, Vice Chair, and President Brad Freeman, ex officio. This is a quorum, and so the meeting will proceed. In according with Massachusetts open meeting law, tonight's meeting will be recorded, and it's being broadcast by MMTV on their website, as at mmtv3.org. At this time, a motion by unanimous consent to approve the minutes of the meeting
▶ 0:41 Ryan Williams: on March 9th, 2026, without reading. I see no objections, so those minutes are approved. And I'll motion by unanimous consent to open public comment. And seeing no objection, public comment is open. Is anybody online? No one online. Okay. A motion by unanimous consent to close public comment. And with no objection, public comment is closed. So we have four reappointments before us tonight. First is two members of Conservation Commission, ID 2026308, reappointment of Charlie McCabe, 14 Orient Avenue, Melrose, to the Conservation Commission for a term of three years, said term to end on the last day of February 2029. Charlie, hello. Good evening. Good evening. So tell us a little bit about your time on the Conservation Commission and what you
▶ 1:38 Christopher Park: see for the year ahead. Sure. So I've just completed my first term of three years, and we've experienced some highs and lows. So we lost our conservation agent partway through my first year. But we were able to get a great new conservation agent, and we've been working with her, Ingrid Wickler, for the last couple of years. And I think the big thing that we've been able to accomplish is getting our arms around the management of a lot of our lands and especially our lakes. I think the thing I'm probably most proud of is pulling tremendous numbers of invasives out of L Pond and kind of resetting L Pond back to what it should be or what it could be, in the longer term. So we've done a lot to encourage volunteers to come out and work with us.
▶ 2:32 Christopher Park: Both Jason and I have actually been out there in the middle of summer pulling stuff out of the woods and also of the waters, and we're looking to try to do similar things for both our other two ponds. And in terms of the work before us, probably the biggest thing coming up will be L Pond Park's efforts to rebuild and restore that. The city is working on a 25% plan right now to really kind of address the entire park on both sides of the parkway. And they're looking to do some work around water management, water treatment, as part of a grant that they got from the federal government over the last couple of years. So we have a lot going on- Mm ... but it seems to be going fairly well, and we're always awaiting the next
▶ 3:29 Christopher Park: hearings in which we have to weigh in for folks either building or rebuilding houses or other buildings or structures that are needed to get our attention under both the ordinance at the state level as well as the city level. So... Thank you. Any comments or questions from councilors? Councilor Finocchiaro? Yes. Thank you for being here tonight. Sure. Thank you for everything you're doing. It's a big commitment to be on a commission like this, and appreciate you stepping up to do another term. So just want to say thank you and... Thanks very much. Councilor Park? Thank you. I echo my fellow colleague, Councilor Finocchiaro, for thank you for your service, for your first term. And I'll ask this
▶ 4:21 Christopher Park: question also to your colleague, Jason. What do you see as your biggest challenge right now, moving forward, should you be reappointed to this department? I think our biggest challenge is managing our natural assets, both the property that we own through the city. We have had a number of infractions, I guess is what I would say, where people are either temporarily or permanently putting structures on city land. So we're going through, again, working with our agent to try to address those and get people to basically comply with the law. So that's one area. I think the second area is climate change is giving us a lot of challenges with regard to managing water bodies, and the three water bodies we have
▶ 5:19 Christopher Park: are very shallow. They're susceptible to drought. They're also susceptible to high heat. So some of our biggest challenges are just trying to figure out how we keep those as healthy as we can. We have a fairly limited budget, but we try to use it very judiciously to address treatments, testing treatments, and kind of follow through and supplement that with volunteer work. So it's a balancing act, but we're small but mighty, I guess is what I would say. Thank you. Vice Chair Vandiver. Thank you, Chair Williams. I thank you for being here and for your write-up as well-Very helpful to lay that all out there, everything that you're doing. I had a few comments and questions. One is, can you speak to the fountain in L Pond?
▶ 6:10 Christopher Park: Is that something your group is involved with? Yeah. It was actually a grant that the city got through Parks and Recreation, and they actually came to us and installed it. It's been operating, I think, for about a year now, and it does do a lot to actually help keep the water flow going, especially during the summer months. It's also, if you're actually out there boating, it's a nice cooling, refreshing, little place to go and check it out. So it has operated fairly well. I know they did have problems with the initial one, but it was under warranty, and they were able to get it up and running. So it ran for an entire season this year, and it ran for a portion of the season, I think it was in 2024, right at the
▶ 7:00 Christopher Park: end of 2024. Okay. Yeah. So it's operated by Parks and Rec, and they pull it out every year, and they put it back in. So it should be going in fairly soon. That's helpful. I know I see people asking about it sometimes, and I wasn't sure. I've heard it's for keeping the pond aerated, but I wasn't sure. Yeah. It was a grant. It was also, they refurbished the gazebo, and they did some other cleanup along the Main Street edge, too. There's been a number of memorial benches put in along Main Street as well. So continuing to try to keep it well-functioning. Great. And I really appreciate the commentary about how you've shifted a lot of work into volunteers, and that seems like multiple purposes, getting people engaged and involved with
▶ 7:49 Christopher Park: everybody out there canoeing. Sounds like a really great move. Yeah. We actually got a donation of two kayaks from a couple, so we refer to it as the Conservation Commission Navy- ... that help us kind of get volunteers out there on a regular basis in July and August. So it's fun. Okay, and last question. As far as communication, what are your methods for recruiting new volunteers or keeping people updated on what you're doing? So we use the city newsletter, we use the city website. That's the primary way. Our conservation agent also has connections to the high school, so we've gotten a lot of high school students come to get their conservation hours as part of that, so they've helped us with invasive species removal.
▶ 8:41 Ryan Williams: Oh, that's great. Yeah. That's great. Okay. With that, I would make a motion to recommend. Sure. Second. We have a motion to recommend by Vice Chair Vandiver, seconded by Councilor Finocchiaro. And on discussion, I wanted to say thank you, and I'll also say thank you to Jason, and thank you to Joe for coming in tonight. We really appreciate the opportunity to get to meet folks. I know Charlie fairly well, but like the rest of you, I haven't met that often. And as a committee, sometimes we do reappointments with no one in the room whom we've never met, and so it's nice to put a face to the name and also understand a little bit more about what's going on. And I'm personally really looking forward to doing another round of water chestnut
▶ 9:20 Ryan Williams: pulling. It'll be there, Ryan. Yeah. I got some new electric tools, too, for the invasives cutting, the vine cutting, and all that. Great. So I'm looking forward to that. All right. Thank you very much. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? No one's opposed. That passes. You don't have to be present at the council meeting for the reappointment. Thank you so much for coming in. Thanks. Thank you. Next up, we have ID 2026-448, the reappointment of Jason Jankaitis, 16 Tappan Street to the Melrose Conservation Commission for a three-year term, said term to expire on the last day of February 2029. Thank you again for coming in. Sure. Good evening, everyone. I've been on the Conservation Commission since about 2020, so I did one term
▶ 10:05 during COVID remotely, and now have done a second term meeting in person. So yeah, echoing a lot of things that Charlie said. It's a nice mix of, you have some administrative tasks, looking at order of conditions, RDAs, but then some hands-on stuff, getting out on a kayak, pulling out the water chestnut, and being involved in the L Pond cleanup was really rewarding when we had the grant that the state rep got. So we had the Hydro-Rake out there, and that really made a huge difference. So it's been rewarding to see the improvement in the pond over the past few years. Thank you. Any questions, comments from councilors? Councilor Park. Thank you. Just to repeat the question that I had asked your colleague,
▶ 10:57 Charlie, what do you see as the biggest challenge right now facing the conservation committee? Yeah, I think it's similar to what Charlie said. I think it's just trying to make the most out of our resources, leveraging volunteers. But I mentioned the L Pond, that wouldn't have been possible without the earmark that the state rep got. So, to do something like that for Counter's Pond or Swain's Pond, there's actually been some new regulations going on that you need a different permit than what we would've had to do a few years ago. So we're trying to understand the ramifications of that and what it would impact, both the timeline for the permitting as well as what the available funds would be. So that's something we've been doing some investigations on.
▶ 11:51 Bradley Freeman: Thank you.President Freeman. Thank you very much for your service and volunteering for the city. I have a quick question. I used to serve on the Park Commission, and we used to talk a lot about the pond up at Mount Hood. And I apologize, I don't know which one it is, I don't remember the name of it, but I know that there was a lot of talk of dredging it, given that it is the main source of water for the golf course. And I think it does a nice job keeping the golf course running without utilizing city or state water. Just want to talk a little bit about, I know your Conservation Commission is very involved in whatever's going to happen there. Yeah. Can you talk a little bit more about what the long-term vision is for dredging
▶ 12:28 that? Because I know it is reaching that critical phase with invasive species where it may not be possible moving forward. Right. Yeah. Dredging would be a significant undertaking, even more so than the removal of the water chestnuts on... So yeah, that's something we've had some discussions with the Park Department, I think, because the ponds are connected. It overflows one pond at the Parks Department, and it goes down to Towner's Pond- Mm-hmm ... which is a Conservation Commission purview. So, yeah, that's something I think we're at the point where we're investigating what the options are and what the commitment, financial and the impact of what we can do there. But, we certainly want to take into account
▶ 13:13 Ryan Williams: where they're so close to each other and one flows to the other. Yeah, we definitely want to involve the Parks Department as well. Thank you. Just please keep us updated on that and anything we can do as a council to help- Sure ... mitigate that would be great. Yeah. Thank you. Will do. Make a motion to recommend. Second. And thank you. Motion to recommend by Councilor Finocchiaro, seconded by President Freeman. On discussion, we have talked for a long time about the Community Preservation Act, members of the council, members of the Affordable Housing Committee, it's come up. I know that members of the Conservation Committee are supportive of this, and it's one of the best ways to finance conservation purchases, direct land purchases,
▶ 13:58 Ryan Williams: as well as parks and fields upgrades and improvements. So, for anybody that is watching this recording in the future, since apparently there's nobody online- ... look into that because it's a great way for us to have a targeted source of funding that goes specifically to those needs. Mm-hmm. Yep. Okay. Vote time. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Nobody's opposed. Thank you very much again for coming in. Thank you. Really appreciate your time. Next, we have ID 2026-30, Reappointment of Ellen Kabau, 79 Otis Street, Melrose, to the Melrose Council on Aging for three-year term, said term to expire on the last day of February 2029. Hi. Hi, neighbor. Yes, welcome. Did you ride your tandem bike over, or did you-
▶ 14:40 No, I did not. No? Okay. All right. I walked. Thank you for joining us. If you could just take a few minutes and talk to us about your experience on the Council on Aging, what you hope for the future in the few years ahead, and share anything with us that you want us to know. Okay. Yeah. So, the first three years were awesome because we were in the middle of a, we rolled out a big, what do you call it? An evaluation of the town to see what the needs were. And we got the surveys, came from BU's School of Gerontology. So we had to get folks to be stakehold-- We went around and got people we knew. I had a friend that's a professor in sociology at Northeastern, so I brought her in. So we had all different stakeholder groups of what we
▶ 15:26 think we need to do to age in place at Melrose. And then they had other groups that they talked to, like the fire department. I work at the hospital, so I'm sure they see, "I've fallen and I can't get up," kind of situations. And then the police do a lot with seniors fraud. And they even interviewed the schools to see, is there any way we can do a multigenerational kind of stuff. So, it took a long time to survey, get the results back, and so right now we're kind of piecemealing. We started implementing things right away, but we're kind of looking at, is there anything we're missing? For instance, one piece that kind of came out is that it's hard to engage men. Women will hang out and they'll cluster together.
▶ 16:11 And even if you have a field trip that's like, "Let's go see Fenway Park," the women all go, the men don't. So we're really working to engage men because I know from hospital, it's a big social determinant of health if you're not engaged socially. So we just instituted a, I didn't, but we advised them, and they implemented it. They have a men's coffee hour that seems to be working really well. And then the hope is to maybe move out from there to see if they want to do a men's event day or something like that, so we're at least getting the men. And then the other piece was we were trying to make Melrose a dementia-friendly town. So, there was some grant money for that. They had social worker and
▶ 17:01 folks teaching all the people in the restaurants, because a lot of times in restaurants, you'll talk to the one spouse, because you don't want to avoid talking to the spouse that has dementia. So, just how to engage with folks like that. And then those restaurants got a siting that's called dementia-friendly siting, so we're working on making Melrose a very big dementia-friendly community. And we're even doing caregiver cafes at the senior center. Because a lot of times the spouse that's taking care of the spouse is so isolated, so they can come in to the caregiver cafe. And the other thing we're doing is we're doing a lot of trying to reach out to other senior centers instead of just recreating the wheel.
▶ 17:43 So, we're finding if Stoneham's doing one on Monday, we'll do ours on Tuesday. So, if someone wants to go to a few, things like that.And then my personal thing that I want to see, but I don't know if this will happen, is I think we need a bocce court in Melrose. And so we're actually look-- I say, I used to be-- BB school up my kids, so we used to always go to Gucci Park, but it doesn't seem like Gucci Park is used all that much, so that might be good. And then it's near the senior center. But I think a lot of senior centers, and that's getting people out, moving, balance, all that good stuff. And then it might engage the younger seniors. And so that's kind of my hope. But I think the director's working on like maybe some grant activity that we could get some
▶ 18:25 money for that. But that's kind of like what's been happening in the past three years that I've been there. And I have a tandem bike, and we're very involved in transportation stuff, so we looked at what can we do transportation-wise, because that's going to be a big thing as people age in place. And, so a lot of it, we're looking at more transportation at the senior center. We're looking at just if people need information about getting T-passes, The Ride. And then we work closely with, do you guys know SDM? The- Mm-hmm. Yeah. So we work closely with them because digital literacy is huge. Yeah. I find like when I-- I'm at Mass General, but like when I discharge a patient, if they're in there with the... I just had a guy now, he's 80 whatever and
▶ 19:16 lives in Nantucket, and he's like, "Well, I think I'm going to go back to Nantucket by Cape Air." And he's doing his whole discharge stuff. I was like, "Oh, I don't have anything to do." But I think that we could keep seniors in the digital literacy group, and there does seem to be even some good intergenerational work with that. So that's kind of what we're doing. It's fun. Thank you. Councilor Fronk-Geral. Thank you. Mel, thank you so much for being here. I love your enthusiasm. Yeah. It's great. I love the fact that you want to do this again- ... and all your ideas because it's really important, and we have an aging population in Melrose. We do, yeah. I think it's like 20% of our population is 65 plus.
▶ 19:56 I believe, yes. Yeah. My parents don't like to be classified as elderly, but... You only have to be 60 to join. I know. So it doesn't even matter. Yeah. But I love that you are, it's called a certified SHINE volunteer. Can you talk about that a little? Yes. Oh, yeah. I did the training. SHINE means Serving Health Insurance Needs of Everyone. But really, we just do Medicare, and I think of these MassHealth situations we get in. So I went through the training to show people, because even navigating Medicare, I'm heading into that direction myself, so I was like, my friends are all like: "You're going to help us, aren't you?" I go, "Oh. I'll see what I can do." But, so I went through the training.
▶ 20:32 It was a lot of intense training. It was like this time last year. And then I got everybody through open-- you probably heard the buzz. Open enrollment, you see all the ads on the TV. So like, there's a big open enrollment period in September, in the fall. Then there's another open enrollment period in January. So I just got everybody through both of those open enrollments. I was actually physically at Mystic Valley in Malden, and which I liked better. Melrose has a SHINE counselor in the office, and they were trying to say, "Why don't we have two days a week, and you can come here?" But I feel like I can learn there because the person that knows all the stuff is there. So like, if I have a question, I just go to her office and go, "Oh.
▶ 21:11 Look what's happening to this guy," and she'll tell me what I can do. But that's another whole piece. People don't realize. And you need digital literacy because now everything they're saying-- I feel bad for these people. They all have to have emails. If you don't have an email, you're screwed. And then they want two-factor identification, and these seniors are like, "What does that mean?" You're like, "Oh, God." And just to log on to SSA, Social Security, and all that stuff requires so much digital literacy, so we really need to catch up. We're very lucky in Melrose to have SDM because I know other communities use that service. Yeah. Health insurance is confusing. It's very confusing. If you want to help me with mine, I'd love to take you.
▶ 21:49 Bradley Freeman: Sure. So I think that's a really important piece that- Yes ... you're offering. So, thank you. Oh, thank you. President Freeman. Thank you very much. I actually had the chance to tour the Milano Center a couple of weeks ago with Erica, the director. And she was amazing, and I was just blown away by the programming. My favorite thing was I walked in, and she explained to me that they were doing Oscars Month- ... where they were showing a different movie that was a nominee for the awards. And the turnout, it was a really robust center, and I really appreciate all- It is ... that you and she does. One question I do have for you, and you mentioned open enrollment, and how is Melrose doing in reaching out to the senior population about various tax abatement programs that
▶ 22:32 are available to them, and how can we do better? Particularly in light of what's happened in the past six months, how can we better provide the resources to let them know what's there, and then help them navigate that process? I almost think we should be trying to push more-- We do a lot to the seniors. We do a lot of mailing. We have a newsletter. Some people can get it online, some people mail out. But I almost think we should be looking at more the end of your 50s, you should start thinking about what you're going to do in your retirement. And that was one of my things I was thinking, I'm going to try to locate people, if any of you guys have any ideas, who are people doing robust things in their retirement. I think it would be cool to have a panel and just have
▶ 23:09 people come and see what people are doing. Because there's a lot of people out there doing... You can be a Fulbright in your retirement, join Peace Corps. You can do all this stuff. So just to see what people are doing, I thought that would be kind of a cool thing. How'd I get off on that tangent? Yeah. So, I guess I wish that we could try to reach the younger folks more. Like, I just went to the-- We had a really good lecture offered there on ADUs. Mm-hmm. Do you know what those are? You guys probably are writing some of the regs about them. But like, I'm thinking, like, that's such a good idea. You have an elderly family member, and a lot of the people in their 50s, they do. And then, do you put them in an
▶ 23:49 ALF or an SNF, or assisted living or a skilled nursing facility? Or can you maybe build a unit-And then, but who showed up was seniors. And I think once you're 80 or whatever, that's too old to be thinking about, "How am I going to navigate out of this big house?" And that's what they found in a lot of the studies, that we're all sitting on big houses, big Victorians that we don't need, but where are you going to go? Myself included. I don't have big houses. But we had kids. The kids are gone. It's me and my husband. I'd like to downsize, but there's nothing around, as you know. So, I think that's kind of an issue. And so, I think sometimes maybe we need to get the younger people aware of these things now. Maybe they should think about investing.
▶ 24:34 Instead of putting in a solar panel, start thinking about putting in an ADU in your backyard. I don't know. Mm. Mm. So that's just kind of an idea, is that... I don't know how we can reach that population. We actually have a technology person that's... I think he's a volunteer, and he's putting up stuff on Facebook and all those kind of things. But I still think a senior is probably looking at that. But to reach the 50-somethings, I think they're probably a group that we're not reaching. But it isn't our mission, really, in the senior. The monies are really more toward the seniors. But if this 50-year-old's helping seven-year-olds, if they knew it was out there. And that happens at a lot of our open houses.
▶ 25:14 A lot of family members bring their-- It'll be the kids coming in with their parents going, "See? There's things for you to do, Mom and Dad, besides watch the TV." And they get them engaged. So we try to have open house twice a year. Sometimes we run these things, bring a new member, and we'll give them... But it's hard to engage the men. They're a tough group. I see it in the hospital. It's just a tough group. Thank you. I love the idea of engaging the younger generation to help out, so I appreciate that. Yeah. Thanks. Vice Chair Vandiver? Hi. Thank you very much. Thank you for being here. I love the enthusiasm and the variety and the huge scope that you have. Erica is awesome. She runs that place. And Jim. They do so
▶ 26:00 Kimberly Vandiver: much. They know everybody. They're just awesome. I can't say enough good things about them. Sorry. Yeah, go ahead. So I had two questions. One, piggybacking off of President Freeman discussion, I don't know if you've used at all the voter registration rolls or the census to find people who haven't yet participated who are in the right age range and live in Melrose and haven't been in. But if not, I know the voter rolls are a public record, so that's something you could consider doing a mailing to people who've never participated. I'm sure Erica is. I'm just advisory, so I don't get into that, but I know she, when they come in with the statistics, I think we're hitting probably all the seniors. But we're definitely not going into the
▶ 26:48 Kimberly Vandiver: 50-somethings. Okay. Great. Yeah, I have the perception, and I don't know if it's correct or not, that in my area of Melrose, kind of in the southwest, we do have a lot of older folks, but I'm not sure. I think a lot of them stay close to home, and I don't know if some of those neighborhoods have been reached, and- That's a good-- That actually came up in the survey, and we were kind of contemplating. We might still revisit it. Do we have any clubhouses towards Saugus, toward wherever, that we could say, "We're just going to just..." And just see what the turnout would be. Mm-hmm. Just run something at a place like that. So that is true, because I look at Wakefield's, because for a while, I was the public health nurse in Melrose, so I was giving
▶ 27:29 everybody their H1N1 shot and stuff. But in Wakefield, theirs is way out of the way. The senior center's way out of the way. At least we're kind of centrally located. And we also provide free transportation. But I think that you're right, that it's almost visibility, that if we could... And there was some talk, and I think we're going to revisit it when we revisit things that came out of the survey, was that maybe we should do a trial of trying to find somewhere that we could run a senior event that's not at Milano. Yeah. And the area that I'm in, I don't know if there are many rentable options. Some of the big apartment buildings. The other thing is, I know some people who might be happy to even offer their
▶ 28:10 Kimberly Vandiver: yard or their house or something like that- Oh ... if you ever wanted to connect on that or try to figure out ways to host some of those more various locations within Melrose local events. Yeah. Well, thank you. Have fun. And then my other question was about languages. We have some seniors who speak Chinese, speak other languages. That's a good question. Do you have anything as far as outreach there or programming there or anything like that? I know she does do outreach in different languages, and I know we have access to... And I want to say there is a group that, I don't know which language they speak, but they play mahjong, and they don't speak English. So, I don't know how they all connect, but that is a good question.
▶ 28:52 Ryan Williams: Are we missing any people that don't speak the language? But I think usually, I'll bring that back to Erica. I know she knows the folks that don't speak English, and I don't know how she manages that, but... Okay, great. Well, yeah, a couple things to consider, but yeah, again, I absolutely love you do a huge amount of good for so many people, and that's awesome. Thank you. Thank you. Mm-hmm. I'll make a motion to recommend. Great. Second. Okay. Motion to recommend by Councilor Vandiver, seconded by Chris Park. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? No one's opposed. That passes. Thank you so much, Ellen- Okay. Yeah ... for coming in. Yeah. Thank you. Appreciate your time, as always. Last but not least, ID 2026-355, Reappointment of Joe
▶ 29:41 Viola of 134 Howard Street to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund for a term of one year, said term set to expire on the last day of January 2027. Thank you very much for your time tonight. Thank you for having me, and I think this is a great idea. Thank you. I'm really happy to come in and have this discussion in person, so- Good. We're happy to have you ... thank you for the invitation.But as you all know, the housing trust was formed within the last year. Mayor Jen was able to bring aboard a diverse number of individuals who've been hard at work over the past year trying to strategize and come up with guidelines and applications, and strategize about housing needs for the community, and things to do to keep the
▶ 30:33 housing trust solvent, ways to grow it and keep it sustainable. And how to get into the community and hear people where they are and understand their thoughts on what it's like to live in the community and maybe tell us their stories about how they came here and... I think of somebody like myself. I came here 20 years ago, and I've watched housing prices increase over the past 20 years. And I'm sure you all have children, and you think about, "Well, how are my kids going to be able to live here?" That's my personal reason for wanting to serve on the trust, is to make sure we're creating opportunities for others to live in this community. So, it's been a great year, and I know our chair, Amy Tierney, has
▶ 31:26 Bradley Freeman: a plan to come before the full council at some point and to give you an update and to let you know what we've been up to. But, again, I'm happy to answer any questions. And just to say, I was thankful for my appointment, and I look forward to continuing to serve. So... Thank you. President Freeman. Thank you for being here, Joe. One question I wanted to just get your sense on, it's something the housing trust fund is looking at, is a group of us were at the library on Tuesday night. I think you may have been there. Other folks in the Affordable Housing Trust Fund were there to talk about the two sites that are to be developed in Melrose, including the Ripley School. Mm-hmm. And during that conversation, there was obviously a passionate discussion about the
▶ 32:09 Bradley Freeman: need for affordable housing. And just picking back on something that Ellen said earlier about affordable housing for the senior population so that they can remain in Melrose, but it also frees up that housing stock and lets the houses continue to turn over. Mm-hmm. And I was thinking about it in Lynnfield. I'm not sure if you've looked at Essex Village at all, but they have an affordable housing units for seniors there that are subsidized by the city. You have to be a Lynnfield resident, 55 and older. There's a waiting list, and it's a great program. Mm-hmm. And obviously, there's a cost associated with that and also the availability of land. But could Melrose look at doing something small like that at the Ripley location or another location where you can get 10, 15
▶ 32:49 units in dedicated to seniors at an affordable rate that's either city-owned or privately owned through a land lease? And is that something that the housing trust fund would play a role in? To answer the first question, I think, yes. Obviously, in order to have a program like that, you need to have the land. When the municipality is looking to dispose of land for affordable housing, you hold a lot of the cards. The second part of that is affordability, and being able to provide subsidy to housing developers to write down the affordability. That's an important part of what a housing trust could do. I don't know the particulars of both sites. We haven't really spent a lot of time. It's maybe not our role. There are other capable planning board and other
▶ 33:40 Christopher Park: boards and committees, including the city council, to think about the reuse of those properties. But I think absolutely. I think if there was an opportunity to dispose of town land and to also subsidize a private developer, I think that's something the city could do. I think that would be feasible. Councillor Park and then Vice Chair Van der Merwe. Thank you. Thank you for your service so far. And I had a question about the actual term of affordable housing. A lot of my constituents have often voiced their support for what Affordable Housing Trust does and what its intent is. Mm-hmm. But the actual definition, a lot of people are surprised that, as I understand, it is available to households earning 80% or less of the AMI,
▶ 34:35 Christopher Park: Boston Area Median Income. And that's still, as we all know, Boston and the surrounding areas is very high in terms of level of income. Mm-hmm. What are your thoughts on the actual definition, and do you agree with it as its current standing, or do you think it needs to be revised as something a little bit more reasonable for other residents looking to get into affordable housing? Yeah, I think what you're saying about 80% AMI, that's a general standard lots of municipalities try to meet in order to have housing units counted on the subsidized housing inventory when they're created. But I also have seen other municipalities-- If you can bring resources to bear, if you have a housing trust and you have
▶ 35:27 money you can put into a project, you're able to sometimes negotiate even deeper affordability than an 80% AMI. While the 80% AMI is an important threshold, and ideally you get a long-term deed restricted unit out of the use of your housing trust funds, but if we're able to potentially subsidize other affordable housing development through private developers, I think the housing trust could help write down and provide even greater affordability for folks at the 60% AMI level, even deeper than that. But-Sometimes it comes down to zoning, and it also comes down to your ability to negotiate with local controlled resources. So, hopefully that answers your question. So you wish it could be lower?
▶ 36:28 I think there's a need. I don't think it would surprise anybody that the supply doesn't meet the demand in Greater Boston, Melrose, and every other town in Greater Boston. And, there are a lot of people who would love to live in the community that they work in, but for some reason can't afford to live here because even an 80% AMI unit might be out of their reach. I've always been an advocate for trying to provide affordable units across a range of incomes, and I think that's a laudable, noble goal for a community. Thank you. Vice Chair Vandiver. Thank you. I was interested in the letter you wrote us. You mentioned that you've approved a funding request for three units at 87 West Wyoming Avenue, and I was wondering if you could
▶ 37:20 Kimberly Vandiver: help us understand. I'm just curious, what does that mean specifically? Does that mean that those are now subsidized units, or? I missed the first part of that question. Oh, sorry. I'm sorry about that. So I believe that you recently approved a funding request for three units at 87 West Wyoming Avenue. Right. Okay. I'm sorry. Yep. And, just curious what that entails. Does that now mean that those are available to rent at an 80% AMI, or what were the particulars of that? So, right. Housing trust funds in this case were able to leverage funds from the North-- I can't remember the name of the consortium. The North Suburban Consortium, they control other federal funds. The inclusion of housing trusts help leverage that funding, which in
▶ 38:15 turn allows the Melrose Affordable Housing Corporation to make those units available to their long-term deed restricted units. From my perspective, it's a great use of the funding because it allows the housing corporation to provide those units, for long-term affordability. Another important use of trust funds is absolutely to leverage. The whole subsidized affordable housing structure is a lot about using your resources to leverage state or federal resources. So, I think having a trust that helps attract those other resources, such as Melrose Housing Corporation was able to do, it's an opportunity that we might not have otherwise had if there wasn't a housing trust. I hope that answers the question.
▶ 39:19 Kimberly Vandiver: That's really helpful, and I hadn't realized that. I know that we are able to take money into the trust and spend our own money, but I hadn't realized that dynamic of being able to leverage other funding once you have a housing trust. So that's really helpful. Thank you. Sure. Councilor Finocchiaro. This might be a dumb question, but I like asking dumb questions. How do you secure your funding for the trust? How's the capitalize? Mm-hmm. So free cash allocation- Mm-hmm ... from city council. Yep. Payments in lieu for developments may have provided the units on site, instead of providing the unit, the funds would go into the housing trust. Okay. And other municipalities. And I heard the discussion earlier about CPA.
▶ 40:12 Mm-hmm. That's another possibility. Mm-hmm. As you all have probably discussed at the council, if the CPA was something that was passed locally, it would- Mm-hmm ... 10% of that, a minimum of 10% would have to be used for affordable housing, potentially capitalize the trust fund. Okay. So. So are you exploring- Yep ... new ways to obtain a cash flow for the fund, or? I think we see our role as to advocate. Obviously, there are a lot of need for city funding. Mm-hmm. And when there's free cash available- Yeah ... advocating for an allocation of the housing trust if it's possible. I know it- Mm-hmm ... isn't always. Mm-hmm. We're sort of tracking what's going on with the state level, with the real estate
▶ 41:05 transfer tax. Mm-hmm. More communities are having discussions about how that could be used to capitalize local housing programs. Mm-hmm. But I think the no-brainer in, is CPA, just for the variety of projects- Mm-hmm ... it would be able to fund your historic preservation, your open space and parks, and affordable housing. Mm-hmm. So that would be, I think, something a lot of us on the committee feel like that's something we should advocate for- Yeah ... as a housing trust. Yeah. I didn't mean to put you on the spot. I know- No, it's okay ... I do remember when we created this, there was a free cash allocation. Just didn't know if there was a steady income source or something that you were looking at,
▶ 41:52 specifically, but you answered my question, so Yeah. I would finish by saying sustainability. I happen to be having this conversation with a colleague today who's on a housing trust in his community. Mm-hmm. And his same comment to me was, "Well, if we don't have this way to keep the fund sustainable, what are we doing here?" Right. So, now that it's created, now that we have a committee, and we have guidelines, and an application in place, and there seems to be some local support and acknowledgement that it's tough to move into this community and buy a house and create a life here these days. Hopefully, there's the political support to support something like the CPA. Thank you. Sure. Motion to recommend?
▶ 42:45 Ryan Williams: Second. Motion to recommend by Councilor Park, seconded by Vice Chair Vandiver. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. So that passes. Thanks very much for your time. Again, really great to have you here, and appreciate the conversation very much. Thank you very much. I appreciate you having me. Yeah. Well, that's it. So I think rather than do the thing I usually do, which is do everything by unanimous consent, this time I will entertain a motion to adjourn. Mr. President, I would like to make a motion to adjourn. I'm sorry, Mr. Chair. Sorry. Mr. Chair. Thank you. Second. Thank you. Motion to adjourn made by Vice Chair Vandiver, seconded by Councilor Finocchiaro. All in favor? Aye. Aye.
▶ 43:32 Ryan Williams: Any opposed? We're adjourned. Thank you. Have a good night.