Appropriations & Oversight Committee

This meeting starts at 9:30 in a recording that covers several meetings.

Attendance

Jason Chen present · At-Large; Cal Finocchiaro present · Ward 6; Bradley Freeman present · President, Ex Officio; Maya Jamaleddine present · At-Large; Manjula Karamcheti present · Ward 1; Elizabeth Kowal present · At-Large; John Obremski absent · Ward 2; Christopher Park present · Ward 3; Kimberly Vandiver present · Vice Chair; Ryan Williams present · At-Large

Agenda

Minutes

Appropriations & Oversight Committee Monday, April 6, 2026, 7:00 PM City Council Chamber, 1st Floor 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER Kimberly Vandiver Vice Chair Jason Chen Cal Finocchiaro Maya Jamaleddine Manjula Karamcheti Elizabeth Kowal John Obremski Christopher Park Ryan Williams William Bradley Freeman President, Ex Officio Devin Romanul Chair Meeting was called to order by Chair Romanul at 7:00 PM Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Kim Vandiver Vice Chair Present Jason Chen At-Large Present Cal Finocchiaro Ward 6 Present Maya Jamaleddine At-Large Present Manjula Karamcheti Ward 1 Present Elizabeth Kowal At-Large Present John Obremski Ward 2 Absent Christopher Park Ward 3 Present Ryan Williams At-Large Present William Bradley Freeman President, Ex Officio Present Member Devin Romanul Chair Present II. MINUTES APPROVAL Motion to Approve the minutes by unanimous consent without reading made by Chair Romanul All were in favor and minutes were approved RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] 1 AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, Bradley Freeman, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, Elizabeth Kowal, Christopher Park, Devin Romanul, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams NAYS: None ABSENT: John Obremski III. PUBLIC COMMENT When: Apr 6, 2026 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Topic: Appropriations & Oversight Meeting Join from PC, Mac, iPad, or Android: https://cityofmelrose- org.zoom.us/j/96234665160?pwd=c7qqlaDjP5Dw7gvpWlvPUA5l8mGO9H.1 Passcode:508869 Webinar ID: 962 3466 5160 Motion to Open public comment made by Chair Romanul at 7:01 PM Comments on the Floor: -Sandra Bower of 65 Ferdinand Street and vice president of Polymnia Choral Society is urging passage of the $50,000 appropriation for the Melrose Cultural Council. Passing this funding not only supports the arts but encourages spending at local businesses when patrons attending the Polymnia Choral Society concerts also frequent those Melrose businesses. -Jim Bracciale of 121 Country Club Road is the co-chair of the Melrose Cultural Council. This funding supports cultural projects that reach all sectors of the community, from preschool to senior citizens. It allows students to attend art events at discounted rates ensuring that all students will be able to attend regardless of their ability to pay. He respectfully asks that you consider passing the appropriation to foster a more rich and vibrant cultural life in Melrose. -Sarah Bolha of 332 Upham Street is Jim's co-chair of the Melrose Cultural Council. In 2025, the MCC was able to fund 32 projects reaching broad communities, was able to engage more than 440 local artists and reached a total audience of nearly 17,000 community members. These events have economic benefits to Melrose when most patrons visit restaurants before or after the shows. -Stephanie Nelson of 249 Grove Street along with Kristin Thorp of 77 Wentworth Road represented the Melrose Chamber of Commerce. She commented how the city events such as Victorian Fair and Summer Stroll bring people together and drive traffic to the downtown encouraging patrons to spend money. She shared a written letter of support from Samantha Riccio of Eagle Hill Homes. -Gail Infurna, board member of the Chamber of Commerce and former councilor, asks for support of the $25,000 appropriation to the mayor's office to support Chamber and City events. This funding is critical to cover costs for the police and DPW support for these events that enrich Melrose culturally and economically. -Myron Dittmer of 93 Altamont Avenue is president of the Mt Hood Park Association. He has a vested interest in supporting the MCC funding. His association annually sponsors a number of events at Mount Hood, including the July 4 event. They're all free of charge, and they rely on dues for that. Over 50% of the population is positively impacted by these cultural events, and he asks for support of funding for the MCC and Mayor's office requests. -Oren Santillo of 137n East Foster Street is a Melrose High School senior and student member of Melrose Cultural Council. He sponsors Melrose Jazz Festival and requests passing the MCC appropriation. He read a letter of support from Cris Rodelico of Follow Your Art Community Studios. -Bob Driscoll of 33 Thurston Road spoke in support of the Veterans Tax Work Off program. He is a 2 retired Melrose Firefighter, retired Air Force colonel with 38 years of military service and chairman of the Melrose Veterans Advisory Board. Affordability is a major challenge and this program will help veterans of any age with the opportunity to work off a portion of their taxes, helping to ease monetary burdens. -Michael Buggy of 131 Myrtle Street is a Marine Corp veteran and commander of American Legion Post 90. He spoke in strong support of the Veterans Tax Work Off Program. It allows veterans to remain active and engaged in the community, while providing meaningful financial relief. At the same time, the city benefits from their experience, work ethic, and dedication. It's a true win-win for the veterans of Melrose and Melrose itself. He urged them to vote in favor of preserving this order. It is about more than finances, it's about honoring the men and women who served our nation in a real, tangible way. There were no comments via Zoom Motion to Close public comment made by Chair Romanul at 7:36 PM . IV. APPROPRIATIONS

A. (ID # 2026-612): An Appropriation from Free Cash (account 01-324001) in the amount of $20,020 to the Elections Department (#162) for upgrades to Poll Pads and Printer. Motion to Recommend made by Councilor Karamcheti Seconded by Councilor Williams All were in favor and motion passed RESULTS: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, Bradley Freeman, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, Elizabeth Kowal, Christopher Park, Devin Romanul, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams NAYS: None ABSENT: John Obremski Comments and Discussion: -City Clerk Cifuni explained that the city's current poll pads will no longer be compatible with their software/operating system at the end of 2026. She requested funding to purchase new poll pads to have them delivered and working in time for the elections in the fall. The anticipated lifetime for these new poll pads is 5 years, at which time they will probably need to be replaced again.

B. (ID # 2026-614): An Appropriation from Free Cash (account 01-324001) in the amount of $50,000 to the Melrose Cultural Council (#2543) for the purposes of grant funding for arts and cultural events and programs in Melrose. Motion to Recommend made by Councilor Williams Seconded by Councilor Karamcheti Motion passed 3 RESULTS: ACCEPTED TO: City Council AYES: Cal Finocchiaro, Bradley Freeman, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, Elizabeth Kowal, Christopher Park, Devin Romanul, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams NAYS: Jason Chen ABSENT: John Obremski Comments and Discussion: Lauren Grymek was in attendance to speak on behalf of this request and answered questions from the councilors. Discussion included debate on the amount of funding requested being increased from $17,000 to $50,000 this year. There are other needs in the city, such as funding for firefighter self-contained breathing apparatuses, where this money could be spent. Reducing the amount to $30,000 until after the budget process is completed was proposed. Funding it from grants versus free cash versus a line item budget was debated. The final decision was to keep the original request as written. During discussion a Motion to Recess by unanimous consent to start the city council meeting was made by Chair Romanul at 7:45 PM Meeting opened again at 8:04 PM

C. (ID # 2026-615): An Appropriation from Free Cash (account 01-324001) in the amount of $25,000 to the Mayor's Office (#121) to support Chamber and City events. Motion to Recommend made by Councilor Finocchiaro Seconded by Councilor Williams All were in favor and motion passed RESULTS: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, Bradley Freeman, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, Elizabeth Kowal, Christopher Park, Devin Romanul, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams NAYS: None ABSENT: John Obremski Comments and Discussion: -Lauren Grymek stated that this was something that was on the operating budget for a long time and the cost to support chamber events were housed in overtime line items, so we didn't see the exact costs. During the unfortunate budget cycle last fiscal year, we used a remaining, sort of, ARPA allocation to be able to fund those awesome events. We are working to get some of these things back on budget, and to have it in a transparent way that shows a line item for community events so that you all can see how much these cost. Councillor Finocchiaro supported the level-funded appropriation while suggesting it should 4 eventually become a budget line item. Councilor Williams would like to see an increase in the amount of funding in the future along with more events, especially the Summer Stroll. V. ORDERS

A. (ID # 2026-616): An order to define the Veteran Volunteer Tax Work Off Program established by the Melrose Board of Alderman in 2012, including a description of the program, eligibility requirements and necessary application documents. Motion to Recommend made by Councilor Chen Seconded by Councilor Park All were in favor and motion passed RESULTS: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, Bradley Freeman, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, Elizabeth Kowal, Christopher Park, Devin Romanul, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams NAYS: None ABSENT: John Obremski Comments and Discussion: Tammy Shovelton explained that this program allows veterans and their dependents to work up to 150 hours (tied to minimum wage) to earn a $1,500 tax credit, with work opportunities including veteran services support, food pantry assistance, and participation in events like Memorial Day activities. The council clarified that this program differs from existing tax work-off programs and requires annual applications to ensure fair access. Currently 5-6 veterans are on a list for this program and the age range of applicants is 40-70 years old. City hall has supported efforts to notify veterans of this program, especially through monthly socials for veterans and family members, and city council can increase awareness through word of mouth with their constituents. A resident must choose only one tax work-off program, either the senior or veterans program. The state is working on legislature to increase the veterans program amount from $1500 to $2000 and Melrose plans to follow that once it is approved. Councilor Chen stated he has had 3 veterans or their spouses come to him and talk about Ms. Shovelton, and how authentic she is when she engages them. He has seen her interact with veterans of all ages at luncheons and events, and we are extremely lucky to have her. What he likes about this program is a veteran that's coming to do a work-off program is probably struggling financially, maybe a little bit disconnected, struggling to integrate back, and there's nobody that he'd rather them talk to than Ms. Shovelton, and have them come into a program like this.

B. (ID # 2026-618): Acceptance of donations totaling $500,000 from the Friends of the Melrose Public Library and the Trustees of the Melrose Public Library. Motion to Recommend made by Councilor Jamaleddine Seconded by Councilor Karamcheti All were in favor and motion passed 5 RESULTS: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, Bradley Freeman, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, Elizabeth Kowal, Christopher Park, Devin Romanul, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams NAYS: None ABSENT: John Obremski Comments and Discussion: CFO Kerri Golden and Melrose Public Library Director Linda Gardener stated that this is a housekeeping order to accept the donations. The donations are for for furniture, fixtures, and equipment for the renovation project of the Melrose Public Library VI. ADJOURNMENT Motion to Adjourn by unanimous consent made by Chair Romanul at 8:42 PM All were in favor and meeting was adjourned 6 Quote Melrose MA - Poll Pad Upgrade Company Address 8A Industrial Way Created Date 2/12/2026 Unit 100 Expiration Date 5/13/2026 Salem, NH 03079 US Quote Number 00002906 Contact Information Prepared By Brenda L'Italien Customer Name Melrose Title Director of Poll Pad Sales and Support Contact Name Tanji Cifuni Phone (978) 651-2511 Title City Clerk Email bcm@lhsassociates.com Email tcifuni@cityofmelrose.org Address Information Bill To Name Melrose Bill To 562 Main Street Melrose, MA 02176 Product Sales Total Product Product Description Quantity Code Price Price PP-01 I360 Sled I360 Sled $50.00 28.00 $1,400.00 Poll Pad Application & Software Installation Poll Pad Application & Software Installation PP-12 $100.00 28.00 $2,800.00 Fee Fee PP-07 Poll Pad Carry Case (920 Receipt) Poll Pad Carry Case (920 Receipt) $200.00 28.00 $5,600.00 PP-08 Poll Pad Tablet (Wi-Fi) Upgrade or Replacement (Wi-Fi) $340.00 28.00 $9,520.00 E99-99 Shipping/Handling/Delivery Charge Shipping and Handling $150.00 1.00 $150.00 Subtotal $19,470.00 Total Price $19,470.00 Upgrade 001-028 All prices quoted are subject to change without prior notice. Pricing may be adjusted to reflect changes in market conditions, vendor costs, or other factors beyond our control. Signature By signing below, you are acknowledging that the above pricing is accurate and within budget, and that you are ready to move forward with the official purchase and contract initiation: Customer Signature: _____________________________ Printed Name & Title: __________________________________________ Date: ____________________ Anticipated First Use Date: ____________________ City Auditor City Hall, 562 Main Street Melrose, Massachusetts 02176 Telephone - (781) 979-4107 Free Cash Orders for Fiscal Year 2026 “Free cash” is a term used to describe any remaining, unrestricted funds from the previous fiscal years. After it is “certified” by the state, free cash use requires a recommendation from the Mayor and an appropriation from the City Council. For more information on free cash, you can review this fact sheet published by the Department of Revenue – Division of Local Services. Appropriation Appropriation Balance of Council Order ID # Request Department Description Approved Free Cash $ 5,558,450 Poll Pad Laptops & 2026-612 $20,020.00 Clerk/Elections Printers $ 5,538,430.00 Cultural Council 2026-614 $50,000.00 Mayor Funding $ 5,488,430.00 Chamber & City 2026-615 $25,000.00 Mayor Events Support $ 5,463,430.00 *The first three appropriation requests listed will appear on the 3/16/26 City Council Agenda. As requests are submitted by the administration and approved by the City Council, the table above will be updated accordingly and shared with subsequent orders. … … … . CITY OF MELROSE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR . City Hall, 562 Main Street Melrose, Massachusetts 02176 JENNIFER GRIGORAITIS Telephone - (781) 979-4440 Mayor To: Melrose City Council From: Mayor Jen Grigoraitis Re: Requesting Free Cash Appropriation for the Melrose Cultural Council CC: Kerri Golden, CFO; Lauren Grymek, Chief of Staff Date: March 9, 2026 I respectfully request the City Council approve an appropriation of free cash in the amount of $50,000 to the Melrose Cultural Council (MCC) for the purposes of grant funding for arts and cultural events and programs in Melrose. The MCC is a local cultural council under the state’s program. This will supplement the annual Local Cultural Council Allocation grant of $16,800 from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, accepted by the City Council earlier this calendar year. The need for arts and culture funding in Melrose is growing. Last year, the MCC received 44 applications requesting $80,650 in funding; they were able to approve 31 applications for a total of $39,546 (5 partially funded, 26 fully funded). This funding was derived from three sources: $20,000 from City of Melrose (free cash appropriation); $16,800 from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (annual allocation from the state); and $2,746 from MCC fundraising efforts. Data from the MCC’s July-August 2025 Community Survey, completed by 240 people, informed them that the community is looking to engage in free outdoor events, public art, and events that encourage community building, social connections and dialogue. Additionally, the MCC’s survey found that 70% of those surveyed that attended an arts or cultural event in Melrose also ate in a local restaurant either before or after the performance, while over 50% visited a local merchant and over 40% stopped to have a drink. The City is grateful for the MCC’s work in providing programming that also helps our local economy grow. The City’s investment in the Melrose Cultural Council ensures that these public funds can be granted equitably, transparently and consistently to great local grant applicants. Ultimately, this allocation of $50,000 enables the MCC to provide more grants at a higher amount for local arts and culture initiatives. Thank you for your consideration and your support. History of Funding the Arts in Melrose: This appropriation follows the prior two fiscal years’ free cash requests of $20,000 each. In June 2024 my administration requested, and the City Council unanimously approved, a $20,000 appropriation in free cash funds to support the Melrose Messina Fund for the Arts (MMFA), a City of Melrose-funded account administered by mayoral appointees, for Fiscal Year 2025. Later that summer, the volunteer administrators of the MMFA unanimously approved a plan to integrate MMFA funds and operations into the larger Melrose Cultural Council (MCC). The integration of the Messina Fund into the Melrose Cultural Council reduced administrative burdens on local grant recipients by creating the opportunity for applicants to seek funding from one source. Further, the merger improved and streamlined the MCC’s and MMFA’s common mission of grantmaking for community arts and culture endeavors in the City of Melrose. The City’s allocation for arts and cultural programming now falls solely under the Melrose Cultural Council City Auditor City Hall, 562 Main Street Melrose, Massachusetts 02176 Telephone - (781) 979-4107 Free Cash Orders for Fiscal Year 2026 “Free cash” is a term used to describe any remaining, unrestricted funds from the previous fiscal years. After it is “certified” by the state, free cash use requires a recommendation from the Mayor and an appropriation from the City Council. For more information on free cash, you can review this fact sheet published by the Department of Revenue – Division of Local Services. Appropriation Appropriation Balance of Council Order ID # Request Department Description Approved Free Cash $ 5,558,450 Poll Pad Laptops & 2026-612 $20,020.00 Clerk/Elections Printers $ 5,538,430.00 Cultural Council 2026-614 $50,000.00 Mayor Funding $ 5,488,430.00 Chamber & City 2026-615 $25,000.00 Mayor Events Support $ 5,463,430.00 *The first three appropriation requests listed will appear on the 3/16/26 City Council Agenda. As requests are submitted by the administration and approved by the City Council, the table above will be updated accordingly and shared with subsequent orders. From: Mayor Grigoraitis To: Grymek, Lauren Subject: Fwd: Thank You for Support of the MCC Date: Monday, March 23, 2026 9:10:04 AM Sent from my iPhone Begin forwarded message: From: Myron Dittmer <mdittmer@mthoodpa.com> Date: March 23, 2026 at 8:32:23 AM EDT To: Mayor Grigoraitis <jgrigoraitis@cityofmelrose.org> Cc: Melrose Cultural Council <melrosecultural@gmail.com> Subject: Thank You for Support of the MCC Dear Mayor Grigoraitis: It was great to see you at last Wednesday’s Melrose Cultural Council grant reception. Also, it was enjoyable for me to meet other grant recipients and to learn how much the Council’s financial support made a difference in putting on their event or project. As president of the Mt. Hood Park Association, I can tell you personally how important their financial support means to us in supporting our annual July 4th community concert each year. This is one of the reasons why I am so proud to be a resident of this great and outstanding city which supports so many of our creative arts and musical performances. And of course, you have already shown your deep commitment to the arts in the short time you have been Mayor. It is heartening to hear, during your speech at Wednesday’s event, that you commit to obtaining more financial support for the MCC from the City Council for the coming year. Please know that you have my complete support in these efforts! Warmly, Myron -- Myron F. Dittmer, Jr. President Mt. Hood Park Association Tele: (781)665-8172 Email: Mdittmer@mthoodpa.com Website: www.mthoodpa.com Facebook: facebook.com/mounthoodpark ****CITY OF MELROSE PUBLIC RECORDS NOTICE: Please be advised that the Massachusetts Attorney General has determined that email is a public record unless the content of the email falls within one of the stated exemptions under the Massachusetts Public Records Laws.**** ****CITY OF MELROSE PUBLIC RECORDS NOTICE: Please be advised that the Massachusetts Attorney General has determined that email is a public record unless the content of the email falls within one of the stated exemptions under the Massachusetts Public Records Laws.**** Molly Goyette, Program Director Family Resource Network-CFCE/PC+ Grants 60 Farm Street, Wakefield, MA 01880 March 24, 2026 Melrose City Council 562 Main Street Melrose, MA 02176 Subject: Support for Increased Funding for the Melrose Cultural Council Dear Council Members, As the Program Director of a local family education and support program and an advocate for arts and culture, I respectfully request your consideration for increased funding for the Melrose Cultural Council in the forthcoming budget. The Local Cultural Council (LCC) plays a vital role in Melrose, fostering creativity and economic growth through the grants they provide to artists, schools, and local organizations. However, in recent years, the demand for these funds has far outpaced the available resources. Increasing this funding is a direct investment in local arts, quality of life and economic vitality. Over the past fifteen years, the Family Resource Network has relied on grants from the Melrose Cultural Council to deliver free cultural programming to families with young children. These initiatives would not be feasible without their financial support. Due to persistent level funding, supplemental support from the Cultural Council remains essential to ensure accessibility to educational and creative arts programs for local families. Investing in the cultural sector brings high returns: it offers high quality arts programming, supports small businesses, and provides educational opportunities for children. Strengthening the Melrose Cultural Council’s capacity will ensure that Melrose remains a vibrant, attractive place to live, work, and visit. Thank you for your time and your commitment to supporting cultural arts in Melrose. Sincerely, Molly Goyette, Program Director Family Resource Network From: frani02l76@aol.com <frani02l76@aol.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2026 2:50 PM To: City Council <citycouncil@cityofmelrose.org> Subject: Melrose Cultural Council Funding DELVENA THEATRE COMPANY 254 Ocean Avenue, No. 2 Lynn, Ma 01902 (781) 595-5504 March 31, 2026 Melrose City Council 562 Main Street Melrose, MA 02176 Dear Members of the Melrose City Council, I am writing in strong support of the request to increase municipal funding for the Melrose Cultural Council. Delvena Theatre Company has had the privilege of presenting numerous performances at the Melrose Senior Center, including our Meet Julia Child, Truly Eleanor Roosevelt, All the President's Ladies, Isabella and The Incredible Mae West shows, as well as several interactive murder mystery events. Through these experiences, we have seen firsthand the profound impact that Cultural Council funding has on the lives of Melrose residents— particularly seniors. The audiences we serve are not only engaged during the performances, but deeply invested afterward. Our post-show conversations are lively, thoughtful, and often quite moving. Many attendees share personal stories, historical insights, and reflections sparked by the performances. Over time, these individuals have become more than audience members— they have become a community we genuinely cherish. They have become our friends. We have also observed the broader community benefit. Following performances, it is common for audience members to gather at local restaurants to continue discussions. Our casts have joyfully continued discussions with audiences at Turners, Mexico Lindo and other Melrose restaurants. These Delvena Theatre show events do not end when the curtain falls; they extend into the local economy, supporting Melrose businesses and fostering social connection. Increased funding for the Melrose Cultural Council would allow for more opportunities like these—programming that engages, educates, and connects residents across generations. It ensures that seniors, in particular, continue to have access to enriching cultural experiences that bring joy, stimulation, and community into their lives. We are proud to be among the many artists supported by this funding and would be honored to see a diverse group of grant recipients continue to bring meaningful programming to the city. Thank you for your consideration and for your ongoing support of the arts in Melrose. Sincerely, Fran Baron Delvena Theatre Company To: Melrose City Council From: Lisa Simmons, Program Manager, Mass Cultural Council Re: The Melrose Cultural Council requesting Free Cash Appropriation CC: Kerri Golden, CFO; Lauren Grymek, Chief of Staff Date: April 1, 2026 Dear Chair Brad Freeman and distinguished members of the Melrose City Council: Thank you for the opportunity to submit testimony today in strong support of an appropriation of free cash in the amount of $50,000 to the Melrose Cultural Council for the purposes of grant funding for arts and cultural events and programs in Melrose. This funding will supplement the annual Local Cultural Council (LCC) Allocation of $16,800 from Mass Cultural Council. My name is Lisa Simmons, and I am a Program Manager at Mass Cultural Council for the Communities Initiative Team, which includes the LCC Program. At Mass Cultural Council, we have seen firsthand the impact that local investments in arts and culture can have on individual artists, youth, elders, small nonprofits, and the contribution that impact has on the vitality of our neighborhoods. For 45 years, the LCC Program, administered by Mass Cultural Council, has been recognized as the largest grassroots cultural funding network. LCCs serve as the essential bridge between cultural activity in a community and the residents who benefit from it. Their strength lies in their deep knowledge of local artists, their understanding of community cultural traditions, their awareness of neighborhood needs, and their connection to the cultural identities that define each city and town in Massachusetts. The funding that LCCs distribute fuels local creativity and cultural vibrancy, supports a broader range of artists, sustains smaller cultural initiatives, and enables community-driven projects rooted in heritage, creativity, and innovation. Arts and culture are not optional. They are economic drivers, community stabilizers, and essential contributors to civic health and overall wellbeing. LCC-funded projects create jobs, activate public spaces, preserve cultural heritage, and strengthen community identity. In FY25, 63 municipalities provided additional funds to their LCCs totaling 1.29M. By supporting this appropriation, you are helping build a more vibrant creative ecosystem in the City of Melrose. I respectfully urge the City Council to advance this measure to equip the Melrose Cultural Council with the resources it needs to fully serve its community. Thank you for your time, your leadership, and your commitment to the cultural life of our Commonwealth. Sincerely, Lisa Simmons Lisa Simmons Program Manager Communities Initiative Mass Cultural Council 10 St. James Avenue, 3rd floor Boston, MA. 02116 From: Oren Santillo <oren.b.santillo@gmail.com> Sent: Friday, April 3, 2026 8:40 PM To: City Council <citycouncil@cityofmelrose.org> Subject: Letter of Support for MCC Funding Increase Dear City Councilors, My name is Oren Santillo, and as you consider approving an increase in funding for the Melrose Cultural Council, I want to share with you my experience as an MCC grantee. I have organized Melrose Jazz Fest since 2024, resurrecting a citywide event that had gone dormant about 10 years prior. I believe this event has been so important for the cultural development of Melrose and last year, the community proved this impact by bringing over 300 people together for the 5 hour festival, giving the event so many glowing reviews highlighting the cultural impact of the festival, especially that it had met a popular public demand: large scale free music events! Importantly, this event would not be at all possible without the MCC funding that I received. There is little chance I could have gotten similar funds using sponsors, smaller granting organizations, or public donations. This exclusive possibility is especially true for the level of funding I received - I was granted over $3,000 for both the 2025 and 2026 festivals. Just as important is the fact that this amount of funding would absolutely not have been possible without the contribution from the City of Melrose which allowed the MCC to make more impactful contributions, particularly to larger-scale projects like Melrose Jazz Fest. Furthermore, the small grants, sponsors, and public donations I did receive in addition to the MCC grant were a lot easier to get with the valuable support of the MCC behind us. An MCC endorsement is a magnet for other sponsors, grants, and donations, making it even more important, far beyond the monetary face value. I am very hopeful that this increase is approved, so that many more of these large and small projects can reap the benefits that Melrose Jazz Fest has enjoyed, adding immensely to the cultural propulsion of melrose. As well as being an MCC grantee and a senior at Melrose High School, I also serve as a student member on the MCC - a unique and valuable position the Melrose Cultural Council provides. The Melrose Council was one of the first in the state to offer this position to high school students, and remains a council with one of the most robust and developed programs of its kind. In this role, I have been able to make a substantial impact in my community by helping so many people and organizations with projects beyond just funding, by offering support and advice throughout the process using my experience as a grantee, organizer, and a student! This experience has also taught me so much about the granting process, but especially the incredible importance of public funds being used for artistic and cultural programs and events. Private organizations and large and small donations alike are also important of course, but it is so different and way more impactful for a government organization to pledge their support of art and culture, in the form of consistent financial backing, making their commitment clear to their constituents. Thank you so much for your service on the Melrose City Council! Sincerely, Oren From: Stacey Babb <stacey@openingdoorsproject.org> Sent: Monday, April 6, 2026 3:38 PM To: City Council <citycouncil@cityofmelrose.org> Subject: for tonight: Statement in support of funding for the Melrose Cultural Council Dear City Councilors, I understand you will be considering a funding appropriation for the Mass Cultural Council during tonight’s City Council meeting and I would like to submit my statement of support for consideration (below). Many thanks, Stacey The Melrose Cultural Council actively brings our city closer to its ideal of “One community open to all” by supporting diverse artists and making the arts accessible through reducing cost barriers. The Opening Doors Project greatly values the work of the Melrose Cultural Council and we have seen firsthand how funding for the arts goes further than just the artist. In addition to fostering economic activity and helping make Melrose a vibrant city, arts funding also builds community at a time when coming together is especially meaningful. - Stacey Babb, Co-Founder of The Opening Doors Project Stacey Babb Producer & Co-Founder 617-459-6568c The Opening Doors Project Amplifying voices of color and advancing interracial conversations about race. On behalf of Kris Rodolico, Founder and Director of Follow Your Art Community Studios: Follow Your Art has been fortunate to receive a grant annually from the local cultural council to support various free and low-cost creative community events like Chalk Walk, storytelling collaborations with Stellar Story Corp, and a workshop series in collaboration with the Melrose Farmers Market for 2026. In each instance, our goal is to use public funds to find new ways to provide accessible creative experiences that are open to everyone. Allocating an additional $50,000 to the local cultural council is game-changing for arts and culture in Melrose. Resources that support local creatives are very limited, and grant writing is hard work. Independent creatives often do that work not knowing if it will lead to funding for their talent and effort, and with limited resources deserving projects are left unfunded. Additional funds open up more avenues for local artists and event producers to not only provide the community with cultural experiences, but also to be paid for their work, which in turn feeds the local economy. FYA is committed to being a resource for creatives in Melrose, providing space use, collaboration for community events, and mentoring for young creatives who are just launching their projects, some of whom hope to submit their own grants this year. Additional grant awards benefit the city as a whole and we are excited about the opportunities that would come to the arts and culture sector of the community as a result. CITY OF MELROSE OFFICE OF THE MAYOR City Hall, 562 Main Street Melrose, Massachusetts 02176 JENNIFER GRIGORAITIS Telephone - (781) 979-4440 Mayor To: Melrose City Council From: Mayor Jen Grigoraitis Re: Requesting Free Cash Appropriation for City Support of Chamber of Commerce Events CC: Kerri Golden, CFO; Lauren Grymek, Chief of Staff Date: March 11, 2026 For nearly forty years, the City of Melrose has supported the Melrose Chamber of Commerce community events – Summer Stroll, Victorian Fair and Home for the Holidays – by providing staff overtime from the Department of Public Works, Police Department and Fire Department. These staff costs were historically covered using funding in the department’s annual operating budget (overtime line items). In Fiscal Year 2026, due to city budget constraints and reductions to departments’ overtime, my administration committed a one-time allocation of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to cover the costs of staffing these three community events. My administration is committed to supporting the Melrose Chamber of Commerce during the City’s Fiscal Year 2027 (July 1, 2026 – December 31, 2027) and in a way that does not keep the financial burden of doing so in the annual operating budget. To that end, I respectfully request the City Council’s approval of a free cash appropriation of $25,000 to cover City staff overtime that ensures these events, which are beloved community traditions which support our local business and arts and culture sectors, can take place. The Melrose Chamber of Commerce will continue to plan and execute these three community events during Fiscal Year 2027. The City of Melrose will be named as an event partner in event related marketing, publicity and communications and provide staffing as deemed necessary by the City through its Department of Public Works, the Melrose Police Department and the Melrose Fire Department. Thank you for your consideration. City Auditor City Hall, 562 Main Street Melrose, Massachusetts 02176 Telephone - (781) 979-4107 Free Cash Orders for Fiscal Year 2026 “Free cash” is a term used to describe any remaining, unrestricted funds from the previous fiscal years. After it is “certified” by the state, free cash use requires a recommendation from the Mayor and an appropriation from the City Council. For more information on free cash, you can review this fact sheet published by the Department of Revenue – Division of Local Services. Appropriation Appropriation Balance of Council Order ID # Request Department Description Approved Free Cash $ 5,558,450 Poll Pad Laptops & 2026-612 $20,020.00 Clerk/Elections Printers $ 5,538,430.00 Cultural Council 2026-614 $50,000.00 Mayor Funding $ 5,488,430.00 Chamber & City 2026-615 $25,000.00 Mayor Events Support $ 5,463,430.00 *The first three appropriation requests listed will appear on the 3/16/26 City Council Agenda. As requests are submitted by the administration and approved by the City Council, the table above will be updated accordingly and shared with subsequent orders. CITY OF MELROSE OFFICE OF VETERANS SERVICES Melrose City Hall 562 Main Street Melrose, Massachusetts 02176 To: City Council CC: Mayor Jen Grigoraitis; Lauren Grymek, Chief of Staff From: Veterans Services Department Date: March 10, 2026 Re: Veterans Property Tax Work-Off Program On November 1, 2012, the Melrose Board of Alderman passed Order 2013-54 to accept MGL Chapter 59, Section 5N1, which allows municipalities to establish a Veterans Volunteer Work Tax Abatement Program that provides a veteran with a reduction of property tax obligation in exchange for volunteer services. (See attached order printout.) Following acceptance of the statute, Order 2013-177 went before the Board of Alderman for consideration, to define the program with a description of the program, application time frames, eligibility requirements and necessary application documents. At the time, Order 2013-177 was placed on file, it was not passed by a vote of the then Board of Alderman. (See attached order printout.) My administration is proposing that a defined program be approved by the City Council, and codified in City ordinance as the senior citizen property tax work-off abatement program is in Section 6.1 of the City code, to ensure continuity of the program as well as set parameters for the future operations of the program. The attached application materials define the program and eligibility. Thank you for your consideration. 1 https://malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartI/TitleIX/Chapter59/Section5n CITY OF MELROSE In City Council November 1, 2012 AN ORDER

ORDER-2013-54 Acceptance of MGL Chapter 59, Section 5N, as amended by Chapter 108, Section 8A of the Acts of 2012 allowing for the establishment of a Veterans Volunteer Work Tax Abatement Program; and further accept the provisions in the last paragraph of Statute. BE IT ORDERED See attached communication from Alderman Wright. HH HISTORY: 10/15/12 City Council ASSIGNED TO COMMITTEE 10/18/12 Appropriations and Oversight OUGHT TO PASS RESULT: PASSED [10 TO 0] MOVER: Francis X. Wright Jr., Ward 3 Alderman SECONDER: Robert A. Boisselle, Ward 4 Alderman AYES: Bird, Boisselle, Conn Jr., Forbes Jr, McAteer-Margolis, Medeiros, Mortimer, Seaboyer, Wright Jr., Tramontozzi ABSENT: Gail Infurna Updated: 10/29/2012 10:56 AM by Maribeth Harrington Page 1 CITY OF MELROSE In City Council June 3, 2013 AN ORDER

ORDER-2013-177 Presentation of the Veterans Volunteer Tax Work Off Program BE IT ORDERED The purpose of this procedure is to define the Veteran Volunteer Tax Work Off Program (VVTWOP) established by the Melrose Board of Alderman in 2012. Included in this procedure is a description of the program, application time frames, eligibility requirements and necessary application documents. All questions should be directed to Melrose Veteran Services. HH HISTORY: 05/20/13 City Council ASSIGNED TO COMMITTEE 05/23/13 Appropriations and Oversight RECOMMEND PLACE ON FILE RESULT: PLACED ON FILE [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis, Alderman at Large SECONDER: Robert A. Boisselle, Ward 4 Alderman AYES: Bird, Boisselle, Conn Jr., Infurna, McAteer-Margolis, Medeiros, Mortimer, Seaboyer, Tramontozzi, Wright Jr., Forbes Jr Updated: 5/14/2013 4:47 PM by Ryan McLane Page 1 City of Melrose Veterans Property Tax Work-Off Program Melrose Veterans Department Veterans Property Tax Work-Off Program Application Materials Thank you for your interest in the City of Melrose Veterans Property Tax Work-Off Program. Please review the attached documents and complete all required paperwork. All questions should be directed to the Melrose Director of Veteran Services. Veterans Property Tax Work-Off Program City of Melrose Veterans Property Tax Work-Off Program The City of Melrose Veterans Property Tax Work-Off Program (VPTWOP) is managed by the Veterans Department. VPTWOP is subject to federal income tax reporting as well as Medicare tax per the Internal Revenue Service but is exempt from Massachusetts State income tax. The City of Melrose will pay the full amount of the Medicare tax so that the total amount of credit the participants receive will remain the same. To comply with IRS regulations, the City is required to issue a W-2 at the end of the year. As a participant in the VPTWOP program the IRS considers you an employee of the city and thereby requires your participation in the OBRA retirement plan. The OBRA retirement plan will retain 7.5% of your gross property tax credit, to be disbursed to you later. As an employee of the City of Melrose, applicants are expected to comply with all city policies including the Standards of Conduct, the Employee Manual, and supervisor instructions. Participants in this program may not have any other paid position with the City of Melrose. Description Eligible veterans who provide volunteer services for the City of Melrose are entitled to up to $1500 off their property tax bill in any given tax year in accordance with M.G.L. Ch. 59, Sec.5N. Veterans who are placed in the program shall receive the credit as abatement against their real property taxes. The program is administered by the City of Melrose Veterans Department and veterans will be placed in assignments based on department need, preference and matched skills. Timeframe and Process Applications for the VPTWOP are available from the City of Melrose Veterans Department beginning May 1, 2026. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. • Applications can be found on the Veterans Department Webpage or at the Veterans Departments office (562 Main Street) • Applications pulled from this lottery are not automatically granted placement in the program as placements are also determined based on an applicant’s ability to meet a department’s needs • City departments have final approval of all placements. • If an applicant declines an offered placement, the application will be moved to the bottom of a waitlist, if needed. Eligibility Melrose residents who meet the definition of a veteran as defined by M.G.L. Chapter 178 Section 48 and 56 as amended by the Acts of 2024 are eligible for the program. Proof of veteran status must be included in the application (DD214, Honorable Discharge). Please Note: All participants must pass a Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) check. City of Melrose Veterans Property Tax Work-Off Program Requirements • Must be homeowner or current spouse • Must own and occupy the property for which abatement is being sought • Only one abatement per household Qualification Process • Applicants are required to reapply each year • Applicants are required to enroll in OBRA retirement plan • Applicants are required to possess the appropriate skills required for the available position • Applicants and Department Head need to both agree that it is an appropriate match • Applicants are responsible for turning in their completed and approved time sheet by the specified deadline. Types of Jobs Assignments may vary and can include both administrative and community-based responsibilities. Some positions require computer skills for typing and data entry; applicants are encouraged to list any software programs with which they are proficient in the application. Strong interpersonal and customer service skills are also essential, as volunteers may interact with the public both in person and by phone. Other assignments may involve more physical or outdoor tasks, as well as basic administrative duties such as filing or shredding documents. Some positions may require lifting items weighing up to 30 pounds. Positions vary year to year based on departmental needs. Placements are determined by matching an applicant’s skills and prior experience with the current needs of the department. City of Melrose Veterans Property Tax Work-Off Program Application Documents and Forms Applicants are required to turn in the following documents: Incomplete applications will not be considered. 1) Veteran Status Proof (DD214 or Federal Document) a. Honorable Discharge 2.) City of Melrose Application 3.) City of Melrose CORI Acknowledgement Form 4.) Driver’s License or Government Issued Photo ID 5.) Completed W-4 6.) Resume (optional) 7.) Proof of Ownership of Home 8.) Proof of Residency in Home in Which Abatement is Requested Name: ________________________________________________________________________ Tel. No: ______________________________________________________________________ Address: ______________________________________________________________________ Email: ________________________________________________________________________ Emergency Contact: _____________________________________________________________ Phone Number: ________________________________________________________________ City of Melrose Veterans Property Tax Work-Off Program Please describe any past job experience or skills that may be helpful in securing a position: ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ Do you have any physical or mental restrictions that should be considered in selecting your work? If yes, please explain: ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________ If I qualify for the VPTWOP – Veteran, I acknowledge by signing below that I have read, understand, and agree to follow all program guidelines. I confirm that I have submitted all required documentation and understand that I may earn up to $1,500, which will be credited to my property tax bill. Signature______________________________________________Date____________________ FOR OFFICE USE ONLY Disposition of Application New Applicant_____ Repeat Applicant_____ CORI Submitted on: ___________ CORI Approved on: ____________ Placement location _______________________________________________________ Placement letter, time sheet and dress/fragrance policy provided on: _____________ Is applicant a previous employee of the City of Melrose? ____________ Bencor Form Requested on: ________________ Bencor Form Received back: _______________ Bencor form faxed to Bencor on: ________________________ APPLICATION RECEIVED: DATE_________________ TIME____________________ Please be sure to provide your email address, as all program correspondence will be sent to applicants via email. City of Melrose Veteran Property Tax Work Program Job Description Department: Veterans Services Supervisor: Tamara Shovelton Classification: Volunteer/VPTWOP Purpose: To fill a department’s needs with a qualified applicant who is available to work an assigned volunteer shift ⬧To maintain regular, on-going friendly contacts with the client. A. Responsibilities: Listed below are various areas of support within the Veterans Department that may be encompassed by a Veteran Property Tax Work-Off individual. Veterans Food Pantry Support • Assist with lifting, carrying, organizing, and distributing food items • Assist with pantry setup and breakdown • Deliver groceries or food packages to veterans who are unable to leave their homes, using a personal vehicle only, when assigned and approved • Interact with veterans and family members in a respectful and professional manner Memorial Day Activities • Assist with flag placement at veterans’ graves, including walking on uneven terrain and inserting flags into the ground • Assist with event preparation, including envelope stuffing, material organization, and program preparation • Assist with stage setup, seating arrangements, food service areas, and logistical support • Assist with Memorial Day food drives, including receiving, organizing, and distributing donated items Veterans Day Activities • Assist with event preparation, ceremonies, food drives, and logistical support • Assist with setup and breakdown of event materials and equipment Food Drives and Outreach Events • Stand for extended periods to receive donated items • Assist with sorting, organizing, and transporting donations • Provide logistical and general support during public-facing events Thanksgiving and Holiday Support • Assist with preparation of meals for veterans attending in person • Assist with preparation of to-go meals for distribution • Deliver meals to veterans when assigned and approved Office and Administrative Support • Assist with filing, organizing, and shredding documents • Support outreach initiatives and event preparation • Handle records and materials that may contain confidential or sensitive information All assignments are subject to supervision. The City retains sole discretion to assign, modify, or discontinue duties based on operational needs, safety considerations, or participant performance. Qualifications: o Must be an eligible veteran or dependent approved for participation in the Property Tax Work-Off Program o Ability to follow instructions and comply with supervisory direction o Demonstrated reliability, punctuality, and appropriate conduct o Ability to work independently and collaboratively as required o Ability to interact professionally with City staff, volunteers, and the public o Ability to interact professionally and respectfully with members of the public, including veterans, family members, City staff, and volunteers o Ability to perform basic computer-related tasks when assigned, such as data entry, filing, scanning, or use of standard office equipment Dress Code: o Participants must dress appropriately for assigned duties o For outdoor or physical assignments: o Weather-appropriate clothing o Closed-toe shoes or work boots required o For office or administrative assignments: o Clean, neat, and appropriate casual or business-casual attire o Required safety equipment must be worn when directed o Attire must be suitable for public-facing and ceremonial events Additional Requirements: o Participants must comply with all applicable City policies, procedures, and safety protocols o Participants must maintain confidentiality when handling sensitive or personal information o Assignments may require evenings, weekends, or holidays o Participation may be limited, suspended, or terminated due to safety concerns, conduct issues, or failure to meet program requirements o Hours worked will be credited toward property tax relief in accordance with program guidelines Veterans property tax work-off abatement program. A. Individuals who meet the definition of a veteran as defined by M.G.L. Chapter 178 Section 48 and 56 as amended by the Acts of 2024 are eligible for the program. Proof of veteran status must be included in the application (DD214, Honorable Discharge). Individuals must be the homeowner and must own and occupy the residence for which property taxes are paid and for which credit is being sought. Only one tax abatement per property per year shall be allowed. B. City departments are required to identify their specific needs, and the Veterans Department will review each application to match an applicant's interest and skill set with a department's specific needs. Placement in the program cannot be guaranteed and is based on qualifications and availability of relevant work. C. The participants in the program shall perform volunteer work for the City and shall receive a rate that shall not exceed the commonwealth's minimum wage for said service. The maximum abatement which can be earned by any participant in the program is $1,500 during any calendar year. D. Records of hours worked are kept and credited at the Massachusetts minimum wage rate. Upon completion of work by the participants, the Board of Assessors shall apply the credit to the owner's tax bill to abate their property taxes for an amount no greater than $1,500. E. In each calendar year, individuals shall be allowed to participate in this program based on one's specific qualifications to perform the work and the available positions needed to perform said work Citywide. An approved representative shall be allowed to perform the volunteer work for the direct benefit of any participant who is physically unable to personally provide such services to the City of Melrose. F. In the event there are more qualified applicants than available positions, participants for the program may be selected from a lottery of equally qualified individuals. G. The Veterans Services Agent shall be responsible for determining eligibility for the program. MELROSE PUBLIC LIBRARY Date: To: City Council Cc: Mayor Grigoraitis From: Kerriann Golden, CFO Linda C.W. Gardener, Library Director Subject: Building Project Donated Funds The Friends of Melrose Public Library, with the help of a significant matching donation, successfully ran a fundraising campaign during the library renovation. The results of that campaign and match have allowed the Friends to donate $300,000 to the City to mitigate the cost of the library construction/renovation project. The Library Board of Trustees, in addition to the $2,000,000 dedicated to the library building project previously, donated an additional $200,000 to further assist with the cost of the project. 69 West Emerson Street Phone: 781-665-2313 ext. 6 Linda C.W. Gardener Melrose, MA 02176 Email: lcwgardener@noblenet.org Director www.melrosepubliclibrary.org

Transcript

▶ 9:33 Devin Romanul: Welcome. Good evening. Good evening. The time is 7:00 PM on Monday, April 6th, 2026. This is a meeting of the Appropriations and Oversight Committee. My name is Devin Romano. I am the chair. Joining me tonight are Vice Chair Vandiver and fellow councilors Chen, Finocchiaro, Jamaluddin, Karemcheidi, Kowal, Park, Williams, President Freeman, and myself. All right. This serves as a notice of quorum for the record. In accordance with the open meeting law, this meeting is being recorded and broadcast live on MMTV. At this time, I'll now motion by unanimous consent to approve the reading of our minutes from our last Appropriations and Oversight meeting on March 2nd, 2026 at 7:00 PM. Seeing no objection, those minutes are now approved.

▶ 10:21 Devin Romanul: I'll now motion by unanimous consent to open the floor for public comment. Seeing no objection, we are now open for public comment. For members of the public, this is a portion of the meeting where the public may speak on any items on tonight's agenda. Comments expressing any viewpoint on other matters are also welcome. I just ask for those in public comment, we're really excited to have you. Thank you so much for coming out. If you wouldn't mind signing in, we got a nice piece of paper there for you, signing your name and address, and please introduce yourselves. And I'd also just request, we have a very full agenda and try to keep your comments timely. We would be very appreciative. Thank you so much.

▶ 10:59 Welcome. Let me get my things before I sign. Of course. Sure. Do any members of the public wish to speak? Did you open it? Oh, all right. I didn't know if you were sitting back down. Oh, okay. Quite a gang here. Nice. As I sign in. I should start bringing a pen. Best. Let me see. Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Sandra Bauer. I'm the vice president of Polemnia Choral Society, and I've been a resident of Melrose since 1999. Thank you for this opportunity to speak on behalf of the proposed $50,000 appropriation for the Melrose Cultural Council. Let me tell you a little bit about PolemniaIt's comprised of 70 plus individuals from Melrose and surrounding communities. We range in age from teenagers to folks in

▶ 12:26 their 80s and 90s. We're from all backgrounds, all musical experience. We show that the joy of music and singing is a lifelong pursuit. We have newcomers continue to join us, and there are members who have sung with Polyphonia for decades. We often speak of Polyphonia as a family, and indeed, in several instances, that is literal. We have husbands and wives, and parents and children who are members. In one extreme example, we have three generations of a single family, all of whom are members and sing in the chorus. Our programs feature a wide variety of music, from Haydn and Bach to Elton John and Dolly Parton, from sacred hymns to show tunes, and more. Although we started in Wakefield, we have been based in Melrose for some 70 years,

▶ 13:43 and we'll be concluding our 73rd season this June 6th at Memorial Hall for a very fun concert, Polyphonia Goes to Broadway. We hope to see you there. So fun. But we could not put on these concerts without support. We are grateful to have been a recipient of a grant from the Cultural Council this year. And we used it for American Quilt, which we performed last month at the middle school here in Melrose. The concert also featured the Melrose High School on the stage with us. In honor of our country's 250th anniversary, the concert celebrated the origins and evolution of American music, beginning with spirituals created by the enslaved, and continuing through folk, choral, gospel, and jazz. American music is indeed a musical quilt,

▶ 14:57 aptly summed up and depicted in the advertising for this concert, sewn from many cultures into one shared American song. As our artistic director, Murray Kidd, wrote, "The program highlighted music as a tool for expression, self-preservation, resistance, and celebration." It was a beautiful concert performed for an audience of about 250, and it was a privilege to be a part of it. In addition to the intangible shared experience, I'd submit there's also a practical economic impact. Some money went right back to the city in payment of fees for use of the beautiful auditorium at the middle school. As I mentioned, about 250 people attended. I'm confident they grabbed a bite before or after at a Melrose restaurant, maybe Turner's, Rising Eagle,

▶ 16:11 or they completed an errand at other Melrose businesses, Buck-Aloo's, Lila Rose. And they took home this program that had some 25 Melrose business advertisers, a ready reference for their future needs, which we always make sure to mention to our audiences. The message, support the businesses who support the arts. So I urge you to pass this appropriation for the Cultural Council. Thank you for your support of the arts in Melrose. It makes me proud to call Melrose my home. Thank you. Thank you so much. And I'll just ask, Ms. Bauer, thank you so much, and you were precisely five minutes on the dot. So I congratulate you on hitting our time limit for public comment to the millisecond, as a musician should.

▶ 17:12 May that be example for our remaining speakers. Good evening. Good evening. The floor is yours. Yes. Thank you. My name is Jim Bruccole, and I'm a co-chair of the Melrose Cultural Council, and I thank you for allowing me the time to voice my support of Mayor Jen's request to fund our council with a $50,000 appropriation from municipal free cash. I've served as a volunteer leader for the council for four years now, and over the past two years, I've seen the number of cultural enrichment opportunities we support for Melrose residents double, due largely to a $20,000 contribution from the cityIn 2026, the council awarded grants to a variety of projects that encompassed disciplines ranging from music to theater, to visual

▶ 18:28 arts, as well as programming that celebrates the cultural diversity of our city. Our funding supports cultural projects that reach all sectors of the community, from preschool to senior citizens. While many of our projects are one-time events, some offer benefits throughout the year and offer substantial return on our level of giving. For example, our $950 grant to Greater Boston Stage in 2025 allowed over 550 Melrose seniors to attend performances at discounted rates, saving them over $7,700 in ticket prices. Additionally, 130 students from Hoover and Horace Mann schools were offered discounted or complimentary tickets for student performances. Our grant of $1,000 to Melrose Public Schools Visual and Performing Arts Department will

▶ 19:27 provide discounted tickets for 275 third graders across all five elementary schools to attend a live orchestra performance with the Lexington Symphony in January 2027. The discount will ensure that all students will be able to attend regardless of their ability to pay. In our current grant cycle, we received 44 proposals, and we were able to fund 31, providing zero to low-cost cultural events and activities for our residents. Of those 31 projects, 26 were fully funded. But even with the city's $20,000 contribution, five projects were left partially funded and another 13 worthy projects were unfunded, including events and activities targeting students, seniors, and the general public. The requested $50,000 appropriation to the Cultural Council

▶ 20:25 will allow us to provide greater number of grants in 2027 and at a higher level of giving. We remain committed to providing programs with public benefit that promote excellence, education, cultural diversity, inclusion, and equity. I respectfully ask that you consider passing the appropriation to foster a more rich and vibrant cultural life in Melrose. Thank you. I will follow up Jim there and just share that my name is Sarah Bolla. I am Jim's fellow co-chair of the Melrose Cultural Council. We're happy to pass these around. I believe some of you actually got these at our recent reception. But we show on our promotional cards that in 2025, the MCC was able to fund 32 projects, so 31 this past year and 32 the year before.

▶ 21:13 As Jim mentioned, these events reached broad communities, and we were able to engage more than 440 local artists and reach a total audience of nearly 17,000 community members. These projects not only enhanced the quality of life in our city, but also positively impacted our local shops and restaurants. To what Theresa was saying, we actually have some data behind that through our community survey. Nearly 70% of those who attended an arts and culture event in Melrose also ate at a local restaurant, either before or after the event. Additionally, more than 50% of those surveyed visited a local merchant. We are very grateful for the ability to enhance our local commerce and business development by way of the arts and cultural programming.

▶ 22:01 We've also tried to raise the visibility and the presence of our council through many large-scale city events, including the Victorian Fair and the Summer Stroll, as well as the Farmers Market. We continuously want to be out and hearing from the community to gain their insights on what kinds of programs that they want to see us support, and these events have given us that opportunity. We're also a proud member of the Melrose Chamber of Commerce. In terms of our board and our volunteer base, this past year, we welcomed six new board members in addition to two amazing student members, which brings our total board size to 16. It's worth noting that our council was one of the first cultural councils

▶ 22:40 in the state to welcome student members. Their input and perspective has been invaluable to us, especially when assessing proposals that target our middle school and high school students. We're amazed by this talent pool that resides here in Melrose. Bringing aboard these new members has allowed us to update our website, do a lot of digital marketing, publicity, do some community engagement and event management, as well as fundraising. We hope that you consider us as a resource to the city. Additionally, we always welcome you to attend one of our monthly meetings, which occur the second Thursday of every month, where you can see all this work firsthand. I, like Jim, respectfully ask you to consider in passing this

▶ 23:19 appropriation. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'll welcome our next speaker. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Stephanie Nelson, and I am here representing the Melrose Chamber of Commerce. Before I get started, I wanted to ask, we were supposed to be joined by a chamber member, Samantha Riccio, who is a local Melrose resident and a business owner. She was unable to make it tonight but sent her remarks. Am I allowed to share them on her behalf? Yes. Great. My name is Stephanie Nelson, and I'm here with Kristen Thorpe, our chamber board president, and we are here representing the Melrose Chamber of Commerce. As a lifelong resident living in the house that I grew up in, I feel honored to be

▶ 24:21 in this roleWith a background in sales and marketing, I was excited to have an opportunity to sell Melrose. Over the last four years, I've learned how interesting and complex and important the role of a chamber can play in a community. Today, you'll be reviewing a request for free cash put forth by Mayor Jen to support our three longstanding signature community events: the Summer Stroll, the Victorian Fair, and Home for the Holidays. These events bring together residents for connection and community, and instill a sense of pride for the community in which they live, and we're extremely proud of that. This year will be the 13th annual Stroll, the 45th annual Victorian Fair, and while the exact date of the first Home for the

▶ 25:03 Holidays is often debated, it's been happening for well over 30 years. How incredible it is to have community events with such a rich history. As I mentioned, these events bring people together, but they also drive traffic to our downtown. Residents patronize their favorite businesses or perhaps visit a new one. If the Victorian Fair doesn't happen here in Melrose, our businesses will undoubtedly find town fairs in neighboring communities. And I think that's a disservice to them to not be able to showcase their products, their services, their nonprofits right here in our community to thousands of local residents. This appropriation is for the support that the city has historically provided for

▶ 25:44 these events, which are for the DPW, the Melrose Police, and the Melrose Fire. All other costs and all other planning are the responsibility of the chamber. Outside of our community events, the chamber is dedicated to supporting local business and amplifying economic vitality. Imagine a community where every business, from the local coffee shop to the largest employer, has the tools, connections, and advocacy it needs to thrive. That's what we work to create every day at the chamber. We're more than networking events. We're a catalyst for economic growth, a voice for local business at every level, and a connector that brings together entrepreneurs, nonprofits, and community leaders. Over the last four years, we've grown our membership by 50%, from

▶ 26:29 240 members in 2022 to 360 today. We're one of the largest chambers in the area. We've increased member engagement, we've built partnerships that have brought new investment into our area, and created resources that help businesses adapt and grow. These events are a huge piece of what we do, and we hope to continue to bring them to Melrose. Without this support, the chamber does not have the funding to host all of the events we've held in the past. I personally don't want to envision a Melrose without them, and I think our residents and your constituents don't either. Thank you for inviting us to speak and for your consideration. Now, our local small business owner, Samantha Riccio from Eagle Hill Homes, shares these words.

▶ 27:13 "My name is Samantha Riccio, and I wanted to speak a little bit about how I became a Melrose resident. For the last decade, I lived in Boston and was a broken record about the fact that I would never move. I love the walkability, the sense of community, and the feeling of being part of something. I was convinced you couldn't get that anywhere else. I also own Eagle Hill Homes, a design and build company that services residential homeowners, helping them renovate and build their homes. My business moved to Melrose in March of 2022 from a simple Craigslist search, small office space close to Boston. Within 24 hours, we were moving into 953 Main Street between Gray's and Clark's. We had our small but mighty operation out of that

▶ 27:54 space, commuting back and forth to South Boston every day. And not long after, my husband and I put 106 West Foster Street," Judy Clark's old building, "under agreement and decided to turn it into two condos for sale. Now, it depends on who you ask what the plan was, but the second I walked into the building, I fell in love with it. The character, the original woodwork, the stained glass window, I knew I needed to live there. But now I had to figure out a way to convince my husband and also go back on my there's no way we'll ever leave the city speech that I had given for years. Well, perfectly enough, I was scrolling the Melrose Community Facebook page and saw that Melrose hosted something called

▶ 28:33 Home for the Holidays. I decided that was going to be my soft launch into telling my husband I'd been thinking about moving. So we drove from South Boston on a Saturday morning. It was a mild day. The trolleys were running, kids were running in and out of businesses with their Santa hats on. And I just remember everyone being so nice and friendly. We got a cup of chowder from Turner's, as you do, walked up and down Main Street, watching the kids running around and picturing our future family growing up in a place just like this. After about an hour of exploring, we turned the corner from Main Street onto West Foster and looking right at our project under construction, I said, 'I have a confession

▶ 29:09 to make. I want to move into one of the units. I know it's probably a terrible business decision and also nothing we've ever planned, but I have a feeling we have to live here.' Now to set the scene, I've been with my husband since I was a teenager, almost two decades, and I would have bet everything he would have spiraled into every reason why this wasn't a logical decision. And I kid you not, he turned at me and said, 'I couldn't agree more. This place feels like a Hallmark movie. Let's do it.' We spent the rest of the day popping into local businesses and dreaming about living just steps from downtown, talking about being part of the community, having our business here, raising our family here.

▶ 29:46 And to this day, it's been the best decision we've ever made. We moved in five months later, and then one month later in June, we got the opportunity to move our office to the same corner of Main and West Foster at 484 Main Street. Now our business is lucky enough to participate in all of these events and help other families create that same magical Hallmark movie moment. We look forward to Home for the Holidays every year, along with the Victorian Fair and the Summer Stroll, and everything else that Melrose has to offer. As someone who builds homes for a living, I always say there's a feeling you get deep in your chest when you finally feel that your house is truly a home.And that's what I feel being part of this community, especially when I

▶ 30:26 Gail Infurna: look around during Home for the Holidays, the Victorian Fair, the Stroll. These events are what make Melrose a home for us. Thank you. Thank you very much. A Hallmark movie. That's a hard act to follow. Good evening, and it's always nice to be back in these chambers, and tonight for what I feel is a positive order in front of you. I come before you tonight as a Chamber of Commerce board member, as well as a longtime Chamber member. As you are aware, I know firsthand the struggle and work that goes with each of your votes, as I sat in your very seats for 22 years. Tonight, I am here this evening to ask for your support to appropriate $25,000 to the mayor's office budget to cover the various community events that the Chamber of

▶ 31:27 Gail Infurna: Commerce, along with our city, hold several times each year. And these events are important to the community for several reasons. They bring the community together. Residents have the opportunity to support our local businesses, and our businesses can have the opportunity to share their products or their expertise with the community. When we have thriving businesses throughout our community, as well as fun community events that bring people together, we have a better community in so many ways. And I know you know this, as I'm sure you have all participated in these events. Historically, these monies to cover the police and DPW services for the various events that have been built into the city's budget. Prior to the override, the city could not

▶ 32:15 Gail Infurna: cover these expenses. With the community support for the override last November, it has better positioned the mayor to continue the tradition of supporting these events for police and DPW services, hence eliminating the appropriation from free cash in future years. Again, I ask for your support in supporting this appropriation so that our wonderful Chamber of Commerce and city can continue providing our community with these events. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor. Not a Hallmark movie. Good evening. Good evening. My name is Myron Dittmer, and I live at 93 Altamonte Ave in Melrose. And the best decision that my wife and I made was to select Melrose to live in, and besides having three children, of course.

▶ 33:27 I'm president of the Mount Hood Park Association. This is a 55-year-old organization. It's a neighborhood organization, a small one, whose mission is to preserve, protect, and promote the 235 acres of beautiful woodland up at Mount Hood. We call it the green jewel, and it truly is. I'm here to support appropriation number 2026-614, which is a 50,000 appropriation from free cash to Melrose Cultural Council. You may ask, why am I here recommending support for this appropriation? And the simple answer is I have a vested interest in supporting it. My association annually sponsors a number of events up at Mount Hood. They're all free of charge, and we rely on our dues for that. But one of them is a popular July 4th

▶ 34:15 concert at Mount Hood, celebrating our country's independence. We can do this with the assistance of grants from the Melrose Cultural Council, and without them, it would be difficult to continue this annual tradition, which is enjoyed by hundreds of families that come up there each year, July 4th. But perhaps more importantly, the Cultural Council appropriated over $37,000 last year, as Jim noted, affected 17,000 community residents. When you think about it, that's over 50% of our population that's impacted by their efforts, and that's incredible. I can't imagine a more effective way to reach that many residents to promote the arts and similar types of events for the cultural betterment of all

▶ 34:59 residents. This truly meets the standard of money well spent. I ask that you support this appropriation to continue Melrose investment in the cultural enrichment and support of the arts and cultural development of the residents, too. I noticed there was another appropriation, it was mentioned earlier, for free cash, $25,000, the mayor's office to support the chamber and city events. And that's another one I support because, obviously the chamber puts on many events, but two of the most important ones that involves pretty much the whole city is the Victorian Fair in September, which is absolutely a fantastic event. Brings in just about everybody that's in the city, to promote what we have to offer here in Melrose.

▶ 35:49 It's the best way to bring new residents in to see what this is all about, why do we all love to live here, and that's an example of it. The other event is the Home for the Holidays, and that's another special event. That's a kickoff for the holidays in December. A wonderful event, and again, brings in all the businesses and all the efforts that we like to showcase here in Melrose for the benefit of the community. So those two events I totally support. Thank you for your time and attention. Thank you, Mr. Dittmer. Hello. Hello. My name is Oren Santillo, and I am a student member of the Melrose Cultural Council. I'm also a senior at Melrose High School, a musician myself, and the director of Melrose Jazz Fest since

▶ 37:01 2024. I'll start by talking about Melrose Jazz Fest a little bit. It's been a really, really successful event since I started it. In 2024, last year, 2025, we had over 300 people show up to that event with five-hour festival, five bands. It was a really, really incredible event supporting a lot of local musicians, many from Melrose, like Joe Mulholland and his band, and Galen Willett and his band, both residents. It also supported local vendors, including La Cabaña, the food truck, La Cabaña, and Green Street Grooves Records, which sold records at the event, as well as a lot of other businesses around who I know the attendees of the festival were going to those businesses and those restaurants as well.

▶ 37:58 So the Jazz Fest received over $3,000 in grant from the Cultural Council in 2025 and 2026, so for our upcoming festival, which is May 3rd. And I really don't think it would've been possible for me to run this event without that $3,000. That's not money that I can really get somewhere else. There aren't sponsors that have that sort of money to give. There aren't these smaller local grants. The Rotary Club is a great granting organization as well. It doesn't have that kind of money, it doesn't have that kind of opportunity. But the Melrose Cultural Council does, and I think it's really, really important that there is a local organization that has that sort of money. And so without that, the Jazz Fest would just not happen.

▶ 38:50 I don't think I would've been inspired to attempt to try to find the money for it, if I didn't know that there was an organization that had some serious money that could throw at the arts like this and make it a successful event like it has been. And as the event grows, and as other similar events start to pop up because of this funding opportunity, I just think that if that funding wasn't continued, that level of funding, I really don't think it would be possible in the future to continue Jazz Fest to the level that it's running at now and other similar events. Additionally, I found that the other sponsors and grants that I was able to receive for the Jazz Fest were helped a lot by the fact that I had received

▶ 39:39 a Cultural Council grant. It kind of acts as like a magnet for other forms of funding because when a different grant hears that you got the support of the Cultural Council, that's like a little check of validation under your name, can really help you out. It also helped me get many sponsors as well. So that was super helpful. I want to keep this brief. All the other points from the other commenters I think are very important as well, and I think it's very important, this appropriation to the Cultural Council is very important. I would like to now read a message from Chris Rodilico of Folly Art Community Studios, who was not able to be here because she's running a wonderful event at Folly Art right now.

▶ 40:20 So, I will read her statement now. "Folly Art has been fortunate to receive a grant annually from the local Cultural Council to support various free and low-cost creative community events like Chalk Walk, storytelling collaborations with Stellar Story Corps, and a workshop series in collaboration with the Melrose Farmers Market for 2026. In each instance, our goal is to use public funds to find new ways to provide accessible creative experiences that are open to everyone. Allocating an additional 50,000 to local Cultural Council is game-changing for arts and culture in Melrose. Resources that support local creatives are very limited, and grant writing is often hard work. Independent creatives often do that work

▶ 41:05 not knowing if it will lead to funding for their talent and effort, and with limited resources, deserving projects are left unfunded. Additional funds open up more avenues for local artists and event producers to not only provide the community with cultural experiences, but also to be paid for their work, which in turn feeds the local economy. Folly Art is committed to being a resource for creatives in Melrose, providing space use, collaboration for community events, and mentoring for young creatives who are just launching their projects, some of whom hope to submit their own grants this year. Additional grant awards benefit the city as a whole, and we are excited about the opportunities that would come to the arts and

▶ 41:43 culture sector of the community as a result." Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for Jazz Fest. Any other members of the community wish to speak on any item on our appropriations agenda? All right. Thank you, sir. Good evening. I'm going to break it up a little. My name is Robert Driscoll. I reside at 33 Thurston Road here in Melrose. I'm a retired Melrose firefighter, a retired Air Force colonel with 38 years of military service, and the chairman of the Melrose Veterans Advisory Board since 2005 Thank you for the opportunity to state my support for the Veterans Work Off program here in the city of Melrose. A little history on this program, it goes back many years ago when I and other members of the Melrose veterans community came before the Board of Aldermen

▶ 42:50 to support and stand up this program. And from what I understand, we fell a bit short on proper language, and the local ordinance, as adopted, is that it was in conflict with the state law for the Veterans Write Off program. So here we are again before you tonight to correct this and restart this important initiative. We are all aware that today in the United States, as well as in the Commonwealth and in our own city, many of our neighbors struggle to pay their bills. Affordability is a major challenge. This program, mirrored off the Senior Citizen Work Off program, will help veterans of any age who own property in our city the opportunity to work off a portion of their real estate taxes. It could mean the difference between paying their taxes

▶ 43:39 or paying for medication or food. I hope you'll support this program and help the veterans in our community remain in our community. Thank you. Thank you very much. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening, Mr. President, members of the council. My name's Michael Buggy. I'm the commander of American Legion Post 90 here in Melrose. I'm a Marine Corps veteran. I'm here tonight to speak in strong support of the Veterans Tax Work Off program. This program has proven its value for many years. It allows veterans to remain active, engaged in our community, while providing meaningful financial relief. At the same time, the city benefits from their experience, work ethic, and dedication. It's a true win-win for the veterans of Melrose

▶ 45:00 and Melrose itself. I urge you to vote in favor of preserving this order. At its core, it is about more than finances. It's about honoring the men and women who served our nation in a real, tangible way. Melrose has always been a community that stands behind its veterans. This program is one of the ways we prove that commitment. I respectfully ask you to keep this program in place for the veterans who rely on it and for the continued strength of our community. Thank you for your time. Thank you, sir. Did any other committee-- Excuse me. Members of our audience care to testify today for the Appropriations Committee? Do we have anybody online? No one online. All right. In that case, I will motion by unanimous consent to close public

▶ 45:54 Devin Romanul: comment. Seeing none, public comment is now closed. Before we move on to our agenda, I'll just note for members of the audience, we have a full city council meeting starting at 7:45. We're legally obligated to start that on time, as well as have public hearing shortly thereafter. So the choreography of this will be, we'll do some of this work, we'll move out to public-- Excuse me, for the full council meeting, and then we'll gavel back into Appropriations to deal with our agenda. All right. Unless we go at lightning speed. So first up on our agenda is ID number 2026-612, an appropriation from free cash in the amount of $20,020 to the Elections Department, 162, for upgrades to poll pads and printers.

▶ 46:34 Joining us is City Clerk Zaffini. Thank you so much. Nice to be here. Don't have a choice, but here I am. Nobody in public comment is here for the poll pads. I'm a little disappointed. We were told by the vendor that we use, LHS, they help us with all of our elections and all of the hardware that we use for our elections, that our poll pads that we use to check in all of our residents for early voting and on election day are no longer going to be compatible with the software. We purchased them in 2020, but they are from 2019. Unfortunately, the software, like all of our software, our Apple Watches, and everything else, there's a life expectancy, and this one is going to expire. So at this time, we have 28 poll

▶ 47:30 pads that we need to update, and the quote that they provided to us was the 20,020, and that would be for the hardware and the software. So I was just requesting that we take this out of free cash. I think it's going to be about a six to seven-week delivery date. I would like to have them all ready for the primaries in August. Wonderful. Do we have any questions from the committee? Council Williams. Hello. Sorry. Hello. You mentioned that the iPads were last purchased in 2020. Did they give you any idea of whether this is sort of a thing that happens every five or six years? I did ask them that, but they told me that, no. It might be another seven to 10 years before we might have to do the same

▶ 48:19 Ryan Williams: exact thing again, or hopefully things would be changing. They couldn't tell me that. And to be clear, the cost of these iPads, which is broken down quite nicely in the agenda materials, includes what's called a sled, which is a case, a hard case- Mm-hmm ... that makes the iPad usable in the field. A carrying case, which protects it from being smashed when a bunch of people throw them in a bin, dead tired at midnight after an election. Um And then the tablet itself, and then there's a $100 fee to install software on each one, which is a little egregious given that it takes them five seconds to do it, but that's not anything that we can really control. So, it's a shame because I hate to see us

▶ 49:05 Ryan Williams: get strong-armed into having to buy stuff five years later, but you say they'll take them back? What we currently have, yes. Yeah. They'll take the old ones back and repurpose them, and we want to make sure with this upcoming election that we've got everything as tidy and tight as we possibly can. Correct. So I'm in favor of this, and I appreciate the thought that you've put into the memo. Thank you. You are welcome. Up next I have Councilor Chen. I did call LHS Associates today because I was curious, and it is five years because of the iOS operating software, which gets obsoleted with newer hardware for iPads. So we should expect to purchase another 28 iPads and software in about five years.

▶ 49:44 Devin Romanul: Thank you. Any other colleagues have any questions? All right. What is the will of the committee? Make a motion to recommend. Second. Second. Motion to recommend by Councilor Karamcheti. Seconded by Councilor Williams. Madam Clerk, will you please call the role? Yes. Councilor Van Devin. Yes. Councilor Chen. Yes. Councilor Finocchiaro. Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine. Yes. Councilor Karamcheti. Yes. Councilor Kohl. Yes. Councilor Park. Yes. Councilor Williams. Yes. President Freeman. Yes. Chair Romanul. Yes. That motion passes. All right. Motion passes- Thank you ... and will be brought up in our next full council meeting. Thank you, Madam Clerk. All right. Up next, ID number 2026-614, an appropriation from free cash in the amount of $50,000 to the Melrose

▶ 50:37 Devin Romanul: Cultural Council for the purposes of grant funding for arts and cultural events and programs in Melrose. Joining us this evening is Mayoral Chief of Staff, Lauren Grimek. Thank you so much for joining us. Hi. You heard a lot in public comment about what the free cash appropriation is for, and you have a memo before you that was included with the order, along with letters of support from others who couldn't be here. So I will start with just taking questions rather than summarizing that all. All right. Up first, President Freeman. Thank you very much, and thank you, Ms. Grimek, for being here. And thank you to everyone who offered public comment on this. Particularly, I don't know if Oren's still here, but Oren, you are an inspiration

▶ 51:15 Bradley Freeman: for everyone in high school, and I appreciate all that you do for the city. I'm strongly supportive of the Melrose Cultural Council and this appropriation, and my one question is, I know that the Massachusetts Cultural Council gives an annual appropriation to the city, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council also gives out individual awards to other nonprofits. Will the city have opportunities, or the Melrose Cultural Council, to tie into those awards and provide some sort of matching fund to help make various awards to nonprofits in Melrose more attractive? So, I think a good example, that they read a public comment letter from Follow Your Art. So I know that Follow Your Art is both a beneficiary of the local

▶ 51:53 Ryan Williams: allocation, but then Chris Rotoligo does a great job applying for some of these other opportunities that the Massachusetts Cultural Council provides. There's also 61 other municipalities in Massachusetts that provide a municipal appropriation on top of the annual allocation that the Massachusetts Cultural Council provides to them. So this isn't a unique thing to Melrose to know that we need more funding for arts and culture in our community. Thank you. Next I have Councilor Williams. Thank you. I just wanted to echo my support for this order. I've personally engaged with the Melrose Cultural Council and Follow Your Art, to put an idea in place to put art in the parklets, specifically the initial one that the Ped Bike Committee built, and then other ones that the city

▶ 52:39 Cal Finocchiaro: built after it. Mm-hmm. It was great to have funding on hand to be able to execute that idea, a community art idea, that just became real in a matter of weeks. And I think they do great work over there. And for such a small, about 0.3% of, sorry, 0.03% of our overall budget, I think it's well worth the ask. Up next I have Councilor Finocchiaro. Thank you. So I was just playing with the numbers. Basically, the Cultural Council receives about $17,000 in grants, and we have appropriated about 20,000 historically. So the annual allocation for this year, from the Massachusetts Cultural Council was like $16,800. $800, yeah. Yeah. I was rounding up to seven. Yeah. Right, yeah. And so then we're putting that on top of that.

▶ 53:30 Cal Finocchiaro: And as they said, they could certainly use the money because they have more asks than they can give out. Right. And I'm absolutely supportive of the arts. I'm just wondering if we think that next year and the years to come, do we think that we'll be appropriating this amount as well? That that will be the ask? Mm-hmm. I don't see it getting smaller. Okay. I think the arts in Melrose are going to continue to grow, as we've heard tonight. But I think we can do it in a way that is a thoughtful, fiscally responsible way. Okay. So I would imagine it would be the same. Okay. Yeah. So this is what's tough as a city councilor. I do support this- Yeah ... but I was working... And this is just a general comment and general statement.

▶ 54:13 Cal Finocchiaro: We also have this list of capital improvement projects. Sure. One of them is for, I was looking, is $41,000 for self-contained breathing apparatuses for our firefighters. So I just want people to be aware that we are constantly dealing with all these numbers and all these asks and costs. So, I don't think any of us take these appropriations lightly. But these are just things that we're dealing with, the Rover ride and everything. So- I love to see the ask and I love the arts, but just, it's something to think about. Gotcha. Absolutely. Thank you. Up next I have Councilor Karim Chetty. Thank you so much. I have less of a question and more of a comment really. I'm also in support of this appropriation.

▶ 55:08 Manjula Karamcheti: This is going to sound like a humble brag, and I don't mean it to be. But I actually have a master's degree in community social psychology and the psychological health of communities, particularly mid-size cities, and the work that the Melrose Cultural Council does actually really contributes to that in terms of wellness, mental health, diversity, equity, and inclusion. So, and it is one of the, I think, few very specific organizations that we have that works on that, and so I don't like to think of it as a competition between breathing apparatus and the arts. It is all important, and yes, we have hard decisions to make as city councilors, but the wellness and psychological health of our city really matters, and

▶ 1:08:45 Devin Romanul: Was it changed? I know. I'm so confused. I need more paper. We just locked. Oh, sorry. Well, that's how she doing. It's all good. All right. It's all null and void. I know. I'm using this- All right. All right. Thank you so much. We are back from recess, still on ID number 2026-614, free cash appropriation and $50,000 for the Melrose Cultural Council. Right. I believe we're on... What? Yes. Oh, nothing. Oh, sorry. I believe, Councilor Campbell-Shady, had you finished your line of question or commentary? I believe I had, yes. You were-- You have the floor. All right. I thought I had a mic drop moment. All right. It was, it literally ended the hearing. Right. So yes. I now have Councilor Finocchiaro.

▶ 1:09:33 Kimberly Vandiver: Oh, all right. Councilor Vandiver. Oh, thank you. I just wanted to say I was very enthusiastic about seeing this come through as a free cash request. This was actually something... I just pulled up my notes, my last discussion with the mayor. This is something that I had brought up in our discussion because I think when I look at the budget, I look at some items that cost millions of dollars, and those are really important that we look at 1% difference on a $10 million line item. That's huge, right? And we need to look really closely at those big areas, and I think we also need to look really closely at how we can do these high impact, low cost things, I mean, relative to our budget, as I think was commented elsewhere.

▶ 1:10:24 Jason Chen: This is a small percentage of our budget, and as was commented, it reaches a huge percentage of Melrose. It has far-reaching multiple impacts. And so, I'm in strong support of this one. Thank you. Thank you so much. We have Councilor Chen. I would like to see the council approve the full amount, but not right away. I think that if we commit ourselves to the full 50K, we may not be able to do that in all the years coming. We have costs that are rising much faster than our revenues. And I'm not going to make an amendment right away, but what I propose is we increase the annual funding from the city council from 20K to 30,000, and then we should expect about 17K from the state. And I called them today to make sure that line item was in.

▶ 1:11:14 Jason Chen: We can wait two months to see how a lot of our other costs play out with negotiations and healthcare, make sure that our state-allocated funding is still at that 17K as it moves through the houses. And then before we break in June, we appropriate the last or the second 20,000. Is that a motion? No, it's not an amendment. All right. Just wanted to make sure. I want to hear the discussion from others first. All right. Terrific. Thank you, Councilor. Councilor Finocchiaro. Thank you. Thank you for that. I wanted to add to my last statement, which was kind of jumbled, but I also wanted to state that I do think that moving forward, it would be nice to have maybe not the 50,000, but maybe the 20,000 or a smaller budget

▶ 1:12:05 baked into our budget for the cultural council, so that they don't have to come to us every year for appropriations. And then if they need additional, then we could look into appropriations based on how our budget is that season. Yeah. But, I do think that coming here year after year and trying to figure out how to fund- Yeah ... them. So moving forward, I would say like a smaller budget that's baked into our budget, it's predictable, and then we can sort of figure out appropriations if they need extra at that time. So that's- Yeah ... going forward, that's my suggestion. I would just say for those who are new around the horseshoe, it was part of the operating budget under Mayor Dolan for a long time, under what was called the

▶ 1:12:52 Messina Fund- Mm-hmm ... at 10,000 as a line item. In his last year in office, Mayor Broder added additional free cash to make that 20,000, and then Mayor Grigoris unfortunately took office during, which all of you know were terrible budget times, and made the decision to take it off the operating budget, but hopefully we'd be in a position to be able to do that. But we also recognize that the Cultural Council runs on a different timeline than private businesses, or even to the city. And so, knowing what money they have is critical to them awarding the grants, so those folks can then plan the events that you all heard about. So, that's why we were asking for the full amount upfront. When do they award the grants typically?

▶ 1:13:35 Manjula Karamcheti: Um, I- I was on their website, but I forget. I think it starts in the- December ... the fall. December. Yes. So, they'll need to know, or this body will need to appropriate free cash well before the end of the fiscal year, otherwise it'll just go to next year's free cash. Mm-hmm. Okay. I have Councilor Karamcheti a second time. Thank you very much. I both appreciate Councilor Chen comments and Councilor Fanicos. I think what I've learned about from being on the city council, free cash is very different and actually doesn't help us when it comes to negotiations in regards to our teachers union, our police, our fire. And so, it's really a different pot of money for us. And given the timeline of free cash, given sort of

▶ 1:14:20 Manjula Karamcheti: the need to use it for things that don't actually partake the budget, it I think makes sense in this case to do the full allocation. And now that we have passed an override, now that we might have the ability to incorporate more into our budget for our upcoming year, which our process will start in May, June, it makes sense, but we have the money now. I think we've established that it's a significant part of our community, and waiting doesn't actually help our other situations. At least in the perspective that I have from being on the council for a while. Perfect. All right. Next, I have Councilor Williams a second time. Thank you. So I wanted to reflect a little bit on the different conversations going on here.

▶ 1:15:13 Ryan Williams: We are in a little bit of a weird place with free cash because we are looking at an estimate that comes from an older budget from our FY25 spending. We're now virtually in an FY26 budget. And with an override on the table, the free cash might be different in the following year. So, I think there will be opportunities for the mayor to think about where she potentially wants to put any of that free cash into budgetary line items. We can't do it right now, and we're also dealing with grants or funding that was cut in the previous year that we have a chance to restore. So, that's number one. I think it's possible for the following year. I don't think that it's necessarily the right move for this year.

▶ 1:15:59 Ryan Williams: The second piece of this is, I do sometimes think that putting things into line items is better because it sets an expectation that we're going to see this funding again and again. But I also think, especially when it comes to this, which is sort of a grant to an outside organization, that having it be a free cash request allows for more transparency and debate, and sets the right tone that it's a grant and it's not a guaranteed amount of support that the city's always going to be able to provide. Certainly, we do this for trees, and I think that should go the other way. I think the trees should be a line item in the budget because we've seen that we have this expense over, and over, and over again every year.

▶ 1:16:39 Ryan Williams: But with the Cultural Council grant, really, it's just an opportunity for these folks to do more good work in the community. I'm supportive of providing that to them as a grant. It would be interesting to see it go into the budget as a line item. I actually think in this case it's better to have it as a free cash request. And I don't think that the right move is to sort of try to minimize and maximize the timing of the funding in a way that we think might change the tenor of the conversation in some way. I think it's better to just make the commitment, send the commitment out, and then we can have this discussion as we get into the budget conversations about whether or not we think there's room for adding these things as

▶ 1:17:26 Kimberly Vandiver: consistent budgetary line items. So, I say let's go ahead. And you know what? I'm going to do it. I'm going to make a motion to approve this to the full council as it's written. I'll second. I have a motion made by Councilor Williams, seconded by Councilor Karamcheti. On discussion, Councilor Vandiver. Thank you. To further expand on what I meant before when I was talking about the large line items and the small ones, my colleague brought up waiting for these union contracts and health insurance to settle and things like that. So health insurance, for instance, we're looking at about $17.5 million. The union contracts, we're looking at about 700 employees covered by that. So if we took all of this $50,000 and spread it out right, we could give each

▶ 1:18:17 Kimberly Vandiver: employee $50 maybe. It's inconsequential in terms of looking at the percentage raises for unions or the percentage changes to healthcare. And so, I similarly don't see the value in trying to nickel and dime this when this does so much good. It touches so many people. So, I'm in support still. Councilor Freeman. Or President Freeman, excuse me. Thank you very much, Chair Manjula, and I just want to echo the remarks of my colleagues, Councilor Williams and Councilor Karamcheti, that I do believe this is an appropriate free cash request because I think it does help elevate what the Melrose Cultural Council does, and I think Councilor Williams is correct that it does provide some transparency around this and also

▶ 1:18:56 Bradley Freeman: gives them a chance to talk about all the good they do for Melrose and the ways that they improve the lives of citizens throughout Melrose and provide events that we all go to and everyone else goes to at a reduced cost to the city. I think these are incredibly important events and they touch upon a lot of aspects of... the community that maybe have not received funding from the city in the past, and this is a great way to go through a trusted organization to parse out these dollars in a way that benefits the entire community. So I'm fully supportive of this request. Thank you. Any of my other colleagues on discussion? Yes, Councilor Forno- Just want to make one point. And again, I support the arts, I just want the general public to

▶ 1:19:35 Cal Finocchiaro: understand that our capital improvement, which is a long list, comes from free cash. So we have a limited amount, and we have a lot of projects that need to be done. So I know this is inconsequential when you say $50,000 or a $30,000 increase, but we have so many costs in front of us that's where I think our job is sort of to look at all of this together and understand that these are all coming from free cash, for that's how we're going to pay for them. So. And we have little over five million, so Chief. I don't know if you want to add to that. Yeah, I'll just add to that. Certainly, free cash does fund a lot of things on the CIP, but we also create the CIP in order to be able to go after grants, in order to go after federal funding.

▶ 1:20:26 Mm-hmm. What we used to call federal earmarks now- Mm-hmm ... CDS awards, right? We just put two in, one with Congresswoman Clark's office, one with Markey's office. If we don't have those things on the CIP, they're going to ding us and not do that. State earmarks through Caitlin Bergere-Beadian's office, we just submitted a few things from there. We pull it right from the CIP. Mm-hmm. The public safety buildings, debt exclusion, right? Not that we're going for that anytime soon, but I think there are other funding mechanisms that we do fund the CIP, and we need the CIP to go after those other funding sources as well. So free cash is not just for the CIP. Mm-hmm. Perfect. Thank you. Councilor Williams.

▶ 1:21:04 Ryan Williams: I just wanted to point out we have $5 million in free cash every year. Mm-hmm. CIP is a document that covers five years of spending from FY27 to FY31. So in theory, you have $25 million in free cash in a pool that gets spread out over those five years. Of course, we don't spend all the money like that. But certainly, when I look at the CIP list, most of these projects I see as being achievable, and also being able to do these smaller one-off grants. But I would like to see some of the CIP projects move forward- Mm-hmm ... sooner than later in the free cash cycle. Mm-hmm. With regards to salaries, health insurance costs, et cetera, we've always been, as a body, sort of resistant to putting free

▶ 1:21:48 Ryan Williams: cash into recurring costs like salaries, because the free cash fluctuates with taxes and different costs, the snow and ice budget. And so we don't like to bottom out the free cash or even go below 5%, which is sort of the standard that we have to meet for our, somebody, the auditors. Somebody. The, yeah, DLS. Right. Thank you. DLS sets that standard. So yeah, I would love to see the mayor think about how we can, again, put more of the free cash money as we see how it shakes out in the following fiscal year back into the budget as line items. For today, I'm really thrilled to support all of these free cash requests and move forward. So the motion's on the floor. Terrific. Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll?

▶ 1:22:35 Devin Romanul: Okay. Yes. Councilor Van der Werf. Yes. Councilor Chen. No. Councilor Forno-Iarro. Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine. Yes. Councilor Karamcheti. Yes. Councilor Kowal. Yes. Councilor Park. Yes. Councilor Williams. Yes. President Freeman. Yes. Chair Romanul. Yes. Motion passes. All right. The ayes have it. That will be reported out to our next city council meeting. Thank you very much for the robust discussion. Up next, ID number 2026-615, an appropriation of free cash in the amount of $25,000 to the mayor's office to support chamber and city events. Thank you, Chief Grimek, for sticking with us. Thank you for having me with you again. So again, this appropriation, there's a memo attached to the order, comes to you. This was something that was on the operating

▶ 1:23:30 budget for a long time. To Councilor Williams' sort of point about transparency, the cost to support chamber events were housed in overtime line items, so we didn't see the exact cost. And then during the unfortunate budget cycle, which Mayor Gregoritis and many of you had to go through last fiscal year, we used a remaining ARPA allocation to be able to fund those awesome events. And in full disclosure, I was in the role that Stephanie Nelson was in before I came to the city, if that's of importance to anybody. So I also know how important these events are to the community. And so as we work to get some of these things back on budget and to have it in a transparent way that shows a line item for community events so that you

▶ 1:24:17 Cal Finocchiaro: all can see how much these cost, and in knowing that the chamber starts their year July 1 with this stroll in July, we were coming to you with this request, which we think is rather timely to keep those events going. All right. Up first I have Councilor Forno-Iarro. Thank you. Thank you again. I see you again. So again, we have the appropriation. This seems like it's more level funded, similar to what we, I think we appropriated $30,000 for ARPA funds last year. I did some research. It seemed like it's been around that number, 28-ish, over the years, indirectly, like you said, through the DPW, fire, and police. So I have an easier time really fully supporting this. Obviously, the chamber, much like the Cultural Council, does amazing stuff for the

▶ 1:25:07 Cal Finocchiaro: city. And I would also like to see, and I know this can't happen now, but going forward, potentially moving this into ... a budget line item, as it sort of indirectly was for years. Kind of making more sense of it and putting it in as a line item. That's just something I think should happen as well. So, that's it. I would make a motion, but I don't know if other people would. I would make a motion to recommend. Second. All right. Motion to recommend by Councilor Finocchiaro, seconded by Councilor Williams. On discussion, I have Councilor Williams first. Just me. I would ask that you put more money into this in the future. And the reason being that we have $25,000 for, is it three? Is it Home for the Holidays, Summer Stroll, and Victorian Fair, right?

▶ 1:25:55 Ryan Williams: The events are very popular, right? And one of the things that I've talked about a lot is that we should do more Summer Strolls, and we should do more street closure events, more pedestrianization events, because they're super popular, and people love them, and I wish that there were more of them, particularly in the summer months when we can all walk around outside without freezing our butts off. Mm-hmm. All right. I'm next. I have President Freeman. Thank you very much. And Councilor Williams just stole most of my remarks right there, because I too am fully supportive of this. I had a chance to meet with Ms. Nelson a few weeks ago and shared with her that as someone who moved to Melrose about 15 years ago now, I found the

▶ 1:26:36 Manjula Karamcheti: events, particularly the Victorian Fair, to be incredibly welcoming and a great way to learn more about the community. And I too share the desire to have more Summer Strolls. I think it's a great way to bring more people into Melrose to support our restaurants and businesses on Main Street, and would love to see us move to once a month in the summer. So again, thank you very much for bringing this before us, and I fully support it. Terrific. Councilor Karamcheti. I will be brief and just say, I do believe that the events that the chamber puts on are just critical to Melrose as a community. When I moved here, what, like 15 years ago? They were big, but now they're huge, and I feel like everybody in the community really comes out for them, and that's a

▶ 1:27:21 Manjula Karamcheti: pretty special thing. I want to encourage my colleagues to consider being a trolley conductor. Councilor Finocchiaro and I did it in the winter, and we were pretty spectacular. I was out of town. And I know all of you can be, too. I met so many constituents being on that trolley. It was pretty amazing. And so again, it's another opportunity for connection, and I think connection really matters right now, so I'm very supportive, clearly. Any other colleagues on discussion? I'll just briefly share my deep appreciation for the event, for the organization, and I've lost my children many times at your events, so- ... for that reason, I'm for continuing them. In case my wife is watching, that's a joke.

▶ 1:28:08 Devin Romanul: Anna Clark, could you please call the roll? I do not actually recall that. You can ask them. Councilor Vandiver. Yes. Councilor Chen. Yes. Councilor Finocchiaro. Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine. Yes. Councilor Karamcheti. Yes. Councilor Kowal. Yes. Councilor Park. Yes. Councilor Williams. Yes. President Freeman. Yes. Chair Romanul. Yes. Motion passes. Ah, the ayes have it, and that will move on to the next city council meeting. Last but not least, we have today, uno sumi. That is the penultimate order. My apologies. 2026-616, an order to define the Veteran Volunteer Tax Work Off Program. Joining us this evening- Hello ... Ms. Tammy Shevelson, our veteran services director. Thank you so much for joining us.

▶ 1:28:51 Good evening. How are you? Great. How are you? I'm good. Wonderful. So I'm here tonight asking that we codify the Veterans Property Tax Work Off Program that was started back in 2012. This program has been continuously in use since 2012. It's just that it never properly made it into the codification of the city charter, and we want to do that in order to define the program and be able to administer it moving forward favorably, and to ensure continuity with the program for many years to come. This is a really important program for veterans and their dependents as it allows them to do tax work off jobs for up to $1,500 right now towards their property taxes. Wonderful. Thank you so much. I did have a question about the interplay of what's

▶ 1:29:49 Devin Romanul: on the table tonight versus other benefits the city offers veterans in property taxes specifically, and the interplay between the two, and also my other question was about the yearly application year over year. Was that a requirement by the state or something that you all would like? Because I'm always on the eye out for benefits that local governments offer, but administrative paperwork potentially getting in the way of folks taking advantage of that benefit. So I was wondering if you might be able to speak to those two items. So just so I make sure I'm clear, are you talking about how this is different from the 65 plus tax work off program? Or any other services we offer or any other benefits we offer to the veterans.

▶ 1:30:35 Oh, okay. So this is different in terms of benefits for veterans. So like we have the Chapter 115 program, which is administered by the state. It's part of Massachusetts general law. But that is very specifically for low income individuals, and it's considered a bridge program. It's supposed to be an intermittent program to help them while we are helping them to look for federal or state benefits that would be more beneficial to them than what they can get from the city. So that is one program. And then the tax work off program is completely separate. And what sort of separates the Veterans Tax Work Off Program from, say, the Council on Aging Tax Work Off Program is you have to be 65 years or

▶ 1:31:17 Devin Romanul: older to do that tax work off program, where the Veterans Tax Work Off Program, it doesn't matter what age you are, as long as you're a veteran or a dependent. As stated by the state of Massachusetts, you qualify as a veteran's dependent. Anyone who qualifies in those categories can do this tax work off program where they could not for the Council on Aging program.Yes, sir. I'm sorry. I'm talking to you. Sorry. Councilor, and sorry, my other question Yeah, sorry. ... was about the application, the annual requirements. Is that something that the state mandates in its authorizing legislation, or is that something that you feel is a good best practice? The application in terms of individuals applying to be a part of this program?

▶ 1:31:55 Yeah, to be a part of it every single year. So this, it's an annual process that we do, and that just helps us because not everybody wants to come back every year. And so this just helps us to make sure that we're making sure we get out to everyone. And if we didn't have an annual application, maybe we only have 15 positions available. Well, it wouldn't be fair to just let the same 15 people do it year after year after year, because as the program is out there in the community and more people know about it, more people are going to want to apply for it. So we want to have those applications every year in order to really offer that to the most amount of veterans as we can, and their family members.

▶ 1:32:28 Ryan Williams: Great. Thank you so much. Councilor Williams. Thank you. So it's a great program, can't wait to vote yes for it, but I had a couple of questions that I wanted to get some clarity on. So the reason we're here is that the Board of Aldermen goofed and voted place on file instead of voting yes. That is correct. Right. So they didn't vote no. Right. They voted to adopt it, and then they had to vote to do something else with it, and they did the- They placed it on file ... they placed it on file. The motion was incorrect. Yeah. But we've been doing this? Technically, yes. Technically, yes. Trying to clean it up. Right. So now we're cleaning it up. Fantastic. Okay, so I want to move on to the operation piece a little bit.

▶ 1:33:09 Ryan Williams: How do you allocate hours to the work program participants, with regard to the different types of work that's being requested of them and the amount of abatement that they're offered? Is it like if people do harder work, do they have fewer hours? I mean, how does that sort of work out? An hour is an hour. Okay. So it doesn't matter what you do. Okay. You get the same hour as anybody else, whatever the job is. Right now, all of the positions are going to be within the veterans office. And so those things would be people supporting the veterans food pantry, so working at the food pantry once a month. Helping with Memorial Day activities and Veterans Day activities, assisting with food drives and outreach events, and different things like

▶ 1:33:56 that. Maybe helping administratively in the office. We're also hoping to start a Thanksgiving and holiday support this year for our veterans, so it'd be working at any of those events and things like that. Fantastic. And about how many hours do people work for one turn in the program? So it depends. So the nice thing that's different about our program versus the Council on Aging's program is that for our program, you don't have to just work for veteran services, right? So if something happened, and over the summer, maybe there were some positions that came open as greeter in City Hall, and we didn't have anyone from the Council on Aging to do that, they could come over and say, "Hey, Tammy, we've got X number of hours.

▶ 1:34:46 Do you have any veterans that are already working and have been approved?" And my veterans could then do that. They don't have to just stick to one department or one job, they can move around. But in terms of hours, the Veterans Food Mart is five hours a month, every month. That's how many hours most people come and work because that's how long it takes us to do all of the setup. And so it's different in terms of Memorial Day activities. We have the flagging, which is an all-day event, so that's several, you're like five to eight hours there, depending. We have the food drives that we do that are part of that, so people can volunteer for that, and that's an all-day event as well. And then they're setting up for the Memorial Day

▶ 1:35:26 Ryan Williams: program that we have. So we have multiple opportunities for people to participate and to gain hours in order to lessen their tax burden. So my question is more around how much an individual participant would work to gain their $1,500 tax credit. Would they work 10 hours, 20 hours, 40 hours? It's tied to minimum wage. It's tied to minimum wage. Okay. So it'd be 150 hours. To the Council on Aging. Okay. So as they work, you record, they do the time sheets. Tied to state minimum wage or federal minimum wage? State. Okay, that's good. State. That's good. So I think it'd be about 100 hours. Yeah, that's a good thing. Okay, fantastic. All right. I have two more questions. You said that a spouse of a veteran could apply.

▶ 1:36:09 Are the abatements gated to... Are they limited by parcel, or are they limited by person? They're limited by parcel. Right. Okay. They're limited by parcel. Fantastic. And my third question I can't remember, so I'm just gonna not say anything. All right. Thanks. Thank you, Councilor Williams. Up next, I have Councilor Park. Thank you, Committee Chair. And for our veterans back there sitting, thank you for your patience and thank you for your service. So my question to you is, have you done any analysis thus far on how many people, should this move forward, and I'm a proponent of this being reinstated, how many people would actually sign up, or how many people it would affect at this point? So I'm gonna be honest, I just took this position over in July, so I don't have any

▶ 1:36:58 of the previous data of how many people have been in and out of this program since 2012. I know right now I have a list of about five to six different veterans and their family members who are waiting for this program to be approved so that they can apply. Okay. And well, you may have just answered this, but do we have any idea of through the demographics in terms of where they come, what their situation in life is, their ethnicity, potentially their age group? So I don't really have any of that information. I could say age-wise, we're looking at veterans or veteran family members that are somewhere between their 40s and 70s. Okay. One of the things, and I think Councilor Ryan had touched on, is that I'm really

▶ 1:37:43 keen on this program and excited about it because traditionally the work that has been done for tax write-off programs has been as outlined in this clerical work, some tasks that pretty much anybody over a certain age limit can do. Potentially with guidelines of 30 pounds, certain other people might be qualifying for. But with the veterans that may potentially come into this program, I think there's a wide variety of different tasks or different ways we can come up with in terms of giving back to the community. And I would love to see that notion explored in terms of other ways other than the sort of conventional work-off programs that we have to benefit for both the community and also get their feedback. These veterans, what would they like to do that they think

▶ 1:38:34 Manjula Karamcheti: would be beneficial that they learned over the course of their time serving the military? But thank you. Councilor Kamjodi. Thank you so much. Thank you for being here. Just really appreciate that you've brought this back to the table to clean it up and make sure that it's available to folks. So I think really the only question I have is how might City Council, how might the city of Melrose, I think, be more helpful and supportive in terms of making sure people are accessing? And I think to Counselor Park's question, making sure that really great opportunities are available so people are enjoying what they're doing and finding value in it as well. So I don't know so much about the City Council, but I will say City Hall itself has

▶ 1:39:22 been very helpful with me since I've started in helping me to outreach to the community through the newspapers and the kiosks and different avenues like that. So I think a lot of it in terms from the City Council perspective would be just word of mouth, letting your constituents know that this program is available to veterans. We're starting this month, we're having a monthly veteran and family social. We're going to have those every month, and those are going to be used to help extend information about what's available for veterans from the city, what we can do for them, how we can help them, different ways that we can help them, whether it's with tax abatements, whether it's with the tax work-off

▶ 1:40:00 Cal Finocchiaro: program, whether it's helping file for benefits. So any time you speak to a constituent that you know is a veteran, or maybe they're not a veteran, but they are a family member of a veteran, letting them know that where we are at City Hall and that we're available to help them is the biggest thing we can ask from you is just that word of mouth and talking to your constituents and letting them know that we're here to support them and their family members. That's actually really helpful. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Finocchiaro. Yes. Actually, Councilor Kamjodi, she asked the same question I was going to ask, just about outreach, and so that's about it. But also thank you for taking over this position, and it sounds like you're doing really great stuff. So thank you.

▶ 1:40:42 Ryan Williams: Thank you. I have Councilor Williams a second time. I remembered my question. And I'm sorry, I didn't see the last document, which had a bunch of the answers I asked before, so I'm sorry about that. Thank you. First thing I wanted to point out or ask was this, in that section A, we were talking about outreach and if somebody knows there's a family member of a veteran, but the actual program participant has to be either a veteran or spouse or a veteran, and they have to be the homeowner. Right. So it has to be a veteran-- They have to be the homeowner. Yes. Has to be the spouse of the veteran or a qualified dependent as stated by Massachusetts state law. I see. Okay, great. And what that means is say

▶ 1:41:22 you were a child of a veteran- Ma'am ... and before you turned 19, you were a disabled child of a veteran. Right. That disability status as a child renders you a dependent for the rest of your life, and therefore, you would be considered a dependent eligible for the tax work-off program. Yeah. Got it. But if your child does not have that designation, then you could not participate in this program- Got it ... because you are not considered a dependent anymore because you're over the age of 18. So thank you. The question that I had was, can people work two work-off programs? Can a senior citizen who's also a veteran? No. So you do one or the other. No. They have to choose one or the other. Got it.

▶ 1:42:04 And right now, to be fair, the senior work-off program is $2,000. Ours is $1,500. So I would say as senior citizens, if they were eligible for that program, I would definitely push them to that because it would get them more money. But at the same time, that program is inundated with applications, and they only have so many positions. So if they don't get a position there- Got it ... then I would say, "Then come back to me," and so we could at least get them something. But I certainly would want to push them towards where they could get the most bang for their buck. Awesome. Thank you. I have Councilor Finocchiaro a second time. All right. I will make this quick. I thought of a question that I wanted to ask.

▶ 1:42:42 Jason Chen: With the senior tax work off, if they're unable to complete and work, they can assign somebody? So if there's a disabled veteran, can they assign somebody else to do the work for them? No, not in the veterans tax work-off program. Okay. We don't have that. Okay. Thank you. Councilor Chen. Thanks. In the past few weeks, I've had three veterans or their spouses come to me and talk about Ms. Shovelton and how authentic she is when she engages them. And I've seen her interact with veterans of all ages at luncheons and events, and we are extremely lucky to have her. Mm-hmm. So part of what I like about this program is a veteran that's coming to do a work-off program is probably struggling financially, maybe a little

▶ 1:43:26 Jason Chen: bit disconnected, struggling to integrate a little bit back, and there's nobody that I'd rather them talk to than Ms. Shovelton- Mm-hmm ... and have them come into a program like this. So I motion to recommend for approval. Second. Motion to recommend by Councilor Chen, second by Councilor Park. On discussion? I do have one more inquiry. I'm curious, you alluded to the parity. Is it the state law that's preventing us from achieving that $2,000 parity with the senior workout program? So right now the state is working on pushing through for a $2,000 cap on our program as well. That probably will go through some time... The next year or two- In the next year or two ... not this cycle. Not this cycle. So once it does, I'll come back to you and ask you to raise the

▶ 1:44:13 Devin Romanul: cap to 2,000. But we just have to wait for the state to approve it first. Great. That was my assumption, but I appreciate the clarification. Thank you. Well, we'll keep a lookout for that. In the meantime, Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Yes. Councilor Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Chen? Yes. Councilor Finocchiaro? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. Councilor Karamcheti? Yes. Councilor Kowal? Yes. Councilor Park? Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes. President Freeman? Yes. Chair Romanul? Yes. Motion passes. Motion passes. We will consider that in our next full council meeting. And last but not least, we have ID number 2026-6-18, acceptance of donations totaling $500,000 from the Friends of the Melrose Public Library and

▶ 1:44:53 Devin Romanul: Trustees of the Melrose Public Library. Joining us this evening are CFO Goltz and Melrose Public Library Director Gardner. Good evening. Thank you for your patience. This is just a housekeeping order to accept these donations. These donations, it was $300,000 from the Friends and 200,000 from the Board of Trustees. It was for furniture, fixtures, and equipment for the renovation project at the Melrose Public Library. Great. Yeah. That's it. Anything- Great. Couldn't have said it better. Yeah. Any of my colleagues have questions? Councilor Chen? Oh, sorry, you nodded as if to indicate... Councilor Jamaleddine. I don't have any question. I would just move to recommend. Second. Motion recommended by Councilor Jamaleddine, seconded by

▶ 1:45:52 Councilor Karamcheti. I apologize. On discussion, Councilor Williams. When were the funds received? In the fall. Last- Like, maybe October ... October. Okay. So they were transmitted to the city in October, but we're voting on accepting them now? Yes. It's just a housekeeping order. Okay. The timing was messed up. Yes. Yeah. So we would want to accept them normally when they came in. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right. That's all. Any other colleagues on discussion? Madam Clerk, will you please call the roll? Yes. Councilor Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Chen? Yes. Councilor Finocchiaro? Yes. Councilor Jamaleddine? Yes. Councilor Karamcheti? Yes. Councilor Kowal? Yes. Councilor Park? Yes. Councilor Williams?

▶ 1:46:41 Devin Romanul: Yes. President Freeman? Yes. Chair Romanul? Yes. Motion passes. Motion passes, and will be brought before us in the next full council meeting. Thank you so much. Thank you. I want to offer my deep thanks to the members of the public and this body for your patience and thoughtful deliberation. Since that is our last item on the agenda, I will now motion by unanimous consent to adjourn. Seeing no objection, we are now adjourned. Never know Okay. All right, we ready? Yep. All right. Whoo, good to go. Returning to the full council meeting. Thank you everyone for your patience. We have concluded public comment, so we are moving on. There are no communications from the Honorable Mayor tonight, so we'll move on

Appropriations & Oversight Committee — 2026-04-06

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