Finance Committee — 2026-08-10
Attendance
Jason Chen ; Bradley Freeman ; Maya Jamaleddine ; John Obremski ; Christopher Park
Agenda
- CALL TO ORDER
- Attendees
- MINUTES APPROVAL
- Finance Committee Meeting February 2, 2026 7:30 PM
- PUBLIC COMMENT
- ORDERS
- Informational Order - Warrant for 2026 State Primary to be held at Melrose Middle School Gymnasium on Tuesday, September 1, 2026 from 7:00am to 8:00pm for Ward 1, Precinct 1 and 2; Ward 2,Precinct 1 and 2; Ward 3 Precinct 1 and 2; Ward 4, Precinct 1 and 2; Ward 5, Precinct 1 and 2; Ward 6, Precinct 1 and 2; and Ward 7, Precinct 1 and 2 to notify the inhabitants of the City of Melrose that can cast a vote in the State Primaries.
- Informational Order - The Board of Registrars has agreed to the following dates, times and location for the State Primary In Person Early Voting: Saturday, 8/22 9am-5pm; Monday, 8/24 through Thursday 8/27 8:30am-4pm and Friday, 8/28 8:30am -12:30pm in the City Council Chamber located on the first floor of Melrose City Hall 562 Main Street Melrose MA.
- ADJOURNMENT
Minutes
Finance Committee Monday, August 10, 2026, 6:50 PM City Council Chamber, 1st Floor 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER Christopher Park Vice Chair Jason Chen Maya Jamaleddine John Obremski William Bradley Freeman President, Ex Officio Member Manjula Karamcheti Chair Meeting was called to order by Chair Karamcheti at 6:50 PM Non-voting Councilor Elizabeth Kowal was also present Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Christopher Park Vice Chair Present Jason Chen At-Large Present Maya Jamaleddine At-Large Present John Obremski Ward 2 Present William Bradley Freeman President, Ex Present Officio Member Manjula Karamcheti Chair Present II. MINUTES APPROVAL A. Finance Committee Meeting February 2, 2026 7:30 PM Moiton to Approve the minutes by unanimous consent without reading made by Chair Karamcheti All were in favor and motion passed RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] AYES: Jason Chen, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, John Obremski, Christopher Park, Bradley Freeman NAYS: None III. PUBLIC COMMENT 1 When: Aug 10, 2026 06:50 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) Topic: Finance Committee Meeting Join from PC, Mac, iPad, or Android: https://cityofmelrose- org.zoom.us/j/91494962042?pwd=2r6Th3Jt3R4JbQABmpCTlW84jTFmrk.1 Passcode:947646 Webinar ID: 914 9496 2042 Passcode: 947646 Motion to Open public comment made by Chair Karamcheti at 6:52 PM Cris Giles, from a business at 162 Tremont Street, was present to make comments about the dog kennel license ordinance. She decided to wait until the Legal & Legislative meeting later in the evening to make her public comments. There were no comments via Zoom Motion to Close public comment made by Chair Karamcheti at 6:53 PM IV. ORDERS
A. (ID # 2026-1520): Informational Order - Warrant for 2026 State Primary to be held at Melrose Middle School Gymnasium on Tuesday, September 1, 2026 from 7:00am to 8:00pm for Ward 1, Precinct 1 and 2; Ward 2,Precinct 1 and 2; Ward 3 Precinct 1 and 2; Ward 4, Precinct 1 and 2; Ward 5, Precinct 1 and 2; Ward 6, Precinct 1 and 2; and Ward 7, Precinct 1 and 2 to notify the inhabitants of the City of Melrose that can cast a vote in the State Primaries. Chair Karamcheti, on behalf of City Clerk Cifuni, stated that these two items are from Clerk Cifuni, who could not be present. They are strictly to be placed on file. These are just two items that need to go through the routine process of being acknowledged by the board and by the Council. Motion to Recommend made by Councilor Jamaleddine Seconded by Councilor Park All were in favor and motion passed RESULTS: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Jason Chen, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, John Obremski, Christopher Park, Bradley Freeman NAYS: None
B. (ID # 2026-1521): Informational Order - The Board of Registrars has agreed to the following dates, times and location for the State Primary In Person 2 Early Voting: Saturday, 8/22 9am-5pm; Monday, 8/24 through Thursday 8/27 8:30am-4pm and Friday, 8/28 8:30am -12:30pm in the City Council Chamber located on the first floor of Melrose City Hall 562 Main Street Melrose MA. Chair Karamcheti stated again, this is an information order that our city clerk has asked us to place on file. Motion to Recommend to Place on File made by Councilor Jamaleddine Seconded by President Freeman All were in favor and motion passed RESULTS: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Jason Chen, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, John Obremski, Christopher Park, Bradley Freeman NAYS: None V. ADJOURNMENT Motion to Adjourn by unanimous consent made by Councilor Karamcheti at 6:57 PM All were in favor and meeting was adjourned 3 7/29/2026 Good Morning These two items are from me but I cannot be present. They are strictly to be placed on file. They are just two items that need to go through the routine process of being acknowledged by BOR and Council. Thank you, Tanji Joy Cifuni City Clerk Notary Public Justice of the Peace City of Melrose 562 Main Street Melrose, MA 02176 781-979-4116 Board of Registrars Meeting Location: Held in Council Chamber Conference on June 24, 2026 at 9:00am Attendance: Fritz Sanzone, Tanji Cifuni, James Harris, Alison Boone and Greg Pagnini Motion to open the meeting made by Fritz at 9:07 AM and Seconded by Alison Boone all were in favor First agenda item – 2026 Confirmation Card Update: 6000 mailed out in April and 2000 have been returned and we will run an extract and send out to vendor to have the 2026 street listing book printed. Next agenda Item: Vote and Approval of Early Voting Time and Locations for all 2026 Elections Early In-person voting for the State Primary will take place at the Melrose City Hall Chamber on the following dates and times: Saturday, August 22 9am to 5pm, Monday 8/24 through Thursday 8/27 8:30am to 4pm and Friday 8/28 from 8:30am to 12:30pm State Primary Election Day will be on Tuesday, Sept 1st at the Melrose Middle/HS Gymnasium 7am-8pm November In-Person Early Voting Hours will take place at the Melrose City Hall Chamber on the following dates and times: Saturday, October 17 9am-3pm, Monday 10/19 through Friday 10/23 8:30am to 12:00pm Saturday, October 24 9am-5pm, Monday 10/26 through Thursday 10/29 8:30am to 4pm and Friday 10/30 8:30am- 12:30pm State Election Day will be Tuesday, November 3 at the Melrose Middle/HS Gymnasium 7am-8pm Next meeting will be held on July 23rd at 9am Motion to adjourn the meeting made by Chair Greg Pagnini at 9:12am Seconded by Member Greg Pagnini and all were in favor. Meeting was adjourned.
Transcript
▶ 0:01 Manjula Karamcheti: Good evening, everyone. It's Monday, August 10th at 6:50 PM. This is the meeting of the Finance Committee. I'm Councilor Karem Chahine, the chair. Joining us tonight are Councilor Park, who is our vice chair, Councilor Chen, Councilor Jamaleddine, Councilor Obremski, and President Freeman, ex officio. And also joining us-- Nope, she's gone. Councilor Kowal was here, but she's excused herself for a moment. This also provides notice of the quorum for the record. In accordance with open meeting law, this meeting is being recorded and broadcast on our local cable access channel, MMTV, as well as livestreamed through mmtv.org. This meeting will be available for future viewing through the City of Melrose
▶ 0:53 Manjula Karamcheti: website and meeting portal as well. We're going to start by approving the minutes of our February 2nd, 2026 meeting. This was the last time the Finance Committee actually met, was February 2nd. So I'll motion by unanimous consent to approve the minutes. Seeing no objections, the minutes are approved. So now we are moving on to the public comment portion of the meeting. This is a time where any member of the public may speak to any items on our agenda. The committee does not engage in back-and-forth dialogue, but will listen to what each individual has to say. I'll motion by unanimous consent to open public comment. Seeing no objections, public comment is now open. Do we have anyone in the audience here to speak on tonight's agenda?
▶ 1:48 Manjula Karamcheti: I do. Oh, great. Come on over. And if you could just please state your name and your address for the record. My name is Chris Giles. I own a business at 162 Tremont Street in Melrose. Feel free to make your comments. So I am here for the kennel licensing. Okay, so that, I think you can speak to it now if you'd like, but that actually will be coming later- Fair ... in our legal and legislative meeting. I will wait later then. Okay, no problem. No problem. It's great to see you, Chris. Thank you for being here. Do we have anyone else here to speak? Do we have anyone online? No one online. Okay, so I will motion by unanimous consent to close public comment. Seeing no objections, public comment is now closed.
▶ 2:42 Manjula Karamcheti: We have two orders tonight, both of which are informational orders. The first is ID number 2026-1520, informational order warrant for the 2026 state primary to be held at the Melrose Middle School gymnasium on Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 from 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM for Ward 1, Precinct 1 and 2, Ward 2, Precinct 1 and 2, Ward 3, Precinct 1 and 2, Ward 4, Precinct 1 and 2, Ward 5, Precinct 1 and 2, Ward 6, Precinct 1 and 2, and Ward 7, Precinct 1 and 2. And this is also to notify the inhabitants of the City of Melrose that can cast a vote in the state primaries. I do have an email from our city clerk, which just says, "Good morning. These two items are from me, but I cannot be present. They are strictly to be placed on file.
▶ 3:46 Manjula Karamcheti: These are just two items that need to go through the routine process of being acknowledged by the board and by the council." So with that, what is the will of committee for order number 2026-1520? Yes, Councilor- I will make the motion to recommend. It would be a motion to place on file. Oh, the information. It's motion to place on file. Do I have a second? Second. Excellent. We have a motion to place on file by Councilor Jamaleddine, and the motion was seconded by Councilor Park. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. This motion passes or is filed. Councilor Chen looks like you have a question. Point of order. Is there any discussion or presentation on this? That was it, what I just read.
▶ 4:48 Manjula Karamcheti: And then our second information order is ID number 2026-1521, an informational order. The Board of Registrars has agreed to the following dates, times, and locations for the state primary in-person early voting, Saturday, August 22nd, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday, August 24th, through Thursday, August 27th, 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM, and Friday, August 28th, 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM in the City Council Chamber located on the first floor of Melrose City Hall, 562 Main Street, Melrose, Mass. Again, this is an information order that our city clerk has asked us to place on file. So, what is the will of the committee? Councilor Jamaleddine? Thank you, Chair. Through a few conversations with the city clerk, I've heard that
▶ 5:44 Manjula Karamcheti: we're staffed, and this year has been great in terms of having staff for this election, so I'm very pleased with all this preparation. I would also like to make a motion to place on file. We have a motion to place on file by Councilor Jamaleddine. Do I have a second? Second. We have a second from President Freeman. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. We will place this motion on file, and I know just to say to the public that the city does a great job of putting this information on the website and communicating it around the city, and look forward to everybody voting in our September election. Thank you very much. That is what we have on our agenda for today, so I will motion