[0:01] - Good evening.

[0:03] Welcome back from April Break.

[0:04] Everybody, the parents in the room,

[0:08] fantastic to be back in school.

[0:10] Good evening. The time is 6 45 on Monday, April 27th, 2026.

[0:15] This is a meeting of the

[0:16] Appropriations and Oversight Committee.

[0:17] My name is Devin Roman. I'm the chair.

[0:20] I'm also joined this evening by Vice Chair Vandiver,

[0:23] councilors Chen, Occhio Chetty, Cowell

[0:29] Park, and President Freeman and

[0:32] - Williams.

[0:33] - Oh, and Williams, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

[0:35] Look, you know what? Unreal councilor, because

[0:38] - You were sitting back in your chair.

[0:40] - I would, my big hair - Was hiding

[0:42] - You.

[0:43] Exactly, exactly. Forgive me.

[0:45] As well as Councilor Williams

[0:47] working on my tight five for standup tonight.

[0:49] You haven't said anything. I honestly would've just,

[0:51] this serves as a believe it

[0:52] or not, a notice of quorum for the record

[0:54] and accordance with the open meeting law.

[0:56] This meeting is being recorded and broadcast live on MMTV.

[1:00] At this time I'll motion by unanimous consent

[1:02] to approve without reading the minutes from our most recent

[1:05] meeting on April 6th.

[1:06] Seeing no objection, the minutes are now approved.

[1:10] I'll now motion by unanimous consent

[1:11] to open the floor for public comment.

[1:14] Seeing no objection, the floor is open for public comment.

[1:17] This is the portion of the meeting where members

[1:19] of the public may speak on any item on tonight's agenda.

[1:22] Comments expressing any viewpoints on

[1:24] other matters are also welcome.

[1:26] Do we have any members of the public who would like

[1:28] to have a chat?

[1:31] No. Do we have anybody online? No

[1:33] - One online.

[1:34] - Alright. If there's no objection, I will motion

[1:36] by unanimous consent to close public comment.

[1:38] Seeing none, we are now closed for public comment.

[1:42] First item on our agenda tonight is ID number 20 26 7 7 5

[1:47] Acceptance of a Climate Leaders Technical Assistance Grant

[1:50] and the amount of $139,000.

[1:53] Joining us this evening is Lori Maso. Good evening.

[1:56] Thank you for coming. Hello,

[1:58] - Good evening.

[1:59] Thank you for having me. So I'm here tonight

[2:02] to request acceptance of the $139,000

[2:06] of the Climate Leaders Technical Assistance Grant.

[2:09] This is from the Department of Energy Resources,

[2:12] and this money would go towards technical assistance

[2:15] for the design for placing solar panels on the salt shed in

[2:19] the DPW yard, and also the design

[2:22] for installing heat pumps at the middle school auditorium

[2:25] and the high school, the administrative offices there.

[2:31] So both of these projects would advance our climate goals

[2:34] of electrifying our buildings,

[2:37] and then also with the, the heat pumps for the,

[2:40] the middle school and the high school.

[2:41] Those portions of the building would be able to be,

[2:45] you know, heated and cooled in a separate from the rest

[2:49] of the school, which would have big energy savings.

[2:53] And also with this project, with the design of the project,

[2:58] we would then have the construction ready plans

[3:02] to be eligible to apply

[3:03] for climate Leaders Community Decarbonization Accelerator

[3:07] grant for implementation.

[3:09] And we are a climate leader, and so

[3:13] therefore we have the ability to apply for these grants

[3:17] and their, the number

[3:19] of applicants is fairly low at this point.

[3:21] We are pretty progressive in our energy sustainability

[3:25] e efforts in Melrose.

[3:26] So we're, it, will we hear it?

[3:29] We'll likely get that the grant to implement these projects.

[3:33] Thank you. Wonderful.

[3:34] - Thank you so much. We're also joined by Councillor Jamine.

[3:37] Good evening. Thanks. Up first I have Councillor Ro Thank

[3:41] - You.

[3:42] Thank you for being here. So

[3:44] you sort of answered the question.

[3:45] I I think I was premature with my, my asking a question.

[3:48] But you, so the grant is for the design of both items,

[3:54] and then once the design is done, you'll know approximately

[3:57] what the cost would be to get them implemented?

[4:00] - Yes. Yes. That would be part

[4:01] - Of it.

[4:02] And then you'd go back to request another grant, right?

[4:04] - Yes. - Okay. And you think

[4:05] that the 139,000 will cover the design,

[4:08] or do you think 48 like being more than that?

[4:11] - We've gotten estimates, so are confident with,

[4:16] you know, that number. Okay.

[4:18] - All right. Thank you. - Next I have Councillor Williams.

[4:22] - Thank you. It's great to see

[4:24] that we're continuing melrose's very strong history

[4:26] of sustainability and energy innovation.

[4:28] I know Martha would be happy to see the work that she sort

[4:32] of kicked off moved forward.

[4:35] And I want to make a motion

[4:36] to recommend this to the full counsel.

[4:38] - Second, we have a motion to recommend

[4:40] by Councilor Williams, seconded

[4:41] by Councilor Karen Chetty on discussion up,

[4:44] first I have Councillor Chen.

[4:47] - Are we putting this out to bid

[4:48] for two different contractors?

[4:49] One for an HVAC designer

[4:51] and then another one for a solar architect?

[4:53] - We, we actually have the contractors in place already

[4:57] through the proper procurement we were able to use.

[5:02] So Elena Pro Ellis is a partner in this project,

[5:07] and so she would have more detail on exactly

[5:09] who those people are, but we have checked that we are able

[5:13] to use those contractors to continue the design.

[5:17] So for like the Salt Shed, it was originally designed

[5:21] with the intention that we would put solar panels on that.

[5:26] So we were able to use, I believe it's Weston

[5:28] and Samson, to continue the design with within the law of,

[5:34] you know, being able to use the, the grant

[5:38] and also the state procurement laws.

[5:41] And then the, the same for the middle school

[5:43] and high school project.

[5:48] - Thank you. Up next I Councillor Park.

[5:50] - Thank you Lori, thank you for, for presenting this.

[5:53] As, as you know, through our previous meetings

[5:56] during the capital improvement project, I'm a big fan

[5:59] of trying to decrease costs anywhere we can have.

[6:03] I'm curious, have you done any cost analysis, savings

[6:08] and potentially what we could be gaining in terms

[6:10] of installing these solar panels on the shed as well

[6:13] as the heat pumps on in the schools?

[6:16] - I don't have that information,

[6:18] but we do work with engineers that

[6:21] come up with those calculations.

[6:22] So that is a,

[6:24] a big advantage not only advancing our climate goals,

[6:28] but reducing the utility costs.

[6:31] - Absolutely. It'd be a great thing for us to broadcast that

[6:34] in addition to just using it from funds outside

[6:37] of the revenue that we,

[6:39] or the levies that we get from the city,

[6:40] but, you know, just a way that we're proactively trying

[6:43] to save money for this, for the city itself.

[6:45] So yes, I would love to see those numbers at some point.

[6:48] Thank you.

[6:50] - Any other questions for my colleagues?

[6:52] Oh, I'm sorry President Friedman. It's

[6:54] - Alright.

[6:55] Ms. Masa, thanks so much for being here.

[6:56] I think this is, this is a great project

[6:57] and exciting for the city.

[6:59] Can you just talk a little bit about timing here in terms of

[7:01] how long will this technical assistance study take?

[7:04] And then when will we be looking to apply for the next step

[7:07] of the, of any available grants?

[7:09] - So we have the contractors in place

[7:13] and I believe that they will be working through the summer.

[7:18] I don't know the exact deadline,

[7:20] but this is a kind of a quick turnaround

[7:23] for getting the study done.

[7:25] And then we would apply, you know,

[7:29] I don't, sorry, I don't remember the date

[7:31] of when the acceptance for the, the

[7:34] Decarbonization Accelerator grant is happening,

[7:37] but we'll apply for the next round.

[7:39] - Awesome. Now that's good to hear that.

[7:40] Just that it's a quick study recognizing that we're one

[7:43] of the few communities that have this designation right now.

[7:45] It's great to hear. We'll be in the queue for

[7:47] that grant shortly, so thank you.

[7:51] - Wonderful. If that is the last, the commentary,

[7:54] Madam Clerk, will you please call the role?

[7:56] - Yes. Vice Chair Vandiver? Yes. Councilor Chen? Yes.

[8:01] Councilor Occhio? Yes. Counselor Jamine? Yes.

[8:04] Councilor Karen Chaney? Yes. Councillor Cole? Yes.

[8:08] Councillor Park? Yes. Councillor Williams? Yes.

[8:11] President Freeman? Yes. Chair Romano? Yes. Motion passes.

[8:16] - Alright, wonderful. That will be presented at

[8:18] our next full council meeting.

[8:19] Thank you very much. Up next, I know that we have

[8:24] some overlapping meetings tonight.

[8:26] We're doing a little, everyone's dance card is full.

[8:28] So as a professional courtesy, I wanted to make a, a motion

[8:31] by unanimous consent

[8:33] to take item number 20 26 7 4 9 in informational order

[8:38] on the Affordable housing trust.

[8:39] Out of order, seeing no objection,

[8:43] we'll take these items out of order.

[8:45] So up next we have ID number 20 26 7 49,

[8:48] the information order on the Affordable Housing Trust

[8:50] Fund board update.

[8:51] And we have assorted members of the board here before us.

[8:56] Feel free to introduce yourself. Yes.

[9:02] - Hi, good evening.

[9:05] Thank you Chair Romano

[9:06] and City Council for the opportunity to speak tonight.

[9:09] We're excited to talk to you about the work

[9:12] of the Affordable Housing Trust, some

[9:15] of the housing challenges that we see in Melrose

[9:18] and how we can partner moving forward.

[9:20] And we'll do brief introductions.

[9:23] My name's Amy Tierney and I am the chair of the trust.

[9:27] And joining me tonight, or my colleagues,

[9:29] I'm the Trust Vice Chair, Jerman and Treasurer Joe Viola.

[9:34] Our clerk, Helina Feld had

[9:36] to go away on a unexpected business trip,

[9:39] so she sends her regrets and is not here tonight.

[9:42] We just wanted to, I know you have the presentation,

[9:44] you have our guidelines, so we just wanna run through it

[9:46] and leave, have some time if you have any questions.

[9:49] But we just wanted to start with

[9:51] what the trust is and why it exists.

[9:55] Whoops. I can, okay, so here we are.

[9:59] So the trust is a statutory body that was established

[10:03] by the council in 2020 in accordance

[10:05] with the Mass General laws section.

[10:09] There's over 100 communities in Massachusetts

[10:12] that have affordable housing trusts.

[10:15] The trust is a volunteer board appointed by the mayor

[10:19] and confirmed by the council.

[10:21] We have four board members that are volunteers,

[10:24] and then a designee of the mayor's office,

[10:26] which is currently Ms.

[10:28] Mesa from the Office of Planning and Community Development.

[10:33] We spent a lot of time in the last year since we've all been

[10:36] kind of up and running, thinking about what our mission is

[10:40] and trying to be transparent

[10:42] and thoughtful about guidelines and next steps.

[10:44] So I just wanna kind of take a moment

[10:46] and think about what the mission of the trust is.

[10:51] We are, we wanna work to create, preserve,

[10:55] and support diverse affordable housing to meet the needs

[10:59] of low and moderate income households in Melrose

[11:02] over the span of their entire lifespan in collaboration

[11:07] with both municipal and community partners.

[11:10] So that's kind of our o overall mission.

[11:14] And so why is this work so important right now?

[11:18] I think you can't read a newspaper

[11:20] or turn on the news we're we have a housing crisis in the US

[11:24] and in Massachusetts you see that at, in the,

[11:27] at the state level with a lot of state priorities along

[11:32] with, it's been clear in our last housing production plan

[11:36] that affordable housing is an

[11:37] issue that's important to the city.

[11:40] So we look to, we look at Melrose

[11:45] and we're not immune to all of that.

[11:49] Housing affordability in Melrose is becoming increasingly

[11:52] outta reach for many residents

[11:54] or people who would wanna move here.

[11:56] Particularly young families that either wanna move here or,

[12:02] or stay or stay our local workforce

[12:06] and our seniors who are looking for continuity

[12:09] of housing over their lifetime,

[12:10] whether they wanna stay in their house

[12:13] or we don't have enough housing stock if they want

[12:17] to stay in Melrose, in, in an an age in place.

[12:22] So I just, I thought we just ground it in, like

[12:26] affordable housing gets thrown around a lot.

[12:28] And what we're talking about as affordable housing

[12:32] with like a capital A for our trust purposes is

[12:37] in Massachusetts, affordable housing is generally defined

[12:41] as housing, where a household spends no more than 30%

[12:47] of the income of the household on housing costs.

[12:52] Let's see, I don't know why this keeps doing that,

[12:54] but in Melrose, the occlusion units

[12:58] that are de restricted, they serve households earning up

[13:02] to 80% of the area median income.

[13:05] And you'll see in the chart, you know,

[13:07] HUD sets the Boston Metro area

[13:12] and these are the 2025 income limits.

[13:16] And so what this really means is, in Melrose for a family

[13:19] of four people earning up to $132,000,

[13:24] they would generally qualify for affordable housing

[13:27] based on that, their income.

[13:30] So just to look at a little bit of what's happening locally,

[13:37] you know, it's been more than since 2020,

[13:41] but from 2020 the past few years,

[13:44] you can see we have a sharp increase in both

[13:46] home prices and rents.

[13:48] Single, single family homes are approaching $101 million

[13:53] and rents are nearing 3000 a month on average.

[13:59] So this is creating real pressure for, as we said,

[14:02] for our seniors that are trying to age in place

[14:05] for families, for people who work in our community.

[14:08] And you know, for people who may have grown up in Melrose

[14:11] and wanna come back, we're hearing like they,

[14:14] that's not possible.

[14:17] Just as an example, the Melrose Emergency Fund,

[14:20] this year it dispersed over $11,000

[14:24] in one time rental or mortgage assistance.

[14:26] And that's, I mean, that's a lot of money for people

[14:30] e each individual, you know, up to 11 grand.

[14:33] So it's really, it's a real issue here

[14:35] and I think we just want to bring light to it

[14:39] and try to help collaborate to

[14:42] have some better solutions.

[14:47] These is kind of, obviously these

[14:49] numbers change all the time.

[14:50] I mean, there's, they're dynamic numbers,

[14:52] but these are the numbers from the, the census website,

[14:56] the la the latest census.

[14:58] And as you can see, the medium home value is at $970,000.

[15:03] Yet the medium household income's 133, which is not much

[15:07] above the 80% of the a MI.

[15:11] So it's a real issue. And that's borne out by the data.

[15:16] I think this is an interesting slide.

[15:18] It was taken right from our housing production plan,

[15:21] and it, I think it just shows that over 30%

[15:24] of Mel's households, our cost burden,

[15:27] which means they're spending more than 30% of their income

[15:32] on housing and nearly 14% of that are severely cost burden,

[15:37] which means they're spending more than 50%

[15:39] of their income on housing costs.

[15:43] And if you look to the right, the right hand column,

[15:46] that's the light, the light green, I guess blue that is,

[15:50] it's hard to read, but that's the renters.

[15:53] And this affects renters.

[15:59] We have 33, over 30% of residents are renters here,

[16:02] and 50% of renters are severely cost burdened,

[16:07] meaning they're spending over half of their

[16:10] income on housing costs.

[16:12] We also see large numbers of older homeowners.

[16:15] Over 3000 homes are owned by households of over 60

[16:19] who may be, you know, house rich because they're housing,

[16:24] 'cause their housing, their, their, you know, has,

[16:27] their houses are worth more, but they're cash constrained

[16:31] because they're hard to keep up

[16:33] and their income has is maybe, you know,

[16:37] is set or static.

[16:40] So this is just shows that it, this is across the community.

[16:43] This is a broad community issue.

[16:44] It's not just about seniors,

[16:45] it's not just about commuters into the city.

[16:48] It's really everybody.

[16:52] And no,

[16:53] no single group can do it alone, solve it alone either.

[16:57] It's really, this work is about collaboration, the trust,

[17:02] obviously we wanna be a mover on this,

[17:06] but we need to collaborate across city government

[17:08] with the housing authority.

[17:10] I see Mr. Corona here tonight through non-profit,

[17:14] profit partners, developers, as well

[17:16] as state and fellow programs.

[17:20] So where does Melrose stand today? This is, oops.

[17:26] Oh, how do I go back here? Am I back?

[17:30] Oh shoot, what did I do here? Lemme see.

[17:37] I don't know how to, here we go. Here we go. Sorry.

[17:41] So this is today, this is,

[17:43] we have just over 12,000 housing units

[17:47] and 941 of them are affordable.

[17:52] So that's just about 7.5%.

[17:56] So the next slide, what is this? There we go.

[18:02] This just kind of shows those, those 940 units, you see

[18:05] that 731 of them are senior housing.

[18:09] So it's a, you know, disproportionate in terms

[18:12] of the type of housing stock.

[18:13] There's not a lot of family or units for single people.

[18:18] And, and the on the side just talks about which

[18:21] monitoring organizations are responsible

[18:24] for monitoring those

[18:28] and then enter wise, sorry.

[18:33] Okay. And they're all affordable.

[18:36] Housing is all across the city in different,

[18:39] located in multiple neighborhoods

[18:41] and housing types, which is important

[18:43] for creating an inclusive community.

[18:46] They should be in our views,

[18:48] spread out throughout the community.

[18:50] And this is a heat map of where they are now

[18:54] to support this work, we need

[18:56] to rely on many tools.

[19:02] These in, this includes chapter 40 B, inclusionary zoning,

[19:06] state and federal subsidies along with tax credits.

[19:10] And, and the trust itself is a

[19:14] flexible local funding tool.

[19:17] So that brings us to what is the role of the trust, right?

[19:22] You see in our, in the guidelines in our application,

[19:25] there's different types of funding we can provide.

[19:29] And through application you could,

[19:30] we can provide gap financing, enable acquisitions,

[19:34] rehabilitation that create or preserve affordable housing.

[19:38] There's an opportunity to support pre-development costs,

[19:41] to unlock, unlock potential projects

[19:45] and really to leverage other private and public financing.

[19:49] A lot of these types

[19:50] of deals have many different facets of financing.

[19:54] Mr. Villa is more adept in, in,

[19:58] in those types of issues.

[19:59] But a lot of the state funding

[20:01] or federal funding requires local, you know,

[20:05] they want the local community to have some skin in the game.

[20:08] And that's our hope to be able to kind of be bridge,

[20:12] bridge the gap on some of those.

[20:14] We can do grants loans, forgivable loans, types

[20:19] of funding from, from the trust.

[20:22] And we do have, in our guidelines, we've tried

[20:25] to create pretty transparent guidelines with

[20:30] clear selection criteria

[20:31] that would emphasize the feasibility of the project,

[20:34] the affordability of the project,

[20:36] and also to align with the city goals.

[20:40] So, so this is what we've been up to.

[20:45] We all came together only about a year ago,

[20:48] a little bit over a year ago, and we were lucky enough

[20:50] to hit the ground running.

[20:51] We got a technical assistance grant

[20:53] and we worked for about six months with MHP,

[20:57] which is a housing partner, housing partnership to kind

[21:02] of thoughtfully develop our, you know, our state,

[21:05] our mission statement as well as our goals.

[21:08] And I just, I wanna stop here.

[21:10] I don't, we don't wanna spend a lot of time on the slides,

[21:12] but I really wanna let, let Jim talk a little bit about,

[21:17] we've done one, we've grant, we've,

[21:19] we've made one grant since we've been in existence

[21:23] and I think it's a good example of what we can do.

[21:27] - Yeah, so let me talk a little bit about that.

[21:29] So I was a founding member

[21:30] of the Melrose Affordable Housing Corporation,

[21:33] and we were founded a number of years ago by citizens

[21:36] of Melrose who just really wanted to make a difference.

[21:38] So that is a private nonprofit organization run

[21:43] by its own board of directors, not affiliated with the city

[21:46] or in any way they contract with

[21:48] nor housing authority to be the management agent.

[21:51] But that's the connection with Housing authority.

[21:54] And so properties that would come up available for sale,

[21:57] that the Affordable Housing Corporation would think about

[21:59] buying and then

[22:02] use federal funds from the North Suburban consortium

[22:05] to hold those properties on the city's housing inventory.

[22:10] So those would be in perpetuity listed

[22:13] as affordable housing rentals.

[22:16] And so an opportunity came up

[22:17] for the Affordable Housing Corporation

[22:19] to acquire a three family building in Melrose.

[22:21] So it happened to be adjacent to one

[22:23] that they already owned, but you know, through their years

[22:27] of being in business, they didn't have a lot of money.

[22:30] So they were able to leverage the properties

[22:32] that they had along with some traditional bank financing

[22:35] and getting fin and got financing from the North Suburban

[22:38] consortium using home funds grants.

[22:40] But they were still short

[22:42] and they were very anxious to be able

[22:44] to tap into the motors affordable housing trust fund money.

[22:48] And for many years that money had been sort

[22:50] of lingering out there, that it was there,

[22:52] but there was no trust established.

[22:54] And so when we got the trust established, we sort of knew

[22:58] that this organization was gonna be waiting for something.

[23:01] And so we were really happy that we were able to put some

[23:04] guidelines together with the assistance of MHP

[23:07] and came up with a, a very formal plan to be able

[23:11] to fund them and be able to give them $140,000

[23:14] of our limited funds, which enabled them to be able

[23:18] to finalize that purchase.

[23:20] And now there are three rental units,

[23:22] family rental units in Melrose

[23:24] that are now deed restricted in perpetuity

[23:26] as affordable capital a affordable units.

[23:30] And so us being able to be nimble

[23:34] and be able to provide that financing relatively quickly

[23:38] is still not as quick as what

[23:41] cash paying investors would buy in the open market,

[23:44] but it was really important that we,

[23:46] that we'd be there for them.

[23:47] But you might see that that's not a big amount.

[23:50] That's, we don't have a lot of money.

[23:51] We never had a lot of money to start.

[23:53] We, I think we had about $650,000,

[23:57] which was a combination of payment in lieu

[24:00] of units the developers had paid in.

[24:01] I think there was some old free cash money

[24:04] that was in there, but not a lot of money.

[24:06] And so to give $140,000 out

[24:09] depletes almost 20% of our, of our assets.

[24:13] So we can't do that very frequently,

[24:15] but we were glad that we were able to do it, at least

[24:18] for the affordable housing corporation to start.

[24:19] So it's an example of sort of where we've worked

[24:22] with a local organization

[24:24] to collaborate on creating more affordable units.

[24:28] - Thank you. I'm in a good value too.

[24:31] We have three for, you know, 140,000 of our,

[24:35] of our money that we now have three units in perpetuity.

[24:40] The, this is just, you know, our goals

[24:43] for the next five years.

[24:44] They're detailed in our guidelines,

[24:46] but, you know, we wanna aim to expand community outreach.

[24:49] We think it's an important issue

[24:50] that sometimes isn't talked about or understood.

[24:54] And so we really want to be out in the community

[24:58] and we've started to do that in different ways.

[25:02] We've had listening sessions

[25:03] with the Affordable housing trust, I mean the,

[25:06] the housing authority and the corporation

[25:09] to try to get their input.

[25:10] So we look forward to engaging the community.

[25:14] Probably our most important goal is to find sustainable

[25:19] and diverse funding and,

[25:23] and to create in five years.

[25:26] We, it's a big number, but we hope to, you know, to create

[25:29] or support the creation of over 150 homes

[25:32] or more for rent or for ownership.

[25:36] And so how are we doing this today?

[25:41] It it's all, it's has to be collaboration.

[25:44] I've, in this last year have lucky, I've done a lot

[25:47] of research and listened to a lot of

[25:48] how this happens across the state.

[25:50] And these are kind of complicated financial packages.

[25:54] It's hard for affordable housing to compete in this market.

[25:59] And so you have to be nimble

[26:00] and you have to be willing to collaborate

[26:04] with whoever you can to get things done.

[26:08] You say today you can see, I think

[26:10] that's our current balance,

[26:11] just over half a million dollars.

[26:14] And so we see, and,

[26:18] and as Jim said so far, I think we've just had one.

[26:22] I think when Mayor Broder established the trust,

[26:24] he had one free cash

[26:26] and then we've the, the balances from

[26:29] payment, payment and lose.

[26:31] So we look to see, I went forward,

[26:34] but I just, I wanted quickly, one of the opportunities,

[26:38] the biggest opportunity we see in terms of creating our,

[26:41] our pipeline of financing is a CPA.

[26:45] So Joe has more experience in that.

[26:48] So I just wanted him to high level

[26:50] and we're happy to take some questions

[26:51] after just kind of what the CPA could do for the trust.

[26:56] - Sure. And you know, we've had this discussion

[26:59] at the committee level talking about sustainability

[27:02] and now that we have a housing trust

[27:04] and we want to fund these programs going forward,

[27:06] how do we capitalize it?

[27:08] And essentially the hous, the CPA allows communities

[27:11] to enact a surcharge against your tax levy

[27:14] of no greater than 3%.

[27:16] That funding is able to be used for affordable housing.

[27:20] It's able to be used for open space and recreation

[27:24] and historic preservation if we would have to work

[27:29] with the council to get it on ballot to see if the citizens

[27:33] of Melrose would be in favor of adopting the CPA.

[27:38] But you know, again, one project

[27:43] using, you know, a reasonable amount, amount of funding

[27:47] to deed restrict housing into the future.

[27:50] It's a great use of the funding.

[27:51] But how, how are we going to be able to fund those

[27:54] kinds of projects in the future?

[27:56] And just to, just to do a very back of the envelope

[27:59] and rudimentary calculation here, using the assessed value

[28:05] of the average tax assessment at 1%,

[28:11] the average household would pay, the average

[28:15] household at the average assessment would pay

[28:18] $97 a year in surcharge funds,

[28:23] you know, broken down by quarter, that's about $24.

[28:26] So that's at 1%.

[28:28] And again, I'll, I'll caution it's very rudimentary back at

[28:30] the envelope, but you could see that,

[28:35] you know, trying to extrapolate and,

[28:37] and say what that means to the, to the community.

[28:42] You know, we, we would add, sorry,

[28:44] I'm consulting my notes here,

[28:46] but we could add upwards of

[28:52] $600,000 a year in CPA funds.

[28:57] And again, there's CPA is, there's 10% for housing, 10%

[29:01] for open space and preservation

[29:04] and 10% for historic preservation.

[29:07] But you could see that any portion of that could help us

[29:10] to come up with a, a fundable sustaining mechanism for

[29:14] the housing trust and didn't want

[29:18] to do too much of a deep dive.

[29:19] I, I know you probably have all these facts at your

[29:22] fingertips, but it, it could mean a lot to be able

[29:26] to capitalize the affordable housing trust

[29:29] with CPA funds going forward in the future

[29:31] and the many programs that it allows you to, to fund.

[29:35] - Well, thank you very much for

[29:37] this encyclopedic information.

[29:38] I'm sure we're just scratching the surface,

[29:40] but I, I want to entertain any

[29:42] questions from my colleagues up

[29:44] first I have Councilor Jamal.

[29:46] - Thank you. Thank you so much for this.

[29:48] It's amazing not to mention the amazing work

[29:51] that you guys are doing.

[29:53] So thank you for all the work

[29:56] and our that you franked to make this happen.

[30:00] How many families are we currently are

[30:05] or currently is benefiting

[30:07] from if we if you have that.

[30:11] - Yeah, I mean we don't run the affordable housing.

[30:14] All of those in that chart, those partners,

[30:18] so right now there's 941 units, so that's households.

[30:23] Some are, some are seniors, some are that are either the,

[30:28] the housing authority and, and such.

[30:30] So it's 941 units right now.

[30:32] We didn't, yeah, we can't take credit for any of that.

[30:36] Yeah, we helped with three, we helped with three,

[30:40] but we hope to, in the, I think we just wanted

[30:43] to level set where we are here.

[30:46] It's a, you know, there's a lot of work to be done and,

[30:50] and housing's expensive.

[30:51] So we get that. But we think we need to, to try, you know,

[30:56] as a, as a community

[30:57] - And if we're, you know, reviewing our numbers,

[31:02] we see that it's increasing the people that are impacted by

[31:09] the burden and that are joining this population.

[31:13] It's increasing over the years, especially the last year

[31:16] with everything

[31:20] that our country is going through.

[31:22] Now my, my question is, you mentioned about the CPA

[31:27] and how and to put it on the ballot, have we explored

[31:32] or have we proposed it or how do we go by that?

[31:36] - Well, I believe from my, from my research

[31:41] and there's two ways petition, people can petition

[31:44] to put it on the ballot residents

[31:46] or the city council by a

[31:47] simple majority can put it on the ballot.

[31:49] Okay, so not come

[31:50] - From you guys.

[31:51] - No. Obviously there would need to be some, you know,

[31:55] support from the community.

[31:56] And you know, our hope is that other parts of, you know,

[32:01] it's not just affordable housing, it's parks

[32:03] and rec, it's the people in, in historical,

[32:08] you know, there's a lot

[32:09] of different things the CPA a can be used for.

[32:13] So we would be happy to support it,

[32:15] but it's not, I don't,

[32:17] I don't think procedurally like we need to put it on. Yes.

[32:20] - And I, I'm sorry, my, my last question is do we know

[32:25] how many city or neighboring cities are

[32:29] adopted already and joined this program?

[32:32] - The CPA? I did have that. How many,

[32:33] - How many cities have adopted CPA?

[32:35] I think statewide it's over 200. It's over 200.

[32:37] It's like 50. Well I don't have

[32:39] - These.

[32:40] Yeah, I have 200, over 200.

[32:41] Yeah, I have 201 municipalities in the state

[32:45] and nearly 73% of the communities that have trusts have CPA.

[32:50] It is by far because it's, it's sustainable.

[32:53] You can, it's hard to,

[32:55] it know these projects take a long time to, to design

[32:59] and build and put financing before,

[33:01] and if you don't have a sustainable pipeline, it's hard to,

[33:06] to count on that.

[33:07] So that is by far the biggest revenue

[33:12] for most of these trusts.

[33:13] But it's not only for the

[33:15] trust is I guess what we're saying. Yes,

[33:17] - Absolutely. Thank you.

[33:18] - Yep. Up next I have Councilor Williams.

[33:20] - Thanks. Thank you for an informative presentation

[33:23] that laid a good amount of groundwork

[33:25] and also got into what the trust does.

[33:28] 'cause I think that's really important and I,

[33:29] I really appreciate the amount of work you've put into this.

[33:33] So I wanted to talk just for a moment on CPA,

[33:38] I'm super excited.

[33:40] I mean, we talked about this, I'm super excited to hear

[33:41] that you guys are, are bringing this up.

[33:46] I think whenever we mention CPAI like to call out that

[33:51] CPA has different ways you can exclude certain

[33:55] groups of people at the ballot.

[33:56] Yes. So one of those groups is low income families

[33:59] and one of those groups is seniors.

[34:00] And that's a great tool to balance the additional cost,

[34:04] which is modest as you said,

[34:06] but some people, you know,

[34:07] they don't like any additional cost.

[34:08] It's a good way to balance that

[34:09] with the benefits that we get.

[34:13] Interestingly, of the 200

[34:14] and some communities that have adopted CPA, we live in a bit

[34:17] of a drought bubble like the,

[34:20] the immediate northern communities of like Stoneham, sga,

[34:23] Melrose don't have it.

[34:26] Boston and a lot of the metro west

[34:28] and south communities all have it too.

[34:30] So it would be, it would be great

[34:31] to see Boston be a leader, be a leader in that.

[34:35] I'm all in, I would be excited to do something like this.

[34:39] I'm excited that the affordable housing folks are on board.

[34:43] I know this is the historic preservation folks are on board.

[34:45] So I think it's a conversation that we can,

[34:47] we can have for sure.

[34:49] Even though the, the state,

[34:52] I don't know if we mentioned this, the fact

[34:53] that the state provides a matching grant for all

[34:55] of our CPA contributions, it's, it used

[34:57] to be quite generous.

[34:59] It's a little bit less generous these days, like 20%,

[35:01] 23% now instead of like 30% in the past.

[35:04] But it's still great money

[35:07] and it's free money that we can put towards our parks,

[35:09] our playing fields, historic preservation,

[35:12] purchasing properties,

[35:13] purchasing conservation land, et cetera, et cetera.

[35:16] So, so thank you. Thank you.

[35:18] Appreciate your, your presentation

[35:20] and your comments on the,

[35:21] on the matter. Up next I have Councillor

[35:24] - Graham shady, - I didn't think

[35:25] it would be my turn already.

[35:27] Thank you so much for your presentation.

[35:29] I really appreciate it.

[35:30] I am so happy that you exist

[35:33] and appreciate the level setting

[35:35] that you've been doing over the past year,

[35:37] thinking about goals, present tense,

[35:40] but also how we might move forward in partnership together.

[35:43] So I'm just curious about,

[35:46] and if you haven't, like, again, you've been around a year,

[35:48] so this is not like, it's just, I'm curious

[35:51] what you're thinking about in terms of like big picture

[35:55] and strategy, particularly around

[36:00] being proactive when properties are coming on the market

[36:04] before they get to the private developers.

[36:07] Like are you thinking about a strategy with that

[36:09] and how might you think about working with the city

[36:14] and sort of rallying folks so

[36:17] that we can be proactive in our housing production plan

[36:21] but not have to wait for, for proposals

[36:24] where we're very reactionary, which I think we've fallen

[36:30] into in our current situation.

[36:32] So I'm just curious how you're thinking about that big

[36:34] - Picture.

[36:35] Sure. So because we are not developers,

[36:38] we are not in the market for acquiring properties,

[36:41] but we are interested in finding those opportunities

[36:44] and helping those developers for profit

[36:46] and not-for-profit developers find those

[36:48] and perhaps navigate a system.

[36:50] Part of our funding could be used for pre-development costs

[36:54] for expenses incurred with finding out how can I,

[36:58] how can I put units in here that, that I can set aside

[37:02] as affordable and still be if I'm a for-profit developer,

[37:05] still make a profitable business decision.

[37:08] So we can do that. So we think

[37:09] we can help with some of that.

[37:12] Again, our funds are limited,

[37:14] but you know, we, some people have asked us if we're going

[37:16] to do rental assistance, you know,

[37:18] down payment assistance for first time home buyers.

[37:20] Well that's a great lofty goal,

[37:22] which we think we'd be fantastic for low

[37:24] and moderate income first time home buyers.

[37:28] Those units that they purchase are not

[37:30] necessarily deed restricted.

[37:32] And so while the buyer may initially buyer may be low

[37:36] or moderate income means that doesn't add a unit to the,

[37:39] the the housing inventory that, that we'd like to have,

[37:43] we'd love to get to that point.

[37:45] And, and, and one of the things

[37:47] that our technical assistance consultant pointed out

[37:50] to us early on was, you know, we should set a goal as a,

[37:52] as a trust fund of having five to $6 million, you know,

[37:57] and wow, you know, where do we get that?

[38:00] But when we get to that point, those funds

[38:03] invested the right place can be sustainable

[38:05] to provide rental assistance down payment assistance.

[38:10] I think right now our, our larger long-term goals,

[38:13] which is probably in the next three years is help,

[38:15] is having enough funds to support developers

[38:19] navigate a system where we can provide some funding

[38:21] and we can provide some resources so that we can get units,

[38:24] actual units on the ground.

[38:26] So we've got, I I think there's some big long-term

[38:28] goals that we'd love to get to.

[38:31] I think we're really feeling like right now that we're sort

[38:33] of a bit hamstrung on funding

[38:35] and so let's not go to that down that path yet

[38:39] when we get there, we'll love to have,

[38:40] when we've got $10 million in our affordable housing trust

[38:42] fund raised from a number of resources.

[38:46] Yeah. Then I think that we can be, do all kinds of stuff.

[38:48] - But I think what I'm hearing you say to build

[38:50] that foundation and that ability to be proactive,

[38:55] proactive and really plan the investment

[38:59] that the city makes will allow for that to happen.

[39:03] So us thinking about how city council partners with you,

[39:06] how the mayor's office partners with you, how we try

[39:09] to move forward with something like the CPA really matters

[39:13] in terms of us kind of having control of our approach

[39:17] to affordable housing in a way that is planned

[39:20] and purposeful and,

[39:21] and does what it's supposed to do, allows people to move to

[39:24] and stay in Melrose. Right?

[39:25] - Right. I think there's a lot of

[39:28] nonprofit community affordable housing developers,

[39:33] but you have to, for them to come, it has to be worth it

[39:36] and they have to see that the city is right supportive

[39:40] and has, you know, has supported the city

[39:42] and can help with some local funding

[39:44] because like I said, a lot of these fundings are, you know,

[39:48] we obviously aren't gonna fund an entire, it depends on it.

[39:51] If it's a smaller, some trusts do,

[39:53] they can help purchase a single family home or a duplex,

[39:58] but you know, how much a single family home

[39:59] costs here on the market.

[40:01] And so it's all about being nimble,

[40:03] but we need to have enough capital

[40:06] and sustainable capital

[40:07] to be able to have those conversations.

[40:09] - Appreciate that. Thank you so much. Thank you.

[40:11] - Next time Councillor Vandiver.

[40:13] - Thank you. Thank you so much for your presentation.

[40:16] I really appreciate it.

[40:18] I wanted to ask, kind of drilling on a couple

[40:20] of the slides with graphs

[40:23] - If I can get back to him.

[40:24] Ooh,

[40:26] - So you, you had one graph showing the breakdown of,

[40:30] of units by household type, which I think is,

[40:35] is really striking that so much

[40:39] of our affordable housing is concentrated in the senior

[40:41] population right now.

[40:43] And so little for single single room or, or even family.

[40:48] So I, I'm really glad to hear that those three units

[40:50] that you did were family units.

[40:52] And I wonder if you could speak to where,

[40:58] if that is where you see the need

[40:59] or you know, if the need is still with the seniors

[41:01] because they're in a really tough position

[41:03] or you know, not to pit one group against the other,

[41:05] everybody's struggling with housing costs,

[41:07] but if you could speak to

[41:08] where you see the most need right now

[41:10] and how you could focus on, on that with the funds.

[41:14] - Yeah, I mean I can't, I don't wanna,

[41:16] I would be surprising, I don't know all the data on, I know

[41:19] that we've had many conversations with the housing authority

[41:23] and they have a huge backlog of, for, you know,

[41:27] government owned affordable housing

[41:31] six months to six years.

[41:34] So, and I think a lot of that is senior housing that they,

[41:39] that they have, that they monitor.

[41:42] So that certainly is still, there's just not enough.

[41:47] But I don't have the data on how, you know, the breakdown of

[41:51] who in terms of obviously if there's families,

[41:54] there's only 150 units that are restrict de restricted.

[41:59] That's not very much given we have almost 30,000 people

[42:03] here, so I don't have the data.

[42:06] - I was, I was just gonna add, you know, we talked about

[42:09] being nimble and being able to leverage funding a a lot

[42:14] of affordable housing is, is opportunity based, you know,

[42:19] as part of our our effort to make funding available

[42:23] to the development community, we could, you know, we could

[42:27] have an RFP and,

[42:28] and have developers tell us what they would do

[42:31] with the funding and, you know, make,

[42:35] make policy decisions on what kinds

[42:37] of programs we wanted to fund.

[42:39] So in, in addition to, you know, the nimbleness and,

[42:43] and allowing developers to, to leverage resources from other

[42:48] state federal sources of funding, it,

[42:53] it also would allow us to sort of

[42:57] - Control it.

[42:58] - Yeah, yeah. Control what kinds of projects we're looking

[42:59] to fund, you know, based on a,

[43:04] based on the review of a proposal.

[43:06] So let let the development community tell us

[43:09] how they would use our funding best.

[43:12] - Thank you. And this, I also was wondering about the slide

[43:16] before that, the pie chart showing

[43:20] I divided those numbers, so it looks like 7.5% of

[43:26] affordable housing units in Melrose today.

[43:28] And I know we have some things in the pipeline,

[43:29] so maybe another percentage point

[43:31] or two is kind of possibly in development to get added

[43:35] to the sustainable housing inventory.

[43:38] I know our goal for, from the perspective of chapter 40 B

[43:41] for, for that percentage would be 10% to be filled in.

[43:45] But I guess I was also thinking about what would, what would

[43:49] that chart ideally look like?

[43:51] It would probably be a lot bigger than 10%, right?

[43:53] Given, you know, we're talking about 80%

[43:56] of the median income, meaning, you know, I don't know

[43:59] what percent of the population is at

[44:01] or below 80% of median income, but like about 30%, 30%.

[44:04] So, so we would, I just wanted to a exactly ask for

[44:09] that number and, and kind of emphasize that, you know,

[44:13] how different that chart ought to look

[44:15] and how great that really shows that the need is. Yeah,

[44:19] - Let me, I guess I'll add to your comment question.

[44:22] Is it, is it, the chart can be a bit misleading as well

[44:25] because one of the things that we are charged with is

[44:29] building, building affordable housing, capital A,

[44:32] capital H there's naturally occurring

[44:35] affordable housing in the city.

[44:36] We know that there are people who rent below market,

[44:40] you know, there are people who have low housing costs

[44:43] because they paid off their mortgage many years ago,

[44:45] so their expenses aren't that high.

[44:46] So there, there are people that live in the city

[44:48] that have naturally occurring affordable housing.

[44:52] So we're focused only on the portion

[44:54] that is deed restricted part of that inventory.

[44:57] The other part is, we talked a little bit about 40 B is

[45:00] that, that I think collectively our,

[45:03] our committee talk has talked a lot about 40 B

[45:05] and about this 10%, this magic number of 10%.

[45:09] Keeping in mind that, that when a, when the city reaches

[45:12] that safe harbor goal for a project that's a 40 B project,

[45:17] not all of those units are at an afford

[45:20] might be at an affordable level.

[45:22] And so we gain units to the inventory to get to reach

[45:26] that safe harbor, but we're not necessarily gaining units

[45:29] that are satisfying the needs of those people

[45:31] who are making 80% or less of the median income.

[45:34] And so, so we look at this, at this chart

[45:37] and say, you know, do these numbers really mean a a lot?

[45:40] Where is the numbers? Is it greater, is it less than,

[45:42] I think what we keep going back to is, wow,

[45:45] this is really not enough and that,

[45:47] and that's our goal is to get more

[45:49] And is is 20% the magic number?

[45:52] I'm, I'm, I'm not sure I don't,

[45:53] we haven't talked about that.

[45:56] - Terrific. - Thank you. And last comment is, thank you

[45:58] so much for, for bringing up the importance

[46:00] of the Community Preservation Act

[46:02] and to my colleague for including some details about

[46:04] that I think really important.

[46:06] I'm also in favor and hope that we can move on that soon.

[46:08] Thank you.

[46:10] - Thank you so much Councillor Vandiver.

[46:12] I just wanna note we've got a couple

[46:13] of other items on our agenda

[46:14] and we got about 10 minutes until our scheduled full council

[46:17] meeting just for P purposes.

[46:19] But up next I've got Councillor fro. Thank

[46:22] - You.

[46:23] Thank you so much for the presentation.

[46:25] It was very helpful for me to kinda understand

[46:27] what you guys do and how it, you know, interacts

[46:31] with the city and affordable housing.

[46:33] So sounds like the CPA is really kind of an important piece

[46:37] of this and that, so I'm just kind of trying to think if

[46:41] that wasn't say that we brought that to a ballot,

[46:43] it didn't get passed, so, which you know, it's like alright,

[46:47] you don't wanna think that about that, but I'm just saying

[46:49] like what, are there other housing trusts

[46:53] or I don't know if other cities around us have them.

[46:56] I'm not really Yeah, no aware of them,

[46:58] but what do, do they use CPAs?

[47:01] Do they, how do they fund themselves or?

[47:03] - Yeah, I mean I think, you know,

[47:05] o over 73% do have the cpa.

[47:08] I, but I do over 73%, 73% of the communities

[47:12] that have affordable housing just have CPA.

[47:15] But I mean, if we don't get it, we'll continue, we'll try

[47:18] to continue to support projects that come up.

[47:22] We'll look for other ways of,

[47:25] another ways city owned parcels, I know

[47:29] I participated in the, they have are having a,

[47:32] a study on the, the two parcels that are becoming online

[47:37] that is a, a way to

[47:40] move affordable housing along.

[47:43] So I mean, we will continue to push

[47:46] and I know that, you know, the CPA

[47:47] and bringing something to ballot is not, you know,

[47:49] done without, you know, some thought and some risk.

[47:54] But I think it outweighs the benefits are so clear.

[47:59] I think it would be really important to get out

[48:01] to the community what that is.

[48:03] But yeah, we'll continue to try to do our work

[48:05] and educate people and work where we can

[48:09] and so we have enough money to do more.

[48:13] - And as far as the CPA a

[48:14] and this might be something that I have to look into,

[48:16] is there, is it a fixed percentage that lives kind of,

[48:20] is it 1% for the life of

[48:22] - More than 3%?

[48:23] Okay. You can elect as a community to do 1%,

[48:27] 2%, one point half percent

[48:29] - And that stays like that?

[48:30] Or does it have it, you know,

[48:32] - You can, you can change it.

[48:34] I think you probably have to put it back

[48:35] to about to change the percent. Yeah, yeah.

[48:39] - More of like informational if people

[48:40] - Yeah, no, it's important.

[48:42] Yeah.

[48:44] - Okay. Thank you. - You are welcome.

[48:46] - I'm next. I have Councilor

[48:47] Chen questions already been answered.

[48:49] Thank you. All right, fantastic.

[48:50] And a second time we're on, have Councillor Williams. Have

[48:53] - You guys talked to the Community Preservation Coalition?

[48:57] - I have not talked to them yet, but I have,

[49:00] - They were very, when I was researching this several years

[49:03] ago, the staff was very helpful.

[49:04] They only have a few staff, but they're very responsive

[49:07] and they have a ton of information on how

[49:08] to create a committee, et cetera, et

[49:09] - Cetera.

[49:10] Yes, I, I have seen their information online. Yeah,

[49:12] - Same.

[49:13] It's like you first source for doing it, getting it done.

[49:16] Yes.

[49:18] - What is the will of the committee?

[49:21] - That motion to place on file

[49:22] - Second motion made it place on file

[49:24] by Councillor Williams, seconded

[49:25] by Councillor Karen Chetty on discussion,

[49:30] do we require a roll call or this can just be Alright.

[49:34] All those in favor? Aye.

[49:36] All those opposed the ayes have it

[49:38] and this will be reported out to the full council meeting.

[49:40] Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

[49:42] Appreciate your time and thank you for all that you do

[49:44] for our community

[49:45] and for taking the time to volunteer

[49:47] for our city being here tonight.

[49:49] Alright, up next on our agenda

[49:53] ID number 20 26 7 7 3 acceptance

[49:55] of FY 26 Firefighter Safety Equipment grant

[49:58] and the amount of $12,375 and 87 cents.

[50:03] Joining us this evening is Chief White. Thank you Chief.

[50:06] Good evening. Good to see you.

[50:15] - Hi Mills Fire department has been awarded a grant from

[50:20] the Executive Office of Public Safety

[50:22] and Security Department of Fire Services in the amount

[50:25] of $12,375 and 87 cents.

[50:29] And we propose to utilize these funds

[50:31] to support the purchase

[50:32] of some critical life safety equipment,

[50:34] mainly seven SCBA cylinders.

[50:37] Those are the self-contained breath apparatus, cylinders,

[50:40] and three multi gas detection meters.

[50:44] I just came here to ask you to consider to accept this

[50:48] and approve this award.

[50:50] I'd be happy to answer any questions.

[50:52] These are very, they're things

[50:54] that we use almost every day at the fire department.

[50:58] Naturally cylinders, we always need supply

[51:00] of air when we respond to fires

[51:03] and the multi gas meters, they always come in handy.

[51:07] Most homes luckily in Merose have co detectors

[51:11] and when they go off, we get called,

[51:13] we can verify if it really is CO

[51:15] or maybe their meter is not working properly.

[51:18] And also for natural gas detection,

[51:21] we use those all the time.

[51:23] They're pretty sophisticated devices

[51:26] and actually they get used fairly a lot.

[51:28] So it's time we have to kind of replace them when they get

[51:31] to the end of their life and we can't get any more parts

[51:33] or census for them and take any questions. It's,

[51:37] - Thank you very much.

[51:38] First I have counselor for Noro. Thank you.

[51:41] - Thank you for being here. I just have a quick question.

[51:46] It's great that we received this grant to cover the,

[51:49] the safety equipment is the will do.

[51:52] Do you foresee there's any additional funds from the city to

[51:57] go towards this equipment?

[51:58] - We have put in for,

[52:00] in the capital improvement project we put in for

[52:04] also SCBA harnesses the whole pack,

[52:08] but also more spare bottles coming very handy when

[52:13] we had a fire last in January one night

[52:17] and we used up all our spare

[52:19] bottles and putting the fire out.

[52:21] Fortunately we had mutual aid covering the city,

[52:23] but we rolled back into the station

[52:25] to refill all our bottles.

[52:27] We had another call from the house fire.

[52:29] Fortunately the mutual aid companies were able to respond,

[52:32] but we were caught flatfooted,

[52:34] we didn't have any bottles filled with air.

[52:36] We had to fill out the bottles we had up.

[52:38] And so these bottles will be used as our spare bottles.

[52:41] We'll keep the station to just swap in

[52:44] and out as we need to, to get back in service

[52:46] as fast as possible.

[52:48] - Okay, so this amount will

[52:50] cover a certain amount of equipment?

[52:51] Yes. Yes. But then you have another request on the capital.

[52:53] Okay. Thank you.

[52:56] - Terrific. Up next I Councillor Williams. Yeah.

[52:58] - Motion to recommend to the full council Second. Second.

[53:01] - Motion to recommend by Councillor Williams.

[53:03] Seconded by Councillor Vandiver. On discussion.

[53:07] Madam Clerk, will you please call the role

[53:10] - Vice Chair Vandiver?

[53:11] Yes. Councillor Chen? Yes. Councilor Occhio? Yes.

[53:15] Counselor Jamine? Yes. Counselor Rum Chee? Yes.

[53:18] Counselor Cole? Yes. Counselor Park? Yes.

[53:21] Counselor Williams? Yes. President Freeman? Yes. Chair

[53:25] - Romano?

[53:26] Yes. Motion passes.

[53:27] Alright, the motion passes and will be brought

[53:28] before the next full council meeting

[53:30] with a recommendation for passage.

[53:31] Thank you Chief, appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

[53:33] Thank you folks. Alright, last

[53:36] and not least, ID number 2026.

[53:39] Seven. Seven four. That the city authorized the mayor

[53:42] to enter into an inter municipal agreement

[53:44] for establishing a regional animal control officer position

[53:47] in partnership with the towns of Wakefield and Stoneham.

[53:50] Joining us this evening, Mr. Anthony Chu,

[53:51] thank you so much for joining us.

[53:54] - Thank you. Floor is yours. Yes. Thank you.

[53:56] And thank you to the council for having us tonight.

[53:59] I'm excited to ask for the support of the council

[54:02] to establish a regional animal control officer position.

[54:06] This would be in partnership with the towns

[54:07] of Wakefield and Stoneham.

[54:09] As you guys might know, we already have a very

[54:11] strong partnership with them.

[54:13] There are three shared staff members.

[54:14] We have been working with Wakefield for over 20 years,

[54:17] and Stoneham joined us in 2023 in a regional format.

[54:22] It has both been a cost effective way for us

[54:24] to deliver services and also address issues

[54:27] that have been similar across all these communities.

[54:30] This position, while I have enjoyed my time serving

[54:33] as animal control officer on the side,

[54:36] I believe this position will give us more capacity

[54:39] to help deal with some of the issues that are,

[54:41] are constituents are seeing.

[54:43] We want to be able to provide more education opportunities

[54:45] as well, and also work on enforcement.

[54:48] So this position would be a shared position.

[54:51] This would fall under our department.

[54:53] And we've also budgeted for education.

[54:56] So we've, we're gonna have events that might include

[55:00] rabies shots, clinics at a discounted price.

[55:02] We're gonna try and provide those.

[55:04] We'll also be able to help the clerk's office in kind

[55:06] of increasing enforcement as well for permitting.

[55:10] Happy to answer any questions council may have.

[55:12] - Thank you very much. First I have Councillor Jamal ine.

[55:16] - Thank you. Thank you.

[55:22] Are all cities sharing equally this position?

[55:26] Meaning days schedule wise and hours?

[55:31] - Yes. So we will have a 33% share cost sharing

[55:35] between each community in terms of time

[55:37] and resources similar to our positions.

[55:40] We, you know, we spend some more hours in certain

[55:43] communities during each week depending on the need.

[55:45] But it, it works out about even across

[55:48] the, the span of a year.

[55:50] So, you know, when we have,

[55:51] when we have continued issues in one area, we'll try

[55:54] to address them and then move on to another.

[55:55] So, you know, it may not be exactly equal every week,

[55:58] but it'll, it'll shake out to about the same.

[56:00] - And where would be the person

[56:04] holding this position located?

[56:06] Is it in all the three towns or cities

[56:09] or specific days in Melrose? Yeah,

[56:12] - So we, we hope to have space for them here.

[56:15] Space is a little tight here at City Hall,

[56:17] but we are going to provide space for, for equipment

[56:20] and services in each community.

[56:22] We'll try to establish a schedule,

[56:24] but I think part

[56:25] of it is gonna be dictated by what comes up.

[56:27] So bite reports and responding to bite incidents are one

[56:31] of the main, one of the main jobs.

[56:32] And so, you know, should there be more incidents in one

[56:35] community that, you know, that day,

[56:36] we would prioritize those and, and have them go there first.

[56:39] - And historically speaking, do we know if, you know,

[56:43] Melrose has been equally, you know, requiring

[56:48] that support as the other neighbors as well? Or is it,

[56:53] - Yeah, so I think it's, it's hard to say for sure.

[56:56] So I've been doing, I've been doing the Melrose response

[56:58] for a while, so I have a pretty good idea of

[57:00] how many responses we get.

[57:02] Recently, Wakefield actually parted ways

[57:03] with their animal patrol officer position,

[57:05] so I've also been filling in there as well.

[57:07] So I have a general idea of

[57:08] how much we've been seeing over there.

[57:10] It's very similar in capacity

[57:12] and then also Stoneham as well.

[57:13] I, I was not serving as that role,

[57:15] but we have someone doing that part-time

[57:17] and there's, they've been doing a really good job,

[57:20] but they're also very limited in their hours.

[57:22] And so I think

[57:24] by increasing their hours we'll be able to meet that need as well.

[57:26] So no, no community I don't,

[57:28] I think has a much larger need than

[57:30] - The others.

[57:31] Okay. My last question, I promise.

[57:34] Do you think that this amount

[57:37] of hours is enough cornrow?

[57:40] - Yeah, I think we're splitting 40 hours

[57:41] across three communities.

[57:43] I, I think this will be enough.

[57:45] I think part of the, part of the beginning stages will be

[57:48] to establish expectations.

[57:50] So one of the things that we've been hearing

[57:51] about is off leash dogs.

[57:53] We want to send a message to communities.

[57:54] So we'll both be there with presence as well

[57:57] as sending out informational flyers

[58:00] and other ways of communication through the city.

[58:03] I think once we ex kind of set expectations,

[58:06] I think people will respond better

[58:08] and we'll see less of those incidents

[58:09] and then they'll come down to enforcement.

[58:11] - Awesome. Thank you. Terrific. Up next I have

[58:13] - Councilor Park.

[58:14] Thank you Anthony.

[58:17] You and I, as you may recall, when we,

[58:19] when I first came on board, you

[58:21] and I had a discussion about what can I do, city council do

[58:26] to, to help your, your position and your department.

[58:30] We talked about this position among other ones that you're,

[58:34] you would have on your wishlist.

[58:36] And my question to you, I have two questions.

[58:38] My first question is, is this particular role

[58:43] the most pressing in terms of your needs right now?

[58:48] Meaning, you know, since we do have limited funds in,

[58:51] in free cash, is this something that you think is the,

[58:54] the best spent or use of our money?

[58:57] - I think, I think there are other priorities

[58:59] that we also do value.

[59:00] I think just this part of it is one of our, is one

[59:03] of our main priorities only because we wanna be able

[59:05] to meet all the statutory requirements.

[59:07] And so, you know, by law we do have to respond

[59:09] to every single bite bite report

[59:11] and, you know, those come and go.

[59:12] I think in, in the colder seasons we see less of them,

[59:14] but overall we do need to address all of them.

[59:16] I wanna make sure we're in compliance as well as being able

[59:19] to address any concerns that the citizens have.

[59:22] So I think this is one of our, one of our bigger priorities.

[59:24] - Okay. And, and this is the second part of my question,

[59:28] is does this overlap you, Al you

[59:30] and I also have had discussions

[59:32] with a very ambitious high school student with regards

[59:35] to roading control with

[59:36] that overlap in this person's responsibility as well as,

[59:39] you know, pet control as well.

[59:42] - I, I don't know that this would overlap

[59:43] with the rodent control issue.

[59:45] Our inspectors have been working with the,

[59:48] with the construction here

[59:49] and developers here in the city on more of an IPM approach,

[59:52] an integrated pest management approach rather than,

[59:54] rather than a bait box and poison based system.

[59:58] We've been really working with them to try to establish more

[1:00:01] of a cleaning up of the property, storing of trash properly,

[1:00:05] removing trash in off hours.

[1:00:07] We've been trying to work with them on that to try

[1:00:09] and limit rodents, kind of a holistic approach,

[1:00:11] rather than just poisoning is more successful.

[1:00:14] So I think to answer your question, this,

[1:00:16] this position wouldn't really address that,

[1:00:18] but our, our inspectors have been trying

[1:00:20] to work with them on that. So,

[1:00:22] - Yeah.

[1:00:23] Thank you

[1:00:23] - Councilor Chen.

[1:00:25] - Thanks. Do we know what the bottom line

[1:00:27] cost of Melrose would be? Sure. For this position,

[1:00:29] - So based on some of the projections,

[1:00:35] both the lower and the higher range are about

[1:00:37] $30,000 a year.

[1:00:39] So that's including for, for including the position as well

[1:00:42] as a budget for supplies and sheltering

[1:00:44] and a thousand dollars split across three

[1:00:47] communities for our education as

[1:00:48] - Well.

[1:00:49] - And then would we let go of the stone,

[1:00:51] the stone animal control person

[1:00:54] - Now?

[1:00:55] Yes. So there would be a transition period with them?

[1:00:57] They are, they're solely in Stoneham

[1:00:59] and they, they work part-time

[1:01:00] as dispatch right now in police.

[1:01:04] - Terrific. Any other questions? Councillor Ro? I

[1:01:08] - Just wanna say I'm very excited to see this

[1:01:11] and I think the city really needs an animal control officer.

[1:01:15] You've been doing a great job, but it's not your job.

[1:01:18] And we, we've had one for years.

[1:01:20] I know this is split role,

[1:01:21] but I think it's really important.

[1:01:23] So with that, I'd like to make a motion to recommend

[1:01:25] - Second - Motion to recommend by Councillor fia, seconded

[1:01:29] by councilor Karen Shady.

[1:01:30] On discussion,

[1:01:32] - Just quickly, I wanted to say thank you for thinking

[1:01:35] of a way to be able to bring this position back,

[1:01:38] but also be cost effective in terms of

[1:01:42] what we had available for this resource.

[1:01:44] So I just appreciate the way you approached this

[1:01:46] and psych just support it.

[1:01:48] - Thank you. - Terrific. Absent any other questions?

[1:01:51] All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye.

[1:01:53] All those opposed the ayes have it.

[1:01:55] The motion passes and will be brought

[1:01:57] before the next full council meeting.

[1:02:00] Thank you Mr. Chu. Thank you.

[1:02:01] With that being our last agenda item, I'll now motion

[1:02:04] by unanimous consent to adjourn.

[1:02:06] Seeing no objections, we are now adjourned. Good evening.

[1:02:11] - Good evening. The time is 7:53 PM on Monday,

[1:02:16] April 27th, 2026.

[1:02:18] I am Council President Freeman.

[1:02:20] This meeting, the Melrose City Council is called to order

[1:02:23] in accordance with the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law.

[1:02:25] This meeting is being broadcast

[1:02:26] and recorded by the Melrose Cable Access tv

[1:02:29] and will be available for viewing in its entirety on MMTV

[1:02:32] and through the city website.

[1:02:34] Madam Clerk, will you please call the role? Yes.

[1:02:36] - Councilor Chen. Here. Councilor fro? Here.

[1:02:39] Councilor Jamine? Here. Councilor Karen Chetty. Here.

[1:02:42] Councilor Cowell? Here. Councilor Reky? Here.

[1:02:45] Councilor Park. Here. Councilor Romano? Here.

[1:02:48] Councilor Vandiver? Here. Councilor Williams. Here.

[1:02:51] President Freeman here makes for quorum.

[1:02:53] - Thank you. At this time, please rise.

[1:02:55] If you're able to join in the Pledge of Allegiance,

[1:02:59] - I pledge allegiance to the flag

[1:03:01] of the United States of America

[1:03:03] and to the republic for which it stands,

[1:03:06] one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty

[1:03:10] and justice for all.

[1:03:13] - Thank you. At this time I'll motion by unanimous consent

[1:03:17] to approve without reading the minutes from the April 26th.

[1:03:20] April 6th, 2026 meeting. Excuse me.

[1:03:23] Seeing no objection, those meetings,

[1:03:25] those minutes are now approved.

[1:03:27] I'll now motion by unanimous consent

[1:03:29] to open the floor for public comment.

[1:03:32] Seeing no objection, we are open for public comment

[1:03:35] per rule 33 A of the Melrose City Council rules.

[1:03:38] This is the portion of the meeting

[1:03:39] where the public may speak on any item on tonight's agenda.

[1:03:42] Comments expressing any viewpoint on any other

[1:03:45] matters are also welcome.

[1:03:46] I see we have people in the audience tonight,

[1:03:48] so please feel free to come up to the table.

[1:03:51] Just a reminder, the public comment period is an opportunity

[1:03:54] for the public to share comments.

[1:03:55] Counselors will not respond.

[1:03:57] The public has up to five minutes for comments.

[1:03:59] I'll notify you when you have 30 seconds remaining.

[1:04:04] Is anyone here for public comment tonight? Oh

[1:04:06] - Yeah.

[1:04:07] Just giving her a little overview.

[1:04:08] - And if you can just say your name and your address.

[1:04:11] - Yes. Alright. So my name is Billy.

[1:04:15] I live on Ashland Street in the Highlands.

[1:04:18] I don't know if I have enough for those.

[1:04:19] - So Billy, what's your last name?

[1:04:21] - Blo. Thank you very much. Yep. Hi again.

[1:04:24] So I was actually here back when I had a three month old.

[1:04:28] Now she's five. Sorry, now she's nine months old.

[1:04:31] Three nine. Yeah.

[1:04:33] I have three children, ages four, two and nine months.

[1:04:38] And I'm here to speak again on the behalf

[1:04:41] of the Melrose Parents Committee

[1:04:43] regarding the Melrose Public Library Children's Room.

[1:04:46] The Melrose Parents Committee is a recently formed group

[1:04:49] of people who wanna drive progress towards a welcoming,

[1:04:53] engaging, and fun children's room here in Melrose.

[1:04:58] We al and also wanna think more broadly about the experience

[1:05:02] in Melrose at playgrounds and other spaces.

[1:05:06] The children's room survey was concluded

[1:05:08] nearly five months ago.

[1:05:10] We're happy to see a snack table, three wall art hangings,

[1:05:13] and a couple of play items added to the space since then.

[1:05:17] But there's still so much room for improvement.

[1:05:20] We have really appreciated the city.

[1:05:23] We would really appreciate the city council

[1:05:25] and the mayor's support to urge the library

[1:05:28] to create an environment

[1:05:29] that the community is truly excited about.

[1:05:32] This isn't just a couple eager parents urging change

[1:05:36] and a, an actual library consultant came and did a report.

[1:05:41] It's on their website if you'd like

[1:05:43] to see what the report was.

[1:05:44] But basically it actually was a lot of

[1:05:48] what we had been saying in our report

[1:05:50] that we did when we visited the 15 libraries.

[1:05:52] And we handed that to council with photos

[1:05:56] overviewing the Noble Network.

[1:06:00] So an example of

[1:06:01] how easy these upgrades can be comes from our neighbors

[1:06:05] over at the Stoneham Library.

[1:06:06] They also had a recent renovation

[1:06:09] and they reopened their children's room in mid-January.

[1:06:11] This year. Their children's room opened

[1:06:14] with just a dollhouse

[1:06:15] and a Lego table with one within one month

[1:06:19] of hearing feedback from their community,

[1:06:21] they added the following to their space bin of crayons

[1:06:24] and paper to their new tables.

[1:06:26] Six bins of play items such as Dinos, fake food figures,

[1:06:30] vehicles, a puppet stand, and wooden puzzles.

[1:06:34] This happened without a survey

[1:06:35] and it happened without an official

[1:06:37] library consultant coming.

[1:06:39] It happened without parents nagging

[1:06:42] and a parent committee putting a presentation in front

[1:06:46] of the director's table.

[1:06:50] This happened just from patrons coming to the checkout

[1:06:54] and saying, Hey, like, we kind

[1:06:56] of expected more from you guys.

[1:06:58] And the librarian, I talked to her, she's

[1:07:01] always asking like, feedback, do you have any feedback?

[1:07:04] That doesn't, that is not like in our librarian's

[1:07:08] vocabulary, the word feedback.

[1:07:11] And you know, we've been working really hard to try

[1:07:14] and work with the librarians and doing whatever we can.

[1:07:18] I think I've like called a couple of you just

[1:07:20] to be like, what else can I do?

[1:07:22] And I really don't wanna come off as like a negative person.

[1:07:25] Like, we just want the best from our library.

[1:07:28] We want our kids to grow up enjoying our library

[1:07:31] and wanting to go there.

[1:07:33] We want them to like be 10 years old

[1:07:35] and like prefer to go there than Dunking Donuts

[1:07:38] because their friends will be there and they get puzzles

[1:07:40] and yeah, this is very near and dear to me.

[1:07:45] So anyways, I would really appreciate anyone's support

[1:07:48] to help urge the library staff to work on this.

[1:07:54] In my last correspondence with the library, I asked

[1:07:56] what the timeline was for future additions

[1:07:58] and I was told that there is no timeline.

[1:08:01] And that's really unfortunate

[1:08:02] because no timeline essentially means there is no plan.

[1:08:06] I asked if anything else was on order

[1:08:09] and there is a delayed farm stand for the last two months.

[1:08:12] But besides that, there's nothing else on order.

[1:08:17] You know, we had 500 people take this survey

[1:08:20] in our community, so clearly a lot of people care

[1:08:23] and wanna see more from our library.

[1:08:27] But anyways, I, they've been open a year now,

[1:08:29] so I think a full year worth of, you know,

[1:08:33] having the renovation and being open is more than enough

[1:08:36] time where now we have all these additional elements

[1:08:41] that have came in that it's, it's like, we're ready,

[1:08:45] we're ready for our library to just make some moves.

[1:08:48] I, so I handed out this

[1:08:52] Meadows Parents committee chart

[1:08:55] that you have about 30 seconds left Okay.

[1:08:58] That we're gonna continue to work on and push

[1:09:00] and hope to see more from our library. Thanks.

[1:09:03] - Thank you very much. - My name is Nancy Wu.

[1:09:07] I live at Richardson Road in the Highlands.

[1:09:10] I'm also part of the committee with Billy

[1:09:13] and I, I'm actually relatively new to Melrose.

[1:09:16] I've been here for two years and moved here

[1:09:18] because I heard it's a great community.

[1:09:20] It's a great city to raise my children.

[1:09:21] And obviously I've left Boston

[1:09:23] and since then I've had two kids here.

[1:09:25] So I have a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old.

[1:09:27] And I absolutely love Melrose

[1:09:30] and I was very excited when the library finally finished

[1:09:32] to bring my children to the library.

[1:09:34] But I was actually very disappointed in the amount

[1:09:37] of toys there were and amount of like a safe place

[1:09:40] where the kids can play and be stimulated with visual toys

[1:09:44] or puzzles or pictures.

[1:09:46] And it was, it was not until I have met more parents in,

[1:09:50] in the city because I, I'm so new

[1:09:52] and I work full time, so it has

[1:09:53] been really hard to meet people.

[1:09:55] But I have discovered there are other libraries in, in the

[1:10:00] kind of north shore, metro west.

[1:10:02] So because of the lack of programs that are available

[1:10:05] for like the toddlers

[1:10:06] or even the slightly older children, like

[1:10:09] after school programs, I actually have to take my children

[1:10:12] to Wilburn and reading and Medford and Cambridge

[1:10:17] and even Boston where I used to live, just so

[1:10:21] that they can attend this music event

[1:10:24] or that they can do a open play area where people have the,

[1:10:28] the library just set like a one hour

[1:10:31] or even 45 minutes where they bring out mats

[1:10:34] with different types of toys for different age groups.

[1:10:37] And some of these toys are donated by the residents

[1:10:41] of the community.

[1:10:43] And some of them I think the library has a certain funding

[1:10:46] to, to kind of purchase these toys.

[1:10:49] And, and I thought that maybe

[1:10:50] after a few months that it's open,

[1:10:52] there will be some new programs

[1:10:54] or improvements to the marrows library,

[1:10:57] but there has not been any,

[1:10:59] or there will be like a, you know, kind of like a newborn

[1:11:03] or toddler, like a event,

[1:11:06] but it would be literally during nap time.

[1:11:10] So it, it's like I, I'm not sure

[1:11:13] how the programs are being organized or who, who's doing it,

[1:11:17] but I just wish there was more programs

[1:11:19] where I didn't have to leave the city.

[1:11:21] And it's, it's making me question did I do the right thing

[1:11:25] by moving into Melrose Am I'm constantly going to Uber and,

[1:11:27] or I'm constantly going to reading so that

[1:11:30] now my kids are playing with the kids from this city

[1:11:32] and I have, they're never gonna see them in kindergarten.

[1:11:35] Right. They're never gonna grow up

[1:11:36] with them in elementary school.

[1:11:38] And like what Billy said, we have kids

[1:11:39] that are also getting older every day

[1:11:42] and we want them to be able to go to the library

[1:11:44] and get excited to go there and meet with their friends

[1:11:46] and play with something or join a music event

[1:11:49] or just even have more things that they,

[1:11:52] that could, can stimulate them.

[1:11:54] Because oftentimes they just wanna play with Lego

[1:11:56] or they just wanna have like a, a play kitchen

[1:11:58] where they can pretend to cook

[1:12:00] because you know, not everybody has the money to have

[1:12:03] that set in their own home

[1:12:05] or have a big enough home to actually support big toys

[1:12:09] and even like little robots

[1:12:10] or things that like stem where they have numbers or puzzles

[1:12:14] or balls and,

[1:12:15] and you know, we don't really have a lot of that

[1:12:18] and you know, and I would want my kids to grow up

[1:12:20] to be exposed to these kind of activities

[1:12:23] and things rather than be on the streets doing other things.

[1:12:27] Yeah.

[1:12:29] - Wonderful. Thank you very much.

[1:12:32] - All right. Thank you. - We

[1:12:32] appreciate you coming in tonight.

[1:12:35] And clerk, is there anyone online? No one online?

[1:12:39] There is no objection. I'd like to close public comment.

[1:12:42] Seeing none, we are now closed for public comment.

[1:12:45] Moving on with the agenda.

[1:12:47] There are no communications tonight.

[1:12:48] So we'll move on to new business filings

[1:12:51] by the Honorable Mayor.

[1:12:52] Appointments and Reappointments

[1:12:55] - ID number 2 0 2 6 dash 8 2 4 reappointment

[1:12:58] of Peter Bowman, 24 Arlington Road to the library board

[1:13:01] of trustees for three year term.

[1:13:03] Said term to expire the last day of February, 2029.

[1:13:07] - This will go to boards and commissions

[1:13:09] - ID number 2 0 2 6 dash 1 1 46.

[1:13:13] Appointment of Mark McKinnon, 5 85 Franklin Street

[1:13:17] to the Melrose Housing Authority.

[1:13:18] Four five year term said term to expire First Monday

[1:13:21] of March, 2029.

[1:13:23] Mr. McKinnon is completing the term

[1:13:25] of Ellen Conley who has stepped down.

[1:13:27] - This will go to boards of commissions appropriations

[1:13:30] - ID number 2 0 2 6 dash 1 4 7

[1:13:34] appropriation from free cash account zero one dash

[1:13:36] 3 2 4 0 0 1

[1:13:38] and the amount of $170,000 to capital outlay.

[1:13:42] Number 9 3 1 to purchase a sidewalk plow.

[1:13:45] - This will go to appropriations and oversight

[1:13:47] - ID number 2 0 2 6 dash 1 48 appropriation from free cash

[1:13:51] account zero one dash 3 24 0 0 1 in the amount

[1:13:55] of 880,000 to the capital outlay.

[1:13:58] Number 9 3 1 to purchase DPW vehicles.

[1:14:02] - This will go to appropriations and oversight

[1:14:05] - ID number 2 0 2 6 dash 1 49 appropriation

[1:14:08] for free cash account zero one dash 3 2 4 0 0 1 in the

[1:14:12] amount of 865,000 to DPW Snow

[1:14:16] 4 3 1 to close the snow in ice deficit for fiscal year 26.

[1:14:21] - This will go to appropriations and oversight

[1:14:23] - ID number 2 0 2 6 dash 15 zero

[1:14:26] appropriation from free cash account zero one dash

[1:14:28] 3 24 0 0 1 in the amount

[1:14:31] of $244,944 to the school department.

[1:14:35] Number 1 6 2 0

[1:14:37] for Medicaid reimbursement received in fiscal year 25

[1:14:42] - Appropriations and oversight - ID number 2 0 2 6 dash

[1:14:45] 1 15 1 appropriation from free cash account zero one dash

[1:14:49] 3 24 0 0 1 in the amount of $10,000

[1:14:53] to the DPW highway.

[1:14:55] Number 4, 2, 2 to purchase bike racks

[1:14:57] - And this will go to appropriations and oversight.

[1:15:00] Moving on to filings by members

[1:15:02] of the Honorable City Council and resolutions

[1:15:06] - ID number 2 0 2 6 dash 8 35 a resolution, recognizing

[1:15:10] and supporting a LS, often known

[1:15:12] as the Lou Gehrig's Disease in Melrose for the month

[1:15:15] of May, 2026.

[1:15:19] - Council Aldi,

[1:15:22] - Mr.

[1:15:23] President, I would like to request this

[1:15:26] as immediate consideration.

[1:15:28] - There's a motion for immediate consideration

[1:15:30] made by Council Aldine.

[1:15:31] Is there a second? Second. Seconded by Council Romano.

[1:15:34] All in favor? A aye.

[1:15:36] Any opposed That meeting is or that motion passes

[1:15:40] and the item is available for immediate consideration.

[1:15:43] - Thank you. And I would like to turn it back to

[1:15:47] my co-sponsor or one of my co-sponsors, counselor Romano,

[1:15:51] to read the resolution.

[1:15:53] - Good evening. Thank you so much.

[1:15:55] I wanna thank my colleagues for your co-sponsorship.

[1:15:58] Whereas Atrophic Lateral Sclerosis co, also commonly known

[1:16:02] as Lou Gehrig's disease

[1:16:03] or a LS as a progressive fatal neurodegenerative disease in

[1:16:07] which a person's brain loses connection

[1:16:08] with their muscles slowly reducing the person's ability

[1:16:11] to walk, talk, eat, and eventually breathe.

[1:16:13] And whereas thousands

[1:16:14] of new a LS cases are reported every single year

[1:16:17] and estimates show that every 90 minutes someone is

[1:16:19] diagnosed with a LS and someone passes away from a LS.

[1:16:22] And whereas on average, patients diagnosed

[1:16:24] with a LS survive only two to five years time

[1:16:28] after diagnosis.

[1:16:29] Whereas the exact causes of a LS are unknown

[1:16:31] and there is no known cure for a LS.

[1:16:34] Whereas people who have served in the military are more

[1:16:36] likely to develop a LS

[1:16:38] and die from the disease than those

[1:16:40] with no family history or military service.

[1:16:42] And whereas securing access to new therapies,

[1:16:44] durable medical equipment

[1:16:46] and communication technologies is of vital importance

[1:16:48] to those living with a LS.

[1:16:49] Whereas clinical trials play a pivotal role in evaluating

[1:16:53] new treatments, enhancing quality of life

[1:16:55] and fostering assistive technologies

[1:16:56] for those living with a LS.

[1:16:58] And whereas the a LS Association is the largest

[1:17:01] philanthropic funder of a LS research globally

[1:17:03] and has committed more than $154 million

[1:17:06] to support more than 550 projects across the United States

[1:17:09] and 18 other countries.

[1:17:11] And whereas the a LS Association is committed

[1:17:13] to making a LS livable and a cure for everyone everywhere.

[1:17:16] And whereas a LS Awareness Month provides an opportunity

[1:17:20] to increase public awareness of the dire circumstances

[1:17:23] of people living with a LS acknowledge the terrible impact

[1:17:25] that this disease have on those individuals

[1:17:28] and their families and support research

[1:17:30] to eradicate this disease.

[1:17:31] And whereas the Melrose City Council do hereby proclaim the

[1:17:35] month of May, 2026 is a LS whereas this month we call upon

[1:17:39] Americans to join in supporting a LS research, advocating

[1:17:42] for increased funding and standing in solidarity

[1:17:44] with those affected by this relentless disease.

[1:17:47] And I'll just mention, I won't go on long, I'll just say

[1:17:51] I'm grateful for your consideration

[1:17:53] for my colleagues' co-sponsorship.

[1:17:56] You know, this is a very personal issue for me.

[1:17:59] My mother-in-law died two years ago from a LS

[1:18:01] and anyone who is a front row seat

[1:18:04] to a family member diagnosed with this

[1:18:06] or a family dealing with this, it changes you forever.

[1:18:09] We have, you know, and

[1:18:11] and several members

[1:18:14] of my ward have either a LS

[1:18:17] or family members who are

[1:18:18] dealing with this or have dealt with this.

[1:18:19] And I know that there must be true in other

[1:18:21] neighborhoods in our city.

[1:18:22] So for those who are watching tonight, I'm wondering,

[1:18:25] you know, why we consider this?

[1:18:26] There is no cure. There are almost no known treatments

[1:18:29] and the average family out

[1:18:31] of pack pocket causes over a quarter

[1:18:33] of a million dollars if even that's if you have insurance.

[1:18:35] And so this just changes the trajectory of your life.

[1:18:39] And so even little bits

[1:18:40] of visibility can change its trajectory.

[1:18:43] See, the life, the Ice bucket challenge.

[1:18:45] What a big difference. That made hundreds of millions

[1:18:47] of dollars of research and assistance

[1:18:49] and that just take it from me as someone who was along

[1:18:52] for the ride for a couple of years and this

[1:18:54] and a family dealing with this,

[1:18:55] it just makes such a big difference.

[1:18:57] So I'm so appreciative of your consideration.

[1:19:00] Thank you for, thank you for your support.

[1:19:03] - Thank you Chairman Model. What is the will of council?

[1:19:06] - I'd like to make motion to recommend.

[1:19:09] - Motion to recommend to place on file made

[1:19:11] by Councilor Aldine, seconded by Councillor

[1:19:14] fro on discussion.

[1:19:16] All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed?

[1:19:19] That motion is passed and that item is placed on file.

[1:19:23] Moving on to licenses

[1:19:25] - ID number 2 0 2 6 dash 8 31.

[1:19:28] Renewal of live license, renewal

[1:19:32] of Liberty license for 2026. This will

[1:19:34] - Go to protection license - ID number 2 0 2 6 dash 8 61.

[1:19:38] Renewal of Junk Dealer and secondhand dealer

[1:19:40] license for 2026.

[1:19:42] - This will go to Protection and license

[1:19:44] - ID number 2 0 2 6 dash 8 71.

[1:19:46] Renewal of Gasoline and Storage licenses for 2026.

[1:19:49] - This will go to protection and license.

[1:19:52] Okay, moving on to unfinished business and grants

[1:19:57] - ID number 2 0 2 6 7 7 3.

[1:20:00] Acceptance of a fiscal year 26 Firefighter Safety Equipment

[1:20:04] Grant and the amount of $12,375 and 87 cents.

[1:20:10] - Mr. President, this comes to us from the Appropriations

[1:20:12] and Oversight Committee with a recommendation for passage.

[1:20:14] And at this time I'll make a motion for passage. Second.

[1:20:17] - Motion for passage made by Chair Mano, seconded

[1:20:19] by Councilor for Ichiro.

[1:20:21] Is this, this requires a roll call.

[1:20:24] - I was it who just made that motion, wasn't it, Devin?

[1:20:27] Oh, excuse me. Okay. Is that what you said? Yeah.

[1:20:29] Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry.

[1:20:31] - Point of clarification. Is this

[1:20:32] required call? Yes. Yes. Yes it does.

[1:20:33] - Yes. Yes, - Yes. Madam Clerk please. The roll.

[1:20:37] - Councilor Chen? Yes. Council F? Yes. Council Jamine? Yes.

[1:20:41] Council Rum Chetty. Councilor Cowell? Yes. Councilor Reky.

[1:20:45] Yes. Councilor Park. Yes. Councilor Arm Mano. Yes.

[1:20:48] Councilor Vander? Yes. Council Williams? Yes.

[1:20:50] President Freeman? Yes.

[1:20:52] Motion passes ID number 2 0 2 6

[1:20:56] dash 7 7 5.

[1:20:57] Acceptance of a Climate Leaders Technical Assistance grant

[1:21:01] in the amount of $139,000.

[1:21:03] - Mr. President, this also comes

[1:21:05] to us from the Appropriations

[1:21:06] and Oversight Committee with a recommendation for passage.

[1:21:08] And at this time I'll make a motion for passage. Second

[1:21:11] - Motion passage made by Councilor Romano, seconded

[1:21:14] by Councillor Aldine.

[1:21:16] On discussion Mad clerk

[1:21:23] - Councillor Chen?

[1:21:24] Yes. Councilor fro? Yes. Councilor Jamal? Yes.

[1:21:27] Councilor Karen Chetty. Yes. Councilor Cowell. Yes.

[1:21:32] Cremsky? Yes. Councilor Park? Yes. Councillor Romano. Yes.

[1:21:36] Councilor Vandiver. Yes. Councilor Williams? Yes.

[1:21:38] Present Freeman? Yes. That motion passes. Thank

[1:21:41] - You. Moving on to orders

[1:21:43] - ID number 2 0 2 6 dash 7 74.

[1:21:46] That the city council authorized the mayor

[1:21:48] to enter into an inter municipal agreement

[1:21:50] for establishing a regional animal control officer

[1:21:54] position in partnership with the towns

[1:21:55] of Wakefield and Stoneham.

[1:21:59] - Mr. President, this comes from

[1:22:00] to us from the Appropriations

[1:22:01] and Oversight Committee with a recommendation for passage.

[1:22:04] And at this time, I'd actually like to make a motion

[1:22:07] to postpone consideration of this item

[1:22:09] until our next meeting on Monday, May 4th to allow

[1:22:12] for additional public testimony.

[1:22:14] I've gotten some feedback from constituents

[1:22:15] and had spoken with members of the administration

[1:22:18] to confirm they just wanted to make sure that

[1:22:21] the public got a chance to weigh in

[1:22:22] with their experiences on animal control.

[1:22:24] The administration confirmed that it was not pressing

[1:22:27] for passage in the next seven days

[1:22:30] and the public was looking

[1:22:32] for just an opportunity to weigh in.

[1:22:33] So at this time I'll make a motion to postpone consideration

[1:22:36] until Monday, May 4th. Second.

[1:22:38] - Motion to postpone until Monday, May 4th.

[1:22:40] Made by Councillor Armo, seconded

[1:22:42] by Councillor Williams on discussion.

[1:22:44] All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? That motion passes

[1:22:50] - ID number 2 0 2 6 7 4 9 Informational order,

[1:22:54] affordable Housing Trust Fund Board update

[1:22:57] - Mr.

[1:22:58] President, this comes to us from the appropriations,

[1:22:59] an oversight committee with a

[1:23:00] recommendation to place on file.

[1:23:02] And at this time I'll make a motion

[1:23:03] to place on file. Second.

[1:23:05] - Motion to place on file made by Councillor Armo,

[1:23:07] seconded by Councillor F.

[1:23:08] Chiro on discussion. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?

[1:23:14] That passes. Are there any reports from committees?

[1:23:19] Seeing none, there are no expires. Any rule.

[1:23:22] 36 reports Seeing none.

[1:23:26] Just by way of update, just so the public knows,

[1:23:28] our next meeting will be on Monday,

[1:23:29] May 4th at 7:45 PM And then on Monday, May 11th,

[1:23:33] the mayor has called a joint meeting

[1:23:35] of the Melrose City Council on the School Committee to

[1:23:38] unveil her FY 27 budget at 7:15 PM That'll be followed

[1:23:43] by a special meeting the city council to receive that budget

[1:23:46] and initiate the process for the next two months

[1:23:49] of budget hearings and appropriations and oversight.

[1:23:52] At this time, I will entertain a motion to adjourn.

[1:23:54] So moved. Second.

[1:23:55] Motion to adjourn, made by Councillor Williams.

[1:23:58] Second by Councillor Ro. All in favor? Aye. Opposed?

[1:24:02] The ayes Have it. And we adjourned at 8:15 PM.

Melrose Appropriations and Oversight City Council April 27th 2026

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