Town Council - Ways & Means Committee

Braintree Town Council MEMBERS Meredith Boericke, Chairwoman Committee of Ways & Means Peter Morin, Vice-Chairman One JFK Memorial Drive Joseph Reynolds, Member Braintree, Massachusetts 02184 Julia Flaherty, Member Elizabeth Maglio, Member MINUTES Tuesday, July 16, 2024 A meeting of the Committee of Ways & Means was held in Johnson Chambers and via Zoom Webinar on Tuesday, July 16, 2024 at 6:00pm. Councilor Morin was in the Chair. Clerk of the Council, Susan Cimino conducted the roll call. Present: Meredith Boericke, Chairwoman Peter Morin, Vice-Chairman (remote) Julia Flaherty, Member Elizabeth Maglio, Member arrived @6:12pm Joseph Reynolds, Member Also Present: Erin V. Joyce, Mayor Kara L. Nyman, Chief of Staff/Director of Operations Michael Esmond, Director of Municipal Finance Fred Viola, Acting Fire Chief Timothy Cohoon, Police Chief Michael Moschella, Deputy Chief Corey Chambers, Sargeant/Detective Mary Kenney, Staff Executive Jim Lee, School Superintendent Ben Hulke, Asst DPW Director Sharmila Biswas, Director Elder Affairs Melissa SantucciRozzi, Director Planning & Community Development Donna Ayer, Clean Harbors VP of Community Engagement Andrew Rogers, Clean Harbors Facility General Manager Approval of Minutes • None Old Business • None July 16, 2024 Ways & Means Committee 1 of 9 New Business • 24 035 Mayor: FY 2025 Supplemental Appropriation #1 or take up any action relative thereto Director Esmond explained on June 15, 2024, the Town's residents approved the special election ballot question of whether to increase the Town tax levy effective for the Fiscal Year 2025 by an amount of $8,000,000. The question called for the use of the $8,000,000 for the following purposes: • $4,000,000 for the Braintree Public Schools; • $2,500,000 for General Government; and, • $1,500,000 for an Override Stabilization Fund The following motion would provide for the appropriation of $6,500,000 consistent with the Fiscal Year 2025 budget filed on April 30, 2024. Councilor Reynolds asked what the money will be used for. Director Esmond stated for the schools it is to maintain a substantial number of solutions and teachers that would otherwise have been eliminated as well as many programs that would otherwise have been eliminated. Superintendent Lee stated without this override we would have needed to cut approximately 90 positions. With this that number has decreased to 43 positions. The funding is primarily for staffing. The police department is pretty much the same with some restoration of programs. The DPW is a combination of personnel and programs. Chairwoman Boericke asked if there was a Motion. Motion made by Councilor Flaherty for favorable recommendation to the full Council on Oder 24 035. Motion: That a sum of $6,500,000 be raised and appropriated, as approved by the June 15, 2024 special election, and from that amount that a sum of $4,000,000 shall be transferred to Fund 0003 I School Operating Fund; that a sum of $1,500,000 shall be transferred to Police Department/ Patrol Bureau; that a sum of $150,000 shall be transferred to Department of Public Works/ Building Maintenance; that a sum of $50,000 shall be transferred to Department of Public Works/ Engineering; that a sum of $300,000 shall be transferred to Department of Public Works/ Highway; that a sum of $50,000 shall be transferred to Department of Public Works/ Environmental Affairs; that a sum of $150,000 shall be transferred to the Department of Public Works/ Recreation; that a sum of $240,000 shall be transferred to the Department of Public Works I School Custodian Services; and, that a sum of $60,000 shall be transferred to Department of Public Works I Summer Programs. Motion: by Councilor Flaherty to approve Order 24 035 Second: by Councilor Maglio Roll Call Vote: For (5 – Boericke, Flaherty, Maglio, Morin, Reynolds), Against (0), Absent (0), Abstain (0) July 16, 2024 Ways & Means Committee 2 of 9 • 24 036 Mayor: Establish Override Special Purpose Stabilization Fund or take up any action relative thereto Director Esmond explained one of the uses of the $8,000,000 approved by the Town's residents through the June 15, 2024 special election was to transfer $1,500,000 of the raised funds to an Override Stabilization Fund. In order to implement this use, the following motion is requested to establish this Fund and to deposit $1,500,000 to the Fund from Fiscal Year 2025 tax levy proceeds. This will help off-set some of the cost growth in the years to come as in FY26, FY27 and FY28 potentially. Chairwoman Boericke asked if there was a Motion. Motion made by Councilor Flaherty for favorable recommendation to the full Council on Oder 24 036: Motion: That the Town Council vote, pursuant to General Laws Chapter 40, Section 5B, to create a special purpose stabilization fund for General Municipal and School Department operational needs to be known as the Override Special Purpose Stabilization Fund, and further, that the sum of $1,500,000 be raised and appropriated to said Override Special Purpose Stabilization Fund, as approved by the June 15, 2024 special election. Motion: by Councilor Flaherty to approve Order 24 036 Second: by Councilor Maglio Roll Call Vote: For (5 – Boericke, Flaherty, Maglio, Morin, Reynolds), Against (0), Absent (0), Abstain (0) • 24 037 Mayor: Increase Maximum Household Senior Work Off Program Amount or take up any action relative thereto Mayor Joyce stated we are still concerned about keeping Braintree affordable, especially for our seniors. People are living longer and its scary to be sort of on a fixed income when costs are rising outside of that. This is a small gesture in the reality of it but it is something that we can do. The Senior Work-Off Program has been around for a while. We are proposing to expand the program. We will look at the success of this and potentially expand upon it. We want to streamline the paperwork and make it more accessible. Sharmila Biswas stated this program is about 22 years old. Anyone over the age of 60 and has property in the town of Braintree is eligible for this program. They can work in any town department and will be paid at minimum wage. The limit they could make was $750 and during tax season that money was taken towards their property tax. After COVID there were not a lot of people coming so we raised it to $1,000. This time the mayor is proposing $1,500 and $50,000 in the total account so we can have more people. Councilor Maglio asked if this program all goes through Director Biswas and the Elder Affairs Department. Sharmila Biswas stated they fill out the application at Elder Affairs and then we give it to Human Resources and they do a Cori check. Whichever department asks for help they get to interview the July 16, 2024 Ways & Means Committee 3 of 9 person. The supervisor will keep track of the hours worked and let us know. In February when the tax bill comes they sign the check and give it to the Treasurer so then it pays for their property tax with that money. It is mostly clerical work and help in the kitchen. Councilor Morin stated I like this program and will vote for it but it only reaches a small subset of seniors. I will continue advocate for option to be made available to seniors particularly those eligible for the state circuit relief so we can provide additional relief from property taxes for seniors that may not be able to work. While I am in favor of this I will continue to advocate for additional options for seniors. Chairwoman Boericke asked if there was an income threshold to participate. Mayor Joyce stated no. Chairwoman Boericke stated someone could apply even if they do not financially need it. Mayor Joyce stated it is easier to administer. There are other programs that are means tested but this is not one of them. Chairwoman Boericke asked if there was a Motion. Motion made by Councilor Flaherty for favorable recommendation to the full Council on Oder 24 037: Motion: That the Town of Braintree’s senior work off program, as authorized by Chapter 59, Section 5K of Massachusetts General Law, shall increase the annual household cap for reduced tax obligations to $1,500; further, that the amount of such reduced property tax obligations shall not exceed $50,000 in Fiscal Year 2025; and, further, that abatements under the senior work off program will be paid from the Allowance for Abatements and Exemptions Account. Motion: by Councilor Flaherty to approve Order 24 037 Second: by Councilor Maglio Roll Call Vote: For (5 – Boericke, Flaherty, Maglio, Morin, Reynolds), Against (0), Absent (0), Abstain (0) July 16, 2024 Ways & Means Committee 4 of 9 • 24 038 Mayor: Request for Appropriation - CPC Appropriation - Historic Newspaper Microfilm Digitization or take up any action relative thereto Melissa Santucci-Rozzi explained she is here tonight also helping out Terri Stano, Library Director who is unable to attend this evening. Myself and Liz Manning have been working with Terri Stano for awhile. She has had the desire to put forward this project. She was able to secure quotes and attend the Historic Commission meeting which found the material significant to Braintree. At the June 10, 2024, meeting, the Community Preservation Committee voted to RECOMMEND the Town Council appropriate CPA funding in the amount of$37,956.00 for the "Historic Newspaper Microfilm Digitization" project from the Historic Fund. The Proposal seeks to fund digitization of the microfilm reels for the following historical weekly newspapers: PAPER DATES Braintree Forum 1881-2020 Braintree Bee 1919-1984 Braintree Citizen 1922-1924 Braintree Star 1968-1984 The project application provides a detailed description of how this project will be managed by the staff at the Thayer Library as well as the standards to be followed which include the Federal Agencies Digital Guidelines Initiative. The Braintree Historical Commission confirmed at their meeting on February 5, 2024, that the Microfilm Reels and Historic Newspapers are historically significant and warrant preservation. The benefits to the Braintree public are numerous and include better access to the historic resource and enhanced connection to the Town's unique history and community. Councilor Morin asked to get an update on the CPC funding available. Chairwoman Boericke asked if there are any additional bidding components that Terri Stano needs to work with Lorraine See on. Chairwoman Boericke asked if there was a Motion. Motion made by Councilor Flaherty for favorable recommendation to the full Council on Oder 24 038: Motion: In accordance with the provisions of MGL c.44B, and with the recommendation of the Community Preservation Committee, the amount of $37,956.00 to be expended from the Historic Fund for the Historic Newspaper Microfilm Digitization; said funding to be supervised and expended under the direction of the Community Preservation Committee/Director of Planning and Community Development. Motion: by Councilor Flaherty to approve Order 24 038 Second: by Councilor Maglio Roll Call Vote: For (5 – Boericke, Flaherty, Maglio, Morin, Reynolds), Against (0), Absent (0), Abstain (0) July 16, 2024 Ways & Means Committee 5 of 9 • 015 24 Council President: Clean Harbor Fire Department Details or take up any action relative thereto Mayor Joyce stated there have been questions in regard to Clean Harbors. I want to turn it over to you and to answer your questions this evening. Donna Ayer, Clean Harbors VP of Community Engagement. Over the past few months I’ve been working really closely with a variety of folks in the town to do a number of community engagements. Andrew Rogers, Clean Harbors Facility General Manager also in attendance. Councilor Maglio stated at the time that DEP gave Clean Harbors their full permitting to say you’ve done everything we required you to do. You may now fully operate and you all sent to the town saying we’ve got all of our permitting in place. The state says we’re good to go at that point that detail continued. The detail continued under the auspicious of it needs to be there for safety reasons. Which is confounding to me because I sat in local emergency planning commission meetings now for over 3 years. I go to the Hazard Mitigation Committee meeting. I go to the LEPC (Local Emergency Planning Committee). I even the other night was at the hearing about Ion batteries. We were told there was a big reason the detail needed to be there, now the detail is no longer there. Is there a safety issue or is there not a safety issue? What were the two firefighters in the engine doing there that a fire station a mile down the road could not do. What was the nature of this detail that it was so important that the town continued to send it after it was no longer asked for. How does a detail continue to get filled when no one’s paying the bills. Who’s in charge of watching the cash register in the town. At what point is somebody matching up an invoice that is not getting paid from a business in the town, saying, we’re not paying you. At what point do those folks ever talk. Those are my concerns: safety, spending, municipal oversight and the reality of whether that detail was even needed. Chairwoman Boericke stated what were the fire details doing at Clean Harbors day in and day out, before and after the DEP provide permission for Clean Harbors to continue its operation. Acting Fire Chief Viola stated it is not uncommon for a detail to be placed on that site for welding or any kind of specialty work that’s going on with the plant. Right after the fire was a concern about cleanup. One of our jobs with hazardous materials is making sure that it doesn’t just get dumped into the water or do anything underhanded. Councilor Maglio stated Clean Harbors had a list of asks and went through that list and completed it all except for a phone fire suppression system that would be years in the making. Our own Health Department was not even notified about Clean Harbors needing a detail to remain costing the town $500,000. Chairwoman Boericke stated if there is a bill being sent to a facility and it is not being paid what happens? Director Esmond stated candidly, it shouldn’t happen. Most customers pay but sometimes need to be nudged. This is something that we want to make sure doesn’t happen again. Once details are worked the July 16, 2024 Ways & Means Committee 6 of 9 payments go out through payroll. I think the position of Chief O’Brien was that they owe it whether they decided to pay or not; its owed. We have to address this so we don’t have this issue in the future. Chairwoman Boericke asked who authorizes the details? Do we get a request for detail and it is either filled or not. Who would be authorizing details to go to Clean Harbors each day? Chairwoman Boericke stated is it accurate to say details were being authorized without being requested? Acting Chief Viola stated in this case I do not know. There is a fine balance between the Fire Chief’s authority when it comes to something like this and the reality of a situation like that. There has to be that authority to be able to order a detail in case of an emergency. To strip that would be dangerous. Councilor Morin stated MGL Chapter 148 Section 5 allows a fire chief to enter premises and order remediation of a fire hazard that they identify as present. I want to respect the chiefs discretion in doing that. Further, Chapter 139 Section 3 allows municipalities to place liens and collect interest in circumstances where a community is forced to make a clean up and then subsequently seek payment. I do not believe that is this case. To my knowledge Clean Harbors had remediated the risk to the satisfaction of the Commonwealth. I understand there is the chief’s discretion and I do not want to overstep my bounds and violate that. There was some advocacy of monitoring of emissions from the site going forward. I think for far less than we paid for this detail we could have done far more for the public safety and health. Councilor Reynolds stated he has internal control issues and how details were run at Clean Harbors. We also need to look at the LEPC process. We should look at the accountability and controls we have in place. Chairwoman Boericke stated this might want to go to the Public Safety Committee in terms of the LEPC process and the safety components. Mayor Joyce stated a lot of the questions put forth by this committee we were not there for this event. My administration takes this very seriously especially where tax payer dollars have been used. We have talked about processes. We put in a lot of effort, and we will continue to put in effort to make sure this does not happen again. The Fore River basin area of the community has environmental concerns and we’ve been talking internally just about what we want to do better. A lot more to come on that front. We will do better moving forward. We are still working with Clean Harbors to close out the detail piece Chief Viola stated he was sworn in May 6th. He did his due diligence and stopped the detail on May 10th. I toured the site with Andrew and others and saw post-fire the actual site and the changes they made. There were very good and necessary changes. Notifications they get, I will work with them so we also get. So for instance if there is a thermal temperature over 300 degrees, they get notified and so will we. I am creating a detail request form that everybody will need to fill out and then a detail authorization form. I am creating a detail policy to make sure there is a paying party and the reason for it. Councilor Maglio stated I understand none of you were here during any of that and your willingness to engage on the really critical issue that the prior administration just didn’t engage on in a way that was reasonable, logical or safe. I went to the previous administration to ask for a $20,000 air quality meter and there was no money for that but there was $500,000 of unreimbursed detail that went directly into individual bank accounts. While this detail was happening Clean Harbors was actually offering training to July 16, 2024 Ways & Means Committee 7 of 9 our firefighters that nobody even knew about to even show up. Becky from CH offered it again and the second time I believe on firefighter showed up. The irony and reason no one showed up we were given the reason because there was no money to pay them to do it. Councilor Maglio stated there is some talk about having a Fore River Summit with the surrounding towns on how to make it as good as it looks and how to make it a reality. Clean Harbors—Braintree Fire Dept. – Councilor Maglio – Statement/Questions submitted prior to the meeting: My main area of concern is understanding whether or not there is a safety hazard at Clean Harbors and, if so, what Braintree, MassDEP, and Clean Harbors are doing to address it. If there is no ongoing safety hazard that requires a detail, my focus of concern shifts to the amount of money accumulated in unreimbursed fire details at Clean Harbors, which is 1.2 miles from the East Braintree Fire Station. Here are my questions so far: • Is Chief O'Brien available to attend the meeting? I am not sure if he is back from medical leave, but I saw that he was on stage for the BHS graduation, so I'm hopeful he will be able to attend the hearing. • Can Marianne attend the hearing to answer questions and explain the accounting matters? • Is Crystal Huff, the previous solicitor, available to attend the hearing? • Is Chuck Kokoros, former Mayor, available to attend the hearing? • Is there anyone else from the former Mayor's office who will be able to answer questions about this issue who we should invite? • Are Clean Harbors officials being formally invited to participate? Or observe? I'd like to hear from them and see all of the documentation between CH and the Town of Braintree. But if that is best left for a different meeting, please advise. • What is the process for scheduling details, and how are firefighters chosen for them? Are there guidelines about who is eligible to work on them, and coverage conditions that must be met? • Is there information about local and state law/regulations for fire details as an additional duty beyond regular fire suppression shift work? What are the duties of someone while covering a detail? • Is there a pool of funds that enables a detail shift to be compensated before a detail is paid by the entity requesting it? Are details ever required to be paid in advance? • Who monitors payouts and outstanding reimbursements to the detail "pool" (if that is how it works)? What is the length of time invoices can be unpaid, and at what point is a detail stopped due to non- payment? • Are details requested in writing? Can we see typical detail requests for other instances? • Can we review comparable detail requests from Clean Harbors before and after July 2023? • If there was no fire detail before the CH fire, on what legal basis was a detail required after the fire? In a communication from Attorney Huff to Clean Harbors on July 16, she references unaddressed safety concerns and requests substantiation of repairs and improvements. Is there any further information on Braintree's safety requests and regulations they are related to, for example, continued legal requests to Clean Harbors? July 16, 2024 Ways & Means Committee 8 of 9 • Is there correspondence between Braintree and MassDEP that supports our decision to continue providing the detail and would enable us to hold Clean Harbors accountable for payment? • Are there instances where firefighters were working the detail at Clean Harbors, and simultaneously other firefighters were earning OT to fill the station shifts? The time period from July '23 to April '24 covers a significant span of time. Could we get a printout of OT shifts that is cross-checked with Clean Harbors details? It is important to understand if the town is in the position of paying for details while also paying OT to back-fill a position that someone working the detail could have covered for regular time. • I understand there was a similar situation in 2019 at the South Shore Plaza. What authorization was provided to conduct details at the South Shore Plaza? Was the town required to reimburse the overtime pool? I understand it was $800,000; if that is incorrect, how much was the total cost, and who paid it? After this situation, what safeguards were put in place to prevent unreimbursed details from taking place? • Is a similar situation happening now at the Tri-Town Water District? Has Braintree been sending details that were not requested, and we are seeking reimbursement from the Tri-Town officials, who did not request or authorize these details? What is the amount of those details to date, are they still taking place, who requested and authorized them, and what is the plan going forward to compensate the town for unreimbursed details? • We have information that Clean Harbors last paid an invoice in October. It would be helpful to see all of the billing to them and an accounting of their payments and what invoices and time periods their payments covered. Chairwoman Boericke asked if there was a Motion to table this to a future meeting. Motion made by Councilor Flaherty to table item 015 24. Motion: by Councilor Flaherty to table item 015 24 to a future meeting Second: by Councilor Maglio Roll Call Vote: For (5 – Boericke, Flaherty, Maglio, Morin, Reynolds), Against (0), Absent (0), Abstain (0) It was unanimously voted to adjourn the meeting at 8:05p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan M. Cimino Clerk of the Council Documents provided for Meeting • 24 035 Mayor: FY 2025 Supplemental Appropriation #1 or take up any action relative thereto • 24 036 Mayor: Establish Override Special Purpose Stabilization Fund or take up any action relative thereto • 24 037 Mayor: Increase Maximum Household Senior Work Off Program Amount or take up any action relative thereto • 24 038 Mayor: Request for Appropriation - CPC Appropriation - Historic Newspaper Microfilm Digitization or take up any action relative thereto • 015 24 Council President: Clean Harbor Fire Department Details or take up any action relative thereto July 16, 2024 Ways & Means Committee 9 of 9