What the Brodeur team has been up to

Published February 21, 2020

MELROSE — Mayor Paul Brodeur and his administration continued to dig into city matters recently, according to his weekly update posted Friday, February 14.

Here is a sampling of that work.

Traffic: A team of engineers from the DCR came to City Hall this week for a preliminary meeting about the intersection of Melrose Street and the Lynn Fells Parkway, which is the site of more traffic accidents than any other intersection in Melrose. Brodeur stresses that this was a preliminary meeting, because DCR will set up a public meeting so we can hear from all of you about your experiences and any suggestions you might have for improvement. Then the engineers will take that information and propose several alternatives, which will again be presented to the public. During the meeting the mayor also brought up the pedestrian crossing at Nelson Street and Lynn Fells Parkway. He said, “We will continue to pressure DCR to make their planned improvements.”

Vaping: The mayor spent some time meeting with Maureen Buzby, the Regional Tobacco Coordinator, about the problem of vaping in our schools. She made a presentation to the School Committee at their February 11 meeting. You can watch the meeting on MMTV’s Vimeo page, and the vaping discussion begins at about the 2:05 mark. 

Director of Public Works: Brodeur said he interviewed candidates for the Director of Public Works position on Wednesday, February 12. John Scenna left Melrose back in September and retired Wakefield DPW Director Richard Stinson has been filling in on an interim basis. Brodeur writes that the “Public Works Listening Session we held (recently) was very helpful to me, as were the comments we received through the website. At the meeting, I heard loud and clear that you want our DPW to be a leader in the areas of waste reduction, accessibility to bicycles and pedestrians, and clean energy. You want an emphasis on sustainability and planning for the future—and you also want your street plowed and the pothole in front of your driveway filled. We need a DPW Director who can attend to both the immediate and the long-term physical needs of Melrose, and I’m confident that the candidates I interviewed are ready and able to step up.”

School Committee: The chief focus right now is the Fiscal 2021 schools’ budget. Superintendent Cyndy Taymore has laid out her vision for the Melrose Schools in her Budget Narrative, which (ran in the February 14 issue of the Weekly News). The mayor urged people to follow upcoming School Committee meetings, which are livestreamed and archived on MMTV’s Vimeo page.

Superintendent Search: The Superintendent Search Screening Committee held their first meeting on Monday, February 3. This was strictly an orientation meeting, where they reviewed the timeline, responsibilities and the interview procedure. The deadline for applications was Thursday, February 20, and the committee will meet on February 24 to receive the packets, review the candidate profile, and discuss interview questions.

Mass Municipal Association: Brodeur has joined the MMA’s Policy Committee on Energy and the Environment, which had their first meeting on February 12. The discussion included proposals to address the municipal recycling crisis by increasing producer responsibility and decreasing municipal costs; the chemicals known as PFAs; and a Combined Sewer Overflow notification bill. The committee meets monthly, and Brodeur will give regular updates on the discussions.