The Melrose City Council on Monday, October 19 adopted a resolution supporting the roughly 1,400 UNITE HERE Local 26 and Teamsters Local 25 members on strike at Encore Boston Harbor, urging community and labor organizations and elected officials to stay away from the casino for the duration of the dispute, encouraging “lawful picketing and other peaceful activities,” and calling on Encore and Wynn Resorts “to negotiate in good faith and reach a fair agreement that respects the contributions of its workforce.” Council President Brad Freeman sponsored it with Councilors John Obremski and Elizabeth Kowal; it was taken up by immediate consideration, read in full by Kowal and placed on file by voice vote, with a copy to go to Encore’s general manager. The resolution notes that many Encore employees live in Melrose and that their wages “are reinvested in local businesses, housing, and community institutions.” Medford, Malden and Lynn have passed similar resolutions since September.
Two Melrose residents who work at the casino spoke. James Atkins of Belknap Street, chief steward for Teamsters Local 25 and the resort’s lead gardener, said workers had been on the line “about seven weeks now in the rain and the cold” and want “a dignified and deserved contract” that recognizes the value they bring to a five-star resort; he urged councilors to call Encore’s president, Jenny Holaday, and Wynn’s chief executive, Craig Billings, directly. James Murphy of Grove Street, a houseman for five years, said the strike was in its 46th day, that workers are asking only for wages competitive with Boston hotels, and that “one job should be enough for Melrose families.” Mayor Jen Grigoraitis added her commitment to honoring the strike, calling the workers “our family members, friends, and neighbors.” Councilor Devin Romanul said his father was a union member for four and a half decades: “What you all do was the difference between the life we lived and the life we didn’t.” Freeman thanked the workers “for being here and exercising your voice.”
Mayor on three ballot questions
Grigoraitis used public comment to ask councilors to speak out on three of the 10 questions on the November 3 ballot, nine binding and one a non-binding citizen petition. Question 5, which would change the state revenue cap and count the so-called millionaire’s tax toward it, “would result in far less state money available to support our local budget,” she said, affecting fiscal 2028 planning after two years of budget cuts against flat state aid; the School Committee voted unanimously the week before, on a resolution from member Matt Hartman, to oppose it. Question 8, which would prohibit adult-use marijuana sales halfway through the next fiscal year, would “directly and severely impact Garden Remedies” and the city’s cannabis excise, half of which goes by council decision to an education, public safety and substance abuse prevention fund the council has tapped for the school budget in each of the last two years; repeal would also erase the rules that govern production and sale, she said. She asked for a yes on Question 9 to keep the 2024 gun law, which lets school administrators seek extreme risk protection orders, bans ghost guns and conversion devices, and lets the city ban civilian carrying in buildings like City Hall; firearms, she said, are the leading cause of death for children and teens nationally, and Massachusetts’ gun death rate is 70 percent below the national average.
Committee work earlier in the evening
Before the council met, the Appropriations and Oversight Committee, chaired by Romanul, voted 9 to 0 to recommend borrowing for the Melrose High School Learning Commons roof: a $2,976,462 project that includes $115,000 already spent on design from free cash, so the bond authorization is $2,861,462. School facilities staff said the Massachusetts School Building Authority had put the reimbursement at 49.94 percent and, after reviewing the 60 percent design budget, at about 48.25 percent; the city must show it could carry the whole cost if no reimbursement came, and the work will be done in summer 2027. The roof under the 2016 Learning Commons is more than 30 years old and was only coated during that project; the new one carries a 10-year warranty and a 25-to-30-year expected life, and the city expects a waiver of the MSBA’s solar-ready requirement because the high school roof already holds so much solar. Councilor Jason Chen questioned taking on 25-year debt at an estimated 4.5 percent, which he said would mean about $1 million in interest on the city’s share, and asked that Chief Financial Officer Harry Golden consider paying more from free cash in the spring, before construction money is borrowed; Councilor Ryan Williams noted the city got 3.8 percent on $30 million in public safety building bonds in December 2025 and said cash flow, not debt capacity, has usually been the constraint.
The committee also recommended a five-year lease for a 2026 Vactor sewer truck costing about $627,000, with a $35,000 trade-in, $150,000 of sewer free cash and about $87,000 from the operating budget as the down payment and payments already built into sewer rates, an approach the public works director said keeps rates stable; the current truck is 11 years old and has cost more than $30,000 a year to repair. It recommended buying two landlocked, wet parcels near Burnett and Laurel streets, assessed at $5,300 and $7,200, with FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant covering 80 percent of the price and the larger legal fees before the grant closes in January; the city engineer said a $2.5 million to $3 million flood-relief design by Stantec is done but not yet funded, that the parcels adjoin a city drainage channel and the parcel known as Burnett Park, and that building on them “would be highly unwise.” Williams said the project is the kind of thing the Community Preservation Act would pay for. A $2,385.92 state reimbursement for Council on Aging staff time helping residents apply for SNAP, through a Department of Transitional Assistance and UMass Chan Medical School partnership that also gives the office access to the state’s provider portal, was recommended; the office said more than half its clients are on a fixed income and demand has grown with the cost of living.
Also at the meeting
- A $100,000 state earmark for stage lights and other capital work at Memorial Hall was referred to Appropriations and Oversight.
- John J. Higgins Jr. of Malvern Street, a Melrose resident for 78 years and a constable for 50, was reappointed through March 2029. He told the Protection and License Committee that he mostly serves subpoenas and divorce papers, that an eviction service that paid $5 when he started now pays $500, and that constables in Everett and Malden “are working 24 hours a day.”
- Councilors Cal Finocchiaro and Manjula Karamcheti did not answer the roll. The council’s next regular meeting is November 9.
The recording is on MMTV’s Vimeo page and the agenda is on the city’s CivicClerk portal.
