Malden City Hall

215 Pleasant Street

Malden, MA 02148

City of Malden

Meeting Minutes - Final

Finance Committee

Councillor McDonald, Chair

Councillor Taylor, Vice Chair

Councillor Condon

Councillor Luong

Councillor Sica

Councillor Simonelli

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

5:30 PM

City Hall, Room #105

215 Pleasant Street

Malden, MA 02148

Joint meeting with Rules & Ordinance

Watch the meeting with Teams: https://tinyurl.com/y4s34cev

Roll Call

8 -

Present:

Absent:

Carey McDonald, Ari Taylor, Michelle Luong, Jadeane Sica, Stephen Winslow,

Karen Colon Hayes, Peg Crowe and Amanda Linehan

3 - Paul Condon, Chris Simonelli and Ryan O'Malley

Minutes to be Approved

78-26

Minutes of Joint R/O-Finance Committee of January 21, 2025 to be

approved.

On behalf of the Rules and Ordinance Committee, a motion was made by Colon

Hayes, seconded by Linehan, that the Committee Minutes be approved. The

motion carried by a unanimous vote.

On behalf of the Finance Committee, a motion was made by Councillor Taylor,

seconded by Councillor Luong, that the minutes of January 21, 2025 be approved.

The motion carried by a unanimous vote.

79-26

Minutes of Joint R/O-Finance Meeting May 6, 2025 to be approved.

On behalf of the Rules and Ordinance Committee, a motion was made by Colon

Hayes, seconded by Linehan, that the Committee Minutes be approved. The

motion carried by a unanimous vote.

On behalf of the Finance Committee, a motion was made by Councillor Taylor,

seconded by Councillor Luong, that the Committee Minutes of May 6, 2025 be

approved. The motion carried by a unanimous vote.

Business

433-25

Be it ordained by the Malden City Council that the Code of the City of Malden (MCC)

9.20.050 PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO ALL WASTE is hereby amended by striking

Subsections A, B, and C in their entirety and inserting the following in their place:

Sponsors: Stephen Winslow

Attachments: Current 9.20.050 Provisions Applicable to All Waste

Councillor Winslow provided background on the transition from blue bags to tags, noting

the original intent to keep the change revenue neutral. Historical revenue figures were

shared, showing a decline of approximately $400,000 over four years, and the need for

ongoing review of the program was emphasized. He considered implementing a fee for

non-residential multifamily buildings, referencing practices in other communities such as

Salem. The rationale included increased education and enforcement needs for buildings

not owner-occupied, as these often contribute to refuse issues on city streets.

Nate Cramer described the process of merging reports in Excel to identify eligible

properties, noting difficulties in tracking units and residential exemptions. Of 4, 269 lines

reviewed, 1,287 did not receive the exemption, but turnover and classification

complexities make annual tracking challenging.

Councillor Taylor highlighted the importance of focusing on enforcement, ensuring proper

use of barrels and stickers, and addressing complaints about improper trash disposal.

The group discussed the timing of fee changes in relation to the city's trash contract,

which has about five and a half years remaining, and the need to balance enforcement

with financial planning.

Councillor Colon Hayes asked is the intent here to keep it revenue neutral and make

some additional revenue or enforce it

Councillor Winslow clarified that the intent was to maintain revenue neutrality, not to

generate additional revenue, and to keep the issue on the council's agenda for future

consideration. The discussion included the impact of contract terms and the need for

creative approaches to improve the system and resident experience.

Councillor Sica expressed strong opposition to increasing trash fees at this time, arguing

that it would be unfair to residents, especially with a potential Prop 2% override on the

horizon and suggested that the proposal should be tabled and revisited only if the

override does not pass.

Councillor Luong asked if the residential exemption list is up to 166

Nate answered No it could be a 112 it could be a 300 unit building if the owner lives in it

that qualifies.

They don't necessarily get it but it's any residential property.

Councillor Luong she asked is just the unit exempt do we calculate it by the unit or by

the whole

Nate the 15 unit that gets it is above the break even point so it's kind of a net zero but

they still get the exemption which really it doesn't matter that they don't benefit

Councillor Luong echoes what Councillor Taylor and Sica said I don't think this is the

right time for it but / also feel like the more we keep putting on the nonresident landlords

a fee here ultimately that's going to go back to the tenants and emphasized the need to

be mindful of the cumulative financial burden on renters and the broader community.

Councillor Winslow mentioned Councillor Taylor talked about enforcement and one of the

things that came up during the trash strike was at that point we really didn't have an

enforcement person and even if we had one we didnt have enough resources.

Enforcement takes a person so if we're going to increase enforcement it is actually

staffing. He also explained he put this paper out here to have a conversation he wasn't

pushing to see this move at this moment or moved out of committee. We have work to

do on how to restructure and is happy to table the Paper.

Ron Hogan announced that flyers explaining trash regulations are being printed in all

applicable languages to ensure clearcommunication with non-English speakers. Joe from

BPW will distribute these flyers during daily rounds, leaving them at properties with

violations. Following the education campaign, the city will begin issuing fines for

non-compliance. The rollout was delayed to avoid confusion with tag renewals and to

ensure residents receive a clear message about the new enforcement procedures that

will start happening fairly soon.

Councillor McDonald said from a Finance perspective we had some papers last fall that

we said we would make some time to discuss and this is following through on that

promise with a transparent discussion about what some of the different perspectives and

ideas that members of the council are bringing to address a long term financial reality

but we just don't know enough until we get through the override vote about what the long

term financial picture is to know what is needed. The estimates that we've used to build

those override projections again do include some assumptions about staying where we

are with trash fees but thinks the longer term looking towards the end of that contract is

how we make the experience better with enforcement and easier to access and supports

making the tags easier to access.

Ron explained we allow mailing options by going online but you can't order it today and

get it tomorrow but we do get them out timely

On behalf of the Finance Committee a motion was made by Councillor Taylor,

seconded by Councillor Luong, that the Ordinance be tabled. The motion carried

by a unanimous vote.

On behalf of the Rules and Ordinance Committee a motion was made by

Councillor Colon Hayes and seconded by Councillor Crowe that the Ordinance be

tabled. The motion carried by a unanimous vote.

Other Business

Adjournment

On behalf of the Rules and Ordinance Committee, a motion was made by

Linehan, seconded by Crowe, that this meeting be adjourned. The motion

carried unanimously.

The Rules and Ordinance Committee adjourned at 5:57 PM.

On behalf of the Finance Committee, a motion was made by Councillor Luong,

seconded by Councillor Taylor, that this meeting be adjourned. The motion

carried unanimously.

The Finance Committee adjourned at 5:57 PM.

If you would like to request a reasonable accommodation, please contact Maria Luise, ADA

Compliance Coordinator at mluise@cityofmalden.org or 781-397-7000 Ext. 2005

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