Melrose Select Board Approves TIF Note, Hires Officer, Opens Finance Director Search

MELROSE — July 18, 2024 — Melrose Select Board approves tax increment note for completed 29-unit development, opens finance director search. The board voted unanimously Thursday to authorize a tax increment revenue note for Riverside Flats of Melrose LLC, which has substantially finished its multifamily project next to City Center, and called for a September 19 public hearing to establish Tax Increment Financing District No. 13-2 for the Railroad West project. A split vote — 2 to 1 — authorized advertising the vacant Finance Director position at 4 percent below the wage study's calculated average maximum of $112,472.39, over one member's objection that the city needs to advertise at full market rate to avoid continued turnover. The board also conditionally hired Adam Root as a police officer at Step 1 wages, contingent on background and drug screening, with an anticipated August 1 start date, as the department reported June call volume of 296 — up from 232 the prior year — while already operating short-staffed. A proposed resolution requiring write-in candidates to file 84 days before a primary for votes to be counted was tabled after council members said they preferred counting all local write-in votes regardless.