Melrose Select Board Votes to Reopen Senior Center Under COVID-19 Protocols

MELROSE — July 16, 2020 — Melrose Select Board unanimously reopens senior center and searches for stray animal solution amid COVID-19 challenges. The board voted Thursday to reopen the city's senior center under a COVID-19 preparedness plan limiting gatherings to 10 or fewer people, with hand sanitizer, masks, and a hold-harmless waiver for participants — City Administrator Colleen Quast said the center has been closed since March 16. Police Chief Craig Mouse briefed the board at length on the city's loss of its 19-year stray animal boarding arrangement with Leadstone Veterinary Clinic, which charged $16 per day and is no longer accepting strays; Mouse said humane societies, private kennels, and doggy day cares have largely declined to take animals with unknown vaccination histories, leaving the city without a formal solution. The board also received word that both chambers of the state legislature have included $3.5 million — $2.25 million short of the full ask — for wastewater treatment upgrades in the bonding bill, and Quast told members the city expects $276,154 in federal CARES Act funds that must be spent by December, likely through a combination of public safety payroll reimbursement and small business grants coordinated with Stearns County, which has offered to match 25 percent of any local business relief program.