ORDER-2022-74 : Appointment of Jennifer Champagne, 11 Faxon Street, to the Human Rights Commission for a three-year term, said term to expire the last day of February 2025

Transcript (~15 min @ 2:02)

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▶ 1:50 Jen Grigoraitis: anyone with their digital hand raised at this time okay all right so at this time i will motion by unanimous consent to close public comment. Seeing no objection, public comment is now closed. We have, I believe, four orders before us tonight. The first item before us is Order 2022-74, Appointment of Jennifer Champagne, 11 Faxon Street, to the Human Rights Commission for a three-year term, said term to expire the last day of February 2025. And at this time, I would entertain a motion to suspend rule 37b so that we can hear from members of the administration

▶ 2:26 Christopher Cinella: madam chair i just fyi i think the mayor's having trouble getting on so okay i think other people

▶ 2:44 Jen Grigoraitis: have an issues too i don't know something that happened is he okay um i did motion so i don't

▶ 2:51 Jen Grigoraitis: guess okay so we I'm also open we can take an order out of order I do believe all of these orders are requiring members of the administration to be present so I'm looking to see I do see miss champagne in the virtual waiting room I'm happy to move to if we want to Andrew have you heard from the mayor

▶ 3:19 Speaker 1: I'm emailing him an attendee link, and I'll just make him a panelist.

▶ 3:24 Jen Grigoraitis: Okay, so we'll continue just with our procedural emotion to suspend rule 37 B.

▶ 3:32 Leila Migliorelli: Then I'll jump at 1 motion to suspend rule 37 B.

▶ 3:37 Jen Grigoraitis: So, I think he's in. Okay. So we have a motion made by vice chair. Really? Seconded by counselor Stewart to suspend rule 37 B. Mr clerk when you have a 2nd, can you please call the role? I know you're juggling a lot.

▶ 3:48 Speaker 1: Sure, um, nice chair. Yes. Counselor McMaster. Yes. Counselor. Yes, counselor.

▶ 4:06 Speaker 1: Yeah, counselor Stewart. Yes. Counselor. Yes.

▶ 4:15 Speaker 1: Counselor Williams. Yes, president. Yes. And share the greatest. Yes, that brings us to 9. yes.

▶ 4:27 Jen Grigoraitis: And yes, so the motion carries, so at this time, we'll bring in mayor Broder and Ms champagne. And I see mayor Broder's. Name, but no video. Oh, there we go.

▶ 4:45 Speaker 2: I have more luck than last night. That's right side up.

▶ 4:52 Jen Grigoraitis: All right, Mayor Broder, the floor is yours. Terrific.

▶ 4:54 Paul Brodeur: Thank you Madam Chair and thank you to all the members of the Appropriations and Oversight Committee. As you know, we are here to consider for you to consider the nomination of Jennifer Champagne to the Human Rights Commission. I first met Jen a little while ago when she expressed an interest in coming on to the, coming on to the Commission and It's kind of great. You never know what you're going to get right and had a chance to review her resume from some folks on the, and then had a chance to talk with her. And I can tell you about. In terms of background and temperament, you have her. Her resume before you she's she's an attorney that has a, you know, she hasn't been an attorney. Quite so long, certainly compared to me, she has a, an incredible range of experience. Representing a very, very diverse client set. She is a compelling advocate and. She is certainly engaged in our community and this is an opportunity to bring a really outstanding candidate. uh into a position of significant responsibility i think she'll be an asset to the commission and to the city and i look forward to her favorable uh consideration by you folks and appreciate the

▶ 6:25 Jen Grigoraitis: opportunity to be here thank you mayor broder miss champaign thank you for being here tonight if there's any statement you wish to make to the committee you can do so now thank you chair and

▶ 6:33 Speaker 3: thank you mayor broder for those kind words thank you council members for taking the opportunity to meet with me tonight. I would be honored to serve as a commissioner on the Human Rights Commission if given the opportunity. Melrose has given so much to our family, especially the past two years, and I would just like to give back to Melrose. I'm an advocate in training and by nature and think that the Human Rights Commission would be a great fit for me. If you have any questions,

▶ 7:07 Jen Grigoraitis: I'm happy to answer them. Thank you. Are there any councillors wishing to speak? Councillor Jamaleddine.

▶ 7:13 Maya Jamaleddine: Followed by Council Williams. Thank you. Chairman. Thank you so much for stepping up and, you know, and your interest in serving on the human rights commission myself and other fellow counselors had the honor to serve on the human rights commission. So it's very dear to our hearts.

▶ 7:37 Speaker 3: uh um what what made you think of the human rights like what what is the most interest uh for you um as by serving on the human rights commission sure thank you councillor for that question um so as you saw by my resume currently i'm a stay-at-home mom and teaching to pandemic homeschooled children. Before that I practiced law and advocated for a very diverse clientele which just gave me an exposure to a lot of different people in the first-hand experience to see what people were struggling with whether it be refugees or immigrants from around the world, low-income minorities, veterans, elderly. So I've always been an advocate in my work So, I feel like this is just a way for me to continue that work as a volunteer in Melrose from a personal background. Advocacy has been a big thing for me since I was a child and my younger brother has cerebral palsy. So, I watched how he dealt with physical disabilities, but on top of that, compounded by discrimination through his school, from friends, and through a broader system. And I also have a lot of first hand exposure, working side by side, not as a representative, but as a coworker with immigrants. And I would just like to give back to those communities. That's that's great. Thank you so much. And for, you know, I'm sure your experience and we'll, we'll bring a lot to our community. Have you had any. experience with the population in Melrose with our residents in terms of you know having any interaction you you pointed out immigrants and you pointed out you know minorities um how have your experience been with those like people from this population so I'm going to be honest I feel like my exposure in Melrose has been pretty limited because I moved here in December 2017 I guess and with young a six-week-old baby at the time and so right as I was looking to really start to get more involved in our community the pandemic hit and the past two years have felt like a wash for me as far as getting more involved this year I have been involved with children in Melrose I've been leading a reading group for other homeschooled children in Melrose since september which has been a great experience yeah awesome thank you so much and good luck thank you

▶ 10:16 Jen Grigoraitis: thank you councillor chamaldi and councillor williams and then i have

▶ 10:24 Ryan Williams: vice chair Migliorelli and councillor karmachadian hello miss champaign thank you for joining us tonight uh jennifer and i live quite close to each other so we see each other passing all the time and um of course as a ward 7 resident i'm thrilled to see somebody of her caliber and as the mayor set her temperament joining the hrc i've had a lot of opportunities to to speak with jennifer and get to know her over the years and i think she's an excellent choice for this uh for this role uh she's always been very communicative and she's always impressed me with her thoughtfulness about city issues so um i just wanted to to offer that recommendation i had wanted to ask about her intentions with joining the hrc but i think counselor Jamaleddine's questions really explored that thoroughly so i'll just say welcome aboard and thanks for coming to talk with us tonight

▶ 11:13 Speaker 3: thank you very much councillor williams thank you vice chair Migliorelli

▶ 11:20 Leila Migliorelli: thank you ms champaign um for putting your name forward for this position um i also served in the human rights commission alongside councillor Jamaleddine and it was a wonderful experience to um get to know the community better um and uh really connect with residents and make a difference and i guess i would i would say like what's your familiarity with the human rights commission work currently and what might you like to um change or add going forward in your um tenure there uh great thank you counselor for that question um so i from what i know um the human rights commission is very involved in just keeping an open dialogue and being involved in a lot of Melrose community events. I think obviously I'd like to continue that great work. I think for me, I think open dialogue is just a huge issue these days, not just in Melrose, but everywhere. So anything we could do to keep an open dialogue would be something I'd like to work on. I'm, as I said, big into advocacy, but there are a lot of ways that I think we could add to the dialogue but also offer assistance and I don't want to step on other programs if they're already in existence but I know for me one thing I've noticed just through our small reading group in Melrose the past two years a lot of young kids have really struggled with reading in particular with virtual learning and a lot of kids get left behind and I've just seen how helpful it's been to the small number of kids in our group and I've wondered if something like that if we could work with the schools and maybe get involved and find out what children might be struggling in reading and create something like that where we have volunteers leading reading groups for children just to get involved and learn a love for reading oftentimes i find that a lot of the kids who do get left behind are kids who are from lower income families or minority families so i think by nature without even being polarizing that would be a great program if it's not already being done. Thank you, Ms. Champagne. You're welcome.

▶ 13:41 Manjula Karamcheti: Councillor Karn Fahey. Hi, Ms. Champagne. Thank you so much for putting your name forward and for wanting to be a part of the Human Rights Commission. I'm actually the liaison on the City Council to the Human Rights Commission, so very much appreciate what you shared about your background professionally and personally. Seems like you he would be a really great fit. Councilor Migliorelli kind of already asked my question, but I'm gonna ask it again, just more in the scope of thinking about diversity, equity and inclusion and the Human Rights Commission's role in that. What do you see as the Human Rights Commission's role in thinking about diversity and equity and inclusion in Melrose?

▶ 14:26 Speaker 3: Sure, um, I think that I can learn more and would hope to learn more, um, through, uh, working with the commission. Um, 1 thing I've been doing for the past 6 months through my daughter school is a seed training where it's all about, um, teachers and parents learning about, uh, seeking education, equity and diversity. Um, and it really focuses on open dialogues and so I think. Our role is to make Melrose as open and welcoming and safe for all as possible. I think there are various ways we can do that continuing work that we already are. I think there are small steps that also could be added that help, for example, just making it easily accessible links for representation. I know even my husband's firm right now, they want volunteers to help people from Ukraine apply for visas and things like that. Um, I know just from the legal end, that's always very helpful and a small step that we can do. Um, but I think more just community opportunities for dialogue in a safe forum where people can ask questions, uh, in a comfortable and safe forum and disagree and debate, but learn from each other.

▶ 15:42 Manjula Karamcheti: Wonderful, thank you so much and I look forward to seeing you at the meetings.

▶ 15:47 Jen Grigoraitis: Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other counselors wishing to ask questions?

▶ 15:53 Christopher Cinella: President Sinella. I have a question, but thank you for being here. I've never been on the Human Rights Commission, but I'm happy. To make a motion to approve you, recommend you to the full board.

▶ 16:06 Jen Grigoraitis: Second, we have a motion recommendation for passage made by President Sinella seconded by Councilor Stewart. Is there any discussion?

▶ 16:15 Speaker 4: Seeing none, Mr. Clerk, can you please call the roll?

▶ 16:18 Speaker 1: Please, Chair McLeroy. Yes, Councillor McMaster. Yes, Councillor Garipay. Yes, Councillor Jamaleddine.

▶ 16:34 Speaker 1: Yes, Councillor Stewart. Yes, Councillor Carneshetty.

▶ 16:42 Speaker 1: Yes, Councillor Williams. Yes. President Zanella? Yes. And Chair Grigoraitis? Yes.

▶ 16:53 Jen Grigoraitis: 9 yes. 9 yes, so the motion carries. Thank you, Ms. Champaign. You will be recommended to the full Council at our next meeting, which you do not need to attend.

▶ 17:04 Jen Grigoraitis: Thank you very much. Have a great night. Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you, Mayor Broder. Have a good evening to both of you. All right. The next item on our agenda is order 2022-75, donation from various library trust funds totaling $2 million toward costs related to Melrose Public Library renovations, said funds to be deposited into fund number 3390. And I believe we have library director Linda Gardner joining us tonight. There she is.