ORDER-2021-157 : In accordance with Article 1; section 56-10 of the Melrose Administrative Code: Appointment of Joanne Perperian, 6 Patriot Way, Melrose, MA as Assistant City Clerk commencing June 7, 2021; term renewal on the first Monday in February.

Transcript (~5 min @ 1:11:19)

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▶ 1:11:15 Speaker 2: june 7 2021 terminal on the first monday in february mr president councilman i'd like to

▶ 1:11:24 Leila Migliorelli: request immediate consideration for order 2021-157 we have immediate consideration before us on 157

▶ 1:11:34 Christopher Cinella: any objections seeing none this is now before us i believe we have ms paparian here this evening

▶ 1:11:48 Speaker 2: prepared remarks or i do as much as you know i like to publish it's going to be actually publicly thank you mr president and council for the opportunity to present miss paparian many of you know for those who don't she is the key component to the functionality of the elections division the process relationships with the secretary of state's office and by extension the city clerk's office it's not hyperbole hyperbolic for me to say that the 2020 election would not have run the way it did without her expertise her demeanor and her innate ability to prioritize i have had the opportunity to work with her for four years and know it's 100 for the betterment of the city clerk's office for city hall generally and most importantly to the residents of melrose to access her talents as the new assistant city clerk and happily she will continue her affiliation with the elections office thank you miss foot as most of you know i started with the city back in 2015 as a poll worker and from there my love for elections really grew then i started with the former election administrator working part-time during the busy time of elections and the census then i bounced over to the city clerk's office when the full-time opening applied so i seem to keep going back and forth i love the public i love dealing with the residents of melrose and i like serving them and providing the customer service that we're able to to give to them the elections has always been one of my favorite jobs and i hope that i still get to dabble in it a little bit i am looking forward to working in the clerk's office and learning the new roles i feel like this is just a natural career path for me and i appreciate the opportunity thank you i welcome any questions i didn't see any hands

▶ 1:13:35 John N. Tramontozzi: go up council tram tozy yes thank you mr president so so is it fair to say you're going to still be with us for the election and you're going to be in charge of the whole election process or

▶ 1:13:44 Speaker 2: i believe we posted for the election administrative position so i'm hoping depending on what experience comes in i'm hoping to still be able to have some involvement if if

▶ 1:13:57 John N. Tramontozzi: they allow me to i'm willing to do so well you probably will have to teach the new person that comes into many events teach how the proper role of the election clerk is and i'd be happy to do

▶ 1:14:04 Speaker 2: so i mean everything with elections for me from 2019 forward was brand new from the dual elections to the recounts it was always exciting so it was a hard decision to make to to to do this um and leaving elections behind knowing that i can still actually work with the election administrator kind of made that made that decision a little bit easier for me well you have a wealth of knowledge

▶ 1:14:28 John N. Tramontozzi: when it comes to elections so uh we want to definitely keep tapping into that so thank you

▶ 1:14:38 Shawn M. MacMaster: counselor thank you mr president president master thank you mr president um good evening thank you both for being here uh excited to see you uh before us uh tonight and thank you miss foote uh for um this selection i think it it's excellent it's a loss for elections but i think those of us uh who are uh are familiar um with uh your work joanne know that you carry yourself in a very unassuming way you're a quiet foot soldier and i'm glad that um miss foot recognized how instrumental you were in the last election i think that was important for her to do publicly and shows good leadership and i'm excited to have you in the clerk's office after what i expected to be a

▶ 1:15:19 Speaker 2: favorable vote so thank you i appreciate your kind words and i always have enjoyed working with all of you i feel like when you all started new i was fairly new at the same time so it was nice to get

▶ 1:15:33 Jen Grigoraitis: get to know you and grow with you any other questions thank you president snella thank you both for being here tonight I just to echo the comments of my fellow counselors I don't think we often get to praise public employees we usually talk about when things go wrong and I just think both of you but especially miss preparing since you're before us tonight have brought a level of dignity and respect and focus to the work that you do and that you serve this body and the residents of this community very well and reflect so well on the city and i'm so excited to have you taking on this new role and then at this time i would make a motion for passage motion for passage made by council rigoritis seconded by council tramitose any discussion seeing none