ORDER-2020-133 : Appointment of Kathryn Armata to serve as Treasurer Collector, effective July 13th, 2020

Transcript (~12 min @ 19:44)

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▶ 19:35 Speaker 3: Yes, I'm sorry. McMaster. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. President Grigoraitis? Yes. Chairman Sinella? Yes.

▶ 19:56 Christopher Cinella: Levin, yes. And I want to take a motion to suspend the rules because we'll have Katherine Amata come up at some point. Motion to suspend the rules?

▶ 20:05 Christopher Cinella: Second. Motion to suspend the rules made by President Grigoraitis, seconded by

▶ 20:10 Speaker 3: Councilor McNaught. Vice-Chair Migliorelli? Yes. Councilor Tramontozzi? Yes. Councilor McMaster? Yes, it's not. Yes. Counselor Eccles yes. Counselor. Yeah, answer Stuart. Yes. Counselor Thomas yes. Yes. President Grigoraitis. Yes, chairman. Yes.

▶ 20:38 Christopher Cinella: 11, yes, so we've been bringing Catherine and I don't know if the mayor is going to speak or yes, I'm going to bring them there.

▶ 21:01 Speaker 3: I'm both in they both made panelists can you hear us yes hey Catherine hey Laura's

▶ 21:09 Christopher Cinella: yours I don't know if you have any prepared remarks we can hear you see you

▶ 21:16 Paul Brodeur: can't see you mr. chairman my may I by way of introduction yes please so I want offer for your consideration uh for our next treasure collector uh catherine amada you have an extensive uh cv in front of you i hope you've had an opportunity to review it certainly reflects a deep reservoir of experience in all really in all aspects of the financial services industry and rather than go through an exhaustive description of what that might be I do want to direct your attention to her particular expertise in treasury management. It is referenced both in her resume and in essentially what I would call a profile highlights document, which really details the real value and experience that she will bring to this particular position. A tremendous amount of management experience interacting with executives and with the public and importantly um really what i think of as kind of back office experience the nuts and bolts of the day-to-day management of the office you all know from uh from recent events how important it is to have a uh someone who can do it all in terms of communication with the public communication with the council and the nuts and bolts management experience to make sure that our money is doing what it is supposed to do and where it is supposed to be and also making sure again we are giving excellent public service making sure that we are serving the customers uh where however they come at us meaning in terms of showing up in city hall to pay their taxes making sure we're innovating as much as possible to provide for uh online transaction where that is helpful to folks and to be able to answer questions and make people understand and help them navigate a system that again is sometimes sometimes challenging to the lay person and quite frankly sometimes challenging to the professional uh so i offer her uh i offer you um miss armada for your consideration uh with my highest recommendation um i know she looks forward to your questions and again i want to thank you uh for your consideration this evening

▶ 23:40 Christopher Cinella: Thank you so much. Do you have any prepared remarks or you wanted to go into Q and a.

▶ 23:46 Speaker 3: I had some prepared remarks, but I'm fine with whichever way you wanted to see.

▶ 23:54 Speaker 3: You can go ahead with your remarks. Thank you mayor for that introduction and good evening counselors. I'd like to start by thanking you here for the opportunity to be here tonight. I'm thrilled with this prospect of becoming the treasurer collector for the city of Melrose. You have a copy of my resume, and rather than walk you through it, I'd just like to take a few minutes to provide you with some of my background and the experience that I would bring to the role. Nearly half of my career has been spent in a Treasury position and in and around money management. I began my career in Treasury soon after earning my MBA at Knight, while during the day I was working for a mutual fund company managing taxable and government money market funds. Over my 16 years in Treasury, the companies I worked for were as different as companies can be. Different cultures, business lines, and financial strengths. The one thing they had in common was constant change. There was constant change in ownership, in strategic focus. So I was exposed to and had to adapt to a lot of situations that many, many people don't get to experience in their career. This provided a lot of opportunity to take my role beyond that job description in a lot of occasions. The Treasury and investment worlds have their own languages, and I'm very familiar with them both. It's not on my resume because I let the certification lapse, but while I was working in Treasury management, I belonged to what was then called the Treasury Management Association of New England and I passed the examination to become what they had as a certified cash manager. The exam covered all aspects of Treasury operations and the study and the networking that resulted from belonging to the organization were very helpful in developing best practices, policies, procedures, technology upgrades, etc. I visited the Mass Collectors and Treasurers Association website and was glad to see the same kind of available resources for your next incumbent. In my earlier career, I managed funds on the short end of the curve. Later, at another company that owned many institutional investment firms, I worked with investment experts across the spectrum of strategies. I understand that language and I can interpret it. I've read the city's investment policy statement and the Massachusetts general law sections that are referenced, and I'm really looking forward to meeting with the city's investment team to become acquainted with the structure of the portfolios, the types of reporting that you're getting, and the communications that are in place. The S&P rating report on the city's general obligations bonds was a really great read for me. I was very pleased to see the AA plus rating and all the positives that are discussed in the rationale. The strong management, the strong financial policies and practices, the plans to retire the majority of the debt over the next 10 years. I believe it was 75%. My experience has been over businesses that have varying levels of financial strength, so I know how difficult and how expensive it can be from a borrowing perspective with a subpar credit rating. Melrose should be very proud of attaining and maintaining that AA credit, the AA plus credit. I've heard really good things about Hilltop Securities, and I understand that Peter Frazier is a great resource to the department. It seems as though the city has excellent third-party providers with a large amount of institutional knowledge to tap into after having such long and strong relationships. I understand the importance of quality customer service, particularly with relevance to this position, from both a product knowledge and a personal presentation perspective. In some of my roles, the client was a subsidiary that relied on me to provide a prompt, professional, and accurate response, and now I do the same for individuals. I strive to provide the type of service I would expect if I were that client. This same courtesy applies to departmental and cross-functional work within an organization. In the past, I worked extensively on cross-functional projects and committees. Each person at the table brings knowledge or experience, and no one person operates in a vacuum, so it's imperative to work respectfully and effectively across roles to achieve both our collective and our individual goals. I am a resident of Melrose, so as a resident, I have a vested interest in ensuring the department continues to function well and in identifying the areas where improvements to both operations and services can be made. This position intrigued me when I first came upon it. It just seemed like a really good fit with my background and my experience. And after meeting with Patrick and Marianne Long and the mayor, now I'm very confident of that. And pending your approval of the nomination, I would be very, very excited to assume the position of Treasurer Collective. Thank you, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have.

▶ 29:24 Christopher Cinella: Thank you. I didn't see any hands go up. Did I miss anybody?

▶ 29:30 Cory Thomas: Councilor Thomas. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for being here and your beautiful introduction. Ms. Amata, I just wanted to say welcome. Your resume and experience is extensive and impressive. It's glad to have such qualified Ward 7 resident working for the City of Melrose, and I'd like to welcome you and I look forward to working with you.

▶ 29:51 Speaker 1: So, again, welcome. Thank you. Thank you.

▶ 29:58 Christopher Cinella: Anybody else? What is the will of the committee? Don't everyone jump at once? Motion to recommend for passage.

▶ 30:08 Christopher Cinella: Motion to recommend for passage made by President Grigoraitis, seconded by Councillor Garipay. Any on discussion? None, Madam clerk, please call the roll. Yes.

▶ 30:19 Speaker 3: Yes, counselor McMaster. Yes, or not. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Counselor Thomas yes. Yes, president Greg writers.

▶ 30:47 Christopher Cinella: Yes. Chairman Sinella? Yes. Eleven yes. Great, thank you Catherine and Mayor Broder.

▶ 30:52 Speaker 2: Thank you. Congratulations. Congratulations. I'll make you both back to

▶ 31:03 Christopher Cinella: attendees. All right, next order 2020-134, the acceptance of an emergency management performance grant with the amount of $6,500. Anybody coming