← Boards & Commissions Committee · 2026-03-02 · Boards & Commissions Committee
Appointment of Dawn Jacobs, 462 East Foster Street, Melrose to the Board of Health for a term of three years, said term to expire on or before the last day of February, 2029.
Agenda original PDF
Minutes original PDF
E. (ID # 2026-476): Appointment of Dawn Jacobs, 462 East Foster Street, Melrose to the Board of Health for a term of three years, said term to expire on or before the last day of February, 2029. Motion to Recommend made by Councilor Finocchiaro Seconded by Councilor Park All were in favor and motion passed RESULTS: PASSED [UNANIMOUS] TO: City Council AYES: Cal Finocchiaro, Elizabeth Kowal, Christopher Park, Ryan Williams, Bradley Freeman 3 NAYS: None ABSENT: Kim Vandiver Comments on Discussion: -President Freeman was very impressed with Dawn's resume and knowledge pertaining to the Board of Health position. She is retired and happy to volunteer. V. ADJOURNMENT The City of Melrose does not discriminate based on disability and is committed to hosting accessible meetings and events. Individuals with disabilities who need auxiliary aids and services for effective communication, written materials in alternative formats, or reasonable modifications in policies and procedures, in order to access the programs and activities of the City of Melrose or to attend meetings, should contactthe City’s ADA Coordinator, Polina Latta platta@cityofmelrose.org. Motion to Adjourn by unanimous consent made by Chair Williams at 7:01 PM. Meeting was adjourned. 4 JOSEPH SWITHIN SHORTLIDGE 132 Bay State Road, Melrose, MA 02176 RESUME - November 10, 2025 Data Collaborative (recently retired from the company) Database application integration specialist. 20 years 11 months Arlington, Massachusetts, United States Specialties: Database application programming, API integrations Quality Control Systems, Business Operations Management, School Operations, Customer Relationship Management Systems (CRM), High-volume Email Newsletter Systems, Content Management Systems (CMS) Teach Quickbase (recently closed down) Quickbase Teacher, Expert Builder, and Integrator While hands-on building is what I spent the most of my hours on for clients, teaching them the magic of Quickbase was far more valuable. More valuable both for my clients and for me. My clients' mastery of Quickbase fundamentals raised the quality of all the work we did together. Other Avocations Blue of a Kin
Transcript
▶ 7:48 Ryan Williams: Okay, that passes. Thank you. Thanks so much for your time. Yeah. Okay. Final order tonight is ID 2026-476, the appointment of Dawn Jacobs, 462 East Foster Street, Melrose, to the Board of Health for a term of three years, said term to expire on or before the last day of February 2029. And Ms. Jacobs is here. Hello. Thank you for joining us.
▶ 8:08 Jen Grigoraitis: Hi. So we have a vacancy on our Board of Health, which is a three-member board. Um, Dawn has been deeply involved in the community for many, many, many years. I first met her when she was running the city's, um, informal ESL program to help residents learning to speak English, so she brings a long history of community engagement. She is a nurse, has a master's in publish health, has worked, um, helping to administer vaccines and also has done a lot of work on maternal and child health, so would be a great addition to our board.
▶ 8:35 Speaker 1: Excellent. Thank you for serving.
▶ 8:39 Speaker 1: Yep. Counselors? President Freeman?
▶ 8:42 Bradley Freeman: I j- I was just looking at your resume here, and I have to say it's incredibly impressive. You have quite the career in public health.
▶ 8:49 Speaker 5: Yeah. I'm, I'm retired, but- ... I still thought I could use my brain here.
▶ 8:53 Bradley Freeman: Thank you for all you've done. Yeah. I think that's, it's one of the best things about Massachusetts is the public health- Yeah ... brain trust we have here, and I think having you contribute that to Melrose would be a, a welcome asset.
▶ 9:01 Speaker 5: And I have to tell you that, uh, one of the reasons I volunteered was because one of your al- new city... I still, still call them alderman, that's how old
▶ 9:09 Speaker 4: I am
▶ 9:09 Speaker 5: It's okay ... city counselors, um, he did this really great video and he said, "The best way you can serve your community is to volunteer for a board," and that was, so it was a, it was a kind of a push, so. That was, came from one of your, your fellow city counselors. That's wonderful to hear. So.
▶ 9:25 Speaker 1: Counselor Finocchiaro, did you have any?
▶ 9:27 Cal Finocchiaro: N- no, I was actually go- Well, I will speak now. I was looking, I was looking at your resume earlier and, um, I worked in cancer research for a long time, so look- I saw the IRB submissions and- Oh, yeah. Yeah ... working with multi sites to, um... So I know how much work that is. So. I mean, you're overly qualified, so. I hope so. Appreciate you pointing that out. I, I'll have to learn what the rules are for the Board of Health, but I'll, I'll, I'll follow them. I'm sure you'll do great. Um, did you have, did you have a motion? I'll make a motion to recommend.
▶ 9:58 Ryan Williams: Second. Okay, motion to recommend by Counselor Finocchiaro, seconded by Counselor Park on discussion. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay, that passes. Thank you very much. Thank you. And that concludes our meeting tonight. Um, so if no one has any comments, I'll motion by unanimous