ORDER-2020-29 : Appointment of Julianna Hanlon, 7 Short Street, as an Associate Member of the Board of Appeals for a two-year term; said term to expire on the last day of February 2021.

Transcript (~7 min @ 1:16)

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▶ 1:11 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: close public comment made and Julie seconded all in favor any opposed we are now closed for public comment and we have one order on our agenda tonight order number 2020-29 appointment of Juliana Hanlon 7 Short Street as an associate member of the Board of Appeals for a two-year term said term to expire

▶ 1:31 Peter D. Mortimer: on the last day of February 2021 motion to suspend the rules that we may hear

▶ 1:35 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: from the candidate and the mayor second the president Pro Tem Mortimer has moved to suspend the rules so we can hear from the candidate seconded by Alderman Zuberko all in favor any opposed great thank you so much for being with us

▶ 1:49 Gail Infurna: tonight oh it's always a pleasure thank you very much and I'd like to just introduce and present Julianna Hanlon Julian is looking to be an associate member of our zoning board of appeals she is an associate in the law office of Mintz and Levin and she has a special interest in land use so that sort of sounds like it could be a good fit for the zoning zoning board of appeals so I present Juliana tonight thank you would you like to provide any opening comments

▶ 2:21 Speaker 1: or just go straight to questions sure yeah Juliana Hanlon I'm happy to be here thanks for having me in i'm definitely interested in being on the zva here in melrose i'm very interested in land use and development and i'm particularly interested as a resident here in melrose of ensuring that we're representing kind of you know what the residents in melrose want

▶ 2:43 Speaker 1: in terms of land use and development but ensuring that we're complying with all the rules and

▶ 2:58 Gail Infurna: and regulations set forth in our ordinance so. Great. Alderman Dutra. Thank you. Mayor Inferno what does being an associate member mean in terms of time commitment? Well it's the same time commitment that you do go to the meetings and if there was anybody that was a member that was absent Juliana gets to make actual the vote as I understand it on that particular night but she does sit in on all the cases or an associate member would sit in on all the cases. Great.

▶ 3:15 Manisha Bewtra: Julianna I'm really excited to see you here and as folks might know we served together briefly on the Human Rights Commission and I thought you brought a lot to the table I think my main question I guess is is that is that time commitment something that you feel you're able to make now because I know I feel like scheduling was a little bit of a challenge when we were on the Human Rights Commission so just wanted to kind of check in on that yes definitely I

▶ 3:40 Speaker 1: I spoke with the chairwoman Rita Mercado of the ZBA about the time commitment, and I think, yes, it's something that works with my schedule.

▶ 3:50 Manisha Bewtra: Fantastic. I think this sounds like a really great fit, and I'm really excited that you found another opportunity here in Melrose, and thank you in advance for your service.

▶ 4:02 Peter D. Mortimer: Motion to recommend for passage. Second.

▶ 4:05 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: Motion to recommend for passage made by President Pro Tem Mortimer, seconded by Alderman Trey Montozzi. Alderman McMaster.

▶ 4:11 Shawn M. MacMaster: Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Madam Mayor, for being here. Thank you, Ms. Hanlon, for your interest and for your willingness to serve the city of Melrose. As you know, with the Zoning Board of Appeals, there are varying interests that often come into play, whether they be the interests of residential property owners, business owners, developers, neighborhoods, or city officials. Understanding that, how would you look to balance those different interests when handling a matter?

▶ 4:46 Speaker 2: You know, I think for me, the importance is going to the code and going back to the ordinance and just seeing what makes the most sense in terms of the laws that's set forth in our ordinance, while also taking into account the differing opinions of residents, what's happening, and how does that really apply to the ordinance.

▶ 5:02 Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

▶ 5:05 Speaker 4: Any other aldermen who wish to speak?

▶ 5:07 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: I have a couple quick questions. I'd be interested in hearing a little bit about the process that the mayor's office undertook or that or how you became aware that There was a position open on the Zoning Board of Appeals and what that process looked like both for you and then for the mayor's office

▶ 5:25 Speaker 2: So I originally actually submitted my letter of interest in I want to say

▶ 5:32 Speaker 1: 2015 I believe it was and then

▶ 5:37 Speaker 2: Continued to really reiterate my interest every year You know I'm very interested in land use and then very passionate about Melrose and ensuring that the development of Melrose is going According to plan in terms of our ordinance as well as kind of like taking into account what people care about who are residents here And so I reiterated my interest through the past few years And they reached out to me letting me know that there was a couple of vacancies, asked if I was still interested, and asked for an updated resume and letter of interest.

▶ 6:12 Speaker 1: And of course I was still interested,

▶ 6:14 Speaker 2: so submitted both of those. And that is how that process pulled it out for me.

▶ 6:21 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: Perseverance pays off. So was this vacancy posted, or how would people know that it existed? And did you get lots of applications, or was it sort of you keep people in mind when someone cycles off?

▶ 6:34 Gail Infurna: I'm not sure actually offhand if it was posted because it does go through the planning office. And Denise Gaffey, our planning director, she vets all the applicants. That most of the time it's by word of mouth and I think they keep names on file like they did with Juliana. And when an opportunity comes up, they reach out to that. We also have been putting things like for the conservation commission and whatnot through our blog, we've been putting some things out there, and I think we did a little press release on that, but it's pending whether they have some applicants already on file that have showed interest and have been waiting for a position.

▶ 7:12 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: That makes sense. I do hope and encourage you and then our next mayor to keep thinking about ways to make sure that we're publicizing and making people aware of these types of opportunities, particularly for a board like this, which I think is critically important. There are a couple obviously pretty big developments that have been proposed that may go through this body that a lot of people in the community are interested in. And so we wanna make sure that they have a lot of confidence in the people who are gonna be representing them. So you'll have presumably some important responsibilities and role to play shortly. So thank you. We have a motion made and Julie seconded recommend for passage all in favor all right any opposed all right so we will

▶ 8:01 Speaker 5: write make this recommendation to the full board at its next meeting and you

▶ 8:03 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: don't need to attend that meeting and if you have any questions you can follow up

▶ 8:08 Speaker 5: with miss foot thank you so much for coming tonight thank you very much for