ORDER-2019-41 : Appointment of Josh Robbins, 18 Albion St., to the Human Rights Commission for a three-year term; said term to end on the last day of February 2022.

Transcript (~7 min @ 15:19)

Speakers identified by voice; unnamed voices are numbered within this recording. Auto-caption text — verify against the video.

▶ 15:10 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: motion to close public comment made by alderman Mortimer seconded by vice Chair Boisselle all in favor aye any opposed public comment is now closed the first order before us tonight is order 2019-41 the appointment of Josh Robbins 18 Albion Street to the Human Rights Commission for a three-year term said term to end on the last day of February 2022 motion to suspend the rules that we

▶ 15:36 Peter D. Mortimer: may hear from the applicant and the chair are you the chair of the Human Rights Commission the chair of the Human Rights Commission vice chair of the

▶ 15:46 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: Human Rights Commission we have a motion to suspend the rules made by alderman Mortimer seconded by vice chair Boisselle all in favor aye thank you for joining us tonight I'd be happy to hear a few comments from you and then my colleagues

▶ 16:00 Maya Jamaleddine: may have some questions good evening I would like to start with thanking our former Commissioner Ellen rooster um for her service and hard work and all what she has done for the Human Rights Commission and the Morris community after her leave we had two excellent candidates who volunteered in different events and occasions however after the revision and deliberation by the Commission recruitment committee we put forward mr. Robbins as the candidate mr. Robbins heavily assisted our Commission in organizing and planning for our budget to be able to have funding for the rest of our events mr robbins tirelessly participated in all our events and meetings and has proven over the past months that he is a great candidate for this position after deliberation the commission anonymously voted to recommend his nomination for the mayor and we ask that the committee vote to advance mr robbins nomination to the full board

▶ 17:09 Speaker 6: for approval thank you thank you thank you all for for having me here today and thank you for the the nice words um my name is josh robbins uh i have been in melrose for about seven years i currently work in the financial services industry my children two daughters are seven and four at the ecc franklin school as well as the roosevelt at the roosevelt i am a member of of the PTO Board, currently their treasurer, active in that role. And I have been an associate commissioner for the Human Rights Commission for I don't know how long. I've been participating for about a year now. So thank you for your consideration, and I'm happy to answer any questions.

▶ 18:16 John N. Tramontozzi: Alderman Tramontozzi. Well I want to say thank you Mr. Robbins for stepping forward and I certainly will support this nomination for the position and I thank another Ward 1 resident stepping forward and bringing their talents to the city and this capacity so thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you.

▶ 18:24 Speaker 7: Alderman Medeiros.

▶ 18:26 Monica C. Medeiros: Thank you. I'll defer to President Lemmerman. Okay.

▶ 18:29 Speaker 1: Thank you. Thank you.

▶ 18:33 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: I just actually would like to echo just Alderman Tram and Tozzi's and say thank you so much for being willing to step up for this position.

▶ 18:36 Speaker 6: I've had the opportunity to chat with Mr. Robbins before and hear a little bit, you

▶ 18:42 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: know, about his community involvement and thoughts in the city and have appreciated your dedication. Didn't know about the school as well as clearly dedicated to the commission as an associate member for a while now. thank you and also thank you to the Commission as a whole for all the work

▶ 19:00 Monica C. Medeiros: that you do thank you thank you thank you very much I was wondering if you could just talk a little bit about your background and about any goals you might have or agenda that you feel you would bring to the Commission yeah thanks for

▶ 19:14 Speaker 6: the question you know if you had asked me that about a year ago when I applied for the role I might have had a slightly different answer but I've had the privilege of working with all the commissioners for about a year now and really got a sense of what it is that they do what the varying members of the Commission are focused on what their agendas are and what what they're targeting and you know really with my background I've been in finance financial services strategy roles what what I found is is probably my best opportunity to support the Commission is really around helping us figure out how we do more as a commission how do we grow how do we expand our impact in this community how do we increase the the opportunities that we have to connect operationally with the budget work so that's been primarily my focus Thorp Thorp definitely some things as we as we are able to expand those opportunities that I might want to address but right now that's been been my primary focus I was nominated as treasurer of the Human Rights Commission as well so you know being able to support us there and try and expand that

▶ 20:29 Monica C. Medeiros: role a little bit thank you nice to hear that and it's thank you for your work especially I'll also say on the PTO as the treasurer because I know that that's always a role that people are looking to fill and not everybody is you know interested in doing that so it's nice to see a committee that's made up of many

▶ 20:48 Speaker 7: parts that support each other thank you Alderman Bewtra thank you on thanks for

▶ 20:50 Manisha Bewtra: coming tonight and thanks for applying for the Human Rights Commission and for your active community involvement I'm really excited to you know maintain a good link between our local PTO s and the Human Rights Commission so I hope bring that lens to your work there. I just wanted to know if you could touch a little bit more on, I know it's obviously in your cover letter, but why the Human Rights Commission?

▶ 21:22 Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, the short answer is I felt I could do more. I had friends on the Human Rights Commission when the opportunity arose and positions opened up. I wasn't aware of the Human Rights Commission, and it resonated with me, and I felt that it was a great opportunity for me to add more to this community so that was really my motivation at the time to see what I could do and you know expand my horizons and make sure that we were one community open for all to the best of my ability great thank you any

▶ 21:58 Kate Lipper-Garabedian: other aldermen second you have a motion to recommend me by alderman trim and Tosi seconded by Alderman Mortimer on discussion all in favor aye opposed thank you this motion carries we will refer this recommend this to the full board at our next meeting and you don't need to be there for that meeting but we really appreciate your time and your commitment to serving Melrose thank you