ORDER-2018-140 : Appointment of Karen Burke as Veterans Services District Director effective February 19, 2018

Transcript (~6 min @ 17:53)

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

▶ 17:50 Peter D. Mortimer: and the first and only order we have before us this evening is order two zero one eight dash one four zero is the appointment of Karen Burke as veteran service district director effective February 19th 2018 motion to suspend the rules so we can bring up mayor Inferno and miss Burke

▶ 18:12 Peter D. Mortimer: second we have a motion to suspend the rules that we might hear from mayor Inferno and the candidate for the position previously read seconded by alderman boycelle all in favor of said suspension please say aye aye any opposed hearing none we are under suspension your honor ms burke would you

▶ 18:39 Gail Infurna: please come forward it's a pleasure to be here it's a pleasure to be on this side of the table and a pleasure to be here tonight to introduce lieutenant colonel karen burke um karen may be familiar a familiar face to some of you as she has been a veteran service office for the past two years as part of our regional office working in Wakefield and I am excited that she has accepted the position of regional veteran service officer as she is a qualified and already has worked with many of us here at City Hall Karen has received her bachelor's of science in nursing another two-pointer from one nurse to another from Villanova University and a master's in health sciences emergency and disaster management from Trident University and graduating summa cum laude if you look at her resume you will see that she has since started out as a clinical nurse in 1995 she has always been eager to take on more and higher responsibilities including managing a clinic that directly supported the president of the United States she has handled the logistics of closing down an inpatient unit investigating HIPAA violations and led a patient safety program during her time in Wakefield she increased the number of beneficiaries served by 25% assisted veterans with their claims and worked with the Wakefield veterans Advisory Board to plan events and support veterans in the community she is she is an experienced manager and quite capable of handling the bigger duties of the Melrose office and I respectfully request that you approve her appointment as Director of the Melrose-Wakefield Saugus Veterans Service Office.

▶ 20:18 Peter D. Mortimer: Thank you, Mayor. Ms. Burke, would you like to say something before we proceed?

▶ 20:23 Speaker 3: Thank you for this opportunity. I look forward to being within Melrose now. It's been a pleasure to be the VSO in Wakefield, and I look forward to being able to bring some of those same services to Melrose and serve your veterans here in the city. I live close by, so Melrose feels like home. We walk to downtown and enjoy all that Melrose has to offer, so I look forward to this opportunity.

▶ 20:43 Peter D. Mortimer: thank you very much for that any alderman wishing to be heard we'll start with members of the committee and first I saw alderman Medeiros please followed

▶ 20:56 Monica C. Medeiros: by alderman Lemmerman thank you I just want to say thank you and early congratulations but it will be my pleasure to vote for you this evening I've had the opportunity to work with miss Burke when needed with some issues had come up with my father who was a veteran and really appreciate your guidance and support and it's nice it's nice to be able to know that there are people that we can reach out to when there are you know times of need and to have such uh responsiveness and support is is very well

▶ 21:33 Peter D. Mortimer: appreciated so i'll say thank you thank you alderman Medeiros alderman Lemmerman followed

▶ 21:36 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: by alderman forbes thank you mr chair um i would uh like to just echo uh alderman Medeiros sentiments and say thank you thank you for your service um thank you for your service to the city we heard in the last committee meeting some of the critical services that you're providing um in your position so we appreciate it it's it's um it's absolutely critical to the community that these services are being and your resume speaks for itself so thank you thank you thank you alderman

▶ 22:05 Scott M. Forbes: levelman alderman forbes please i guess third time's a charm uh i know we met at the uh veterans advisory board meeting um melrose one of those communities that leads from the front when it comes to veteran services i think you're going to fit right in uh you did outstanding work for the community in wakefield and we look forward to see you know how everything works out here in the city of melrose but uh definitely uh looking forward to uh to working with you so so thank you very much congratulations thank you thank you alderman forbes alderman Tramontozzi please

▶ 22:29 John N. Tramontozzi: Just a quick question, and then thank you for your service, and thank you for coming on board. Now, with your responsibilities as the Regional Veteran Service Officer, what happens with Wakefield and Saugus? Is there an assistant that's going to be appointed?

▶ 22:44 Speaker 3: Yes, we're in the process of hiring one for Wakefield. We've hired somebody in Saugus that we are in the process of training. So right now, you'll see me running around all three communities because I'm in for all three, but we have a good path to getting back to full staffing.

▶ 22:59 John N. Tramontozzi: Oh, good. All right, great. We certainly don't want to leave the other communities without any kind of representation, but we're pleased to have you here to be the front person for all of us. Thank you.

▶ 23:13 Peter D. Mortimer: Thank you, Alderman Tramontozzi. I'm seeing the end of the informal committee-based discussion. Is there a motion, please?

▶ 23:20 Speaker 3: Motion to recommend for passage. Second.

▶ 23:21 Peter D. Mortimer: We have a motion to recommend for passage from Alderman Medeiros, duly seconded by Alderman Forbes. I'm seeing no further discussion. all in favor of recommending this order for passage to the full board later tonight there probably will be a motion that will be taken from committee please say aye aye aye any opposed hearing none this order will be recommended to the full board for passage it's on our agenda to