ORDER-2018-115 : A Resolution honoring Mayor Robert J. Dolan for his service to the City of Melrose.

Transcript (~12 min @ 4:53)

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▶ 4:52 Speaker 3: order number 2018-115 a resolution honoring mayor robert j dolan for his service to the city of

▶ 5:00 Peter D. Mortimer: melrose madam president i request immediate consideration on this order alderman mortimer

▶ 5:06 Gail Infurna: is asking for immediate consideration do i hear any objections hearing none alderman mortimer

▶ 5:11 Peter D. Mortimer: Motion to suspend the rules.

▶ 5:13 Gail Infurna: Alderman Mortimer is asking to suspend the rules.

▶ 5:16 Speaker 4: Second. Second by Alderman Zwirko.

▶ 5:17 Gail Infurna: All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed? The rules have been suspended.

▶ 5:23 Peter D. Mortimer: Alderman Mortimer. May I approach the podium to present this resolution?

▶ 5:26 Gail Infurna: Absolutely. And I see his honor, the mayor is in the chambers this evening. Please come to the podium.

▶ 5:42 Peter D. Mortimer: Thank you, Madam President, Mayor Dolan, members of the Board of Aldermen, and people in attendance here in the gallery.

▶ 5:59 Peter D. Mortimer: long strange trip it's been when we started with mayor Dolan back in 2001 he won the election by one vote on the first go-round everybody in the city claims they were that one vote that got him in but then on the recount he had won by ten votes the city was in trouble wasn't was in big trouble we were closing fire stations two fire stations had closed we were closing stores downtown the ward that I represent among other parts of it had vacant storefronts

▶ 6:35 Peter D. Mortimer: all over the place our bond rating was quite low in the in the low B's almost a C today it's a double A plus it's just it's just been amazing the things that mayor Dolan has been able to accomplish with this city on his own volition and

▶ 6:55 Peter D. Mortimer: also he has the amazing talent he got an MBA MPA degree master of public administration and he used it well some of this is in the resolution but I want to call attention to it previous to reading the resolution he used it well

▶ 7:16 Peter D. Mortimer: because part of it is how to handle the situations but part of it is to be able to attract and retain amazing talent and he's done that his staff has been great he's no known how to work with the alderman we've all worked very well together over the past 16 years and the result is evident the property values and Melrose are off the charts. As mentioned, our bond rating is fantastic. People love to live in Melrose. We're always mentioned in national and local publications as one of the best cities around, if not the best city around, bang for the buck, et cetera, et cetera. But I'll proceed now to the resolution. And this is a resolution honoring Mayor Robert

▶ 8:03 Peter D. Mortimer: jay dolan for his 24 years of service to the city of melrose that includes four on the school committee four on the board of aldermen including a stint as president you can see his picture up there on the wall look what public service has done to him he was he was a handsome young man i'm sure the camera's uh zeroed in on that picture now that's my first day as mayor oh is it yeah

▶ 8:26 Speaker 5: That picture was taken my first day as mayor.

▶ 8:31 Peter D. Mortimer: That's right, because you were president of the board in 2001 when you got elected. So that's the same picture you had when you started as mayor. There's the before and after. There's some other pictures up there, too, that don't do us justice, I think. I don't know. So this is a resolution offered by the Board of Aldermen, and it begins in this manner whereas Robert J Dolan graduated from Melrose

▶ 9:03 Peter D. Mortimer: High School in 1989 where he was a member of the band and played on the

▶ 9:13 Peter D. Mortimer: varsity yeah the bandy he was on the band and played on the varsity basketball team that was inducted into the Melrose Hall of Fame the Melrose High School Hall of Fame in 2013, and a few other people in Melrose, a couple of Melrose police officers, Sergeant Byrne and Officer Green were members of that team as well, and now it's in the Hall of Fame. And whereas Robert J. Dolan graduated from Fordham University in 1993, and in 1998 earned

▶ 9:52 Peter D. Mortimer: a Master of Public Administration degree from Northeastern University and went on to apply that knowledge to an impressive career in service to elderly and disabled clients, including being a supervisor of case management for Chelsea, Revere, and Winthrop Elder Services and Housing and Community Service Director at East Boston Neighborhood Health Center. In 1999, he became the Assistant Executive Director at Parkside Corporation, a private development firm specializing in assisted living and retirement community development. And whereas Robert J. Dolan served on the Melrose School Committee from 1994 until 1998, that's that's the that's that's the real service because then if they don't get anything they I mean we get we get peanuts we alderman get peanuts but they get the shells really that that's that's what a way to start on the school committee and then back to the school committee as mayor and then the new charter it all comes full circle doesn't it from 1994 until 1998 and also served on the Melrose Board of Aldermen from 1998 until 2002, serving as president in 2001, and whereas Robert J. Dolan was elected mayor of Melrose in November of 2001 and began his service in January of 2002, a time when Melrose was in dire straits, and whereas Robert J. Dolan overcame numerous obstacles and struggles to put melrose back on the right track including but certainly not limited to advocating for the campaign to persuade the voters to finance the building of a new middle school and overseeing its construction the implementation of a municipal ambulance service and many other initiatives and accomplishments that took melrose from those aforementioned dire circumstances to a city that is consistently being highly rated in numerous publications locally and nationwide with excellent property values and the best bond rating Melrose has ever enjoyed. Therefore, be it resolved that we, the members of the Board of Aldermen, thank Mayor Robert J. Dolan for his commendable and invaluable leadership, and therefore be it further resolved that on this 16th day of January, in the year of our Lord, 2018, that this resolution signed by each of the members of the Board of Aldermen be spread upon the records of the Melrose Board of Aldermen, and that a special copy thereof be prepared and presented to Mayor Robert J. Dolan. Thank you.

▶ 13:01 Speaker 5: So this is it, I guess. This stuff makes you incredibly uncomfortable. You wouldn't think it would after all this time, but it does, because with all legitimacy,

▶ 13:12 Speaker 6: I've had an incredible team.

▶ 13:13 Speaker 7: I mean, Mary Rita, who's retiring with me, right?

▶ 13:17 Speaker 6: And Amy, who's incredible.

▶ 13:18 Speaker 5: One of the best hires I've ever been, well, you actually, you deserve credit for this one,

▶ 13:25 Speaker 7: right, incredible.

▶ 13:25 Speaker 6: And the people who work for me, my team,

▶ 13:27 Speaker 7: they're my family, and I love them. And I love the people of the city, right?

▶ 13:35 Speaker 6: And it's fitting that Jerry is here,

▶ 13:37 Speaker 5: because we've done this for so long and I even appreciate everything you've done

▶ 13:42 Speaker 7: in the community.

▶ 13:44 Speaker 6: So I think a few things.

▶ 13:48 Speaker 7: I don't wanna be sad even though this is a very sad, very difficult time for me because this has been my life, my whole life for a long time, right?

▶ 13:54 Speaker 6: And it started before with my father who we both sat in that chair. So it's 24 years for me, but it's 35 years for my family

▶ 14:02 Speaker 7: that have served the city for 35 years, right? And that's been all the connecting, the connection in my family has been this city and trying to improve it the

▶ 14:10 Speaker 6: best we can a couple things I think this is one of the best a boat of all the

▶ 14:12 Speaker 7: ones we've ever had right so I will go to bed at night every night as a citizen

▶ 14:17 Speaker 7: knowing that you will do an awesome job and you will do an awesome job

▶ 14:21 Speaker 6: incredible incredible group of people and we're very lucky because at the MMA this week I'll talk to a group of mayors that will sit there for hours talking

▶ 14:30 Speaker 6: about awful their city council is and I'm always like well I don't understand that right not because you may support me because you're all really incredibly

▶ 14:37 Speaker 5: good people who are here all each one of you for the right reasons the school

▶ 14:40 Speaker 6: committee same thing we're very blessed in this community to have have

▶ 14:47 Speaker 5: incredibly people good people of pure heart they want to do the best they can

▶ 14:51 Speaker 6: people can disagree with you but they can't question why you're here secondly I am totally at peace that my good friend Gail Infurna is going to be the

▶ 14:59 Speaker 5: Mary Melrose she is a she is a giver in a in someone who was born in her

▶ 15:03 Speaker 6: professional life to care for people and at the heart of the matter you can sit here and look at budgets all day long but at the core of my job you have to

▶ 15:16 Speaker 7: care and want to help people and heal them if they need to be healed and help

▶ 15:21 Speaker 6: them if they need to be helped that's at the core of my job and that's what she

▶ 15:24 Speaker 5: does for a living and on Friday will be her last day as a nurse after X amount

▶ 15:34 Speaker 6: years right so that's great too and so at the end of the day I would just like

▶ 15:39 Speaker 7: to say this I am a parent of a third grader and a seventh grader so I'll be here and helping the community as any way in which the people feel that I can

▶ 15:48 Speaker 6: be helpful I am NOT going to be the person that is is is is looking at what

▶ 15:53 Speaker 7: everyone is doing and seeing how I would do better my job is to be helpful for

▶ 15:59 Speaker 6: the rest of my life to be helpful to each one of you into the new mayor and I would finally say this for anything that I've given to the community the people

▶ 16:09 Speaker 5: of Melrose have given me back a hundredfold I have loved this ride I was

▶ 16:11 Speaker 6: able to live a dream at a very young age and it was because of the people and we

▶ 16:18 Speaker 7: left it in a pretty good spot and I know you bring it to another level so thank you for your service and if you need my help I'll be the first one in line thank

▶ 16:36 Peter D. Mortimer: you very much expecting the mayor to come down for public participation and

▶ 16:39 Gail Infurna: remember mayor Dolan no matter where you roam Melrose will always be your home that's a nice sign down at Buckelews Alderman Mortimer have a motion motion

▶ 17:03 Peter D. Mortimer: to place the order on file madam president second Alderman Mortimer

▶ 17:08 Gail Infurna: makes a motion to place on file second by Alderman Zwirko all those in favor