Appointment of Elizabeth Moroney, 52 Batchelder Street, Melrose to the Commission on Women. Ms. Moroney will finish out the remainder of Regina Gibbons' three-year term, said term to expire the last day of February 2028. (ID# 12967)

Transcript (~5 min @ 18:44)

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▶ 18:42 Jen Grigoraitis: Uh, we have one item on our agenda tonight. It is, uh, a new appointment. The item is the appointment of Elizabeth Maroney, 52 Batch Elder Street, Melrose, to the Commission on Women. Ms. Maroney will finish out the remainder of Regina Gibbons three year terms said to term to expire the last day of February, 2028. I believe the Mayor and Ms. Maroney are here for the appointment. If you would, please, uh, join us at the table, and we'd love, uh, to hear from you. And the floor is yours. Good evening, Madam Chair and Committee members. Thank you for having us this evening. I'm pleased to present you for consideration with Elizabeth Maroney to join the Women's Commission. Um, as you can see in your packet, Ms. Maroney, um, recently retired from a, um, career in, uh, the public sector, including working, um, at, on policy issues at the state level, and then most recently working in public sector banking. Um, and her retirement has meant that she has more time to give to her community. And so she had expressed interest in serving on a border commission, and so I'm grateful to have her here tonight for your consideration.

▶ 19:51 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you. Um, and Ms. Marney, would you like to say a few words before we ask any questions? Um,

▶ 19:55 Speaker 6: Absolutely. Thank you very much, Madam Chair and members of the committee. It's, um, an honor to be here and to be, uh, uh, for the mayor to, um, appoint me to the Women's Commission is certainly, um, uh, equality and equity and participation at all levels of, um, the city government in the city itself is very close to my heart. Um, certainly when I was at the State House, I was chief of staff to, uh, state senator for many years, worked on a number of, um, women's issues, what would be considered women's issues back in the day. And then the last 20 years I was, I worked for Bank of America where I was, um, uh, in public sector banking. One of my roles, um, was I was a board member for, uh, women Boston Women in Public Finance. Um, it, again, just any place, uh, where there are decisions being made, that's where women ought to be. And I, I really look forward to working, uh, with the rest of the commission in, in helping to do that.

▶ 20:57 Manjula Karamcheti: Thank you so much for that. Uh, do any of my colleagues have any questions or comments? Uh, vice Chair Caram, jd. Hi. Thank you so much for being here. I mean, it was really exciting to see that you were interested in being on the Women's Commission. Um, and your background and expertise are just really impressive. It's an interesting time to be a woman. Indeed. And so, you know, we're a local focus here, but I guess I would just be super interested in like, what would you would like, like to see for the women of Melrose?

▶ 21:31 Speaker 3: Um, and you don't, I'm not looking for anything specific, just No, no.

▶ 21:35 Speaker 6: I, I think overall, just what I was saying in my opening remarks was any place where decisions are being made, you know, there needs to be participation from everybody, not just women, but, uh, of everybody that's part of the community. And, um, I know a little bit firsthand about seeing, you know, over the years, uh, as, as the mayor said, I have retired recently, you know, when I first started out. Congratulations, by the way. Oh, thank You. I Look forward to that day. It's great. It's great. Um, I will say, you know, when I was first working at the State House, it was very unusual. I mean, there were women and there were women elected and in power, but not like, you see it now where you have women governor and women Attorney General, and, and, uh, everybody else that represents us. And same thing in banking, you know, um, certainly women work in banking and work in middle management, but it, you know, as, as you go higher up the level you don't see as, as, um, uh, you don't see it as much. And I just wanna continue to find opportunities for women to participate at all levels and throughout the city, wherever the women are interested in participating. Um, if we can help them find opportunities to do that, I think that would be fantastic.

▶ 22:49 Manjula Karamcheti: Well, I'm very excited for you to join the team here in Melrose. Thank you so much. Um, if my colleagues don't have questions, I'd make a motion to recommend. Second.

▶ 22:59 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you. So we have a motion, uh, to recommend, uh, from Vice Chair Carm Shady and a second by Councillor Occhio. Uh, anybody else on discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? So, that will, uh, pass and go to the full council with a recommendation for a passage. Thank you so much for coming and volunteering your time and, uh, expertise.

▶ 23:21 Speaker 6: Thank, thank you very much to all of you. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

▶ 23:24 Kimberly Vandiver: Thank you. Have a great night. Uh, that it concludes our business here today. Uh, I will now motion by unanimous consent to adjourn. Seeing no objections, we are adjourned.