APPT-2024-7 : Appointment of Darren Brown, 43 School Street, to the Historical Commission for a term to expire on the last day of February 2026

Transcript (~6 min @ 20:40)

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▶ 20:38 Speaker 1: we have one more appointment you can go.

▶ 20:41 Manjula Karamcheti: This is appointment 2024 dash seven, the appointment of Darren Brown, 43 School Street, also to the historical commission for a term to expire on the last day of February, 2026. And we are still,

▶ 20:58 Manjula Karamcheti: still under the suspension of the rules. So, mayor Broder, when you are ready, please go ahead and introduce this candidate.

▶ 21:06 Paul Brodeur: I am ready. And this is not a reflection on a lack of support for Darren, it's just, uh, it's the way it is. I think the, the c o a van might be leaving and no, no one, we don't leave anyone, uh, behind. So, um, Mr. Brown, Darren Brown comes to you again, if you had an opportunity to, uh, review his resume with a real, um, cornucopia of very direct experience in the type of work that the historic commission does. None of it in Melrose, which is okay. But this is also a, a, a man who's, uh, a community member who's been active in, um, sports and other community activities. So he certainly, certainly knows the, uh, the community, but, um, I don't really, and Darren, I'm gonna rely on you a little bit to, to talk about this, because I honestly don't know what I would pick out to highlight for you all because the, again, the extensive nature of, of what he's done in terms of, um, activities, particularly, particularly in Beverly, um, but really an extensive array of community-based commun, you know, municipal level experience around, um, historic and cultural, um, education and presentation. So, um, without much further ado, I think let's hear from the expert instead of from me.

▶ 22:43 Speaker 2: Alright, well, thank you very much. And, uh, thank you everyone for, uh, the opportunity to, uh, come tonight and speak. I've spent the past quarter century, uh, working in the historical field. I have, uh, spent both time, both in the, um, in the city government section, um, having previously served for a decade on the historical commission in SGAs. And I did that, um, up until up up until I had kids. And then we wound up moving to, uh, Melrose. So I've been, um, you know, aware of the Melrose Historical Commission and what they do. Um, pretty much for the past 13 years, I've also, um, spent, um, a great amount of time working in the museum field as a historian, as well as a museum curator. Um, the place I spent the longest time was in Beverly, but I've also worked for, um, other non-profits as well as for the National Park Service. I'm very passionate about, um, public history, getting out there, hitting the street, um, informing people about what their neighborhood is about, tell them a history of what's in their backyard. And it just doesn't have to be something that took place 250 years ago. It could be something that took place last week. It's all history. And that's the thing, is getting people to be proud of where they live, be proud of what happened, where they live, be proud of who was here before them, and feel the same way about the history that they're making every single day. So that's just why I wanna get involved. I think I have a lot to offer. And thank you for, uh, listening to

▶ 24:30 Speaker 1: Questions. Go ahead, councilor Williams. Thank

▶ 24:32 Ryan Williams: You. Um, I was looking over your, your interests. Yeah. Which were great. Substantial. And one thing really jumped out at me. You had some experience doing walking tours of historic mm-hmm. Or creating the framework for walking tours of historical locations. It's just, I think this is tremendous. And, um, I would ask that you stick around a little bit after your vote here. We're gonna adjourn, and I want to catch up with you a little bit more about some of the ways that I think different groups of the city can collaborate together. Mm-hmm. On that. I think that doing that would be a tremendous thing for the city to do. And, and we could do it pretty easily too. We have the resources and then the volunteers available in different parts of the town. So, that's all I wanted to say. Thank you very much. And Catch up with me later. Yep. No, I, I was gonna say, and actually I've, um, I mean, like, if, you know, created and implemented, uh, walking tours, running tours, which are pretty interesting because, you know, you have to be able to, you know, talk while on the go mm-hmm. As well as, uh,

▶ 25:31 Speaker 2: yeah, I'm out on that. No, I was gonna say, they are fun. They are fun. And, um, but also, uh, like bike tours and, uh, something like, that's good because especially like when you think of, uh, a place like Melrose and like the, just like the geographic size of it, if you wanna be talking about like, all these different neighborhoods and all these different places, I mean, sometimes, I mean, the only way you can actually do it in a, like a decent amount of time is by, by car. But if everyone's willing to, you know, hop on a bike, you can just as easily hit all these different neighborhoods, tell all these stories, and, um, yeah, that's something I'd definitely be interested in talking about, so.

▶ 26:11 Speaker 2: Awesome. Thank you. Yeah,

▶ 26:13 Speaker 1: No problem. Any other questions, counselors?

▶ 26:17 Speaker 5: Councillor Stewart?

▶ 26:18 Speaker 4: Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, and once again,

▶ 26:22 Robb Stewart: given the clear qualifications of Mr. Brown, I'll make a, a motion to recommend to the full council.

▶ 26:28 Speaker 1: Okay. We have a motion to recommend for passage. Second, uh,

▶ 26:32 Manjula Karamcheti: recommended by Councillor Stewart, seconded by Councillor Williams. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. Well, this motion carries. Thank you so much for being here tonight, Mr. Brown. And this appointment will be moved to full council. Great. Thank you.

▶ 26:52 Manjula Karamcheti: Alright, the last thing on our agenda, uh, we have an information item. This is info 2024 dash one that this city council order, the Director of Health and Human Services to appear before us, pursuant to Section 2.7 B of the Melrose City Charter, to provide information relative to public health inspections. This was sponsored by Councillor McMaster. Unfortunately, the Director of Health and Human Services will not able to join us tonight, but is more than willing to come another evening when h e w is meeting. So, I will entertain a motion, uh, to hold this in. Committee then