← City Council · 2026-01-12 · Organizational Meeting/City Council Meeting 1/12/26
Election of City Council President for 2026
Agenda original PDF
Minutes original PDF
C. (ID # 2026-5): Election of City Council President for 2026 William Bradley Freeman was duly elected City Council President for 2026 by the following procedure and vote result: RESULT: PASSED [UNANIMOUS] AYES: Jason Chen, Cal Finocchiaro, Bradley Freeman, Maya Jamaleddine, Manjula Karamcheti, Elizabeth Kowal, John Obremski, Christopher Park, Devin Romanul, Kim Vandiver, Ryan Williams NAYS: None Motion to formally open nominations for city council president made by Councilor Vandiver. Seconded by Councilor Romanul. Floor was opened for nominations. Motion to nominate William Bradley Freeman for President made by Councilor Jamaleddine. Seconded by Councilor Park. Councilor Freeman made a statement of interest for the presidency expressing that he is humbled to have the support of this council and looks forward to working with each of them to deliver results for Melrose. He is eager to learn from their expertise and will work collaboratively to represent all Melrosians and advancing their priorities. It is an exciting time for our city and we have a unique opportunity before us to responsibly build our collective future. Motion to Close nominations made by Councilor Finocchiaro. Seconded by Councilor Karamcheti. All were in favor and floor was closed for nominations. Roll call was taken with each councilor stating their nominee name. All voted for Councilor Freeman for President and he was duly elected the City Council President for 2026. City Clerk Cifuni administered the Oath of Office for City Council President for William Bradley Freeman. City Clerk Cifuni completed her time chairing the meeting and President Freeman began his role in chairing the remainder of this meeting.
Transcript
▶ 3:52 Speaker 1: Moving on to ID number 2, 2, 6, 5.
▶ 3:59 Speaker 1: Election of the city council president for 2026
▶ 4:02 Speaker 1: at a non-binding caucus held on December 1st, 2025 at 7:15 PM Councilor elect William Bradley Freeman was nominated, subsequently elected to the office of president for the city council for the year 2026. A binding vote is now required to formally elect the city council president for 2026. I am now going to ask if there are any motions now to formally open nominations for presidency.
▶ 4:33 Speaker 6: So moved. Second. Second.
▶ 4:39 Speaker 1: Motion by Council Vandiver. Seconded by Councilor Romanul.
▶ 4:46 Speaker 1: Okay. The floor is now open for nominations.
▶ 4:54 Maya Jamaleddine: Madam Clerk, I will nominate William Bradley for president.
▶ 5:00 Maya Jamaleddine: I'm sorry I didn't hear you. I will nominate William Bradley for Okay. For president.
▶ 5:06 Speaker 1: Okay. Councilor Jamal Dean has a nomination out there for
▶ 5:09 Speaker 2: Counselor Bradley Freeman.
▶ 5:16 Speaker 1: Second.
▶ 5:19 Maya Jamaleddine: I second what? I'm sorry, I miss said I missed William Bradley Freeman. Yes. I'm so sorry. That's okay. Bradley Freeman. Somebody should have stopped me. Sorry about this. I do apologize. That's Brad Freeman?
▶ 5:32 Speaker 1: Yep. Okay. And seconded by counselor?
▶ 5:36 Speaker 8: Yes, I second. Okay.
▶ 5:40 Speaker 4: Councillor Park. Okay. Sorry. Two here at the same time.
▶ 5:42 Speaker 1: Okay. So now any other nominations?
▶ 5:50 Speaker 2: Okay. Per Rule 57, the nominee is permitted
▶ 5:51 Speaker 1: to make a statement of interest for the presidency. We will ask Councillor Freeman to come on up. The floor is yours or you can stand right there.
▶ 6:01 Speaker 4: Whatever you feel more comfortable doing.
▶ 6:03 Bradley Freeman: Uh, thank you Councilor Jamal, Dean and Councillor Park for your nomination. I am humbled to earned the support of this council in December and look forward to working with each of you to deliver results for all of Melrose in this coming year. I am eager to learn from your experiences and expertise while working collaboratively to represent all Mel Rosens and advancing their interests and priorities before our city. It is an exciting time for our city and we have a unique opportunity before us to responsibly build our collective future. Thank you.
▶ 6:31 Speaker 1: Thank you.
▶ 6:37 Speaker 2: Okay. Now at this time I'll entertain a motion to close nominations.
▶ 6:42 Speaker 7: Make a motion to close nominations. Second. Okay.
▶ 6:48 Speaker 1: Motion to close by Councilor Ro and seconded by councilor Karen Chetty.
▶ 6:57 Speaker 5: All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye.
▶ 6:59 Speaker 1: Floor is now closed for nominations at this time,
▶ 7:04 Speaker 2: we'll now proceed with the election. The election will now take place by roll call vote.
▶ 7:08 Speaker 1: Each member must announce their choice for presidency and I will start with Counselor Chen. Adrian, you'll take it.
▶ 7:19 Speaker 1: Councilor Freeman. Counselor Occhio.
▶ 7:21 Speaker 7: Counselor Freeman. Counselor Freeman, councilor
▶ 7:26 Speaker 1: Freeman, Counselor Aldine.
▶ 7:28 Maya Jamaleddine: Counselor Freeman. Counselor Chetty.
▶ 7:33 Speaker 2: Counselor Freeman, counselor Calwell, counselor Freeman,
▶ 7:36 Speaker 1: counselor Reky,
▶ 7:37 Speaker 8: Counselor Freeman Counselor Park Counselor
▶ 7:42 Speaker 1: Freeman Counselor Romanul, counselor Freeman, counselor Vandiver, counselor Freeman And counselor William Williams. Councilor Freeman Council Freeman has been duly elected city council president for the 2026. That is definitely your quorum. Congratulations sir. We are very, very happy for you. You are now welcome to come up to, to the, um, the restroom.
▶ 8:07 Speaker 2: And you can, you can take over from here.
▶ 8:09 Speaker 1: I actually do wanna swear you in. So I have, um, I have something else, another, another swearing in just to be the President.
▶ 8:16 Speaker 2: So if you could just repeat after me real quickly, raise your right hand.
▶ 8:18 Speaker 1: I, William Bradley Freeman. I
▶ 8:21 Speaker 9: William Bradley Freeman. Do Solemnly swear, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully
▶ 8:24 Speaker 1: and impartially that I
▶ 8:26 Speaker 9: I'm faithfully and impartially Discharge and perform.
▶ 8:30 Speaker 1: Discharge and perform All the duties incumbent upon me,
▶ 8:31 Speaker 9: All the duties incumbent Upon me
▶ 8:33 Speaker 1: as President of the city council. As president Of The city Council for the city of Melrose. For
▶ 8:36 Speaker 9: The city of Melrose. According
▶ 8:37 Speaker 1: to the best of my ability and understanding according
▶ 8:40 Speaker 9: To the best of my ability and understanding the
▶ 8:42 Speaker 1: Laws, rules and regulations of the commonwealth,
▶ 8:45 Speaker 9: The laws, rules and regulations of the
▶ 8:47 Speaker 1: Commonwealth United States Constitution, the
▶ 8:48 Speaker 9: United States Constitution
▶ 8:50 Speaker 1: and ordinances of the city of Melrose
▶ 8:52 Speaker 9: And ordinances of the city of Melrose. So help me God. So help me God. I William Bradley Freeman, I William Bradley Freeman, do solemnly swear, do solemnly swear
▶ 8:59 Speaker 1: that I will bear true faith and allegiance, that I'll
▶ 9:01 Speaker 9: Bear true faith and Allegiance to the commonwealth
▶ 9:03 Speaker 1: of Massachusetts, to the
▶ 9:04 Speaker 9: Commonwealth of Massachusetts and will support the
▶ 9:05 Speaker 1: United States Constitution and
▶ 9:08 Speaker 9: Will support the United States Constitution. So help me God. So
▶ 9:11 Speaker 1: help me God, subscribe by me and sworn under penalties of perjury this 12th day of January, 2026. You are now officially the President of the City Council. Congratulations. Thank you very much. You can sign that.
▶ 9:27 Speaker 4: And this one as well.
▶ 9:36 Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Thank you very much. This one's for you. Wonderful.
▶ 9:42 Speaker 4: Okay, Lemme go and I'll take all my notes. Oh, these are yours. Sorry. I apologize. No problem. And this is yours. Thank you. This is mine. Okay. Would you like a chair?
▶ 9:54 Speaker 10: Okay, thank you. All right. Moving on with the agenda tonight.
▶ 9:57 Speaker 11: We're gonna do ID number 2 0 2 6 dash six. Do you,
▶ 10:00 Speaker 12: Do you wanna chair?