ORDER-2022-86 : Appointment of Linda Apple, 87 Crescent Ave, to the Melrose Human Rights Commission for a term to expire on the last day of February 2025.

Transcript (~7 min @ 39:20)

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▶ 38:56 Jen Grigoraitis: the distance i don't think anyone's looking to speak in here do we have anyone mr clerk virtually we do not have anyone we do not so we have no one looking to speak in public comment so i will move by unanimous consent to close public comment seeing no objection public comment is now closed we have five orders before us tonight and we do have one order that involves a member of the public seeking appointment to a commission so i would entertain a motion to take order 2022-86 out of order so that we can hear from ms apple and mr mayor broder

▶ 39:33 Jen Grigoraitis: motion to move 2022-86 out of order second so we have a motion made by president senella seconded by councillor eccles to take order 2022-86 out of order all in favor aye any opposed okay the order carries so now before us is order 2022-86 appointment of linda apple 87 crescent ave to the melrose human rights commission for a term to expire on the last day of february 2025. mayor broderham is apple if you want to approach and while they're getting settled if i could have a motion to suspend uh the rules motion to suspend the rules so we have a motion to suspend the rules made by councillor williams seconded by councillor Jamaleddine all in favor aye any opposed okay the

▶ 40:14 Paul Brodeur: rules are now suspended mayor broder thank you madam chair members of the committee um miss apple is someone i have known for gosh almost probably about 19 or 20 years she has been in melrose for around that amount of time she has raised two kids with her husband tom that are both proud graduates of melrose high i've hope i'm not being too redundant here um she has spent 25 years really as a what i would call a community engagement leader and volunteer deeply committed to the idea of diversity equity inclusion and access in her in a recent job she was a leader at the Museum of Fine Arts where she created access and inclusive opportunities for BIPOC community members who historically had felt unwelcome or marginalized at the museum and also grew and diversified their volunteer opportunities at the museum across a really a range of ages as a Melrose resident I'm you probably can sense I've known I've known Linda and Tom for for a long time so I have a great deal of familiarity with with what animates them what makes them who they are what is important to them as members of the community and I can tell you with great confidence that Linda has been involved in many things I think the first thing I saw Linda involved in was fundraising for new playground at the daycare that our kids attended many years ago that playground is still is still going strong and Linda from you it really kind of took off from there she is active um in her temples she is active with melrose together and she is committed to standing up for injustice and i think that is what makes her uh an outstanding candidate for the human rights commission and i offer her for your

▶ 42:17 Speaker 2: consideration thank you mayor broder ms apple is there anything you wanted to add i just want to thank um mayor broder for nominating me and um you know i'm honored to be here um as as paul said i've been very involved in the community for we've lived here for almost 22 years and right out of the gate i started to get involved i'm the kind of person who who raises my hand and i volunteer for almost anything but i do love melrose and i do want to make it a more inclusive community and and I really want to help the Melrose Human Rights Commission to flourish and to grow and to expand and think about maybe different kinds of things that we can do in the community, new events or new ways to partner with other organizations in the city and perhaps the schools. I wish Charlie Herrick was still here because he really inspired me. He was one of the founders of the Melrose Human Rights Commission and um he's very um inspirational to to me and to members of our uh temple of bathshalom community um and so i you know i just really admire what he's done and what the commission has done i would like to continue that work and help to expand thank you thank you counselor stewart

▶ 43:36 Robb Stewart: thank you madam chair madam chair i just wanted to share a couple of words i've known ms apple for many years now and she's just i think a wonderful candidate for this position uh and look forward to supporting her on this um and uh and hope that everyone else will too as well thank you any other

▶ 43:52 Jen Grigoraitis: counselors uh counselor migliarelli vice chairman thank you madam chair thank you miss apple for

▶ 43:57 Leila Migliorelli: being here tonight and for putting your name forward to volunteer for this position um having served on the human rights commission as to my other former two other counselors who also did as well um we know it's such a great group and such a big part of the fabric of melrose and i know that right now they're you know down a few commission members so it'll be great to have some more people people such as you with your background as part of the commission i just wondered if you could talk a little bit about some of the you mentioned some of the strategies that you use to engage diverse communities bipoc communities in your work at the mfa are you are there any particular strategies or activities or programs that you think might be applicable to your work

▶ 44:45 Speaker 2: here in the human rights commission yeah um thanks for the question i think one of the things that made us so successful at the mfa was the the partnerships the relationships that we built over time with community organizations throughout the city of boston and beyond and i think you know thinking about that here in melrose we have so many amazing organizations non-profits arts organizations educational organizations that i think we could probably do a better job of partnering with and really leveraging those the strengths that all those people and volunteers bring to think about sort of new ways to kind of expand and develop some new programming for the city so i hope that answers your question thank you i think it's about relationships and um that is i think a real strength of mine that i would bring to the position thank you any other

▶ 45:44 Jack Eccles: counselors wishing to speak counselor eccles i'd like him to make a motion to recommend this order

▶ 45:49 Jen Grigoraitis: for passage second so we have a motion to recommend made by counselor eccles seconded by counselor stewart all in favor aye any opposed the motion carries congratulations ms apple this will go before the full council at our next meeting thank you thank you all very much thank you mayor broder okay moving back mayor broder i think you can stay seated going back in order to our next order is order 2022-87 an appropriation from free cash account 01-324-001 in the amount of thirty thousand dollars to mayor professional services 011212-529000 to fund a professional services agreement with municipal resources inc for police chief recruitment still under suspension