Health, Education & Welfare Committee — 2016-03-28

Health, Education & Welfare Committee Meeting

This meeting starts at 27:35 in a recording that covers several meetings.

Attendance

Robert A. Boisselle present · Vice Chairman; Donald L. Conn Jr. present · President/Ex-Officio Member; Scott M. Forbes present · Nonvoting Member; Gail Infurna present · Ward 5 Alderman; Jennifer L. Lemmerman present · Chairman; Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis present · Alderman at Large; Monica C. Medeiros present · Alderman at Large; Peter D. Mortimer present · Nonvoting Member; John N. Tramontozzi present · Nonvoting Member; Michael P. Zwirko present · Nonvoting Member

Agenda

Minutes

CITY OF MELROSE HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE COMMITTEE CALENDAR● MARCH 28, 2016 Aldermanic Chamber Committee Meeting 7:30 PM The public should take notice that the Melrose Board of Aldermen may, on certain occasions, have a quorum in attendance due to standing committees of the Board of Aldermen consisting of both voting and non-voting members. Members attending this duly posted meeting are participating and deliberating only in conjunction with the business of the standing committee. Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Jennifer L. Lemmerman Chairman Present Robert A. Boisselle Vice Chairman Present Monica C. Medeiros Alderman at Large Present Gail M. Infurna Ward 5 Alderman Present Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis Alderman at Large Present Donald L. Conn Jr. President/Ex-Officio Member Present Scott M. Forbes Nonvoting Member Present Peter D. Mortimer Nonvoting Member Present John N. Tramontozzi Nonvoting Member Present Michael P. Zwirko Nonvoting Member Present

ORDER-2016-131 Appointment Appointment of Mary Julie DeLillo, 13 Circuit St., to the Commission on Women for an initial term; said term to expire on the last day of February, 2018 Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen

ORDER-2016-129 Appointment Appointment of Jessica Joy Buster, 164 Derby Road, to the Commission on Women for an initial term, said term to expire on the last day of February 2017. Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen

ORDER-2016-130 Appointment Appointment of Gail Marcia Cass, 10 Sunset Road, to the Commission on Women for an initial term; said term to expire on the last day of February 2017. Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen

ORDER-2016-132 Appointment Appointment of Lorraine DiCesare, 61 Willow Street, to the Commission on Women for an initial term; said term to expire on the last day of February 2018. Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen City of Melrose Page 1 Updated 3/30/2016 4:00 PM Minutes Health, Education & Welfare Committee March 28, 2016

ORDER-2016-133 Appointment Appointment of Katherine P. Kennedy, 103 Mt. Vernon Ave., to the Commission on Women for a three-year term; said term to expire on the last day of February 2019 Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen

ORDER-2016-134 Appointment Appointment of Kristina Pechulis, 46 Reading Hill Ave., to the Commission on Women for a three-year term; said term to expire on the last day of February 2019 Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen

ORDER-2016-135 Appointment Appointment of Lata Bhopale Williams, 24 Henry Ave., to the Commission on Women for a three-year term; said term to expire on the last day of February 2019 Recommend Passage Board of Aldermen City of Melrose Page 2 Updated 3/30/2016 4:00 PM

Transcript

▶ 27:55 Maya Jamaleddine: Would you like to make an opening statement or proceed directly to questions and answers? No, I can just talk about myself. Please do. I'm a resident of Melrose for three years now. I have four kids. a mother of four kids with my husband and with my kids I worked as a medical assistant slash billing in a doctor's office and I had good experience about diversity and in Monroe especially and about people that would difference between people that they would accept diversity and I would love to help in accepting diversity in my rules thank you very much are there any alderman wishing to be heard at this time just by a by a nose Alderman Medeiros be your president con please proceed Alderman Medeiros thank you thank you very much

▶ 29:08 Maya Jamaleddine: thank you for stepping up to be involved I just was wondering if you could talk a little bit about your motivations for wanting to join the Human Rights Commission and is there any particular item that you might have you want to forward with as an agenda item coming forward as the agenda I would like to now I'm gonna I'm gonna specify as far as my experience and and with my kids and the school I to say at least I wasn't accepted when I first came to my rose from many parents as as well as my kids and I worked hard to try to make you know friends around and try to explain to people that we need to accept differences between the one the other as far as I'm not disrespecting or hurting other people I do accept differences even if I if I'm not I'm I'm gonna say

▶ 30:31 even if I'm not I don't believe in it but I have to accept you as different than I am and I because I was hurt from this part I do feel with other people and I would like to serve this thank you thank you very much thank you thank you alderman Medeiros president Khan please yeah we'd all like to thank you here from coming forward to volunteer this is an important position in the community and we welcome you joining the Human Rights Commission thank you thank you president Khan are there any other members of the Appropriations Committee committee who would like to participate in the call at this time Baldwin MacMaster Margolis thank you and and welcome English is not your first language it's not Arabic French so I think that's great to even just bring a

▶ 31:25 Maya Jamaleddine: different language someone whose first language is not English to the to the Commission have you ever gone to any of the dinners or anything have you participated in any of the events did the the the annual multicultural okay dinner I did once I wasn't able to this year as but I did like them the first time I went there because I had the baby I had my I wasn't able to attend it that's all yeah yeah well I'm sure it's difficult with them working and for kids we've all kind of been in that some put some of those positions but thank you very much for coming forward and we look forward to hearing some good ideas from you thank you good luck Thank You alderman MacMaster my goal is seeing no further alderman wishing to be heard motion to recommend we have a motion to

▶ 32:23 Peter D. Mortimer: recommend this order for passage from alderman boy cell duly second by who is that please second alderman MacMaster my goal is all in favor please say aye any opposed none this order will be recommended to the full board at our next full board meeting you need not come again thank you for coming tonight and bienvenue thank you the next order we have before us is order 2 0 1 6 dash 1 2 7 it is the appointment of Ellen Ruth strong 15 vine Street apartment number one to the Human Rights Commission for a three-year term said term to expire on the last day of February 2019 thank you very much for coming this evening thank you for agreeing to volunteer to serve on the Human Rights Commission would you like to make an opening statement um yeah I

▶ 33:21 would just I'll just say simply that I've been in Melrose coming up on three years in June and one of the things that I like to do is to get involved with the community when i become a part of it i had originally gone to the commission meetings about two years ago but discovered that i had a conflict of that night and because i had a previous organization that i was working with so that that conflict has since resolved so it was exciting for me to think oh maybe it's maybe it's time now to um to put my time towards the human rights commission i'm presently the executive director of speak out boston which is an lgbtq Speakers Bureau and as an out by woman I find it important to put that visibility

▶ 34:12 Francis X. Wright Jr.: out into the community and to work as a part of a community to have good inclusion and diversity taken seriously so that was one of the main reasons that i wanted to be become a part of the commission to add that perspective uh thank you very much are there any aldermen who would like to ask questions of please consider please go ahead alderman wright thank you mr chairman i just wanted to say thank you for stepping forward i appreciate your willingness and your enthusiasm much like our previous uh candidate um i think historically melrose hasn't been the most diverse of of communities but i think that's changing and it's great to see uh people from all backgrounds step forward and be willing to serve the city and

▶ 35:02 Michael P. Zwirko: do so with great enthusiasm so i appreciate it thank you thank you mr chairman thank you alderman wright alderman's work oh please i guess i also just want to say thank you for coming forward on this um i just want to make a comment i was looking at your uh your bio here on the resume and um i think it's great that you previously worked for speak out and then you went back as as an executive director to go back in that role um you know kind of learning what you've learned in the preceding years and to come back as an executive director so i like that quality and i would also say that um i just have to give a shout out to this because the past couple of weeks i've been watching this tv show called gaycation and it's an amazing show that's on the vice

▶ 35:42 Michael P. Zwirko: network and the reason i bring it up is because i've lived in new england my whole life i've lived in massachusetts for excluding the four years that i've been alive so you sometimes feel that when it comes to LGBTQ issues that were way beyond where we should be and it's actually shocking to see some of these scenes that goes not only around the world but also in the in the United States of America where we just have a long way to go and I think you'll lend a very good voice to this commission I'm looking forward to the work that will come out of it and I just wanted to say thank you again for that I actually can I say you may respond we are under suspension please go ahead well bringing up that sort of global perspective I

▶ 36:22 think is really important because you know the the the term the phrase when we say think globally and work locally and I feel like that is always something that I take very seriously in a lot of different ways when we look at the global picture there's so many problems going on of people communicating and being able to understand each other and work together and I'd like to hopefully be a part of a community that is working to be a community that wants to work together and wants to have differences celebrate difference and work together so yeah thank you thank you very much all set all the circle thank you very much certain ultimate Medeiros please thank you thank you and for stepping up also I just I know our previous speaker had mentioned it and like it you know do

▶ 37:19 Monica C. Medeiros: you feel comfortable to work with people who might not always agree with your views in what way are you saying and this is something I would like to kind of address to both of you as commissioners that you know it's it's very important to come back. I want to see Mellor's be a very welcoming community and sometimes it's sort of forgotten that you know even say I as a Catholic which might be a little bit more mainstream in our views can sometimes feel a little bit marginalized and like for instance even for our recent master plan meeting for the public it was you know kind of a big deal meeting and it was actually held on Ash Wednesday which is one of our holidays so you know sort of working to make sure that you know all voices are

▶ 38:12 included and sometimes of course those might be some that may be in conflict and you know do you feel comfortable we can find the togetherness to risk yeah yeah thank you for explaining that a bit more yes I do and even to reference my work with speak out because we go into so many different communities so many many different audiences and one of the key things of our training for our speakers is to be able to have a very open and accepting tone and the way we can respond to difficult questions and that we know that everybody doesn't have the same views on things and so you want to be able to hear what people have to say and to respond respectfully and that's definitely something that my own

▶ 39:07 Peter D. Mortimer: organization fosters so yeah I do understand that and I think it is very important within a community to do that thank you thank you thank you all the member Darrell's anyone else to be heard Oh recommend we have a motion to recommend from Alderman MacMaster my goal is to the second of our Alderman Boyce L all in favor please say aye aye any opposed hearing none this order will be recommended for passage at our next full board meeting you need not come again you may have heard me say that already this evening and thank you so much for service to Melrose motion to adjourn from alderman McAteer-Margolis duly seconded by alderman Boisselle all in favor please say aye aye any opposed hearing none the committee on appropriations is adjourned thank you

▶ 51:08 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: Committee is called to order. My name is Jennifer Lemmerman. I am the chair of the committee. We're joined tonight by Vice Chair Alderman Boisselle, Committee Members Alderman Medeiros, Alderman Inferna, Alderman McAteer-Margolis, and President Kahn. We're also joined this evening by non-voting members alderman Forbes alderman Mortimer alderman tram and Tozie and aldermen's work oh this meeting is being recorded and is available on MMTV and on the city website for your viewing do we have a motion for participation we have a motion for public participation by alderman inferno seconded by alderman Medeiros all in favor any opposed now is the time for any members of the public who wish to comment on any of the orders

▶ 51:56 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: in front of us to come forward so move to move motion to close public but the second motion of closed public participation by alderman inferno seconded by alderman Boisselle all in favor all right any opposed public participation is closed we have seven orders in front of us this evening several appointments but before we get to it I believe we have our mayor here who would like to speak motion to suspend the rules oh I believe we're still under a suspension right thank you madam chair thank you and the president con members of the Board of Aldermen it's been a while thank you all this is an exciting night from ours I want to thank the chair for her leadership on this issue but tonight we put ideas and goals into action with people real

▶ 52:57 people that are going to start important Commission in our community and form it and mold it and with their years of experience and their individual goals and agendas change our community for the better I don't know how you want me to proceed but after careful deliberation with the chair we have seven names for consideration and if you'd like me to read a little bit of the bios of each of them is now the appropriate time to do that okay seven individuals who make up the first Commission on women in the city of Melrose include Jessica Buster Buster has a background in youth theater and education and created baby songs which has become a professional venture around Melrose Jessica introduced a

▶ 53:42 children's play area to the winter farmers market here in Melrose recently she has been a she's been building a group to advocate for equality in the Melrose Public Schools in a learning environment safe from discrimination. She said, I support a specific focus on listening to women's voices in our culture and community because our voices have been historically devalued and we are still underrepresented. She hopes that she can change some of the issues in the city of Melrose that she feels are not given enough attention. And she hopes that her experiences will contribute to the group's understanding and approach to serve in the community. Julie DeLulo is the second representative. Julie chaired the Melrose Taxpayers Alliance during the fall 2015 election cycle and

▶ 54:29 has contributed to several campaigns in the city of Melrose. She is the Director of Human Resources for the Perkins School of the Blind in Watertown, a worldwide educational institution, holds degrees in business and in law. Julie said, I believe my background and experience will add value and perspective to the Commission I believe given the right tools women are successful as a successful businesswoman I want to ensure that topics brought forth by the Commission are relevant to every woman's success Laurie de Caesar is known throughout the city of Melrose as opening one of the finest downtown businesses hourglass gift and gallery she's opened that business since 1999 and it is one of our finest downtown establishments before that she worked in

▶ 55:13 insurance for 23 years and then after moving to Massachusetts in 1993 began taking art classes with a focus in metals and enamels. DeCesar now dabbles in the arts in her spare time and supports local and regional artists at her gallery here in Melrose. I hope my life and business experiences can help in our efforts to help current women's issues to help keep current on women's issues in our area. I believe I could help others in men dominated careers and also starting small businesses here in Melrose. Gail Kast-Fertig. Gail has served on the Melrose Alliance Against Violence walking committee, is the last year of a six-year term in the Melrose Cultural Council, and is an active member of Temple Beth Shalom and the Temple Sisterhood. She has worked in the

▶ 55:58 financial services industry for Wells Fargo Bank and now works part-time as a financial at the financial planning firm. I'm passionate about creating a better community and have long held a special interest in advancing equal rights for women and all minorities i am particularly hopeful to make a contribution in confronting issues such as bullying abuse both physical and mental or other forms of harassment of women and girls in our community katie kennedy katie is a melrose native and has sat on the city human rights commission she founded the peanut butter valentine's drive which is still active today and is a member of the melrose alliance against violence walk committee katie owns a consulting and

▶ 56:39 training company and is a certified mediator and grief counselor i'm excited to be part of the inaugural group of people appointed to the melrose commission on women as an experienced entrepreneur i believe that my skills in organizational development training change management work and conflict resolution could help establish a new commission for the city of melrose i hope to help shape a series of programs and initiatives which will support women and their families in increasingly stressful and complicated world christina petulis christina is vice chairman of the melrose human rights commission with her term ending in february a lawyer by trade christina teaches courses at simmons college on constitutional law and on massachusetts

▶ 57:21 politics she runs the college's pre-law program as well as an internship programs that places simmons undergraduate women with female legislators at the massachusetts state house for much of my professional life and as a volunteer in my personal life i have worked on behalf of women i hope that the melrose women's commission will help to bring support and education both locally and at the state level to policy solutions for many of the concerns women's women face here in melrose lada williams lada and her husband moved to melrose more than 20 years ago and raised her family in the city she immigrated from india as a young at a young age and has a professional background as an attorney williams has participated in the morris human rights commission english conversion program

▶ 58:01 tutoring women from turkey as a parent of two young women i look forward to engaging in a process of advancing policies to make things easier for the next generation of women as a mother and a lawyer i've experienced firsthand the conflicting feelings and demands experienced by women trying to balance work family and community i am also an immigrant from india and have an understanding of the particular difficulties experienced by women of color and new immigrants to our community I think this makes up a broad a broad scope of individuals I have to say this they're two outstanding members of the Human Rights Commission and we are so although there always be struggles we are so far ahead of other communities of our size and scope in terms of creating

▶ 58:46 municipal organizations to advance causes and I think the narrowest Commission on women now one of a few in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will continue the trend of dollars being a progressive a community community acknowledging our greatness in our failings and advancing to improve on both and I asked for this group's esteemed groups confirmation tonight and let them get to work thank you very much mr. mayor will now go through each of the orders one by one and have the appointees join you up there at the table so we'll be able to hear a little from them and would you intend to be to take these orders concurrently if that's the will of the committee I mean they could still come up one by one so we can put a name and a face to it but I think

▶ 59:32 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: maybe we could just vote at the end concurrently sure is that a motion that is second great we have a motion to take orders one through seven concurrently That's Orders 2016-131, 129, 130, 132, 133, 134, and 135 taken concurrently. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? We will do that. Thank you. The first up, Order Number 2016-131 is the appointment of Mary Julie DeLillo of 13 Circuit Street to the Commission on Women for an initial term, said term to expire on the last day of February 2018. good evening very much thank you would you we heard a little bit about you from the mayor would you like to um add a bit about yourself sure i guess i've been uh before you a couple of times on this topic so i do thank you for um certainly considering me to be on the commission uh given

▶ 1:00:30 that i did speak to you um in opposition to it and so i think for me for me it was not it was was in opposition to the way it was written right and so for me it's just making sure that we do educate the girls the young women young adults whether it's it could be the young men too in the skills that they need to succeed so that's my goal is to is to really just make sure we're we're teaching the right skills thank you any questions or comments from members of the committee Thank you, Mr. Lillo, for coming. Is there any particular agenda item or policy position that you kind of feel you'd like to push forward through this position? I don't, you know, I think I have to wait and see what everybody else brings to the

▶ 1:01:22 table. You know, I think the one topic that I did talk about is certainly teaching, you know, negotiation skills, certainly skills that will make anyone successful, not just women, just girls right negotiations and in interviewing and what's appropriate but I think I have to wait and see what what the others bring to the table and obviously this is a diverse group of people you think you feel comfortable to you know work with everybody that may or may not agree with you and your positions and absolutely absolutely and I just want to say personally I know mr. Lilla very well and she's been a very active and involved member community and I think she'll make a great addition to this thank you thank you thank you

▶ 1:02:05 Michael P. Zwirko: any other members of the committee thank you looking forward to serving on the committee I just wanted to give you an opportunity I saw today on the Melrose blog that there's an event that's coming up that you'll be participating in I was just hoping that you could explain what you'll be doing to the folks that are at home sure I will be running the BAA 5k blindfolded I would be tethered to a sighted guide running with 6,000 sighted people so it's my third year doing it and it is it is definitely an experience running blindfolded but you know we do it in to raise awareness for people with blindness or visual impairment thank you for doing that I also do want to just echo the sentiments that you know mr.

▶ 1:02:57 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: little is a very active member of our community and we appreciate that getting involved and getting the word out for the causes that she championed so I think you'll do a great job on the Commission glad to see that you were nominated thank you it's all I had thank you thank you any other questions or comments great thank you thank you very much for being here as you heard we'll take all of the nominations at the end and we will keep you informed the second item on our agenda is order 2016-129 appointment of Jessica Joy Buster 164 Derby Road to the Commission on Women for an initial term said term to expire on the last day of February 2017 thank you very much miss Buster for being here tonight would you like to make a statement most of my best lines um I did

▶ 1:03:48 want to say I think I think it was it was Aaron Liebowitz who edited out the part where before I turned Babies Hogs into a business it was actually fully a community venture and everything it was really connecting a hundred or more parents and caretakers of young children for for two years it was it was entirely a community organization before I discovered I couldn't pass it off on to anyone else but I've always been a big believer in building the community that I want to live in and Melrose is the community I want to live in so I'd like to be part of building it thank you very much Alderman Inferno thank you very much thank you Jessica for stepping up as a Ward 5 constituent it's always does us proud as the Alderman to have members of

▶ 1:04:36 our board stepping forward and being part of our community so I look forward to hearing what's going on with the Women's Commission so thank you for your time I'm happy to thank you thank you thank you Alderman Medeiros thank you very much for stepping forward and again I'd like to ask is there any particular agenda item or policy that you feel that you really want to come in and advocate for or is nothing I feel like I'm specifically coming in you know absolutely hot for I have strong opinions about many things and I I feel passionately about about advocating for an awful lot of causes but I think I'm gonna take Julie's Julie's point on that one and say you know I think we're really gonna have to see as a group we

▶ 1:05:23 really can't put our focus in too many places so we'll have to sort of see what what comes in as ideas and and we're the best place to put focus on is and I feel confident that we'll come up with some with some good some good places to advocate as a group of us and like the others do you feel comfortable you know working with those that you may not agree with I do I do and in fact I look on it as an opportunity to really promote more conversation genuine conversation and and I think it's it's entirely possible to have genuine conversation with with those with whom you may disagree quite strongly and you know if there's strong disagreement then that will actually be a valuable thing so thank you thank you thank you I just want to make one comment you live on

▶ 1:06:17 Michael P. Zwirko: Derby Road so I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that I also live on Derby Road and as Gail in front I said it's always nice to see people from our warden area step up and join and also as many of the streets and models are starting to turn over I frequently go down Derby Road to one way after a certain portion it's always nice to see new families coming in and the strollers down the street as well so thank you so much glad the neighbor of mine is going to be participating on this commission thank you very much any final comments or questions motion to record make a recommendation at the end thank you very much next up we have order 2016-130 appointment of Gail Marsha Cass of 10 Sunset Road to the Commission on Women for an initial term

▶ 1:07:03 said term to expire on the last day of February 2017 thank you very much for being here you're welcome I say a few words this is exciting to be part of the first in Melrose not the first in Massachusetts but the first in Melrose and I'm a firm believer of passionate things that we all feel but also education and I feel this will be an opportunity to help those who need our help equal pay bullying anything that we hear in the news or see around town but having heard in the news today about the the group out in California looking to raise the minimum wage and also Mayor Walsh gathering with other heads of corporations in the Boston area to have equal pay for equal employment just gives me a little bit more oomph to get

▶ 1:08:17 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: ready to start with working with Melrose Ian's and anyone who dares to come in here who has a different opinion it's a challenge that I love thank you very Thank you very much. Questions or comments from the committee? They scared the . . Well, they may. Well, as a Ward 2 neighbor, we have to say thank you for stepping up. And of course, many of us know your wonderful spouse who is on the Human Rights Commission. So my personal recommendation is try to have meetings on different nights. That way there's always someone home to make dinner and do the dishes. Me. Anyways, no, thank you very much for stepping up, Gail. I'm sure you're going to bring a great perspective and a different perspective to the conversation

▶ 1:09:19 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: that takes place. And we all need all of that. So thank you very much for your dedication and your commitment to Mellows. You're welcome. Thank you very much. thank you we again will take a vote at the end okay okay thank you next up we have order 2016 dash 132 appointment of Lorraine de Caesar 61 Willow Street to the Commission on women for an initial term said term to expire on the last day of February 2018 thank you very much for being here this evening hello would you like to say a few words well I feel like my life is an open book you know I work with the Melrose Chamber of Commerce quite a bit owning the shop of course and working with the Melrose Arts as well and I've worked in groups and

▶ 1:10:15 Monica C. Medeiros: individually I've helped a lot of people get their start in the arts and I'm really excited someone pushed me on this and I'm really excited about it so thank you all the members up as a word for I'd like to thank you for stepping up into the position as the in the commission of women thank you very much thank you thank you I'm a Medeiros sorry thank you and I think miss miss Cass kind of proactively answered my questions but I wondering is there any particular agenda item or policy that you feel like you really want to push forward or I think there's a lot of issues but there was something on Chronicle about when there's a job offering for somebody or you know something somebody's looking for a job 80% when there's if I can explain this right when there is certain

▶ 1:11:16 criteria a man will look at it and this is really weird but a man will look at it and he will apply for it if he has 20% of that criteria but a woman will only do it if there's 80% criteria so it's more of a confidence level and helping people to feel confident enough to try to go for it whether it works or not is that's really what I want to try to help with good and do you feel comfortable to work with the others. Absolutely. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. Alderman McAteer-Margolis. Thank you, Lori. I'm delighted that you're doing this. I think, as I said to Gail, you represent a different demographic for the committee. You're a small business owner in the community. You've been very active with

▶ 1:12:08 Mary Beth McAteer-Margolis: the arts and you have great great creativity so I'm sure that you'll bring all of that to the table and not that I think everybody's going to bring something different but I feel you know I don't know everyone as well as I know you but I think the part that really I'm really glad that somebody pushed you to do this is because you are a business owner and you're a woman and you know what's you know what that entails so good luck thank you thank you any final questions or comments you're off the hot seat okay order number five on our agenda is order 2016 dash 133 appointment of Catherine P Kennedy 103 Mount Vernon Ave to the Commission on women for a three-year term said term to expire on the last day of February 2019 thank you very much for being here would

▶ 1:13:07 you like to say a few words good evening I came in front of the Board of Aldermen when this was up before the Commission was even passed so I may be repeating part of what I said earlier I'm an entrepreneur I've had my own consulting and training business practice for many many years I grew up in Melrose and the native of Melrose but I've had the privilege of living and working a third of my life in many different countries on a number of continents so I think I have an interesting balance from that perspective one of my concentrations as I said the very first time I spoke in front of you was one of the things I do in my business and have done both domestically and overseas is training in negotiation communication conflict resolution I'm a certified mediator and

▶ 1:14:00 I think when I see increasingly the stressful and complicated world that we all live in both here in Melrose and in our world community I think that's one of the things you're talking about agenda items and as they said when I spoke the very first time in front of this board that's one of the things that I would like to see and I think women in in every age group need better skills in financial literacy we need to know how to save and invest and so I would like to see maybe a series of workshops or panel speakers addressing some of those issues so I'm you know very excited and I'm very excited to see some of the other because I didn't know until last week when the names were you know released some of the other people who've been appointed as well I wore my

▶ 1:14:55 Gail Infurna: hourglass stuff and so now I'm just very pleased thank you thank you I've known Katie for a number of years and she is the second Ward 5 constituent on this commission I'm feeling good right now Katie has a lifelong Melrosian and has always been very passionate about her community as well as the issues that she gets can gets involved with so I'm sure she'll be quite an asset and have a great voice on this commission so thank you for doing this thank you thank you thank you and the second half there is that you know how do you feel about working with the others at times maybe they don't agree or do you think that there's items in your background that will help you yeah well at my I have multiple graduate degrees in negotiation conflict resolution I've worked in the

▶ 1:15:55 Middle East and Northern Ireland and so I think I am actually I'm excited about difference I mean that's one of the things I think we really all need to learn to deal with matter to bring everybody together patient and just one more thing I would say is that I think I said in my little written piece that I sent in Melrose has such a tradition of volunteerism and creativity and that's our already been mentioned in many ways I mean Sally Frank wanted to buy good corn look what happened with the farmers market and I did when I was a member of the Human Rights Commission I did found the Peter about a Valentine Drive and it's been institutionalized and carried on by the trim and toesy well thank you

▶ 1:16:44 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: and thank you for doing that no but that's an example of a small spark a small idea can get institutions Thank You miss Kennedy I know you always work hard and oh I'm a worker thank you thank you okay number order number six is order 2016 dash 134 appointment of Christina Pachulis 46 Redding Hill Ave to the Commission on women for a three-year term said term to expire on the last day of February 2019 she could not be here tonight due to another commitment but she sensed her regrets and and wants to work very hard it is very committed in our service in the Human Rights Commission has been excellent thank you very much mr. mayor and we did receive every alderman should had had at their desk when they arrived just a brief bio really of Christina

▶ 1:17:44 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: Christina, which I will read right now for the public and into the record. Christina Racic-Pachulis has lived in Melrose for four and a half years and lives with her husband and two children. She currently serves as the vice chair of the Human Rights Commission, and her current appointment ends in February 2017. Christina's passion is to work on behalf of women. Trained as a lawyer, Christina currently works at Simmons College as a staff administrator, teaching constitutional law, food policy, and Massachusetts politics. She also advises the pre-law students and runs a program, a mentor program, excuse me, that places undergraduate women with female legislators at the Massachusetts State House.

▶ 1:18:21 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: Since graduating from college, Christina has represented women who identify as victims of domestic violence and divorces. She has worked as a student legal advocate and a volunteer for the women at Rosie's Place, and as a volunteer at the Boston Medical Center connecting victims of domestic violence with services. Christina hopes that the Women's Commission will serve as an educational portal for the the women of Melrose to understand their rights and as a way to advocate for local issues on the state level she also hopes that the Commission will become a place that men and women in Melrose can address any concerns that they have that affect the community especially women and finally order number seven on our

▶ 1:18:59 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: agenda tonight is well first I should actually excuse me I should ask the members of the committee if they have any comments or any can't ask Christina questions but before we move on from that one okay thank you order number seven is order 2016 135 appointment of Lada Bhopal Williams 24 Henry Ave to the Commission on women for a three-year term said term to expire on the last day of February 2019 hello everyone thank you so much for this opportunity to speak to you about this very important Commission that's being formed and I want to thank the mayor as well for getting this committee together this the commission in terms of my particular interest is i have two daughters one is a sophomore at boston college

▶ 1:20:04 and one is a senior here at melrose high school and will be going to brown university this fall and I they both attended the Melrose high school and when I think about the Women's Commission one of the things I think about is what would I like to do to make things better for the women who are coming up after us and I think that a lot of focus has been on preparing students in general academically but I have felt that they are not prepared as emotionally and socially and therefore they can fall prey as you probably heard in the in the headlines to a lot of different types of abuses and so one of the things that I'm interested in it would be to one introduce the the concept of consent and to talk about it

▶ 1:21:14 not only with our young women but also with our young men because that is something definitely that their colleges that they will go to or you know even in life should be an issue for everyone and so that's something that I'm really interested in and I think as a lawyer I am probably most comfortable being an advocate and so I think I have feel very strongly about certain things but I also feel that without buy-in from other people you're just not going to get very far so thank you very much questions or comments from members of the committee how about one from not not a committee member well here's our ward one representative right and I appreciate you volunteering for the Commission and I think truly you'll be one of the leaders of that Commission

▶ 1:22:19 Jennifer L. Lemmerman: in that in your capacity and again we thank you as we thank all of those lovely young ladies volunteering up on this commission thank you thank you thank you very much motion to recommend second we have a motion to recommend all seven orders taken concurrently as was voted on earlier for passage from Alderman Inferna and seconded by Alderman McAteer-Margolis. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. The order will be recommended for passage to the full board meeting. You are not required to be there for for that meeting. We will get in touch with you after the final vote. I do want to just take one brief moment to say thank you all very very much for coming down and introducing yourselves

▶ 1:23:14 to the Board of Aldermen tonight. It was wonderful to hear about some of your backgrounds and and particularly just want to say thank you for stepping up all our boards and commissions require very dedicated volunteers and have excellent volunteers who give of their time but starting something from from scratch I think takes a it's a particular challenge and an exciting one so thank you for being part of it thank you thank you thank you motion to adjourn the motion to adjourn from Alderman Boyce L second by Alderman Inferno, all in favor? Aye. Any opposed? We are adjourned. Michael, you're up. Be at the hour of 826 on Monday, March 28, 2016, I hereby call the Committee on Public Service to order.

Health, Education & Welfare Committee — 2016-03-28

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