Public Service Committee — 2021-09-20
Attendance
Christopher Cinella ; Mark Garipay ; Maya Jamaleddine ; Shawn M. MacMaster ; Cory Thomas ; John N. Tramontozzi
Agenda
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMITTEE CALENDAR● SEPTEMBER 20, 2021 Web-based remote meeting Committee Meeting 6:20 PM , Melrose, MA 02176 The public should take notice that the Melrose City Council may, on certain occasions, have a quorum in attendance due to standing committees of the City Council 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 John N. Tramontozzi Chair Present Shawn M. MacMaster Vice Chair Present Maya Jamaleddine Voting Present Mark Garipay Voting Present Cory Thomas Voting Present Christopher Cinella President, ex oficio Present Non voting members present include: Councilor Migliorelli and Councilor Stewart.
ORDER-2022-12 Appointment Appointment of Chris Redfern. 2 Spear St., to the Conservation Commission; said term to expire on the last day of February 2024. Recommend Passage City Council City of Melrose Page 1 9/22/2021 9:15 AM
Transcript
▶ 0:00 Committee. I'm the chair of the committee, Councilor Tramontozzi. And with us this evening is also the voting members, Councilor McMaster, Councilor Jamaleddine, Councilor Thomas, President Cinella. I don't see Councilor Garipay yet, but non-voting members that are with us this evening. Oh, there he is. Thank you. I apologize. uh so we uh also present done voting members counselors make middle rally council stewart and i think that'll do it at the moment uh this uh we have a quorum so we can begin and i just want to read uh a statement for the remote meeting information pursuant to the suspension of certain provisions of the open meeting law this meeting of the public service committee will be conducted via remote participation in the greatest extent
▶ 1:03 John N. Tramontozzi: possible we will post a comprehensive record of these proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the city of melrose website and on mmtv mmtv3.org the public can find online access instructions to view this meeting at www.cityofmelrose.org backslash remote dash meetings um with that in mind uh we do have uh a quorum present and uh i make a motion to open the public comment and unless i see an objection seeing no objection this uh unanimous consent that uh the meeting is now open for public comment and if there's anyone in the public who wishes to come forward to speak on any item on our our agenda this evening there's only one item on uh order on the agenda but um mr clerk is there anybody waiting in the waiting room
▶ 1:58 that has their digital hand raised that which wishes to speak if anyone is in the digital room for public comment for the public service committee please raise your digital hand at this time i do not see anyone right at this time at this time with the unanimous consent i to close public comment we have one on the agenda it's order 2022-12 it's the appointment of chris redfern of two spear street to the conservation commission said term to expire on the last day of february 2024 and i'm moved to suspend the rules so we can hear from uh the administration uh in mr redfern himself uh seeing no objections unanimous consent that the rules are now suspended is mr redford with us mr clerk yes he is he's been unmuted mr
▶ 3:15 good evening thank you for having me tonight oh you're very welcome to me we want to thank you for coming before us uh and also to uh thank you for your um commitment to the city uh would you like to say a few words before i open it up for discussion amongst the committee members sure i am um very excited to be able to join the conservation commission i have a fairly long history in the conservation profession being the executive director of san diego audubon for almost 15 years doing a lot of wetland restoration projects and advocacy i understand the um that the commission is charged with looking at wetland-based issues and also other work related to the conservation lands in melrose i'm very interested in ways in which i can be
▶ 4:13 involved and help make a difference to preserve and protect those lands as well as the more regulatory aspects of the committee's work right well i thank you for that introduction i i note that you are presently the executive director of the friends of the middlesex fells reservation yes that's correct and um and how long have you been in that position and uh what um what have uh the friends of the fells uh been up to these days um i've been in that position for just about two years and um we are in the middle of a growth phase right now we're adding some staff um and we're expanding our work around certain urgent conservation issues in the fowls related to invasive species and rogue trails and just general a user enhancing the
▶ 5:09 Paul Brodeur: visitor experience of the fowls generally that's great and uh congratulations on that appointment I see we presently have the Honorable Mayor Paul Brodeur with us this evening and would like to say a few words about Mr. Redfern and introduce him as well. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity. It is good to see everyone. I know that you've had a chance to review Mr. Redfern's resume, but it bears repeating for the public that really immediately upon his arrival in Melrose, he became involved with the Friends of the Fells in a capacity where many of the activities he would be in a kind of a regulatory position to oversee or be part of that debate are things he's directly working on in a professional capacity.
▶ 6:03 Paul Brodeur: And you'll note that prior to him coming to the East Coast, he had a mayoral appointment on the West Coast involved in land use and development and conservation. He has a long service with California Audubon, in particular, the San Diego chapter of that organization. and you know there was then when he advised a park and rec board in the mission bay area these are things that certainly when this position became open and knowing that the legacy of the friends of the fells and how mr redfern is working to expand that mission he seemed like a terrific choice i would interestingly note even though it is not directly germane to his role as a conservation commission member. So he does have a fairly
▶ 7:03 Paul Brodeur: impressive record of fundraising for projects in this area, and I wouldn't want to certainly put that on him. They are separate and distinct roles. Knowing how budgeting and finance works in terms of some of the work that is done in the world of conservation, I think is a bit of a new dimension that we'll add to the commission and i hope you will act on his nomination favor favorably and i appreciate the opportunity to address you all thank you mr mayor appreciate the uh that um do we have any questions from any of the committee members uh counselor thomas thank you mr chairman uh mr redfern welcome mr mayor welcome um mr redfern um your years of experience speak for themselves um you've lived in some great interesting places in illinois and colorado and
▶ 8:00 san diego hopefully you've brought some of that san diego weather to melrose and especially ward seven um we have a great history of volunteerism in ward seven uh welcome to ward seven um if um if you if you bring the san diego weather we'll be very happy um but if you want questions i'd like to recommend for passage are there any further uh questions i've seen them we we do have a motion to recommend by uh counselor thomas and there was a second i believe it was council Garipay and on the motion all in favor all right i apologize i think yeah we're not in person mr clerk can you call the roll chair german tozy yes vice chair mcmaster yes Councilor Jamaleddine yes Councilor Garipay yes Councilor thomas yes president sanella yes six yes yes great thank you
▶ 9:20 so at this point uh there is a uh vote to recommend uh mr redfern your uh your appointment uh to the conservation commission this will uh be uh presented at the full board uh for a final vote uh you you do not have to attend and uh that may be later on this evening but uh congratulations thank you mr redfern thank you so much it was very nice to meet you all same here and we look forward to uh seeing you um uh at uh later times uh with that in mind that's the only thing we have on the agenda and i'll uh see that uh is there a motion to adjourn make a motion to adjourn mr chairman thank you uh Councilor Garipay uh makes a motion to adjourn seconded by Councilor thomas um mr clerk can you just call the round chair turns ozzy yes vice chair mcmaster yes