Boards & Commissions Committee — 2025-01-13
Attendance
Cal Finocchiaro ; Maya Jamaleddine ; Manjula Karamcheti ; Leila Migliorelli ; Robb Stewart ; Kimberly Vandiver
Agenda
- Call to Order
- Public Comment
- Appointments/Reappointments
- APPT-2025-17 : Appointment of John Tozza to the Beebe Estate Board of Trustees
- APPT-2025-18 : Reappointment of Lee Phalen, 102 Clifford Street, to the Board of Assessors for a three-year term; said term to expire on the last day of February, 2028.
- APPT-2025-19 : Appointment of Regina Gibbons, 358 Lebanon Street, to the Commission on Women
- Adjournment
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE BOARDS & COMMISSION CALENDAR● JANUARY 13, 2025 Council Chamber, First Floor, Melrose City Hall Regular 7:00 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Kimberly Vandiver Chair Present Manjula Karamcheti Vice Chair Present Cal Finocchiaro Present Maya Jamaleddine Absent Leila Migliorelli Ex Officio Member Present Robb Stewart Present
(ID # 12245) Appointment/Reappointment Appointment of John Tozza to the Beebe Estate Board of Trustees Recommend City Council
(ID # 12330) Appointment/Reappointment Reappointment of Lee Phalen, 102 Clifford Street, to the Board of Assessors for a three-year term; said term to expire on the last day of February, 2028. Recommend City Council
(ID # 12331) Appointment/Reappointment Appointment of Regina Gibbons, 358 Lebanon Street, to the Commission on Women Recommend City Council City of Melrose Page 1 1/15/2025 11:50 AM
Transcript
▶ 0:00 Kimberly Vandiver: Good evening. The time is 7:00 PM on Monday, January 13th, 2025. This is a meeting of the Boards and Commissions committee. Melrose has over 25 active boards and commissions. If you're interested in being considered for an appointment, you may send a letter of interest and resume to the mayor's office. I'm Counselor Vanderberg, the committee chair. Joining me tonight are Vice Chair Kara Chetty and voting members, counselors Occhio Jamal, uh, Occhio Stewart, and President Elli Exofficio. We are also joined by non-Voting me member counselors, Garey and Remodel. This serves as a notice of a quorum for the record in accordance with the Open Meeting law. This meeting is being recorded and broadcast live on MMTV.
▶ 0:48 Kimberly Vandiver: I'll now motion by unanimous consent to open the floor for public comment. Seeing no objections, we are now in public comment. This is the portion of the meeting where the public may speak on any item on tonight's agenda. Comments expressing any viewpoint on other matters are also welcome. Is anyone here to speak at public comment? Madam Clerk, is there anyone online? Uh, seeing no one here to speak? If there's no objection, I will motion by unanimous consent to close public comment. Seeing none, we are now closed for public comment at this ti uh, uh, tonight we have three orders before us. The first order before us is the re is the appointment of John Taza to the BB Estate Board of Trustees.
▶ 1:36 Um, and we have, uh, Ms. Gimmick, uh, from the administration to speak with us. Please, uh, introduce the candidate and, and welcome. Sure. Thank you. Good evening counselors. Happy New Year. Nice to see everyone again. Um, I'm here for the mayor this evening. Um, just so you all know, she's attending the first meeting of the affordable, um, housing Trust, which I think some of you were on the council a couple years ago when you guys, um, got that up and running. So we're happy to be standing that up tonight. So I'm filling in. Um, I'm really thrilled to introduce John Taza, whom I've known personally since 2016 as the mayor's. Um, next appointee for the BB board of, um, BB Estate Board of Trustees.
▶ 2:19 Um, John was then on the board of directors for the Melrose Chamber of Commerce. So I reported to him in my role as the executive director, and, um, stood a ton for the community, um, as well as being part of Melrose Rotary Club, um, part of the bridge, uh, friends of Memorial Hall. I'm sure there's lots of things that I'm missing. Um, and in particular, John's going to be filling an important role, um, for the trustees acting as the building manager. So that's part of the arrangement that the trustees have to maintain and manage the BB estate for the city. Um, and that's a role that's been pretty vacant for a while. I think the existing trustees have done the best that they can, kind of responding to tenants concerns, um,
▶ 3:01 making sure that maintenance gets done accordingly. That's not handled by the DPW, um, in case people were not aware, um, proactively looking at main maintenance issues that need to, um, get done for, for the estate. And so, um, given John's, um, you know, experience, um, he ran Marty's furniture for a long time, which I neglected to say, um, which was at 99 Washington Street, um, also had a lot of tenants in that building. So, um, not only was he a business owner, but you were a building manager by default as well. So, um, we think he brings a lot of valuable experience that he can add in that role on the trustees. So, and, uh, thank you for that. Mr. Taza. Would you, uh, we'd love for you to share anything
▶ 3:46 regarding your background, anything additional you'd like to share with us before we open the floor for questions? Yeah, I think Lauren kind of covered everything. Um, I think my biggest thing is I have a lot of experience in building management, owning the building that I was also the owner of Marty's furniture, the, uh, industrial building down there, which I did have a lot of tenants and had to maintain the building in the property. Um, other than being in a lot of different boards and organizations within Melrose for 40 years, I think I'm qualified for this particular job. Wonderful. Uh, any questions from the committee? Councilor, uh, vice chair, Karen Chetty? I actually don't have any questions between Ms.
▶ 4:23 Manjula Karamcheti: Mick's introduction, looking over your documents. Um, I don't really have any questions. I just really wanna thank you for stepping forward. You've obviously done so much in the community already. Um, just grateful that you're willing to serve in this capacity as well. I guess the only question I would have is like, do you have a vision for the property? Anything you're thinking about? It's kind of ha kind of hard to have a vision. I mean, I've, I've been to the property many, many times over the years, and I've been to two of their board meetings, their trustees meetings and kind of new at it. But I see a lot of possibilities for the building as far as in the future, as far as rentals and whatnot.
▶ 5:02 We've talked a lot about that on the board meetings that I've been at unofficially, of course, not being a trustee yet until possibly tonight. But, um, yeah, I don't really have any strong visions to be honest with you, other than total renovations, you know, going forward, paint, there's a lot of painting that has to be done. There's things on the property that have to be done that I've already seen. So that's pretty much, I can sum it up to that way. Well, It sounds good to me. Thank you so much. Thank you. Uh, uh, councilor Garipay. Oh, excuse me. Uh, president Elli. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. I just wanted to also say thank you. I was very excited to see, um, your interest in this con considering
▶ 5:40 Mark Garipay: how much you've done for this community. I think it's a huge asset for the BB estate to have you part of, um, part of this commission. So thank you so much for stepping forward. Thank you for your comments. Appreciate it. Mm-hmm. That's it. Uh, thank you Madam Chair. I just wanted to, um, thank John for, um, Mr. Taza for stepping up. Um, I've known him for quite a, quite a many years. Um, the community has always had a need, and as you can see by his resume, he's always, um, he's always stepped up to, to, to assist. And, um, you'll not find a nicer, uh, a nicer individual. And I look forward to, uh, supporting this when it comes to the full council. Hopefully I jumped the gun. Sorry. On that note, I'd make a motion to recommend. Second.
▶ 6:27 Kimberly Vandiver: Second. Okay. Uh, motion to recommend by Councilor Chetty and seconded by Counselor Stewart. We both Said yes. Sorry, uh, um, on discussion. Uh, I believe this is voice vote. Uh, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Uh, this order will be brought to the next full council meeting with a recommendation for passage. Um, Mr. Taza, you do not need to attend. You're welcome to if you wish to. Um, and thank you for coming and, and sharing with us tonight. And thank you for Thank you all. Appreciate All of you. Appreciate it. Thank you, you again. Have a good evening. You too. Uh, the second order of business tonight is, um, ID number 1, 2, 3, 3 0. The reappointment of Lee Fain 1 0 2 Clifford Street
▶ 7:22 Kimberly Vandiver: to the Board of Assessors for a three year term, said term to expire on the last day of February, 2028. Um, uh, Ms. Gimmick, would you, uh, uh, uh, do you have anything to add regarding this reappointment? Um, not at this time. Not at this time. Thank you. Uh, as, as this is a reappointment, we don't, uh, we don't typically have reappointments come before the committee. Um, what is the will of a committee Make a motion to recommend? Second Motion to recommend by Councilor Occhio, seconded by Councilor Stewart. Um, on discussion. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? This also passes, uh, will come before the next Bill council meeting with a recommendation for passage. And the last order before us tonight is ID number 1, 2, 3, 3, 1.
▶ 8:14 The appointment of Regina Gibbons, 3 58 Lebanon Street to the Commission on Women. Welcome. And would love to hear, um, anything you have to, to tell us about this appointment. Sure. Um, nice. See you all again. So, um, Ms. Gibbons proactively reached out to, um, the mayor. Given her, I think what you can see is extensive experience in healthcare as well as, in particular working on women's health and women's issues. Um, and as she said in her letter, an an elder of the community, which I did not state, um, would not think that I say that. Um, she will. Yes. Um, and so when the mayor had the chance to, um, speak with her, really thought that given her experience as well as, um, both the administration
▶ 9:05 and the council's desire to really tap into, um, you know, populations in the community that aren't necessarily, um, in, involved in our boards and commissions. Um, just thought that those was a perfect synergy, um, for her. I think she might even be stopping by the Women's Commission meeting tonight, which is taking place, um, uh, one level below us this evening. So, was really interested in it. Um, does have an extensive experience as well as education, um, several graduate degrees as well as certifications. Um, and I think, you know, her passion for women's issues is something that will be a, a huge value add to the commission as well. Thank you so much. Um, and, uh, Ms. Gibbons, would you like to add anything additional
▶ 9:47 before you open up for questions? I, um, I moved to Melrose about 10 years ago and immediately dropped into a community in a neighborhood. Um, and, um, I am really excited about the, the vision for the city. And, and I'm also in a position now where I'm not working full-time at the hospital and I have, have time, um, and I can make my own schedule behaving, uh, running my own clinic. So, um, but I just, I really, um, appreciate the, uh, the opportunity and the elder, which I used the capital E. You could use that. Yes. That, um, the, you know, there is, am I representative of a certain population in my age group? Probably not. I misbehave all the time, but, but I do think that there is wisdom in the, in the years
▶ 10:46 Manjula Karamcheti: that I have been here, both in clinical practice and in, uh, and being alive. And so, um, and I'm excited about the group that has already, um, is already active on the commission and, and the new membership. So, um, I would, I would love to have the opportunity to be part of this Vital city. Thank you so much. Does anyone on the committee have any questions? Yes. Um, first I wanted to say thank you for expressing interest. Um, I really just enjoyed looking over your resume, um, just really appreciate the commitment to health and wellness, and am excited that you'll be bringing that to the Women's Commission. Have you thought about just things that you would like to work on within the group,
▶ 11:37 or, um, ways that you'd like to bring your expertise to the group? I think that the, um, you know, not only am I a a clinician, but I'm also a, I teach in the clinical trials around the, the Tai Chi and, and what they're now called contemplative movement. And that for all of us, everyone who's alive in a human body, um, these practices and, and they don't have to be extensive, they don't have to be hours long. There can be little sips of it throughout the day. So in terms of doing a program, doing some education, doing, you know, courses, that's, um, that's more than I could personally take on. But I could gather a team, you know, I reached out to one of my colleagues, um, who also has practices here in,
▶ 12:29 in Melrose and has for a long time. Um, and, you know, is, is is there something that we could put together, um, for tools for folks? And, um, yes, there's plenty that I have in my toolkit. It's just what, what is the need? Where is the need and, and how do we actually implement some of that? Yeah. It'll be great to have your wisdom in terms of thinking how to holistically support women in this community. So really appreciate you stepping up, Um, uh, president merely. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. I just wanna say thank you for stepping up. I think, um, I'm not sure that we've had someone in the health healthcare space on the Women's Commission before, and given, um, how women's health in particular has been, you know,
▶ 13:17 Kimberly Vandiver: under research, under study. It's really, it'll be great to have your input there and, um, looking forward to seeing what you'll come up with on the commission. So thank you for stepping up. Alright. I'll make a motion to recommend second Motion to recommend by Vice Chair Karen Chetty, seconded by Councilor Stewart. Um, on discussion. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Um, this order will be brought to the next full council meeting with a recommendation for passage. Um, you, I'd like to echo my colleagues and say thank you so much for stepping up. And we're very ex, I, I am also very excited. Um, you don't need to attend the full council meeting. You're welcome to if you would like to. And, and thank you again for coming tonight.