Boards & Commissions Committee — 2025-10-20
Attendance
Cal Finocchiaro ; Maya Jamaleddine ; Manjula Karamcheti ; Leila Migliorelli ; Robb Stewart ; Kimberly Vandiver
Agenda
- CALL TO ORDER
- Attendees
- MINUTES APPROVAL
- PUBLIC COMMENT
- APPOINTMENTS/REAPPOINTMENTS
- Appointment of Elizabeth Moroney, 52 Batchelder Street, Melrose to the Commission on Women. Ms. Moroney will finish out the remainder of Regina Gibbons' three-year term, said term to expire the last day of February 2028. (ID# 12967)
- ADJOURNMENT
Minutes
CITY OF MELROSE BOARDS & COMMISSION MINUTES● OCTOBER 20, 2025 Council Chamber, First Floor, Melrose City Hall Regular 7:10 PM 562 Main Street, Melrose, MA 02176 I. CALL TO ORDER Meeting was Called to order by Chair Vandiver at 7:10 PM Attendee Name Title Status Arrived Manjula Karamcheti Vice Chair Present 7:11 PM Cal Finocchiaro Present Maya Jamaleddine Absent Robb Stewart Present Leila Migliorelli Ex Officio Member Present Kimberly Vandiver Chair Present II. MINUTES APPROVAL 1. Boards & Commission - Regular - Sep 2, 2025 6:50 PM Motion to Approve minutes made by Chair Vandiver RESULT: ACCEPTED [5 TO 0] AYES: Karamcheti, Finocchiaro, Stewart, Migliorelli, Vandiver ABSENT: Maya Jamaleddine III. PUBLIC COMMENT Motion to Open public comment made by Chair Vandiver at 7:10 PM There were no comments on the floor or via Zoom Motion to Close public comment made by Chair Vandiver at 7:10 PM IV. APPOINTMENTS/REAPPOINTMENTS
1. (ID # 12967): Appointment of Elizabeth Moroney, 52 Batchelder Street, Melrose to the Commission on Women. Ms. Moroney will finish out the remainder of Regina Gibbons' three-year term, said term to expire the last day of February 2028 From: City Council PASSED Motion to Recommend to full council made by Councilor Karamcheti Seconded by Councilor Finocchiaro All were in favor and motion passed City of Melrose Page 1 10/31/2025 8:01 AM Minutes Boards & Commission October 20, 2025 Comments by councilors on discussion: -Councilor Karamcheti thanked Ms Moroney for her prior work and for volunteering for this board. She asked what the candidate wants to see out of Melrose, to which she replied she wants to continue to find opportunities for women. She commented that more women are empowered now than in the past and there is a need for participation from all. RESULT: RECOMMEND [5 TO 0] AYES: Karamcheti, Finocchiaro, Stewart, Migliorelli, Vandiver ABSENT: Maya Jamaleddine V. ADJOURNMENT Motion to Adjourn by unanimous consent made by Chair Vandiver at 7:16 PM Meeting was Adjourned City of Melrose Page 2 10/31/2025 8:01 AM
Transcript
▶ 17:07 Kimberly Vandiver: This, uh, ordinance will be recommended to the full council. Um, and now, uh, since this is the only ordinance on our agenda for tonight, um, uh, we are into adjournment. If there is no objection, I will, uh, make a motion to adjourn. Seeing none, we are adjourned. Good evening. The time is 7:10 PM on Monday, October 20th, 2025. This is a meeting of the Board's and Commissions committee. I'm Councilor Vandiver, the committee chair. Also joining me tonight, our councilors, Occhio Stewart and President Mire Exofficio. 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. I will now motion by unanimous consent
▶ 18:02 Kimberly Vandiver: to open the floor for public comment. Seeing no objections we're, we are open for public comment. Is there anyone who wishes to speak at the Boards and Commissions Committee meeting and open in public comment. And is there anyone online? There's no one online. Thank you. Uh, so if there's no objection, I'll now close public comment. Public comment is now closed. Um, and at this time, I'll motion by unanimous consent to approve the minutes from the prior meeting. September 2nd. Um, seeing no objection, those minutes are approved. And I'd also like to state for the record that we're joined by Vice Chair Karm Shady. Uh, we have one item on our agenda tonight. It is, uh, a new appointment. The item is the appointment of Elizabeth Maroney,
▶ 18:51 Jen Grigoraitis: 52 Batch Elder Street, Melrose, to the Commission on Women. Ms. Maroney will finish out the remainder of Regina Gibbons three year terms said to term to expire the last day of February, 2028. I believe the Mayor and Ms. Maroney are here for the appointment. If you would, please, uh, join us at the table, and we'd love, uh, to hear from you. And the floor is yours. Good evening, Madam Chair and Committee members. Thank you for having us this evening. I'm pleased to present you for consideration with Elizabeth Maroney to join the Women's Commission. Um, as you can see in your packet, Ms. Maroney, um, recently retired from a, um, career in, uh, the public sector, including working, um, at, on policy issues at the state level,
▶ 19:36 Jen Grigoraitis: and then most recently working in public sector banking. Um, and her retirement has meant that she has more time to give to her community. And so she had expressed interest in serving on a border commission, and so I'm grateful to have her here tonight for your consideration. Thank you. Um, and Ms. Marney, would you like to say a few words before we ask any questions? Um, Absolutely. Thank you very much, Madam Chair and members of the committee. It's, um, an honor to be here and to be, uh, uh, for the mayor to, um, appoint me to the Women's Commission is certainly, um, uh, equality and equity and participation at all levels of, um, the city government in the city itself is very close to my heart.
▶ 20:19 Um, certainly when I was at the State House, I was chief of staff to, uh, state senator for many years, worked on a number of, um, women's issues, what would be considered women's issues back in the day. And then the last 20 years I was, I worked for Bank of America where I was, um, uh, in public sector banking. One of my roles, um, was I was a board member for, uh, women Boston Women in Public Finance. Um, it, again, just any place, uh, where there are decisions being made, that's where women ought to be. And I, I really look forward to working, uh, with the rest of the commission in, in helping to do that. Thank you so much for that. Uh, do any of my colleagues have any questions or comments?
▶ 21:02 Manjula Karamcheti: Uh, vice Chair Caram, jd. Hi. Thank you so much for being here. I mean, it was really exciting to see that you were interested in being on the Women's Commission. Um, and your background and expertise are just really impressive. It's an interesting time to be a woman. Indeed. And so, you know, we're a local focus here, but I guess I would just be super interested in like, what would you would like, like to see for the women of Melrose? Um, and you don't, I'm not looking for anything specific, just No, no. I, I think overall, just what I was saying in my opening remarks was any place where decisions are being made, you know, there needs to be participation from everybody, not just women, but, uh, of everybody that's part of the community.
▶ 21:50 And, um, I know a little bit firsthand about seeing, you know, over the years, uh, as, as the mayor said, I have retired recently, you know, when I first started out. Congratulations, by the way. Oh, thank You. I Look forward to that day. It's great. It's great. Um, I will say, you know, when I was first working at the State House, it was very unusual. I mean, there were women and there were women elected and in power, but not like, you see it now where you have women governor and women Attorney General, and, and, uh, everybody else that represents us. And same thing in banking, you know, um, certainly women work in banking and work in middle management, but it, you know, as, as you go higher up the level you don't see as, as, um, uh,
▶ 22:32 Kimberly Vandiver: you don't see it as much. And I just wanna continue to find opportunities for women to participate at all levels and throughout the city, wherever the women are interested in participating. Um, if we can help them find opportunities to do that, I think that would be fantastic. Well, I'm very excited for you to join the team here in Melrose. Thank you so much. Um, if my colleagues don't have questions, I'd make a motion to recommend. Second. Thank you. So we have a motion, uh, to recommend, uh, from Vice Chair Carm Shady and a second by Councillor Occhio. Uh, anybody else on discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Any opposed? So, that will, uh, pass and go to the full council with a recommendation for a passage.
▶ 23:16 Mark Garipay: Thank you so much for coming and volunteering your time and, uh, expertise. Thank, thank you very much to all of you. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. Have a great night. Uh, that it concludes our business here today. Uh, I will now motion by unanimous consent to adjourn. Seeing no objections, we are adjourned. Good evening. The Time's seven 20 on Monday, October 20th, 2025. This is a meeting in the Appropriation Oversight Committee. I am Mark aia. Joining us tonight is Vice Chair Jamal. Dean Council is, uh, Che Councilor Williams. Councilor Romanul, councilor Vandiver, councilor Fanuc Chiro, counselor Reky Councilor Stewart and President, uh, Elli. This serves as a notice of the quorum