Confirmation of Appointments and Personnel Matters Committee - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Good evening, everybody. I call this meeting to order. This is the council's committee on confirmation of appointment and personal matters. It's Monday, April 4 at 06:30PM.

First one to chapter two of the acts of 2025, this meeting of the city council committee will be conducted via remote participation. We will post an audio recording, audio video recording, transcript, or other comprehensive record of this proceedings as soon as possible after the meeting on the city of Somali website and local cable access government channels. And we'll be at 6AM in tonight with by clerk Delaney. Thank you, clerk. Clerk, would you please call the roll?

Absolutely. This is roll call. Councilor Metzar often. Councilor Hart. Councilor Link.

Here.

Councilor Ewen Kampen. Here. Karen Bah.

Present.

Alright. With that, we do have three presents. We have quorum.

Thank you, We will lay item number one on the table to take it at the end for approval. And so and the very next item we would do will be to take item five out of order because we have two VIPs here from HRs with the need to go right. So, Claire, would you read read item number five, the resolution, please?

Yep. Item number five, ID number 26Dash0239, that the director of human resources review the hiring for crossing guards, ensuring that the process and requirements are right sized and not unnecessarily burdensome such such that they deter qualified candidates.

Absolutely. So this is, you know, an item that was brought forward by our very own counselor, Link. You know, I will let you lead, and then we'll hear from HR, and then we'll determine next steps. Councilor Link.

Thank you, chair. Through you. So this came about the the backstory is that I I was speaking to people over at the Circle Community Corporation, and they were telling me about how the the the process seemed like it was really kind of hard just to get the this job. They're they've been trying to help other people get jobs with the city as crossing guards. And and even just that, there was a lot of it seemed like maybe up some a bit the requirements were maybe not properly sized.

I know that the it's probably difficult to try to make it. So, like, every single job has different, you know, requirements. But at the same time, I I did wanna kinda know if we had ways we could maybe reduce the burden so that, you know, especially, you know, in light of the fact that we're we've seen that we don't have enough crossing guards, if there's a way to maybe kind of improve that process.

Yeah. Through the chair. Thank you for the question, CouncilLink. And, I I can assure you that, in HR, here's the difficult part of doing our jobs. We want

to guilt.

People oh, pardon me?

That's a guilt. You're you're my bestie, but you've not been recognized.

You can't. I'm sorry.

I appreciate Oops. It's okay. It's okay. You know? It's like it's just like we gotta it's like a whole you know? Like

Yep.

Yeah. But, again so, you know, put a, you know, a thumb pin. No. Don't worry. I mean, like, this is not like not you're new to this to this space. I guess just to put a thumb pin to, like, cancel a link is just I I think with your input, I'm also interested in just understanding now what specific barriers, you know, you have identified in the current hiring process and how they may be limiting your ability to recruit and retain crossing guards. You know? So and and yeah. So now you have the floor, director Gail.

Okay. Thank you. So through the chair to, to the to the committee, as I was beginning to say is there is a fine line between, making sure that our powering processes are having access to everyone and making sure that we're doing our due diligence in hiring people who are, particularly in sensitive positions, such as working with children, etcetera. So there's a a a whole process that we go through from sort of soup to nuts to make sure that we're hiring the right people in the right place. The reason I asked, Kristen Hill, our director our manager of recruitment here tonight is that she is the person responsible for that and has made, quite frankly, great headway in increasing the number of, crossing guards that we've hired recently, through some very difficult situations.

Just to remind the, committee as well that we're working with a demographic who are attracted to these positions, who are sometimes unfamiliar with the processes that need to happen for, hiring in any any position at all. However, we do the best we can. Krista, I can assure you, miss Hill does the best she can to bend over backwards to help people, not only with the application process, but with the onboarding practice as well. And so she could speak to this, in in greater length than I can given that she's the person who actually does the day to day hiring for all of the positions, but particularly for the crossing guards. Thank you for the opportunity.

Of course. Thank you, doctor Gil. Is manager here? I

Yeah. Do you can you, you

know, like, shed some light, you know, for us, please?

Yeah. Of course. Through the chair, thank you so much for the opportunity to share with you all some additional information about our crossing guard hiring. This is actually, like, a special project that I took on, since I joined the city as a recruitment manager. I was very shocked to hear that we struggled to hire and retain crossing guards because when I saw our application numbers, we definitely have the interest in the position.

So my intention over the last two years has been trying to break down some of the barriers. And as, director Gill spoke to, the populations that are attracted to this position tend to be, folks who are either retired or folks who are new to the Summerville area, potentially, recent immigrants or refugees. We also have a large, population of English language learners that are attracted to this opportunity. And for both of those reasons, we have I don't wanna say, like, softened our standards, but we have made a lot of, different options. We provided options to our candidates.

So just today, I got off the phone with someone interested in crossing guard position. They don't have access to a computer or an email, so I got their address, and I'm going to, physically mail them an application that they will mail back to me. Furthermore, we also, through the great work of our language access team here at the city, we also have access to translation services. So on a very regular basis, we will utilize the translation services to work with English language learners who are interested in not in the opportunity. We'll use the translation services to support in explaining the recruiting and hiring process as well as the requirements.

The requirements for the position are pretty are are as low as we can make them for a safety sensitive position. So because this is a position that does work around schools, children, a vulnerable population, we do require drug screening for the position. However, to try and make drug screening as accessible as possible, we have added an additional vendor. So we have a location here in, it's actually just over the border of Summerville in Medford at CHA. That is by appointment, so they do have to schedule an appointment.

So that can be a barrier sometimes, and they do have more rigid hours. So we also pursued, setting up drug screening with another vendor called Concentra, and they have, drop in appointments. So you do not have to schedule appointment, and they have, greater availability in the hours that they offer. So in doing so, we've tried to really break down barriers to folks actually going to the drug screen appointments. On top of that, our crossing guard supervisor, Salvi Cicero, is incredible partner in this work.

He will offer our crossing guard candidates, rides to these appointments if they need it. Some of them do have, don't have access to a personal vehicle. Another barrier that we can sometimes face with candidates who are interested in the opportunity is that they are only interested in working in the school that is right in their backyard and rightfully so, who would not want to serve their own neighbors. But, unfortunately, there are only so many postings at specific schools, and there are times where we will work through this whole process of getting someone hired. We'll be talking to them about their posting, and they'll be like, yeah.

It's okay that my posting is further away. But then once they're actually put in the posting and, you know, have to try it out a couple days in a row, maybe it's the weather, maybe it's the commute to the posting, it ends up not working out for those folks. So we do have we work tirelessly to get them to the hired process, which as you've heard, sometimes it takes multiple, multiple touch points and, myself, the onboarding coordinator, the crossing guard supervisor, to get them to that finish line. And even still, once they're actually put into their posting, sometimes it can be difficult for them to fulfill it, depending on where they're placed. So, yeah, that's just some additional insight.

I'd be happy to answer any other questions you all have about our hiring process for crossing guards, and thank you so much for the time.

Thank you, manager Hill. I think that's a lot of information, especially for me. I think that the record reflects that counselor has joined us, you know, Claire Delaney.

Yep. I got it. Thank you.

So yeah. No. This is a lot of stuff, and I think everything that you've said also, like, resonate with some of the I once I try to address, like, just an issue with the crossing guard Because, you know, they build relationship with his family, the kids, and so Mhmm. And then they were trying to relocate them, and then they call me. I'm like, wow. This is not in my warehouse. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say, but I just I made some calls just to say, like, hey. I think this should be thoughtful. I think, yeah, just to register that I made that call.

But I appreciate the fact that you're doing everything to, you know, debacle some of the constraint. You know? So I will you know, you have to cancel our link and then cancel your incumbent. You know?

Thank you, Cherry. So through you to manager Hill. So just so the the some of those I was just trying to look up some of the the more specific things because it's been a a few minutes since I submitted this order. And the the things that I had that had been specifically highlighted, was, like, the the requirement of of of a formal resume and a cover letter. I I I can kinda see the the resume, but I'm I'm just wondering, I guess, like like, for the it was a cover letter.

The other thing that they'd highlighted was was the requirement of three references. And and then the final thing, which was not necessarily it was just part of the onboarding, not necessarily the actual application, but was and this is maybe just something that's unavoidable, but it seems that our crossing guards are maybe also completing the conflict of interest training. I don't know if there's a that it's probably there's probably no way around that, but it does it does strike me as a little odd. But yeah. So I'm wondering if you could speak to to any of those, if you would. Thank you.

Certainly. Through the chair. So as far as the application requirements, when a candidate submits an application via the city website, the only thing they are required to submit, it does force you to submit a resume, but you have the option to hand type something in as opposed to uploading a document. And many folks will write, do not have formal resume, so that is an option there. Additionally, a cover letter is not required, through the online application.

However, it is an option if they would like to submit one. Additionally, we also have a paper application that is much more, streamlined and simplified that folks are able to pick up at city hall. Or if they want to call me and give me their address, I can mail it to them. And that, I have actually hired and accepted applications that all that is on that piece of paper is their name, their contact information, and the title of the position they desire. So we do have very little requirements for application, which, I mean, in some regards, that makes me sad because I'm like, we we should have high standards for applications.

But in another regard, I'm like, we also wanna make sure we're limiting the barriers to folks where maybe English is not their first language. Maybe they are newer to the job force. Maybe they haven't been in the job force in many, many years, and so they can't remember who their last boss was. Right? So we try to meet each candidate where they are at and accept what they are able to provide.

As far as the professional references go, I wanna say almost a year ago, we did invest in new reference check software, which has made it a lot easier for the people who are listed as the professional reference to complete their online reference in less than five minutes. So we've really tried to bring down the barriers for the people completing the references. And then on the flip side, for our candidates, we've also tried to bring down those barriers. So because many of our candidates struggle with, what's the word I should use, like, computers and and gaining access to different platforms and things like that. We also allow our candidates to either over the phone, via text message, or email.

Just send us the name, phone number, and email address of references. If they don't have a phone number or an email address, we'll accept one of or the other. And, additionally, if their references are struggling to use our software, we also do phone call reference checks. And at this point, this is really the only position in the whole city that we even have to do that for, but we still do it for this position to try and expedite these people through the preemployment process. Just last week, I was calling someone's sister's mother's aunt who worked at a place of someone for a crossing guard, and they're like, you have the wrong number.

Here's a different number. So we really do try to go above and beyond to overcome even those barriers that you discussed. And in regards to the references as well, if we can get a really strong one reference, two references, we'll accept that as opposed to three full complete references depending on, you know, the candidate situation again. Maybe they're new to the country. Maybe they haven't worked in a long time. Mhmm. So we really try to meet each candidate where they're at and while still maintaining, you know, some semblance of, like, qualifications to to enter the position. Was there one more thing I may have forgotten?

The, the the conflict of interest.

Conflict of interest. Director Gil can speak more to this if she'd like, but just from my perspective, I believe it is just law. All municipal employees are subject to the conflict of interest law, so it is in our best practice for all staff members to be aware of that. I will say that is another thing that we will also make a little bit of a workaround for is that if they do not complete the conflict of interest law online, like our hires are supposed to do prior to their onboarding date, they do receive a printed out version of our conflict of interest law at onboarding, which is why we do have that onboarding session in person. So we can even bypass that.

If they haven't completed that by their onboarding date, we'll just provide it to them in person instead.

This is all, through the chair. This is all extremely reassuring, and it sounds like some of this is just, educating the, some of the people who are helping these, people who will apply. So I'm I'm really excited to share this this information. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

Of course.

Yeah. No. Thank you, councilor Link, and thank you, manager. You know, I think we can also, like, way simplify this. Like, so did you did you say that they're they're not doing this conflict of interest? Is that necessary? Is or it's just there as a formality? I just wanna make sure I got distracted with doing something else.

Through you, to you. It is a requirement for all city staff to be made aware of and take the conflict of interest law training. So what I shared was that if a candidate does not take the full I mean, forgive me. It's been a little bit. I only had to take my refresher course last year.

I think I have to retrain this year. If they don't take that hour long training online prior to their start date, which is when they have their onboarding session, we will print out a copy, like a text version of the conflict of interest law that they can review, as opposed to taking the hour long training. So, again, we try to kind of bring down that barrier because, again, a lot of these folks do not have access to a computer or consistent access. We have also set folks up in the HR department, on the computer. If they wanna take it online, they can do it, that day as well.

Thank you, Manjia. Yeah. I think, yes, like councilor Lin said, is, you know, one of the things we need to work on is outreach and education, the better methodology that we are using just so that people understand, you know, the process and make sure that we disseminate those information in multiple languages so that people can feel, you know, comfortable about the process. Counselor, and Kampen, thank you for your patience.

Thank you, mister chair. And through you, thank you to counselor Link for bringing this. You know, I will say probably every year I've been on the council, we have some kind of conversation about how hard it is to hire and retain and recruit crossing guards. And this was the most amazing conversation I've heard about it. So I I just wanna thank you. This was really, really, really impressive hearing about the lengths that you're going to to recruit people, to to help them through the application process. It's really impressive. The the the hard work is paying off, so I just wanted to thank you and director Gil.

Thank you, councilor Yuan Kampan. And thank you, manager Gil. Thank you, doctor Gil.

Appreciate it.

Of course. Thank you.

So, Link, you know, I think we could mark this as well complete. If it's okay, good. So we're all set with you guys. Enjoy the rest of your evening.

Thank you very much. Have a wonderful evening.

And so I think we're supposed to return to regular other business except doctor Nagin, I gotta call you out. Yeah. It's it's it's I'm sure, you know, you're from IGA, so you must know what is going on with the next item. Like, is there somebody is there a person here, like, I know or should we just skip this item?

Through you, mister chair. Amanda Najam Williams, director of intergovernmental affairs. Yes. Malik Drayton is here to introduce the appointees for item, I think it's two and three, for the Conservation Commission.

Thank you. So so we'll return to the regular order of business then. Thank you, doctor Nagin. And, manager, here, is there anything else that you guys are waiting? You know? No. I mean, you're happy to stay. Like, this is

Through the chair. I was just checking with my director if she needed me on anything else, but I think I should be good. So thank you very much, and have a good night.

You too. Thank you. I didn't mean to chase you away. I'm just yeah. Kinda like we took this thing out of order. So, Claire Delaney, can you just we are returning to regular order of business, I think. Could you read item number two, please?

Yep. Item number two, ID number 26Dash0380, requesting confirmation of the appointment of Logan Brill to the Conservation Commission.

Amazing. So it's who's here to introduce our candidate, Logan Brill? Director Nagin.

To you, mister chair, that would be staffer Malik Drayton. I'm unsure if he's having difficulty unmuting.

Is he in the guest panel?

To chair, I see him as a panelist.

So

mister Malik, are you there? It's okay. I mean, honestly, do we have the candidates? Because, I mean, this is, like, these are the commissions where we really I mean, I've read through the resumes and stuff. Still our candidates, you know, will be just helpful even, like sometime I would tell myself that some of these commissions that we have, that we are always it's always like there's a lack of forum, and we are looking for candidate to help, you know, like, boost this.

I don't sometime I feel like I should have it should not have even made it to to, you know, the the the committee. But when it comes now, there's always also some useful conversations so we can put some faces together. So if director Dre Dreighton is still having difficulty, maybe we can have Logan Brill just kind of, like you know, if they are here, they can just talk. That's fine. Yes, doctor Nagin.

To you, mister chair, I believe that mister Drayton had just unmuted to introduce through you to Malik Drayton. Are you unable to unmute? You. Mister Shea, I'm with you. Let's just hear from the candidates.

Yeah. That's thank you. Yep. Logan Brill, sorry about sorry for the glitch. I'm I was ready to just roll with you guys. You know? So take it away.

Yeah. Hear you, mister chair. Hopefully, everyone can hear me. I'm Logan. I'm a resident of Summerville. I am an environmental engineer, and I'm hoping to join the conservation commission to help out with sort of all of their wetland and garden and other projects. Thanks so much.

Thank you. No. This is great. Again, we are super happy to have you, and it's always nice for me. And I think I like the fact that members can come. It's that we can put some faces together. So and, also, I looked at your resume. It's really powerful. So I thought I would maybe just ask you, like I mean, first, we are excited. You gotta you you you have a profile in advance.

So this question is just to kinda, like it's just to get some familiarity about, like, also your thought process because we are grappling with these issues, you know, trying to balance some of these urgent housing, and then there's also the infrastructure needs. You know? So how do you balance that with the preservation of open space and our climate resilient goals? Like, it would be just nice to hear your thought process about that.

Yeah. It's that's sorry. Through you, mister chair, that's definitely a really tough question because there's been a housing crisis, I think, as long as I've lived here, if not longer. And then it's not as simple as just build more because there's open space. There's limits to what the infrastructure can handle.

But it's definitely the city has made some progress on a lot of these fronts. A lot of the zoning changes that I have seen also, you know, we're really thoughtful about where could support more development. And as far as I know, I haven't seen any projects that would ever remove open space or any green infrastructure, and so I'm looking forward to continuing to find ways to do both. And, hopefully, a lot of the city's goals are aligned. So separating the sewers is, I think, aligned with also increasing capacity.

So, hopefully, that also, creates a little more room, for increasing housing in some of the areas they're getting new sewers for other other projects. Thank you.

Amazing. Amazing. Mister Brea, you got my enthusiastic approval. So, counselor, you and Camden.

Thank you, mister chair. I just wanted to say I reviewed, both candidates for the commission's resumes. I am just totally blown away by the caliber of candidates that we get for this commission for all of the commissions in the city. Just really, really thankful that that people of your, skills and backgrounds are stepping up to serve the city. So thank you. I'm more than happy to support your resignation resignation. Don't resign, please.

The resignation. Anyway, thank you, counsel. Any other committee member have any question for mister Brill? Councilor Ling?

Yeah. I I just have one quick one. I'm just curious. Like, you know, you, obviously, I I already I've, just to echo, through the chair. Sorry. I I, like my, fellow counselors here, have reviewed the the resumes, and, I mean, they're really truly fantastic. I'm curious, you you know, in the the cover letter, you had talked a little bit about, like, the, like,

the rain

gardens and and, like, bioswales and stuff like that. I'm curious. Do you do you see that, like for example, Summer Street, we've we've done a lot of work on those. Like, how how

do

you find those? Do you think that those are are successful examples, or do you think we, like you know, do you think there's there's interesting examples elsewhere?

Yeah. Through you, mister chair. I yeah. I I pass by the ones on Summer Street quite a lot. And those are interesting because some of them are meant to have water flow into them, and some are just green space.

You can sort of tell from the sidewalk side, you know, whether or not the the plantings are below grade or whether they're sort of mounds of soil. So those would have water flow away from them rather than to them. So I, unfortunately, have not seen those ones in action. I'm, like, hoping they are working as intended, the ones that are below grade to collect rainwater. I've seen a few others in the city that I think are maybe not working a 100% as intended or places that might be, you know, space for improvement.

You know, it may not have been intended to have the water from as large of an area as I was wondering that it might. So it may actually be handling the water as intended correctly, and then I'm maybe being ambitious in how much more water could be directed towards some of the infrastructure. I think, honestly, one of my favorite examples of rain gardens, there's one on the Tufts campus that is it's like a miniature rotary, so it's surrounded by walking paths, not roads. But it water flows into it up until it hits a certain level, and then it flows out a higher outflow and into the regular storm drainage system. So I think it's a good example of, you know, controlling for you know, if it's too much for the rain garden, but it, I think, functions pretty well up until that point.

Thank you.

Thank you so much, mister Bill, for entertaining me on that one. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you, councilor. Thank you for the work you did for, you know, like, the mamas and the growing center, you know, like the bike Davis Square Bikeway Community Gardens. It's like, you're pretty involved in the city. Councilor

Thank you, chair. I just wanted to echo the sentiments of my colleagues through you, chair, to the applicant. I really appreciate that our city has such qualified and experienced candidates, and I appreciate your dedication and passion, and especially given, you know, climate challenges that we're facing and increasing flooding. You know, I think that this this the work that of the commission is only gonna become more and more important, So I'm so grateful. So thank you.

Thank you. So I think I can safely say every committee member has asked the and they got an excellent response. So I think if we don't have any more questions, which I know we don't, we will lay this Thank you, mister Logan. Can you hear me?

You briefly cut out, when you're just explaining what you would like to do with this item.

Oh, did I did I get cut out?

Just briefly. Yes.

Oh, my bad. No. I just wanted to I was thanking mister Logan for just the time and the interest in serving our community and for all the things that now is done, you know, this far and said, we will lay this item on the table, you know, for approval at the end of the meeting. Or should we Clerk, should we just do a roll call at the moment?

Up to you. We could do that.

Okay. So roll call. Click the learning.

Alright. So this is on item number two, for the appointment of Logan Brill to the Conservation Commission. This is counselor McLaughlin. Counselor Hart. Yes. Councilor Link?

Yes.

Councilor Ewen Kampen?

Yes.

Chair Amba?

Yes.

Alright. That is all members in favor.

You. Thank you, mister Logan. So do we have our friend Valerie Loca with us? I have all these multiple window on my screen. I think Valerie I think I saw yeah. Valerie, I see you. You know, do you wanna introduce yourself and, you know, say, you know, something to the address the committee members?

Chairwoman, sorry to jump in. We just will need to read this item into the record before I give Valerie the floor if

that's okay.

Oh, jeez. Yeah. Got ahead of myself. Oh, okay. So miss mister mister Dresden is here finally. Can you hear us, mister Dresden?

Yes. I've been here for a while, but I haven't been able to turn on my my video. So there was a little technical difficulties on my side. It's My apologies.

No. No worries. I mean, it happens all the time. So would you, you know Claire, would you read the next item? And then, Drayton, we'll be honored for you to, you know, introduce the candidate to us. Yep.

Sounds good. Alright. This is item number three, ID number 26Dash0381, requesting confirmation of the appointment of Valerie Locker to the Conservation Commission.

Just the candidate?

Yes. Second. Okay. So Valerie Loecker has applied to be on the conservation commission. She's highly qualified with the background in environmental consulting, also in culture.

And as you know, the Summerville Conservation Commission administers and enforces the Massachusetts Wetland Protection and Rivers Act, including reviewing and issuing permits for projects that are in, near, or has the potential impact wetlands or riverfront areas. Valerie has actually had the experience on being on the other side of the table coming before us for a permit application. So she is very familiar with this process, and she will be more than an asset to the Somerville Conservation Commission.

Thank you so much, doctor Burton. Miss Larka, you wanna share something with the committee member before we kinda, like, give our comments and ask questions if we do have any?

Sure. Thank you for the introduction and, of course, for having me. I have been wanting to find a way to get more involved with the city for a while now and feel really excited about this and what I could bring to the community. My background is environmental science, generally on the wetlands and permitting side, but I personally am very passionate about infrastructure, and I know that our city has a lot of challenges ahead. So excited to help address them.

Thank you. No. This is I mean, we're so honored to have you. Again, when I read your cover letter, the both of you is I mean, just the the the one that you kind of, like, just even talk about, like, when you're walking around, you just periodically pause. You know?

And and and just the pride of the city, I I think, is is it's neat. So, no, thank you for stepping up to serve. You know? I guess if you're in front of us, when we have all this stellar candidate I mean, I, for one, I always have something, you know, not not because it's, a deal breaker or something just for my own kinda, like, education because how often do we, you know, like, meet, like, formidable candidates that you so I always kinda, like I would switch gear by saying with your level of, like, also, like, very rich background, like, how do you see your role, like, you know, on the conservation commission to helping the city advance both environmental protection and then with responsible development?

It's a tough one. And I do No.

No. The the anything you say is excellent in my book. So

Yeah. And I I like to say that the first, you know, few months I spend in a position, it's a lot of level setting, seeing how things are happening already, how they're already being done, and figuring out what the relationships and what the networks are, and then figuring out from there how to grow it. I think that there's there's so much need for redevelopment that it really opens opportunity for us because development that was done, you know, fifty years, a hundred years ago was just done by different standards. There's so much pavement that could be not pavement. And even I know this isn't owned by Somerville, but Draw 7 being turned for into, you know, this combination of open space, passive recreation space, storm water management, when it was a pretty sad mode field for a long time.

Mhmm.

You know, there's there's opportunity with what we already have. So I'm I'm interested to observe for a little bit, see how things are currently running, and then start to build from there.

See. Wow. You went above and beyond, I told you. Any other committee member have any questions? Let me see. Oh, counselor Hart.

Thank you. Through you to miss Loker, I just wanted to also appreciate how grateful I am that someone with your qualifications and passion is interested in serving the city. One of the things that I really appreciated about your application was your your experience, you know, dealing with really complex issues and trade offs and navigating the interpersonal dynamics, you know, that always are at play in in these complex issues. So I really appreciate the experience that you're bringing and that you're interested in putting it to work for our city. So thank you.

You, councilor Hart. Any other committee member have any question? I don't see any. So I will make the motion from the chair, you know, to approve. And clerk, you, you know, call the roll?

That I can. Councilor McLaughlin? Councilor Hart? Yes. Councilor Link?

Yes, please.

Councilor Yuan Kempen? Yes. Cherenbach?

Yes, please.

Alright. With that, that is all present members in favor.

So, miss Lockhe and and and mister Brill, so this is congratulations, but it's you're gonna hold your applause until after the city council meeting on next Thursday, March May 14. So that's when it becomes official. But we are really thrilled that you, you know, you've stepped up. You know, I want to serve, you know, in this capacity. So thank you for your time, and thank you for everything you do for the city.

Thank you.

So, Claire, Delaney, what what's the next item on the

Next up is item number four, ID number 26Dash0483, requesting confirmation of the appointment of Eric Weissman as commissioner of public works.

Oh, yes.

Commissioner Weissman. Is is Eric Weisman there?

Hi. Yes. Thank you, chair Eric Weisman, DPW commissioner.

Is is there anyone from the administration that usually will introduce you, or you just gotta just introduce yourself?

Well, chief, chair, I

don't know. This is my first time. So

Director Nagin, I think, you know, usually, it's like, you know, IGH will, you know, present this. So, yes, I well, I don't wanna call anybody, but, again, the administration will usually present. You know? So, doctor Nagin.

Through you, mister chair, director Gill is still here. I think she was raising her hand physically raising her hand, not using the raise hand function, as she will be introducing commissioner Wiseman.

Doctor Gil, you're still here.

Yes.

Take it away.

My pleasure. It is absolutely my pleasure to, introduce, and recommend to the committee Eric Wiseman as the commissioner of DPW. Eric, I'll just give a short version. Eric can certainly fill in the blanks here. But Eric has been with the city since 2017.

He served in the mayor's offices as, in Somerset as an analyst, was then promoted to director of operations in 2019 in the DPW. Eric gracefully took over at a moment's known notice as the interim commissioner, the DPW, and served in that capacity until he was put into the position, very recently. He is a very competent manager. He can speak to his own skills. I'm certainly I'm certain he'll be happy to answer any questions.

The city is, quite frankly, very lucky to have him. And I've worked with Eric for five years now, and, I I can attest to that as well as well as many of my colleagues. So with that, I present Eric Wiseman to certainly answer any questions that you have.

That general introduction. You know, Eric Wiseman, do you wanna do you have anything to share with members of the commit?

Yeah. Sure. Very briefly, thank you, director Gill. Everything she said was true. I joined the city in 2017 in Somerset. The key department that I started in those days was TPW when the opportunity came up for director of operations. I was very excited to to get more directly involved in the operations of that department. So I've been there since 2019, and I'm a resident of Summerville. I have a child in the the school district. So I love the city. I love working for the city, and, I'm looking forward to your questions.

No. Thank you. Thank you for your service. You know? It's always helpful, especially, like, you know, DPW.

That's it's like the most you know, like, I mean, in my books, like, you hold, like, a lot, and you and you also you cut across almost every every department. And so I would just kinda, like, just like to see and and and hear from you, like, how you plan to improve, like, responsiveness in communication between department and residents, you know, especially around recurring, you know, service concerns. Like, how do you what is your approach there?

Yep. Thank you, chair. I I pride myself on collaboration with other departments, and I think that was one of the key things that I stressed in my candidacy. As operations director, I chaired the events committee or sorry, events meetings, which is a committee of of various departments that all work on the events that the city puts on. So we we meet weekly and review all the events going on in the next couple of weeks and make sure that we really leave no stone unturned when it comes to these these great events that the city puts on.

So making sure that, you know, highway, police, the fire department, everybody's on the same page. And I think that's the attitude that I take towards all city operations. I believe that DPW doesn't do anything in a vacuum, that everything we do is in, like, you know, hand in glove with engineering, with water and sewer, with the police department, with the fire department, with the school department. And I really see the DPW as a part of a larger organism and not an organism unto itself. So that's that's really how I look at things.

And I think, you know, as we have that outlook that improves constituent experience by by making sure that they know that we're we're not acting in a silo, and we're we're working together.

Gotcha. No. Thank you. And and you touched on some very, you know, like, key points. Thank you for that response.

And I'm glad that you also know, like, just how important your department is in connecting a lot of the dots. And just one last, you know, thing for me is, like, just to, you know, figure out, like, your strategy, you know, for modernizing our public work systems, especially around as you hear, we are talking about climate adaptation, you know, street maintenance, waste reduction, like, you know, all these there's all these different, you know, like, stuff that there there is almost like an evolution. And so I can imagine, like, just the thick of it is all, you know, like, in your face. Can you you know, what is do you have any strategy around that?

Thank you for the question, chair. Yeah. One of the things that's been really important for us is rolling out technology to our staff. A lot of systems in DPW were until very recently very paper based involving colored cards, things like that. And I think that those systems got us a long way, but there's an opportunity to to take advantage of things like iPads, and you'd start using those in the field, have the ability for our staff to, like, take pictures of work orders as they complete them.

So residents won't see, you know, one word answers done. Like, they'll see, oh, this job is finished, and they can see what the job looks like, or they can see get feedback like, hey. I went out to check out this thing that you requested, and I don't see it. Here's a picture. And then, like, the resident could respond like, oh, that's not the right location.

So that's one thing. There's, I'm trying to think other technology stuff. Yeah. So we've looked at, things to make people safer, like speed limiters, trying to roll those out, but, at the same time, you know, meeting all of our bargaining obligations, making sure that we're working with the unions on rolling out any new technologies. So I think you will start to see more and more of those technologies, but it will take time to get over the finish line. So

No. Thank you. Thank you, you know, for your work. I I can imagine. Like, it's one of the most challenging department I I can imagine. So I think Never work all day. Cancel the UN campaign, then cancel the and then cancel the link.

Thank you, mister Shared. Through you, thank you, director. I'm thrilled to to support you tonight. You know, we've had the opportunity to work together for for years, and just every time that I've worked with you, I've been incredibly impressed. And I guess the question that I have while we have you here, I think probably city councilors have a relatively specific perspective on you know, based on what we hear from constituents on kind of what from our perspective, might be the biggest issues.

But I'm curious what do you perceive as kind of the biggest challenges for the department, things that maybe we are on the councilor not aware of or or maybe we are? And how do you plan to address those in the role? For the chair, thank you

for your question. Yes. It's always been good to work together. I think that there's a long history of maybe things being done one particular way and, like, just because this is the way things are done that they that we just there's a certain amount of inertia in how we do things. So I think one of the, like, the big sort of big picture challenges is really, like, digging in with our staff, understanding the work, see if there are opportunities for improvement to see, better results for constituents, and other stakeholders.

I'm lucky that I have an incredible staff at DPW that that is, willing to answer, my questions, my silly questions, and explain to me why certain things have to be one way and why they might be able to be changed. So, yeah, I think, like, that is, like, one of the the sort of big picture issues that you guys might not see. I'm sure you're aware of our challenges with staffing, filling positions. It's been a tough environment for several years, but we've, had some good luck, filling in some of the trades positions and some of the the positions in some other departments. We have a handful of departments that are very close to being fully staffed.

So, that for a long time was one of our, challenges. I'm hoping to see that improve, and I'm hoping to see the fruits of that. So that's a couple examples.

Thank you, mister Scheer.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, director Weisman, for that response. Councilor Hart?

Thank you, chair. And through you to director Weisman, thank you so much for your service to the city and your interest in, you know, stepping up into this position. I'm very excited about this. I just wanted to ask because such a big part of the job is managing a really large staff. I was be curious to hear just more of your kind of management philosophy, and how did you you didn't start out your career as a manager. You know, how have you grown as a manager over over your career? And we're just kind of what guides you in that role.

Sure. To the chair, thank

you for your question. Yeah. I I came in from an analytical perspective. My particular interests at the time were about systems operations, so it was very easy to, like, try to embed myself in the department and learn how things worked. That way when I came in as a into the director of operations role, I could start it was easy to I wouldn't say easy, but I was able to shift into starting to manage some processes and operations and then gradually overseeing staff and, like, work units.

So, like, because I came up as the operations director, it was it was a good opportunity to sort of gradually work my way into managing a a very quickly, but a very large workforce. And, in terms of my management style, I see my team as really partners and us as teammates, so I like to have a lot of touch points, frequent check ins with my staff, clear communications of what our what my expectations are, what I'm looking for, and I'm really privileged to have a really good team of superintendents and directors that that help support.

Are you all good?

Yes. Thank you.

Brilliant. Thank you. Councilor Link.

Thank you, chair. Through you, to director Weissman. So I guess just to to echo what others have already said, I'm thrilled that you're you're you're up for this, and that that that you accepted this position, because it's, it it's been in my short time, on the the city council. It has been very, very good, to to work with you. We, you know, we get to see you a lot on the school buildings, facilities, and maintenance committee. And yeah. So I've got maybe just a a couple quick questions. First one's about snow. No. I'm just kidding.

I'm we'll save you from that. But for real so a lot of my questions are actually been answered, but I think one that I still have is kind of what your approach is, like, in terms of problem solving around, like, and specifically in the in with the lens of constituent services. Because I know, like, you know, there's people have problems with things, and sometimes there's, you know, there's not there's no easy solution. And we have to identify that, like, oh, like, you know, this this is a bad problem, but maybe it has to be this way versus, like, this is a bad problem, and it's only this way. I think, you know, kind of you hinted at it before because we've we've always done it this way, and we're not solving it because we've always done it this way, and it doesn't actually take it.

Yeah. Through the chair, thank you. Thank you for the question. Thank you for not having a question about snow. But I'm just kidding. I was expecting a snow question, so I'm a little disappointed. So I I think there's so there's there's a few things. Like, there's the the constituent services issue that is simple. It's solved by the, like, the the standard response, and that's, like, probably the biggest chunk of constituent service requests. And then there are the ones, like, as you said, that we've always done it this way, but it's, that it but it's not, like, satisfactory, for for a small group.

And then there's, like, even maybe a third where where it's something where it's a very individual problem, and the the, the standard, answers don't apply necessarily. And I think it's like when you get to that point sorry. Sorry. To back back up a little bit. And I think I think the way we provide good customer service is to have, clear policies and procedures for how we handle the work.

And we work very closely with the constituent constituent services team on, sort of defining and agreeing on a a set of standard operating procedures and answers and and processes for dealing with requests. I think I talked a little bit about this at, at the building facilities maintenance last week. But, I think when when something doesn't fit into the process or the procedure, like, that's when it's time that that, like, sometimes our superintendents have to reach out to a constituent and really understand the issue, or, I have to reach out to really understand the issue. And sometimes it's a miscommunication. We're not sure we're talking about the right thing.

Sometimes we have different language for how we talk about stuff. But I think it's really important for us to listen, to understand, and then look back at our processes and our procedures and make sure that they are working for everybody.

Wonderful. Doctor Weisman, thank you very much. Thank you.

Thank you, counselor Lin. Doctor Weisman, as you can see, you know, this a you have so much support from the council for you for you and your work, so we appreciate that. I don't see any further question from my colleagues, so I will move there to recommend approval. You know?

Thank you, chair.

Any question? Clerk, can you please call the roll?

That I can. Councilor McLaughlin. Councilor Hart. Yes. Councilor Link.

Yes.

Councilor Yun Kampen.

Yes.

Chair Mbaugh.

Yes.

Alright. With that, that is all votes in the affirmative.

Thank you, Greg Delaney. Congratulations, doctor Wiseman. And it will be official, you know, at the city council meeting next week. Next agenda item, Greg Delaney.

Yep. Next up is item number six, ID number 26Dash0698, requesting confirmation of the promotion of Dennis Sullivan to the position of fire district chief.

Wow. So the the the the the fat cat, Is Charles Charles Chief Brain here to introduce?

Right here. Right here. Council.

Oh, Hey, Chief Brain. Sorry. Like, my computer, it's like this. I have all this divided screen, and then I still have another. So sorry I didn't see you.

Good evening.

Good evening. Would you like to introduce, you know, the candidate to us?

I I would be happy to. I'm happy to introduce captain Dennis Sullivan for the for the position of, district fire chief tonight. Dennis was appointed to the Somerville fire department in 2011. He was promoted to lieutenant in 2015 and, promoted to the rank of captain in 2020. He holds a bachelor's in chemistry from Boston College as well as a master's in chemistry from Northeastern University. In addition, he has a bachelor's degree in fire administration from Syon State. Dennis is an EMT. He has certifications in fire officer one and two, fire instructor one and two, among others. And I'm pleased to introduce Dennis tonight, for the position and the promotion to district chief.

Thank you for that general introduction, chief. Is captain Sullivan with us? Captain Sullivan, do you wanna, you know, address members of the this body?

Do you like me to introduce myself?

Hello, captain Sullivan. Good to see you.

How are you doing?

Not too bad. Do you do you wanna say a few words to members of the committee?

Sure. Yeah. I've been in the department for a little over fifteen years. I've held various roles in suppression, administration, and

fire

prevention. As the chief of the department mentioned, I do hold several degrees in fire science and also in chemistry. I'm looking forward to the new opportunity.

Absolutely. Thank you. We're happy to have you. I think it's for yourself kind of experience. I guess, you know, for me, at this level that you're you're turning the ranks, you know, I you know, know your approach, you know, regarding mentoring, you know, and developing the next generation of leadership within the fire department. Can you speak to that?

Yeah. Definitely. Mentor and in training people that will then be the next leaders in the department huge. Then in terms of what I would do in my position, I would do that same thing for that next wave of lieutenants as they're moving their way up. Anytime I have an opportunity to to teach or train someone, I I to that opportunity.

Doctor. Solov, I think your network is party. I think you probably said some things that make sense, but I I wasn't sure if that's it was on my end. But I guess, I was supposed to end with that question, but now that your network was party, I'm you're not I'm not letting you off the hook. You know? So I would like to understand also, like, you know, how you've prepared to lead across multiple units, you know, and manage complex emergency operation at the district wide level?

Yeah. And I and I think the first thing would be is training. I've taken various training certificates at different levels. And then also the degree programs that I'm in, especially the the Salem State one in fire science administration. It really focuses on kinda higher level officer type issues and, you know, kind of how to work on the administration side at more of that chief level.

Nice. Very succinct. You see? And the second question came because your first the first one, your network was spotty. If you had a spotty second network, I would have asked another third question in different, you know, variations so you don't have to repeat yourself. So but thank you for that response. Councilor, you and Camden.

Thank you, mister chair. Through you.

Thank you

so much for being here. I I have two questions, and I I think these will just reveal my ignorance. The fur is it common for firefighters to have backgrounds in chemistry?

No. Well, I I can only speak for myself, but I I think I might possibly be an n of one. I do not know of any others. So

It's very interesting. And through the chair, I I think it's very relevant. You know, we we have companies in the city that have huge amounts of reactive chemicals, battery companies, things like that. I think it's really relevant expertise. Another question, that I have, mister Shair, it's not to your qualifications or anything. I'm pleased to support you. It's more just for my own information. In this role as district chief, are are do you have, like, a subject matter expertise? Can you just explain to me, like, how this are there different kind of parts of the department and you'll be overseeing one of them in particular, or how does it work?

Yes. So in the position, the the the city is separated into essentially two district Yeah. And then I would respond to bring that half of the city for any, major emergency events that happen on that side.

Okay. So, mister chair, it's, geographic separation, it's not?

Yes. Yes. But if but if if we did have, an incident that was large enough, you would get both the chiefs of drag that they're working at the same time, respond to that call, and work together.

Understood. Mister Share, I

And I Sorry.

With having a a rough Internet connection, but I think I I've heard enough to to answer my questions. So I'm I'm pleased to support you tonight. Thank you very much for your service to the city.

Thank you. Wow. Doctor Sullivan, this is your lucky day.

I know. It was working fine up until it's my turn to go, It's

okay. Don't worry. No. No. I mean, we're happy to have you. It's just we gotta do what we gotta do. So do members of the committee have any further questions for captain Sullivan? I don't see any, so I will move from the chair to recommend approval if there's any objection. Clerk, would you please call?

Yep. On recommending proof for item number four. Excuse me. Item number six. Councilor McLaughlin. Councilor Hart. Yes. Councilor Link.

Yes.

Councilor Yuan Kempen.

Yes.

Chair Amba.

Yes.

Alright. With that, that is all votes in the affirmative.

Thank you, Craig Delaney. Councilor, you and company, you're talking about chemistry. Just wait until you see the next one for CPA and then the next one, MBA. And then he said I must say, I was like, wow. I could not even imagine, like, the various, you know, like, caliber of people that are in the fire department. I was like, wow. Like anyway, could would you read the next item, please?

Yes. I can. Item number seven, ID number 26Dash0701, requesting confirmation of the promotion of Sean Marquis to the position of fire lieutenant.

Chief Brin.

Thank you, counsel Mabah. Yes. We have, many varied backgrounds tonight. I'm pleased to introduce firefighter Sean Marquis. Sean's been a member of the department since 2021. As you mentioned, he has a bachelor's degree in accounting from UMass Amherst, and he's a certified CPA. He's also an EMT, and I'm pleased he's been an acting lieutenant now for a bit, Patel Square on Ladder 3, and I'm pleased to introduce him tonight for promotion to lieutenant.

Is Sean there with us?

Yes. Thank you, chief. Good

to see you, sir.

Thank you very much. Good to see you too, counselor.

So would you wanna say a few words to the members of this body?

Sure. I'd just like to say, yeah, I've gone for five years now, obviously. You you discussed my background before that. But coming to the department, I lived in Summerville ten years leading up to my time on the department. I love the city and really wanted to give back to the community that I lived in for so long. So I got on the department, been here for about five years now. I've loved my time on the department, and I think the best way for me to grow in my career and to to help the city of Somerville is to take the next step into the position of lieutenant and and try and lead from the front. So that's kind

of where I'm at now. Thank you, acting lieutenant Marcus. We appreciate you. We are always we are all here because we wanna give back. Exactly. So I appreciate, you know, your time and your service to the city. So I will just ask one one question, you know, just in terms of also again, we are very supportive of you and your candidacy. But I just wanna see how, you know, that demonstration for readiness to take on frontline supervisory responsibilities, particularly, like can you share that with us?

Sorry. Can you just repeat the last part of the question? I just missed the last part there.

Oh, yeah. Oh, thank you. Just to say, like, how you know, can you share how, you know, you've demonstrated readiness to take on frontline supervisory responsibilities, particularly in high pressure emergency situations?

Yep. So having a background as an EMT, going through the process, being on the department for the last five years, I've kinda collected and learned as much as I could from the the senior firefighters, great lieutenants, and captains that I've had in the past and other line firefighters who who have that experience. Additionally, as chief Rean mentioned, I've been acting in the position of lieutenant now, since about September. So, I've been lucky enough to kinda be able to get boots on the ground training in the lieutenant position and really kinda learn, the process, as well as kinda doing the taking the test and and realizing kinda what the different steps are, outside of just the the on the line, firefighter skills. Getting into the books and really learning the the tactics behind, taking commands and and thinking of, the larger picture instead of, kinda just a task based, orientation, at the firefighter level.

So that's kinda where I stand at this point. Yep.

Excellent. Excellent. Do the members of the committee have any question for acting lieutenant councilor Hart?

Thank you. Just to build on that, because I am this is this is pretty new to me, and so I'm trying to understand. We have the job description of fire lieutenant, but could you help me understand a little bit better, like, a more high level view of what you just described in terms of what will the new what are the duties of a fire lieutenant that will be I understand you've already been in the position, but, what are the new duties involved with that?

Yep. First first and foremost, that would be, the safety of the public as well as the members of the the crew, that I'm working with. That's that's paramount. The next step would be kinda acting as liaison between the firefighters and the administration. So communicating up and down the chain of command, filling out reports, making sure to document things appropriately to cover the city as well as the the individuals on the fire department and the individuals that we're we're serving in the community.

And then it it would just be being responsible at at the scene for kinda having the the overall scope of the incident instead of being more task oriented like I described. So kinda seeing things from the 10,000 foot view and being able to make decisions that are gonna affect not only myself and my crew, but also the public. So kinda taking it outside of that that task based orientation and kind of growing that to a larger scale.

Thank you.

Thank you, councilor Hart. Do members of the committee have any any other question for acting lieutenant Markey? I don't see any, so I will move from the chair to recommend approval. Clerk, would you please make call the roll?

That I can. This is for reckoning approval for item number seven. Councilor McLaughlin. Councilor Hart. Yes. Councilor Link.

Yes. Indeed.

Councilor Yuan Kempen.

Yes.

Chairman Bah?

Yes.

Alright. Once again, that is all votes in the affirmative.

Congratulations. So final item for the fire department, Claire?

Yep. Item number eight, ID number 26Dash0702, requesting confirmation of the promotion of Michael j Marino to the position of fire captain.

Chief.

Councilor Mabad, thank you. I'm pleased to, introduce lieutenant Michael Marino for the position of fire captain. Mike is a US Navy veteran. He has a bachelor's in nursing from UMass Boston, a master's in business administration from Fitchburg State. He's a registered nurse. He has numerous commendations from the Songhold Fire Department, and he is the Songhold Fire Department's infection control officer. And I I can attest that I personally leaned heavily on Mike, during the COVID pandemic. I I am extremely thankful for him. He he he saved me, so many times. Things were going things were absolutely crazy during those times, and his medical knowledge absolutely really saved the day for me and the department.

Thank you.

Thank you, chief Breen. I mean, you're trying to get us not to even ask him any question. But, again, we are very supportive of him already, but we still gotta ask him. So lieutenant Marino, can you do you can you please address the members of this body? Thank you for your service.

Yes, counselor. Thank you. I'm through you. So Michael Marino, like chief mentioned, I'm going on my twentieth year here, obviously, with the fire department. It's been great. I feel like it's gone too fast. I'm hoping to try to slow it down. But, yes, I'm looking to looking forward to kinda making it the next step at the fire department and, you know, being able to serve the citizens, you know, in a different role and and kinda pour my knowledge more onto the the newer class. We're definitely getting to be a a younger department, which is exciting.

Wow.

No. Thank you, Lieutenant. It's it's really amazing also, like, just to see the caliber of people that, you know, are here today. Just to hear that you said the chief's life. I feel like it it it's almost like we should not even ask any question. We just say, thank you. Thank you. So I guess, you know, one thing I wanna understand you is just to hear more about the that you've developed that prepare you to effectively manage both personnel and operations, you know, at the district level?

Sure. So, yeah, I I do have a pretty extensive background in terms of managing people and situations. Just from the military, right after 09/11, I went into the navy where I I rose from the rank of e five. So I was able to be in charge, and I I was part of an anti kind of terrorism situation and bomb disposal. So it was as well as I've also worked in an ER as a nurse, and now now in my twenty years on the fire department at different levels learning from, obviously, great chiefs.

I think a couple of the big things that really stick out are I really am a stickler for communication and making sure I understand who I'm working with, what the best way to communicate with them, and how they learn, as to not just take how I teach, but to try to to try to encompass, ways for the folks and take into consideration how they how they learn and how they react. For example, you can't you can't deal with, you know, a newer firefighter or a newer nurse, in in a in a hospital setting or a a fire ground setting, by yelling if that's not the way they they handle things. I also like to to train a lot with folks. I feel like if you do something over and over and over when it does become really difficult, you don't necessarily have to think does it on its on its own because you've you've trained and and you've gone over that multiple times. So I think just my my my my background in kind of being what I call career OCD a little bit, it really does lend the ability to work with all sorts types of folks and and people and from all different backgrounds.

I like that. I never heard that word. Carrier OCD. You. Customer link.

Thank you, So I'm, I mean, I'm I'm thrilled that we've got all these amazing candidates. I'm just curious. So you've got this really kind of impressive background, and I'm curious how you you you get how you'd like to leverage some of that in this new role.

Sure. I think just moving forward, like the chief mentioned, I try and, know, of the big things, you know, we see is all different sorts of infectious disease and certain things. I feel like one of the things I've been able to do is collaborate with other departments in the city. I've been able to collaborate with DPW and help them kinda get their safety program off, and their blood borne pathogen program off the off the ground and kinda solidify some of the policies. In terms of Narcan and medications, I was able to kind of start that program, which has kind of grown and worked with the police and other departments throughout the city.

So I think it's one of those things that where I can lend expertise and where the city needs it, it it it helps where we have gaps that I can fill it. It helps that I also you know, in those specific things, non fire related, you're you're exposed in terms of consistently being up with the literature. You're just like, you know, district chief now, Sullivan, and and lieutenant Marquis, I can lean on them. Those specific folks are always consistently getting the most up to date in fields of subject matter expert that they don't that, you know, you wouldn't quite have. So, I also look to just continue to make sure the department with all the things that are changing, we're an ever changing city with all different types of folks moving in, all different types like you mentioned, I think, counselor, about the different, you know, businesses and and and laboratories and things that move in here.

I do reach out and do speak with, you know, the hospitals and businesses around so I have an idea on how to, you know, best advise the employees of the city, specifically the fire department on, you know, best practices for to stay safe during those specific things.

Just one follow-up question Sure. Here. The it's so did I hear right? You you you said you helped start the the Narcan program in the city?

Correct. So this is back in, I believe it's 2013 in that, the state of Massachusetts. It was a it was a kind of a infancy program, if you wanna call it, where there was you had to be a certain you had to have a certain amount of, I quote, unquote, incidences or overdoses to qualify to be inside the program. So then chief, Kelleher, we we found that we had a need, in the city. And, you know, as as things started to evolve, we didn't have enough to qualify, quote, unquote, to have that program be a state funded program.

So we we were able to use my nursing background and license to get them the medications. We partnered with Cambridge Health Alliance, who's our partner, and bring it to the city. And ever since then, we've had it as an independent us and the police department have worked underneath that license.

That has saved a lot of lives, so thank you. Thank you. Welcome. It's been great. That that's all I have.

Thank you, chair.

Yeah. Counselor Link, usually, I never say a response is great, but this is a great response. Thank you, you know, for your service, and we are really thrilled to have you and enthusiastically support your candidacy. Any other question from members of this party? Yeah. I I really hope not, but it's your prerogative. So I'm I the chair will recommend, you know, approval. Clark, would you please call the roll?

That I can. So recommending approval for item number eight. Councilor McLaughlin. Councilor Hart. Yes. Councilor Link.

Yes.

Councilor Yuan Kempen.

Yes.

Charrambaugh.

Yes, please.

Alright. That is all votes in the affirmative.

Thank you. Congratulations. It will be official next next Thursday city council meeting. So thank you for being here. Thank you, chief. And Thank you. Appreciate you and your

Have a good night.

Yeah. Thanks. So now we have our final item, day moment. Clerk, would you read the final item, please?

Yes. I can. Alright. Final item on the agenda, item number nine, ID number 26Dash0713. In his capacity as president, recommending the appointment of Courtney Henderson to the position of city clerk.

So at this point, I think the chief administrative officer I'm not sure, Claire. The chief administrative officer is here. I know I heard from But I did is is c CAO yet? Oh, I don't know. How come I oh, it's it's a city clerk. So you pull a fast one on us, Clerk Wells. I'm looking for, like, a CAO in level. Anyway, so thank you for being here. Would you please, you know, introduce miss Henderson to us?

Yes. Thank you so much, mister chair. Kimberly Wells here in my capacity as city clerk, and through you, it is with incredible excitement that I announced to you the appointment of Courtney Henderson to the position of city clerk. So I will start with just a little bit about the process. We went through several rounds of interview process with the president, the vice president, and chair of confirmation of appointments and personnel matters, myself, and our HR director all serving on the interview panel.

And we met with a number of incredibly qualified candidates. We really were in such a fortunate position, I think, to have a lot of great options before us. And Courtney Henderson rolls to the top of the list for several reasons. So you might see on her resume that she's got background working for Somerville, in fact, as the city's inaugural multilingual public information officer, and then went on to the city of Brockton where she was their inaugural director of immigrant affairs. I'm probably mangling some of these titles, but you'll get the gist.

And then went on to the sheriff's office as their inaugural something or other about a certain program. I'm sorry for that as well. So, really, what I wanna do to tie this together is sort of highlight that Courtney has the ability to operationalize, to take systems, and build them from the ground up to manage teams in order to accomplish these goals. And I say a lot of times that we have a lot of folks in the city who are really incredible at their roles, at the jobs that they do, but sometimes they struggle with administration. A lot of people can be great at a lot of things and not, in fact, great at being a city clerk because the attention to detail in some of these ministerial tasks and the administrative capabilities really are just not a good fit for everybody.

But Courtney demonstrated that she was able to also bring that side of the equation. So coupled together, I think these things will make her an incredible asset to lead the city council into its sort of next generation, if you will, and to lead the the city clerk's team in the work that they are doing to really take the work of the city to the next level. So with that, I am very happy to introduce Courtney Henderson to the committee.

Yes. Courtney Henderson, are you there?

Yes. Good evening, mister chair, and good evening to the members of the committee. So great to be here, and thank you. Kim, you did an amazing job reading off my bio. You'd very remarkable. Thank you.

Thank you. And, you know, before I even also let you say a few words, I just wanna reiterate, you know, just for the record that I was involved, you know, in the process, again, alongside with president Davis, with him as our chief administrative officer, director Gill. And, yes, it was a thorough process. And miss Anderson, you know, had a unanimous approval from the entire panel because once she really demonstrated a strong understanding of the critical role that the clerk's office plays in ensuring integrity of our legislative process, maintaining accurate public records. You know, she also brought forward a thoughtful vision for modernizing the office while preserving the rigor and transparency that, you know, our residents expect.

Expect. So I will let you, you know, address the members of this body. And after that, I will leave it to the members, you know, of the committee to ask any additional question as a. Miss Henderson, take it away.

Thank you, mister chair. And through you, I would like to say, again, thank you for the opportunity to meet before you all. I had a wonderful conversation with you, councilor Imba and councilor Davis, along with the other members of the panel. As you all have probably read through my resume and and read through my cover letter, I am someone who is very passionate about civic engagement. It's been a passion of mine since senior year of high school where I started my work and then worked all the way up to now working in municipal government.

I am a proud co president of the League of Women Voters where most of my legislative work really comes from not only as being the the president of the state board, but also doing the work at the state level, whether it be following a bill or writing testimonies for our legislative action committee members to read on our behalf. I do wanna add that I'm super excited to return potentially return to the city of Summerville. That Somerville, in my role as the multilingual coordinator for Summer Viva was actually my first job after graduating from Harvard. So it has a lot of sentimental value to me because you all gave me my start, and I am super excited to for the opportunity to go come back in a different capacity and continue the work, in the city clerk's office. I'm I don't wanna steal your shine, councilor Mbah, but I think that is where I will leave it, and I'm happy to answer any and all questions that you have.

Thank you, miss Henderson. Again, we are thrilled to have you, and, but I will leave it to members of my committee to ask any additional question as they see fit. So colleagues, counselor, you encamping. Counselor Hart, and then counselor link. Yeah. Counselor, you encamping. Thank so

much for for stepping up. You know, I I feel after the incredibly impressive search process, there's I'm honestly struggling to come up with questions. It feels like the the city clerk is, like, the water we're the fish, and you're the water. We swim. You know? We we can't really do anything without the city clerk's office. I've I I worked with with John Long and with Kim, and they were just set an unbelievably high standard and made our lives easier and every single thing that we wanted to accomplish. They helped facilitate that. And so I guess I I'm honestly kind of struggling to come up with good questions here because it's very clear that you're the right person for this job, and I'm thrilled to have you. I guess I'm just kind of interested.

I don't I don't know you very well, you know, just to hear you speak a little bit more about your experience working with legislative bodies, you know, it can get funky. Just to hear your your, you know, big picture thoughts on it.

Thank you. And through you, mister chair, to counselor Ewen Campan. It might have been a long time ago, but I remember speaking before you and the rest of the council when we were talking about Civic Day. I don't know if you you remember that, but it's been been a quite a few years. But to to your question about working with city council, I worked very closely with the city council, in the city of Brockton during my time as a director of immigrant affairs.

I presented before them several times, one to justify my job, and then the second time to give updates about the state of the immigration enforcement that were in the city at the time. In addition to working with the city council, I worked very, very closely with the school committee and actually brought in meetings with not only the city councilors, school committees for the first time within the mayor's office to kind of pull them together to talk about how to combat some of the issues that we were experiencing. As Kimberly Wells has mentioned earlier, I was the inaugural director. So I was starting off with a pretty, empty slate in in terms of protocols and how to move in in very delicate situations, but I was actually very lucky to have some experience with the city of Summerville under, director Teresa, Maria Teresa Nagel. She was, kind of a guiding light in how to navigate that.

So it's my my experience in my past has been very collaborative with city councils because I know they are the the individuals in the community. They know firsthand what their constituents are experiencing, and they are able to bring back that information to me, especially when I'm not always able to hit every ward or speak to every resident. They really are a great sounding board and a great, filter of information.

Excellent. Council, and. Do you have any follow-up?

All set, mister Sherwood. Through you, thank you very much. Really excited to work with you.

Same.

Thank you. Councilor Hart.

Thank you. Through you, miss Henderson. It's a delight to meet you, for the first time, and I'm very, very excited to meet you. It's great to learn more about your background and experience and skills. And I'm just wondering if you know, I really appreciate your commitment to local government and civic engagement.

And I'm wondering if you could just tell us a little bit more about that, flesh that out a little bit more, and including like, what's your your vision for yourself in this role? Like, where do you see yourself wanting to grow? And as as clerk Wells mentioned, you know, one of the things that is just seems really challenging about this role is is kind of having to have the big picture and the attention to detail, like, at all times. Mhmm. So if you could just, speak to that as well a little bit. I'd love to hear. Thank you.

Thank you. Through you, mister chair, too, counselor Hart. Yes. I am happy to to flush that out a little bit more. So a lot of my work has been in the consultant role. Well, I will say it started off as a consultant role. I worked with the mayor of Nashville during my undergraduate years where I consulted on reaching more minority voters in that in their city and developing a plan on how to strategically mobilize those group of voters. So that was my first real experience in municipal government. From there, I moved here to Massachusetts, where I officially became a resident. And I started working with a lot of organizations that partnered with certain municipalities.

One, notably, is the Massachusetts Women of Political Caucus. I helped them develop a training for people that just were elected to elected office, where they may not have had the experience or knowledge to kind of go in with a strategic plan. So I think of a merge in a way, but a little, more detailed. I and there's nothing wrong with the merge, but sometimes I think we can get in the one size fits all, and we kind of categorize, you know, different elected officials into these boxes. And I've saw that there was a need to kind of expand out of that, which is why I partnered up with the Massachusetts Women Political Caucus.

Of course, you all know, I spoke a little bit briefly about my my time in city of Brockton. But before I was even, in the mayor's office, I worked very closely with, mayor Carpenter, right up into his passing, helping him get younger people involved in in local government. We saw that there was a trend of people younger people getting close to voting age, not really caring about what's going on, and thinking about the things that could affect them as they become, early voters. So a lot of that has been consulting. And then from that, I have worked with the city of Somerville, city of Brockton in in an official capacity, but I've always consulted.

I'm actually getting ready to and I'm not trying to brag here, but I am looking forward to doing a succession planning. It's gonna be at the National Convention for the League of Women Voters to talk about how elected officials, in some capacity, help prep for the next future leaders so that it's a more warm handoff rather than that staggered, chopped transition. More continuity, I would say. I hope that answers your question. Now in terms for Envision, I I don't know if councilor Mumbai had shared with you all, but I actually came to my interview with a ninety day ninety day plan already drafted out.

And I actually have it here in front of me because I wanted to be prepared this evening. The the vision that I have is really to use the first thirty days to gain a comprehensive understanding of office operations and culture, and then the immediate needs of both the council and the office. I'm very, very privileged and lucky to have met with, clerk Wells last week to kind of start doing that work ahead of time. It was a long evening, I appreciate her for for her guidance and her conversations in that. So that would be understanding the team and listening to them, kind of going on a listening tour, thinking about workflow workflow mapping, resource audit, and a compliance baseline.

And then the next thirty days would be an analysis and alignment. So that would be the time that I would meet with you all, members of the council, to align priorities and make sure that I'm on, the same page as you all. And then also developing, relationships because you're right, counselor Hart. We have not had the privilege to meet. I have met, maybe half of the council during my time in Somerville, but I I think you're a little newer, so I am looking forward to that opportunity.

But that would be during the next thirty days. And then the last, leg of that would be to start implementation in that long term vision that you speak of. So being able to execute and establish proactive service rather than reactive, that's my philosophy. That's how I like to to move in every parts of my life is to be, proactive rather than waiting for a problem, to arise. And then to set clear measurable goals. I am one who also loves SMART goals. I wanna be able to, draft those by the last leg and then be able to share with you all what has been accomplished based off these timelines and due dates that I have given myself. I hope that answers. I don't know if there was a third part. Okay.

No. That's great. Thank you. Very, very much.

Thank you, chair. My question is about the ninety first date now. So what I would like to know, so you you talked a bunch about in your our resumes, all that in the cover letter about, you know, transparency. And then, obviously, also, like, you the so kind of relatedly, the so I'm interested in kind of how you see transparency and how you how you view you could potentially improve it or, like, you know, if there's things that you think we're doing particularly well or not. And then how that might also relate to your your past roles, you know, talking about, like, language accessibility.

Awesome. Thank you. And through you, mister chair, to counselor Link. Great question. I I really love that question a lot. And I would never say that there are any things that you all need to improve. Not yet. I still need to keep the votes tonight. But but with transparency, I believe in always sharing the good, bad, and the ugly. I've I don't like to sugarcoat, and I think that by that's how you build trust is by sharing what you're seeing firsthand, what the challenges are going to be so that we can all collectively work to solve that problem.

I've always been that way in every role that I've held. Even recently now, I'm working with the sheriff's office in Barnstable County, and there are some challenges that we're facing with getting, certain services provided. And there's a couple of colleagues that say, I don't think you should tell the sheriff that's gonna upset her. I'm like, no. I think she needs to know because, I'd rather her know now than when it when the problem balloons, she asks why wasn't this brought to her attention.

And I think that when I am able to tell people when things are not looking as great, they will appreciate and respect when I say that things are looking amazing. In terms of expanding, that transparency, and this is not to say that I'm gonna just inundate your calendars, but I would love to kind of establish relationships with you all individually, because I know that each of you all have your own, particular goals and vision. Of course, you know, you are a collective body, but I do know that there are certain things that you all would love to push for your respective wards or as as a whole. So I would love to also be able to help you in any capacity that I can. So that's another way that I plan to provide transparency and and open communication.

While I have been criticized for my lack of work life balance, I am accessible via email, phone call, text, and I usually respond pretty quickly. And so I want to just quickly share that so that you all know that I'm accessible to you pretty much at any time, so that we can create that trust and bond.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, counselor Lane. Miss Anderson, you said that. I texted you, like, two days ago. You're having a minute. Hey. I'm kidding. You know?

That's bit bad service.

That was a good one. Nicely played. No. As it as in college, you can tell, like, that's why I never I didn't have any question. I just thought, you know, I involved throughout the entire process. I just wanted you know, I'm glad you guys asked all these very thoughtful questions. So I think at this point, if there's no further question, you know, I will make a motion from the chair recommending, you know, approval. So, Clark, would you please call the room to Yeah.

We can. Alright. On recommending approval approval, excuse me, for item number nine. Councilor McLaughlin. Councilor Hart. Yes. Councilor Link.

Yeah.

Councilor Yuan Kamman?

Yes.

Chair Amba?

Yes, please.

Alright. That is all votes in the affirmative.

So now we take everything. Thank congratulation, miss Henderson.

Thank you very much.

Thrilled to have you. And, yeah, so it will be so the vice chair will be the one presenting this report next week. Spoiler alert. I'll be in Miami. So but I think at this point, we'll it's not official until next Thursday, and we can take everything out. We did not approve the minutes, so we can take everything off the table. I know we kept that minute on the table to approve at the end so we can take it off the table and move to approve and move to adjoin. You know? Can you please call the roll, Claire?

That I can. Councilor McLaughlin. Councilor Hart. Yes. Councilor Link.

Yes, please.

Councilor Yuan Kempen.

Yes. Chiramba.

Yes, please. Thank you, colleague.

It is 813

Thank you, clerk Delaney, for your for your support, and bye, guys.