Tony good evening and welcome to the May 20 20th appointments committee could we all please stand and pledge the allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible and justice for all thank you very much roll call of the members councelor agenzio here here councelor janino here here councelor Kelly here here councelor zambuto absent and chairman chairwoman McKenna here here Quorum is present first matter on tonight's agenda is the appointment Leah Hoffman to the planning board could Leah Hoffman come up here please and just put on the mic just press the mic hi Leah can you state your name and address for the record please sure my name is Leah Hoffman I live at 92 Atwood Street in Rivier can I see your uh going to the being appoint appointed to the planning board could you just tell me a little bit of what you can bring to to Rivier sure so I was born and raised in Rivier until I was about 13 years old both my mother and father are from rier my father is a small business owner um it was in Rivier formerly for 30 plus years um and then once I purchased my first home I I purchased it in rivere in 2020 um I've been in the construction world for the past 14 years um I'm passionate about real estate construction development I'm passionate about the city that live in and um all the positive changes that are that are you know happening within the city and I just wanted to be a part of it and make a difference thank you I res I read your resume it was very impressive oh thank you um so we're going to appoint you at 6 o'clock um would do the best job for the city thank you very much absolutely thank you thank you all in favor all opposed for a favorable recommendation I I thank you next appointment is that of Steven morbido as executive director of The Human Rights Commission Steven marbo would you come up here please oh we have Madam counselor oh mayor Keef I did want to come I did want to come up and speak on behalf of the three appointments that you have in front of you on top of it uh Miss Hoffman who you just met uh I I wanted to mention really briefly that Miss Hoffman uh we put out for the boards and commissions for applications she was one of the many um people that we received and we were extremely impressed as you could see in her resume uh speaks for itself uh after doing some calls and checks I actually tried to call call her back and say can I not appoint you and can I hire you uh unfortunately the city's budget was unable to do that because uh she is well compensated in her private life but uh you have you made a good decision with Leah but I did want to uh talk about the three individuals that coming in front of you next uh tonight I am pleased to present these uh three individuals uh I do want to respect your time and I will speak on the group as a whole uh we presented you with your resumés and their backgrounds if you and if you need any further information they're here to speak uh we have uh Steve morbido our director of diversity equity and inclusion who will be appointed to the Human Rights Commission tonight we all know Steve's track record and his pride for his City and we know that he will represent us well uh we have Captain Isaac McDaniel being officially appointed as our director of veteran services our vso uh and replacement of a temporary vso that we've had acting vso Julia santes and of course uh the uh former vsso and counselor Mark Silvestri so uh Isaac will follow in a great line and great footsteps and continue the mission of the veteran service department our other appointment is Christopher charmella Chris charmella is going to is hopefully with your appointment going to be our newest superintendent of Public Works again following in the footsteps of uh current counselor uh superintendent Paul Areno in acting interim superintendent uh don chamel Chris's actions and work certainly speak for themselves and I know that he'll come up here and do give you his uh his best rendition of his career but we know that um we know what he's going to do each of these possess a unique skill and skill set and certainly speak for themselves but of course the capabilities willingness and passion to take on the individual roles I'm excited and I really wanted to highlight the pride I haven't asked in each of these employees to further serve our community because they all share our Collective core values compassion respect honesty inclusion and of course accountability I know that each of these will not just represent my Administration they will represent this honorable city council with every ounce of Integrity in their being and I hope that you have their support tonight thank you very much thank you Mr Mayor um Ashley first one all in favor no no I'm sorry on the appointment of uh Steven morbido as executive director of The Human Rights Commission Stephen can you come up here please hello Stephen how are you evening Steve morbido 281 Broadway thank you Stephen for coming up here could you tell me what you're going to bring to R absolutely uh my personal and professional experience um my personal experience as a lgbtq gay man uh and my professional experience as a city counselor has equip me with the tools I need to lead the Human Rights Commission um and I'm here to answer any questions that you have for me I've worked with you for eight years I think you're wonderful I think you're very qualified for the job and I'm glad you're here and I just want to say you have my a recommendation and just do the best job for the city we do thank you is there any other counselors councelor Areno thank you uh I've known uh Mr marbo for a lot of years now I think this is an excellent appointment uh he's a neighbor of mine now I see him a lot and he he brings a lot to this position and he brings a lot to the city which he did uh as city counselor and I'm very excited about uh step being uh part of the Human Rights Commission thank you thank you councilor Cog Leandro thank you madam chairman um couldn't agree with this appointment more um I am thrilled that you're still a part of this city um I only had the opportunity to work with you for a couple of years but I you did a fantastic job then and I know you're going to do one now thank you thank you councelor Zim buo thank you Madame chair um I am thrilled to support my former colleague um I know he has a level head and will be uh judicious and being fair in this new position and uh so I am uh truly grateful that he is willing to serve in this position thank you thank you Council councelor janino thank you um Steve I think this is put a round pig on a round hole right here I'm looking forward to it good luck thank you Council Kelly thank you uh Steve you know we go back a while I think you're a great guy I think very highly of you and I think you're going to do great thank you thank you Stephen all Oppo all in favor all opposed awarded for a favorable recommendation next appointment is for Isaac McDaniel as director veteran services good evening good evening thank you for coming Isaac I read your um resume and it was very impressive but could you just tell me a little bit about what you want to bring to the table for the veteran services Sharon thank you it's Isaac McDaniel 249 Broadway Street last past 18 years of my life has been dedicated as a service member of United States armed forces uh 13 of those have been enlisted meaning came in up from a private until a sergeant the last last past six have been as a military officer what I'm bringing to the table or yet what I have brought already brought to the table is this I looked around to different offices and I've seen that some of the common struggles that some veterans were facing for example um some memorandums which uh service member would have to pay an attorney to do or a DD214 which is a certificate of discharge upgrade these are two two items that aren't common but yet um are usually done at a at a paid level the city of re has for the last past uh two weeks and say a total of 31 days has been able to produce these I'm calling around to our neighbor uh sister and brother offices this is something that the city rever is do and that no one else is doing um what I plan to bring to the table is exactly this is um complete uh understanding a humbleness um style and smile and um with that to say is really being out there and representing our our veterans doing a good job for the city but even more for the individual who lay their life uh who are here to speak or here or excuse me or here are here to speak or those who have gave all and so I'm here representing them thank you very much any counselors councilor cogliandro thank you madam chair um I had the pleasure of meeting you Captain a few weeks ago um you seem like you're full of life and um I know that you're going to do a good job for the veterans of the city and uh I look forward to seeing you at the food bank every month thank you sir you have my full support thank you Council Zen buo uh thank you madam chair uh I've only recently met you uh and I was impressed by meeting you but I'm even more impressed by a resume and I I if you live up to half what your resume tells me you're going to be terrific for the city so welcome thank you I appreciate it sir thank you thank you any other counselors councelor agenzio thank you uh I I met Mr McDaniels just a few weeks ago like uh Council zimuto said but I was immediately impressed uh with the way he presented himself the way he spoke and I think he'll be a great asset to the city and the city's veterans I'm really looking forward to uh having aboard thank you sir you're welcome Council Kelly thank you um I just had the opportunity of meeting uh you and I as well very impressed with meeting you very impressed with your resume um very happy to see that you'll be in this position and thank you so much for your service thank you ma'am thank you Council councelor janino and said I met you a few weeks ago very impressed with you the energy level I look forward to working with you good luck thank you sir do the best job for the city I appreciate that man thank you very much thank you all in favor all opposed awarded for favorable [Applause] recommendation next up is the appointment of Chris Chella as the DPW superintendent Chris will you come up here please could you state your name and address for the record please Chris chera um 319 charger street thank you and Chris I've been working with you for a while now and I know what you're um capable of and I will speak after my counselors about you but um could you tell me what you would like to bring to the table that's not been done yet so thank you um I've worked for the city for the past seven years from starting as a labor in the water department I've moved up the ring slowly I have learned a decent amount from our predecessors on both sides water and general um I think this fiscal year we did a great job well I was the Acting Superintendent for the water side I believe we did a good job managing the budget and I'd like to jump over to the general side and accomplish the same things I mean my fiance just bought a house on Mal street so I got to I'm trying to uh better this community for everyone including myself thank you any councilors councelor janino welcome to war six and uh thank you um since I've got opportunity to work with you over the last couple months See You In Action down in Sherman Street down St Mary's and what have you I'm very impressed by it thank you look forward to working with you thank you Council jio thank you uh I've known Chris U since he started down the DPW and immediately he he turned out to be an excellent employee uh he really brings a lot to the job I've always had positive experiences with him uh I've known his uh father since the uh seventh grade uh so it's a very good family and I I'm really looking forward to this and I'm I'm glad that he's following my footsteps and I couldn't think of a better uh better thank you councelor councelor cler Leandro thank you madam chair um the DPW is probably the department that the council speaks to the most and because of you guys you make us look good when when things get done potholes signage whatever it might be and I want to thank you I want to thank people like yourself like Bill guaso Chris Fabian these people at the DPW we have quite a team and I'm happy to see that you to be leading it thank you so thank you very much you have my full and I'd also like to point out I'd like to better the communication between the DPW and the residents in general so that all the information doesn't have to flow through you guys thank you should be they should be more reachable I I believe thank you uh councilor Z budo thank you madam chair um I've watched you for several years you're you're a professional at what you do you come from great stock and uh uh obviously uh your father's uh Zeal for the job has rubbed off on you I hope you're not going to push him out hardly when not just yet you take over but uh um I you know we expect big things from you and I I know you'll deliver thank you thank you permission to speak from the chair thank you um I just want to say that I've been working with you for the last seven years uh mostly for the last two years uh everything I've asked you and you've seen what's going on down Beachmont um so you've really uh have given 100% of trying to help people down there and uh the problems I just want to say I mean you had your boots on and your uh jeans or your work clothes and some lady had her car in 3 ft of water and you didn't think twice about going in there in the water and grabbing her car and taking it out of there so kudos to you really kudos to you and I'm supposed to ask you will you take your um work boots off when you come in the new house I'll try my best see what we can do okay thank you all in favor thank you Chris I I do a good job for the city thank you all in favor all opposed so Ed for a favor recommendation next up is the reappointment of Paul raso is assistant Harbor Master hi Paul could you state your name and address for the record please Paul baraso 53 Ocean Street so Paul what have you been doing this is your reappointment as a uh um assistant Haba Master what have you been brought to the um is it the Y Club part of it's been the Y Club but most of it's been the city okay as our waterways get busier I've been working with people educating people on no wake zones um Channel markers stuff like that okay as well as keeping the beach clean thank you thank you very much any counselors want to speak no counselors okay please do the best job for the city and thank you for coming tonight thank you all in favor all opposed so what for a favorable recommendation next up is the reappointment of John camarada to the election commission is John hi John how are you good how are you good could you state your name and address for the record please John camarada 15 cbes Lane and you also are a reappointment can you tell me what you've like to do for the election Department well we have it's been I've been this is my 13th year I think and we have a lot of changes going on and under Paul Paul's doing a great job you know just we need we need help we need some more more um workers po workers you know work on redistricting but it's a it's a work in progress and it's we're looking good great any councilors councelor zimuto obviously uh your track record speaks for itself you've done a great job um we're happy you're staying on board and uh you also come from good stock and uh we all know that so keep up to good work thank you so John please do the best job for the city thank you very much all in favor opposed so water for a favorable [Applause] recommendation that's it that concludes tonight's meeting uh this concludes tonight's meeting of the appointments committee thank you e e e e e e good evening I'd like to call the legislative uh subcommittee uh to order please join me in a salute to the flag flag United States amice rooll call the members councelor Gino SAA here here councelor Haro here here councelor Kelly here here councelor sylvestri here here and chairman Areno here here Quorum is present there's one item on tonight's agenda that is an ordinance excuse me an ordinance providing for interpretation services for public meetings and public documents councilor Heria would you like to go first or um I think uh Mr ano has a presentation for us but please sure uh Mr chair so nice to see you finally made it to legislative affairs subcommittee meeting I thank you for your leniency um Mr chair this ordinance uh is seeking tool we've been we've been working with the administration for a while they've been giving a lot giving us quite a bit of guidance around language access for the city uh we're trying to align and codify what the city's already doing I think clear is going to tell us a little bit more um I think we go a little bit further than the city but I think that uh I think it's um all with good intent and ensuring that we're the most Equitable uh in our language access plan but this is an alignment with what the city's doing this is an align full alignment with what the uh the the federal Housing and Urban Development Department have has recommended um and why not go above and beyond for our great residents um to ensure accessibil ility for all so I hope my colleagues will join me in voting in favor of this motion uh when the time comes Mr chair thank you for the record Clarence rillo solicitors office 281 Broadway um just given the time that has elapsed between when this was initially put forth by Council hero um to now when we're kind of seeing it through to subcommittee I thought it appropriate to give the counselors attendance an update on what has transpired on the city side and then depending on how y'all feel about motions and amendments we can move forward you know making things align because sometime has passed so there are some inconsistencies between the two that are uh not necessarily on the floor the motion on the floor versus what the city's doing so with the chair's permission I'd like to do a really brief presentation I know there's a long meeting tonight so I'm going to go as fast as possible without you know jumbling let me just connect [Music] these are fisky is it good okay I'm GNA hold it at this weird angle all right so the um so the language access plan I'll refer to it as the lap um I'm going to be really brief give a comprehensive summary of what our internal guidelines are for interpretation and translation um so kind of the values that were shaping the crafting of this lap there it was fourfold so as councelor Haro said we want to actively support our underserved communities we want to advance Equity so while we may have a program that's open to every one you know we have to consider how feasible it is for certain folks to reach certain programs uh we wanted to be sure that we're creating meaningful access to our services and you know all of these efforts that we're undergoing will ultimately strengthen the city's internal capacity to function at the highest standard possible and as I'm sure most people in this room are aware of after much door knocking and campaigning uh we're a very diverse Community you've probably been met with various languages at those doors uh more than half of our residents speak a language other than English at home and almost half of our residents are foreign born uh and these statistics that come out of r as well as our sister communities uh are the driving force behind certain policies that the state and federal government passed down to us such as a language access plan um as councel Hario said they are mandated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the lap is is adopted in accordance with title six of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and so all HUD recipients are required uh as of recent to have one on file and while numerous City departments and offices receive federal funding through HUD and other federal agencies uh one of the most wide reaching as you may know is the Department of planning and Community Development and our uh Public Safety Services such as the fire department and the police department and so the end goal in adopting the lap in addition to you know our funding requirements is to increase the overall resident satisfaction with our city services basically an lap in theory will remove barriers to access certain programs you can think of a senior abatement form a notice for a public meeting such as this one uh and other external public facing services and as of 2015 which is a bit dated more than 12,000 rev residents self-reported as limited English proficient individuals uh and I'm sure that number is a lot higher you know almost 10 years uh into the future and so without getting into the nitty-gritty because it's a 20page document which I'll provide everyone with um the lap outlines what the guidelines are for city employees to access and use interpretation and translation services and tools and so this methodology is Guided by Hud's four factor analysis which is a HUD assessment of what thresholds a city must meet for translation and interpretation services without imposing an undue financial burden to the city and this calculated prioritization which we base off of census data is similar to the ideas included in Council haro's ordinance as he mentioned before uh We've streamlined we've streamlined it in accordance with Federal requirements and as we implement the lap across our city departments the city once everything is done we will be operating under the following mandated minimum thresholds so for interpretation which is spoken uh under HUD there is no Benchmark requirement for interpretation Services as of yet it is on a bu request basis where the city makes a good faith effort to accommodate that request uh so timelines and request procedures are all laid out in the lap um and for example if we wanted to do a public notice for a meeting which the clerk's office puts out we would have you know three to four by lines in that public notice in the other language which would say if interpretation is needed for this meeting please contact X and for translation which is written down uh HUD does have a benchmark for what the city has to translate whether or not someone makes that request and this Benchmark is set at 5% of the population or 1,000 th000 people uh for limited English proficient speakers whichever Benchmark is hit first and in the case of r with those thresholds the language groups that hit a sufficient number of limited English proficient individuals are Spanish and Arabic and so the city has to translate vital documents which are defined in the lap think of most front-facing you know applications parking clerk's office all that sorts of stuff we have to translate those into those two languages however upon request you know through 311 through the city clerk's office through any City employee we would make the effort to translate into that requested language and we're looking forward to new Census Data as it's coming out to make sure that we're staying up to date with where our residents are reporting and a little bit of a tout for the city and um our team that we're working with uh we submitted our final draft of the lap to HUD not too long ago uh we received really great feedback from them uh not only do our guidelines fulfill all the requirements to continue to receive federal and state funding for certain allocations but they demonstrate a commitment by the city to our residents who may not speak English very well and the city's HUD representative uh the attorney that we work with actually uses plans to use R's lap as a template for other cities in the region to go off of and because this was a lot of talking I wanted to just give a real world example for how we've already been able to put it in use um there was a grant request by the Rivier fire department earlier in the year and it came back partially rejected by the Department of Homeland Security because we did not have a policy on file prohibiting discrimination uh on the basis of national origin which is language spoken and upon finalizing and getting adoption from Administration and all our departments uh the fire department was able to submit the new lap in their updated Grant application as proof of our commitment of non-discrimination on the basis of national origin and I just thought this was a good example for us to visualize the kinds of implications that can occur when we are not staying up to date on policies like this um and to wrap up very quickly I wanted to give a more logistical outline on how the implementation of this policy is going uh after announcing the new guidelines to staff and meeting with our department heads we're in what I would call the demonstrated commitment phase of this roll out the office of Dei in the mayor's office is compiling the Monumental boatload of documents from each department that would be deemed vital for translation and they are working to categorize them for translation into Spanish and Arabic and as you can imagine this initial intake um in Translation is going to take some months however once that is complete we will begin to appropriately advertise this new policy and these new services that are going to be exam uh that are going to be available um and we'll be able to put our notices out about which city documents are already translated which ones you can request um and so we ask on behalf of our city staff team that's been working on this we ask for the public watching and for the council and attendance we ask for your patients as we toil away at getting this initial intake of all of the forms that we've decided we have to um provide and that with some time we know that R is going to lead the region in the quality and availability of our language Services because if you look around not a lot of cities are at the Forefront of this yet Malden has a really great program really similar to what we're doing um we look to them for a lot of help so I'm here to answer any questions you may have we are still in the very early stages of getting this rolled out but 100% completion is going to look if we have an older Italian resident who wants to call in for translation of that senior batement form they'd be able to do so thank you Mr inello um any counselors wishing to speak councelor sylvestri did you want to speak first thank you Mr chairman and CLA thank you for that presentation um so from what I'm understanding is is we're doing a great job already um and to put this in an ordinance right now would be a little premature um if what we're doing is going to save us money it seems like um is that fair to say yeah so I'm definitely the wrong person for financial forecasts but seeing as though we're requiring or going to be adhering to everything that HUD puts down on municipalities to adhere to to I think this is a great compromise between cost and what the city's able to offer yeah and I got to say is um a great example of our um some of our services uh when I was a veteran service officer I had a a widow um who only spoke um Vietnamese and although we had no one in the building there was the 311 resource that we were able to call uh the line and and they were able to get us with a someone that could speak uh her language and we were able to work a whole v um VA claim through that process so the resources are there you just got to get creative I think the city's already on that path so thank you Council Gina I love this motion and thank you CLA for mentioning the Italian language because I was going to ask that thank you any other counselors wishing to speak um Claire so I guess what recommendations would you make to the um so I I still believe it's important to codify this because administrations comes and go HUD may change the regulation in the future and I think that it's so important um that we have uh something in statute are there any particular recommendations You' make to the um ordinance to align it with what sounds like is our a very good policy but to ensure that we're not at the behest of a federal state or even a local Administration that uh would would want to dismantle language access and equit um Equity um in language access for City Services yeah definitely a fair question I'm not going to lie I've have not looked at the specific language since I met with you last but my general recommendation would be if you all voted favorably to amend it however you see fit to perhaps amend the motion to read that the city policy writer and analyst use the most recent updated version on the that you have submitted to match it to what the lap says because I don't have the specific numbers from your original ordinance off the top of my head okay my recommendation would be for it to match what we've adopted internally but I think our orist did move it to 5% for those languages and so I think we might be in alignment I think from our last conversation but um why don't we um okay I think um I know it got hectic because the lead on this project got another job somewhere else so we're kind of scrambling a little bit but it's okay would we would the chair be amendable to move in this to a later meeting to so that the administration and I can continue to work on aligning these policies and um I can come back to the next meeting with a drafted version of we can touch from now until then is that is that okay with my colleagues that'd be great thank you so um motion to table okay this is just going to remain in committee thank you pull time thank you clar and thank you Mr chairman for councelor has good evening Robert house 161 Fenley Street and I know this is something Juan and I had spoken about in clear and um the former employee with that was with the department but I was just curious in my former position as assistant director at the senior center we translated our newsletters into Arabic Spanish and Portuguese and I know at City Hall has one language specialist so I was just curious how the city plans on dealing with the workload that comes with this if it's maybe they could reach out to high school students and offer credits or um I'm not sure if it's something that will be outsourced or something that will be done electronically but I don't know if Claire can help answer some of those questions thank you so yeah very quickly those are all questions that came up as we were developing the lap and it's pretty much a mixture SL combination of everything counselor hos just mentioned they're looking in the far future next fiscal year looking at Outsourcing right now they're working with the youth works department to see if we can get you know honors students stuff like that from the high school as well as electronic forms of translation and interpretation okay thank you so we're going to leave this into committee um and take it out at the appropriate time thank you Mr chair okay thank you no further business meeting is adjourned for