AI-generated transcript of City Council Committee of the Whole 06-23-26

[Zac Bears]: Medford City Council Committee of the Whole, June 23rd, 2026 is called to order. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll.

[Rich Eliseo]: Councilor Kelly. Councilor Leming.

[Matt Leming]: Present.

[Rich Eliseo]: Councilor Milling. Present. Councilor Scarpelli. Present. Councilor Tseng. Present. Vice President Lazzaro. Present. And President Bears.

[Zac Bears]: Present, seven present, none absent. The meeting is called to order. Action discussion items two, five, one, four, nine offered by council President Bears resolution to establish a recruitment and hiring process for the city clerk. Final interview for council appointment. Be it resolved that the city council will hold final interviews for the two finalists for the position of city clerk of the city of Medford in a committee of the whole meeting on June 23rd, 2026 at 6 p.m. The finalists are as follows, Kevin Foley, Laurel Siegel. The hiring process outlined in resolution 25-149 as approved in 2025 is included below. And I'll recognize Councilor Callahan, who worked with Vice President Lazzaro and Councilor Mullane on this process. And then we will move to the candidates. Councilor Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much. We are excited to be in this process and to have a new clerk, a new city clerk. And also very appreciative of the two candidates for doing what we are mandated by the state to do, which is to hold this final interview in a public meeting. Not the norm for most HR decisions, but. That is that is as it is So I don't think there's any other real background information that we need I think for the public listening in we have been without a city clerk for a number of months and so we've been in a hiring process and if we've already had a number of interviews and both of these candidates have done multiple interviews with us and city staff as well, with the subcommittee. And so this is the final interview. We have four questions that will be the same for each of the candidates. And then after those four questions, which they'll have about three minutes to answer each one, then city councilors will be able to ask whatever questions they like. And I believe we are starting with Kevin Foley.

[Zac Bears]: Great. Kevin, and I'll turn it over to you, Councilor Callaghan, for the questions.

[Kevin Foley]: Is my microphone on?

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you for being here.

[Kevin Foley]: Thank you, President Bears, Vice President Lazzaro, members of the council. Thank you very much. I appreciate your opportunity to meet with you, to discuss my interest in serving, to answer your questions about my interest in serving as the city clerk here. I'd be obviously I would be humbled and honored to be selected. But you have an important decision to make and no matter what happens I just want to let the council know that I wish you well. I just had an opportunity to spend a few minutes with Attorney Siegel who I think is a very strong candidate and you'd be well served having her serve as the city clerk as well. So I'm happy to answer your questions and then we'll go from there.

[Anna Callahan]: Thanks so much. We are thrilled to have two great candidates. So the first question is, please explain how your background has prepared you to do the most important tasks that the city clerk has to do.

[Kevin Foley]: Well, you know, the way I look at the position is the most important task of the city clerk is actually to serve. You're gonna, the ideal candidate, uh... for all of you would be someone who's prepared to provide a high level of service to the city council to the uh... city of medford the community uh... to other departments here in city hall and others that are seeking either records or service from the city clerks office and so that level of service that ability to serve public service is is very important and as you can see from my background i have a strong commitment to public service. I think about 50 percent of my professional career has been spent in public service and well aware of those demands. I served as an elected official like all of you in my community in North Andover, a member of the select board, chairman of the select board. So I know full well what it means to rely upon staff. to keep you organized, to prepare your agenda, to prepare your business meetings, to keep records of those things, to keep time frames involved. And I know what it's like to do that work. It's very important. I also served as an appointed. official in North Andover, on the Conservation Commission, on the Strategic Planning Committee, on the Finance Committee most recently, and many other ad hoc committees. And so in that process, I certainly had the opportunity to be involved with many meetings and hearings. And I know what it takes. to prepare to make those meetings successful, the behind-the-scenes work, and I'm looking at Acting Clerk Alessio when I say that, to make those meetings go well, all the work behind the scenes that sometimes the public doesn't see and appreciate to make those meetings effective. I understand what that means, all that work. On the other hand, I also spent a considerable amount of time in the private sector. So on the other side of things, I did a lot of, I was a general practitioner, which is kind of like a dinosaur, because I did a lot of different things. I went in front of boards and commissions, conservation, planning, you know, board of selectmen, city council, for various items. And there are many times, not many times, but there are sometimes when you're in those meetings where, you know, there are some things, those meetings didn't go that well. It was evident that that preparation wasn't done in advance because there were items on that agenda that probably shouldn't have been on that agenda because they weren't ready to be on the agenda because things were missing. And, you know, now we're just taking up people's time and everything else. So I understand, you know, what it means to be, to make sure it's effective in terms of the council. Those are some of the things that I look at on how I would serve the council. making sure that you're organized. You know, the bottom line is I understand what it means. In terms of serving the public, like I think I mentioned this in the interviews, I look at the position as really kind of like an ambassador. Other than the mayor and the city council and some of the other officials, there's a lot of interaction with the community. People come up to that counter and they expect to be sure if you are the face of that clerk's office. And I really think if you want a clerk that's just going to go sit in the corner in the office and not interact with the public, I'm not your person because I expect I'll be out in the counter. I think I mentioned during one of the interviews, I used to be a staff attorney for Secretary Galvin. And they had a counter on the 17th floor, and there was a bullpen. And they said, Attorney Foley, we have an office for you. And I said, no, I want to sit here right in the bullpen. Because I'm very, I like to be able to go out and talk with people. I think I mentioned it the first time I met Councilor Melanchia. I met you before when I came into the law department. You notarized my. you notarized my nomination papers, and I said, well, was I nice to you? She said, yes, you were. And I think that's a part of the job. It's the face of the community, whether it's a resident or another department, and how we interact with them. So I'm someone that really is well-equipped to interact with the public, to work alongside the capable staff in the office to make sure that people that are coming to the city clerk's office seeking records or services are well served.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you so much. The second question is what do you think are the most pressing issues to be addressed by the new city clerk here in Medford and how would you address them?

[Kevin Foley]: It's such a good question. I don't presume to know. what the most pressing issues are. I think I would be looking to the council, I'd be looking to the existing staff who've been there, I'd be looking to the consultant who's been there for eight or nine months, Andy, to sort of see what they have seen and what they think the needs are. My observations go back to more than a year when I was here as city solicitor and I think that we have to have our our paper records and our electronic records organized so that someone should be able to go on to the city website and be able to access the most recent revised version of our ordinances. Anybody should be able to get that. At the same time, they should be able to go on and get a history of what state statutes this body has adopted. and make sure those things are there. In terms of the paper records, I listened with interest to Acting Clerk Alessio's presentation during the budget hearings about the so-called vault project, $120,000 to put a new racking system in the vault in the clerk's office. And I think that's a great idea, because then you can get some of those historic records that are in the basement here at City Hall out of the basement. That's a must. in my opinion. At the same time, I was happy to hear that you have some of the applications on CitizenServe, and you have a part-time person who works part-time with the building department, part-time with the city clerk's office, who kind of oversees that stuff. That's leveraging other resources that you have, because one of the pressing issues that the city clerk's office, like the City of Medford has, is trying to do more with less. And so how can you do that? You do it with technology, you do it with resources, you do it with personnel. You work together to try to help solve a problem. So those are some of the things that I think that I I think are the most pressing issues. I also think that, you know, we can also build on some of that progress because, you know, not in a vacuum, but you look at some of the best practices. You know, what are some of the other communities doing? I know it's not as active as the City Solicitors Association, but the Clerks Association, what are they coming up with for best practices? I don't know what they came up with. down the Cape last week when they had their conference. But I know many city clerks in other communities. I'd probably want to know what they're thinking. I'd want to know what the council thinks and what the people, most importantly, that work in the office on a daily basis think about what the pressing issues are and how to resolve them.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you. The next question, please tell us about a time that you helped a team modernize and or adopt new policies in order to do their work better.

[Kevin Foley]: I'll give you the short version first, which is a recent version, a very small scale version. The first week I was here as city solicitor, the public records requests were all going to an individual's email, Janet Spencer, who worked in the law department. And I couldn't understand why that was the case. And so the first week I was here, I asked our IT director, could we have a dedicated email for public records requests, please? And then we developed a form that was an acknowledgment of that records request, and we gave it a number. a FOIA number so that we could track it. So if someone called up and wanted to know the progress about a thing, and then same with the department heads, because you're going to send those requests out to the various departments that actually have the records most recently. I mean, most of the time it was the building department and other departments that were frequent records requests that were made. So they could go by a number, you know, and you could track it easier. As you can see from my resume, the larger and longer answer is I ran a professional corporation for 17 years. I was the sole shareholder. But I took over a general practice somewhere around 2012 or 13. And that practice did some things that I didn't always do. They did bank work. They did some probating estates and things like that. But everything they did was on paper. They were doing payroll on paper. They were keeping their files on paper. They were using paper forms. They were paper messages, paper calendar, paper, paper, paper. And the paralegal who had been there for 30 years, that's what she was used to doing. It really wasn't that effective. The equipment, some of the equipment, I think, that she was using probably came over on the Mayflower. She was single feeding a page at a time into the fax machine, into the scanner. So some of what I did was, I was an S corp, so I took the pain every two weeks when I did payroll. And I used a payroll company. And I also used QuickBooks. I had a QuickBooks consultant that came in. And she could tie into my system quarterly. At one time, I was handling $35 million a year through my little law firm. But we were always balanced to the penny. In fact, it was so balanced that at the end of the year, we'd give a little electronic file over to my accountant and my taxes were done the first week in February. That's very early for a corporation to have that stuff done. But we institute a lot of changes there in terms of equipment, four-in-one machines. You know, using QuickBooks, going, using a payroll company, direct deposit, paperless, bringing in new software for closings, bringing in new forms, electronic forms that you use at the probate court. And there was a bit of a learning curve with that, I must say, because as I said, my paralegal was someone who was a bit old school, used paper calendars, was really a little bit nervous about it, but after a while, It really was something that really worked out well. It made us more effective, more efficient, and everything else. So I look at that example of what I did there. And it was pleasant. She stayed with me. She didn't give up and quit, even though there was a lot of changes for how she did her work. And it was different than when someone had a question about a file and said, I'll have to call you back. I've got to run down to the basement and check, and I'll call you back. Because we would have everything electronically and get an answer to the question.

[Anna Callahan]: Wonderful. Thank you so much. Trying to keep us on time here. How would you keep all the staff in the clerk's office properly trained in their jobs and knowledgeable about changing state laws and compliance regulations?

[Kevin Foley]: That's another one where I don't want to presume that I know what the training needs. for the staff, the existing staff, and the office. For me, I would need to make an assessment. But I would probably ask the staff to give me a self-assessment about what we think the training needs are. And I'd also get some input from the council if there's some issue. And the consultant that's been there for nine months now. He's an objective third party that really I'm sure that I would want to spend some time about what if any recommendations after serving in there for 20 hours a week for nine months, what do you see in terms of needs for training and stuff like that. So that's how I would go about it. Some of that's a self-assessment. And then in terms of the training itself, You know, what's accessible? Is it something that we can handle within the confines of City Hall? Do we have to go to an outside vendor? If we go to an outside vendor, can that training be taken remotely here at City Hall, or do we have to send somebody off-site, which means, you know, juggling the schedule? Or is it something that we could send one person? to go and get trained and then come back to the office and they could embark that training on all of us. It's all sort of fact dependent, but that's the way I would look at assessing and implementing the training for staff there. Of course, you know, I should mention my background. For 24 years, I've been an adjunct professor of law at the Mass School of Law, and I also did a stint out at Dean College in their baccalaureate program for undergraduates. So I'm not afraid to train as long as I'm properly trained. I'm happy to help with the training. Oh, part two of that I don't think I answered, which was keeping the staff updated on Keeping the staff updated on current changes to the law, isn't that part of the question?

[Unidentified]: That's right.

[Kevin Foley]: And regulations and stuff like that. I think that's something that would primarily fall upon me. And how do you do it? Well, I think you've got to have regular staff meetings. Let them know the trends or what's going on. Sometimes, depending on what that change is or if it's going to change the way we do business, it might mean a memorandum or it might mean a directive, a written directive. From now on, we're going to do it this way. So that's the way I would handle that.

[Anna Callahan]: Fantastic. Thank you so much.

[SPEAKER_02]: I'll turn it back over to Council President Bears.

[Zac Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Callahan. Thank you, Kevin, for answering those questions. Do we have any follow-up questions or additional questions from members of the council for Attorney Foley? I'm seeing none. All right. Thank you, Kevin.

[Kevin Foley]: Thank you for your time. Wishing the council well. Wish you the best with whatever you decide to do. Thank you very much. Take it easy.

[Anna Callahan]: Ghost dog.

[Zac Bears]: Welcome, Attorney Segal. We are going to have kind of four standard questions. Councilor Callahan is going to run through them. And then if Councilors have follow-up questions, we will ask you some follow-up questions. Councilor Callahan.

[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you. First of all, thank you for being here.

[Laurel Siegel]: Yeah, I didn't think it was on. Thank you so much for inviting me. Yes.

[Anna Callahan]: Absolutely. So the first question is, if you could please explain how your background has prepared you to do the most important tasks that the city clerk has to do. Okay.

[Laurel Siegel]: Happy to do that. I believe, as all of you know, my previous career was as an attorney. I practiced law for about 30 years in real estate and business transactions. Of course, I do have a facility and knowledge of the law and an ability to research and understand and implement legal requirements. In addition to that, I've now worked on staff for three years. I am the CDBG manager and I manage federal funding and other funds for the city, which has extensive reporting records and financial requirements. I have a great deal of experience in managing those tasks. I'm also a long-time resident of this city and have served on a huge variety of nonprofit boards and committees as well as several other city commissions, the Parking Policy Commission, the Charter Study Committee, the Medford Arts Council. So I think I have a really good understanding city policy and needs because I can view it from all those different angles as both a resident and an employee and somebody who has worked extensively with the city. And last but certainly not least, I was the managing member of a five attorney law firm. So I know how to lead a team. I've also held leadership positions with a number of different non-profits. So, first of all, I have a lot of experience just digging in and getting the work done that needs to be done, but also know how to guide a team and motivate them towards the tasks that need to be accomplished.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you. Our second question, what do you think are the most pressing issues to be addressed by the new city clerk and how would you address them?

[Laurel Siegel]: I think an immediate priority is we know that there is some backlog that has accumulated on codifying city ordinances in part just due to gaps in staffing. So I think that that's a high priority to bring that back up to date and also look at perhaps further measures that we can take to ensure that there is less of a possibility of establishing a backlog in the future. I want to work with the council to ensure that there is clear and good communication back and forth and that there is clear tracking of any matters that are before the council. I think it's also very important to facilitate communication with other departments in the city, particularly where the matters that you are making decisions on impact their daily work and that they are aware of what is coming before you and also aware of whatever action has been taken on those matters. And I think also there's a lot of importance of continuing to modernize. There's been a lot of activity to move clerk duties onto online platforms, which is great, but as much as we can continue to move in that direction and make sure that we're maximizing the use of the technology. You know, we have a couple of great systems that we're using right now, the Civic Clerk System and CitizenServe. They have some additional functionality, so seeing how we can capitalize on those functions. And if there are other programs, I'm sorry. And one of the things actually that I've been working on a lot in PDS is ensuring that all materials are fully accessible to the public. The Commonwealth has actually recently established some new regulations on digital accessibility. The implementation of that was actually deferred. It was supposed to go into effect April of this year, but it's been deferred. But it's a real opportunity to make sure all of the materials through the clerk's office are complying with that. It's everything from, you know, using more clear language to visual standards to making sure that documents that are available are readable through accessible technology, all of that sort of stuff.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you, and I am gonna be trying to keep us to three minutes. Okay, sorry folks. No, no, he also, I forgot to time him on the first one, he definitely went over, so I was giving you this one. You each get one. Wonderful, our third question, please tell us about a time that you helped a team modernize and or adopt new policies in order to better do their work.

[Laurel Siegel]: Okay. I think really my role as the CDBG manager is the best example of that. You know, CDBG is a really complex area, and federal regulations are deep and ever evolving, particularly in the current atmosphere. And so I've done a lot of work to bring us into current compliance and make sure that we're tracking everything. So a couple of examples of that, you know, I set up a whole new financial system for managing CDBG funding and making sure that we're tracking all of our expenditures and funds coming back in. I've talked about this before, but actually Alicia Hunt, my director, liked the system so much that she's adopted it throughout the department. I created a new CDBG page on the city's website because really we were before just a little drop down on the PDS page and that really didn't provide adequate information to comply with the government requirements and also give the public more information about what CDBG is, what its intent and goals are and the various documents that are affiliated with that program. I also rewrote our CDBG citizen participation plan, which is the guiding document for how we engage with the public about our CDBG funding. What we had was outdated, not up to date with the current requirements, and also pretty unclear. And I implemented a new software program to manage our CDBG grants to our public services grantees, which really facilitates their better management of the grant, better reporting, and also allows them to see in real time the status of their expenditures and funding for the program. And last but not least, I worked with staff to establish new CDBG funded programs, programs like our rehab loan program. We just closed on the very first loan under that new revived program last week, as well as some of the econ dev programs like the project pop-up and the vacant storefront grants that we've been doing.

[Anna Callahan]: Very good. All right. How would you keep all staff in the clerk's office properly trained in their jobs and knowledgeable about changing state laws and compliance regulations?

[Laurel Siegel]: Sure. So, you know, as I said, I'm very familiar with staying abreast of what's going on in the law. I think the first thing is to make sure that I'm fully informed of what all of those requirements are and also what educational opportunities exist. I know that there are municipal clerk associations and other groups and also just talking with colleagues from other communities to really understand what they're doing. And then I want to meet with the staff individually and get their thoughts. You know, where are they? What do they know? What do they want to know? Where do they see the gaps in the office and what needs to be learned in order to function more appropriately? I do understand that there has actually been quite a bit of desire for additional training by some of the staff. But again, there's been struggles because there have been gaps in staffing and other obstacles that have made that difficult. So as much as I'm able to facilitate that happening for them, I want to do that.

[SPEAKER_02]: All right, those are our four standard questions. Back to you, President Bears.

[Zac Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Callahan. Thank you, Attorney Segal. Do we have any follow-up questions? Councilor Scarpelli?

[George Scarpelli]: First of all, very impressive. Thank you. And for everything you've done in your existing role, it's very appreciated, I think. It's very impressive. My only question I have is, it's a little difficult, a little different, because you are here as a member of our staff. but joining as the clerk, there is a separation, right? And how do you think you handle the role knowing that you represent the council first, not the central administration?

[Laurel Siegel]: I mean, I don't see that as being problematic. That's, you know, whoever I report to, that's who I report to and the chain of command. So I don't, you know, I respect the work of the council. I respect the work of the administration. And so I don't see that as being problematic.

[George Scarpelli]: Thank you.

[Zac Bears]: Thank you. Do we have any further follow-up questions? All right. Thank you, Laurel. Thank you, Attorney Segal. At this point, you know, we will go into kind of our deliberations. Procedurally, we would make a motion after our discussions to recommend a candidate, then engage in an offer process and negotiation. When that's completed, we would then have a vote to actually appoint someone as the city clerk. We can't appoint a city solicitor. So that is how this will go. So I will open it up to... Yep, that'd be great. Sure. You're gonna have to close the big one. Yeah. The door is broken. Sorry, just to recap, we will discuss now if we choose at this time to make a recommendation of one of the two finalists that we saw, then we would make an offer to that person And if that person were to accept that we would take a final vote to appoint them as the city clerk. I'll go to Councilor Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you. I just would hoping to ask like what the form of the motion is the form of the motion to offer the job or the form of the motion to if you don't mind.

[Zac Bears]: Sure, I mean, I think that's really, it's not like a specific one. Okay. Yeah, just a motion to recommend X candidate and make an offer. Great. Yeah.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you.

[Zac Bears]: Vice President Lazzaro.

[Emily Lazzaro]: First of all, I just want to acknowledge that this is not how anybody wants to do hiring. because it's very awkward, but it's how we're required to do it because we do things in a public forum. So we had to bring our final candidates here into a public meeting, but the rest of the process was more normal. We just interviewed people like you would normally interview people. narrowed down the candidates, and now we have this process here. So, both candidates are qualified and intelligent, and they have experience in Medford, and it's so hard to talk about personnel stuff publicly, but I would love for us to get the ball rolling, and since I have talked about candidates already. I just, my, I am leaning in the direction of, I think Laurel's experience lends itself more directly to this role because it is clerical and specifically related to regulations and frequently changing laws and keeping tabs of things like that. So that's my preference. But I would be interested to hear what the other Councilors think. Thank you.

[Zac Bears]: Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli.

[George Scarpelli]: So just to be clear we're in a public forum talking about personnel matters. I as one of I think. Councilor Bears, I think you were part of the last clerk, right? Were you? Was it? You were not. So being the only one, I don't know who has guided us to say this is the proper format because I think this is terrible. I think that truly to really understand is really for this council to understand that this person that we'll be hiring is working for us. and really having an open board discussion that you might want to say something but not be protected because we don't have a city solicitor to guide us and we don't have a legal team to guide us into this process. So I think it's flawed. I want to make that as a point of record. The fact that we're doing this this way is shocking. Now, on a personal level with the two candidates that we had, I think they're both phenomenal. I think our second candidate is phenomenal in the role that she's in right now. And I feel that that is more powerful and more impactful in our community for her to be in that role. I think we weaken our system by taking her out of that role. I think the first candidate has shown that he has worked in every single aspect that we find that we're lapsing in. And having both of them have a background with the legal system and legalities, I think it's very important. Although they can't give us a legal opinion, but it's nice to know that we have people in that role that have that background. So either way, I think it's a win-win. But, you know, the fact that When you look at the resumes and understand one against the other, they're both very talented. But I think for the position that we're looking in, I think Mr. Foley better fits that position for what he has done directly in that type of role. And that's why I would. lean more toward Mr. Foley. And I think that it's unfair, it's an unfair bias that I feel that moving Laurel into this position out of another position weakens us in a sense. We don't get stronger in that office by taking her out. So and I think that that's what's playing this, it's very difficult for me to weigh this because it is, it's, you're adding but subtracting with one person. And that's what makes it very difficult for me right now. But that's why I think my choice would have to be that it would be Attorney Foley. And the fact that he understands as well the system. He knows all the players. He understands both sides of the clerk's position in the office. You know, his ability to teach, his ability to work with a team, I think is very impressive, as well as Laurel. I think she's, you know, you've seen the transformation that she's made in that department, and it'd be interesting to see, it'd be exciting to see what she can do in the clerk's role as well. So this is why it's not easy, but like I said, the only piece that, that I'm hanging my hat on and saying that a subtraction in addition to the clerk would be a subtraction that would hurt our process, especially in probably one of the most important offices we have right now. So thank you for listening.

[Zac Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Scarpelli. Councilor Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: Thank you. I want to reiterate what my colleagues have said, which is that both of these candidates are excellent. I'm so thrilled that we are at this point in the process. I'm very excited to have a new city clerk, and I also think that this format is quite uncomfortable. And that being said, I also, like from my perspective, I have, and I think most of us on the city council, have had the opportunity to interact with both of these people in their respective roles with the city. And I think between this interview, I was on the committee that did the earlier interviews, and our own personal sort of interactions and our own knowledge of working with I personally feel comfortable just making that decision for myself and also other councils if they, you know, wish. I just want to leave the door open for people to feel that they don't have to necessarily say the reason for their vote before they vote. I'm not going to, I think they're both wonderful. I have to choose one. I think either one would be fantastic. So that's all I have to say. Thank you.

[Zac Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Leming and Councilor Malay.

[Matt Leming]: Thank you. Yeah, I echoing everything else my colleagues have said that, yeah, this is definitely not the ideal forum or format for this. And also echoing that, being familiar with the work of both of the candidates, I'm deeply impressed with both of them. And just thank both of them for putting their candidacy ahead. I'll say that for me personally, I'm sort of a one, when it comes to the clerk's office, the main focus of mine is getting through the ordinance backlog. And I mean, that's just something that has been holding up the clerk's office and the update of Munich code for a long time. And so I'll be you know, I was kind of keeping my ears open during the interviews for which candidates would say that. And, you know, that's, that is, I'm sort of a single issue Councilor in terms of how I'll be voting tonight, but, but yeah, that's, that's, that's the basis of my decision. Thank you.

[Zac Bears]: I think Councilor Leming, Councilor Malayne.

[Liz Mullane]: So, I would also echo what everyone has said, that this is, you know, a very kind of uncomfortable format to be doing this and having these discussions. Again, I think both candidates bring very unique kind of perspectives and abilities to the same role. I think what I, in terms of my vote and what I was looking for and listening to as part of this process, the things that really stood out to me is kind of that attention to detail, organizational, you know, focus, because I do think a lot of that is important within this position. And someone who was able to demonstrate and give some examples when it comes to how they would move the office forward around technology and really embracing that and how we might be able to be able to catch up on some of these areas and issues that have been brought up in the past. And I think that in listening to both candidates, I was listening for exact examples and where they have demonstrated making an impact in some of those, and I think one of the candidates really did kind of lean into that more. And I like to hear exact examples where someone has done this in the past and and utilize that within different types of systems and be able to navigate that successfully. Again, both bring very unique, wonderful skill sets to it, but I think when I make my decision as well, that's what I'm leaning towards, the person that really provided more of those direct examples.

[Zac Bears]: Thank you, Councilor Mullen, Councilor Tseng.

[Justin Tseng]: Thank you, Councilor Bears, Council President Bears. I want to thank both candidates for coming in front of the public tonight. It's not easy to put yourself in front of a live cast and to have a very public and awkward job interview. I also want to thank both candidates on top of that for being willing to serve in this capacity, to serve the council, to serve the city and our residents. I think we've seen two pretty impressive applications tonight, two pretty well-spoken interviews as well. And I think despite the hiccups in the process, I want to thank the three Councilors here, Councilor Callahan, Lazzaro, and Mullane for their work serving on the subcommittee that's gotten us to this point and gotten us two very strong candidates in front of us. As I've reviewed the materials that we were handed, the interviews that we heard tonight, I've been thinking a lot about what the role really demands. When I think of the city clerk's office, I think of it as a connective tissue in city government. It's responsible for public records and touches licensing, meeting minutes in the council, of course. It's about transparency too and it's about knowing what residents want and need from the city and want to know and need to know from the city as well. And so, you know, I think, Both candidates talked about their legal experience and administrative experience. I think it's a bit more than that. I think it's also about institutional knowledge. It's about community trust and connection to the community knowing the perspectives of the stakeholders who come to City Hall for help and knowing the shortfalls of those interactions thus far and improving those interactions so that things run smoother for our residents. Our city clerk serves everyone and I think it's a difficult decision because, you know, it's not unlike other departments. It's one that we have control over. It's one that we have a say in the process in and it's important nowadays and especially to have that kind of experience divorced from the central administration too. So this is a difficult choice. I think a lot about that community, for me it just comes back to that question of community connection and the, and knowing what it's like to be on the other side of the counter when they walk into the city clerk's office. So that's what I'm going to be thinking about tonight.

[Zac Bears]: Is there any further discussion by members of the council regarding our recommendation for making an offer to a city clerk? All right. Seeing none, I just want to thank my fellow councilors. I understand the qualms with the process. Whenever an employee is hired by a public body, that public body is subject to the open meeting law. And we have to take our votes and have a discussion in public to make a recommendation. And, you know, there are other parts of the process obviously that happen. in a bit of a different way, but when it gets to this final stage, the last part, there is a public vote. You know, people have to decide who they want to vote for, and then it moves ahead from that point. So, you know, there are a few different ways that we could go about it. I think something that might be The best way to do it would be for each of us to maybe someone make a motion to recommend a city clerk and then each of us could say the name of a finalist and that way no one has to vote yes or no on anybody. They just say the name of the finalist that they want to make the offer to and whoever has the most. Names said it will go from there. I believe I looked back at the 2018 process and I believe that's how they did it on the council at that time. No, George? What did you do?

[George Scarpelli]: The way we decided in executive session that we would talk and vet out each candidate in an executive session, sharing information. And then after we all expressed our feelings and understandings, we then decided that whatever we left, we left. making sure that we're unanimous in the decision. So we knew ahead of time, after we've entered the process as a team, that when we left, we left knowing that even though I might have favored one applicant over another, that after the group decided that we left as a unified front and making sure the person that we brought in to sit in that seat, that they knew they had seven people that they could depend on.

[Zac Bears]: So. The advice of council that we received is that that wasn't an option for us here. So.

[George Scarpelli]: very difficult times. And I think that our city councils, my colleagues did an amazing job vetting a very difficult process. Because one thing we were purview to is the process coming from our HR department and understanding how the process went. And to me, void of a city solicitor where my colleagues could have gone to at any time to say, is this the process? Is there other ways? And we don't have that. So here we are. We need a city clerk, but we also need to you know, publicly share my displeasure. And this isn't about you. This isn't about my team or all of us. I think we're doing the best what we can. And it's uncomfortable because like I said, my vote might not be different than someone else's vote and my vote might be different than someone else's. But ultimately, the person that's going to sit in that chair is going to look at us in a different light because of that. So whether we, it's human nature whether we like it or not. So, yeah. All right.

[Zac Bears]: Move forward? Yep. Is there a motion? Councilor Callahan?

[Anna Callahan]: I move that we offer the city clerk position to the person who gets the most votes tonight.

[Zac Bears]: All right.

[Anna Callahan]: As we call the roll.

[Zac Bears]: Let's just say, let's go around and say a name and then we'll make a motion to nominate that person. So if everyone would. We'll go up in the order of a roll call if everyone would please state the finalist that they would like to see moved forward and offered the position of City Clerk of the City of Medford. And I'll recognize you. In whatever order you press your buttons.

[Anna Callahan]: Shall I go since my button's already pressed?

[Zac Bears]: Sure.

[Anna Callahan]: Okay. Laurel Siegel.

[Zac Bears]: Great. Could you guys signal in and say a name? Councilor Malayne.

[Liz Mullane]: Laurel Siegel.

[Zac Bears]: All right. Council Vice President Lazzaro.

[Liz Mullane]: Laurel Siegel.

[Zac Bears]: Councilor Scarpelli. Kevin Foley. Councilor Tseng.

[Justin Tseng]: Laurel Siegel.

[Zac Bears]: Councilor Leming.

[Justin Tseng]: Laurel Siegel.

[Zac Bears]: All right. Will someone make a motion? Laurel Siegel had a majority there. Is there a motion? Councilor Callahan on the motion to recommend Laurel Seagull to be offered the position of City Clerk.

[Unidentified]: So moved.

[Zac Bears]: All right. On Councilor Callahan's motion, seconded by Councilor Scarpelli. Mr. Clerk, if you could please call the roll.

[Rich Eliseo]: Councilor Callahan? Yes. Councilor Leming?

[Matt Leming]: Yes.

[Rich Eliseo]: Councilor Mullain? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli?

[Zac Bears]: Yes.

[Rich Eliseo]: Councilor Tseng?

[Zac Bears]: Yes.

[Rich Eliseo]: Vice President Lazzaro? and President Bears.

[Zac Bears]: Yes. Seven in the affirmative, none in the negative, the motion passes. Before we adjourn this meeting, I want to say one more thing which is I want to thank Acting Clerk Rich Alicio for his consummate professional service to the City of Medford as the Acting City Clerk over the last 10 plus months. Well, he's been acting since January but really functioning as our Acting City Clerk for even months before that. And I think under difficult decisions, difficult conditions and not enough staff in the office, you have done an incredible job. I think you've served as a consummate professional and especially I appreciate your continued service to the city of Medford. And as this offer process moves forward, you know, your continued service as our acting city clerk. So I wanted to thank you. All right. Is there a motion? Councilor Tseng.

[Justin Tseng]: I think I want to really thank you, Rich, for everything. It's difficult for us to be having this, to be in this moment. I don't think the public realizes the amount of adversity that you've faced in your role as acting clerk. And yet, you're so enthusiastic about making your job better. I've been especially impressed and I've been telling people, I've been especially impressed that recently, right, we have some motions or some papers and you come up to us after meetings just saying how you think your office could help in that process and how your office could, you know, contribute to policymaking ordinances from your experience working in the office. That perspective and the enthusiasm and proactiveness is something I see and I recognize and I want you to know that I see that. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Scarpelli.

[George Scarpelli]: Thank you, Mr. President. Again, to follow my, to be redundant. I think that some of the things we can and can't say about this process, unfortunately, affects Mr. Lazio. I think that what you've done, you've stepped into a very uncomfortable position and you've handled it with grace and honor. I think you've done a great job for us. I think that you are a true professional. I think that anytime I had an issue, Rich, you'd call me back within 15 minutes. And if you didn't have the answer, you did the due diligence to make sure you had the answer. I know that you've been under fire and you stood above it. And that's difficult because that showed your loyalty to this group. And I think, hope we never forget that because you did a great job. And I want everybody to know that publicly. And not to say my other colleagues don't feel the same way, you know, someone that isn't as articulate as most of my fellow colleagues when I send over a resolution and you'd call me and you'd say, Georgia, would you like me to correct the grammatical mistake or something simple as that so I don't look like a fool in a public forum. And it's stuff like that that I'd publicly say that thank you for being that safety net and we appreciate you more than you would know. So, thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it.

[Zac Bears]: Thank you. Councilor Callahan.

[Anna Callahan]: In addition to the second, third, and fourth thing, what my colleagues have said, I also want to say that I'm, you know, very glad that you will be continuing with us. I don't want people in the public to think that, you know, you are leaving. But, you know, having your consistency in the office is going to be incredibly helpful as we move through this process. So in addition to all the gratitude and the, you know, thanks, I just wanted to say that as well.

[Zac Bears]: Vice President Lazzaro.

[Emily Lazzaro]: Rich I said this to you recently. I'm going to say it again publicly. I don't tell lies and if I do I don't do a very good job of it. And I look forward to continuing to not blow smoke anywhere in your vicinity. Thank you for being a bro. And I look forward to continue continuing to work with you. Thank you.

[Zac Bears]: Thank you. All right. Is there a motion? Councilor Lazzaro. Oh, Councilor Callahan. A motion to adjourn by Councilor Callahan, seconded by Vice President Lazzaro. Once the Committee of the Whole is adjourned, we'll get the regular meeting set up, and then we'll go from there, and there's about 20 items on the agenda, so we'll do our best. All right. Mr. Clerk, please call the roll on the motion to adjourn the Committee of the Whole.

[Rich Eliseo]: Councilor Callahan. Councilor Leming.

[Zac Bears]: Yes.

[Rich Eliseo]: Councilor Malauulu? Yes. Councilor Scarpelli? Councilor Tseng? Yes. Vice President Lazzaro? And President Pierce?

[Zac Bears]: Yes. I move the affirmative, none the negative. The motion passes. Committee of the whole is adjourned and we will start the regular meeting in five minutes.