One is a medical student concerned about the elderly. One (pictured) is a former alderwoman, another, a real-estate attorney.
They were among the community volunteers sworn in Tuesday afternoon to serve on New Haven boards and commissions.
A total of nine alders attended the meeting at City Hall. New and returning members were called up before the panel of aldermen to deliver a brief mission statement.
Everol Ennis, a second-year student at Yale Medical School specializing in gerontology, was appointed to the Aging Commission. He called managing care for the elderly an “important job, often overlooked.” Newhallville Alderwoman Katrina Jones commended him for “taking an interest.”
“This is a population we really need to treasure,” Jones said.
Two volunteers — one new, one returning after a yearlong absence — were appointed to the board of the city’s Liveable City Initiative (LCI): James Connelly of Englewood Drive, and real estate attorney Tim Yolen.
Yolen previously served on the LCI board for eight consecutive years. He was obliged to vacate his position because of a municipal stature which states that volunteers cannot occupy a seat for nine years in a row.
Addressing the Board of Aldermen, Yolen said he was “happy to be back” to the LCI, which was formed to assess abandoned properties around the city.
Also at the meeting, Republican Lori Koslowski of Newhallville was appointed to the New Haven Democracy Fund, the city’s first public financing system for mayoral candidates; Former Fair Haven Heights Alderwoman Shirley Ellis-West (pictured at the top of the story) joined the Development Commission; Edith Rawls started on the Commission on Equal Opportunity; and Phaedra Ebron was appointed to the New Haven Food Council.
Ward 29 Alderman Carl Goldfield (pictured) said that appointments had not been hotly contested.
“It’s difficult to get people to serve at all for no compensation,” he said. “So we treat them with kid gloves.”