Malden
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Friday, March 6, 2020
Malden stays strong Malden goes to the polls for Sanders for the Super Tuesday Primary By Barbara Taormina
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U.S. Senator Ed Markey and his wife, Dr. Susan Blumenthal, are shown after casting their votes at the Malden Housing Authority at 89 Pearl St. on Super Tuesday. See page 12 for photo highlights. (Advocate Photo by Tara Vocino)
espite former Vice President Joe Biden’s election resurrection that made him the big winner in this week’s Super Tuesday primaries, including the Massachusetts race, the majority of Malden democrats voted for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Statewide, Biden won 33.7 percent of the vote, giving him a surprise victory which many described as an upset. However, of the 10,240 Malden residents who cast ballots in the Democratic primary, 3,704, or 36 percent, voted for Sanders. Biden came in second with 27 percent of the vote followed by Senator Elizabeth Warren, who ended the night with 2,297 votes, or 22 percent of the total, and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who captured 8.5 percent, or 876 votes. In Malden’s Republican primary, President Donald Trump won 942 votes, or 87 percent of
1,078 ballots cast. Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld came in a distant second with 84 votes. Voters in Ward 5, Precinct 2, which is part of the 32nd district, added some shine to Melrose Councillor-at-Large Kate Lipper-Garabedian’s landslide victory in the special election held to fill the state rep seat left open when Paul Brodeur was elected mayor of Melrose. In Malden, 784 residents voted for Garabedian, while 167 votes went to her Republican opponent, Brandon Reid. Ben Tafoya, of Reading, and Kathleen Manning Hall were elected to new terms as the Democratic State Committeeman and State Committeewoman for the Fifth Middlesex District. Robert Aufiero, of Melrose, and Caroline Colarusso, of Stoneham, were both unop-
STAYS STRONG | SEE PAGE 8
Dan Grover chosen as new city treasurer By Barbara Taormina
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he 2017 search for a city treasurer took months of meetings, discussions and interviews, but this time around the City Council wrapped everything up in two weeks. After fielding an hour’s worth of questions during Wednesday night’s public interview that was televised and recorded for a post on social media, Malden’s Assistant Controller Dan Grover listened to a unanimous roll call vote authorizing City Council President Jadeane Sica to start working with the Hunan Resources Department on a contract to appoint him the new city treasurer. The council began looking for someone to fill the position shortly after Malden lost Jonathan Davis, who died on Feb. 14 after serving just two years as city treasurer. And this time, they started off by posting the job internally. “We knew we had at least a couple of potential inter-
nal candidates who were interested and qualified candidates,” said Sica, adding that the council has always wanted to see Malden residents hired for leadership positions in city government. Sica introduced Grover and reminded councillors he was a finalist for the treasurer position in 2017. After losing out to Davis, he took the job in the controller’s office, where he spent the last two years learning how the city operates, said Sica, who highlighted Grover’s master’s degree in finance and his years of experience in financial services. “While none of that is a guarantee that Dan is the right fit for the job, it does warrant us giving him a first look before going outside of City Hall and likely outside of the city for our treasurer,” said Sica. With that, councillors began a long string of questions that covered management strategies, bond rates, accounting software, tax collection, customer service, online billing,
The City Council voted this week to move forward with a contract to appoint Malden native Dan Grover as the new city treasurer.
staff diversification, debt refinancing, short-term investments, translation services, cash flow safeguards and Grover’s personal goals and career plans. During his 2017 interview, Grover conceded that his lack of experience with municipal finance was the greatest weakness in his resume.
“I took the job in the controller’s office to prepare myself for this opportunity,” he said, adding that, at the time, he figured Davis would retire in about five years. Although the opportunity came earlier than expected, Grover seemed ready for the challenge. He said working with Controller Charles Ranaghan had been a great opportunity to learn and adapt his knowledge and experience to municipal finance. He said he and Ranaghan have worked to improve the city’s financial management policies, an effort that involves continual reviewing and written guidelines to help when new staff comes on board. He agreed with Ward 2 Councillor Paul Condon, who said that turnover in the treasurer’s office has been a problem and added that changes in leadership have made it hard to focus on large projects. “But the department has a lot of qualified people capable of keeping the ship afloat,”
he added. While Grover hopes to continue improving the city’s financial policies and procedures, he also feels there needs to be some flexibility involved. He suggested adopting a procedure to analyze cash flow of excise taxes and property taxes so the city can determine if it’s meeting collection targets. But when it comes to tax titles, which can involve liens and foreclosures, Grover said it’s important to work with residents and make sure they have the necessary information and that they understand their obligations and options. “It’s the treasurer’s responsibility to collect every dollar owed to the city,” he said. “But it’s also the treasurer’s responsibility to make sure they are cognizant of the needs of constituents.” Grover, who was born and raised in Malden, earned both an undergraduate and graduate degree in finance from
DAN GROVER | SEE PAGE 9