Published March 13, 2020
MELROSE — Mayor Paul Brodeur wants Elena Proakis Ellis to be the first woman to lead the city’s public works department.
Brodeur has forwarded Ellis’ name to the City Council, which moved the request into its Appropriations Committee earlier this week. The order Brodeur sent to councilors states that she would serve as the director of public works beginning March 30.
Ellis has been the city engineer and assistant DPW director since 2015.
If her appointment is approved, she would replace interim Director Richard Stinson, who was appointed in September to fill in for a few months after John Scenna left to become head of the Lynnfield Center Water District. Stinson was formerly the longtime DPW director in Wakefield, retiring last year.
Ellis, a Wakefield resident who lives in Greenwood, earned her bachelor’s degree from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and her master’s in Environmental Engineering from the University of California-Berkeley. She is currently a member of Wakefield’s Advisory Board of Public Works.
Ellis has worked for Camp Dresser & McKee, CDM Smith and for the town of Concord’s Water and Sewer Division as its Operations manager.
Her current duties as assistant DPW director in Melrose include managing the engineering of all public works functions like water, sewer, drainage, roadways, sidewalks, traffic and facilities; overseeing capital infrastructure planning, design, construction, funding and grants; bidding, awarding and overseeing numerous annual contracts for services and study; managing compliance and reporting with water, sewer and stormwater regulatory requirements; performing technical reviews of new development and redevelopment projects; and serving as chair of the city’s Traffic Commission and as member of the Melrose Water and Sewer Rate Advisory Committee.