Brodeur Tabs City Engineer For DPW Director

MELROSE, MA — Mayor Paul Brodeur will appoint City Engineer Elena Proakis Ellis as the city's Department of Public Works director, filling a vacancy atop the department that has been without a permanent head since September.

Proakis Ellis has been the city engineer and assistant DPW director since 2015. She is well regarded among city officials.

The City Council still needs to approve Brodeur's appointment.

Proakis Ellis would replace interim DPW Director Rick Stinson, the retired Wakefield DPW director who stepped in when John Scenna took a job in Lynnfield.

It was reported Scenna was looking at Lynnfield in the wake of the Brazil Street sewer disaster that left four homes uninhabitable. A primary charge of any incoming DPW director would be to set forth and execute a plan to repair an ancient sewage and water infrastructure that runs underneath the city.

Then-Mayor Gail Infurna had planned to replace Scenna with a permanent director, but she reversed course after backlash. Part of the criticism was that the qualifications discouraged minority and women applicants.