Everett small businesses that missed the city’s pandemic relief program will not get another chance, the city’s chief development officer told a City Council committee on Monday, October 26. Every federal ARPA dollar must be spent by December 31, and the money that comes back from nonprofits that did not spend their grants is already committed to the former Everett High School.
48 applied, 42 paid
Monica Lamboy said the small business program was designed starting in February 2024 but could not take applications until April 2025. It required invoices and multiple years of tax returns. In the end 48 businesses and nonprofits applied, 42 were approved, and the prior administration split the pot evenly, about $17,800 each, for anyone who could document at least that much loss. Recipients included Everett Furniture Discount, Coffee in a Box, Brazilian Bakery Corp, Reyes Market, Arts for Everett and the Sikh Sangat Society of Boston.
“Only 48 people applied for the ARPA money,” Ward 1 Councilor Michele Capone said. “That’s just amazing.” Ward 6 Councilor Peter Pietrantonio said some of the awards were “laughable” and asked whether a two-employee shop and a 20-employee shop really deserved the same check. That was the decision at the time, Lamboy said.
Federal rules barred adding projects after December 31, 2024, so unspent money can only move among existing ones. Lamboy has lined up building projects to absorb it: a new roof, hazardous materials cleanup and three HVAC units at 548 Broadway, the old high school, and asbestos removal plus a finished roof design at 888 Broadway, the former Pope John. Pietrantonio said he recalled voting for a roof, not HVAC. ARPA is administered by the executive office, Lamboy said, which is why the council did not vote on the rest. The committee sent the resolution back to its sponsors.
Lamboy’s slides also showed where the rest went: more than $4 million on senior meals, over $5 million on the Ferry Street water and streetscape project, $880,000 at Woodland Park, the Devens School purchase, and more than $1 million in rental and mortgage assistance run by city planning staff since 2025.
$2.06 million for water mains
The full council approved, 8-3, an interest-free $2,057,100 loan from the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority for the 2026 water main replacement, to be repaid over 10 years at about $205,000 a year from the water and sewer enterprise fund, not the general fund. Water superintendent Ernest Lariviere told the Ways and Means committee the work covers Maplewood Street, which “consistently” breaks, a stretch of Shute Street including a two-inch cast iron main at Russell Place, and whatever is left over toward low pressure at the nursing home off Duncan Road. Every service line, lead or copper, is replaced to one inch with a new shutoff, and the trench gets a permanent patch. Work is planned for spring. Capone, Marchese and Alcy Jabouin voted no; Jabouin asked what the city is doing to collect overdue water bills before it borrows.
Ward 2 Councilor Stephanie Martins thanked the administration for providing a cost breakdown, “a new culture” she said she had asked the prior administration for without success.
Linkage fees: council wants the receipts
The council voted 11-0 for a home rule petition, sponsored by Martins, Marchese and Jabouin and amended to include the whole council, asking the Legislature to require council approval before linkage fee funds are spent. Developers pay the fees into a revolving fund that the mayor controls. The ordinance requires an annual report to the council by July 1, Martins said, “and we’ve never received it,” including after a request to the new administration on October 5.
Tax title payment plans enrolled
The ordinance letting the treasurer sign payment agreements with owners in tax title was enrolled 11-0. City Solicitor Jaclyn Munson said the treasurer puts outstanding taxes at $2 million to $3 million. Owners would put 10 percent down and pay the rest over up to five years, with interest waived if they keep every payment; miss payments and the agreement is void and foreclosure resumes. Owners must be current on water and other bills to qualify. Pietrantonio asked how the city covers the gap when owners do not pay; Munson said she would get him an answer from the assessors.
Appointments and grants
The Everett Redevelopment Authority got its members, 9-0, after the Legislative Affairs committee reviewed resumes that had been missing on October 13: Kristin Bairos for two years, Rebecca Edmonson-Korom for three, Barry Erickson for four and Joao Lopes for one. Wendy Poste was named a library trustee.
- $345,752 Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness grant to depave underused sites and plant native pollinator gardens in environmental justice neighborhoods. Martins asked for the locations.
- A Seaport Economic Council grant to study unmapped and private stormwater outfalls on the Mystic River waterfront below Beacham Street.
- $1 million MassWorks grant for Lower Broadway Phase 2 at Robin Street, design and permitting.
- $450,000 MassWorks grant for Commercial Triangle phases 2 through 4 design.
- $755,400 fiscal 2027 community grant from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission for police overtime, marine fire boat staffing and Silver Line right of way work.
Requests for $50,000 for the law department’s litigation account and a $14,000 transfer in the procurement office went to Ways and Means. The council also enrolled, 10-0, the removal of the youth commission from the ordinances; the board will be handled in the administrative code instead.
Other business
- National Grid won approval, 9-1, to run conduit from Jacobs Place to 11 Langdon Street for four electric vehicle chargers in an apartment building’s parking lot. Councilor John Hanlon pressed on who inspects the private side; the city wire inspector signs off before the utility energizes it.
- Marchese asked public works and transportation to install numbered location markers along the Northern Strand trail so emergency callers can say where they are.
- Pietrantonio sent a second invitation to the human resources director to appear and answer his questions about employee sick banks.
- On Councilor Holly Garcia’s resolution, the mayor, board chair David Eli and new Everett Housing Authority director James Holt were invited to the next meeting for an update.
City Clerk Sergio Cornelio reminded residents that early voting runs through Thursday at City Hall’s Keverian Room, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and until 7:30 p.m. Thursday, and that the state election is Tuesday, November 3 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Council President Stephanie Smith plugged the Halloween party at the recreation center on Saturday.
The full meeting transcript and video are available through the city’s Munitrac page.
