Mayor Robert J. Van Campen walked back into the council chamber on Monday, February 9 to present the senior team he promised during the campaign. “It’s a little strange being here. I do miss you guys,” the former Ward 5 councilor said before introducing five department heads, each of whom stood as he read their resumes.
- Omar Boukili, chief administrative and financial officer: a Harvard Kennedy School and UC Berkeley graduate who has served as a chief administrative officer and emergency incident commander in Greater Boston communities and, the mayor said, speaks five languages.
- Robert Knox Jr., executive director of city services: 33 years in Malden’s Department of Public Works, rising from laborer to 13 years as director. “Some of you have probably already seen his Facebook post, which we’re gonna have to reign in a little,” Van Campen said.
- Jaclyn Munson, city solicitor: former deputy town counsel in Arlington and assistant corporation counsel and ethics advisor for the City of Boston, with a Northeastern law degree. She started Thursday.
- Ellen Collins, director of human resources: most recently Somerville’s deputy HR director, with a Williams College degree and a Harvard master’s in landscape architecture. February 9 was her first day.
- Monica Lamboy, chief development officer: 35 years in municipal management including Somerville’s strategic planning office during the Assembly Row project, Oakland’s development agency, the D.C. Department of Health, and assistant town manager in Randolph.
He also introduced Chris Conley as special assistant, Juliana Yutkins as assistant to the mayor and Kristen Leonard as executive manager. The council referred the five appointments, Tawana Pessoa’s nomination to the planning board, David Hila’s to the housing authority board and two administrative code changes creating the new departments to the Legislative Affairs committee. Councilor Michael Marchese objected: “I don’t know why not just appoint these people tonight so we get things going.” Councilor Anthony DiPierro said every appointment has gone to committee for two years.
The assessors answer
Director of Assessors Beninson Pena and Board of Assessors Chairman Ron Keohan took the questions the council had collected since January. The assessing office said values are set from arm’s-length sales over up to two years, never active listings; the city does interim adjustments every year and a full revaluation every five, the last in 2025; and the simplest explanation for the bills is “twofold”: property values rose with the market and the tax rate rose with the budget. As of that night 190 abatement applications had come in, about half residential and half commercial; 75 were from solar vendors and will be denied because residential solar is not taxed, leaving about 120. Twenty-three cases are pending at the Appellate Tax Board, 90 to 95 percent of them commercial, and the Distrigas litigation alone could cost $100,000 in outside counsel.
Councilor Peter Pietrantonio asked whether the casino and the planned soccer stadium are assessed like everyone else. They are not, the assessors said: both pay under negotiated agreements rather than on value. “They’re gonna use our resources, water, electric, infrastructure, police, fire,” Pietrantonio said. The assessors said a proposal is coming to require their sign-off on building permits before an occupancy certificate issues, and that Everett has only two tax rates, residential and commercial, because state law allows no third rate for industry.
Grants, parks and school money
Planning director Matt Lattanzi explained two grants the council then accepted 9-1, with Councilor Michele Capone opposed: a $100,000 state earmark to design and permit a floating boardwalk on the Mystic between Rivergreen Park and the city-owned Village Landing Park behind BNY Mellon, and $297,525 from the state Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program for 25 stormwater “tree trenches” split among Everett, Chelsea and Melrose. Councilor Wayne Matewsky said the Mellon Bank park, won in a 1980s tax agreement he voted against, has sat behind a locked gate for decades: “It’s supposed to be a public park, but it isn’t.”
Assistant Superintendent Chris Barrett asked to repurpose $1,028,000 in school capital money: $208,317 left from finished projects for Whittier School bathrooms not updated since 1976, and $820,000 approved for a high school gym roof, high school elevators and a Devens gym floor that the superintendent wants redefined as district-wide roof, elevator and floor repairs. Capone called it “a blank check”; the request, along with $1,234,108 for Fuller Street Park, $1,326,928 for Chelsea Street Park and an $85,000 health department overtime transfer, went to Ways and Means for Thursday. Peggy Serino objected to borrowing for parks, including “$15,000 for granite,” while residents struggle with heat and rent.
Snow, Kraft and a dialysis patient
Laura Evans of Russell Street said she called 311 on January 26 for help digging out of more than two feet of snow, was told the program is for seniors only, and had to cancel dialysis for end-stage kidney failure until the housing authority, Councilor Jabouin and Sal DiDomenico Jr. helped. “All citizens of Everett matter,” she said. Serino said Kraft will pay $750,000 a year on the stadium land, with no tax on the structure. Paula Sterite said the shuttered power plant paid $15 million a year and asked where that money comes from now. Councilor Pietrantonio’s request for the inspectional services director to answer snowstorm questions, and Councilor Rogers’ resolution declaring May bike month, both passed.
