The Everett Common Council voted unanimously Monday night to have David Rodrigues fill the Ward Three seat vacated by longtime Councilor Sal DiDomenico who resigned last month after being elected the new State Senator.
Rodrigues a 2004 Suffolk University graduate and 2010 Suffolk University Law School Graduate will be the new councillor until the 2011 city election. He pledged that he will work to make Everett a better place to live. Leonard Jordan, the runner-up in the 2009 election also sought the seat. In the first vote of the Council, Rodrigues received 11 votes and Jordan received three votes. Afterwards, the council voted to make the vote unanimous.
In other council actions Monday night; with little fanfare the Councilors unanimously voted to accept the new city budget for 2011 that starts on July 1. The new budget is pegged at $139,001,593 as opposed to the current budget of $132,436,710.
In an earlier joint meeting councilors and aldermen voted to cut $388,000 from the proposed budget as submitted by Mayor Carlo DeMaria. The budget will now be voted on by the Board of Aldermen at next week’s meeting.
The 2011 budget will be one of the most difficult budgets as state aid is down again and for the first time, state officials have also cut Chapter 70 funding to the school system.. These shortfalls must be made up by local taxpayers.