Final Council Meeting of 2019 Sees Three Members Leave Office

On Monday, Dec. 23, the Everett City Council held its final meeting of the year, where it said goodbye to three councilors and re-enrolled the short-term rental zoning ordinance, among other decisions.

•Citations

This was the last meeting with Council President Richard J. Dell Isola, Jr., and Councilors John Leo McKinnon and Stephen Simonelli. The councilmen were honored by Sen. Sal DiDomenico, Mayor Carlo DeMaria and fellow council members for their individual contributions to the city.

McKinnon announced his retirement earlier this year and Dell Isola, Jr. and Simonelli were narrowly defeated by political newcomers in the November election. Taking their place in 2020 will be the newly elected Gerly Adrien, Stephanie Martins and Jimmy Tri Le.

•Short-term rental zoning ordinance

Council voted to re-enroll the changes to the short-term rental zoning ordinance. It remains to be seen if it will be ordained in the new year with the new council, or if it will need to be scrapped entirely and built from scratch per Council rules. In the latter case, short-term rental legislation will essentially be unenforceable in the city for a minimum of two months.

In a shocking turn of events at the previous Council meeting on Dec. 9, Councilor John Hanlon’s single “no” vote on amending the Zoning Ordinance quashed the year-long progress made on short-term rental legislation in Everett. The councilor never returned a request for comment from The Independent regarding his decision.

•Encore tax revenue

Council failed to override the mayor’s veto of a measure proposed by Councilor Michael Marchese that would direct the City to put 75 percent of all Encore Boston Harbor revenue into tax reduction for Everett residents.

•Small cell antennas

ExteNet made another appearance before Council where it received permission to install small cell technology along publicly owned streets for the benefit of T-Mobile customers. In 2020, Verizon will be making a petition of its own to install small cell antennas to benefit its own customers. The City continues to refine its small cell antenna ordinance, a revised version of which was ordained at Monday’s meeting.

•Appointments

Council approved the appointment of several individuals to the Library Board of Trustees, including Janet Colameta, Victoria Scaramuzzo, Marlene Zizza, Mark Correia and James LaVecchio. It also appointed Anthony Medeiros and Mark Puleo as members of the DPW Commission Board, and Joan LaVecchio to the Board of Health.

•Petition renewals

Council approved the renewals for lodging house licenses for The Glendale Lodging House, Joseph’s Lodge, The Marlboro and The Newport Lodging House. New lodging licenses were granted to Boston Real Estate Collaborative, LLC for its properties at 51 Cottage St., 11-13 Ellsworth St. and 450 Ferry St.

Council also approved the renewals of class two motor vehicle dealer licenses for Affordable Auto Mechanic, Inc.; Best Cars Auto Sales; Circle Auto Body, Inc.; Everett Used Cars, Inc.; and Second Street Iron & Metals.

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