Councilor Peter Napolitano confirmed late Tuesday that he has submitted his letter of resignation from the City Council, and will apply for the recently-opened Assistant City Clerk position.

“I have submitted my resignation and plan on issuing a statement in my own words addressing the situation this week,” he said. “I’m confident where I stand with the City and I’m more than ready to do the job and have a great working relationship with (City Clerk) Sergio Cornelio. I’ve lived in Everett 63 years and I’m not ready to go away. I’m anxious to continue to be of service.”

Napolitano said it was time to take a new direction, and that was particularly made clear after he and his entire family became ill with COVID-19 in October. He said that was a deciding moment, and after 20 years on the Council he was ready to make a change.

As of the close of business on Tuesday, he was no longer a councilor, which he said was tough to grasp after so many years. Napolitano was often controversial on the Council and was the one that made the biggest push to change the City Charter and get away from the bi-cameral system. He said he had to announce the resignation at this time in order to be out of office 30 days, which is required before applying for a City job.