When the Everett city councilors began talking about the reappointment of Phillip Colameta to the Everett Housing Authority Board, there was a question about whether Colameta lived in the city.
Colameta was watching the meeting live on Everett TV and quickly (within the speed limit, of course) traveled to City Hall to state emphatically that he did in fact, live in the city.
Council members saw Colameta standing in the back of the Council Chambers and voted favorably to allow Colameta to speak at the meeting.
“I first would like to thank everybody for giving me the opportunity to come up here,” began Colameta. “I do apologize earlier for not being here. I’ve been involved in the city for many years, myself a former councilman, not realizing until I was home tonight watching this broadcast that there are faces here that I have not seen. I should have been here. I’m hoping that you will consider me for an additional five years at the Everett Housing Authority.”
Councilor-at-Large Katy Rogers said she could attest to the fact that Colameta was a resident of Everett, having met Colameta at his house while she was on the campaign trail. “Unless his address has changed, as far as I am aware, he is a resident of Everett,” said Rogers.
Councilor Peter Pietrantino addressed Colameta, stating, “there was a lot of speculation that you do not live in Everett. Can you prove any different?”
Colameta acknowledged to Pietrantonio that there was some confusion about his living situation.
“I can understand why [the issue was raised],” said Colameta. “I have lived in the city my whole life, actually in Ward 4, I grew up on Coolidge Street. My wife and I and two children purchased a house on Chisholm Street in Ward 4 where we lived for ten years.”
Colameta continued his story, ultimately revealing that he and his wife recently put their home on the market, with an intention “to move into a three-bedroom apartment next door.”
“I can understand the confusion,” Colameta said directly to Pietrantino, announcing that he now lives on Windsor Street.
Councilor-at-Large Guerline Alcy Jabouin asked for some verification of Colameta’s place of residence, to which Colameta replied, “I have my driver’s license on me.”
Colameta, who has served on the Everett Housing Authority Board since 2013, then handed his driver’s license to City Clerk Sergio Cornelio. The vote on Colameta’s reappointment to a five-year term on the EHS was 10-0 in favor.
Interestingly, the next matter on the agenda was EHA-related as Alcy Jabouin asked that the EHA and Mayor Carlo DeMaria’s Office create a program to subsidize air conditioners for residents at the Glendale Towers and other EHA properties.
Alcy Jabouin was lauded for her motion, coming as it did with the temperatures outside just above freezing, far in advance of the sizzling summer heat that brought the malfunctioning air conditioning problem to the forefront last summer.
And in a final note to the situation, Colameta said outside the Chambers that he was aware of the problem and believes there is funding in the EHA budget to address what seems to be an electrical problem and not necessary a problem with the air conditioners themselves.