By Cary Shuman
Robert Van Campen was nearing the official completion of his one-year term as president of the Everett City Council at the last meeting of the year Monday night at City Hall.
After a nine-year hiatus from city government, Van Campen returned to the Council as Ward 5 councilor in January, and his colleagues showed their respect for his experience and knowledge by electing him as the leader of the 11-member board.
“The irony here is that when I got elected in 2023, I genuinely did not want to be president at the time,” said Van Campen. “I simply wanted to be like every other freshman and just sort of get my feet back on the ground. But as things happen, I get elected president and my goal the whole time was to bring the kind of transparent, more accessible, good, honest debate on the City Council back to the community. As I look back on the year, at least people can say we were able to do that.”
Van Campen believes the City Council has become a close, hard-working group during his tenure as president.
“I think we have a very good working group of city councilors,” said Van Campen. “The people of Everett should take a lot of pride in the fact that their city council is working collaboratively. The old days where everyone had a personal agenda, I haven’t seen that in the year that I was president. I take pride in that people seem to be, by and large, rowing in the same direction.”
Van Campen’s political stock rose as council president, and it became so prodigious that he had to tone down the speculation that he was considering a run for another office in the days leading up to his Dec. 4 holiday party. The event drew a large crowd of supporters from across the city “on a cold Wednesday night,” as he told the gathering. Also in a display of unity and appreciation, nearly every one of his colleagues on the Council attended the holiday reception.
Many accomplishments in 2024
Among the accomplishment list-toppers for Van Campen was his work in advancing the proposal to create a seventh-and-eighth grade academy at the old Everett High School building and bringing the issue of over-crowdedness in the schools into the spotlight.
“I think we’ve made the plans better by the discussions we’ve had and the questions we’ve asked on the topic of school overcrowding,” said Van Campen.
“At the end of the day, that’s kind of the biggest issue facing the city today. The hope is that in 2025, we pass an order to address overcrowding after we’ve had public input from residents both in the area of the old high school and the old Pope John building. I hope that because of the pushes of the City Council, we make this a much better plan for Everett and its students, who are going to be impacted positively by it.”
Van Campen also wanted to highlight his efforts “to bring civility in public discourse” in Everett.
“I’m a big proponent of civility in public discourse and I think that has been lacking for a long time, not just in Everett, but everywhere,” said Van Campen. “I hope being council president for one year has infused that kind of civility in the City of Everett, – at least I hope so.”
Councilors praise
outgoing president
Ward 1 Councilor Wayne Matewsky, who has been involved in city government for 43 years, said, “Robert Van Campen is the best and the fairest council president that I ever served with.”
Councilor-at-Large Katy Rogers, who is winding down an impactful first year on the board, also offered a positive assessment of Van Campen’s presidency.
“Under Council President Van Campen’s leadership, the Council communicated and collaborated effectively. He had the unique opportunity to bridge the gap between new councilors and those with more experience, creating an enriching learning environment for those of us who are new while maintaining productive meetings,” lauded Rogers.
Looking ahead to 2025
Saying that he has enjoyed being able to “give back to the community and have the ability to express my views about how government should work,” Van Campen will most likely run for re-election to the Ward 5 seat next fall.
The immediate task for the City Council will be selecting a new president of the Council.
“The organizational meeting [to pick a new president] will be Jan. 6,” said Van Campen. “Although I don’t know officially who it will be yet, I do want to wish the new president of the City Council the best of luck, and I obviously will be there to help and support that person and provide any advice as a former president.”