By Cary Shuman
Ward 5 City Councilor Robert Van Campen has requested the city’s water superintendent, Ernest Lariviere, to appear at the next Council meeting “to clarify the purpose of recent letters to residents regarding lead.”
While the Council unanimously approved Van Campen’s motion to reschedule the appearance for the Jan. 27 meeting, Van Campen said he wanted “to raise a larger question for the City Council how we ought to conduct our business.”
Van Campen clarified that he had spoken to Lariviere Tuesday morning and “there apparently was a miscommunication between City Council staff and Mr. Lariviere, which had not been conveyed to me before the meeting.”
Still, Van Campen contended that there is “a completely inconsistent practice by this Administration as to how it communicates with the City Council.”
“Some department heads are more than willing to appear before us,” continued Van Campen. “In fact, if I asked Mr. [Matt] Lattanzi, Mrs. [Colleen] Mejia, or Mr. [Eric] Demas to appear right now, I’m sure [they] would.” (The three Everett officials were sitting in the audience at the Council meeting and in fact, City Solicitor Mejia spoke earlier in the meeting).
“I don’t understand why some department heads are holding us to the sort of black letter requirements of the charter and stalling the work and the questioning that this City Council has every right to conduct,” said Van Campen.
Van Campen said he had received a communication Monday from the water superintendent before the meeting, but the response did not appear in the Council’s information packet for the meeting.
Councilor-at-Large Stephanie Smith agreed with Van Campen’s summation, stating that she had received a call from a resident about a notice about lead that appeared at the family’s front door. “We just have some questions and concerns from residents,” said Smith. “People are tuning in to this meeting to hear what this notice is about. I would like the Administration to rethink their process of asking questions in advance. I just don’t think that it’s fair to the residents or to the City Council to do our jobs.”