The new Council President Richard Dell Isola leads a city council almost entirely dedicated and devoted to the whims and the wishes of the mayor.
The record will show that during the past legislative year led by Councilor Peter Napolitano that the mayor was not overturned on anything – not an appointment, a request for money, or new initiatives.
The mayor rules.
The council follows.
This is the modern incarnation of the council for better or worse.
This is not meant as a criticism of the city council, which conducts itself with decorum and for the most part, with sensibility.
At the last meeting of the council, two councilors, Mike Marchese and Wayne Matewsky rose up to demand answers about allegations of sexual harassment and disarray at the city’s Wellness Center.
Their concerns, whether real or imagined, were ridiculed by the mayor’s messengers,
an assistant city solicitor who said not a word in public for the entirety of last year, and others lined up by the mayor to suggest that everything is just fine at the Wellness Center.
Of course, such outrageous public expressions by a never before heard public official indicates the extent to which the mayor was willing to go to deny allegations of sexual harassment, possible payouts by the city and no show jobs at the Wellness Center.
All the above are true, and for city officials to say they are not, well, it doesn’t speak well of those public officials.
We congratulate Councilors Marchese and Matewsky for having the courage to stand up and to express themselves in a highly manipulated political environment where the mayor seeks to control all media and comment about his administration, as well as to control the city council, and everyone who works for the city about what they can say.
President Dell Isola will not be one to rock the boat.
We can expect the council to continue doing the mayor’s business for him, whatever it is he asks for, unless this editorial forces the mayor to pitch a softball to the council for its rejection to prove he doesn’t win every time.
President Dell Isola is a decent man. We know him well here at the Leader Herald. He’s a good guy. He won a very close election last time out – six votes separated him from victory and defeat.
Now he is the president.
He has said he wants to preside over a council that works in tandem with the school department and the mayor for the bene t of the city.
This is a solid goal. As long as he does whatever the mayor asks, his presidency will be marked by success.
We wish him the best in his new role as president of the Everett City Council.
It is a great honor and responsibility which we know he will uphold.