The mayor has been patting himself on the back for calling off school as early as he did and then for closing city hall the same way. He has told others in government and in the local media which has allowed him to praise himself for his leadership, these were tough decisions for him but that he had to take them and that now he was pleased with his actions.
Wonderful. What leadership he has shown in this instance.
The mayor would have residents believe he acted with the wisdom and the decisiveness of a Franklin Roosevelt or a Harry Truman. He did indeed close the schools and city hall.
He acted on the school closings before he left for Aruba.
The closure of city hall was a decision he made in Aruba and that was enforced from Aruba.
Bottom line, the mayor went on vacation and telephoned his decisions from his hotel room or on his cell phone from the beach.
No matter what this mayor does to tame the fallout from the coronavirus epidemic, it will remain a bit of anecdotal history here for years to come that when the epidemic was about to hit, the mayor of Everett Carlo DeMaria went to Aruba.
He let his chief of staff issue orders in his name while he was away.
This is a black mark against his leadership that will stain him for however long he remains the mayor.
The coronavirus came. The mayor flew to Aruba.
The mayor made a decision to be in Aruba instead of staying here. He had figured with city hall closed, no one could complain he wasn’t coming in to the office.
He had hoped he could stay away even longer.
He returned a bit earlier than expected because he faced possible quarantine as cases of the virus were discovered in Aruba and might have impacted him leaving the island or coming back into the United States.