Given to city’s kids, not to the mayor
BY JOSH RESNEK
About three weeks ago, the city of Everett received a present from Catholic Memorial High School – three basketball nets with plexiglass backs mounted on substantial steel frameworks in nearly pristine condition.
If bought on line as advertised, the exact same basketball nets, would retail at about $11,900. The retail asking price is closer to $14,000 each.
According to the same official from Catholic Memorial, the baskets were donated to the city of Everett in an arrangement with city employee Jerry Navarro.
“We had no use for them at Catholic Memorial,” said an official there who requested anonymity. “Where better to relocate them than with the city of Everett for the kids of Everett?” he added.
Navarro was called by the Catholic Memorial official to have the three pieces of athletic equipment transported to Everett.
This is where the transaction, a donation to the city, becomes more complicated.
The cost for transporting the three nets from the Catholic Memorial campus to Everett was apparently donated.
We do not know who trans- ported the pieces or what was charged, if anything.
Where did the pieces end up?
One of the nets was placed in the mayor’s front driveway.
The other two nets were apparently dropped somewhere else, outside the city in a suburb North of Everett off Route 1, according to a source.
Why one ended up in the mayor’s front driveway is another unanswered question, except that the trucking company was told to drop two of them elsewhere by Navarro, according to a source.
Several of our readers expressed interest in the basketball nets because they are professional grade and quite expensive.
If the basketball nets are city property, donated to the city, then why is one in the mayor’s front yard and where are the other two pieces?
Also, several city employees have informed the Leader Herald that the city has been asked to redirect lighting from a city electrical pole so that it shines on the basket remaining in the mayor’s driveway.
This task was apparently carried out by members of the Electrical Department last Friday, according to a city source.
According to the state’s ethics laws, the mayor cannot accept a present from anyone that has a value over $50. The value of the three basketball nets is around $30,000.
If the mayor accepted these for the city and said they could be stored in his driveway until they are placed, he still needed to inform the Ethics Commission.
Efforts to reach the mayor were unsuccessful.