The Revere City Council on Monday, September 28, turned down $125,000 to design new elevators at the Garfield School after a sharp debate over the school department’s surplus, sent a citywide rental registry and inspection ordinance to a public hearing with five councillors recusing themselves, and adopted rules for naming city buildings and parks after people. The meeting also produced a public hearing on the $16.5 million Wonderland settlement borrowing, covered separately, and a rewrite of the tree preservation ordinance, also covered separately.
Garfield School elevators: 6-5, and it failed
Chief Financial Officer Richard Viscay asked for $125,000 from the Capital Improvement Stabilization Fund for engineering to replace the Garfield School’s three elevators. Engineering typically runs about 10 percent of construction, Viscay said, so the repair itself will probably cost more than $1 million. Nobody disputed that the elevators need work. “I won’t get on one of those,” said Ward 3 Councillor Anthony Cogliandro.
The argument was over who pays. Cogliandro asked why the school department was not covering it after the city had given the schools “millions of dollars” this year. Ward 4 Councillor Paul Argenzio asked whether the schools were sitting on a $4 million or $5 million surplus. Viscay said “there are funds available that could potentially be used at the school department,” but that spending them would be up to the School Committee, since the schools have bottom-line budget authority. He said a new audit firm is reviewing how the city and schools handle money.
One councillor said half the city’s budget goes to the schools by law and called the arrangement “disgusting.” Argenzio supported the $125,000 but wanted the council to talk with the School Committee before the full repair comes back, so any surplus spent on elevators does not come out of teachers and nurses next year. Silvestri suggested splitting the cost.
The vote was 6 in favor and 5 opposed. Voting yes were Argenzio, Ward 6 Councillor Chris Giannino, Councillor-at-Large Robert Haas, Councillor-at-Large Michelle Kelley, Councillor-at-Large Joanne McKenna and Silvestri. Voting no were Cogliandro, Ward 5 Councillor Angela Guarino-Sawaya, Ward 1 Councillor Jim Mercurio, Ward 2 Councillor Ira Novoselsky and Zambuto. The request was declared failed. The meeting did not state what threshold applied. Under state law, appropriations from a general stabilization fund need a two-thirds vote, but appropriations from a special-purpose stabilization fund need only a majority, and the council approved $50,000 for tree trimming from the same fund later that night, 11-0.
Rental registry goes to a hearing, five recuse
An ordinance creating a unified rental registry and inspection program, and restating the city’s short-term rental rules, was sent to a public hearing on October 26. Argenzio said the Legislative Affairs committee voted unanimously to move it forward. On the roll call, Cogliandro, Giannino, Mercurio, Novoselsky and Zambuto recused themselves. The other six voted yes. The councillors did not state their reasons on the record.
Naming rules: three years after death
The council adopted an ordinance setting rules for naming city property, defined as any building, structure, open space, square or park the city owns, leases or operates. A property named for a person must honor someone who made “a significant positive contribution” to Revere and who has been dead for at least three years. The committee had cut the original 10-year wait to one year; McKenna moved to make it three, saying cities have had to rename buildings after misconduct came to light, and the amendment passed 8-3, with Cogliandro, Guarino-Sawaya and Haas opposed. Haas said a long wait could mean families have moved away or died before a naming happens. Rooms, entryways and halls inside a building may still be named for living people. The final vote was 11-0.
Police will keep delivering council packets, for now
Zambuto filed a late motion to stop having police officers hand-deliver printed council packets to councillors’ homes, calling it “a point of ridiculousness.” Cogliandro said the police chief and the DPW superintendent had both written in support of ending it. Haas, Novoselsky, McKenna and Guarino-Sawaya said they value the printed packet or the visit. The motion failed 5-5, with Kelley absent. Cogliandro then moved to repeal the 1985 ordinance that requires meeting notices to be delivered personally, by an officer or by mail, and that motion was sent to a public hearing on October 26.
Other business
- A memorandum of agreement with the city’s crossing guards, represented by AFSCME Council 93, covering July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2029, was funded 11-0. Novoselsky and others described the job as dangerous.
- The council voted 10-1 to reconsider an earlier approval of Guarino-Sawaya’s motion to give new business applicants the name and contact information of their ward councillor, and sent it to committee. Zambuto said the approval had been a mistake and that, as written, the motion conflicts with state law. Guarino-Sawaya voted no.
- Kelley proposed a one-season pilot letting seniors in the city’s water and sewer discount program pay sewer charges in July and October based on their winter water use, so outdoor watering is not billed as sewage. Kelley said an outdoor meter can cost a homeowner about $2,500 to install. It went to Ways and Means for a cost estimate.
- McKenna asked the mayor to press the Postal Service over residents who say mail arrives about once a week. Novoselsky and Argenzio said carriers have told them the post office cannot find enough workers.
- Cogliandro and Guarino-Sawaya asked for a study of the Broadway and Revere Street intersection, citing a narrow street, a misused loading zone and buses struggling to make the turn.
- Guarino-Sawaya asked planning and public works to submit up to two Ward 5 coastal resilience concepts before the state’s October 16 expression-of-interest deadline, looking at Point of Pines evacuation, Oak Island and Riverside drainage, shoreline protection near Gibson Park, and flooding on Revere Beach Boulevard and North Shore Road.
- Guarino-Sawaya withdrew a motion asking the Department of Conservation and Recreation for a traffic plan for the Revere Beach Boulevard milling and paving scheduled September 27 through October 23, saying councillors had received DCR’s notice that day.
- Appropriations of $3,000 for technology at the public library and $83,242.44 for RevereTV’s quarterly payment passed 11-0, as did a license for an auto body shop at 535 Broadway.
- Ordinances changing street-closure notice to 24 hours, with notice to the fire chief, the police chief and the council, and removing a 500-foot buffer for body art establishments, went to committee.
The council meets next on Monday, October 5.