Everett's new mayor thought he was well-versed in city politics, given his 14 years on the Common Council and Board of Aldermen. Still, Carlo DeMaria admits his jaw dropped when he took the mayoral reins three weeks ago and discovered that, for years, many city employees have been given cards that allow them to gas up their cars for free at a facility reserved for city vehicles.
And his surprise didn't end there.
In addition to gas cards, DeMaria said he learned that the city apparently has been footing cellphone bills for many employees. And he is eyeing the fleet of city-owned automobiles and the policy that has allowed some employees to take them home at night. Precisely how many employees are given phones, cars, and cards he is still trying to determine.
"It's probably not going to be popular," he said. Policy changes "may save us a thousand or two a year, but those thousands add up. I don't think the residents can afford their tax bills right now."
For a mayor who took office pledging to streamline operations and gain efficiencies, the discovery of widespread pricey perks in City Hall is not sitting well.
"We're saying 'Give us back the gas cards, give us the phones back,' " DeMaria said. "Maybe the department heads should have [city-paid] cellphones, but not everyone in the department."
A week after taking office, DeMaria asked all department heads who are interested in retaining their positions to submit a letter of interest, a resume, and an assessment of their respective departments, including how they can contribute in the future. That information was due Jan. 22. DeMaria said he has been reviewing the packets and has begun meetings with the 31 department heads to discuss their submissions and to get a sense of whether they are qualified. He said he aims to advise each one by Feb. 8 whether they will be kept, or whether the city will be looking for a replacement.
Some may hear that their position is being done away with entirely.
"Mayor after mayor comes in and creates new positions," DeMaria said. "There will be certain positions that will not be funded in the next year."
It is a sensitive subject for DeMaria. His predecessor, John Hanlon, was criticized by councilors and aldermen for bloating the city's budget with unnecessary hires. Everett pension records show 76 new hires in Hanlon's first year in office. Hanlon, who lost September's primary, later backed DeMaria's campaign.
Yet in his first full day in office, DeMaria terminated Hanlon's budget director, Janice Vetrano, who was widely perceived to have had a strong influence in Hanlon's administration. DeMaria said he is studying whether that position, and other positions created by former mayors, will be filled.
He noted, for example, that Hanlon hired civilians to enforce overnight parking rules after councilors asked him to crack down on parking violations.
"Sometimes you design these departments and they are doing the jobs that others should have been doing since day one."
With property tax bills leaping $686 this year in Everett for the average single-family home, DeMaria's bottom line approach appears to be resonating with taxpayers.
"I like the way he's started off," said Phil Colameta, a former common councilor and local convenience store owner who now works for the state. I plan to stay [in Everett] a while and I hope he gets the residential tax situation together."
Second-term Common Councilor Rosa DiFlorio said she was encouraged by DeMaria's deliberative process of reviewing credentials of department heads before making decisions about their futures.
"You don't like to see anyone lose their job," she said. "But at the same time, you want to make sure the taxpayers are getting their money's worth."
The Metropolitan Area Planning Council, a regional council that represents about 100 communities in Greater Boston, has been helping a number of new mayors, including DeMaria, sort through key issues. The mayor said the planning council has been especially helpful in showing him how other communities of comparable size consolidated city departments to gain savings and efficiencies.
"In Salem, they consolidated their chief financial officer and their auditor, while we have had a budget director, an auditor, and a treasurer, and they all have separate staffs," DeMaria said. "You have all these positions and maybe you can consolidate and find talented people who can do more than one task."
As he searches for additional savings, DeMaria is looking next door to Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, who is president of the Massachusetts Mayors Association and a longtime friend.
"Immediately following the election, he contacted me and wanted my experiences that I was facing in Somerville," Curtatone said. "He wants to learn and he has a passion to do the job. One of the things I did in starting as a new mayor is to learn from other mayors, the challenges, the successes, and failures."
Kay Lazar can be reached at klazar@globe.com.
