EVERETT, MASS. (WHDH) - Emotions ran high on Tuesday during an emergency session of Everett’s City Countil.
The last-minute meeting was called after an Inspector General (IG) report which alleged Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria pocketed $180,000 in improper bonuses and tried to hide it.
“I hope the guy in the corner office is paying for his million dollar lawyer and not the taxpayers, who are struggling to pay bills and put food on their tables,” said an attendee during public comment.
The state’s independent watchdog agency says that between 2016 and 2021, DeMaria received the money in “longevity payments.”
The IG claims he only should have made $40,000. The report found the city ordinance authorizing the payments had changed without the council knowing.
The bonuses were moved to an obscure line in the city budget.
“I must say, frankly, that I am disappointed and disturbed by the OIG’s letter,” said Young Paik, DeMaria’s attorney. “Not only because it is one sided, but also due to its use of inflammatory language.”
Besides his lawyer, DeMaria’s daughter was the only speaker to come to his defense during public comment.
“I was consistently bullied in middle school by kids, and even teachers, who repeated fabricated stories about my family,” said Alex DeMaria, Carlo DeMaria’s daughter. “These same false stories that resulted in a newspaper shutting down are still repeated in this chamber today.”
The council voted to formally demand that Mayor DeMaria pay everything back. They’re also calling on him to fund a city audit and approve several new financial safeguards to ensure something like this never happens again.
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