Legislative Affairs Meeting 03-23-26

All right, this is City Council's Committee of Legislative Affairs. This is Monday, March 23rd, 2026. We're at 6.15 p.m. I have Councilor Martins. Present. Councilor DiPierro. Present. And Councilor Rogers. Here. We have three members present. We do have a quorum.

We do have a quorum. Chair Marchese is recovering from medical procedure. We'll be back with a new niece soon. Please join us in saluting the flag.

We already saluted the flag, so we did not need to do that again.

Okay, so we did salute the flag at the previous committee meeting, so we'll save it for the main meeting. So, Mr. Clerk, please read the first order of business.

First order of business. Is the order up by Councillor Stephanie Smith, this president, not requesting the confirmation of the appointment of Erica Cobelli to the position of Commissioner of Veterans Services for a term of three years?

Councillor DiPierro?

Thank you. I would just like to say that Ms. Corbelli has been doing a phenomenal job in the role over the past few months. She assumed, I think, late summer, early fall. She's been doing a tremendous job and picking right up where past officers are left off. She is in the audience this evening. If she does want to come and say hello, I will entertain the motion to invite her before us or offer the motion.

Second. Second to invite her, Councilor. Okay, so we do have a motion that has been seconded to invite Ms. Grabelli up. All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? The ayes have it. Good evening and thanks for being with us again. If you want to come up and just hit the right button for the microphone to turn on. Ms. Grabella, if you'd just like to introduce yourself for the community and talk about your service and the work you have been doing at the Veterans Office.

Yes, hi, good evening. My name is Erica Corbelli. I've been actively acting as Director of Veterans Services since October of 2025, so coming up in five months. I guess I would just like to share that I am actively functioning as the director and I would like to leave the doors open for anyone that needs to come through just to ask questions. introduce themselves and see what the services are available. I do look forward to in the near future to get together with ECTV So we can put something together where I will be not only just reintroducing myself, but also providing the services so everyone's aware of what's available.

No questions for me.

Councilor Rogers. Thank you, Madam Chair. And just to echo Councilor DiPierro's remarks, you've been doing an excellent job at filling this role, and we look forward to working with you.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Move to excuse the guest.

Second. Motion has been made and seconded to excuse our guests. All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you, Ms. Corbelli.

And I move to send a favorable recommendation to the full body.

Second. The motion has been made and second to send a recommendation on the appointment of Ms. Corbelli to the body. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Mr. Clerk, item number two.

Item number two is the honor of my counsel, Stephanie Smith, as president, by the request of confirmation of policy, Reno, to the City of Everett Library Board of Trustees, for a term not to exceed three years.

Serena is also in the audience. What's the will of the body?

I would move for favorable action unless Mr. Sagarino wants to come up, but he's been a long-time member of this community and is well-known, so I would move for a favorable recommendation.

Second. Motion has been made and seconded for favorable recommendation. Mr. Sagarino, all in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Item number three.

Item number three. In honor of my counsel Stephanie Smith as president, in honor of request of confirmation of Michelle Gaudi to the City of Everett Library Board of Trustees for a term of three years.

Gowdy is also in the audience. What's the will of the council?

unless, I don't know if Ms. Goody wants to come up, but I feel the same sentiment about her as well as she's been a long-term resident of Everett and I know she'll do an excellent job on the library board.

So we have a motion for fee blocks from Ms. Gowdy. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Congratulations. Item number four.

Item number four is the order of by Councilor Steffi Stretters, President, in order requesting the confirmation Nancy Ehler to the City of River Library Board of Trustees returned to exceed three years.

Move for favorable action and note that Mrs. Ela has been in our last few meetings as well.

Second. Thank you for returning again. So motion has been made and seconded for favorable action. Mrs. Ela, all in favor? Opposed? The ayes have it. We have confirmed the appointment. Item number five.

Item number five. Order of my counsel Stephanie Smith as president. An order requests confirmation of Mary Broderick to the City of Everett Public Works Commission for a term not to exceed three years.

Mrs. Broderick is also with us.

Would you like to... What's the will of the body?

We can make a motion to invite Ms. Broderick up to introduce herself.

Second. We have motions made and seconded by Mrs. Broderick. Broderick up. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Good evening. Thanks for being with us. on the right. Good evening. And if you could just introduce yourself so the people of Everett can get to know more about you. We all, you know, a lot of people know you.

Hi, my name is Mary Broderick and I live in Everett. I've lived here for about 40 years and I'm pretty much semi-retired now, so I thought it'd be nice to give back to the city that's given to me. It was suggested this committee by Mark Puglio, and I thought I'd give it a whirl. Thank you.

Thank you. Motion to excuse. Second. Motion has been made and seconded to excuse our guest. Thank you. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it.

Motion for favorable action. Second.

Motion has been made and seconded for favorable action. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. The appointment has been approved. And now item number six.

Item number six. is an order of my council, Stephanie Smith's president, and I request a confirmation of Patricia Chiva to the City of Everett Elections Commission for a term not to exceed three years.

I would move for favorable action and note that Ms. Cheever is here and also want to note that as a past member of the Election Commission, it's nice to see her returning.

I second that with also the comment that another long-term resident, we're very familiar with her role in Everett politics, so favorable action.

Okay, which is made in second with favorable action. Ms. Cheever's appointment, all in favor?

Aye.

The ayes have it. The appointment has been confirmed. I mean, I'm sorry, referred with a favorable recommendation.

Item number seven. Item number seven. Order of my counsel, Secretary Smith, as president, an order requests the confirmation of John Spaulding to the City of Everett Zoning Board of Appeals for a term not to exceed three years.

It's the pleasure of the council.

Motion to invite Mr. Spaulding up to introduce himself.

Do we have a second? Motion has been made and seconded to invite Mr. Spaulding. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Thanks for being with us tonight. and if you could just press the button on the right and just introduce yourself to the people of Everett. I believe your microphone's off, sorry. So just talk a little bit about you and what you do in this appointment.

I'm John Spaulding. Everybody knows me as Al. It's just been a nickname given to me since the eighth grade. I've been a lifelong resident of Everett. former building commissioner. I think it's easier if you ask me the questions, I can give you the answers.

Do you have any questions for the guests?

Councilor Rogers. Madam Chair, just through you, what is, so if you could just elaborate, I know this is one of the more important boards that we have running in the city, so it sounds like... Your background is related to this. What inspired you to join this board?

The mayor asked me if I'd be willing to serve. I says, yep. And I got a pretty good idea what the zoning ordinance are. and as long as we follow them, I don't see it to be a problem.

All right, motion to excuse. Okay, motion has been made and seconded to excuse our guest. Thank you. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you, Mr. Spaulding.

Move for a favorable recommendation to the full body.

All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? The ayes have it.

Motion to adjourn.

Before we adjourn, I did say that the appointments were confirmed, so we just sent a favorable recommendation for the appointments to be confirmed, and then it'll be voted on by the entire body. So it's good to be present just in case the other members have any additional questions, but hopefully it'll move fast. So motion has been made and seconded for adjournment. All in favor?

Aye.

Opposed? The ayes have it. We have adjourned.

Thank you.