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Page 10 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, FEbRuARy 6, 2026 NEW POST | FROM PAGE 1 the blow. “I’m a Malden guy, I will always be a Malden guy, that’s the truth,” Knox told The Advocate last Friday in the midst of his last official day on the job, January 30, in the 33rd year of his employment with the City of Malden. At 6:30 a.m. on Monday this week, Knox was in his office at 19 Norman St. in the burgeoning Everett Riverfront District, in his new post as Everett’s Executive Director of City Services. Just like that, the switch was made. Again, Knox made some points very clear, regarding both the 33 years he has spent on Commercial Street at the Malden DPW Yard — first assisting in supervising operations in the DPW, then becoming DPW Director for about the last 20 years — and now the excitement over the new challenge with his post in Everett. “Malden’s been great to me and I never planned on not retiring from this city,” Knox told The Advocate. “I have been very happy here working closely with Mayor Christenson and his staff and [former] Mayor Howard in the past.” For all of the past 33 years in Malden, Bobby Knox has been Malden’s forever “go-to” guy, accessible to more people than he would even care to admit. Check out the over 3,300 contacts in his cellphone, that’s three thousand, three hundred-plus, ladies and gentlemen. Too many people — way too many people — have his cellphone number, and an equal surplus of those people feel free to text or phone him, day and BOBBY KNOX | FROM PAGE 2 erett are thrilled with the turn of events. “Robert Knox will bring proven leadership, deep professional expertise, and a shared dedication to public service,” first-term Everett Mayor Robert Van Campen said in an online report. “Strong infrastructure is the foundation of a thriving city. [His] leadership and technical expertise will help ensure our streets, utilities, and public facilities meet the needs of today while preparing for the future.” This guy has gone “the extra mile” more times than the most accomplished marathoner in recorded history. How many text messages or “live” phone calls did he customarily handle that were night (and in between) with requests big and small. So now all of that is going away, in a southeasterly direction to Everett. But how did this all really come about? As in many situations such as these, the other question often becomes, what could have been done “to keep him here.” That being said, Knox revealed that through the years he has “been approached by numerous communities” offering various positions, some which came with higher salary numbers as well. “The Director of Revere Public Works was a job I was offered, but the timing was not something I was seeking and it was also a lateral offer,” Knox recalled. “I never would be considering taking the same job I had in Malden for another job elsewhere, even for a higher salary.” Not so with the position in Everett, which ultimately ended with that next-door community getting their man. Knox told The Advocate how it all came about. “Two days after the election in November a representative of [Mayor-elect Robert Van Campen] contacted me and asked if I was interested in having a discussion with him.” “I didn’t know [Van Campen] at all, but I was invited to meet the Mayor and have coffee, so I did that the next day,” Knox recalled. “We ended up talking for about an hour and a half, everything about public works, water & sewer, streets, parks, engineering, all of it — soup to nuts.” “We agreed to talk again and around the middle of Novemwork-related in Malden? Well, he had 3,300 phone contacts on his cellphone. “I have had the number one amount of text messages and phone numbers of any city phone in Malden on a yearly basis for the past 20 years,” Knox attested, “No one else in the city was even close.” Texts and phone calls per day? “A couple of hundred, easy. Weekends, too,” he said. In 2014, Malden adopted the dial 311 “See, Click, Fix” system. Under Knox’s leadership, the city just went over 110,000 issues alltime since 2014, received, addressed and handled, among the top three of over 150 communities in Massachusetts. “We’re very proud of that,” Knox said. Longtime Malden Department of Public Works Director Bobby Knox completed nearly 33 years of employment for the City of Malden this past Friday and began a new post as Executive Director of City Services in Everett this past Monday morning. (Courtesy Photo) ber, after some more discussion, [then Mayor-elect Van Campen] made me an offer,” Knox said. “Considering the timetable, I was given [a job] offer on a Wednesday, but only had until Monday to accept it.” “I will say I had all sleepless nights over that weekend. But on that Monday I did accept the offer to become Everett’s Director of City Services,” Knox recalled. Though the new post does come with a higher salary than his now former Malden job, it is certainly no lateral move; the reCity of Malden leaders, such as 14-year Mayor Gary Christenson, are effusive in their praise and gratitude for Bobby Knox and the job he has done for the City of Malden. “I’m happy for Bobby because I know with new challenges comes growth, excitement, learning, and a renewed sense of energy. That said, Bobby has truly been an irreplaceable part of my team over the past 14 years. He has truly put Malden first, in a way that I’m sure his wife will tell you hasn’t always been her favorite thing. I truly can’t be more grateful for what he’s given to this City, working 24/7 to make it a better place to live,” Mayor Christenson said. “If you see him, please congratulate him, thank him, and wish sponsibilities of his new position are expansive, as the hierarchy for management of Everett’s infrastructure and day-today related services differs in one key way: The post of Executive Dir ec t or of City Services does not exist in the City of Malden. As Everett’s Executive Director of City Services, Knox will supervise all the following departments: Department of Public Works, Public Facilities, Engineering, Water & Sewer, Parks, Cemeteries — all of it. In Malden, all of those separate departments have their own directors and all report to the Mayor. The other key difference is that Knox, for the first time in 33 years, is not “on call” for “24/7” day in and day out as — everyone in Malden knows full well — he has been since the early 1990s, when he first began working at Malden DPW. This week, Everett Executive Director of City Services Bobby him nothing but success in his new role because he’s earned that from all of us,” Mayor Christenson, a lifelong friend and fellow Malden High Class of 1986 graduate with Knox, added. City of Malden lifers will recall the old Converse Rubber Outlet Store at the corner of Highland Avenue and Devir Street, where the Laborers Union local office now sits. Sitting right in the front from the first day the place opened in the late 1950s until it closed in the 1980s were the real Converse All-Star game-worn sneakers of the late NBA Hall of Famer Bob Lanier of Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks lore. It was a size 22, which, to this day, is the biggest size sneaker ever worn by an NBAer, matched later Knox worked a straight shift of Monday-Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Quite frankly, for Knox, this was a revelation, seeing as it was “normal hours” for the first time in his professional life. Nothing this weekend, either, only watching his son’s hockey game or practice and driving his daughter wherever she might need to go. As for Malden, the Interim DPW Director is Paul Myers, who has served as Assistant DPW Director/Director or Operations for the past nine years in Malden, after 15 years in a similar position in Brookline. He has worked alongside Knox for quite a few years, including during the recent, record-setting snowstorm of January 25, which dumped 23 inches of snow in Malden, closing schools for two days and signalling the first snow emergency since 2022. What Knox said he will take with him as he changes jobs will be cherished memories and terrific relationships he has formed with countless people in Malden and beyond. “It’s been a good ride, an excellent ride,” Knox said. “I’ve met a lot of great people, created some fantastic relationships and I think I have helped face and resolve a lot of issues over the years.” “I’ve always been a people person, it’s part of who I am,” Knox added. As so many Malden residents have readily attested through the years and will say to this day, now former Malden DPW Director Bobby Knox always put the city of Malden first. Now it is Everett’s turn. by the great Shaquille O’Neal and then former Boston Celtics fan favorite Tacko Fall. That’s about the “size” of it with Bobby Knox as he departs his Malden DPW job for his new post in Everett. Big shoes to fill? No. Not even close. Too big. No one can fill his shoes. Quite frankly there are not many who would want to! He was that good and that important to the City of Malden and his residents. A favorite phrase of some longtime Malden residents when expressing admiration for a friend is to ask, “Who’s better than you?” Put Bobby Knox’s name in there, and the answer is easy, “No one.” Thank you, Bobby, for all you have done through so many years and in so many ways. Everett is getting a real one, that is for sure.

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