City Council votes against supporting state eviction bill By Christopher Roberson T he City Council recently voted 2-9 against supporting a bill currently pending in the state legislature that would allow eviction records to be sealed after three years. During the March 22 meeting, State Senator Sal DiDomenico, a cosponsor on the bill, said that under the 2018 Criminal Justice Reform Act, misdemeanors are sealed after three years. Therefore, an eviction would be considered a misdemeanor. “After three years of being a good tenant, you shouldn’t have this used against you,” said DiDomenico. He said a record would only be unsealed if the court found that a tenant was guilty. However, he said, this is typically not the case. “Many of these cases are not the fault of the tenant,” said DiDomenico, adding that tenants are often forced out by the landlord. How ev er, Councillor-at-Large Michael Marchese, a property owner himself, said there is nothing in the bill to protect landlords. “How do you stabilize the rental market when people don’t pay rent?” he asked. “You’re giving a recipe to steal here. If you go rob the little store down the street for $100, you go jail, but if you steal $14,000-$15,000 from the landlord, it seems to be alright.” Marchese said he has taken tenants to court in the past and has never come out on the winning side. “I appreciate your eff ort, but I will not be supporting this piece,” he said. “No way will I ever support something like this. I won’t.” Ward 1 Councillor Fred Capone said records should not be sealed after only three years and that additional protections are needed for property owners. “Not every landlord is a large corporation,” he said, adding that many of Everett’s landlords are retired and living on fi xed incomes. In response, DiDomenico said the language in the bill could change over time. “Not everything ends up the way it’s fi led,” he said. “This bill could be quite diff erent by the time it comes to the fl oor.” Missing City Council Meeting In other news, Everett Police Detective Michael Lavey said that after completing his investigation no suspects could be connected with the disappearance of the recording of the council meeting from October 26, 2020. Lavey said he contacted the Cyber Crime Squad Unit of the Federal Bureau of InvestigaPolice Sgt. Bova retires after 32 years THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 2021 WE ARE OPEN Page 5 tion; however, federal offi cials did not off er assistance with the matter. “The case was not at the threshold where the federal government would get involved,” he said. However, Lavey was able to work with the Special Investigations Unit of the Middlesex District Attorney’s Offi ce and also spoke with some City Hall employees. “My best estimation is that the person that did it, they either had dumb luck and they used this particular service that Comcast provides or they know Comcast services well enough to know that this would mask what they were doing,” said Lavey. City of Everett spokesperson Deanna Devaney said the City investigated the matter as well. “We went through every avenue that’s possible,” she said, adding that Zoom Video Communications was also contacted, and it was deterCOUNCIL | SEE PAGE 20 MARCH SPECIALS Visit us at www.villagebareverett.com ONLINE ORDERING Everett Police Chief Steven Mazzie (left) congratulated Sgt. Steve Bova, who recently retired following 32 years in law enforcement. During his time with the Police Department, Bova served in the Operations Division and the Traffi c Unit and was most recently the Assignment Offi cer. (Photo Courtesy of the Everett Police Department)
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