Van Campen Unveils Leadership Team; Council Accepts $100K Grant for Malden River Boardwalk

By Neil Zolot

Mayor Robert Van Campen introduced planned appointees in his administration for consideration to the City Council at their meeting Monday, February 9. “They bring diverse experience, which is something I looked for in creating a leadership team,” he said.

He also confessed to feeling a little strange addressing the Council as Mayor instead of being a Councillor. “I miss you,” he told his former colleagues.

The proposed appointees include Ellen Collins as Director of Human Resources, Robert Knox as Executive Director of City Services, Monica Lamboy as Chief Development Officer and Jaclyn Munson as City Solicitor. Collins was Deputy Director of Human Resources in Somerville; Knox was Director of the Malden Department of Public Works; and Lamboy was Chief Executive Officer in the Washington, D.C. Dept. of Health and Chief Administrative Officer in Oakland, California’s Community and Economic Development Agency and executive director of Somerville’s Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development. She was also Assistant Town Manager in Randolph. Munson was Deputy Town Counsel in Arlington and Assistant Corporation Counsel and Ethics Adviser in Boston.

Another new appointee is Omar Boukili as Chief Administrative Officer. Van Campen described him as “seasoned public sector executive with experience in senior leadership roles across Greater Boston.”

Chris Connolly, who played a pivotal role as Van Campen’s campaign manager, is a Special Assistant to the Mayor. Van Campen said he’s been “instrumental in helping set up constituent services in the first month of the administration.”

The names were referred to the Subcommittee on Community Affairs and Legislation, as were items appointing Thawanna Pessoa to the Planning Board and David Ela to the Housing Authority Board and proposals to amend the City’s Administrative Code to establish a Department of Strategic Planning and Community Development and a position of Chief Development Officer and an Administrative and Financial Services Department and a position of Chief Administrative and Financial Officer.

In other items, the Council accepted a $100,000 grant from the state for a floating boardwalk along the Malden River. The money is for design and permitting of walking area on a floating boardwalk or dock along the river from Rivergreen Park/Playground to BNY Mellon Asset Services, 135 Santilli Highway, which would abut a walking path behind the Madeline English School that is being developed with National Grid to provide a lengthy walking area from the Malden border to Encore Boston Harbor and, eventually, Assembly Row. “This is for a critical missing link,” Director of Planning and Community Development Matt Lattanzi explained.

He added that the land behind BNY Mellon is a public park that people, including staff members at City Hall, don’t know about and is unused because there is a gate.

Ward 3 Councillor Anthony DiPierro asked Lattanzi if the actual cost of the project is now known. The answer was no. Lattanzi also said the money is for outstanding bills for already accomplished design work.

In response to a question from Ward 6 Councillor Peter Pietrantonio, he said the work proceeded without the grant because the money was earmarked in aid budgets but took time to get through the technical approval process. “We were confident the money would be coming to us,” he said.

The project will proceed even if the National Grid cosponsored project falls through. “It will still connect Rivergreen to BNY Mellon,” Lattanzi pointed out.

Councillor-at-Large Wayne Matewsky said the gate needs to be removed or kept open. “It’s supposed to be a public park, but it isn’t,” he said. “I’ve only seen one or two people use it.”

He also said BNY Mellon received a “sweetheart deal” Tax Increment Finance (TIF) agreement in the 1980s, including jurisdiction over the park, although Pietrantonio pointed out, they take care of it as well.

“I’ve always felt we got ripped off,” Matewsky said.

Lattanzi agreed public access was limited and that access would be a requirement in the future.