Guinasso Elected City Council President

The City Council’s first meeting of the year is always one of the shortest, but it’s also the one with the most tradition, pomp and circumstance.

Just after 6 p.m. on the first Monday of the new year following the Pledge of Allegiance, City Clerk Ashley Melnik conducted the roll call vote for the position of council president for 2019.

The 10 councillors in attendance all cast their votes and  Melnik officially announced the unanimous result: “The 2019 City Council President will be Councillor [Arthur] Guinasso.”

A standing ovation ensued and Guinasso headed to podium area to receive his oath of office from Melnik.

“This is a tremendous honor placed upon me by ten unbelievably nice people,” said Guinasso. “We share a lot, not only on Monday nights when we appear here before the public. We share conversations throughout the week. It’s just a wonderful group of people that I’ve been chosen to serve with. The people of Ward 3 blessed me with wonderful colleagues to get something done for our community.”

Guinasso said the reason the Council accomplished so much and its business was conducted in a civil manner this past year “is testimony to a wonderful young lady [outgoing Council President Jessica Giannino]. She handled it [the presidency] in such a dignified way that no one could object. She brought law and order and civility to our community and to our meetings, and that’s what I’m going to carry forward – the tradition that [Giannino] has brought to us.”

Guinasso also commended Ward 1 Councillor Joanne McKenna for doing “a wonderful job” as vice president of the Council during the past year.

Mayor Brian Arrigo offered his congratulations to Guinasso following the meeting.

“Arthur and I served on the City Council together for four years and it was always a pleasure to serve with him,” said Arrigo. “I look forward to working with him as the president of the Council and as he mentioned in his remarks, we’ve had a lot of progress in the last couple of years, and we look forward to working with him to continue that progress. And I know that Arthur is the right guy to lead the Council.”

Patrick Keefe

elected Council VP

Ward 4 Councillor Patrick Keefe was elected unanimously as vice president of the Revere City Council Monday night.

“I want to thank for our fellow Council members for granting me this honor of serving,” said Keefe. “It’s very humbling for me that these 10 fine gentlemen and women have bestowed this honor to represent the city of Revere and our many constituents as a city councillor in this great chamber. And I just want to thank them all. I’m very humbled.”

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