The portrait of the first elected female city council president will hang in the council chambers.
Monday night, the council approved a motion made by Councillors Angela Guarino-Sawaya and Ira Novoselsky to approve the installation of a portrait for Catherine Penn, who died earlier this year, in honor of her being the first woman elected to serve as President of the city council in 1983 and the first woman elected to represent Ward 2 in 1980.
“I’m proud to file this motion, along with Councillor Novoselsky, to honor the legacy of Catherine Penn,” said Guarino-Sawaya. “As the first woman elected as the first woman elected to represent Ward 2 in 1980, and the first woman elected president of the Revere City Council in 1983, she broke barriers and helped pave the way for women in local government, like you and me. As the first woman ever elected to serve as Ward 5 Councillor, this recognition holds special meaning for me.
“Leaders like Catherine Penn demonstrated that women belonged at the decision-making table long before it was common to see women serving in elected office.”
Novoselsky said he knew Penn for over 60 years and lived near her.
“Believe it or not, I had the honor of losing to her to allow her to come onto the council,” he said. “She did a great job … and she was proud to be a city councillor and a teacher in the Revere school system.”
Penn’s daughter, Marcy Mucci, thanked Guarino-Sawaya and Novoselsky for the motion and tribute to her mother.
“Anyone who knows me knows that I don’t like politics,” she said. “I was born into it, and it was my mother’s life … I can’t say how much she enjoyed serving in Revere politics, and I just wanted to thank everybody tonight.”
In other business from the appointments subcommittee, the subcommittee approved the reappointment of Daniel Occena to the licensing commission. Occena was present for the meeting and his reappointment was later approved by the full council.
Several councilors spoke in favor of Occena continuing to serve on the licensing commission.
“During his service, he has been a tremendous, tremendous asset to the commission, bringing forth both professionalism and strong understanding of the legal matters that come before him,” said Guarino-Sawaya.
The council placed on file a request from Mayor Patrick Keefe to appoint former City Councillor Juan Pablo-Jaramillo to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Board. Appointments subcommittee chair Joanne McKenna noted that Jaramillo did not appear before the subcommittee the two times his appointment was on the agenda.