Last week, the city of Everett swore in a new mayor for the first time in 18 years. Robert Van Campen, a longtime city councilor, beat longtime incumbent Mayor Carlo DeMaria by nine percentage points. The upset victory came after years of turmoil and scandal surrounding DeMaria that damaged the city’s trust in him, including accusations of racism, an improper longevity bonus of around $200,000, and a showdown with the former superintendent of the city schools. Mayor Van Campen spoke with Mark Herz host of GBH’s Morning Edition at the beginning of his term as mayor. The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Mark Herz: Good morning, Mayor Van Campen.
Mayor Van Campen: Good morning. Thank you so much for having me.
Herz: You did a 14-year stint on the Everett City Council earlier in your career. Then you were the city solicitor and deputy mayor in Melrose, then a labor lawyer for AFSCME in Massachusetts. What brought you back around just recently to want to be mayor of your city?
Van Campen: I’ve been a public servant really since I got out of law school 25 years ago. I’ve just always been someone who considers himself a public servant and in 2023, I had the honor of being returned by the people in Ward 5 here in Everett to return to the City Council. It became apparent to me that the people of Everett were hungry for change, and the groundswell of support around a candidacy for mayor really got so large and the drumbeat so loud that I decided to enter the race and try to work to bring that kind of change to the city of Everett. And on Nov. 4 last year, the people of Everett blessed me with their trust and their confidence. And here I sit today talking to a nice gentleman like you.
Herz: So you talk about this hunger for change, a drumbeat. So I do want to dig into that a little bit, what’s behind that. Let’s talk about the nearly $200,000 in bonus payments to the former mayor that the state inspector general deemed improper. Where does this whole issue stand now?
Van Campen: So what I’ve been clear about — since the election, during the transition — is the state has a role to play in continuing to look at those issues. That’s their role. My role as mayor is to write a new chapter for the people of Everett and to a large extent turn the page and to start managing the affairs of the city to stabilize a community that has been divided for the past several years. And this is not unique to Everett, as we know, but to restore trust to a government that currently lacks trust from the people. That’s my role. At this point, my view is to let the state look at those issues.
Herz: OK, so when you say the city’s been divided, what are the divisions? Explain that, if you would.
Van Campen: You might recall my predecessor had a vote of “no confidence” taken in him earlier in the year, just after the inspector general report was released. And one has to have the ability to govern, and in order to do so, you have to have the confidence and the trust of the people. That is, unfortunately, something that was lacking at that point in time. So my goal now is to restore that. I think I’ve got a great relationship with the school committee, a great relationship with the City Council — and they, like me, are ready to look to the future and turn the page on the past.
Herz: You mentioned having a good relationship with the school committee. Now, under the last administration, the mayor put himself on the school committee, and pushed out a well-loved superintendent and steered a loyalist into that post. What is going on with Everett Schools now, and where do you want to see it going?
Van Campen: The relationship that I have with Superintendent [William] Hart, with the chair of the school committee, Samantha Hurley, is great. And we’re focusing on bigger issues right now, Mark, like school overcrowding for example. I want to tackle that issue day one. We’ve already begun having discussions here internally at City Hall. I’ll be meeting with the superintendent of schools on Monday with my team and his team to really start tackling and figure out what’s the right solution to make sure Everett children have classrooms in which to learn and receive a world-class education.
Herz: How overcrowded are the schools?
Van Campen: That’s the question that’s still sort of open. They are overcrowding. I’ve walked through these buildings during the transition period. I have seen children learning under stairwells. I have seen children learning in hallways. I have children learning on landings of stairs. I have seen former storage spaces converted to classrooms. That is completely unacceptable in 2026. And so my focus out of the gate is to work to solve that problem. But the only way I can do that as mayor is to have the support of the school committee, the city council, superintendent and the community to find the right solution.
Herz: One thing that just happened recently and caught our attention in our newsroom was that shortly before your swearing in, outgoing Mayor DeMaria signed a memorandum of agreement with Wynn Resorts, the owner of the Encore Casino, to build new infrastructure for a soccer stadium that’s coming to your city. You have said you like the overall direction of the agreement, if I understand correctly, but have some questions on the details.
Van Campen: First of all, let me say the transformation that could result from these two projects is breathtaking. We’re a community with a proud industrial past that built the United States of America in the 20th century and gave so many Everett families the chance at the American dream that they otherwise wouldn’t have had. But the people of Everett — during the campaign and even since the election and now assuming office — have told me they’re ready to write a new chapter. They don’t want to hold on to that industrial past. They want to transform what this community is to those outside of Everett. On the baseline are the projects good for our community? They are absolutely good for our community. From the same residents who want to turn the page on their industrial past, I have also heard their concerns about congestion, parking, all the logistical issues you would anticipate would arise from projects of this magnitude. My goal now is to implement these projects in a way that ensures that the people of Everett are heard first, that their voice is given priority.
Herz: So we spent a fair amount of time talking about your predecessor and what you’ve inherited. And I wanted to give you more of a chance to talk about what you’re aiming for as you look forward to the future. Go right ahead.
Van Campen: I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Let me, let me just say, this is something I’m really proud of. One of the first official acts I had the opportunity to exercise some discretion about was making some promotions in the police department. We’re going to promote for the first time in our history a female lieutenant in the police department and, in addition to that, for the time in the history of the city of Everett, a Black sergeant in the Everett police department. So I’m really proud, because one of the goals I had during the campaign was to ensure we diversified the command staff in our police department. And this gives me the ability right out of the gate, almost on day one, to bring that kind of diversification and to start working toward ensuring that our command staff reflects the people of Everett.
