Familiar Face Consulting for Councilor Ciommo

The agenda for today's City Council meeting had a slew of "temporary" (i.e., fiscal year-end) appointments for staff members of the various councilors. Buried amongst those announcements, however, was one that caught my eye:

0608 Order for the appointment of temporary employee Kevin Carragee in City Council.

Brighton residents know Carragee well as an Oak Square resident who, along with his wife, have played a crucial role in forming the Presentation School Foundation and purchasing those school buildings from the Archdiocese of Boston. He's active in the community and is on the faculty at Suffolk University.

Why would Carragee be taking a job working for a city councilor -- presumably Allston-Brighton District 9 Councilor Mark Ciommo?

He's got a perfectly good job already, and Ciommo probably can't afford him on the small staffing budget a city councilor has at his disposable.

Councilor Ciommo confirmed that Carragee will be working with his office, but only for 20 or so total hours over the next month or two as a consultant to improve the communications and delivery of constituent services in Ciommo's office. Carragee's faculty position is in the Department of Communcation and Journalism, after all, so this kind of consulting work is right up his alley.

Mystery solved.


Image of OLP Grammar School from Brighton Allston Historical Society.