The Revere City Council voted Monday night, September 14, to honor former Mayor and Chelsea City Manager Thomas Ambrosino with a certificate of commendation, recognizing what Councilor Angela Guarino-Sawaya called "nearly four decades of principled public service." Guarino-Sawaya and Council President Anthony Zambuto brought the motion forward, and every councilor present signed on. "His intelligence, integrity, and steady leadership helped move our city forward and left a lasting impact that continues to benefit Revere today," Guarino-Sawaya said.

The tributes that followed were personal as much as political. Zambuto, who joked that his own politics sit opposite Ambrosino's, called him "a great public servant and an even better human being." Ward 2 Councilor Ira Novoselsky, who said he's known Ambrosino since his high school football days, credited him with major improvements in Ward 2 during his time as mayor: "He was the best thing that happened to Ward 2 at that time."

Ambrosino's public service began in Revere, with six years on the school committee and four as a councilor-at-large before 12 years as mayor, from 2000 to 2012. After three and a half years as executive director of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, he became Chelsea's city manager in July 2015, succeeding Jay Ash, and served for seven and a half years. Chelsea officials have credited his tenure with helping steer the city through some of its harder recent stretches, including the COVID-19 pandemic, while pushing development, especially downtown. "He truly helped shape Chelsea into the city it is today," City Manager Fidel Maltez said of Ambrosino this summer. Ambrosino left Chelsea at the end of 2023 to become Administrator of the Massachusetts Trial Court, overseeing 94 courts and roughly 6,500 employees, before announcing his retirement from that post this year. "I will miss public service but it's been 37 years," Ambrosino said. "I feel proud of my career. I did my best, that's for sure."

The Revere Journal noted the commendation specifically recognizes Ambrosino's service to both Revere and Chelsea — the same week he joined Chelsea's three other post-receivership city managers on stage for a Sept. 16 panel marking 35 years since the city's 1991 financial collapse.