As Frustration To Belmont Hill Parking Plan Peaks, Select Board Reads ‘Riot Act’ To Critics Of Process, Planning Board Chair

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Photo: Mark Paolillo, chair of the Select Board

Mark Paolillo anticipated the Select Board he chairs would receive emails and phone calls related to the controversial plan by the Belmont Hill School to turn an acre-and-half of rare urban woodland into a parking lot for 150 vehicles and a facilities building.

What he didn’t expect was the increasing vitriol many of the messages carried. Strident demands for volunteers on committees to be removed, allegations of favoritism from the head of the Planning Board and calls for the Select Board to step in take control of the review process.

The next virtual meeting of the Planning Board in its discussion of the Belmont Hill School Parking Plan will be Tuesday, March 14 at 7 p.m. You can find the Zoom link here.

But it was an email that included a threat of ‘a riot’ if the board did not act that was a step too far. Paolillo decided it was time to read the “riot act” to the small number of critics who had been raising the heat on the controversial project.

“We’ve also gotten numbers of emails, and I think the recent tone the tenor of the emails has taken a direction that is totally unacceptable,” said Paolillo. “Perhaps such emails are not meant literally, but any comment that suggests or hints of violence in any way will not be tolerated by this board.”

While the Select Board agenda listed the as “Belmont Hill School update with the Chair of the Planning Board,” Paolillo said the board would not take public comment since that should only be directed to the Planning Board. Rather, he read a statement that clarified the Select Board position in relations to the tone of comments and the board’s involvement to the project.

“We have to respect one another civility in our public discourse and assume goodwill on the part of anyone who participates in our local government emails that threatened ‘a riot in the streets’ unless the planning board or the Select Board acts in a certain way are not acceptable contributions to our public dialogue,” he said. “Totally unacceptable.”

In his statement to the 20 residents at Town Hall and dozens attending via Zoom, Paolillo said while many residents and abutters to the project are asking for the Select Board to get involved in the deliberation, “we have no purview whatsoever to conduct any type of a hearing as it relates to site plan review. That falls under within our zoning bylaws and the planning board.”

Opponents to the school’s parking scheme are urging the Select Board to back a request by abutters to require a Development Impact Report for the project, in which a deep dive would commence to determine the scope of the report including environment, social, physical and infrastructure impact, at which time the town would issue a Request For Proposal that a professional development team would perform. 

But Paolillo nixed that request as going beyond the Select Board’s purview.

“So folks, please, understand because I’ve done hundreds and hundreds of emails on this, that it’s not our responsibility as a Select Board to get involved in that,” said Paolillo. “While the board appoints the member to the planning board, its involvement ends there.”

Increasingly, the ire of critics has been directed at Matt Lowrie, who accepted the chair of the Planning Board after Steve Pinkerton suddenly resigned in September just as the Belmont Hill School application for the site plan review was submitted. (In an ironic sidebar, Lowrie was preparing to resign from the board with Pinkerton in October of 2022 as he is anticipating a move from Belmont.)

A growing number of abutters are seeking the Select Board to replace or dismiss Lowrie who they contend has shown by his actions since the start of the site review an overt bias in favor of the private school.

But as with refusing to inject themselves into the planning process, Paolillo said while the board does appoint the members of the Planning Board, there is no process of removing them.

Belmont’s Town Consul George Hall rendered his legal opinion on whether the select board can remove those they appoint, including planning board members. Hall’s answer was succinct: “No”, nowhere in existing state law indicates where the appointing agents also have the ability to “fire” members.

Even if such a mechanism were in place, Paolillo said the current Select Board sees no reason to seek the removal of Lowrie.

“I know you folks want us to remove him and threatened certain things for correct we don’t, we’re not going to remove him. We have confidence in the ability to serve,” said Paolillo.

“The Select Board has competence in the chair of the planning board, Matt Lowry and the other members of the planning board. It supports them in their work to reach decisions that are in the best interest of downline,”

“The Planning Board has what is sometimes an unenviable task amongst themselves. There may be different perspectives, and they do their best to fact that these perspectives in the opinions from the public into any final decision,” said Paolillo.

When an attendee asked what mechanism citizens can utilize to blue-pencil Lowrie from the Planning Board, a collective shrug of the shoulders was given. After the meeting, town officials and Select Board members theorized it would take a series of steps involving Town Meeting votes, receiving approval by the State Legislature and subsequent changes to town bylaws that would in all likelihood result in “a real s**tshow,” according to one participant.

“We understand support the right of residents, so I’m here tonight, you’re going to express their opinions and take passionate positions, but is essential to remember that thoughtful and caring residents may legitimately have different views on this,” said Paolillo.

Calling from the Orlando International Airport, Lowrie updated the Select Board on the parking plan. Planning Board is close to receiving the results of the two peer reviews’ on stormwater and traffic/congestion.

“Both of those changes were made by the Belmont Hill School at my initial suggestion, followed by extensive negotiations among the town administrator and abutters … [that] resulted in letters of support from people who had been quite vocally against it,” said Lowrie. He noted that peer review process have resulted removing parking spaces, extending a sidewalk and increasing the amount of impervious surfaces “[the Belmont Hill School] didn’t necessarily agree with them, but they certainly agreed to make the changes.”

“Because of those changes, the stormwater analysis is probably not impacted a whole lot, but it’s impacted a little. The traffic is probably not impacted a whole lot, but it could be impacted a little and so we’re waiting for final reports,” said Lowrie.

Lowrie said the Planning Board will receive the peer review at its March 14 meeting “and then, I think from there, we close the public hearing, have our vote and issue an opinion.” He said he is hopeful to have it done by the end of March.

Paolillo’s statement and clarification on the Select Board’s inability to involve itself in the process did not go over-well with many in the audience.

“The planning board is here for the community. And there are quite a lot of people in the community who wrote letters about Mr. Lowery’s behavior. Just because one person … wrote a nasty letter to [the board] doesn’t mean that no one should oversee Mr. Lowery’s behavior,” said a resident. “You’re giving him a free pass and saying ‘Thank you’ for being a jerk.”

Outside the board room, opponents of the project were disappointed that they could not express their concerns. Marina Popova who lives just across Route 2 in Arlington said “there are issues that were raised by the public and those issues should be addressed. They should be investigated and we should know the decision,” Popover said.

But with the Belmont Hill parking process, Lowrie’s decisions are “unquestionable. Whatever the one person does, that’s the law. But nobody is above the law. Everybody should be answerable to their peers, to the public, eventually, because that’s who they’re working for, Popover said.

For Courtney Hayes-Sturgeon of Common Street, Lowrie’s “one sided” leadership and long-standing opposition to a development impact report will have a powerful and detrimental effect on the long-standing trees and birds and wildlife that occupy the six total acres owned by Belmont Hill School.

“Lowrie won’t even let anyone talk about the flora and the fauna because he’s tired of hearing about it. It’s as if it doesn’t exist,” said Hayes-Sturgeon.

“People are attached to this area. It’s right next to their home safe watch the thoughts of owls and all these animals, and they know that you know every little piece of trees that we’ve chopped down, or it’s just one more assault on the environment,” she said.

Breaking: Snow Emergency Parking Ban Starts At Midnight; Trash/Recycling Will Be Picked Up

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Photo: Snow emergency parking ban starts at midnight

Belmont has declared a Snow Emergency Parking Ban on all roadways and municipal parking lots, effective at midnight, Tuesday, Feb. 28, and continuing until further notice. 

All vehicles parked violating the ban will be towed at the owner’s expense. 

Trash and recycling will be picked up per the regular schedule on Tuesday.

Belmont Town Hall and other town offices will open at 9 a.m.

The Office of Community Development would like to remind residents that the town’s residential snow removal bylaw requires sidewalks along residential property to be cleared of snow and ice by 8 p.m. the day after a storm ends. Snow and ice should be removed or treated from sidewalks to a width of at least 36 inches. 

Refer to the town’s website for further information regarding winter weather and the Town’s snow removal bylaw.

’23 Town Election Ballot Set: No Treasurer Candidate, Two From Three For School Committee

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Photo: The ballot has been all been set for the April 4 Town Election

The ballot for the 2023 Belmont Town Election is set. While there is just one competitive race for town-wide offices on the April 4 election, the competition for Town Meeting seats will be a battle in six of the town’s eight precincts and a pair of ballot questions will determine the future of a pair of town institutions.

The race for the open Treasurer’s office is no race at all as no one took out nomination papers for the post currently held by the long-time treasurer Floyd Carman. The future of the office will be on the ballot in the form of Question 2 which asks voters if the Treasurer should continue to be elected or transforms into an appointed post.

The lack of a candidate brings up the interesting predictiment that a person with the most write-in votes on April 4 could become either acting treasurer if voters approve an appointed treasurers post or could become the full-time treasurer serving the next three years if the voters continue to support an elected post.

Voters will have three candidates to fill the seats of Kate Bowen and Mike Crowley. Rachel Watson, Amy Zuccarello and Jung Yueh are all first-time aspirants for the town-wide office. And while none are Town Meeting Members, Yueh and Watson will be running for seats on the 290-plus member legislative body.

The retirement of Adam Dash from the Select Board could only muster one candidate. Community Preservation Committee Chair and Warrant Committee member Elizabeth Dionne, who announced early and effectively cleared the field, will be the first woman since Anne Marie Mahoney left in 2004 to be elected to the board responsible for the oversight of town government. 

There will be a new/old member on the Health Board as Stephen Fiore is the only candidate to take the seat of long-serving board member and former chair Donna David. Fiore returns to the board after being defeated for re-election in 2021.

Voters will decide the fate of a new municipal skating and recreation center as the project comes back before voters after a $34 million debt exclusion was defeated in November. The proposal before the electorate has changed, with a reduction in design and cost, now just under $30 million. The second question is about the aforementioned elected vs appointed treasurer’s position.

Unlike years past when three or four precincts would have more candidates than available seats, voters in six of Belmont’s eight precincts will be treated to a long ballot of neighbors seeking three (or shorter) year terms on Town Meeting. Precinct 4 will seat the 12 three-year term members on the ballot (there is a race for the single one-year term) while those in Precinct 5 will need to select the 12th seat through write-in votes. The most competitive race is – somewhat surprisingly as it goes against its historical form of being bereft of candidates – in Precinct 7 where 9 incumbents join 11 hopefuls for the 12 seats.

Some interesting hopefuls include Adam Dash running for a Town Meeting seat in Precinct 1 after six years on the Select Board, School Committee’s Jeff Liberty in the crowded 7, Emerson (’26) Student Government Association President – and best name on the ballot – Angus James Benedict Abercrombie in Precinct 8 while expecting a perfectly written and grammatically correct campaign sign from newcomer Jane Rosenzweig in Precinct 5.

Belmont Hill School’s Revamped Parking Plan Finds Support From Former Critics, But Many Remain Troubled

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Photo: The location of the proposed parking lot of the Belmont Hill School

Last fall, Tanya Austin was not at all happy with what the Belmont Hill School was proposing adjacent to her property line. As one of the closest abutters to a new parking development off Park Avenue, the Rutledge Road resident had become one of the leading opponents to the 150-space parking lot, which would include a 7,000 sq. ft. facilities structure while formalizing parking at the school and near the athletic complex on Marsh Street.

“The area is one of the few remaining open, wooded spaces in Belmont, and our town should be committing to the long-term preservation of our environment rather than to fulfillment of the short-term wants of the Belmont Hill School,” said Austin in November. “Our petition has 2,000 signatures [showing] how widespread people’s interest is in opposing this project.”

Fast forward to this week, Austin and two other homeowners who were the project’s closest abutters are now expressing their support of a “modified” updated parking plan, much to the disappointment of many who have lambasted the private school for its plan to raze the native landscape to pave the land to put up a parking lot. After a series of meetings with the school facilitated by Mark Paolillo, chair of the Select Board, and Town Administrator Patrice Garvin, “I’m satisfied with the outcome of our negotiations,” said Austin.

The agreement by the three nearest abutting homeowners – Austin and her neighbor on Rutland and a resident whose property will be adjacent to the facilities building – came as the school presented its “modified” proposal before the Planning Board on Tuesday, Feb. 7, as the board restarts the design site plan review process that originally started in October 2022.

“This might have been different if this were a request for a special permit but based on my conversation with town council for a design site plan review, it is more of an administrative hearing … the requirements are less formal,” said Matthew Lowrie, chair of the Planning Board.

The development will occur on a total of 7.1 acres of which one acre is paved, 4.8 acres are woodlands and the remaining lawns and gardens. Under the development plans, 1.7 acres will be cleared and 1.2 acres used as parking with half-an-acre landscaped.

Primarily a day school, 437 of the school’s 464 pupils commute daily from 84 communities across New England; a new parking scheme will allow the school to manage its long-term parking goals better. The revised plan is essentially a tweaking of the original blueprints presented in the fall of 2022. Released this week, the major modifications include:

  • Removing the proposed outdoor above-ground fuel storage tanks at the facilities building.
  • Shifting the parking lot layout to increase the distance from the closest abutters.
  • Moving the fence between the parking lot and the property line; no closer than five feet from the pavement.
  • Relocating the facilities building further away from an adjacent property, reducing the number of parking spaces by three.
  • Adding additional plantings to reduce visual and environmental impact.

Those changes were enough for three owners of the most impacted properties to change their opposition to the plan to voicing their support for the school’s project.

“Our goal was convincing the school to voluntarily take the steps we would have to argue before the board or a legal appeal,” said Austin. After a series of meetings with the school facilitated by Mark Paolillo, chair of the Select Board, and Town Administrator Patrice Garvin, Austin said that “I’m satisfied with the outcome of our negotiations as the increased setbacks would mean less disturbance of wildlife and “to at least try to preserve the character of the area.”

While the proposal has restarted, the school has moved forward with peer review of the development – paying for outside professionals to appraise the school’s design – to determine the impact a finished project will have on parking, lightning, waste water drainage and other issues the Planning Board will oversee in the design site review. The school also has the Belmont Animal Control Officer confirm there are no endangered species occupying the land.

Critics at Tuesday’s meeting reiterated points made earlier that the project would result in the destruction of wildlife habitat and century-old trees on some of the last significant parcels of undeveloped land in the Belmont Hill neighborhood. Campaigners have gathered approximately 2,500 signatories on a petition opposing the project and have sent nearly 100 letters and emails to the Planning Board against the school’s plans.

One thousand residents who signed a petition in 2022 in opposition to the Belmont Hill School parking project.

Residents who have spoken out against the plan are facing difficult legal hurdles in their efforts to halt the development. The first obstacle is the school’s use of parking and the facilities structure are allowed under the town’s zoning bylaw in Single Residence District A. The town simply requires site review approval rather than than the more stringent special permit for a non residential building of more than 2,500 sq.-ft. and the creation of more than six parking spaces.

The second is a state law that limits communities from hindering certain developments. When a resident asked during a recent Select Board meeting how can the school proceed to build on the property, Board member Adam Dash bluntly said “The Dover Amendment.” The Massachusetts General Law hampers communities from restricting construction for agricultural, religious, and educational uses.

Belmont has its own rich experience with the law as it was instrumental in the approval of the opening of the Church of Latter-Day Saints’ Belmont temple in 2001. Lowrie noted Belmont Town Counsel George Hall has written an advisory saying the board would be in violation of the Dover Amendment if it attempted to deny the school’s application by demanding Belmont Hill first look to its main campus to accommodate the vehicles or for it to determine the number of parking spaces that are for “educational use.” Calculating the school’s supposed parking need was a deep dive by project critic Matthew Schwartz who determined the school could easily eliminate half the lot and still meet its educational needs.

In a new challenge to the project, residents with some support from the Select Board are increasingly calling for the project to undergo a Development Impact Report which is allowed in the zoning bylaws. Under a DIR, the Planning Board would determine the scope of the report including environment, social, physical and infrastructure impact, than issue a Request For Proposal that a professional development team would perform. The team would than produce an in-depth review for the Planning Board to review.

But according to Lowrie, the process is less than ideal, noting that in the past three decades, a DIR was not requested for major town developments such as the Middle and High School, the Senior Center, and several McLean parcels.

“What’s the difference between Development Impact Reports and what we’ve been doing instead which is peer reviews? Spoiler alert, the peer review is a better process,” said Lowrie.

According to Glenn Clancy, the head of the town’s Office of Community Development, the DIR is less flexible than a peer review – who are selected by his department – which can alter the review’s scope on the fly which assists in resolving conflicts between developers and the the town. Also, the cost for a peer review is picked up by the developer. Additionally, while the town can ask a developer to pay for a DIR, it may not be permissible under the Dover Amendment.

“What would a DIR add? Certainly delay,” said Lowrie, noting that the DIR “doesn’t authorize anything that can’t be done in the peer review process,” a view Clancy seconded.

“I believe professional engineering design, peer review, and compliance with section 5 has allowed the Planning Board to achieve the same purpose as if utilizing the Development Impact Report process … I think by de facto you guys are already operating under a DIR process. It’s just not specifically by that name,” said Clancy.

The parking project will return before the Planning Board on Tuesday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. with an emphasis on landscaping and the current tree layout.

Letter To The Editor: Accomplishments, Priorities Of Belmont’s Economic Development Committee

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Photo: Small business revival in Belmont Center is a priority of Belmont’s Economic Development Committee

To the editor:

As Co-Chair of Belmont’s Economic Development Committee alongside Katherine Venzke, I am pleased to share a brief overview of our accomplishments this past year with the greater Belmont community. 

2022-23 Accomplishments

Over this past year, I am proud to report that the EDC has made an important contribution. 

Last spring and summer, the EDC implemented a $25,000 Wayfinding and Branding Design grant through a dedicated working group and critical community input most notably by third-generation Belmontian and Town Meeting Member Allison Lenk and Boston-based design studio Favermann Designs. Our process resulted in the Select Board approving the Belmont Gardenia flower design. Mark Favermann – who has worked with 40-plus committees on branding and wayfinding design – described our process as “one of the best examples that really connects to the community and the town’s history in a very natural and authentic way.” The EDC remains fully committed to implementing the design on the Trapelo Corridor and eventually across all of Belmont.  

Second, through a designated state surplus appropriation of $100,000, the EDC successfully designed and advocated a Belmont Small Business Grant program to the Select Board. Ten businesses were eventually awarded $10,000 by our state representatives, state Sen. Will Brownsberger, state Rep. Dave Rogers, the Select Board, Venzke, and myself.  

Third, the EDC has also worked to improve communication and networking among local business leaders. We hosted a small business networking event last fall and will do another in the next month or two. We increased our committee membership from seven to nine and have also worked diligently with other town committees, boards, and Belmont residents to bring the voice of economic development across various town initiatives.  

2023-24 Committee Priorities

However, we understand there remains much to do over this next year and beyond. While empty storefronts are being filled by remarkably persistent and talented local business owners, including Café Vanak on Belmont Road, rated as one of the world’s best restaurants by Condé Nast Traveler, Belmont can and must make the permitting process for local restaurants and businesses easier. We want a vibrant Leonard Street increased business at Cushing Square, and increased mixed-use development at Waverly Square. 

We are also committed to serving residents as a sounding board for ideas and suggestions. As the Collins Center Report and the recent Belmont budget summits clearly show, the town would benefit from a more robust commercial tax base over the medium and long term. Working professionals are spending more time in home offices than in pre-2020 due to the rise of hybrid work. This increases Belmont’s daytime population and local business opportunities across our three key commercial centers: Belmont Center, Cushing Square, and Wavery Square.  

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that the EDC has made significant contributions to the Belmont community this past year. Looking ahead, the Committee is committed to making the permitting process for local restaurants and businesses easier, increasing small business formation, and serving as a sounding board for ideas and suggestions from the community. We believe that a more robust commercial tax base is crucial for Belmont’s medium and long-term growth, and we will continue to work toward this goal.  

Paul Joy

Co-Chair, Economic Development Committee

Three Take Out Nom Papers For Two Open School Committee Seats; No One Pulls For Treasurer Post

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Photo: Nomination papers deadline is Feb. 14

Three newcomers have started the process of running for two School Committee seats in which both incumbents have chosen not to seek re-election.

Two-term member Kate Bowen is not seeking a third on the committee, according to an email Bowen sent to the Belmontonian. Bowen would not explain why she would not be returning. While incumbent Micheal Crowley has taken out nomination papers, he told the Belmontonian he would not turn in the nomination papers when qualified candidates run for both seats open this election cycle. Crowley joined the board after winning a rump election in 2019 and was elected to a full term three-year term in 2020.

As of Friday, Feb. 3, three residents have taken out nomination papers from the Town Clerk’s office: Rachel Watson, Amy Zuccarello and Jung Yueh. So far, Yueh is the first of the three to return the necessary number of signatures to qualify for the April 4 Town Election, according to Town Clerk Ellen Cushman.

Yueh is a director of client services for a small Belmont software developer. Zuccarello, a partner with Sullivan & Worcester, is active with Parents of Music Students, and Watson, a Human Resources Administrator, and attorney, is the co-chair of the Belmont Special Education Parent Advisory Council (Belmont SEPAC).

Zuccarello and Yueh were two of ten candidates to apply to fill a vacant seat on the school board created by Andrea Prestwich’s resignation in Nov. 2021. Ralph Jones was selected for the post.

Those joining the committee in April will step into a budgetary tempest with the possibility of significant cuts in staff and programming and defending a major Prop 2 1/2 override.

Town-wide races

With just under ten days to return the necessary papers to have the Town Clerk, no one has taken out nomination papers for Town Treasurer despite Belmont’s long-time treasurer Floyd Carman declaring late in 2022 he would not seek re-election after 18 years on the job. The lack of potential candidates comes less than a week after a Special Town Meeting approved a ballot question on the April 4 Town Election to change the Treasurer’s position from an elected to an appointed post.

Most incumbents have taken out nomination papers in other town-wide elected positions:

  • Town Moderator Mike Widmer, first elected in 2008, has secured a place on the ballot.
  • Incumbents Kathleen Keohane and Gail Mana are seeking to fill a pair of three-year terms on the Board of Library Trustees.
  • Gloria Leipzig is running for a second five-year term on the Housing Authority.
  • Bob Reardon, Sr. – who is looking to secure another three-year term – and Pat Murphy have taken papers out to run for seats on the Board of Assessors.
  • Elizabeth Dionne has qualified for a run to succeed Adam Dash for a three-year term with the Select Board.
  • Alex Corbett, III, hopes to retain his seat on the Board of Cemetary Commissioners.
  • Long-time member and former chair of the Health Board, Donna David has yet to take out nomination papers, while Stephen Fiore, who lost a seat in 2021, has pulled papers for the one three-year seat on the board up for grabs this cycle.

The deadline to submit nomination papers to have the candidate’s name appear on the ballot is St. Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, at 5 p.m.

Special Town Meeting Places Appointed Treasurer Question On The April 4 Town Election Ballot

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Photo: Special Town Meeting approved the one article on the agenda

In an overwhelming show of support for transforming how the town runs its finances, the Belmont Special Town Meeting voted Monday, Jan. 30, to place a ballot question on the 2023 annual Town Election to convert the elected town treasurer’s post to an appointed position.

The vote – 195 yes, 52 no, with one abstention – will place before town voters at the April 4 election the opportunity to implement a major recommendation proposed by the 2022 Collins Center Report in reshaping Belmont’s fiscal structure or to retain the current framework that stretches back to the town’s founding in 1859.

On Monday, the 247 members who attended the virtual meeting expressed a clear preference for change.

“The town would be best served by being able to hire the most qualified person available, not the most popular resident who wins an election,” said Belmont Select Board Adam Dash who presented the board’s position.

In his final Town Meeting as a member of the Select Board, Dash noted the Treasurer’s position requires a state-regulated set of technical skills and experience which, by, “restricting the pool of people to just Belmont residents prevents us from casting a wide net which includes looking outside for the hire.” According to the Collins Center report, 821 Belmont residents work as financial managers in the finance and insurance industry, while Middlesex County has 40,000 in the same occupation.

Mark Paolillo, chair of the Select Board, said adopting significant change in the town’s financial management – as recommended by the Collins Center report and advised by a 2011 Division of Local Services analysis of the town – which has been hampered for years by the lack of a unified approach in the budget process.

“The town of Belmont is one of the most decentralized towns in Massachusetts … and it really diminishes our effectiveness around financial management,” said Paolillo.

The meeting also heard from Treasurer Floyd Carman, who decided not to seek re-election in April, ending 18 years in the post. Carman – who received unanimous praise from the meeting for his stellar tenure at treasurer – primarily spoke on the duties and requirements of the job. Carman did not expand on the Special Town Meeting article itself, remaining agnostic on his personal views of the article.

If voters approve the ballot question, the town will begin a process of advertising for and vetting candidates before making a selection while the Treasurer’s Office staff runs the day to day operations. If the measure fails, the person who receives the most votes, including write-ins, will serve three years as treasurer.

While state statute names the Select Board as the appointing agency, Belmont’s Town Administrators Act passed in 2014 supersedes the state law, with Town Administrator Patrice Garvin holding that responsibility.

During the 66 minutes of debate, many members supporting the article concurred with the Collins Center’s findings that Belmont needs to revamp its management structure to meet current and future budget challenges effectively.

“The town is in a financial crisis and I strongly support making this position an appointed one for all the reasons described in the Collins Center report,” said Roger Fussa, precinct 8. Speaking from the report, Fussa said effectively dealing with Belmont’s structural deficit is rooted in its financial organization. If the residents and town officials back away from the 19 Collin Center recommendations being proposed – which an appointed treasurer is considered a priority – long-term solutions “will bare little fruit,” said Fussa.

Others believed Belmont can no longer roll the dice on selecting one of the most important posts in town based on politics.

“This position is simply too important and requires too much expertise to leave up to a vote and up to chance,” said Nicole Dorn, precinct 1, who works in a financial role for a public entity. “There is an incredible amount of complexity and compliance that goes into these roles. Imagine if we got someone in this position without the skills to manage our bond rating and it tanks? That would have a greater negative impact on our town that perhaps any action taken by the Select Board or Town Administrator or even ourselves.”

While politics plays an integral and essential role in shaping Belmont’s future, Paul Joy, precinct 7, said some positions in town government require “a different set of skills and experience, a level of professionalism that simply can’t be politized.”

“It is imperative that we separate politics from the professional role in town government to ensure that our financial health remains strong and secure,” he said.

Those seeking to preserve the current elected Treasurer’s post view the proposed change as taking the resident’s voice out of the selection process. Judith Ananian Sarno, precinct 3, said “my perspective is our town officials are proposing we take the hiring decision away from the 1,000s of voters … and then want to make the change to making it a position hired by one person. In this case, the town administrator with sole authority to hire,” noted Sarno.

“[Currenty] our elected treasurer is required to be a Belmont resident and in my view, this ensures that the persons running for the office will have a commitment to serving Belmonts financial interests is not necessarily true of the professionals we hire from outside Belmont,” Sarno said.

Judith Feinleib, precinct 6, questioned the “significant unintended consequences” to the town if the Treasurer is no longer providing an independent voice on financial matters.

Feinleib argued – counter to the finding in the Collins Center report the town has too many separate financial entities – that Belmont’s “unusual but effective governmental structure” in which the elected offices such as the Select Board, Town Clerk, Assessors and Treasurer, provides a balance not just to each other, but to influential volunteer committees, ie. the Planning Board and the Warrant Committee, “on which Belmont depends for so much of the work that is needed to keep our town running.”

Feinleib said this “healthy balance” of multiple power structures will be lost if the Treasurer is made into “a mid-level appointed bureaucrat,” resulting in the volunteer committees and “our unelected town administrator … will have too much power.”

Select Board OKs Belmont Patrol Officers Contracts; All Town Employee Agreements Completed

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Photo: Final contract has been signed off

The Belmont Select Board approved two Memorandum of agreement with the 50-plus member Belmont Police Patrolman’s Association on a wintery Monday night, Jan. 23, completing contracts with each of the unions representing Belmont public employees.

“All our contracts are apparently settled,” said Patrice Garvin, Belmont’s town administrator who led the negotiations for the town.

“It’s great to be finally done,” said Mark Paolillo, chair of the Select Board. “I would characterize all of our contracts as fair … to the employees and also to the town of Belmont.”

The agreements are very similar to the pair of agreements OK’d two weeks ago with the firefighters union, said Garvin. The two contracts are:

  • A two-year term from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2022 with a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) of 2 percent in each year. The memorandum of agreement also includes an increase in the first responders stipend by 4.5 percent effective July 1, 2021.
  • The second agreement runs from July, 1, 2022 to June 31, 2025 with the COLA compensation at 2 percent for each of the 3 years. There is an increase for first responders stipend starting July 1, 2022. “This payment will be equal to 6 percent of the weekly base pay as well as an educational incentive for a bachelor’s degree,” said Garvin. The stipend will incrementally increase in the subsequent years, to 7 percent on July 1, 2023 and 8 percent in July, 1, 2024. Patrol officers will receive an extra dollar in their detail rate from $3.50 to $4.50, Juneteenth is added as a paid holiday, officers will receive a $2,000 Covid-19 stipend just like their firefighting brethren, and employees will receive five weeks of vacation after serving 20 years; currently to take five weeks requires 25 years of service.

Community Preservation Committee Votes Six Projects Worth $1.7 Million Forward To Town Meeting

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Photo: The Grove Street basketball court will be reconstructed as part of the $1.7 million CPC package

The town’s Community Preservation Committee is sending six applications totaling $1.7 million to the annual Town Meeting for the body’s approval in the spring.

After some wrangling and reductions in two grant amounts, the projects which won the committee’s recommendation on Wednesday, Jan. 18 are:

Each project, which has undergone five months of financial scrutiny and applicability by the committee, was approved unanimously by the six members who attended the meeting.

Passed by town voters in November 2010, Belmont raises money for its Community Preservation Fund by imposing a 1.5 percent surcharge on local real estate taxes, collecting approximately $1 million annually. Additionally, each year the state distributes limited matching funds to the towns that have passed the CPA. These funds are collected from existing fees on real estate transactions at the Registry of Deeds.

CPC Chair Elizabeth Dionne noted that for the first time in many years, the dollar amount of the grants – $1,753,343 – nearly reached this year’s available funds of $1,757,666.

A preliminary grant application for $50,000 to begin design and engineering drawings for a renovation of the Underwood Playground above the Underwood Pool was withdrawn in December when CPC members felt the project could be delayed until the next CPC cycle beginning in the summer of 2023. Dionne also pointed to advocates of a Belmont Skate Park who view the park as a possible location for its park which would require the applicant to redefine the project’s scope.

Due to rules that require the CPC to have an adequate reserve for the three CPC “buckets” – the committee funds projects in historic preservation, affordable housing, and land conservation – the CPC approved cutting the original ask for the affordable housing application and the new conservation fund by $30,000 each with the $60,000 going into the historic reserve. The two grants will revert to the initial request if current projects turn back any extra funds when they close.

In addition to the final vote, the CPC voted unanimously to establish a reserve fund, serving as an “escape hatch” for emergency, off-cycle requests; the most recent example was the Town Hall slate roof that was underfunded at its initial request and the collapse last year of the Benton Library’s chimney.

Dionne’s suggestion was for 10 percent of CPC total budget, which would be approximately $140,000, but it was reduced to $100,000.

Tuccinardi Set To Move From Assistant To Taking Reins Of Belmont’s Accounting Dept.

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Photo: Donna Tuccinardi, to be Belmont’s new town accountant

While it won’t be official until the Select Board is notified of the appointment on Monday, Jan. 23, there are some strong hints that Donna Tuccinardi will be Belmont’s next town accountant.

Such as, on the Select Board meeting agenda is an item stating Appointment of Town Accountant Donna Tuccinardi. Another is that as of Sunday, Tuccinardi had updated her Linkedin page with her new promotion.

Not that Tuccinardi selection would come as a surprise. The Belmont High grade (Class of ’90) has been the assistant accountant for the past seven and a half years. And Town Administrator Patrice Garvin, when introducing former assistant Matt Haskell as the town’s new budget analyst, said, “the one thing we’d like to do is to look for potential and growth within the town itself,” said Garvin.

Tuccinardi replaces Glenn Castro, who is returning to his home state of California.

Before moving into municipal government, Tuccinardi spent 17 years as a senior accounting manager with Five Star Quality Care, a provider of community-based services for older adults.

After graduating from BHS, Tuccinardi matriculated at Boston College, where she received a degree in management/accounting. Tuccinardi earned her MBA with a concentration in taxation in 2000 from Bentley.

A resident of Watertown, Tuccinardi is active in community service serving as a director of the Watertown Community Foundation, a PTO president, and involved in Watertown Youth Baseball.