Grove Street Playground Public Meeting Set for Monday, April 13

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Photo: The Grove Street Playground.

Draft plans for one of Belmont’s most used playgrounds will highlight the third round of public meetings on a proposed Grove Street Playground Master Plan to be held on Monday, April 13, at 7 p.m. at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St.

According to the Belmont Department of Public Works, information, data and suggestions gathered at the initial public meetings on March 4 and 9 have been incorporated into several draft design concepts of the playground by consultant Activitas Inc. and are ready to be reviewed for additional feedback.

Watertown Firm To Head Belmont Center Reconstruction Project

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Photo: What the completion of the Belmont Center Reconstruction project.

The Belmont Board of Selectmen on Wednesday, April 9, awarded Watertown’s Charles Contracting Company a nearly $3 million contract to complete the Belmont Center Reconstruction Project slated to be completed by the end of this year’s construction season.

“I’ve worked with them in the late 80’s and the 90’s and they have a good reputation,” Community Development Director Glenn Clancy told the board of the Rosedale Road firm.

Charles Contracting was the lowest of two bidders, said Clancy, noting the Watertown business’ offer of $2,934,000 was substantially lower than the competing bid of $3.7 million.

Clancy said the relatively high bids on the $2.8 million project was primarily due to the necessity of hiring a number of subcontractors for the work.

“This is not just a curb and street construction job,” said Clancy, noting the project requires electrical infrastructure work and landscaping expertise, forcing the general contractor to seek out the right “sub” to the do the work.

“You risk this type of bid” when there are many specific tasks making up the overall project, Clancy told the board.

In November, 2014, a special town meeting approved a two-part $2.8 million financing plan for the project in which an initial $1.3 million downpayment taken from the town’s free cash account is followed by the town issuing a $1.5 million, 15-year bond with the debt paid from same free cash account.

While slightly higher than the town’s offer, Clancy said funds already spent on underground sewer and water infrastructure will allow the bid to come under budget.

“They can do the work at that price,” Clancy said, noting the offer has a five-percent contingency in the town’s estimate.

Clancy said a timetable for construction would be coming soon, and the town will be setting up a hotline to answer questions or resolve problems.

Clancy expects the work to be completed by Nov. 1 but told the Board final landscaping could be delayed until the spring of 2016.

Baghdady Named Chair of Belmont Board of Selectmen: “Time for Healing”

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Photo: Sami Baghdady.

One year after being elected to the Belmont Board of Selectmen, Sami Baghdady was named the board’s new chair at the first meeting of the group after the Town Election.

“I am honored to be named and selected,” said Baghdady after the board’s meeting Wednesday night, April 8.

Baghdady’s colleague and longest serving member of the board, Mark Paolillo, was named as vice chair.

“I will need your experience” running the board, Baghdady told Paolillo.

A real estate and corporate attorney with a solo practice in Arlington, the nearly life-long resident of Belmont – Butler, Chenery, Belmont High alum – lives with his wife, Rola, and family near Belmont’s Central Square. Before winning election to fill an open seat on the board with the retirement of Ralph Jones, Baghdady is best known for his leadership of the Planning Board from 2010 to 2014.

Baghdady replaces Andy Rojas, defeated in Tuesday’s election to the board’s newest member, Jim Williams.

After the meeting, Baghdady told the Belmontonian his first act as chair will be to bring together both sides of the contentious $4.5 million Proposition 2 1/2 Override ballot question to work towards common goals.

“The time for healing needs to begin,” he said, adding that he will work to highlight the concerns of the supporters of the override – approved by nearly 900 votes Tuesday – and those who raised questions about the amount requested and spending the additional funds in the correct line items.

In the lead up to the election, the level of charges and counter-charges of petty vandalism to political signs and neighbors acting unneighborly to each other over their stance on the override resulted in the Town Clerk and Belmont Police to issue a town-wide notice for all sides on the issue to be more civil in their discourse.

“As I said at the meeting, it is the role of the Board of Selectmen to unite the community since we are all neighbors,” said Baghdady.

Belmont Voters Support Prop 2 1/2 Override to Decisive Victory [Update]

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Photo: Ellen Schrieber, a co-chair of the Yes for Belmont committee.

Endorsing a recommendation to stabilize school funding and help fund road repairs, Belmont voters came out in big numbers to support a $4.5 million Proposition 2 1/2 override during the annual Town Election on Tuesday, April 7.

With a little more than half of all registered voters taking ballots, the “yes” for Question 1 received 4,728 votes, nearly a 900 vote margin over the 3,836 “no” votes.

“We are so grateful to the hundreds of volunteers who made this happen,” said Ellen Schreiber, one of the co-chairs of the “Yes for Belmont” campaign that spearheaded the effort to pass the override.

“The turnout was unbelievable and serves as a tangible reminder of why this is a truly special community,” she said.

Securing a “yes” victory came from two of Belmont’s precincts, 1 and 6 where the yes’ swamped the no vote by 328 and 338 votes.

The “No” side could only take three of the eight precincts (precincts 2, 4, and 8) with margins never reaching triple figures.

After more than a dozen years since the last time voters endorsed hiking property taxes were ready to pony up an average extra $650 a year (on a house assessed at $847,000) for stable school funding and road repair for at least three years. Supporters believe the funds can be stretched up to five years.

Selectman Mark Paolillo, who headed the Task Force, said he viewed the override “as more than just a three year commitment. The [new funds] will sustain us for many years in the future.”

Schreiber agreed with Paolillo, stating the Yes Committee is “thrilled that the town of Belmont has voted to protect our town for future generations.”

“This is the first step in a strategic plan, outlined by the Financial Task Force, that will move Belmont toward more financial stability in the future,” she said.

Since Proposition 2 1/2 was approved by state voters in 1980 (the law went into effect in 1982), Belmont voters have approved half of six override measures on the ballot, the last two “yes” votes were in May 2001 ($3 million) and April 2002 ($2.4 million) for school and town operating expenses.

Before Tuesday’s vote, registered voters rejected the last attempt at an override, a $2 million schools, public safety and roads in June 2010.

The override was recommended by the Financial Task Force, a group created by the Belmont Board of Selectmen in 2014, which sought to secure extra funding to fill a growing deficit – $1.7 million in fiscal year 2016 – facing the Belmont School District due to skyrocketing enrollment and higher expenses, in part due to unfunded state mandates.

Paolillo said he would be reaching out to the leadership of the group who worked to defeat the measure.

“We have to bring the people who voted ‘no’ with the ‘yes’ voters to work together to move us forward,” said Paolillo, and bring them into the Financial Task Force fold.

“This was a spirited campaign, and we want to acknowledge the hard work put in by our opponents. We share the same of goal: making sure Belmont thrives; though we differ about how to achieve that goal,” said Schreiber.

[Update: In an earlier version of this article, it was incorrectly reported the “no” vote received the majority of ballots cast in Precinct 7. That was incorrect; the “yes” side prevailed in the precinct.]

Breaking News: Override Passes, Williams Shocks Rojas for Selectman Seat

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Photo:

Belmont voters passed a $4.5 million Proposition 2 1/2 override that will secure long-term level funding and help with road repair.

The measure passed, 4,728 to 3,818, according to the Belmont Town Clerk’s office

In the race for Selectman, Andy Rojas lost a chance for a second three-year term as first-time challenger Jim Williams of Glenn Road defeated the incumbent by nearly 500 votes, 4,047 to 3,528.

Town Election 2015 in Belmont: Updated Through the Day

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Photo: Tom Martin voting for the first time. 

7:45 p.m.: Precinct 8, the Winn Brook precinct: 1.200 ballots cast. 60 percent participation with many younger voters – 7 at booths when I was there – coming in.

7:30 p.m.: The heavy rains held off and people have been coming in steady to the eight polling stations in Belmont. Not many signs around town although Dawn MacKerron and Bill Trabilcy were in Cushing Square with a big “No” sign, receiving a long horn blast from a late-90s Cadillac with State tags.

2:20 p.m.: The election is just past mid-way and the numbers at the eight precincts indicate a good deal of interest in the contested Selectman’s race and the Prop 2 1/2 ballot question. 

Precinct wardens said the voters “have been really out there,” (Precinct 6), polling stations are “busy constantly,” (Precinct 3), activity is “brisk,” (Precinct 7) with voters coming in at a “steady pace.” (precincts 1 and 8).

So here are the raw numbers between 1:30 p.m. and 2 p.m.:

  • Precinct 1: 665
  • Precinct 2: 604
  • Precinct 3: 473
  • Precinct 4: 358
  • Precinct 5: 479
  • Precinct 6: 617
  • Precinct 7: 438
  • Precinct 8: 638

According to Town Clerk Ellen Cushman, the election could reach 40 percent participation rate or about 7,500 to 8,000 voters coming out. 

1:50 p.m.: It was rough going for Tom Martin as he tried to vote at Precinct 2 in Town Hall. The Belmont High senior first attempted to leave the polling station with both the ballot and the folder in his hands when Precinct Warden Henry Kazarian steered Martin to the official voting scanner. There he attempted to insert the manilsa folder into the slot. At that point, Kazarian instructed Martin on the proper process of voting. 

Despite flubbing the process a bit, everyone in the polling station gave a Martin a round of applause as it was the first time the 18-year-old ever voted. 

“It was good, it was interesting,” said Martin, who received a handshake from Kazarian on his way out. 

In the second-floor lobby, Martin said he wanted to cast his ballot because of the override.

“At Belmont High School, there has been a lot of talk about this [override] vote among the students,” said Martin, a co-captain of this year’s boys’ basketball team and player on Rugby. “We know the election is important for the future of the high school.” 

“And now I’m 18, I should have my voice heard,” he said. 

Noon: It was suppose to be raining by now but … nada. 

10 a.m.: So where are the sign holders? At the Beech Street Center, of course, where precincts 3 and 5 are located. And we found Selectman candidate Jim Williams with his campaign manager shaking hands and talking to Precinct 5 Town Meeting incumbent Frank Lombardo and former town employee  Austin ‘Butchie’ Bennett holding the fort for Andy Rojas.

“I have my coat so I’ll be here even if it rains,” said Butchie.

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8:45 a.m.: A lonely figure at Precinct 2: Jim Gammell, a member of the leadership team for the Nos, poll watching. Will have to take a look around town to see if anyone else is out and about looking over lists of voters. Standing outside the Center’s parking lot, 

8:15 a.m.: Here are the first data dump of the day; the total number of absentee ballots received as of yesterday (there’s one more rush of ballots around 5 p.m.) and by precinct:

Total received/sent:

604/702

  • Precinct 1: 123
  • Precinct 2: 91
  • Precinct 3: 61
  • Precinct 4: 42
  • Precinct 5: 64
  • Precinct 6: 104
  • Precinct 7: 40
  • Precinct 8: 79

7:30 a.m.: Belmont’s Town Election 2015 gets underway under a gray overcast and cool conditions with some good voter participation at Precincts 1 (at the Belmont Public Library) and 8 (Winn Brook School) with a dozen voters waiting to enter Precinct 1 and more than 20 residents voting in the first 10 minutes at 8. At Town Hall, the level is described as “brisk.” 

IMG_3995

One thing missing? Sign holders at the three precincts visited. Just one at 1 and 8, both with “Yes for Belmont” signs.

Town Election Day in Belmont: What You Need to Know to Vote Today

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Today, Tuesday, April 7, Belmont voters will have the opportunity to cast ballots in the annual Town Election to elect members of Town Meeting, town-wide office and one ballot question.

Times

Polling places are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Who can vote

Those who are legally registered to vote and are residents of Belmont.

You may be asked for ID

Did you fill out your town census form mailed earlier in the year? If you did not, then you are known as an “inactive” voter. Luckily, an “inactive” voter may still vote but first must provide adequate identification proving the voter’s identity and current place of residence. Usually a Massachusetts Driver’s License or State issued ID are sufficient.

Whom and what’s on the ballot

Find out here with the Belmont League of Women Voters’ election guide.

Transportation to the polls

The League of Women Voters of Belmont is offering rides to the polls from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Call 617-771-8500 to schedule transportation.

Questions about or during voting

Most questions – including who is eligible to vote in Belmont – that arise during voting can be answered by the precinct warden at the polling station. Other questions should be addressed to the Town Clerk’s Office at 617-993-2600.

Where do I vote?

Don’t know where to vote? Call the Town Clerk at 617-993-2600, or read/download the handy map included on this web page that includes a street directory.

Polling Places:

  • Precinct 1; Belmont Memorial Library, Assembly Room, 336 Concord Ave.
  • Precinct 2: Belmont Town Hall, Selectmen’s Meeting Room, 455 Concord Ave.
  • Precinct 3: Beech Street Center (Senior Center), 266 Beech St.
  • Precinct 4: Daniel Butler School, 90 White St.
  • Precinct 5: Beech Street Center (Senior Center), 266 Beech St.
  • Precinct 6: Belmont Fire Headquarters, 299 Trapelo Rd.
  • Precinct 7: Burbank School Gym, 266 School St.
  • Precinct 8: Winn Brook School Gym, 97 Waterhouse Rd (Enter at Cross St)

Editorial: Cast Aside Politics and Fear, Vote Yes for the Override

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Photo: The Yes campaigners. 

The Belmontonian endorses a “yes” vote on Question 1, the Proposition 2 1/2 override measure on the ballot to be decided on Tuesday, April 7. 

This question allows residents the opportunity to follow “the better angels of our nature,” when we can set aside manufactured tension and fear and replace it with good, positive, constructive acts.

The proposed override was born after a year-long gestation by the Financial Task Force of sober, careful analysis and facts of the financial constraints facing the community. The task force – including Selectman Mark Paolillo, Town Treasurer Floyd Carman, Town Administrator David Kale, School Committee Chair Laurie Slap, Capital Budget Chair Anne Marie Mahoney and Charles Laverty III of the Board of Assessors, all respected for their dedication and work for Belmont – held dozens of open and public meetings and forums, requested information and data and worked cooperatively with all.

The task force’s final report recommended the Belmont Board of Selectmen call for a $4.5 million multi-year override to both stems the rapidly growing funding deficit due to skyrocketing enrollment and rapidly increasing expenses in our schools. In a vote called a “brave decision,” the Selectmen unanimously approved the recommendation in February.

But just as vital as supplying funding, the override secures up to three, but likely many more years of stability for Belmont schools. While not ideal or even desired, assured level-funding will provide educators over the long-term, Town Meeting and our state legislators the time to commit to fundamental improvements and other necessary changes to retain the outstanding reputation of the schools, our community’s greatest resource.

The override will exact a burden onto Belmont property owners, about $650 on the medium valued house assessed at $847,000. No one should say it’s “only” $162 on the quarterly bill; that is a hardship to some.

But it is time Belmont residents face the fact the community has been attempting to run a modern, urban municipality on the cheap. Belmont has one of the lowest average tax bills in the state and an extremely low cost-per-pupil expenditures (coupled with one of the highest student-to-teacher ratios). It’s little wonder the town is a laughing stock for it’s disgraceful roads, but that happens when you won’t pay an adequate amount for their upkeep. The band Midnight Oil spoke to what Belmont needs to realize: “The time has come/To say fair’s fair/to pay the rent/to pay our share.”

There are worthy opponents to the override. Former Selectman Anne Marie Mahoney, a task force member, is opposing the ballot question as she takes the lonely role of sponsoring the large ticket capital projects – a new High School, police station, Department of Public Works complex to name a few. Her cause requires Town officials and Town Meeting to be acknowledged and brought fully into the fold of long-term planning.

The same can not be said for the “Vote No on Ballot Question 1 Committee,” a tiny renegade group from the Warrant Committee, made up of members past and present, supporting its campaign with little more than empty phrases and promises.

The No committee claims its complaint with the override supporters is fiscal, the Financial Task Force’s careful analysis on revenue assumptions by well-respected town members is wrong, the recommendation producing a “mega” override. All that is needed is to fill the announced $1.7 million deficit the schools will encounter in the next fiscal year.

The Nos has no completing reports to back its claim the money is out there; they counter with “trust us.”

What should take every resident aback is the solution being proposed from the Nos if the override is defeated; this group of non-elected residents will come before the elected Board of Selectmen with their “list” of residents and town members they hope to see on an unelected “budget committee” which will solve the fiscal issues facing the town, all within “three to six” weeks.

The questions that arise with this “solution” are numerous and unnerving:

  • Will the “budget committee” be open to all or closed to a few?
  • Who will lead it?
  • Will it have any authority?
  • Shouldn’t it be approved by Town Meeting before it starts?
  • Will the committee be subject to the open meeting laws?
  • What if the solution from the “budget committee” differs from the renegade Warrant Committee members?

The No committee is making it up as it goes. Its solution is not based on democracy, but power.

And, to misquote Hamlet, therein lies the rub: The No Committee’s mission is political, not financial. The amount could have been $4 million, $3 million or $2 million, the Nos would have pegged the override with the puerile label “mega.”

But the prime target for the Nos is the schools and the “hardcore” union representing Belmont teachers. It wouldn’t surprise anyone that the Nos have circulated lists of teachers pay prompting one supporter wondering at candidates’ night paying a kindergarten teacher $90,000. Several times, one member of the group have suggested that the union must be made to heal to lead the town into a financial nirvana. In addition, by providing annual funding rather than a long-term approach, the school district will be beholden to the “budget committee.”

If the Nos had declared its agenda up front, they would be seen as honest brokers, rather than a very small fraternity of political operatives.

With only seven contributors and a campaign paid by a single source, the Nos remain a powerful opponent, playing to a substantial number of residents who view Belmont as the same small town of several generations past, those who believe providing a “good enough” education – in a world that punishes those who are only “good enough” – is what is required, while nervously viewing their own finances as economic forces beyond everyone’s reach ever change.

We, Belmont, must reject the fear and mistrust being pushed by the No committee.

We, Belmont, must be for something, rather than be opposed to stability and taking responsibility for the true cost of running the town.

We, Belmont, must grab the opportunity to move forward with facts and realism rather than be led back with half truths and the empty “trust us.”

Vote for the override.

This Week: Book Clubs Young and Old, Lemonade and Cookies, Town Business

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On the government side of This Week:

  • The Zoning Board of Appeals is meeting on Monday, April 6, at 7 p.m. on the third floor of the Homer Building (in the Town Hall complex off Moore Street). It will hear several requests for special permits for additions and such on residential property.  
  • The Community Preservation Committee is meeting at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 8, at Town Hall to discuss its fiscal year 2016 budget and an update on the projects it funded in the past two years. 
  • The Board of Selectmen will meet on Wednesday, April 8, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall to reorganize (include selecting a new chair), sign the contract for the Belmont Center Reconstruction project, get an update on the commuter rail track repairs and sign the official warrant for Town Meeting. 
  • The Planning Board is meeting on Wednesday, April 8, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall where it will discuss the upcoming Zoning Forum and related issues before Town Meeting next month.
  • The Capital Budget Committee meets on Thursday, April 8, at 5 p.m. in Town Hall to have a talk with reps from the facilities, schools and police departments as well as discuss its fiscal ’16 budget, in general terms.

• If you love music, come over to the Belmont High School auditorium, Monday, April 6, at 7 p.m. for Jazz Night featuring the Chenery Jazz Ensemble and the Belmont High School Jazz Collective with guest artist Trent Austin. And it’s free!

• The 7th-8th Grade Book Group from the Chenery Middle School meets Monday, April 6, at 7 p.m.  to discuss My Most Excellent Year by Steve Kluger, choose May’s book, and enjoy some snacks.

• Tuesday is Town Election in Belmont. Get out and vote!

• Mat Yoga, a new six-week exercise class taught by Susan Harris, begins this Tuesday, April 7, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St. The level of difficulty of the new class is somewhere between the well-received Wednesday afternoon chair yoga class with Carol Wilson and Harris’ Tuesday evening yoga class. Cost: $48.

Tuesday is story time at both of Belmont libraries. 
• Pre-School Story Time at the Benton Library, Belmont’s independent and volunteer run library, at 10:30 a.m. Stories and crafts for children age 3 to 5. Parents or caregivers must attend. Siblings may attend with adults. Registration is not required. The Benton Library is located at the intersection of Oakley and Old Middlesex. 
• The Belmont Public Library on Concord Avenue will be holding two sessions of Story Time for 2’s and 3’s, at 9:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. 

• On early release Wednesday, April 8, from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m., Chenery Middle School student can stop by the Belmont Public Library’s Assembly Room, work on your homework, enjoy some lemonade and cookies, and try out an activity.  This is for middleschoolers only, so high school students can do something else. The activity is funded by the Friends of the Belmont Public Library. Just drop in, no registration required.

• The Book discussion group for elementary school students in the 3rd and 4th grades will be held Thursday, April 9 from 3:15 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Belmont Public Library’s Flett Room.

• The Belmont Vision 21 Implementation Committee will be meeting Thursday, April 9 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the Belmont Public Library’s Flett Room. 

• The Senior Book Discussion Group will meet Friday, April 10 at 11 a.m. at the Beech Street Center to discuss Leo Tolstoy’s masterpiece, War and Peace  (Part 1 through Part 7).  On Friday, May 8, the group will continue the discussion of War and Peace, starting at Part 8 through the end of the book.

Letter to the Editor: Williams Will Not Kick the Can on Town’s Obligations

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Photo: A family of Jim William campaigners,

To the editor: 

Belmont has a clear choice this year for the Board of Selectmen.  The best choice is Jim Williams.

Belmont made a commitment this year both to town employees and to school employees (both teachers and non-teachers). It’s a promise the town has little chance of keeping.  The promise is to pay benefits called “OPEB,” Other Post-Employment Benefits, referring to post-retirement health care benefits. OPEB is in addition to any pension that employees may earn.

Every two years, the Town prepares a study of how much it will cost to pay all of its OPEB commitments. The most recent analysis found that Belmont owes roughly $196 million in OPEB benefits.

Under Belmont Selectman and candidate Andy Rojas, Belmont appropriated roughly $265,000 toward its OPEB obligation for fiscal year 2015. While Rojas claims that this contribution would put a small dent in the unfunded OPEB obligation, that’s not at all true. In 2013, the annual interest alone on the unfunded OPEB obligation was $2.175 million. The town’s payment, in other words, was just over 10 percent of the interest alone on our unfunded OPEB liability.  

All of the unpaid balance, and 90 percent of the unpaid interest, in other words, went into an amount to be paid sometime in the future. The annual interest, alone, on the unfunded OPEB amount balance has more than tripled in recent years, from just under $700,000 to $2.17 million.

Belmont’s current treatment of OPEB is, in its essence, a form of deficit spending. The town delivers services today, and residents use those services without completely paying for them. When OPEB obligations are deferred to the future, the effect is to push onto our children and grandchildren the costs of providing today’s services.  

Accordingly, herein lies the choice. 

Rojas proposes to kick the can down the road in the hopes that “the state” will bail us out at some point in the future. In the meantime, while the interest and principal continues to accumulate, future OPEB payments will seriously impede Belmont’s future ability to deliver basic municipal services. Since an ever-increasing proportion of Belmont’s future budgets will be needed to pay the OPEB obligations, less and less of those budgets will be left-over to pay for things like paving streets and hiring teachers.  

Williams proposes real solutions. While those solutions not only may, but will surely evolve as they work their way through the political process, unlike Rojas who merely proclaims his leadership, Williams is exhibiting leadership by actually grappling with the problem.  

Belmont faces a real choice this year. Williams is my choice.  

Roger Colton 

Warwick Road