Three Nights of Construction on Trapelo Road Begins Monday, July 28

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For the next three nights, from Monday July 28 to Wednesday, July 30, Waverley Square will be “under the lights” as Trapelo Road is repaved as part of the $17.2 million Trapelo/Belmont Corridor reconstruction project.

From 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., trucks and repaving equipment will be on Trapelo Road from Mill Street to White Street as well as on Lexington and Church streets.

The construction work was approved by the Belmont Board of Selectmen a week ago to lessen the impact on approximately 30,000 daily commuters and businesses in the area, according to Glenn Clancy, director of Community Development and the town’s engineer.

“We appreciate your patience and cooperation during this operation. As you are aware this work is very much necessary and every effort will be made to minimize impacts to residents while work is occurring,” said Clancy in a press release. He stated that residents with any concerns can call he at 617-993-2659 or by e-mail at gclancy@belmont-ma.gov.

Clancy said that homeowners and residents who have questions or concerns during construction hours can contact Ryan Gleason of Newport Construction at 603-765-2173.

Dig It Up: Water Main Work Begins This Monday

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On the heels of Belmont naming 11 dilapidated roads to be reconstructed this year comes another list of streets, only this one highlights roads to be dug up.

This Monday, July 28, the Water Division of the Belmont Department of Public Works will begin water main replacement work on 10 byways in town, with the work lasting until Nov. 15.

The streets include:

  • Charles Street
  • Edward Street
  • Orchard Street from Common to Beech streets
  • Winthrop Street
  • Warwick Road
  • Garden Street
  • Holt Street
  • Somerset Street from Pleasant Street to Shady Brook Lane
  • Wellington Lane
  • Richmond Road

The infrastructure work – to replace aging mains to provide “an ample volume of high quality drinking water … and improve water pressures throughout the town,” according to a DPW press release – will take place Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

As with any water main work, residents will experience service disruptions during the construction process. Homeowners and businesses will be provided with at least 24-hour notification of all planned water main shutdowns, where water service will be interrupted for a period longer than two hours.

The water system improvements will require some residences to have water supplied through a temporary above ground water main until the new main is complete.

Questions relating to the project or schedule should be directed to the Belmont Water Division at 617-993-2700, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday or by calling Water Division Construction Supervisor Dave Powers at 617-438-2079.

Project updates can be found on the Department of Public Works Water Division web site. http://belmontma.vt-s.net/dpw-water-division.

West Nile Virus Found in Belmont

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The Massachusetts Department of Public Health announced today, Thursday, July 24, that West Nile virus has been detected in one mosquito recently collected from Belmont, according to a press release from the Belmont Health Department.

“WNV is most commonly transmitted to humans by the bite of a mosquito infected with the virus. While WNV can infect people of all ages, people over the age of 50 are at higher risk for severe infection,” according to the state.

The first detection of the virus was in Clinton on July 3.

As always, there are a few precautions people can do to help to protect themselves and their families:

Avoid Mosquito Bites

Be Aware of Peak Mosquito Hours: The hours from dusk to dawn are peak biting times for many mosquitoes. Consider rescheduling outdoor activities that occur during evening or early morning. Otherwise, take extra care to use repellent and protective clothing.

Clothing Can Help reduce mosquito bites. Although it may be difficult to do when it’s hot, wearing long-sleeves, long pants and socks when outdoors will help keep mosquitoes away from your skin.

Apply Insect Repellent when you go outdoors. Use a repellent with DEET (N, N-diethyl-m-toluamide), permethrin, picaridin (KBR 3023), IR3535 or oil of lemon eucalyptus [p-methane 3, 8-diol (PMD)] according to the instructions on the product label. DEET products should not be used on infants under two months of age and should be used in concentrations of 30% or less on older children. Oil of lemon eucalyptus should not be used on children under three years of age. Permethrin products are intended for use on items such as clothing, shoes, bed nets and camping gear and should not be applied to skin.

Mosquito-Proof Your Home

Drain Standing Water: Mosquitoes lay their eggs in standing water. Limit the number of places around your home for mosquitoes to breed by either draining or getting rid of items that hold water. Check rain gutters and drains. Make sure rain barrels are covered or screened. Empty any unused flowerpots and wading pools, and change water in birdbaths frequently.

Install or Repair Screens: Some mosquitoes like to come indoors. Keep them outside by having tightly-fitting screens on all of your windows and doors.

Information about WNV and reports of WNV activity in Massachusetts during 2014 can be found on the MDPH website . Recorded information about WNV is also available by calling the MDPH Public Health Information Line at 1-866-MASS-WNV (1-866-627-7968).

Wishes Do Come True: Town Release List of Streets to be Reconstructed in ’14

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They will be dancing on a number of Belmont streets – repaired streets! – later this year as Belmont’s Director of Community Development Glenn Clancy released the list of 11 roads that will be reconstructed and repaved hopefully by the end of the 2014 construction season.

The list – submitted to the Belmont Board of Selectmen at their Monday, July 21 meeting – include a number in eastern Belmont. Work by contractor E.H. Perkins Construction of Waltham will begin in August.

The list includes:

  • Brighton Street: Pleasant Street to the cul-de-sac
  • Knowles Road: Holt Street to the Waltham town line
  • Whitcomb Street: Lexington Stret to the Watertown town line
  • Wellesley Road: Village Hill to Crestview roads
  • Fairview Avenue: Payson Road to School Street
  • Hoitt Road: Newcastle Road to Dean Street
  • Brettwood Road: Common Street to Homer Road and Hastings to Horace roads
  • Radcliffe Road: Scott to Frontage roads
  • Falmouth Street: Fairview Avenue to Belmont Street
  • Concord Avenue: Cambridge city line to Louise Road
  • Unity Avenue: Falmouth Street to Park Road

Clancy said while the town uses a ranking system to determine which roads are to be considered for repair, he said some of the roads on this year’s list would not have made the cut as there are worse roads in town. But due to delays in the Water Divisions  of the Department of Public Works’s capital improvement program, replacement of water mains on dilapidated streets have not taken place and the town will not reconstruct a road if a new main is needed.

Belmont Selectmen Approve Raises for Non-Union Workers

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At their Monday, July 21 meeting, the Belmont Board of Selectmen approved a two percent cost of living raise for the 55 town employees not represented by unions.

The vote came after the board meet with Diane Crimmins, the town’s Human Resources Director, in executive session before the night’s meeting.

The action will impact employees such as parking control officers, budget analysts, administrative assistants and the library director, said Crimmins.

“I put in a request for these employees for a cost of living increase each year and I’m happy that [the board] approved it,” Crimmins told the Belmontonian.

“We need to stay current with what comparable towns are paying their employees so we can recruit the talent the town needs,” said Crimmins, who said she calculates the percentage increase after doing research of other municipalities along with the consumer-price index.

Night Moves: Trapelo Road Paving Begins Monday 7 PM

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Work on the Trapelo/Belmont Corridor Project goes under the lights next week as the repaving of Trapelo Road from Mill Street to the Belmont Car Wash and the “triangle” encompassing Lexington and Church streets in Waverley Square begins Monday evening, July 28 at 7 p.m.

While the Massachusetts Department of Transportation – the $17 million roadway construction is a state project – and the project contractor were set begin work this week, the Belmont Board of Selectmen Monday, July 21, pushed back the starting date five days to allow residents along the route time to prepare for three days of 12 hours of construction outside their front doors.

According to Tony Barrile, vice president of operations for project contractor Newport Construction of Nashua, NH, the combination of high temperatures, heavy commuter traffic and the narrowness of the roadway would lead to chaotic conditions performing the job during the work day.

Answering questions concerning the MDOT’s request to proceed with night work, Barrile said the new asphalt must cool after being laid forcing traffic on a single lane at certain choke points near the Shaw’s Supermarket on Trapelo Road, impacting rush hour traffic in the morning and afternoon, resulting in lengthy backups and delays.

Switching to a night schedule, “we wouldn’t have to deal with the sheer volume of traffic” that transverse Waverley Square with the added benefit that most of the square’s businesses closed for the day, he said.

Saying that he doesn’t like to work after normal hours, “[i]t’s just so congested there that it makes sense to do it at night,” said Barrile.

While the selectmen were supportive of the time change for the repaving, they were not happy with the DOT’s initial proposal to begin the work on Wednesday, July 23, just two days after their meeting.

 

“There are quite a few residences in that area that will be only given a day notice before construction starts and I have a concern with that,” said Selectman Mark Paolillo.

While conceding construction noise will impact residencies, Glenn Clancy, Belmont’s director of the Office of Community Development, said “the tradeoff goes back to 30,000 vehicles trying to get through there during a work day coupled with the fact that businesses trying to operate during the day; the night work seems to be the best alternative to get the job done quickly.”

But Paolillo said the idea of beginning a major construction work through the night and the early morning, “right outside your house” will not give residents the opportunity to make other arrangements.

Selectmen Chair Andy Rojas offered up a Monday start “that gives us time to adequately to notify residents of the nature of the work.” Along with a series of mitigation suggestions – such as positioning construction lighting so it is directed onto the street and a contact number for residents to call the contractor during construction – the selectmen voted to approve the night time work request.

The five day delay will not have much of an impact on the project’s schedule, said Barrile.

“We’ll continue to work on other items such as sidewalks and paving,” he said. “We just want to have that piece of roadway nice and smooth for a change.”

Unchallenged, Belmont’s State Legislators Re-Election Secured Early

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It’s a fairly good bet that Belmont residents will be coming out in large numbers for this year’s primary (Sept. 9) and general (Nov. 4) elections. With wide-open contests for most of the big state offices including governor and plenty of ballot questions – a statewide casino ban and paid sick leave – voters should be staying up into the night viewing results.But it will be early evenings for Belmont’s Beacon Hill representatives; while there’s tremendous interest in a wide array of political races on the 2014 ballot, State Sen. Will Brownsberger and State Rep. Dave Rogers find their re-election paths unimpeded by potential challengers for their elected offices.

For Brownsberger – who represents the 2nd Suffolk & Middlesex which includes his Belmont hometown, Watertown and precincts in Boston and Cambridge – after seemingly running continuously for the past several election cycles, “[i]t’s a relief.

“I’ve had a campaign every year in each of the last four years and I welcome the breather,” said won a special election for his current seat in early 2012 but was defeated last year in the race to replace Edward Markey in the US House of Representatives.

For Rogers, who won the seat in a 2012 special election to replace Brownsberger representing the House’s 24th Middlesex, the “ABC” district – comprising precincts in Arlington, Belmont and parts of Rogers’ hometown of Cambridge – while he enjoys campaigning, there is the downside of gladhanding with residents.

“It is a highly time-intensive activity that inevitably would distract any incumbent candidate from the substantive aspects of the job.”

While seemingly minor open races – such as for Lt. Governor – have people willing to throw their hats into those rings, potential challengers to Brownsberger and Rogers would be required to take on an incumbent who have solid support in their districts for their steady, if workaday, legislative records.

“It is hard to say why I do not have an opponent without getting into random speculation,” said Rogers.

“But I hope that, in part, it is a reflection of the considerable effort I am putting forth on behalf of the people I represent, effort that has yielded a number of important, positive developments for our community,” said Rogers, who points to boosting public transportation and public education funding, increasing the minimum wage to the highest in the nation as recent accomplishments.

“Hopefully, people feel I’m doing a good job,” suggested Brownsberger.

In addition, the legislators have the ability to raise the cash needed to run a primary campaign. I probably didn’t go unnoticed by anyone with political ambitions in the “ABC” district that popular Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick would come straight from Logan to highlight Rogers’ fundraiser earlier in the year.

With re-election all but certain, Brownsberger and Rogers are gearing up for the next legislative year in advance of the election of a new governor.

“I’m getting more done than ever before,” said Brownsberger, who was recently appointed by Senate leadership to co-chair the prominent Judiciary Joint Committee.

“I feel I’m hitting my stride and taking on a lot of responsibility in the legislature. I am delivering a lot of value for my district and the Commonwealth,” he said.

“When Patrick came to Belmont in April to endorse me at my re-election campaign kickoff, he told a large, enthusiastic crowd that I had shown political courage on Beacon Hill. I had championed the values and voted for the public policy goals about which my constituents care, even when at times under fairly intense pressure to vote a different way,” said Rogers.

“I believe that I have hit the ground running, and I look forward to continuing service to the community. It’s very hard work, but it’s also a great honor, deeply rewarding and a lot of fun,” he said.

Helping Repair A Place in Belmont History

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Nineteen-year-old Army Private James Paul White – known by his friends as “Whitey” – had seen his share of war in just the month he spent on the front lines in 1944.

White – a member of Co. G, 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, “The Big Red One,” – had fought as part of the US Army’s advance into the Huertgen Forest, “a miserable and treacherous affair” that lasted until the first week of December, recalled White’s unit commander, 1st Lt. August T. ‘Mac’ McColgan, in 2004.

It must have been a hard time for the replacement to a battle-hardened company

“All of the battles in the past were just rehearsals for what was yet to come” on Dec. 16, said McColgan, when some 24 German divisions, 10 of them armored, launched a massive counterattack in the Ardennes region of Belgium that began what was to be called the Battle of the Bulge. The 26th, known as the “Blue Spaders,” would fight on the northern edge of the enemy’s advance, near the small Belgium hamlet of Don Bütgenbach.

“The Battalion Commander finished his attack order with the statement, ‘Gentlemen we fight and die here.’ Many did die there, friend and foe alike,” wrote McColgan in 2000.

“We established our defensive position astride the Bütgenbach/Büllingen Road. We, G Co., 26th Infantry established the “Hot Corner,” said McColgan in his war memoir, “The Battle of the Bulge – Part III – Hell at Bütgenbach.”

On Dec. 20, White – who was a veteran member of the outstanding 1942 baseball team of Belmont High School where he graduated in 1943 – would face with his fellow soldiers the might of the German Wehrmacht. Enemy tanks launched an attack on their position on “a dark, damp and foreboding morning,” many which succeeding in penetrating parts of the US line. Only through close-range combat was the attack propelled back.

Following a night and early morning which White and his comrades were subjected to an artillery barrage that was “by far the worse the defenders of Dom Bütgenbach had experience in the whole war,” a final all-out push with an ever greater armored force began at dawn on a foggy Thursday, Dec. 21.

Once again, the 26th successfully beat back the enemy’s attack in which infantry drove back the Germans. For his actions during that battle, the 26th’s Cpl. Henry Warner would be awarded the Medal of Honor posthumous.  

And in the snow and bitter cold of a field in Belgium on the day before winter, White laid dead, one of 19,000 Americans killed in the 10-day battle.

In May 1948, a year after White’s body was sent from Europe for burial in the US, Belmont honored White by naming the athletic field house on Concord Avenue for him.

A bronze plaque reads that White was “[a]n athlete trained on the Belmont playgrounds” who was “representative of the youth of Belmont who served their country in World War II.”

“Freedom lives and through it he lives.”

The memorial, which hangs just inside the front door of the 82-year-old structure, is more than simply an aging tablet to the long dead. It became one of the reasons inspiring Woodfall Road resident Frederick Jones to move towards “refurbishing” the interior of Belmont High School’s athletic facility used by numerous teams which play on Harris Field or the Viglirolo Skating Rink during the school year.

“The plaque is quite moving,” Jones told the Belmontonian before attending the Belmont School Committee’s meeting on Tuesday, June 24. “It’s well worth reading by every resident.”

Jones said the structure is a state-recognized historic building – that is owned by the School District – that “we all drive by every day on Concord Avenue which also has an interesting architectural history.”

“But it’s also a historic memorial for a town figure. It makes you feel that there should be something better to continue this memorial to this hero and to all veterans,” said Jones, whose son plays football and was a finalist in the 200 meter dash in the All-State meet earlier this month.

Yet for anyone who has entered the field house can observe, the interior – which has four locker rooms – hasn’t changed much since the day it was renamed more than 65 years ago. The lockers are circa 1940s, “old, battered and far too small and narrow for modern equipment,” said Jones, forcing hockey and football players to leave large bags and personal items on the floor or on top of the lockers. The paint is old, the emergency lights don’t work and the communal showers harken back to the YMCAs of a bygone age.

“It is quite remarkable the conditions inside the field house,” Jones lamented.

“We know how hard the athletes work … and it seems right to give them a better facility,” said Jones.

Yet years of delayed maintenance has taken its toll on the structure as capital spending is limited and greater priorities for the Capital Budget Committee arise on an annual basis.

Knowing the challenges facing any facility needing long-term funding in Belmont, “our idea was to step in and do some simple things that will refresh it,” said Jones.

The result of many brainstorming sessions by Jones and a core committee he set up resulted in raising nearly $40,000 in outside pledges of the $50,000 they are seeking to raise along with contacting contractors who can do the job.

The project is divided into several “discrete modules” that were ranked in order of importance with the lockers being the most pressing need. Next will be replacing the electrical system and updating the lighting fixtures and emergency lighting system, performing a top-to-bottom cleaning, repaint the inside and then place partitions in the showers for privacy.

And work is currently underway inside the field house with material begin stacked up in the ground floor entry way.

Jones and his group will be working with the town’s Facilities Manager, Gerry Boyle, and the school’s Athletic Director James Davis as well as the Brendan Grant Foundation which will allow anyone donating to the effort to receive a tax deduction for their contribution.

“The support we have receive has been very encouraging and has helped our fundraising,” said Jones.

Yet what this one group of parents and supporters has done is expose the inability of the town to sufficiently fund what is required from either the school or capital budgets, said the School Committee’s Kevin Cunningham.

“I’m not sure what the moral of that is except that an additional amount of effort is not coming from the core fund but from volunteers and donations,” said Cunningham.

 

Belmont Schools, Teachers Union Sign Three-Year Deal

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Limitations to Belmont’s financial future and job security trumped demands for big pay increases as the Belmont School Committee and Andy Rojas, chair of the Belmont Board of Selectmen, approved three-year labor agreements with the four bargaining units represented by the Belmont Education Association on Tuesday, June 24.

“There’s been a relationship of honest communication and trust established that we can build upon,” BEA President John Sullivan told the Belmontonian after the committee’s regularly scheduled meeting held at the Chenery Middle School.

“We hope that the process producing these agreements has helped deepen relationships based on trust and mutual understanding that will support teaching and learning through the life of these contracts,” said a press release dated Wednesday, June 25 that was signed by Belmont School Committee chair Laurie Slap and Sullivan.

After a year-long negotiation, the union and the committee reached the tentative agreements on Thursday, June 12 with the BEA units approving the four respective agreements on Wednesday, June 18.

The four units comprise teachers (Unit A), directors and assistant principals (Unit B), clerical employees (Unit C) and paraprofessionals (Unit D).

On the salary front for teachers – that makes up the largest BEA unit with approximately 300 members – most of the increases over the next three years will be going to the most senior of the teachers. Those with 14 or more years of service, known as “top spots,” will receive the bulk of increase:

  • Year one, only the “top” educators will receive a 1 percent increase,
  • Year two a 2 percent increase for the top educators while those with 13 years or less will receive a 1 percent increase, and
  • Year three, top step educators will get a 2.5 percent with the less-senior educators receiving 1 percent again.

Yet those increases have been tampered down by the effective dates of the jump in salaries; increases in the first year will not begin showing up in pay packages until the 113th day of the year, with similar delays in the subsequent years; 109 days in year two and 121 days in year three.

“So the one percent increase in the first year is really about 80 cents to the dollar,” said Sullivan, a teacher at Belmont High School who led the union’s 10-member negotiating team.

“We believe the compensation picture has stayed within the projected available revenue that will be coming to the school department over the next three fiscal years,” said Belmont District Superintendent Dr. Thomas Kingston who participated in his final committee meeting before department from his three year “interim” position on June 30.

While the contract’s pay compensation increase is sparse for most teachers – two percent over two years – the membership approved the union’s package overwhelmingly, said Sullivan.

“We had a lot of questions on salaries in our meeting last week,” said Sullivan, having met with his membership for an hour before the votes was taken last week.

Modest increase in salary

“There was faith in the team and trusted the work that we had done with the school committee. … [the] compensation package allows Belmont to say competitive in retain and attract highly-qualified teachers,” said Sullivan.

In a recent Boston Business Journal report, Belmont teachers ranked 30th in state according to salary information from 2011 with an average teacher’s salary of just lower than $80,000.

“We remain on that upper level of compensation with other towns so we are competitive,” said Sullivan.

The relatively modest pay increases for Belmont teachers in this contract is based on the acceptance by both sides that the town is unlikely to see any appreciable increase in available revenue for the foreseeable future.

The realization Belmont relies heavily on residential property taxes – whose increases are limited to 2 1/2 percent annually – while lacking the capacity to generate tax revenue from new growth such as commercial real estate or fees restricted what the union could ask for and the town to give.

“The agreements provide for compensation in line with projected annual School Department revenues for fiscal years 2015, 2016, and 2017,” said the School Committee press release.

Both the committee and Sullivan said the most important issue facing the sides was that the district “remains committed to attract and retain a highly qualified staff that meets the needs of our students,” according the committee’s press release.

The other major agreement achieved in the contract is job protection for paraprofessional such as teacher’s aides. The new contract states that at the end of the 2015-16 school year, no [paraprofessional] who has successfully completed five years of service can only be dismissed with “good cause.” In addition, a new evaluation system will be jointly negotiated during the upcoming school year.

“We have a highly-dedicated group of professional aides that does a great job supporting students. It’s a sign of respect and [they] feel better with their position within the district,” said Sullivan.

In addition to the job protections for the aides, the agreements also provides the standardization of clerical personnel job classifications and pay-for-performance benefits to directors and assistant principals, said the press release.

The agreement continues the “step and lane” salary schedule in which teachers receive pay for years of service and education level they achieve.

Kingston said while he continues to believe “step and lane” compensation is “unsustainable,” he said this contracts mitigates the formula by acknowledging the limits on revenue growth.

Both sides agreed that employing in part the principles of interest-based bargaining – in which both sides expressed their underlying interests for each request – greatly assisted the negotiation process.

The committee and the town will also be created a Joint Labor-Management Committee to “continue addressing district-wide issues of mutual concern,” said the press release.

“It’s building on the relationships we’ve established so we won’t have as many items in three years with the next contract,” said Sullivan.

“We don’t want to put everything on hold for three years,” said Slap.

The specific details of the agreements are available on the Belmont School Department’s website under the School Committee tab in the next few days.

School Committee, Teachers Set to Sign Three-Year Contract Tuesday

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After nearly a year of weekly negotiations and late-night meetings, the Belmont School Committee and the Belmont Education Association, the agent for Belmont’s classroom instructors, will sign a new three-year memoranda of agreement at the committee’s regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, June 24.

The contact will be signed by BEA President John Sullivan. The BEA represents the district’s school teachers, assistant principals, coordinators, teacher aides/instructional support staff and campus monitors.

Sources contacted by the Belmontonian would not go into detail on the specifics in the contract including the percentage salary increase or whether the two sides have agreed to continue the “steps and lanes” salary schedule. Steps refer to how many years a teacher has been teaching, and lanes refer to how much education the teacher has.

Under the current three-year contract, set to expire on Aug. 31, first year teacher with a bachelor’s degree received $46,546 in fiscal year 2014 while a first year educator with a PhD would earn $55,788. At the top end, a PhD with 15 years of work experience makes just under $100,000.

Belmont School Superintendent Dr. Thomas Kingston – who is leaving his position on June 30 – has been publicly critical of the steps and lanes schedules as pay increases are automatically given to educators without consideration for performance. Other critics contend an across-the-board pay increase would be a fair substitute of the current structure.

Supporters of the current pay schedule say that it provides transparency as they are based on easily quantifiable measures ensuring equitable salaries without biases towards teachers and allows those educators to plan for the future by giving them a reasonable assurance of their yearly income.