Once Again, (Special) Town Meeting Will Be A Virtual Affair

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Photo: Mike Widmer, Belmont Town Moderator

While many of the town’s board and committee meetings have returned to in person, the most significant of those will, once again, be held virtually after Belmont Select Board approved a recommendation by Town Moderator Mike Widmer to hold the upcoming Special Town Meeting virtually over the internet.

The three-day meeting is scheduled for Nov. 29, 30 and Dec. 1.

The reason Widmer said for the continuation of meeting “on-line” was two fold, first pointing to rising numbers of Covid-19 infections returning as the weather turns colder.

According to the website Your Local Epidemiologist, the start of a new Covid wave in Western Europe has begun as hospitalizations are uniformly increasing. “As we’ve seen throughout the pandemic, not only are infections increasing, but so is severe disease,” said the website.

Given the U.S. has mirrored European trends throughout the pandemic, a wave in the U.S. is likely coming. And specifically in Boston, “there are concerning signals with sudden increases in viral wastewater levels.”

With the likely return of virial infections, a large indoor setting with 300 people would prove challenging. Town Meeting would take place for four hours over three days either in the new High School auditorium or at the Chenery Middle School, said Widmer. And while a majority of Town Meeting would be comfortable in this setting, “clearly a fraction of Town Meeting members, particularly those who are seniors and immunocompromised would have some risk,” said Widmer.

And while that population would have a choice to attend a movie or eat at a restaurant, “it’s not fair to tell them to choose to not to meet their civic obligation and not attend Town Meeting.”

“I think the prudent thing to do is to continue to meet virtually. We have been successful with the Town Clerk [Ellen Cushman] in doing this well and professionally and with civil debates,” said Widmer.

Rink Committee Cuts Cost To $32.3M; White Field House Stays, Harris Field Lockers Go

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Photo: The location of the projected new skating rink/athletic complex will be built at the site of the current rink

Forty-eight hours after the Municipal Rink Building Committee’s design team presented an eye-opening $41.4 million price tag for the proposed municipal rink/athletic center, the committee on Friday, Sept. 30, voted to bring to the Belmont Select Board what it believes is a far more palatable request for the 48,000 sq.-ft. facility.

After a crash course by Ted Galante Architect Studio and Owner’s Project Manager CHA in cutting costs and rejiggering calculations, the committee will present at the Monday, Oct. 3 meeting a slimmed down $32.3 million – $32,343,487, to be exact – budget to replace the dilapidated Skip Viglirolo Rink adjacent to Harris Field on Concord Avenue.

“The $41 million cost, as we all concluded, is significantly higher than what we feel we can take to the town. And therefore, we need to do some [value engineering] to get that back to where we want to be, which is in the mid-30s, if possible,” said Building Committee Chair Mark Haley.

The significant changes in the revised budget are twofold: a recalculation of the contingency and escalation reserves as well as a list of value engineering reductions totaling $5 million.

The contingency reserve – that is, money set aside to protect against future unexpected costs that arise because of change orders or unanticipated expenses – has been reduced from $10.2 million to $6.5 million by consolidating two contingency line items into one and reducing the percentage

Another cost saving was found in lowering the percentage reserve for expected price escalation for materials and services, a change promoted by Haley that brought a warning from the design team.

“We can try it,” said Galante. “I think it puts us at risk, but we just have to be very careful about how it’s designed and what path we take for construction,”

After the contingency and escalation recalculations, the base bid construction cost – how much it takes to build the structure as well as the reserves for unanticipated expenses and all “soft” costs – for the rink came in at $38.8 million, which was still more than the top of the range of the initial cost estimate presented in July to the Select Board.

To bring down the projected cost to a more palatable cost, the design team proposed five potential options after conducting a value engineering study.

The option is:

  • The removal of the mezzanine deck. ($1.950 million)
  • Eliminating space for DPW-related storage. ($663,000)
  • Striking out the Harris Field Locker Rooms. ($1.547 million)
  • Delete the removal of the White Field House. ($535,000)
  • Reduce the scope of the parking area ($300,000)

Once presented, the committee voted to approve the programming cuts to reach the $32.3 million threshold.

Although the locker rooms were requested by the school district, committee member and Belmont School Committee Chair Meghan Moriarty said Schools Superintendent John Phelan told her the district was in favor of the value engineering reductions if it meant the total project price tag would be seen as more acceptable to the voters.

While five programming components were removed from the projects, they will be an opportunity for these to return later. Committee member Dynelle Long said the project can add a core shell – with foundation walls and supports – where the deleted programming would have been located to preserve the options of future construction.

That future funding could come from an existing pool of money set aside for recreational purposes.

“We should consider whether Community Preservation Act (CPA) funding is a way to pay for the plaza in front of the rink because, in fact, all of those, I believe, are eligible for CPA money,” said Anthony Ferrante, the Recreation Commission’s representative to the Committee.

It’s a question for the town whether that’s how we want to prioritize our CPA funds. But that’s a way of removing costs,” he said.

Select Board OKs $500K In ARPA Funds For DPW’s New Salt Shed

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Photo: The existing salt shed at the DPW yard, currently closed for safety reasons.

Each year – winter, really – Belmont uses 5,100 tons of salt on town roads to keep the streets safe and manageable when ever it snows.

And you gotta store it somewhere. For the past 35 years, the salt –  basically sodium chloride much like table salt – has been stored in a bee-hive shaped shed located at the Department of Public Works yard. At 36 feet tall and 72 feet in diameter, the octagonal structure was constructed with six-foot steel reinforced concrete retaining walls that supported the wood beam dome.

But storing corrosive material such as salt in a location for decades end up doing bad things. For years, workers witnessed the six-foot steel reinforced concrete wall rusting through and showing signs of failure. In addition, the narrowness of the entry into the shed has resulted in the town’s excavator hitting the walls inside a dark interior as it maneuvered inside the structure to retrieve salt.

In July, workers began hearing what sounded like a “door opening and closing,” said DPW Director Jay Marcotte. Looking inside the shed, employees discovered the wooden dome was lifting off from the concrete wall. The DPW had seen enough, chaining a gate to the shed and closed it down.

A subsequent investigation found the wood frame was collapsing and actually being supported by the salt pile. Removing the salt when the first snows event occurs would likely cause the roof to collapse with possible injuries.

The solution: Replace wood with fabric. BETA Engineering, the town’s consultant, recommends an engineered fabric metal structure manufactured and installed by Clear Span Fabric Structures of South Windsor CT. A specialist in creating salt sheds, the firm recommended a 65 foot wide, 80 foot long and 36 feet high fabric covered structure with block footings and interior lighting.

One main advantage using this structure is it can be moved to accommodate future town plans for the DPW site.

A breakdown of the cost:

  • $50,000 to BETA Group,
  • $375,000 to Clear Span for the material and installation;
  • $50,000 to remove the current shed and move and tarp the existing salt; and
  • $25,000 for prep work.

The funds to build the new shed is allocated from the town’s American Rescue Plan Act account, which leaves a balance of approximately $4 million.

The existing dome and the concrete supporting walls will be removed, the salt covered with a tarp and a new structure built at the same location. Construction will take place in the next 8 to 10 weeks with the onsite installation taking 3 to 4 weeks. The new shed should be ready around mid-December, according to Marcotte.

A Clear Span salt shed
The interior of a Clear Span salt shed

Leaf Blowers, Elected Vs Appointed Treasurer To Be Tackled At Late November Special Town Meeting

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Photo: An off-cycle Community Preservation Committee funding request to finish the Town Hall roof will be an article at Belmont’s Special Town Meeting in November 2022.

Town Meeting Members can expect three long, drawn-out nights as the agenda for this year’s Special Town Meeting was revealed to the Select Board at its Monday, Sept. 12 meeting.

Members will vote on 13 articles over three consecutive nights; Nov. 29, 30, and Dec. 1 that includes changing how the town treasurer is chosen, the creation of a bylaw to end the use of gas-powered leaf blowers in town in the next five years, providing additional funds to the Recreation Department and send free cash into rainy day funds. 

“There is concern at the number of articles … that Belmont can take a considerable amount of time in discussing some of the articles,” said Town Administrator Patrice Garvin presenting the agenda to the board and the Warrant Committee at its organizational meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 14.

“I will be meeting with the Town Moderator [Mike Widmer] to look at the list in a realistic way and hopefully try and get through the articles,” she said.

The Special Town Meeting could also be the first in-person meeting since 2019 if Widmer determines the meeting can take place safely in the new Belmont Middle and High School auditorium.

The index of warrant articles include:

  • Article 1: Reports
  • Article 2: Appropriation Belmont Library, Authorization to Borrow
  • Article 3: Belmont Municipal Ice-Skating Rink, Authorization to Borrow
  • Article 4: Establishing a Capital Stabilization Fund
  • Article 5: Transfer from Free Cash to Capitalization Fund
  • Article 6: Transfer from Free Cash to General Stabilization Fund
  • Article 7: Establish a Recreation Enterprise Fund
  • Article 8: Leaf Blower Bylaw
  • Article 9: Elected Treasurer to Appointed/Hire
  • Article 10: Extension of Contract Term for Electric Vehicle Buses
  • Article 11: Off Cycle Community Preservation Project – Town Hall Roof
  • Article 12: Current Year Supplemental Payment for Recreation Department
  • Article 13: Appropriation of Opioid Settlement

Looking down the plan, Garvin noted that articles 2 and 3 would only be taken up if one or both debt exclusion votes on building a new library and municipal skating facility were approved by voters at the Nov. 8 General Election.

The middle articles, 4-7, is the establishment of several funding line items. For example, Garvin said her office is proposing to transfer a portion of fiscal year ’22 “free cash” – the amount certified by the state will be announced on Sept 15 – into a pair of accounts; capital and the general stabilization funds.

The newly created capital fund will be for future capital needs and projects such as roofs on municipal buildings. Article 6 is a straight transfer from free cash into the established general fund that sets aside monies to be available for future spending purposes.

Garvin said the impetus for this approach was that each year a significant amount of free cash is carried forward to the next fiscal year. “[The town’s finance team] felt that it might be good to start storing [free cash] into stabilization funds for future appropriation and try and figure out a way to use that in a more productive way rather than keeping it aside for the operating budget,” said Garvin.

Garvin reminded the board on Monday that Article 7, establishing a Recreation Department enterprise fund, “has been talked about for a few years now.” And even now, “we’re still running down whether or not this is something that town should be doing.” An alternative is a potential revolving fund, “so we are running that down with Recreation Department.” The article is a placeholder until a firm decision is decided after discussions with Recreaction Department Director Brendan Fitts.

Article 8 is the leaf blower bylaw which the board talked about extensively since the beginning of the Covid-19 shutdown “when we first started getting complaints from residents about the noise level for leaf blowers.” Negotiations between small landscaping businesses and environmentalists have created a blueprint for ending gas-driven machines in the next few years.

“The Select Board discussed at the last couple of meetings … the possibility of making the elected treasurer an appointed/hired treasurer,” said Garvin, which will be before Special Town Meeting as Article 9.

Article 10 is an extension of a contract term for electric vehicle buses. Garvin said while there has been a great deal of discussion at the School Department, and when they put out their bid for buses, it will likely include electric – or EV – powered versions, there has been no formal “ask” by the district.

“The article is just a placeholder because, under Massachusetts’ procurement law, you can only have a three-year contract with a vendor … and some require a 10-year contract,” said Garvin. Under the law, such a contract has to be approved by a Town Meeting vote, she said. This article will be used to set up the district when it wants to go to these buses, said Garvin.

Article 11 is an off-cycle Community Preservation Project request to finish the repairs to the slate tiles on the Town Hall roof which received CPC funding. On Wednesday, Sept. 14, the CPC approved the extra funding.

Article 12 is a current year supplemental for the Recreation Department which is seeking additional funds to allow “Rec” to provide the programing that is town residents are demanding.

“Covid-19 has been tough to estimate receipts for Recreation. Garvin told the board that any surge in demand could decimate a program. “So we are looking to potentially change what those estimates are because our concern is Recreation is going to run out of money for FY ’23.”

The final article, 13, is Belmont’s appropriation of the state Attorney General’s Statewide Opioid Settlements. “I don’t know if people watch the news, but the town added itself to the settlements. So we have an opportunity to receive money, and this is something that we’re looking at to see if it would benefit the town,” Garvin said. The town would have to create a separate account to accept the settlement funds, which, Financial Director Jennifer Hewitt noted, would be $200,000 in the first year. “But the payments would fall significantly” over the next 16 years,” she added.

With the warrant open for only two days – Sept. 13 and Sept. 14 – it’s unlikely the Town Clerk’s office will have accepted any citizen petitions for certification, which was just fine with board member Adam Dash.

“I’ve always perferred to keep Special Town Meetings to the [agenda] because we have a special need for these meetings. Citizen petitions and all that are more [suited] to an annual Town Meeting,” he said.

Garvin Gets High Performance Marks From Belmont Select Board, 2.5 Percent Merit Increase Approved

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Photo: Patrice Garvin at Monday’s Select Board meeting

As the town prepares to move forward with historic changes to its budget process and governmental structure, Belmont’s Chief Administrative Officer received top marks from the elected executive arm of the town during her annual performance review.

Each board member praised Town Administrator Patrice Garvin for her professionalism inside Town Hall and among residents and her fiscal leadership, for which the board gave her its highest marks.

“Her opinion is always valued, her financial insight is always detailed, and her view is always on what is best for Belmont,” wrote Select Board member Adam Dash. “She is a great Town Administrator, and Belmont would be worse off without her.”

Responding to the review, Garvin told the board that she sees it “as a privilege to come and work for the town of Belmont every day.” Noting that she could not do her job with her “amazing” staff and department heads, Garvin said there is “mutual trust and respect for each other, and it goes a long way” when some departments are “really bare bones” in staffing.

“As you know, that can be challenging … but I always keep in the back of my head that what I’m doing is for the residents. It’s not for myself. So I leave my ego at the door, and I keep working.”

According to Human Resources Director Shawna Healey, Garvin’s performance review consisted of self-evaluation and a number-based performance evaluation on all aspects of her role as the town’s chief administrative officer. After calculating the board’s ratings on several categories, including personal characteristics, professionalism, her relationship with the board, and organizational leadership, Garvin received an overall rating of 4.67 out of 5.

Last year, amid Covid-19-related restrictions and budget constraints, Garvin received a 4.16 rating.

If there was one area, the board noted her expertise was in financial management, which each member rated her as a ‘5’ in the category’s six subsets.

“Patrice is an expert financial manager,” wrote Roy Epstein. “The [fiscal year] ’24 budget process will be a critical test of her abilities. Simple and clear communication with the public on these topics is also very important.”

Galvin’s lowest ratings came in the Public Relations/Communications category, with a need to be more effective in transmitting the goals and aims of the town to the public.

Saying that Garvin should remember to emphasize her own professional development, Dash noted while he “appreciates her frank and direct approach, sometimes a softer response would work better.”

The board approved a 2.5 percent merit increase at Monday’s meeting, in line with what the police and fire chiefs recently received as part of their reviews, said Healey. The merit increase is retroactive to July 1, the same date as a 2 percent cost of living adjustment. Garvin’s current annual salary after the two adjustments is $202,156.

Three Cardboard Drop-Off Days Are Coming To Belmont’s DPW Yard

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Photo: Belmont will hold three cardboard drop off events starting in October

Where do you stack the cardboard boxes that brought your online purchases? In the garage? How about the corner of your office? Or the basement where it has taken the form of a corrugated fiberboard Mt. Everest.

Well, you’ll soon have the opportunity to rid all those cartons out of your abode as Belmont will provide residents three days to drop-off those piles of cardboard, according to Jay Marcotte, director of the Department of Public Works.

“It’s that time of year,” Marcotte told the Belmont Select Board at its Monday, Sept. 12 meeting, when the town creates the schedule for paid drop off events.

Unlike past years when the town held a pair of events on either side of the Christmas holiday, demand for the service – which is revenue neutral – necessitates a extra day.

“We are slammed with phone calls right now,” said Marcotte, noting at a recent event, 400 cars lined up to toss their boxes.

The events will take place on:

  • Saturday, Oct. 22
  • Saturday, Dec. 3
  • Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023

Location: the DPW Yard off of C Street.

Cost: $5. “The fee seems to work best at $5; that seems like the magic number for participation,” said Marcotte. Residents can use an on-line registration form on the Recreation Department‘s web page or come to cash or a check written out to the “Town of Belmont.”

Belmont Votes: 2022 In-Person State Primary Election

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Photo: The state primary election will be held in Belmont from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 6

Voting in the Massachusetts State Primary will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 6. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

All voters wishing to cast their ballot on Election Day must go to their assigned voting precinct.

This election will determine who will be the Democratic and Republican candidate in the general election. On Ballot: Representative in Congress, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, State Auditor, Governor’s Council, State Senator, State Representative, District Attorney, Sheriff.

Belmont’s voting precincts:

  • Precinct One: Belmont Memorial Library, Assembly Room, 336 Concord Ave.
  • Precinct Two: Belmont Town Hall, Select Board Room 455 Concord Ave.
  • Precinct Three: Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St.
  • Precinct Four: Daniel Butler School Gym, 90 White St.
  • Precinct Five: Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St.
  • Precinct Six: Belmont Fire Headquarters, 299 Trapelo Rd.
  • Precinct Seven: Burbank School Gym, 266 School St.
  • Precinct Eight: Winn Brook School Gym, 97 Waterhouse Road, Enter From Cross St.

Inactivated Voters

Voters who have been informed that their voting status has been changed to Inactive should be prepared to present identification before being permitted to vote.

If You Requested a Vote By Mail Ballot But Prefer to Vote In Person

Voters who have requested an absentee or an early vote by mail ballot should expect that the precinct will check with the Town Clerk to determine if a ballot has already been received for that voter.

Voters who Need to Return their Mailed Ballot for Counting

Any voter who would like to return a absentee or vote by mail ballot  to be counted, must return the ballot  to the Town Clerk by the close of polls on election night, 8 pm.  It cannot be delivered to a voting precinct. There is a dedicated drop box for the Town Clerk at the base of the steps to Town Hall along the driveway at parking lot level.

Belmont, SEIU Come To Agreement; Three Unions Remain in Negotiations

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Photo: A successful agreement was signed Monday between the town and one of the municipal union (Twitter, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)

The Belmont Select Board approved a collective bargaining agreement with the union representing town staff and library assistants at its Aug. 29 meeting.

Belmont’s Human Resources Director Shawna Healey said the three-year contract with SEIU Local 888 is retroactive to July 1, 2020 and will continue to June 30, 2023. The contract includes a cost of living adjustment in each fiscal year of two percent and language changes from the previous contract such as changing the holiday in October from Columbus Day to Indiginous People’s Day while also adopting the BRAVE Act – paid time off for days spent on military orders – for its employees.

The union members will also receive a one-time payment to recognize employees that worked through the Covid-19 epidemic from March 2020 to March 2021 with those mostly working “on-site” will get $1,000 and those working hybrid will take home $500.

Three union contracts continue to be negotiated, said Healey. Both the firefighters and the patrol officers have been working under contracts that ended on June 30, 2020 while the Belmont Library Association’s contract expired on June 30, 2022.

Belmont’s HR Director Proves Thomas Wolfe Wrong By Taking Same Post In Hometown Of Woburn

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Photo: Shawna Healey

For Shawna Healey, there were 500 reasons Belmont’s Human Resources Director will be leaving for the same position in Woburn.

The 500 is the distance in feet she’ll be traveling from the end of her driveway to the Woburn Town Hall when she begins her new job as its HR director in mid-October.

And with a 10-month-old son and an opportunity to work where she’s lived most her life, “it’s a life balance decision,” Healey told the Select Board at its Aug. 29 meeting. Healey’s final day will be Oct. 7.

“I’m fortune enough to have the opportunity to work in my hometown where I grew up and where I still live,” she said.

“I’m sorry to see you go but I can’t compete with being 500 feet from work,” said Board Member Adam Dash, who along with the rest of the board praised Healey for her work in finalizing at time contensious union contracts.

A graduate (BA) of St. Amselm College and (MBA) Southern New Hampshire University, Healey arrived in Belmont in September 2017 as assistant to than HR Head Jessica Porter. She became acting director in October 2020 before being named director in March 2021.

Select Board Seeks Quick Action Transforming Treasurer’s Position To Appointed Post As Carman Appears Ready To Depart

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Photo: Floyd Carman, Belmont’s town treasurer

The Belmont Select Board is set to move quickly to implement one of the major reforms called for in a scathing review of the town’s governmental structure by converting the critical Town Treasurer’s position from an elected post to an appointed one as it takes advantage of the reported retirement of long-term incumbent Floyd Carman.

The board’s announcement, made at its Aug. 29 meeting, has quickly elevated the revamping of the treasurer’s job to the most pressing of the 19 recommendations from the Collins Center’s review now before the three members.

“With [Carman] not running again, this is our chance to make the change,” said Board Member Adam Dash.

The select board’s unconfirmed announcement that Carman is retiring after 17-plus years in the position came as a surprise as Carman has not made his future plans public. When reached for comment, Carman said he’ll discuss his future after Labor Day.

First elected in 2005, the former John Hancock executive has been lauded by town officials and residents for his fiscal acumen, resulting in the town’s top-tier AAA bond rating – rare among municipalities – while negotiating debt servicing that provided savings to ratepayers.

With Carman now expected not to seek re-election in April 2023, the Select Board decided to move quickly to meet a major Collins Center recommendation to overhaul the position into an appointed post. The board believes, along with the Center, the town will benefit from a larger pool of qualified applicants as is done by nearly 80 percent of large towns and cities in Massachusetts which appoints their chief fiscal leaders.

“I think we got really lucky last time around that we were able to have [Carman] interested [in the position],” said Ellen Schreiber, who commented on the proposal. “And I don’t think that it’s going to be very easy to find a Belmont resident who has these qualifications.”

‘The most important issue we’re facing’

“I would put almost everything else in the report on hold … with the exception of the budget process, but far and away the treasurer question is the most important issue we’re facing,” said the Board’s Roy Epstein.

The race to transform the treasurer’s post is twofold: the treasurer will have a critical hand in how the town – which Warrant Committee Chair Geoff Lubien compared to a large corporation in its financial complexity – implements the budgetary and fiscal changes the Collins Center addressed.

“I think that the financial situation of the town is much, much more complicated than it was years ago,” said Schreiber, who said the treasurer’s post is “a professional position” which needs to be filled by someone who has made a career in the field.

Second, the transformation will need to take place before the 2023 Town Election in April, or a newly-elected treasurer will be on the job for three-years before the town will have the opportunity to make an appointment.

The board initially supported a plan where the appointed Treasurer’s position would be placed on the Special Town Meeting warrant which will open on Sept. 12. The measure would be brought to the STM in mid-November for members to debate and vote followed by a town-wide election in January. This will than allow the town to begin the hiring process for a new treasurer before the annual Town Meeting in May.

But the board’s blueprint was put on hold when the enabling legislation was unclear on what body – the annual town meeting or the voters – has the final say. The board will seek Town Counsel George Hall’s advice on the correct path to meet its goal.

Even with a plausible framework to move the treasurer’s position to an appointed post before the Town Election, Board Chair Mark Paolillo noted the move will be “a very controversial issue with immediate resistance in town” and it will need time to “socialize” the public on the need for a change.

“Do we have enough time to help folks provide input to us about this even though we may be unanimous on this and then have an election in January?” he said.

Town Moderator Michael Widmer, who attended the meeting to provide advice, said the board should proceed with its initiative even if it’s done in “at an accelerated timeframe,” noting the town is attempting to follow up on the recommendations “as expeditiously as possible.” If someone is elected to the treasurer’s post before the change is made, it will delay the Collins Center’s guidance by three years, which Epstein said “would be very unfortunate.”

If a January vote a possibility, “I would like to see all of us hold hands together on this and have a unified front saying ‘this is what we think is best for the town,” said Lubien. “I think it’s going to take that to convince folks that this is the right change at the right time.”