2022 Town Meeting Segment B: Swan Song For Capital Budget’s Stalwarts As One-Time Windfall Meets This Year’s Needs

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Photo: Anne Marie Mahoney, chair of the Capital Budget Committee, in action.

For 15 years, Anne Marie Mahoney has identified, found the funding for, and shepherd Belmont’s capital needs through the Town Meeting process with her usual aplomb as the longstanding chair of the Capital Budget Committee.

Known for her meticulous reports, having every fact down cold and at the ready all which she presented in a good natured but firm disposition of a school teacher she once was, Mahoney has long been the model in town of how to present – and importantly, pass – an article before, at times, testy audiences of nearly 300 Town Meeting Members.

On Wednesday, June 1, Mahoney – along with her fellow long-serving Capital Budget stalwarts Jenny Fallon and Betsy Vose – presented their final capital budget before Belmont’s legislative body on the first night of Segment B of the annual Town Meeting held virtually. (It is also the final action of the Capital Budget Committee as it has been absorbed into the newly-formed Comprehensive Capital Budget Committee.)

Calling the trio “the oldies but goodies,” Mahoney said she and her compatriots “loved our time working for the town particularly love capital” having served on the committee for so long. “But at the same time, it’s good to recognize when it’s time to move on and do other things,” she said before the meeting.

“If we were in person, we would have a loud standing ovation for these individuals,” said Town Moderator Mike Widmer.

And ending this chapter of their Town Meeting history with a flourish, Mahoney stated that in fiscal ’23, Belmont has more than enough money to meet its capital needs! Well, at least for this coming fiscal year.

“For the past ten years, I have stood before you and reminded you that the Capital Budget Committee needs at least $3 million a year to keep on top of routine requests,” said Mahoney, saying it would be lucky to come up with half that amount. This year, finally, all the financial stars aligning, with the sale of the Cushing Square parking lot ($1.043 million) and end-of-the -year turn backs to town coffers ($545,121) resulted in a robust $3.138 million in available revenue. And since half the total came from these one-time funds, “this windfall came with the obligation to choose wisely” which was to target one-time projects, said Mahoney.

Mahoney preceded to present the articles, with a significant amount of the facilities department’s allocation – $1.2 million – directed to the Butler Elementary School, the town’s oldest school building, which will include façade repair, replacement windows and a new PA system.

(The full list of capital allocations can be found at the bottom of the page.)

The extra revenue also allowed the committee to add a new Project Bid Reserve line item for $205,738. Like a building contingency fund, when the cost of a capital budget job runs over its allocated bid price, the department can use the funds rather than waiting until the next Town Meeting to seek the difference.

As part of the annual roads and sidewalks, $1,857,772 was appropriated for paving projects, and $237,730 for sidewalks.

By the end of the 10 separate votes, you could count on two hands the number of negative tallies as Mahoney left the stage one last time.

As a final word, Mahoney reminded the meeting that while the funds were available this year, there remains “projects without end” facing the town from building envelopes, roads, sidewalks, culverts and water mains that will quickly require attention.

And it wouldn’t be a Capital Budget presentation from Mahoney if there wasn’t a quote or, this year, a story enlightening the members on the process the committee followed. Mahoney was taken with a performance of a contemporary work at a recent Boston Symphony Orchestra Friday afternoon concert which featured non-musical items such as sandpaper and cellophane as important sounds in the work as well an artist playing two pianos simultaneously then plucking its strings.

“What is my capital budget takeaway? We have the score for the concerto to follow which is our process and our legal requirements. But we also have ingenuity within the limitations with unusual instruments such as creative playing techniques, everyday items play to deliver something exciting. We hope that what the Capital Budget Committee has done this year is equally exciting,” said Mahoney.

The complete list of Capital Budget expenditures which were accepted by Town Meeting include:

FACILITIES DEPT. $1,485,017

2022 Hybrid Utility Vehicle: $55,666
Butler Masonry Façade Repair: $487,000
Butler KalWal Replacement: $415,000
Butler PA System: $300,000
Electric Van: $54,756
Wellington Heat Pump: $97,595
Winn Brook Fire/PA Systems: $75,000

FIRE DEPT. $583,665
Air Packs: $376,584
Ambulance Replacement: $80,000
Cardiac Monitor Replacement: $7,000
Ambulance Power Load Cot System: $45,081
Replace Staff Car: $75,000

IT DEPT. $230,000
Fiber Optics Burbank/Wellington: $20,000
Network Storage:$60,000
Fiber Line to Antenna Site $150,000

POLICE DEPT. $42,000
Radio Amplifier: $30,000
Replace EMD Server: $12,000

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS $409,070
Tree Inventory: $55,000

Cemetery Pick-Up Truck: $58,310

Parks Front End Loader: $112,450

Parks Pick-up Truck: $58,310

Replace Trees $25,000
Sidewalks from Balances $100,000

OFFICE OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Roads Rebuild and Patch $150,000

Capital Roads Non-Discretionary $1,857,772
Sidewalks $ 237,730
Total Paving/Sidewalks $2,095,502

Project Bid Reserve $205,738

League of Women Voters’ Segment B Warrant Briefing Via Zoom This Thursday, 7PM 

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Photo: The poster for the Warrant Briefing on May 26, 2022

Town Meeting members and the public are invited on Thursday, May 26 to attend the 2022 ‘Zoom’ Warrant Briefing on all things budget for next week’s resumption of the annual Town Meeting.

The meeting is cosponsored by the town’s Warrant Committee and the Belmont League of Women Voters.

Residents and members will have the opportunity to ask questions of town officials and department heads about the budget articles and amendments prior to the annual legislative gathering on Wednesday, June 1.

Geoffrey Lubien, chair of the Warrant Committee, will preside.

Viewing Options:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89020081969
Zoom meeting ID: 890 2008 1969
Live broadcast: Belmont Ch 8 (Comcast); Ch 28 (Verizon)
Livestream or on-demand: belmontmedia.org/watch/govtv

Jennifer Hewitt Named Belmont’s Asst. Town Administrator/Finance Director

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Photo: Jennifer Hewitt, Belmont’s Assistant Town Administrator/Finance Director

A veteran of state and town government has been named Belmont’s assistant town administrator and new finance director, according to Town Administrator Patrice Garvin who made the announcement at the Select Board’s Monday, May 23 meeting.

Jennifer Hewitt replaces Jon Marshall who left in October 2021 to become deputy town administrator for operations in Natick.

“Thank you for the warm welcome. It was a busy day, lots to learn and looking forward to the challenge,” Hewitt said.

Hewitt comes to Belmont after six years as Lexington’s budget officer where she was responsible for collaborating with town departments to develop budgets and produce budget documents, track spending and flag areas for review and follow-up. She was the interim assistant director of finance for the Lexington schools for a little over a year before becoming the budget officer.

Before her tenure in municipal government, Hewitt spent nearly 20 years with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services, working in fiscal policy. She finished her state career as the department’s director of purchase of service administration which oversaw $2.3 billion in human service spending.

Hewitt matriculated at Valparaiso University in Indiana where she received her BA in Political Science and French and earned a Master’s in Public Administration from UMass Boston.

Hewitt’s annual salary is $153,000.

‘Final’ Fuel Tank Virtual Meeting Set For May 19

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Photo: The current location of the fuel tanks at the Belmont DPW Yard.

It wasn’t suppose to be this difficult: replacing a pair of ancient underground tanks at the Public Works yard which funding had already been allocated to build. But two years after Town Meeting first breached the subject, Belmont officials will bring the future of the pair of 35-year-old 6,000 fuel tanks back to the public one final time before the issue returns to Town Meeting in a few weeks.

The meeting will be held over ZOOM and by phone on Thursday, May 19 at 7 p.m. Connecting to the meeting via ZOOM or by phone can be found here.

After a $533,000 request from the Capital Budget Committee was approved in 2020, a $500,000 supplemental appropriation championed by the Capital Budget Committee and the Select Board was narrowly defeated by the 2021 Town Meeting after three residents – which received the support of a fledging austerity organization – brought a citizen petition article to the legislative body.

Since then, the town has been conducting a detailed analysis to answer questions about the project which included a three-month trial study over the winter on the effectiveness of off-site fueling of town-owned vehicles at neighborhood service stations.

The results of the analysis will likely be incorporated in Article 19 – which is currently a placeholder – which will come before Town Meeting in the first week of June.

League Of Women Voters Holding Brown Bag Lunch To Hear Latest On Proposed Library

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Photo: A rendering of the proposed Belmont Public Library.

The Belmont League of Women Voters will be holding a virtual Brown Bag Lunch Talk titled:

Belmont Library: Where are we? How do we get a new one? with Kathy Keohane, chair of the Library Board of Trustees, and Peter Struzziero, Belmont Library Director.

The lunch will take place on Friday, May 20 from Noon to 1:30 p.m.

The meeting will be on Zoom: Meeting ID: 880 3835 5536, Passcode: LWV or you can follow along by going to this link.

2022 Belmont Town Meeting, Second/Third Nights Of Segment A: A New Capital Budget Committee Approved

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Photo: Belmont Town Meeting approved the work of a special commission to change the Massachusetts state flag and seal (above) (credit: Commonwealth of Massachusetts)

The final two nights of Segment A of Belmont’s 2022 annual Town Meeting saw the creation of a new committee to oversee town and school capital projects, allow a group of dispatchers to retire under the plan they started with, and gave a thumbs up to updating the state flag.

The new Comprehensive Capital Budget Committee

Here was the opportunity for Town Meeting to merge the two existing committees overseeing the town’s capital process – the well established Capital Budget Committee and the two-year-old Long Term Capital Planning Committee – into an all encompassing oversight group of capital projects to be dubbed the Comprehensive Capital Budget Committee.

According to the article’s sponsor Chris Doyle, chair of the Long Term Capital Planning Committee, the new group will revise and expand the town’s capital budgeting and planning process. It will continue the work of the Capital Budget Committee which comes to Town Meeting with an annual appropriations list of projects or items requested by town departments – from fire trucks to roof repairs and everything in-between – with a new requirement to present to Town Meeting detailed one, five and 30 year plans that will evaluate major projects and financing options. The one year plan would be the annual appropriations which is voted on by Town Meeting while the five and 30 year plans will be recommendations by the CCPC provided to the annual meeting.

While there was no real opposition to the creation of the new committee – it has been under discussion and presented to the public for the past several months without much criticism – the article still came before Town Meeting with three amendments which Town Moderator Mike Widmer said was the most he’s seen at any one article in all his time as moderator. Two amendments were clearly ”housekeeping” alterations which were happily accepted by Doyle.

The third amendment from Bob McGaw, Precinct 1, sought to include language on how the three plans would be structured, by “endeavor[ing] to utilize generally accepted financial analysis tools and models in its evaluation and comparison of capital projects.” While the amendment’s suggestion on using “generally accepted” analysis models appeared to be innocuous enough, it could also be open to interpretation that troubled many as demonstrated by every board and committee reporting on it recommending “unfavorable action.”

While opponents to the McGaw amendment were OK with deep dives on the finances of capital projects – Ann Marie Mahoney, Precinct 1 and chair of the CBC, said what McGaw is seeking “is already happening” with her committee including analyzing purchasing vs. leasing and calculating life expectancy of renovation or reconstruction projects – they believed the phrasing was far too vague.

“This sentence is completely unworkable,” said Claus Becker, Precinct 5, as ”there is no list of ‘generally accepted financial analysis’ tool in the context of local governance.” Becker said if a resident doesn’t accept the work a committee or board has produced, it is their “civic duty” to do their own analysis and present it to the public for comment.

The McGaw amendment was set aside by Town Meeting and the article was approved by a wide margin, 244-8-3.

Retirement Classification of Certain Employees

Precinct 7’s Michael McNamara put it succinctly when he renamed the measure on the Retirement Classification of Certain Employees brought before Town Meeting as the “keeping them from being stiffed” article.

Tom Gibson, chair of the Belmont Retirement Board and the sponsor of the article, reported that the article came as a result of the latest three year audit by the Public Employee Retirement Administration Commission – which regulates, oversee and guides the operation state’s public pension systems – which determined that Belmont’s dispatchers are misclassified in terms of their pension benefits. While they are placed in group 2 – which includes employees whose major duties are the care and custodial duties involving prisoners – the auditors said they should be group 1, which are for clerical, administrative, management and technical employees. That change would have an impact on the calculation of an employee’s retirement allowance which will eventual the final benefit.

Gibson said the PERAC-directed change would impact just eight Belmont employees and all future employees. Under the new group designation, the eight would be required to work more years to receive the amount they were expecting under the existing plan. The article would grandfather those under the existing Group 2 classification with all new employees be slotted into Group 1.

As both Gibson and Select Board Chair Mark Paolillo noted, voting yes on the article was to a measure of fairness for the eight dispatchers. While the majority of speakers supported the article, some who said they were fine with the measure were miffed that the Retirement or Select Board didn’t have an analysis of the ”added” cost of keeping the dispatchers in Group 2 available to members.

After a bit back and forth with members, Gibson revealed that there would be a $159,423 increase to keep the dispatchers where they are.

Fairness passes: 247-6-5

Changing the State Flag and Seal (non-binding)

This article was fairly self explanatory: Citizen petition sponsor Joseph Barnard, Precinct 3, hoped that the town would approve a resolution to support a special commission as it goes about the mission of changing the Massachusetts state flag and seal. Barnard said this is not a new issue, that indigenous people have been saying for generations that the flag and seal were ”offensive and harmful” and a yes vote ”is to uplift and amplify an indigenous led campaign for change.” Go here for more information.

Not much in terms of debate as nearly all speakers were enthusiastic in backing the measure, although one member did ask for the data that would support the contention that ”a large majority of native Americans find the current state flag offensive.” Barnard admitted he didn’t have a poll or survey to call on but said he believed the indigenous leaders who backed the commission would know what their constituents thinking on the matter. It passed 222-12-19.

Town Meeting Returns In June

Segment B of Town Meeting which articles involving the town and school budgets will be voted, will commence on Wednesday, June 1 at 6:30 a.m., likely via Zoom and on local cable access.

Board Of Health Recommends June Town Meeting Segment Stays Virtual

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Photo: The new Belmont High School auditorium where Town Meeting will likely not take place in 2022

The Belmont Board of Health is recommending the second segment of the 2022 Town Meeting remain virtual, according to a discussion at the board’s monthly meeting on Monday, May 9.

The recommendation now goes before the Select Board for a final decision.

The Town’s Health Director Wesley Chin said he meet recently with Town Moderator Mike Widmer and Town Clerk Ellen Cushman to determine if is possible for the town’s legislative body to meet safely for the three scheduled nights in June when Town Meeting will review and vote on budget articles.

Chin noted to the board that Covid cases have surged in the past month with the CDC placing Middlesex County in its ”high” category for infection.

With the infection risk elevated and best practices for holding an indoor meeting includes people spaced six-foot apart from each other, Widmer and Cushman said the two locations large enough to hold approximately 300 Town Meeting members and staff – the new Belmont High School and the Chenery Middle School auditoriums – are unable to provide the needed separation.

Board member Donna David said she was informed that a possible hybrid option – on site participation with a virtual option or using both auditoriums – was not as an option as the town’s Information Technology department told her a tech solution doesn’t exist at this time to make such a plan work.

Hiding Out On B Street: Feds Nab Belmont Man Wanted For Murdering His Wife 27 Years Ago

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Photo: Colombian homicide fugitive Acosta following arrest on April 13 by ERO Boston officers near Belmont, Massachusetts. Photo by ICE ERO Boston.

It’s a story straight out of a true crime podcast. A man with a murderous secret was living a quiet suburban life on a dead end street. But it was his wish to be just like most of his neighbors that opened the door to his downfall.

That suburban byway is B Street near Waverley Square and adjacent to Belmont’s Town Yard, and the man who lived for nearly a quarter century with his family in a small condo at the end of the street was Carlos Alberto Rendon.

But Rendon was the alias he hid behind as he attempted to escape from justice … that is until early Wednesday morning, April 13, when special agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested William Hernando Usma Acosta for the 1994 murder of his wife, Laura Rose Agudelo, and the attempted murder of her daughter in Medellin, Columbia.

“Acosta is a convicted cold-blooded killer who thought he could evade justice by entering the United States and creating a new identity for himself so he could live under the radar. He needs to face justice for what he did, and today’s arrest ensures that he will,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division.

U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE), Boston

On November 14, 1996, a court in Medellin sentenced Acosta to 45 years in prison for aggravated murder of his wife during a domestic assault, aggravated attempted murder, and illegal possession of a firearm. That sentence was later reduced to 28 years and six months based on new sentencing guidelines. Colombia subsequently issued an international arrest warrant for Usma Acosta to serve his sentence.

According to immigration records, Acosta, who was then going by his newly-assumed identity of Carlos Alberto Rendon, arrived in the United States illegally in 1995 when he crossed the Mexican border. In 1998, he married an American citizen and obtained lawful, permanent resident status while living in Somerville. Since that time, Rendon moved to Belmont with his wife and son into a small condo at the edge of the DPW Yard and lived a very quiet life away from all scrutiny.

But in 2020, Acosta decided to become an American and submitted his application for naturalization to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services which began the unraveling of his true identity. As part of that application, Acosta submitted a Colombian birth certificate and fingerprints. The FBI compared his fingerprints against those provided by the Colombian National Police and determined they were an exact match with the murderer Acosta. Investigators also determined the Colombian birth certificate that Rendon/Acosta submitted was fraudulent.

In June 2020, special agents with the FBI Boston Division’s Violent Crimes Task Force received information that Usma Acosta may be residing in the greater Boston area. The FBI’s Violent Crimes Task Force tracked Usma Acosta’s whereabouts to his home in Belmont and he was arrested without incident as he was heading to work in Waltham. 

Proceedings to remove Acosta from the United States for violating the conditions of his legal permanent residency status will be commenced by U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement which will transfer him to Colombian law enforcement authorities who issued the warrant for his arrest.  

“Today’s arrest has ensured that this dangerous and convicted killer will face justice for his crimes,” said Todd M. Lyons, Field Office Director, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE), Boston. “Acosta will no longer pose a threat to the residents of the Commonwealth thanks to the tireless efforts of an outstanding team of law enforcement professionals in both the United States and Colombia.” 

Four Draft Skating Rink Designs Revealed At Public Feedback Meeting

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Photo: Steel beams in the current rink that could be used in a new rink.

After being selected as the architect to design the new town skating rink, Ted Galante‘s first official task by the Skating Rink Design Committee was to essentially take a blank sheet of paper and start drawing.

And on Thursday, April 7, the Cambridge-based architect who led the renovation of the Belmont Police Headquarters and ramped the DPW building presented four variations of a new facility to solicit resident’s feedback after a few week into the design phase.

”We don’t have all the answers yet,” said Mark Haley, the chair of the Preliminary Rink Design Committee who hosted the meeting. ”We’re just really starting our journey on this design and that’s why we are reaching out to the public to get some of their input.”

For Goden Street resident Amy Tannenbaum, it is incumbent for both committee and architect to as go commit to a thorough process as ”we’re only going to do this once … so let’s do it right.”

What was presented Thursday were first impressions, the rough outlines of possible structures with the programs a new one-sheet-of-ice rink. Galante said these “are not final plans by any stretch” but rather the first iteration of how the ice sheet will relate to locations and the programs associated with the building.

“It’s the right time to be doing this sort of project given the vintage of the building.” said Galante of the structure built as an outdoor rink in 1969 and enclosed in 1971. “It is well past its useful life and is falling apart in many, many ways,” he said pointing to the haphazard way it was constructed and expanded over the years and currently “in violation of so many building codes” as well as the American with Disability Act.

”It’s a dangerous building as it currently exists,” said Galante.

In any new design, the building must incorporate an expanded program to fit its new role: large three-season and hockey specific locker rooms, a lobby, spectator seating, office space, ice skating rentals, and many more.

The new rink – which need a great deal of energy to create ice and maintain operations – will be designed to “reduce its carbon footprint” and sets a target at being carbon neutral using geothermal heating/cooling and installing photo voltaic panels on the roof or on south-facing façades.

“I think they’ll be many people in town that htis building be operationally zero net energy,” said resident Brian Isler of School Street. ”Rather than contributing to the global climate problem spewing carbon, let’s make a contribution to the solution and very likely save a ton of money” as rinks use a great amount of electricity, he said.

The structure which will house the high school’s Boys’ and Girls’ varsity and junior varsity teams will be the highlight of the area known as west of Harris Field which is part of the new Belmont Middle and High School campus. An important aspect of any design is a requirement to fit three fields and a 90 space parking lot – a requirement by the Planning Committee when it approved the entire Middle and High School project – the inside the area’s land envelope, which Galante will incorporate in his next design reiterations.

Two of Galante’s draft designs stood out, the first was rehabilitating of the current ice rink which was not included be so much renovating “The Skip” buy rather a near complete gut rehab of the structure. Galante envisions keeping the large steel bends and and as they represent “embodied energy.” But after that, every thing else goes: the ancient surface where the ice is located will be dug out, the ice-making infrastructure – refrigeration pipe grids, chiller, and pumps – tossed, the brick and corradiated steel walls hauled away, the leaking roof taken down, and all other interior structures from offices, locker rooms, bathrooms, concessions and Zamboni storage space will be taken away. From this point, a new structure will be constructed on a greater footprint than the current rink due to the expanded programing.

“So this is one concept, one dream, one possible scenario,” said Galante.

The second design which caught the attention of many would place the rink adjacent to Concord Avenue with below grade parking for 90 vehicle and locker rooms for fall and spring sports, a rink just above street level with tennis courts on the roof. It is one of two designs which would allow the current rink to be operational while a new one is being built.

Such a design would provide more space for fields by eliminating the need for a parking lot and provide the high school tennis program with the five courts on the western campus.

“Open space in this area is so limited,” said Heather Barr of School Street, noting the advantage this plan would have being flexible where along Concord Avenue this could be situated.

The other designs includes one preferred by the school committee and the district which is perpendicular to the current rink adjacent to Harris Field and flushed to the commuter rail tracks. It would allow easy access to fall and spring teams to the locker rooms and would push the rink and associated parking away from Concord Avenue which is favored by residents in nearby neighborhoods. It would also have a place for a concession stand that is currently adjacent to the White Field House.

Rink adjacent to commuter rail tracks.

Like the renovation concept, the perpendicular option would require the hockey program to seek a new “home” for two years as the structure would be built

The final design would place the rink behind the Mobil service station.

”These [designs] are concepts,” said Galante at the end of his 15 minute presentation. ”These are ideas. They are ways of considering how we might think about … creat[ing] something that is more energy independent and not in violation of so many codes and is safe and forward looking for the next 50 years.”

What each of the Galante’s initial designs don’t include is a price tag. And the cost of some features – below ground parking, roof tennis courts, elevators to be ADA compliant – could quickly “x” out any design or specific features.

During the public feedback many tennis supporters raised their voice in support of including five courts on the roof of the building which Galante presented in the four scenarios or on the grounds. Others pitched non-hockey skating – “Don’t forget our figure skaters,” said Goden Street’s Anne Marie Mahoney as she and her daughters learned the sport at the Skip – with skate rentals and locker rooms for ice skaters, using the playing space for other sports if the building is not a 12-month ice facility, and the need for solar panels and other carbon-free energy.

Haley said previously the committee will present two designs to the Select Board in the coming weeks.

Moriarty Elected New Chair Of Belmont School Committee

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Photo: Meg Moriarty is the new chair of the Belmont School Committee

Just starting her second year on the Belmont School Committee, Meghan Moriarty will now be leading the six-member board after being elected unanimously the new chair at the committee’s organizational meeting held on Tuesday, April 12.

Noting that the newly-constituted committee was “starting off on a good foot” as it begun the regular meeting 10 minutes early, Moriarty thanked her colleagues for their vote of confidence in her.

“As we go forward this year, I think we all know it’s really important that we all work together and with the administration [we can] improve upon the education system,” said Moriarty. “I think too often we say [we want] to maintain the excellent education system that we have in Belmont. But I think that there are areas that we all agree on right now that need to be improved” pointing to equity issues, math scores and the mental health and social emotional

Moriarty said over the coming year the committee must prioritize its relationship with the “greater community” that elected them. She than recognized “all the hard work” her predecessor as chair, Amy Checkoway, had committed to over the past year.

Checkoway will be supporting Moriarty as the committee’s newly-elected Secretary.

The mother of two, Moriarty runs MegMor Research and Evaluation which helps organizations assess the impact of Science Technology Engineering & Math (STEM) programming. She matriculated at Brown (BA) and earned her master’s and doctorate in education (science education) from Boston University.