Trash Talk: Picking Up on Belmont’s Garbage Options

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Photo: DPW Director Jay Marcotte modeling the possible containers Belmont residents could be using to place their waste in 2018. 

The options how Belmont will gets rid of its garbage and recycling beginning in the summer of 2018 is increasing by the day.

Single or dual stream? Use only big plastic bags you have to buy? Automated or keep it the way it is?

Who knew trash could be so complicated?

That was the feeling for many of the three dozen residents who attended the first of two – or possibly three – public discussions sponsored by the Belmont Department of Public Works held Monday, June 26 in the Town Hall auditorium.

In the presentation before the Belmont Board of Selectmen which included a wide variety of plastic trash containers as examples of possible receptacles residents could be using next year, DPW Director Jay Marcotte along with the town’s recycling coordinator Mary Beth Calnan sought to give the public the town’s choices as it prepares to signs in early 2018 a new long-term trash collection and recycling contract to collect curbside waste at nearly 10,000 locations.

“It’s a balancing act, said Marcotte on determining which of the options will best meet the needs of all the town’s residents.

The town currently is in the second extension of its 2011 contract with Cambridge’s J.W. Russell which expires on June 30, 2018. The new contract will be put out to bid in the fall with a final contractor selected in mid-January, said Marcotte. 

The DPW is seeking “direction” from the Selectmen on what option the department should pursue, said Marcotte, much relying on balancing residents’ expectations and the town’s fiscal resources.

And there is an array of ways for the town’s trash and recycling to be collected. The town will need to decide if recycled material will be included with everyday trash – known as the single stream approach – versus a dual stream which recycables are picked up seperately. 

The first option is to continue what the town is doing. The current program is collected manually four days a week with an unlimited number of barrells, yard waste and bulky items. If you put out a dozen containers and a sofa or two on the curb, it’s all going to be picked up.

Recycling is collected once every two weeks and there are Recycling Days for items not collected such as rigid plastics, textiles and DVDs/CDs.

The current seperate recycling program is quite effective in Bemont; 95 percent of residents recycle and nearly three-quarters of recyclable items are recovered.

But the cost is pricy: fiscal year ’18 expense for collection, disposal and recycling is $2.5 million.

High on the DPW’s list of options is automated collection. One need only travel south to Watertown to see a single truck with a mechanical arm pick up wheeled-trash recepticles provided to residents being hoisted up and into the container. 

Marcotte said this method – which is increasingly becoming the industry standard throughout the country – is efficient, cuts labor costs and workmen compensation claims and is neater than the current system.

There is a signficiant upfront cost of between $250,000 to $450,000 for the new “carts” as well as the liklihood that an addtional recycling truck will be neeeded. And trash pick up is limited to what’s in the barrels; bulky items will need a seperate removal at an addtional cost. But the town will see yearly cost savings by the fourth year of upwards of $200,000 versus the manual method.

Another option is Pay-As-You-Throw or PAYT in which all garbage is required to be placed in a 35 gallon bag that costs a few dollars. If you put your garbage in any other bag – sorry, it’s not being picked up.

The pickup can be done within a manual or automated system, with a state grant avaliable to subsidize puchasing carts. The bags will be a distinctive color with the town’s seal on it.

Marcotte said PAYT will decrease the amount the town will pick up and it’s a great incentive to reduce, reuse and recycle. It would also be somewhat cheaper to run. But he noted “throw” systems come with its own issues: you have to purchase bags for all waste, collection is not as efficient, recycling is not as “clean”, and there has been increases in illegal dumping – or people throwing trash in other people’s bins – from those who just won’t pay for the bags. 

With so many options, some residents wondered why things need to change from the familiar system currently in use.

“I think the whole thing is nuts,” said Maryann Scali of Prospect Street, speaking for several long-time homeowners in the hall. “Why can’t we leave what we’re doing?” 

Several people believe the largest container at 65 gallons would prove too unwhelding for older residents and those living on slopped roadways especially in the winter. Others said that they would not need a large PAYT bag for their weekly curb-side offering.

“I would really like to see the emphasise here placed strongly on conveince and ease for the customer,” said John Gilman of Claflin Street 

Amanda Mujica of the Belmont PTA/PTO Green Alliance felt that it was wasteful for the 10,000 customers to throw out the their existing barrels and purchase new containers for a quarter of a million dollars. 

“I know that everyone is on this rally about automation but the trucks are going to take longer as they go up and down each street because they can only go up one side at a time,” she noted.

Pat Brusch of Radcliffe Road said she would be in favor of a “throw” system but only if it was accompanied by an article before Town Meeting to discuss and vote on “an underride.”

The opposite of an override which allows a community to permentaly exceed the annual 2.5 percent cap on the property tax increase, the underride Brusch is proposing would reimburse Belmont taxpayers the $2.1 million they approved in 1990 to create the current curbside trash and recycling system.

Several residents noted they were in favor of the PAYT option, including Taylor Road’s Kim Slack who brought a successful citizens petition at May’s Town Meeting to allow the Board of Selectmen to consider PAYT in future contracts. Slack told the board the “throw” option would not require an automated system which would result in more diesal fumes and would reduce the waste collected from residents “starting on day one.” 

Others, such as John O’Connor of Upland Road didn’t believe it was fair to ask homeowners – who will be facing in the next few years requests for higher taxes to pay for a new high school and other capital projects – to pay to place their rubbish in a bag when they paid for collection 27 years ago. 

A compromise between the existing system and the “throw” option which some selectmen appeared favorable with was voiced by Terese Hammerle of Adams Street who suggested that residents should be able to fill either a 35 gallon bag or container for free each week and then pay for any additional waste.

“That is a way to address the town having already paying for [collection],” she said. “You don’t want it to be unlimited then there is no incentive to reduce the garbage we produce.”

Burbank Picked To Be Modulars’ New Home With a $2.2M Pricetag

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Photo: Belmont Superintendent John Phelan.

The fall Special Town Meeting now has a price tag for the big ticket item on its agenda as Belmont Schools Superintendent John Phelan recommended four new modular classrooms be sited at the Mary Lee Burbank Elementary School on School Street.

The anticipated cost of the project – which will be up and running in September 2018 – is $2.2 million, excluding furniture and teaching equipment, Phelan told the Belmont School Committee at its Tuesday meeting, June 20.

“This is a very significant ‘ask’ to the town for the Burbank to take on the modulars,” said Phelan.

The Burbank was selected at the Butler Elementary School to be the home of the third set of modulars used by the district – there are several at the High School while six were installed at the Chenery Middle School in November 2016 – to alleviate the skyrocketing enrollment gains occurring throughout the district.

Phelan said adding the classrooms will help reduce class sizes in elementary grades from 25 and 26 students per room to a more acceptable 22 to 23 students.

Last month, administrators and staff held a pair of two-hour meetings at each school to discuss the concerns of residents and parents of adding prefab structures, afterward was a walk of the sites with an architect.  

The Burbank four modular will be sited adjacent to the rear of the school building which will allow for a covered walkway. The location will also have a minimal impact on neighboring houses as it’s lower than nearby Richardson Road and next to a stone wall.

Another factor leading to the Burbank taking on the modulars was its ability to take on additional students without affecting the teaching going on at the school. While it could have met the needs of students if selected, Phelan said the Butler had been home to a historically smaller school community, which has worked educating students successfully.

The greatest difference between the two proposals was the extensive infrastructure proposed at the Burbank. Including the repair and expansion of the parking lot and the overhaul of the playground area while the Bulter’s improvements would be limited to adding sod to the school’s two playgrounds.

In dollars and cents, the Burbank’s infrastructure costs exceed $692,000 compared to $172,000 at the Butler.

Heather Rubeski of Dalton Road, a Burbank parent and Precinct 7 Town Meeting Member told the committee and Phelan that presenting the most expensive option to the town’s legislative body could result in pushback by members.

“When I look at the cost difference of almost $500,000 … I think there is gonna be a lot of questions at Town Meeting on why are we spending all this extra money to put them at Burbank when the town has many things it needs to spend money on,” Rubeki said.

Putting on her “parent’s hat,” Rubeki also asked why would the district select the Burbank for additional space when the school population has been static resulting in children being bused to the school in September 2019.

“It has a feeling of ‘us’ vs ‘them’ and that has become very noticeable in the parent conversations,” she said.

Town officials and Town Meeting members had already begun on how to pay for the modulars with discussions on whether to dip into the “free” cash account which paid for the prefab classrooms at the middle school (a total of $1.4 million) or to finance the project through a bond.

Phelan said moving forward with the project is the best solution until a decision is made on the future of the new Belmont High School which will impact the district’s building requirements. 

“This is something that I believe is a good decision for the town … that this is a short-term trend that will help inform our long-term planning as well,” he said.

School Street From Washington To Bow Will Be Closed Thursday

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Photo: School Street from Washington to Bow will be closed Thursday.

On Thursday, June 22, E.H. Perkins will begin road construction on School Street between Bow Road and Washington Street. Road closures and delays are expected during construction hours from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.

While that stretch of School Street includes the Burbank Elementary School, Belmont schools will have been closed for summer recess the day before, on June 21.

Vehicular access to homes in this section of town might be limited during work hours.

“We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your patience,” noted a press release from the town.

For any questions or concerns about the project, please contact Arthur O’Brian, resident engineer in the Office of Community Development, at 617-993-2665.

Heat, Age Caused Transformer Explosion Blacking Out Belmont

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Photo: (from left) Belmont Light’s Jim Palmer, Belmont Selectmen’s Chair Jim Williams and Selectman Adam Dash at the emergency meeting of the Belmont Board of Selectmen to discuss the June 12 blackout.

The timing of the widespread power outage that affected between a quarter to a third of town residents during the hottest day of the year “was like our worst nightmare,” said James Palmer, general manager of Belmont Light, as he spoke to an emergency meeting of the Board of Selectmen held at Town Hall on Tuesday, June 13,

Palmer said a 90 degree plus afternoon in June when electrical demand had peaked with the town schools in session limited how the municipal utility could attack the equipment failure at one of the aging substations in town, requiring Belmont Light to rush in mobile generators to get the lights back on.

“We really had no other choice,” said Palmer.

The meeting, called by Selectmen Chair Jim Willams, brought the chiefs of police and fire, department heads to discuss their response to the incident and any further impact of the large-scale outage that left some neighborhoods without power for nearly 10 hours.

Highlights of the meeting

  • The town’s and the utility’s contingency plans developed to meet such an emergency received relatively good scores from town officials, said acting Town Administrator Phyliss Marshall. “I think I can honestly say that … we are very well prepared [for incidents such as these],” said Police Chief Richard McLaughlin.                     
  • It was the heat and the age of the equipment that lead to the single transformer in the Hittinger substation to “explode,” said Palmer. Luckily, the transformer did not catch fire due to safety systems that worked as a circuit breaker and cut off the electricity entering the substation. Had a fire started, the impact of a subsequent oil-based fire would have stretched fire resources and would have likely created havoc for months for the Light Department.
  • Three generator trucks were used to supplement the utility’s substation until repairs were completed. It’s suspected the cost of renting the trucks from Sunbelt from Hyde Park will be covered by insurance. 
  • Belmont Superintendent John Phelan and Belmont High School staff and educators decided to end the school day around 1:20 p.m. since power was not expected to be re-established until after the end of the scheduled classes. Students at the Chenery and Winn Brook who also lost power were kept in their buildings for the remainder of the day for safety and logistic reasons.
  • The Chenery Middle School was closed on Tuesday as a 400 amp transfer switch on the school’s backup generator malfunctioned, despite passing inspection just two weeks previous. According to Fire Chief David Frizzell, this switch has a tendency to act erratically if not used regularly. When he reinspected it Tuesday morning, Frizzell said it was working as expected. But the switch is now scheduled to be replaced.

Is This The Final Night of Belmont’s Town Meeting? Bet On It

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Photo: Town Meeting in Belmont, 2017.

Town Meeting can see the light at the end of this year’s tunnel.

After speeding through the first half of the financial articles on Monday, June 5, Belmont’s annual Town Meeting will only have seven articles remaining on this year’s warrant as it reconvenes tonight, Wednesday, June 7 at 7 p.m. at the Belmont High School auditorium.

Wednesday’s agenda includes approving the actual town and school budgets along with nine transfer payments to meet some operating expenses before the town’s legislative body takes up a citizen’s petition to transfer $1 million from free cash – the town’s piggy bank – into the General Stabilization Fund which was established after the 2015 Prop. 2 1/2 override.

It should be interesting to hear the debate on whether to set aside savings for the GSF that will hopefully defer a future override request versus those who believe the town needs the flexibility of free cash to pay for other needed projects and expenses such as modular structures for the schools and town functions. 

Another debate is expected on the final four articles concerning voting for additional funds to retirees and their survivors which will add up to a substantial expenditure in future years. 

Also on the agenda will be a report from Kathy Keohane, chair of the Library Trustees, who will be delivering a short report on the feasibility study for a new Belmont Public Library. You can follow along with the report by downloading it here.

LIVE: Town Meeting, Segment B: The Budget, Night 1

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Photo: Mike Widmer (on stage) with Town Meeting member Jack Weis, Pct. 1

Welcome to the second session of the annual Belmont Town Meeting held tonight, Monday, June 5 at Belmont High School.

The meeting, known as Segment B, will involve all things financial: the town and school budgets, capital expenditures, transfers and all the other spare change the town takes in and spends.

The Town Moderator, Mike Widmer, said he would attempt to finish this final home stretch of this year’s meeting in two nights; tonight and Wednesday, June 7. He has asked Town Meeting Members to keep their questions to the motion and speeches short.

Tonight, the order of motions will be:

  • Appropriation of $1.4 million in capital expenses.
  • Budget appropriation and transfer balances to fund the fiscal year 2018 budget.
  • Borrowing appropriations
  • Authorization of revolving funds and funding stabilization funds.

7 p.m.: It’s cool inside Belmont High School as its a rainy, dreary late evening – perfect weather to talk about town finances. 

7:08 p.m.: Mike Widmer calls the meeting in order. Right on (Belmont) time. He asks members to be concise and brief so it can be finished in two nights. 

7:14 p.m.: State Rep. Dave Rogers gives a report on state government – legislation and the budget. He said the town schools got a big bump in state aid up to $7 million, up 10 percent. Nice earmarks for the town of a total of $150,000. But there is a budget crunch in the state, with MassHealth (the state’s Medicaid program) takes up 40 percent of the budget. A partial solution: make employers who don’t give their employees health care must pay the state tax. Rogers is also a co-chair of Marijuana committee – dude! He also is the sponsor of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act – which got universal support – and is pushing a paid family and medical leave insurance program, a safe communities act and a few environmental legislation including energy efficiency funds generated by municipal light plants, and a bill to protect bees.  

7:25 p.m.: The selectmen are now talking about accomplishments and goals.

Accomplishments: selling the municipal parking lot in Cushing Square, establishing a high school building committee, the Trapelo/Belmont corridor project, the Belmont Center reconstruction project, the completion of the construction and sale of the new electrical substation and more.

Goals: to implement a strategic planning process and coordinate goal setting session with the board of selectmen and department heads, hire a new town administrator, develop recommendations for providing vocational education to Belmont students, develop a capital plan for municipal buildings, a public/private partnership to build a new skating rink and a new garbage contract. 

7:38 p.m.: Anne Marie Mahoney gives a report about the new (created in Feb.) Major Capital Project Working Group, starting with a quip about adding music from the 60s to the presentation such as “Gimme Shelter” and “We Need to Get Out of This Place.” The committee was formed to finally create a comprehensive “sound” plan for the four outstanding capital projects in town: the police station, the DPW, the library and Belmont High School. It is trying to break the quarter century logjam to choice a one-at-a-time order for projects, recommend uses for the incinerator site and present a sequence and finance plan for each project. “All town employees deserved a basic, safe and decent place to work.” We will be back before you in the fall (at a Special Town Meeting) with a plan or die trying.” Mahoney hopes to be back with “Good Vibrations” or “I’m a Believer.” 

7:48 p.m.: Mahoney is back with the Capital Budget Committee’s recommendations. It sounded from Mahoney’s introduction that it was a battle to get this budget allocation done. $1.36 million was allocated from the Selectmen to the CBC. There is $2.4 million for roads and sidewalks. Good news this year: no “big” ticket allocation so most of the money goes to maintenance. This year there was a  balance the need to repair with the need to replace buildings – the library is the best example. Mahoney goes into the weeds of each line item. Read specific funding here. Mahoney also noted that the CBC will be coming back in the fall with possible requests for modular classrooms, expenditures for town buildings and other items. 

8:03 p.m.: Mahoney is reading each capital expenditures – some of the larger requests: $114,000 for fire staff vehicle 1 and 2; $200,000 for cameras for town-wide security, $45,000 to replace a truck for the DPW; $40,000 for new Chromebooks for the schools to take taxes; and $191,000 for building envelope “repairs.” 

8:08 p.m.: Now debate on the motion. Only two quick questions. The motion is approved by a voice vote. Good job, Ann Marie. 

8:09 p.m.: Glenn Clancy, the town’s director of the Office of Community Development, presents the road paving budget. The program was launched in 1996, there are 75 miles of roads, and the program has repaired 42 miles. The balance each year to fix roads is about $1.8 million. The roads are evaluated, the last full evaluation was in 2007 and a partial evaluation in 2014 of the worst roads. The selection process – which roads are restored – “couldn’t be any simpler – the worst roads get repaired first.” Utility work happens first before a reconstruction occurs “which will make the road even worse!” “But there is a method to the madness,” said Clancy. Sidewalk construction is set aside on school walking routes.

8:19 p.m.: The motion is open for debate. No questions. The $1.9 million for road repair is approved on a voice vote.

8:21 p.m.: Article 12, $7.5 million appropriated from the Water Enterprise Fund that will be funded from a transfer from water retained earnings and water revenues. Approved without debate.

The second part of the article, $9.3 million for the Sewer and Stormwater Enterprise Fund, is presented. Fred Paulsen, Pct. 1, asks Clancy about Belmont’s agreement with the Mass EPA to reduce pollution coming from Belmont’s sewers into the Mystic River watershed and if there should be some priority how the town mitigate the effects. Clancy said the town would follow the agreement and the town will get the job done in the five years that it has to meet the state’s guideline. 

The motion passes on a voice vote unanimously. 

8:29 p.m.: Article 14, to use $535,000 from the state to use to repair roads. Adopted unanimously.

8:30 p.m.: Article 23 is to “de-authorize” or rescind the unused borrowing authority of $27.6 million authorized by a special town meeting in 2012 to build the electrical substation and transmission line project. Jim Palmer, Belmont Light’s general manager, speaks about the project and its sale to Eversource which saves the town a ton of money. Sue Bass of Pct. 3 asks Palmer when will the three current substations be decommissioned. Palmer said the earliest those substations will be closing in 2022. “I wish it were sooner, but that is our plan.” Approved by a voice vote.

8:42 p.m.: Article 24: Another rescinding of borrowing authority for $255,000 for the purchase of radio transmission equipment. Approved. Article 25 is also repealing borrowing authority of $350 for a fire alarm system at the high school. You can guess how the vote went. 

8:45 p.m.: Article 11: Salaries for elected officials. Three increases in salaries – with the moderator seeing a more than 100 percent increase – from $200 to $450. Paul Roberts, Pct. 8, asked if the town can see what other municipalities are providing their elected officials. There is some discussion of paying school committee members with a salary as they spend a great number of hours on the town’s schools for no pay. Article passes. 

8:51 p.m.: Up now is Article 17 the yearly authorization for the eight revolving funds. No debate and it passes.

8:52 p.m.: Article 16, which will appropriate and transfer $354,314 from free cash and to appropriate and transfer a total of $30,392 several enterprise funds to fund the Other Post Employment Benefits (OPEB) – which are health care costs to town retirees – Stabilization Fund. Passes with little discussion.

9 p.m.: No further votes will take part tonight. The last piece of business tonight is to hear from the Warrant Committee Chair Roy Epstein who is explaining the town budget; how it was developed, what it’s made up of and how it is spent. Read along with the Warrant Committee Report!

The town budget for fiscal 2018 will be $110.08 million, an increase of 3.5 percent, with schools up to $52.97 million up 5.7 percent (“because enrollment is exploding”) with the Town side at $38.55 million, an increase of 4.3 percent. Fixed costs up 3.5 percent to $17.2 million.

There is about $7 million in free cash (the town’s piggy bank) but will be drawn down to $4.4 million.

Beyond fiscal 2018 is shaky: while the town can expect growth of 3.5 percent but school expenditures will put a lot of pressure on spending priorities. “It will be a challenge” over the next five years, said Epstein. 

9:17 p.m.: And that’s it! We are out early. See you Wednesday. 

Town Meeting, Segment B: It’s All About The Money This Week

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Photo: Belmont Town Meeting

It’s all about the Benjamins as the 2017 Belmont Town Meeting reconvenes tonight, Monday, June 5 at 7 p.m. in the Belmont High School auditorium.

Town Meeting will take up the town and school budgets as well as all things financial including capital expenditures, enterprise funds and fiscal transfers.

You can read all the documentation for Segment B here at the Town Clerk’s web page.

While Town Clerk Ellen Cushman, and Town Moderator Michael Widmer have reserved two weeks of days to finish the “town’s business,” Cushman said she and Widmer have heard from many Town Meeting Members that due to “significant conflicts” in the coming week, that “we make every attempt to conclude the business of the Annual Town Meeting on Wednesday, June 7, negating the need to meet the following week.”

While the pair have stated they will attempt to uphold the request of a two-night budget debate, Cushman is asking Town Meeting Members’ help to facilitate that wish by following these time-saving suggestions:

  • Although our custom is to allow five minutes at the microphone per Town Meeting Member, please consider using only two or three minutes instead; this would help us to finish in the two nights. Of course, if you require the five minutes to make your point, by all means take the full five. The Moderator will actively cut off speakers and Town Meeting Members who do not respect the pre-determined time limits.
  • The Moderator will describe the scope of each article as we approach the discussion; make your best attempt to remain within the defined scope.
  • If you have questions or plan to make a speech about a motion, please consider putting them in writing so they are as concise as possible for your turn to address Town Meeting.
  • The result of all of these actions could result in two longer sessions of Town Meeting. We’ll get started on time. If we do not complete our work on all warrant articles on Wednesday, June 7, we will meet again Monday, June 12.

“We all look forward to a productive couple of nights of Town Meeting,” said Cushman.

Sign, Sealed, Delivered: Incinerator Property Officially Belmont’s

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Photo: Belmont incinerator site on upper Concord Avenue.

Not all milestone events need to accompanied by fireworks or proclamations. Some go by nearly unnoticed.

And one such “quiet” moment occurred this week when the state formally handed over the site of the former town incinerator to Belmont, nearly a year after the process began.

Phyllis Marshall, the interim town administrator, told the Belmont Board of Selectmen on Monday, May 22 the state’s Department of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance – responsible for disposing of state-owned property – recorded the transfer of the deed to the town at the South Middlesex Registry of Deeds on May 17.

The 16-acre property is adjacent to upper Concord Avenue and the Rock Meadow Conservation about 1,500 feet from the Lexington town line. Built in 1959, the incinerator operated until 1975, then becoming the town’s transfer station for decades before the state took control of the land. 

The Belmont DPW currently utilizes the site for equipment storage, leaf composting and the placement of debris.

In January 2014, former Gov. Deval Patrick signed legislation sponsored by State Rep. Dave Rogers  authorizing the sale of the state-owned land to the town at a “fair market value.” An important provision of the transfer is future uses of the land is limited to recreational or municipal purposes; it can not be sold or leased for commercial or business operations.

But before the land can be developed, the town must first construct a mitigation plan to remediate the site of contaminated soil and ground water which could include removing or “capping” the soil polluted by ash produced in the burning of garbage.

Marshall told the Belmontonian on Monday 2016, the town has $3.5 million as of fiscal 2016 in a reserve account to clean up the property.

After a blueprint is approved by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection and the remediation work completed, the town can move forward on the land’s future.

In November 2014, the Selectmen met with Town Meeting members and the public on possible uses for the former incinerator which included a solar “farm,” sports fields, open space and a future home for Police headquarters or DPW.

Charge It: Belmont Dedicates New E-Car Charging Stations in Center

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Photo: At the dedication of the new public charging stations in Belmont Center (from left); Interim Town Administrator Phyllis Marshall, Selectmen Jim Williams, Adam Dash and Mark Paolillo, Energy Committee’s Marty Bitner, and the Light Department’s Rebecca Keane and Jim Palmer. 

Belmont Center has become a destination location for owners of  “EVs” as town leaders joined officials from the municipal utility in dedicating the community’s first public charging stations for electric cars on Town Day, Saturday, May 20.

The chargers are located in the right rear section of the Claflin Street Municipal Parking Lot in Belmont Center.

“If you build it, they will come, and so we expect to see people who have electric vehicles in our area to come [here] and visit our business center,” said Selectmen Chair Jim Williams, who was joined by fellow selectmen Adam Dash and Mark Paolillo and interim Town Administrator Phyllis Marshall to help Jim Palmer, general manager of Belmont Light, the town-owned electrical company, plug in the first vehicle – a new Belmont Light electric car – into the station.

“We expect it to be a competitive advantage to benefit the [new] development in the Center,” Williams said. “It’s a win/win situation.” 

Light Department worked with the town’s Energy Committee and town departments including the Department of Public Works. The funds used to purchase the stations and three Chevy Bolt EVs – in use by the Health and Facilities departments in addition to Belmont Light – came from a grant written by Facilities Manager Gerald Boyle and Rebecca Keane from Belmont Light.

“The greatest source of residential carbon emissions [in Belmont] comes from transportation,” said the Energy Committee’s Marty Bitner who is also a member of Belmont Drives Electric, an ad hoc group which promotes the purchase of electric cars with events such as ride alongs with e-car owners and promotions.

“The impetus behind this program is to encourage people to drive electric vehicles and reduce their carbon footprint,” Bitner said, as the town’s commitment to infrastructure such as the chargers provides “tacit support” for residents who are thinking to move to an electric car. 

And it appears an increasing number of Belmont residents are receptive to the message. Bitner revealed that in the past eight months since the Belmont Drives group started its program, Belmont has seen the highest per capita increase in electric cars either bought or leased in the state, jumping from 50 to 88 vehicles. 

“It’s been incredible to watch the Belmont community to come together to support EVs,” said Palmer, noting that 2016 was a landmark year for electric vehicles and with the new stations “Belmont residents are ahead of the curve.” 

Town Meeting Overwhelmingly OKs ‘Welcoming Town’ Article

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Photo: Michael Chesson.

On Monday, May 8, Michael Chesson came to the microphone at the annual Belmont Town Meeting to speak his mind on the contentious proposal to create a “Welcoming Town” for residents with questionable immigration status.

He finished to a standing ovation after expressing the heartfelt sentiment of many of his neighbors seeking to embrace those wanting to make the “Town of Homes” a place all can live without fear of apprehension.

The Whitcomb Street homeowner who served 35 years in the Navy – advancing from recruit to captain – said during his military tenure, he served with Americans of all races, genders and sexual orientation.

“We always came together as a team. Worked hard and played just as hard. We venerated the same flag as we pledged allegiance to tonight,” said the UMass-Boston instructor who wore a NAVY varsity jacket with patches from a lifetime of assignments.

“That flag is not a banner of exclusion; it is a proud symbol of enduring virtues and a reminder of us all of the sacrifice,” said the 29-year town resident. 

“If Belmont becomes a “Welcoming Community,” I’ll wear that on my sleeve,” he said.

By the end of the night, Chesson joined 197 Town Meeting members voting 198-59 to declare their hometown as a welcoming Town,” voting nearly four to one to approve a non-binding article restating current Police Department practices of not asking the immigration status of a person or resident they encounter. 

Belmont joined Arlington’s Town Meeting – which approved its “Welcoming Town” article Monday night – as the latest communities to pass measures reaffirming residents’ wishes to support all residents regardless of their national origin. 

Belmont’s vote counters recent actions by bodies which either rejected both sanctuary-like legislation and welcoming designations – Hull (Mass) Town Meeting – or requiring state and municipal police to inquire a person’s legal status during routine stops as was approved in Texas.

The article was one of the most controversial non-budgetary articles in recent Town Meeting memory. Opponents of the measure paid for robocalls denouncing the article as wrongheaded and potentially a financial drain and distributed stickers stating “No on 10.” Article 10 supporters and those in opposition rallied outside Belmont High School with signs in hand before Monday’s meeting.

Inside the auditorium, Belmont Moderator Michael Widmer asked despite the “strong feelings on both sides” that “we air our differences in a respectful and dignified fashion.”After presenting her article to the members, Mahon thanked the Belmont Police command staff for helping to craft the article which was complete with “complicated issues and [its] input and assistance was critical.”

After presenting her article to the members – the complete article is at the bottom of the page – Mahon thanked the Belmont Police command staff for helping to craft the article which she noted does not make Belmont a “sanctuary city.”

“We at Town Meeting are often asked to weigh on matters which we do not have specific jurisdiction,” said Mahon.

“The goal of this resolution is to voice Town Meeting’s support for the continuation of the Belmont Police Department practices …, so residents feel safe approaching Belmont Police without fear they will be detained or questioned about their status,” she said.

The fear that Belmont Police will seek the status of any residents will likely prevent those individuals or families from reporting crimes such as domestic violence, which Mahon’s co-presenter Paul Roberts, Precinct 8, said: “makes us all less safe.”

“Belmont is a safe community in part due to the heroic effort of our police officers. But it is also safe because we work alongside our police to keep the community safe” which include native residents, green card holders “and, yes, undocumented residents,” said Mahon.

Mahon said the article reaffirms the values of a cohesive community “that welcomes and accepts without prejudice those of all races, religions, and nationalities.”

During the subsequent debate, many residents gave personal insight why the declaration was necessary for Town Meeting to pass.

Mark Carthy, Pct. 1, “and an immigrant,” said regardless of anti-bias laws, there is “discrimination out there” and resolutions such as the welcoming article “is to make sure people’s behaviors goes beyond the laws we have.” 

Mike Crowley, Pct. 8, whose ancestors who arrived in America 350 years ago “were certainly illegal” said the diversity of national origin of residents and businesses just in his precinct is broad and varied. “I am not in the position of adjudicating what their immigration status are. I’m in the business of treating them as a neighbor.” 

Marty Cohen, Pct. 3, said when he arrived in Belmont half a century ago, “there was a certain amount of antisemitism” but it has changed for the better so that the town is a welcoming community “and we should say that with pride unless we are too modest to say so.” 

The proposal’s opponents expressed their concerns, focusing on the “slippery slope” which the article will lead to increasing demands on police procedures to impede federal immigration efforts.

Tomi Olson, Pct. 5, said the town is already a welcoming town as noted by numerous proclamations and statements by town official and committees. The article presumes that “the town and Belmont Police are … in need of being told how to be welcoming to immigrants.”

Olson noted many negative statements directed towards the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency remain in the article despite an attempt to include language from Belmont Police to “nullify” Mahon. 

“Town officials with businesses and residents have told me that they fear to oppose this article because they fear retribution, being demonized and being called ugly names,” said Olson, who called the article “a Trojan horse” that will eventually lead to sanctuary city status. 

Both Selectman Mark Paolillo and Belmont Police Chief McLaughlin reiterated the article would unalter current law enforcement practices.

It was Chesson, whose direct narrative captivated the 300 members and residents in the auditorium.  

While admitting the non-binding measure is a symbol, a “feel good” measure “like my new puppies or the children on Whitcomb,” Chesson said Article 10 makes explicit statements on “who we are and what we believe. It lays down a marker; It proclaims community values.”

Belmont can not wall itself off from so-called high crime cities like Boston, Somerville or even Watertown. Defeating Article 10 will not make us safer, he said. Passing it will not mean immigrants will be flocking to Belmont; “they can’t afford it.”

Volunteering at a food pantry in Chelsea, he comes across “many good people in that immigrant community, just like those immigrants who worked on the farms in Belmont;” the town’s prosperity until the first part of the past century “relied on immigrant labor,” said Chesson.

“Town meeting members ancestors fought the Alien and Sedition Acts or struggled to find jobs with INNA [Irish Need Not Apply] signs everywhere, who resisted the Fugitive Slave Law or endured anti-Italian slurs, survived the Armenian genocide or the Nazi Holocaust. And went through two Red scares after two World Wars.”

“Like them, we should stand for what’s best, the good in all of us.” said Chesson, who received a standing ovation from a good portion of Town Meeting. 

After the vote – he was surrounded by admirers in the school’s hallway – Chesson told the Belmontonian said while he is “basically a curmudgeon, I have a tremendous response for underdogs” such as people who will travel thousands of miles so that they can work hard and make a living.  

“When frightened, desperate people are being persecuted or chased; I have to respond. Yes, they may have broken the law to come here, but a lot of rich people break the law on Wall Street and Washington. Why single out the desperate ones? We can do better than that.” 


ARTICLE 10: WELCOMING TOWN DESIGNATION 

MOVED: That the Town adopts the following resolution: 

1. Whereas, Historically Belmont has welcomed immigrants from many regions around the world, including the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America; and 

2. Whereas, Immigrants have enriched the fabric of this community, adding new life and great potential to Belmont; and 

3. Whereas, Assumptions made about a person’s legal status in the United States that are based on the person’s religion, ethnicity, or national origin, and discrimination, harassment, or bullying of people based on those assumptions, have no place in our community. 

4. Whereas, National policies that discriminate against immigrants because of religion or country of origin run counter to our values; and 

5. Whereas, In some communities, local law enforcement agencies are used to collect and deliver immigration status data to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”); and 

6. Whereas, ICE may issue voluntary information or detainer requests that could subject individuals who are in local custody to prolonged detention; and 

7. Whereas, It is believed in some communities that when local law enforcement officials indiscriminately comply with all ICE civil immigration information and detainer requests, including those that target non-criminal undocumented residents, public trust is eroded, immigrants are less likely to cooperate with local law enforcement and are less likely to report serious crimes, thus making the work of local law enforcement more difficult to address serious crimes; and 

8. Whereas, The Belmont Police Department will continue its long-held practice of not asking any individual about immigration status when that individual is seeking help from the police or is stopped for a minor infraction, and will provide assistance and protection to any member of the public without regard to immigration status; and 

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED: 1) The Belmont Town Meeting hereby expresses our solidarity with displaced persons and migrants from around the world.

 around the world. Motions for 2017 Belmont Annual Town Meeting Page 2 of 2 

2) The Belmont Town meeting affirms its support for these Belmont Police Department practices: 

(a) Belmont Police officers will not detain persons solely to investigate their immigration status; 

(b) Belmont Police officers will not inquire into the immigration status of persons seeking help from the police unless the information is relevant to prosecuting the reported crime or for the person’s protection; 

(c) The Belmont Police Department will not keep an index or list of persons suspected of being aliens or deportable aliens; 

(d) The Belmont Police Department will not seek to have any officer receive a delegation of the powers of an immigration officer ; 

(e) The Belmont Police Department will cooperate with federal, state, and local criminal and civil investigative agencies in the accomplishment of their lawful objectives by providing such information as the Police Department maintains; 

(f) Upon the presentation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of a detainer and an administrative warrant for the detention of a person arrested by Belmont Police Department in the course of enforcing state and local laws and currently in custody, the Belmont Police Department will maintain custody of the person for sufficient time to bring to the attention of the court officials responsible for decisions upon bail. (The Belmont Police Department will continue this practice until such time as a court with authority over the Belmont Police Department finds the practice to be contrary to law.); and 

(g) The Belmont Police Department will continue to investigate reports of hate crimes, criminal discrimination, and criminal harassment of persons based upon their religion, ethnicity, or national origin without regard to the person’s known or suspected unlawful status within the United States. 

(Majority vote) 

REPORTING: Anne Mahon, Precinct 4, Petitioner