Selectmen OK Woodfall Road Purchase And Sale, $1.75M Price Tag

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Photo: Woodfall Road site.

The Belmont Board of Selectmen approved a purchase and sale agreement for the purchase of town-owned property at the end of Woodfall Road to a Lexington developer for $1,750,000.

Dani Chedid of Lexington’s Phoenix Construction Group will now begin the formal process of purchasing the 5.25 acre parcel adjacent to the Belmont Country Club and in the Hillcrest neighborhood on the west side of Belmont Hill, said Sami Baghdady, chair of the Selectmen at its meeting Thursday, May 28.

Chedid, the lead of a three-person group, outbid Northland Residential of Burlington (which constructed the The Woodlands at Belmont Hill) by nearly $1.5 million in December 2013 to begin working with the town on a final price tag for the property that will be home to four luxury single-family homes. 

Seventeen months ago, Chedid offered $2.2 million of the site. Since then, the town – through Town Administrator David Kale’s office – and contractor have been negotiating a final price for the land after a long due diligence process that included environmental assessments, soil testing, monitoring wetland requirements and, at one point, discussions with the country club on the likelihood of golf balls flying onto the new homes, said Baghdady.

“Woodfall Road is a different site since the request for proposal,” said Baghdady, referring to the nearly half-a-million dollar reduction in the original offer. 

“Yet even now, it’s a much better award than the $750,000 [Northland] offered,” he said.

The P&S now requires the town to present a “clean” title and for a state environmental test to be conducted. In addition, Chedid will go before the Belmont Conservation Commission to request a “side” order to allow some relief to build on one of the four lots due to wetland concerns.

A final purchase of the land, which has been on the market for more than a decade, should occur in the next two to three months, said Baghdady.

Confidence: Rec Dept. Selling (Reduced) Summer Pool Passes

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Photo: No swimming just yet.

The new Underwood Pool is not yet completed – in fact, there’s not much water in the one pool that has been finished – but the Belmont Recreation Department is confident enough that the two pool facility that’s being built over the former historic pool will be open for part of the summer, it is selling season passes for resident’s swimming enjoyment.  

Starting now and lasting until June 30, the Rec Dept. will be selling pool passes for $100.

“At this time we are planning for an Aug. 10 opening of the Underwood Pool. Until that time, we will offer public swimming six days a week, limited hours at the Higginbottom Pool at Belmont High School,” read a press release from the town. 

The pass will also be valid for the Underwood Pool the moment it opens until Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 7.

Residents can find out more about the public swimming schedule at the Higginbottom Pool this summer on the Recreation Department calendar online. 

Budget Could Take Backseat to Funding Gap When Town Meeting Resumes

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Photo: Jim Williams.

The fiscal 2016 budget was suppose to be in the spotlight at the Belmont League of Women Voters’ Warrant Briefing at the Beech Street Center on Monday, May 18.

While the night’s agenda was an opportunity to ask questions aout financial and budget articles facing Town Meeting members when the annual Town Meeting reconvenes on June 1, the most interest and talk Monday revolved around four citizen petitions submitted when the majority of this winter’s record snowfall was being shoveled from driveways and sidewalks. 

With each petition related to the unfunded pension and retiree benefits on the town’s ledger was submitted by then Town Meeting member Jim Williams, it appears the now-Selectman is ready to push what he believes is an unsustainable financial future for the town’s taxpayers to the forefront of Town Meeting debate which will occur in less than a fortnight.

“We would be nuts not to start discussing this … when the budget is being discussed,” said Williams after the meeting.

It was Williams’ laser-like focus on more than 70 years of the town’s failure to fund its petitions and the effect it will have on town finances (in addition to groups as diverse as solar power supporters and liberal-leaning individuals) which propelled him onto the Board of Selectmen with a surprising 500-vote victory over incumbent Andy Rojas in April’s Town Meeting. 

The four petitions – read them here – is an attempt, Williams told the Belmontonian, “to increase transparency for Town Meeting [members]” as he and his supporters ramp up their effort to discuss the “growing” impact of unfunded pension obligations – including Other Postemployment Benefits (or OPEB) liabilities. 

The most significant of the petitions, if successfully adopted by Town Meeting, would require the town to produce a 20-year budget projection model with specific line items that would show the funding gap when calculating the standard difference of revenue and expenses.

But the petition would go further, identifying the gap between the revenue/expenses and the amortized unfunded petition and also the gap if the petition was kept at a fixed rate. And that’s just half of the calculations and analysis the petition calls for. 

In addition to the projection model, a second petition would require the town to establish a risk management function, which the town would evaluate “risk” it faces including “financial, operational, reporting, compliance, governance, strategic, reputational, etc.” 

The other two – a quarterly report on the town’s free cash account and requiring the Board of Selectmen, the Capital Budget and Warrant committees to provide Town Meeting 48-hour notice to explain why it takes a certain position on articles – rounds out Williams’ quest for clarity to the Town Meeting process. 

(The first petition article, on giving 48-hour notice, came under criticism by the Warrant Committee’s Bob McLaughlin, who said he would wait for Wednesday’s Warrant Committee meeting to battle Williams on what McLaughlin calls “busy work.”)

While Williams has supporters for his effort, he will in all likelihood be facing a formidable opposing viewpoint in the form of “Your Town Treasurer,” Floyd Carman. 

While the few times Williams and Carman – both men come into the debate after working decades in corporate finance – exchanged views Monday were always cordial (it appeared neither wished to show their hands to the other pre-Town Meeting), there was ample evidence how both will defend their positions.

When Williams noted that as of June 30, the town will owe $100 million to the OPEB account, he asked why the town was setting aside “arguably a token” amount of $366,000 into the account.

“Why not put $5 million” against the liability? queried Williams.

Carman responded that “our approach” has been to follow the Governmental Accounting Standards Board’s method of paying pension in a “pay as you go” basis which the bond-rating agencies, such as Moody’s, has enthusiastically backed.

“And it’s why we have kept our Triple A rating,” said Carman.

Carman noted that 351 other towns in Massachusetts are using the same modus operandi of paying down the remaining town pensions in 2028 before funding the OPEB debt. 

Yet by 2028, the town’s unfunded liability will reach $300 million, said Williams. “I consider this the major risk we face in the future.” 

Carman responded that the town can only move forward on tackling the unfunded pensions and post employment benefits by consulting the town’s 8,253 taxpayers, “our customers.” 

Carman has said in the past that paying off the OPEB debt early via a large debt exclusion would make it impossible for Belmont to finance the big-ticket items before the town – a new High School, a Police station, a Department of Public Works building – as the new debt would take the town’s bonding capacity to near zero for more than a decade. 

And it’s uncertain exactly what the OPEB amount will be by mid-2020. Michael Libenson, chair of the Warrant Committee (which co-hosted the night’s event) said just days ago, the actuary estimate of the town’s OPEB liability for this year fell from $195 million to $171 million, a $24 million reduction due to no growth in health care costs this past year.

Libenson said OPEB costs have been pegged by actuaries with health care costs increasing at 8 percent annually. While no one is predicting zero percent growth over the next few years, if expenses are cut by 3 percent over the next five years, the liability will be reduced from $195 million to $90 million. 

“That’s the trick, what is the growth of health care,” he said.

A Friendly Reminder: Residents Holding Yard Sales Need a (Free) Permit

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Photo: It’s the season for yard sales.
Ah, warm weather; in Belmont that means gardening, barbecues and yard sales. It’s not usual to find a dozen tag, rummage or moving sales around town from spring through fall.
So, it’s well worth remembering that Belmont passed a general private sales bylaw last year requiring a permit for all sales held in town.
The permit is free and can be accessed through the Belmont Town Clerk’s web page. According to Ellen Cushman, the town clerk, the process takes less than one minute to obtain the permit once you know the date and hours of your intended sale. Other required fields are name, address, phone and email address where the permit will be emailed.
If the person running the sale doesn’t use email, the permit can be obtained with assistance of the Town Clerk’s staff at 617-993-2600. The address and hours of your sale are the only fields that will be viewable by the public and potential customers.
 
The advantage for people who obtain a permit is that the sales time and address is placed on the  Town Clerk’s website and placed on a map.
 
To access the permit, read the bylaw and/or view upcoming private sales with permits on the Town Clerk’s web page.

Belmont’s New Underwood Pool Set To Open August 1

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Photo: The “deep” pool of the new Underwood Pool under construction. 

Despite a last-minute financial monkey wrench that nearly stopped the project last September and this winter’s record snowfall, it appears that summer swimming is in the cards for Belmont residents as the team building the new Underwood Pool expects to have the twin pools open to the public by the first week in August. 

While anyone going by the site at the corner of Concord Avenue and Cottage Street will not mistake it for anything but a construction site, “it will definitely look like a swimming pool in August when the water pours in,” said Henry Sarkis, owner of New England Builders, the general contractor, during a recent tour of the project.

Workers in waders are directing streams of cement into wooden frames that will become the pool closest to Cottage Street while power tools and nail guns are heard inside the partially completed pool and pump houses.

While the project was pushed back due to the 100-plus inches of snow that was deposited on the site over two months from January to March, “we feel we are on schedule,” Sarkis said.

The $4.6 million construction project began in November with the demolition of he original pool which was built in 1912 and was the oldest municipal outdoor pool in the US.

After a successful debt exclusion and funding from Town Meeting earlier in 2014, the project appeared dead in the water in September when an original low bidder of the project withdrew his proposal leaving the Underwood Pool Building Committee facing a deficit of approximately $400,000.

That figure was quickly erased with a $200,000 grant from the Belmont Savings Bank Foundation and a community fundraising effort that raised more than $210,000 in small and large contributions by October.

Today, construction is in full swing. The so-called “deep” pool, which includes the diving area and lap swimming, is completed and cement is being poured this week into the shallow “kids” pool, said Sarkis.

Stainless-steel gutters will be installed by specialists from out-of-state beginning on Monday, May 11 and will take two weeks to complete the larger, deep pool nearest the Belmont Public Library. They then will return to finish the shallow pool by the end of May.

The filtration system has been delivered and is being installed to run the two pools. Sarkis said the three buildings are framed and have all the plumbing and electrical systems installed, and the grounds around the pool is being expanded with new trees soon to be planted along Concord Avenue.

According to Anne Paulsen, chairman of the Underwood Pool Building Committee, while the late date for the opening means the potential 2015 swimming season will be cut in half, the Belmont Recreation Department will be selling reduced memberships to residents so they can enjoy some time by or in the new pool.

Belmont Town Meeting: Night 2, May 6

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Photo: Belmont T0wn Meeting.

Welcome back to the 156th annual Belmont Town Meeting. Tonight’s the second night of Town Meeting with the Community Preservation Committee’s grants up for debate and transfers. 

7:05 p.m.: And we are off … five minutes late, as usual. 

7:08 p.m.: Moderator Mike Widmer announced that Article 9 will be reconsidered in June. In addition, Widmer said he was a “stunned as you” to have heard the Lord’s Prayer by one of the religious leaders who gave the invocation. “We hope that this will not happen again.” Widmer said the Lord’s Pray is a beautiful one but it does violate the separation of church and state. 

Long-standing member are recognized.

7:15 p.m.: A commemoration of the Waverley Trail with a special proclamation from the Department of Interior and the US Park Service recognizing the trail as a National Recreation Trail. What a great honor for the town.

 7:28 p.m.: An we are off with presentations.

First up is Jim Palmer, GM of Belmont Light, with an update on the substation project. Palmer said that permitting, engineering and procurement is nearly complete while construction is 10 percent complete. A June 2016 completion date for the project “is still achievable.” The project is on budget. But there are challenges ahead like managing contracts and working with the MBTA. 

7:36 p.m.: The Special Town Meeting is next with a pair of articles: to allow for the transfer of money from reserve accounts to pay down the deficits in the school department (about a half-a-million dollars due largely to skyrocketing special education costs) and about $750,000 in the snow removal account. 

First up, Article 1, a historic winter left the snow and ice account about $750,000 in the red. That money will come from free cash. Typically, Belmont gets 50 inches, we got more than 100 inches, and that will cost money, said David Kale, Town Administrator. Belmont could see between $250,000 to $275,000 in federal emergency fund but it’s not likely it will be received by June 30; when it comes in, it goes to free cash. The article is adopted unanimously. 

Article 2, seeks a transfer of $285K from the Warrant Committee’s reserve fund and $250K from the Special Ed Stabilization Fund to cover the deficit in the School Department. The reason for the debt: special ed costs. 

Discussion? Vincent Stanton, Pct, 2, will special ed cost fluctuation or is this systemic? Professional opinion by John Phelan, superintendent, is that growth will continue. Follow up, is there some way to bring special ed students back to town? Currently, there is not sufficient space, said Phelan, and that would help. And with students with like needs, you can begin and grow programs to bring the number down. No other discussion. The article passes with one negative voice vote. Electronically, the vote is 233 to 11.

 Now back to the regular meeting. Up is the Community Preservation Committee grants of $1.1 million.  

They, all community generated, are:

  • Belmont Veterans Memorial Project: $150,000,
  • Wellington Station exterior restoration and rehabilitation: $26,300,
  • Electrical upgrade at units owned by the Belmont Housing Authority: $522,500,
  • Digitization of historic Belmont newspapers from 1890 to 1983: $25,000.
  • Rehabilitation and restoration of the 1853 Homer House: $100,000.
  • Upgrade and restore the Pequossette Park tennis courts: $295,000.

Each grant gets its own update. PQ courts are in rough shape, said DPW director Jay Marcotte. So all four courts will be removed and refilled. It will take 30 to 60 days to do and will last 20 years. Jennifer Page, Pct. 3, wonders if this is too much money to pay to preserve tennis courts. Maryann Scali, Pct. 2, said let’s repair them correctly so the town has many years of playing on it. Sylvia Cruz, Pct. 5, asked shouldn’t the town look at recreation activities more broadly, once again wondering if this is a lot of money for courts. We spend $295,000 on courts when if the town looked broadly that the money could be used elsewhere. Floyd Carman, Town Treasurer and member of the Community Preservation Committee said the CPC looks at all applications but it has to be brought to the committee. Deb Lockett, Pct. 7, asked if outside sources which use the courts could pay the town for its use. Anthony Ferrante, Pct. 8 and CPC member, said a task force is being created that will look at all courts to determine usage and support. The measure is adopted. 

Next up is the Veterans Memorial Project. Kevin Ryan, chair of the project’s committee, describes the project. The project can be finished by Veteran’s Day in November, he said.

Vince Stanton, Pct. 2, said the memorial is described as a park, has landscaping been discussed? Ryan said the group did not but hope that groups that does it now will continue to do so. The project is adopted unanimously. 

Susan Smart, director of the Homer House, describes the restoration project which includes repairing the cupola and three porches which are in bad shape. This will lay the foundation for private, state and possibly federal contributions. Support this because of cultural tourism, as a television crew said how wonderful the house remain. “Thank goodness for those dames,” one said for saving the project. The great Belmontian Lydia Ogilby, Pct. 1, said she supports the project “because I’m one of those dames.” The article is adopted unanimously. 

The Belmont Public Library submitted the digitalization of old Belmont newspapers. Kathleen Keohane, Pct. 2, and head of the Board of Library Trustees, said the reason to computerize papers from 1890 to 1923 will make it searchable which makes it easier to research and use. Many towns are doing this and the Boston Public Library is creating a digitization lab to make the content is accessible to the country and world. Don Mercier, Pct 8, can this information be placed on a hard disk for our own files. Yes, that information will have access – maybe not on disk – and you can tell how many people use it. Mercier wonders if the information can be on a hard disk – “not on that sky thing” – and use it for the town’s purposes. Penelope Schafer, Pct. 7, asks if the project will move quicker than the town records which received funds in 2013. Town Clerk Ellen Cushman said actually the level of work for the town records was massive and, actually, is about to be completed. The motion is adopted unanimously.

8:54 p.m.: Up now is the Wellington Station restoration. The money will help preserve the well-known landmark adjacent to the First Church, Belmont. It’s been around before Belmont was a town. Vince Stanton, Pct. 3, asked if other funds were sought to help restore the building as the Belmont Historical Society has a bit of money that could have been used. No we didn’t, said Carman. Was there any exploration of having a contractor do the work for a sign? The motion is adopted unanimously. 

9:09 p.m.: “We will be out of here before 11,” said Carman. Yikes! Did the treasurer jinks us?

Donna Hamilton, director of the Belmont Housing Authority, said that this year’s request is the continuation of rewiring the final 19 buildings in Belmont Village. Steve Klionsky, Pct. 6, asks why is the Housing Authority is asking for more money when last year’s money hasn’t been spent yet. Hamilton said the work is currently being bid out, so its heading forward.

Norma Massarotti, Pct 6, asks if the authority should use last year’s money to find out just how much it will cost to perform the work and then come back next year for the rest of the money. Hamilton said the systems need to be upgraded from the existing wires put in the 1940s as tenants have greater electronic needs.

It’s shocking that nothing has been done due to safety reasons, said Christine Kochem, Pct. 8. Hamilton said she agreed, but they wanted to come up with a good plan rather than the quickest. Kochem returned to ask a timetable. Hamilton said first units will be built out soon and the entire two projects should be done by next May.

“I’m very disappointed that you haven’t spent the money from last year. Just for that, I’ll have to vote against it,” said Don Mercier, Pct. 8.

Sylvia Cruz said the CPC should not have to pay to do what the state should be doing as this request takes away the town’s investment in other areas such as open space. There’s some applause.

Sami Baghdady, Selectmen chair, agrees and a letter will be going to the state on this issue. But that should not stop the town from doing repairs for a valuable housing source for low-income residents. He also said this should be done for safety reasons.

The motion is voted on and adopted.

Widmer “really urges” Town Meeting Members to get as many questions answered in advance because most of the questions members asked tonight could have been answered” beforehand. Cheers. Carman said he is willing to come to any precinct meetings to answer questions.

Final article, for CPC administrative costs of $56,200. It passes and we are about to adjourned until June for the budget. It’s 9:41 p.m., a record. 

The Return: Solar Power Article To Be Reconsidered by Town Meeting

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Photo: Belmont Town Meeting.

The solar power article – effectively killed off by an amendment postponing indefinitely a vote on the measure on the first night of the Belmont Town Meeting, Monday, May 4 – has returned from the grave after newly-elected Selectman Jim Williams requested the Town Meeting revisit the contentious initiative possibly one more time. 

While voting for the amendment submitted by former Ralph Jones, Williams told the Belmontonian that the decision didn’t “sit well the day after” so he approached Belmont Town Clerk Ellen Cushman early Tuesday to request “a motion to reconsider” which is allowed under town meeting rules.

While Town Moderator Mike Widmer will inform Town Meeting on the reconsideration on the send night of Town Meeting, Wednesday, May 6, the earliest the actual vote on reconsideration will take place is in June, according Cushman.

At that time, Williams will speak on his request, discussion will take place before Town Meeting takes a vote on the reconsideration, which must pass by a 2/3 margin to be placed back before the members. 

If it does reach that plateau, Article 9 will be debated and will need to reach the standard 50 percent plus one vote to be adopted.

William said he believed his vote Monday, which passed overwhelmingly by Town Meeting, was “basically a ‘timeout’ for all parties to settle down and let the new Light Board do its work,”  referring to the board made up of the Selectmen which approves policy for Belmont Light, the town’s public electric utility. 

“[I] learned that the motion to postpone indefinitely was primarily used as a motion to dismiss and is normally employed by town officials when an article has been overcome by events and should be dismissed,” said Williams.

“This clearly was not my voted intention and so the decision to file for reconsideration was straight forward,” he said in an email Tuesday, May 5, 

Williams said, in his opinion, Town Meeting deserve to hear all sides debate the article “and … vote up or down on what [Town Meeting] want to do or should not be able to do.”
The article, which came to Town Meeting as a citizen petition, would place on the town ballot a non-binding resolution to request the town’s state legislators to vote for state legislation that would require Belmont and other municipal utilities to provide solar users favorable treatment when crediting solar owners for the electricity they add to the grid.
Yet many Town Meeting were incredulous with the measure when they discovered there is not state legislation for the legislators to vote on, and that the measure was presented to Town Meeting as a method to begin a discussion on promoting solar power. 

Preview of the Second Night of Belmont Town Meeting, May 6

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Photo: 

The second night of the 156th edition of Belmont Town Meeting takes place on Wednesday, May 6 as the meeting reconvenes at 7 p.m. at Belmont High School to hopefully complete the remaining non-budgetary issues before the 290-member legislative body.

The evening will revolve around debate on the $1.1 million in grants coming from the Community Preservation Committee.

They include:

  • Belmont Veterans Memorial Project: $150,000,
  • Wellington Station exterior restoration and rehabilitation: $26,300,
  • Electrical upgrade at units owned by the Belmont Housing Authority: $522,500,
  • Digitization of historic Belmont newspapers from 1890 to 1983: $25,000.
  • Rehabilitation and restoration of the 1853 Homer House: $100,000.
  • Upgrade and restore the Pequossette Park: $295,000.

There will likely be questions from Town Meeting on public money being used on a private residence such as the Homer House (owned by the Belmont Woman’s Club) and why residents tax money (the CPC receives its funding from a surtax on property taxes) is being used to repair the electrical wiring at buildings which are run by the state. 

In addition, a Special Town Meeting will be convened to allow for the transfer of money from reserve accounts to pay down the deficits in the school department (about a half-a-million dollars due largely to skyrocketing special education costs) and about $750,000 in the snow removal account. 

Selectmen To Give $386K to Capital Budget Rather than Taxpayers

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Photo: Belmont Board of Selectmen.

What would you do with an extra $386,000 in next year’s budget? Give it back to taxpayers? How about spending it right off to repair the roads? 

“That $386,000 has generated quite a bit of discussion around town,” said Sami Baghdady, the chair of the Belmont Board of Selectmen.

Before Town Meeting on Monday, May 4, the Selectmen tentatively decided the $386,000 in additional state aid the town was not expecting into next fiscal town budget will be heading over to the Capital Budget Committee to be used to assist big-ticket items.

“Finally, all our pleading paid off,” said Anne Marie Mahoney, chair of the Capital Budget Committee, after the meeting.

Town Meeting will need to approve the allocation to Capital Budget in June when budget articles are voted.

After debating for more than a month what to do with the funds, the Selectmen’s decision to park the money in a Capital Budget Stabilization Fund comes at the expense of taxpayers. By not increasing the tax levy by the “extra” state funding, residential homeowners would have saved on next year’s tax bill, according to Town Treasurer Floyd Carman.

“Having just voting a considerable override, this would be a little bit of relief, maybe $40 to $50 or so to the taxpayers,” said Baghdady. 

“I’d really like to turn the money back to the residents, but we need to give direction,” said Selectman Mark Paolillo. 

Yet during last week’s Warrant Committee meeting, Town Moderator Mike Widmer called the tax relief move “a gimmick” as there are real needs to be serviced in town. 

Other possible uses included replenishing the Belmont School Department’s special education stabilization fund, the entire $250,000 in the account will be used to fill a $500,000 budget gap facing the department this year.

But there is a real need for the Capital Budget Committee to obtain additional funds since the $240,000 it will receive from the $4.5 million Proposition 2 1/2 override approve by voters in April to finance a million dollars in bonds for miscellaneous items, is about to be used to replace to the 45-year-old fire alarm system at Belmont High School. Belmont’s Fire Chief David Frizzell said if the system fails, the high school building will be closed.

“So the intention of giving us more money to fund our pay-as-you-go capital budget is not happening because it’s going to the fire alarm system,” said Mahoney.

“It’s frustrating to us … expecting that when the override passed we would get some more money to deal with our list,” she said.

When Paolillo asked Mahoney if the committee needed the money, she listed off a half dozen “immediate” projects that requires action. 

By the end of the meeting, the Selectmen believed the best use of the $386,000 is by providing Capital Budget with the extra cash.

The Capital Budget Committee is meeting on Wednesday, May 6, at 6 p.m. at Belmont High School to discuss how the extra money will be allocated.

Solar Flare Up: Town Meeting Rejects Petition as Members Voice Concerns

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Photo: Town Meeting.

Tempers flared as Town Meeting members rejected an article hoping to spark a conversation about the future of solar power that one member called “too squishy” on the first night of the annual Belmont Town Meeting held Monday, May 4, at Belmont High School.

Tensions rose to a point unseen in recent years when the presenter of the solar power article accused some members of being too scared to debate the subject.

“What are you afraid of? A conversation? An argument? Having different opinions? It’s sort of like ‘let’s not talk about this’. ‘Let’s keep it under the table’,” queried Roger Wrubel, Precinct 5, as fellow members shouted out “point of order!” to Town Moderator Mike Widmer – who previously sternly rebuked a few members for straying from the narrow nature of article – who moments later admonished Wrubel for making accusations against a member of the Board of Selectmen.

Former Selectman Ralph Jones, who filed an successful amendment to the article to delay indefinitely the citizens petition, said bad blood has been boiling over in the past year during the crafting and implantation of a new set of rules for solar customers approved by the Light Board (which is comprised of the Board of Selectmen) in December, only to be set aside two weeks ago.

“[B]oth sides on this issue really want to fight tonight. A fight to the death … A fight to the pain,” Jones said, referring to a quote from “The Princess Bride.”

Jones than quoted a citizen who said “… Fighting over this issue is not helping our efforts to reduce carbon emissions. It’s just getting in our way.”

In the end, while the majority of members did not appear hostile towards solar energy, the legislative body once again was reluctant to support an article which was, at best, confusing and apparently counter to the true nature of the measure.

Wubel said just that, noting that the article’s aim, to bring a non-binding resolution to the voters that would ask the town’s state legislators to vote for a legislative measure that doesn’t exist.

“[The article] is to start a conversation on solar energy at Town Meeting,” said Wrubel.

Town Meeting also sent a message that it wished to follow the advice of the newly-constituted Light Board – with the inclusion of newly-elected Selectman Jim Williams and chaired by Sami Baghdady – to allow it to write a Belmont-specific plan to assist in promoting greater solar usage.

“This was a wake-up call for Belmont,” said Baghdady.

And while proponents of the measure – which would have placed a non-binding referendum on the town’s ballot – left the Belmont High School auditorium in a huff after its defeat, it was pointed out that the status quo in Belmont today gives the pro-solar power what they have long been seeking.

“Until a new policy is created, Belmont has full net metering. Isn’t that what they want?” said Baghdady after the meeting. 

Wrubel’s presentation spoke of the success of solar statewide but how past and future policies were affecting progress in Belmont.

The goals of this non-binding resolution is to ensure that Belmont Light [the town’s electrical utility] “treat their solar customers the same as solar customers as they are throughout the state,” said Wrubel, pointing out that 30 of 40 municipal utilities uses a concept called net metering that credits solar owners for the electricity they add to the grid.

Unlike other utilities in the state, Wrubel said what Belmont Light is doing is not providing retail pricing but a small fee to solar generators. That is one of the reasons Belmont has only 20 residents with solar arrays.

“The effects of the policy that the Light Board has been discussing and eventually pass really has a chilling effect on people willing to take on solar in Belmont,” said Wrubel.

Jones introduces Patty DiOrio, of the Belmont Municipal Light Advisory Board – which wrote the draft plan that is no longer being used – who said the article “effectively says that we shouldn’t decide for ourselves whether or not we have certain policies surrounding solar or any other type of green energy.”

DiOrio said many utilities are currently questioning net metering “so we are in good company” and much of that has to do with all customers paying a “subsidy” to allow solar users to use the grid but not pay for the systems upkeep that has a lot of fixed costs.

DiOrio noted that a state task force on solar power released a report last week saying “people using the grid should pay their fair share; it was a consensus agreement.”

“So you can vote no on this article and know that you are not anti-solar,” said DiOrio. “Why do we want to give up our local control? Why would we want to endorse a policy that is neither market-based nor cost based?”

Jones, who spent the previous weekend in a “shuttle diplomacy” to find a compromise between the two sides which proved unsuccessful, presented his amendment to the article tabling the measure indefinitely.

“I proposed postponing this for a while to let tempers cool down,” said Jones, pointing out the Light Board decided on April 22 to indefinitely propose a draft policy approved back in December that would have set a new policy on net metering long opposed by solar supporters.

“Article 9 in a non-binding sort of way instructs our legislators to vote in favor of legislation that does not exist and also asks you as Town Meeting members to vote for legislation that you can not read. That’s fairly rare,” said Jones.

Since any state legislation on solar power – none is being proposed currently – won’t be filed until the next legislative year, “it would be prudent to me to allow our Light Board to act. They have been elected to govern … local officials adopting local policy to meet local needs,” said Jones.

After making his “fight to the death” comment, Jones asked residents “to put down our verbal weapons, stop this fight and postpone Article 9” which the Board of Selectmen asked for favorable action.

During question time, Fred Paulsen, Precinct 1, said he would have voted “yes” on an up-or-down amendment that said are we in favor of net metering. “But [this amendment] is not that simple, the language of this resolution is complex and brings in the state level so we ought to work on this locally.”

Anne Mahon, Precinct 4, said that solar companies will not come to Belmont since the current conditions are preserved to be so anti-solar. “11 cents a household a year to support the people with solar. Is that really going to kill you? If it is, call me. I’ll pay the bill.”

Then, suddenly, things got heated. Paul Roberts, Precinct 8, said he wasn’t going to talk to Jones’ amendment but rather “we need a municipal electric company that really represents the values and priorities of this town” while this issue was “foisted upon this town by some ideological leadership on the Municipal Light Advisory Board.”

That’s when Widmer told Roberts he had moved beyond the scope of Jones’ amendment. When Roberts objected, Widmer would not have any more discussion on the matter.

Claus Becker, Precinct 5, questioned the claims by DiOrio that subsidies are provided to solar users. When Widmer asked that he returned to the narrow question before Town Meeting, Becker asked to “please allow the conversation that we’ve been elected to have to proceed.”

Widmer said while there are worthy questions to ask about global warming and solar power, “we are considering a motion for indefinite postponement, and it is incumbent for us to stick to our business.”

Baghdady, in answering a question on when the Light Board would begin debating new rules, said that Belmont Light is currently operating “right now pure net metering” and was going to remain that way until a new policy is adopted.

Despite given an opportunity earlier to speak against the postponement of his article, Wrubel asked to address the meeting.

“The reason that we brought this because at meetings that we … ” Wrubel attempted to say before calls from the members rang out of “point of order” as they felt Wrubel had veered off the subject.

Widmer allowed Wrubel to continue until he made an accusation that one of the Board of Selectmen told solar supporters “that you don’t matter” when drawing up regulations.

Widmer sternly told Wrubel his statements were “inappropriate” and “[T]his kind of accusation, I’m not going to put up with it. So, please, sit down.”

Julie Crocket, Precinct 5, and Phil Thayer, Precinct 6, supported continuing debate to help determine the sentiment of Town Meeting towards solar power.

But Bob McLaughlin, Precinct 2, said he supported Jones’ amendment “because I don’t know what we’re voting on. This is too squishy for me.”

“This has to come into a lot more focus on the vote of this board means anything,” said McLaughlin.

Nearly 70 percent of Town Meeting voted to determinate debate and Jones’ amendment was approved overwhelmingly. 

For Baghdady, it is now up to the Light Board “to come up with a plan that truly meets all the demands from both the solar supporters and Belmont Light. We have this opportunity which I believe we can accomplish.”