Election Day In Belmont: Biden Takes Belmont As Mr. Kelley Goes To Town Hall To Vote

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Photo: Nicole Howkins voted at Precinct 7.

It took several minutes for Fred Kelley to move up the ramp into Town Hall. Moving quite slowly with the aid of a walker, the 86-year-old Beatrice Circle resident was visibly struggling to make it into the building. The former Navy flyer and recruiter had to stop twice on the ramp, straining to catch his breath.

But living 63 years with diabetes and a frail body did not stop Kelley from coming to his precinct polling station to vote in person.

“I’m still around,” said Kelley, as he exited the elevator to the second floor of Town Hall. “When asked when was the first time he voted, Kelley looked up and said, “I really don’t know.”

But with the help of family. poll workers and Belmont Police Lt. Kristin Daley, the veteran was able to mark his ballot and then slip it into the recorder.

When asked why did he made this herculean effort just to register his vote, Kelley leaned forward and after taking three hesitant breaths said in a steady voice, “I want good government and I wanted true government.”

“I want government that helps, not hurt. To do good and avoid evil. I always lived my life that way and I hope to die that way.”

With the exception of a single incident where a voter at Precinct 7 got huffy when asked to remove a mask which promoted a presidential candidate, election day in Belmont was peaceful with short waits and a “I Voted” sticker waiting at the end of the process.

It was also when registered voters took extraordinary advantage of mail-in, absentee and early voting as 12,100 of the town’s 18,341 registered voters cast their ballots before Nov. 3, according to Belmont Town Clerk Ellen Cushman.

At the close of the polls at 8 p.m., 15,038 Belmontians voted, which is 82 percent of eligible voters. In comparison, 82.4 percent voted in the last presidential election in 2016.

It surprised no one that blue Belmont gave its overwhelming support to former VP Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris for president and vice president with more than three-quarters of voters filling the oval beside their names. Incumbent President Trump saw his support in the Town of Homes fall from 21.4 percent in 2016 to 19.6 percent (3,106 votes in 2016 vs 2,920 votes).

The only vote which Belmont was an outlier to the statewide vote was on Question 2 which would allow ranked choice voting in state and local elections. The question lost statewide 54 percent to 45 percent.

Unofficial results, Nov. 3, 2020

President/Vice Presidentvotespercent of vote
Biden/Harris (D)11,60577.7
Trump/Pence (R)2,92019.6
Jorgensen/Cohen1751.2
US Senatevotespercent of vote
Edward Markey (D)11,41177.4
Kevin O’Connor (R)3,24022.0
US House of Rep, 5th CD votespercent of vote
Katherine Clark (D)11,18877.0
Caroline Colarusso (R)3,33022.9
Senate in the General Courtvotespercent of vote
William Brownsberger11,76298.2
Rep. in the General Courtvotespercent of vote
David Rogers11,50698.6
Question 1 (Right to Repair)votespercent of vote
Yes11,08578.0
No3,12022.0
Question 2 (Ranked-Choice Voting)votespercent of vote
Yes8,55659.9
No5,73340.1
Question 3 (Alternative Energy)votespercent of vote
Yes10,30576.0
No3,25424.0

Dorrance Leaving Facilities, Third Department Head To Leave In Past Month

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Photo: Steve Dorrance

Steve Dorrance, Belmont’s influential director of facilities who held the job for the past two and a half years, has been hired by the city of Haverhill to maintain its 41 school and city buildings.

Dorrance is the third department director who has or is leaving Belmont’s Town Hall complex in the past month, joining Human Resources’ Jessica Porter and the Town Accountant Chitra Subramanian.

Dorrance’s final day in Belmont is Nov. 27.

In an announcement by Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini, the city’s School Committee voted on Oct. 29 to provide the Georgetown native a three-year contract with an annual salary of $145,000. Dorrance’s current salary is in the $125,000 range.

Since 2018, Dorrance has been a prominent member of each of Belmont’s development and redevelopment projects including the $295 million Belmont Middle and High School as well as advocating for a greater investment in infrastructure and maintenance.

In an (Lawrence) Eagle-Tribune article, Haverhill School Superintendent Margaret Marotta said Dorrance’s experience taking a leadership role with Massachusetts School Building Authority projects was important to the department’s decision.

“Given our school buildings projects, which include several large-scale multimillion-dollar initiatives such as district-wide HVAC repairs, a new high school gymnasium roofing project nearing acceptance with the Massachusetts School Building Authority, and the ongoing Consentino School building project, in addition to our day-to-day and COVID-19 related custodial management and supervision expectations, we are particularly pleased to have such an impressive leader joining the team,” Marotta said in the article.

Belmont Votes: 2020 Presidential Election

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Photo: Go out and get your sticker

Voting in the Massachusetts Presidential Election will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 3. 

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voters wishing to cast their ballot on Election Day must go to their assigned voting precinct.

All voters are requested to wear a mask when entering the polling place to keep our election workers and other voters safe. Please be alert to the changes in the flow of access for each precinct as the layouts have been changed to support proper social distance. In most cases, one-way access has been instituted. Please be patient as a limited number of voters will be permitted in the polling places at any time.

Belmont’s voting precincts:

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

Inactivated Voters

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

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

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

All the information you need to know about elections in Belmont can be found here.

Letter To The Editor: Belmont Help Asks Residents To Keep The Numbers Down

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Photo: Belmont Helps Free Masks table during Belmont Serves weekend. More than 2,500 masks have been gifted by our mask drive.

To the editor:

We keep hearing Massachusetts Covid-19 positives are escalating, and not everyone clearly knows what that means. As of Oct. 28, Massachusetts marked more than 150,000 people testing positive for Covid-19. The next day, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health marked Belmont as yellow – as a community at moderate risk for infection – for the first time with 16 cases confirmed the past 14 days and a 4.2 average daily incidence rate.

Belmont Helps has been tracking confirmed Covid-19 cases since it began. We track the numbers in Belmont, Middlesex County, and Massachusetts as published weekly by the Belmont and Massachusetts health departments. Before this week, Belmont has been in the green or gray category on the Daily Incident Rate charts, faring better than some of our neighboring towns. Belmont has registered 293 positive cases to date. Covid-19 often carries a variety of symptoms, and sometimes no symptoms during its contagious period.

Ways to help keep numbers down is to wear a mask, wash your hands often, limit your exposure to others, stay home if feeling any symptoms, and limit large group gatherings.

Feel free to check numbers anytime at belmonthelps.org, and click on Covid#’s.

Amy Kirsch

Lead chair of Belmont Helps

One Week To Vote: A Q&A With Town Clerk On Early Voting, Election Day

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Photo: Early voting at Town Hall continues to Friday

There are mailers filled with voter requests stacked behind the plexiglass on the front desk of the Belmont Town Clerks office at Town Hall. Across the hall, volunteers are helping residents with the early voting process while other voters are jump out of their vehicles to place mail-in ballots into the town’s official “drop box.”

With the 2020 presidential election one week away, it was expected that the small full-time staff and Town Clerk Ellen Cushman would be busy with a myriad of tasks; from answering requests, preparing Belmont’s eight polling stations, having everything prepped for Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Now add to the usual election preparations a coronavirus pandemic, running an early election operation in Town Hall and an explosion in mail-in ballots, it’s about as busy as Santa’s workshop the day before Christmas in the Clerk’s office.

For Ellen Cushman, Belmont’s Town Clerk, the goal of her office in the coming seven days is to make the process of voting as smooth and worry free as possible. The Belmontonian spoke with Cushman at Town Hall to ask her view of the upcoming election.

Belmontonian: Across the country, there have been extraordinary numbers in states and cities in regards to early voting. What has been the experience here?

Cushman: In Belmont, we have 18,000 registered voters, and we’ve mailed out more than 11,000 ballots. To date, we have 9,000 of those in hand, so we’re about at 50 percent of all voters having cast their ballots and are done. We still have about 2,800 ballots that are floating around out there and they’re deciding whether they’re going to turn them in, or they’re going to vote on Election Day. Then there are the remaining 7,000 who haven’t made a mail-in request or have early voted.

Q: So how many, so how much longer do people have before. Do they have to vote, either coming in, either early voting like we have here, or via mail,

Cushman: If you want to file a vote by mail request and receive a ballot to be mailed to you. You have until Wednesday, October 28 to file that request at 5 p.m. To request a ballot by mail, go online on to the Secretary of the Commonwealth portal – it’s also a great place to check whether your ballot has been returned, whether you’re a registered voter and where you would vote. You can just also go to that same site, print the “vote by mail application” and then you would have to fax it to us, email it to us, or drop it in our Dropbox out in front of Town Hall. Any of those three is acceptable. But again by the deadline is Oct. 28.

You can also vote by coming into Town Hall and do early voting in person. Early continues until Friday, Oct. 30. The schedule is

  • Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  • Friday; 8 a.m. to noon

And if you miss those two early options, you can always show up on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3 at one of the eight Belmont precincts based on where you live.

Q: Due to the average age of election workers, somce towns are having trouble getting enough staff for Nov. 3. What is the situtation in Belmont?

Early voting starts here.

Cushman: We’ve been doing great. We have a lot of wonderful seasoned workers for have been here for a long time but who were not able to do so because they were in higher-risk categories due to COVID. We were down definitely before our June Town Election so we put out a call to people and we got a tremendous response who heard that maybe the election was going to be compromised in terms of our ability to recruit and keep poll workers. In the end, we’ve got 210 qualified election workers. I think we’re going to be deploying about 120 of them on election day.

Q: This could be a record turnout for the country in term of voters. What do you think the percentage is going to be in Belmont?

Cushman: I am not going to predict but I will tell you if you looked at the past, Belmont is a very heavy voting community particular if you look at the state election two years ago. In 2018, Belmont was at 74 percent, one of the highest in the state. Our presidential elections in November usually hangs out somewhere in the lower 80s, 85 percent. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s in that zone; it certainly feels that way to us there’s a tremendous amount of interest, a lot of energy, people are excited to get involved in the process.

Q: With the volume of ballots and new procedures, have any issues cropped up from the public?

Cushman: We have had only a couple of people who are unhappy with what they’re finding as they’re going through the process. They thought they could requested a ballot by mail and then came here in person and be able to put their ballot through the voting machine. Massachusetts laws only allows voters to do that on Election Day. So we’ve only had a couple of those sort of intersections which were less than fulfilling but that’s what happens when you have 18,000 people trying to vote.

Q: Any final words for the voters week before the election?

Cushman: The polls at the precincts are open on Election Day at 7 a.m. and close promptly at 8 p.m. If you are in line at 8 p.m., you will still be able to vote.

And prepare to be patient. This is a very unusual year. All of our polling places had to be reconfigured for the June and September elections and we’re using the same sort of configurations: one way in, one way out as much as we can and all of the voting booths are at least six-feet apart. Some of our polling locations had to be diminish or cut back on the number of booths that we’re offering, so the number of people who will be allowed in the polling place to vote will likely be smaller. So bring a Sudoku or crossword puzzle, headphones or a book. People are used to just picking their time, walking in walking out.

It might be a reset of what their expectation is and that’s where we are.

Belmont Center Reopens For Two-Way Traffic: Will There Be A Repeat Next Summer?

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Photo: Back to normal on Leonard Street

There are two ways to view the return of two-way traffic on Leonard Street through Belmont Center on Monday, Oct. 27: a return to normality for commuters after 137 days of detours and alternative routes or an end to a new way to view and use Belmont’s business and restaurant hub.

According to the head of the group that advocates for Belmont Center’s businesses, there is a good chance the merchants and restauranteurs will ask the town to return to the more pedestrian-friendly arrangement for next summer.

With the concrete New Jersey barriers and steel gates removed just after the morning rush hour, Leonard Street returned to the two way traffic after the town’s Select Board voted in early June to close down Belmont Center until Labor Day as a way of supporting the prominent restaurant trade during the COVID-19 pandemic which forced them to halt indoor dining.

With traffic restricted through the center, restaurants and retail stores were able to expand their operations onto the sidewalk for al fresco dining.

After first voting to halt all but emergency vehicles and MBTA buses, the Select Board moved to limit travel on Leonard Street from Alexander Avenue to Moore Street in the direction to the commuter rail tunnel after hearing from several merchants protest the elimination of all off-street parking.

The restrictions were extended from Labor Day to the end of October to assist eateries as state continued to limit the number of diners in establishments.

Gerry Dickhaut, owner of Champions Sporting Goods and president of the Belmont Center Business Association said the more than four months of the new traffic configuration resulted in “an excellent summer” as “a lot of people loved it, just to get outside during these tough times.”

“It was very successful for the majority of merchants,” said Dickhaut.

With the recent experience under its belt, Dickhaut said the business association is eager for a return to a more pedestrian-friendly center for 2021.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to do it next year after [Belmont] Town Day (which takes place in mid-June), and make this an annual thing,” he said.

With permission from the select board and town officials, Dickhaut would like to see the one-way traffic configuration for the calendar summer from June to September.

“It was well worthwhile maybe we should add some music next year, make it a festival,” he envisions. “We heard that some of the merchants said, ‘it’s great to have it for the summer but a little longer is maybe hurtful for some of the business.’ There were a couple of businesses that didn’t like it, but the majority of the business did like it.”

Dress-up This Halloween And Help BHS UNICEF Club Save Lives

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Photo: Dress-up the Halloween With Belmont High’s UNICEF Club

Bummed about not being able to Trick-or-Treat this Halloween? Are you a parent whose kids are frustrated that they can’t show off their costumes? Well, Belmont High School’s UNICEF Club have some exciting news: While Halloween this year may look different, it’s far from canceled as Belmont High School’s UNICEF Club is hosting a virtual costume contest!

In past years, UNICEF has always held a Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF fundraiser during Halloween. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions this year, trick-or-treating may be canceled for many. As a replacement, the Belmont High School chapter of UNICEF is proud to host a virtual Halloween costume contest: Dress-up for UNICEF! Enter in this contest to win fabulous prizes (including candy!) while helping out children in need. This contest is open to ALL AGES.

Want to enter? Submit your entry here!

Dress-up for Halloween like usual, and enter your (or your child’s) costume in our costume contest! We are offering the option to donate to our virtual Trick-or-Treat box along with the contest—consider it an entry fee of sorts—but again, it is totally optional. You and your child’s donations are sent directly to UNICEF, who uses the proceeds to make a difference around the world. UNICEF recently ordered more than one million reusable masks for vulnerable communities, all manufactured locally to provide jobs. A little goes a long way:

  • $5 can immunize 10 children against measles and rubella
  • $35 can supply 50 kids with pencils and books for a year of education
  • $150 can provide a whole village with a hand pump for safe drinking water.

Every contribution makes a difference! Last year, Belmont raised a grand total of $1,541 from Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF. We’re hoping to raise as much, if not more, through this fundraiser, but we need YOUR support.

*THE CONTEST ENDS MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND*

You can submit your entry and find out more about the contest regarding rules, categories, etc. here: http://bit.ly/dressupforunicef, or scan the QR Code below.

What is UNICEF?

UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, is a worldwide organization that works in more than 190 countries to help children by providing basic services like health care, education, food, water, protection, and more. This year, children need your help more than ever with COVID-19 impacting areas with little access to the resources that can help battle this pandemic.

Even if you don’t plan on participating in our contest, you can do your part by spreading the word through social media or simply through word of mouth! Attached below is a picture flyer you can share. UNICEF and children around the world are counting on you.

Community Forum for Parents/Guardians of Remote-Only Students On Monday

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Photo:

On Monday, Oct. 26, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., Belmont School Superintendent John Phelan and Assistant Superintendent Janice Darias will host a forum for parents and guardians of elementary students who are remote-only during the hybrid experience. 

In preparation for this meeting, we invite remote-only, elementary parents/guardians to complete this short survey (SURVEY LINK) to share successes, challenges, and questions from their experiences. If possible, please complete the survey by 9 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 26. We will start the forum with a brief presentation followed by a question and answer period.

Although this forum will focus on the elementary experience, parents and guardians middle and high school students are also welcome to attend. We will hold a second forum focusing on the experience for middle and high school students at a later date.

We look forward to this time together to hear family input and feedback about how we can best serve our students during this challenging time.

Parents can join the forum on Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86206571288 

Meeting ID: 862 0657 1288 
To join by telephone, 
Call:  (646) 558-8656 
When prompted, enter: 86206571288# 
When prompted, enter # 

To ask a question or raise your hand, enter *9 on your phone.

Schools To Remain In Remote Learning Through Tuesday As District Reviews Air Exchange Data … Again

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Photo:

After suffering through the public embarassment of admitting the data supporting one of the pillars of its safety protocol was rife with faulty calculations, Belmont School District has decided it needs double the time it orginally believed before finally feeling confidence with the numbers.

So, with an abundance of caution in mind, the district announced late Friday, Oct 23, that PreK to 8th grade students will remain in remote learning for a fourth and fifth day: Monday, Oct. 26, and Tuesday, Oct. 27.

“Our expectation at this time is for hybrid in-person learning to resume at the elementary level on Wednesday, Oct. 28, and at the middle school level on Thursday, Oct. 29,” read an email from Belmont Superintendent John Phelan.

The reason for these additional days is to ensure “the accuracy of the data” coming from a third round of air exchange tests conducted in Belmont’s six public school buildings.

“This is a time consuming process, and we do not want to rush,” said Phelan.

The extent of the problem was revealed at the Tuesday, Oct. 20, Belmont School Committee meeting when Keith Prata from Bala Consulting Engineers, hired to conduct air exchange tests and advise the town on the number of fans and ventulators required in each classroom, admitted that miscalculations on the use of a multiplier led to discrepancies throughout the Excel spreadsheet underestimated the equipment needed. The errors were discovered at the beginning of the month.

In its mitigation of the faulty data set, the district has been testing and reviewing the latest numbers with Bala and the town’s Facilities Department:

  • For a third time Bala has walked through the buildings to review and assess the allocation of resources to ensure appropriate air exchange.
  • In an abundance of caution, the district has implemented a peer review process.
  • Steven Dorrance, the town’s director of facilities is reviewing the data with Bala.
  • School principals will do a building-based review of the latest data.
  • The review will be shared with the educators’ health and wellness committee
  • Meetings with be held with all parties in the review process.

“We expect the review, sharing of data, and meetings will take two days. We are still awaiting the final report and executive summary from Bala,” said Phelan. “When the School Department receives this, we will submit it to our stakeholders.”

As COVID Spikes In State, Belmont Remains In The ‘Green’; Four New School Cases In Past Week

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Photo: Belmont stays on the safe side of the COVID-19 surge.

As the corona virus spikes for the third time across the nation, Belmont has seen the rate of COVID-19 infection over the past two weeks relatively steady as the community remains one of the few to retain a “green” designation from the state’s Department of Public Health.

Based on the average daily cases per 100,000 residents, each city or town is designated a color to indicate if they are a community with a higher risk (red), moderate risk (yellow), or lower risk (green).

The color map from the MDPH as of Oct. 21.

As of Wednesday, Oct. 21, Belmont’s average daily incidence rate per 100,000 was at 2.9. While that is slightly higher over the previous two weeks, Belmont remains in the “green” catagory reserved for municipalities with less than 4 cases per 100,000. The town has reported 11 new cases since Oct. 7 for a total case count of 282.

The total number of deaths caused by COVID-19 continues to hold steady at 60 with the last reported death in late May.

Statewide, the daily incidence rate has soared to 9.2 per 100,000 with nearly 9,000 new cases confirmed in the past fortnight. Many cities and towns close to Belmont has seen their average daily incidence rates skyrocket with neighboring Waltham reporting a rate of 13.9 as 130 positive cases in the past 14 days.

Belmont’s Health Department Director Wesley Chin told the Belmont Select Board that his department is advising all residents to continue to social distance and when out in public to wear a face mask that covers the mouth and nose and which has ear loops.

“We strongly discourage the use of neck gaiters and bandanas,” said Chin as they don’t stop virus filled droplets from escaping into the air and, in fact, the fabric appear to turn large droplets into smaller ones creating aerosols that can build up over time infecting an entire room or indoor space.

Four additional positive cases at the Chenery

Two seperate cases – reported on Oct. 15 and Oct. 19 – of a pair of positive COVID-19 cases at the Chenery Middle School were confirmed by the town’s Health Department.

The Belmont School District has now confirmed seven positive cases at three schools since early September: Winn Brook Elementary (1), Chenery Middle School (5) and Belmont High School (1).

Of the two individuals – either students or staff members – confirmed to have the virus on Oct. 19, both were in close contact with one of the positive cases reported on Oct. 15. The classroom which all the individuals were located has been closed and all students and staff who also used the room are now working and learning remotely.

In regards to one of the positive cases reported on Oct. 15, it was in close contact with a previously reported case identified on Oct. 14. The second positive case on Oct. 15 was independent of all other cases.