‘Spectacular!’: Town Administrator Garvin Aces Annual Merit Review Going ‘5’ for ‘5’

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Photo: Patrice Garvin, Belmont Town Administrator

Belmont Town Administrator Patrice Garvin received a “perfect” five out of a possible five cumulative score from the Belmont Select Board at her annual merit pay review on Monday, Sept 9.

“Spectacular!” said Kelli King, the town’s Human Resources Manager, after reading the results. The score is due to Garvin’s exceptional skills in finance, administration, staff development, and problem-solving, said King.

“Patrice is a patient yet courageous change agent who is creative, forward-looking, and resilient under pressure. Her integrity is unquestionable, and she quickly resolves mistakes when they occur. Her confidence in managing daily operations has allowed the Board to focus on strategic growth initiatives,” said Kelly, summerizing the Select Board’s comments. “Patrice’s ability to multitask, organize, and lead through change has been essential to Belmont’s continued success in areas of opportunity.”

King said Garvin “plays a key role in balancing challenges, changes, and investments in under-resourced departments. She navigates diverse opinions within the town diplomatically and remains insightful in her recommendations for progress and overall comments.” 

The one concern the Board has about Garvin’s performance is her ceaseless work ethic, which has the Select Board worried about “potential burnout.” But with a strong team surrounding her, “it is hoped that she can take more time to rest.” 

“Her tireless efforts have made the board more effective, and she continues to perform her duties at the highest level, and [it] is a privilege to work alongside her,” said King.

Select Board Chair Elizabeth Dionne added Monday that Garvin’s score, in particular, reflects her work justifying and helping the town pass this year’s Proposition 2 1/2 override.

“If that override had not passed, we would have decimated town institutions and services. The current status of the town very much owes itself to Patrice and her efforts, among many, many others, but Patrice was critical in that effort,” said Dionne.

“If the scale went to six [out of five], I would go to it,” said the Select Board’s Roy Epstein at Monday’s meeting.

Since Garvin has been a target of online criticism and social media attacks from residents, the Select Board reiterated its full support of the administrator, making clear to the public that she is executing its decisions and not acting independently. 

“I have seen Patrice at times express reservations or concerns about the course of action the Select Board decided to take,” said Board Chair Elizabeth Dionne, noting the Board’s decision to end Civil Service at the Police Department. “We asked her to do it. She did it anyway, without complaint and without ever suggesting or even hinting that she was concerned about the timing.”

Thanking the Select Board, Garvin noted that while “it’s a tough job sometimes” … “[c]learly, your support gets me through difficult evenings”, including the contentious meeting with the Council on Aging that took place one hour earlier on the organization of the new Human Services Department.

“I want the community to understand that my dedication to the position in the community is evident in the work I do with the staff I lead. If anything, I can’t do any of it without the staff that’s in place and without the volunteers. That is a team effort,” she said.

“I’ve always put my heart and soul into everything I’ve done. It’s been a privilege working here,” said Garvin. 

Dionne said budget constraints limited Garvin’s merit increase to two percent, which upped her annual salary by an estimated $216,800. The Board did provide a sweetener with a change to her contract to provide a two-to-one match for deferred compensation up to $10,000, whereas for every $100 Garvin contributes to a compensation plan, the town will contribute $200.

“And to be clear, even if she reaches the $10,000 [ceiling], she is still below market when we look at comparables for other towns,” said Dionne.

For comparison, the annual salaries for town managers/administrators in nearby communities:

  • Arlington’s Sanford Pooler received $188,583 in 2022;
  • Lexington’s James Malloy took home $238,142 in 2023;
  • Winchester’s Beth Rudolph made $215,995 when she was hired in 2023.
  • Concord’s Kerry Lafleur received $246,671 in 2023.
  • Burlington’s Paul Sagarino Jr. received $243,834 in 2023.

Town’s Fix Of ‘Dysfunctional’ Senior Services Meets With COA Pushback As Sides Set To Meet Monday

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Photo: Patrice Garvin at Thursday’s groundbreaking for the new skating rink/recreation facility

Belmont Town Administrator Patrice Garvin spoke during Thursday morning’s groundbreaking ceremony for the new skating rink and recreation facility on Concord Avenue. While her remarks were directed to nearly fifty town officials and builders who came to celebrate the event, it soon became apparent that Garvin was also directing her comments to an audience that wasn’t there.

As she praised past and present select board members for their role in helping to build the facility, Garvin pointed out that “one of the questions that they often asked themselves is, ‘what is in the best interest of the town?”

“Leadership,” she noted, “is considering and impacting the many, not the vocal few,” while making “very difficult decisions to serve the many residents of this community.”

Garvin’s statement was a direct response to the “vocal few” attempting to put a stop to transforming the structure that delivers services to seniors. [When asked after the ceremony if she was directing her remarks to members of the Council on Aging, Garvin said, “Oh, you think?”]

Her comments followed a “memorandum” issued the day before, on Sept. 4, by the Council on Aging, which was delivered to the three-member Belmont Select Board demanding the elected officials put a halt to Garvin’s restructuring of the senior services model from a stand-alone department with a direct line to the Town Administrator into just one of four departments making up the town’s newly-created Human Services Department.

The action by the 11-member COA, which advocates on behalf of older adults in Belmont, came after three months of growing frustration from the senior advocates, who expressed their dissatisfaction with the speed of the plan’s implementation and Garvin’s seeming reluctance to seek the COA’s advice and consent to the move and the elimination of the senior center’s director and assistant director positions.

In the run-up to its vote on Sept. 4, COA members have continued a pressure campaign – online and via social media – to reverse the restructuring. A large number of supporters and residents are expected to attend the Select Board’s joint meeting with the COA on Monday, Sept. 9, as they attempt to influence the board using its “moral” position as senior advocates to press its argument, which, according to council member Judith Morrison, is for Garvin “to stop and consult.”

But to Garvin, the opposition to her plans has less to do with advocating for a strong COA and provide needed services than a quest to continue to hold reign over the Senior Center and those hired to run its programming, which has resulted in a “dysfunctional” department that lacks professionalism in its staffing and operations.

“I understand they have concerns. It’s change. I get that. But there’s a certain segment of seniors that like to use the Senior Center in the way that they have it since it was created,” she said.

Despite the concerns of senior advocates, in the view of the Town Administrator, the restructuring plan is a fait accompli.

“The last position [the important program director post] has been posted and once that person is hired, the restructure will be done,” said Garvin in an interview with the Belmontonian on Thursday.

“They’re looking at me not to do it, and that’s not going to happen,” said Garvin.

The confrontation between the town and a committee has grown contentious, with older advocates going onto social media and via email to question Garvin’s motive. They suggest the Town Administrator—now in her seventh year at the helm—is attempting a “power grab” to effectively sideline the COA from town governance.

This bitter skirmish between the town’s chief administrative official and a group of volunteers who are dedicated advocates for Belmont seniors was hardly foreseen just two years ago when the Senior Center was run by Nava Niv-Vogel. The well-liked, director managed services for 22 years with aplomb that the COA and Select Board were happy to leave in her hands the running of the department, its programs and later the Beech Street Center.

It was a dysfunctional department due to the ongoing interference of the COA

Patrice Garvin, Belmont Town Administrator

When Niv-Vogel departed in June 2022, the COA asked Garvin if “it wanted to have a very active role” in hiring the new director. Despite having forgiving’s on the council’s choice of Dana Bickelman, whom she believed could struggle with the actively involved council members, “I thought, ‘you know what?’ I’m going to defer to the COA,” said Garvin.

While she thought Bickelman did “a great job,” especially running great programs, Garvin said she appeared she had a hard time managing the multitude of responsibilities. When Bickelman resigned in late 2023, Brandan Fitts, the town’s recreation department director, was named interim director “to keep an eye on things and keep the ship going,” said Garvin.

Soon afterward in early 2024, Garvin began receiving for the first time troubling communications from Fitts that COA members were “trying to insert themselves into the day-to-day operations of the department” while “a toxic work environment” created by the COA and an entrenched senior center staff resulted where “Dana was not able to do her job, and [Fitts] is having trouble doing his job even today.”

While unwilling to provide examples of COA or staff actions that produced the fractious conditions for various personnel or privacy concerns, Garvin said examples could see the light of day at subsequent public meetings.

It soon became clear the senior center “didn’t work,” said Garvin. “It wasn’t being managed right. It was an insight that I didn’t see until Dana [Bickelman] left in the new year. This problem could not be solved simply by bringing in a different person. This was structural,” said Garvin.

“It was a dysfunctional department due to the ongoing interference of the COA,” she said.

Her experience allowing the COA to highjack the hiring process of Bickelman—which Garvin admits was a mistake on her part—and the subsequent examples of inefficiencies and divisiveness within the staff forced Garvin’s hand. It became clear the Senior Center needed to be restructured and professionalized into an efficient service delivery system by consolidating administrative roles, simplifying budget management, and refocusing on programming and services.

In the spring, job openings at the senior center and the recreation department provided Garvin with the opportunity to create new staff positions to support the establishment of a Human Service Department with the COA as a division within the new department.

Garvin presented the Select Board with the first mention of a reorganization at its May 13 meeting, unveiling a new Human Services Department that will consist of the Recreation Department, the Veteran Services Officer, the Social Worker, and senior services. In the new HSD, senior services would be represented by a full-time Senior Center Program Director and a transportation coordinator both who will report to the assistant Human Services Director.

It became clear early on that the town wanted to have this new entity up and running quickly. By June, job notices were posted, there were continued discussions with the Select Board and the representative union leadership took place on the new positions, with Fitts appearing ready to take on the role of the new department’s first director.

But for many seniors, the suddenness and speed of the restructuring were a shock, as the COA felt they were being marginalized as none had been consulted on the new format. Garvin’s plan quickly became a point of contention, leading to an August meeting between Garvin and the COA that only hardened the adversarial positions.

[W]e would like the Select Board to essentially force her to consult with us.

Council on Aging member, Andrea Hassol

The culmination of the last three months for the Senior Center campaigners is the memorandum sent to the Select Board last week. The memo by COA member Joel Semuels contends the reorganization violates “the spirit” of the town’s Council on Aging statute in which “the board may appoint such clerks and other employees as it may require.” And while the town’s human resources department hires Senior Center staff, Semuels believes a “reasonable statutory interpretation” is that the COA board “must be consulted on all hires.”

“We feel that the actions of the Town Administrator show remarkable and determined insensitivity to the needs of seniors and the same lack of expertise in aging services we see being eliminated,” said Semuels, who is also a Town Meeting member from Precinct 6. The memo also contends the COA “will have little control over the Human Services Department under the new organizational chart.”

In addition, a separate letter from the COA’s newest member, Andrea Hassol, accompanying the memorandum requests the town supply three sets of documents that had been asked for previously. Hassol said the financial and organizational information is needed quickly as it appears that Garvin is attempting an “end run” of the COA in the management of the senior center.

“We want [the Select Board] to roll up their sleeves a little bit and get a little more involved” in reviewing the new organizational chart of the Human Services Department and the new job descriptions, said Hassol at the Sept. 4 meeting.

“We want to be able to have some input,” said Hassol. “We want [the Select Board] to have the time to consider them and offer suggestions when [Garvin] narrowed the field … and we’d like to see their resumes, maybe involved in the interviewing process.”

“So we would like the Select Board to essentially force her to consult with us,” said Hassol.

However, for the COA to pin its hopes on the Select Board overriding the Town Administrator at the joint meeting on Monday, Sept. 9, it appears to be a very long shot as each board member had previously voiced support for Garvin’s actions.

And Garvin says her authority to take this action can be found in black and white.

Garvin, the Select Board and the town council point to a decade-old state legislation known as Acts of 2014 Chapter 17, which established the position of Town Administrator in Belmont and was adopted by the Town Meeting that formalized the “appointment of a town administrator to serve at the pleasure of the board of selectmen.” Under section c of the law, the town administrator is given near complete control, “based upon merit and fitness,” in appointing non-elected department heads of the town with a few exceptions, such as fire and police chiefs and their employees.

“It’s about control. They think they have the right to manage staff, but under the Acts of 2014, chapter 17, that’s my [role].”

Garvin said the restructuring will not impact the town’s continued commitment to seniors. The new program director “is actually charged with working with the COA to come up with programming and services.”

“We didn’t change the headcount [at the Beech Street Center] and I didn’t change the budget.” In fact, under the new structure, “I’m giving [the COA] the ability to do exactly what they’re charged with, and that is be advisors.”

“And I’m here to do my job, which is providing services to the residents,” she said.

Garvin Receives High Praise From Select Board In Annual Review, 3% Merit Pay Increase (And Told To Take A Vaca!)

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Photo: Belmont Town Administrator Patrice Garvin

It’s not usual in an annual job review that the person is told to take a vacation. But that was Elizabeth Dionne’s recommendation to Belmont Town Administrator Patrice Garvin during the Select Board’s annual performance assessment on Monday, Sept. 25.

“Take more vacation time!” wrote Dionne in her evaluation of Garvin, who is nearing six years as the town’s chief administrative officer. “I am very concerned about burnout [as Belmont has] been in crisis mode for a long time and Patrice has provided a steady hand at the tiller.”

Being scolded for not taking more off was as harsh a criticism the town administrator received as Garvin’s Select Board bosses gave her high marks for the work she performed over the past fiscal year.

“I have the highest regard for Patrice,” said Board Chair Roy Epstein. “Not everyone in Belmont realizes the demands put upon the town administrator, and how difficult it is to be successful in this role.”

The board was in sync ranking Garvin with nearly identical evaluations of her performance for the past year. Garvin received the top mark of five on a scale ranging from 0 to 5 in five of eight categories – personal character characteristics, professionalism, Select Board support and relations, organizational leadership and personal management, and financial management. Her lowest ranking was in public relations with an average of 4. Her overall score was 4.79/5.

The board’s written evaluations were equally united in their plaudits for Garvin’s execution of her job.

“She is extraordinarily devoted and tireless in her efforts to make the town run well for the residents and employees. I observe this every day and believe she is one of the foremost practitioners in her field,” said Epstein.

“She continues to provide highly effective and dedicated support to members of the Select Board,” said Mark Paolillo. “She has built a strong financial team and has strong financial skills that resulted in a balanced fiscal year 2024 budget that addressed many of the service gaps and needs within our town. areas of improvement.”

“[Garvin] is not afraid of change,” said the Board Vice Chair Dionne. “She is not threatened by strong people around her, and she is tough and resilient. You can learn a lot about someone from the people she hires. Patrice obviously has solid and well-deserved calm self-confidence. As a result, she has surrounded herself by smart and capable people, creating a truly impressive leadership team.”

Dionne said she personally feels Patrice, as “a strong female leader,” receives “criticism from employees, unions, and certain members of the public that might not be leveled against a male in the same role. The Select Board must be more active in providing her with visible support and political cover.”

Garvin thanked the board for their continued support for her leadership in running the town’s daily operations. “The fact that you scored me similarly tells me that I’m doing the same thing for each of you, which is I couldn’t be more proud of that I serve you as the board,” told the board Garvin at Monday’s meeting. Garvin praised the team she has built in her six years.

“I can’t tell you the work that we’ve been able to do in a short time. It’s been amazing,” she said. “I continue to look at ways to improve the town, departments, and the staff. I really enjoy working in Belmont, and I hope to continue.”

The review was followed by the board approving a three percent merit increase, with Garvin’s annual salary increased to $212,384 effective at the start of the 2024 fiscal year on July 1. Epstein said Garvin’s salary is slightly lower than the average of comparative towns and cities in the region.

Garvin’s contract expires in January 2027.

Town To Begin Laying Out Critical Fiscal ’25 Budget(s) With September Public Forum

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Photo: The budgets for fiscal ’24 for the town and schools will get underway with a public forum in mid-September

The budget process for fiscal 2025 will kick off with a town-wide public forum in mid-September which Town Administrator Patrice Garvin announced would be a prelude “to start talking about the needs of the town, the fiscal constraints, [and] the budget deficit.”

“[It’s a] start to explain to the community what the deficit is, why we’re looking for an override, and hopefully have give-and-take questions and some participation from the public,” said Garvin, noting the Select Board will be presenting a Proposition 2 1/2 override early in the New Year on the town elect ballot in April 2024 to meet the town and school’s needs in the coming fiscal year.

“It’s the start of the education [of the public],” she told the board. Garvin is aiming at an ambitious New Year’s deadline for two budgets, which is nearly two months before a drop dead date for the board to submit an override amount to be on the town election ballot.

Earlier in July, Garvin met with the chairs of the Warrant Committee – Town Meeting’s financial watchdog – Select Board, School Committee, the new School Superintendent Jill Geiser, Town Moderator Mike Widmer, and the town’s finance team to begin formulating a timeline for Belmont’s fiscal year 2025 budgets.

“It was really an opportunity to have some brainstorming and some ideas of how to … inform the public what we’re going to need for [deliverables] from the schools and the town,” Garvin said in July’s gathering.

The upcoming budget process – led by the town’s financial director and assistant Town Administrator Jennifer Hewitt – will produce a pair of budgets for fiscal 2025; one assuming a successful override and the other if the measure fails.

Garvin and her team is creating a budget timeline that includes setting and meeting goals. Pushing for a successful override vote, “so it’s really critical that a lot of work on the budget is done by the end of the calendar year,” said Garvin.

Yet according to Garvin, the critical line item of unrestricted funds – free cash – is not expected to be certified by the state’s Bureau of Accounts until late October due to issues within the town’s Treasurer Department.

“And without a certified number, you can’t come to a conclusion about the size of the override level,” said Board Chair Roy Epstein.

A Surprise $908,000 Windfall From Low Bid Begs Question: Where Will Town Spend It?

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Photo: Replacing the underground fuel tanks at the DPW Yard will cost half of what was estimated by a town consultant.

Some good news on a municipal project has presented a happy dilemma for Belmont Town Administrator Patrice Garvin and the Select Board after nearly a cool million dollars landed in the town’s lap earlier this month.

With a litany of funding demands across the town’s budgetary spectrum – notably more than $500,000 of an anticipated debt facing the schools at the end of this fiscal year on June 30 – this surprise financial bonanza could provide needed relief to existing shortfalls or be used for some needed quick fixes.

The sizeable windfall revolves back to the highly controversial decision on the future of the fuel tanks at the DPW Yard. Despite evidence that above-ground tanks are safer and less expensive to maintain than those in the ground, Town Meeting rejected the funding for above-ground tanks as a few neighbors sought ecstatic relief and successfully convinced members of their argument.

Back to today, with the inground tanks having exceeded their useful life and the threat of contaminate leakage ever growing, the town last year put out a request for a proposal to replace the tanks. The estimated cost for the replacement tanks from the town’s engineering consultant came in at $1,904,266, funded by a Town Meeting appropriation of $650,000 with the remaining $1,254,266 from the $8.6 million the town received in the American Rescue Plan Act.

Last month, four offers came in with a low bid from Franklin-based Green Site Services Group. The accepted offer? $966,0000, nearly half the estimated cost.

Since the $908,266 bunce was not part of the funds allocated by the Town Meeting, the surplus will not be “clawed back” to the town’s free cash account but will be reallocated by the town.

Since the Select Board makes ARPA decisions, “so conceivably we could repurpose the money if we had to,” Board member Elizabeth Dionne asked.

“It would be a simple vote [of the Select Board],” said Garvin.

“We have some big capital needs coming up,” noted Dionne.

“I have some ideas,” said Garvin. When asked at the close of the meeting what the board’s priorities would be for the windfall, Garvin smiled and said she’d first have to let the Select Board see her recommendations before making it public.

As for the project, Department of Public Works Director Jay Marcotte said even though the funds are available now, the actual work on the tank replacement will begin in the spring of 2024 as the construction time frame will take up to eight months and it would not be advantageous to work through the winter months.

Select Board OKs Belmont Patrol Officers Contracts; All Town Employee Agreements Completed

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Photo: Final contract has been signed off

The Belmont Select Board approved two Memorandum of agreement with the 50-plus member Belmont Police Patrolman’s Association on a wintery Monday night, Jan. 23, completing contracts with each of the unions representing Belmont public employees.

“All our contracts are apparently settled,” said Patrice Garvin, Belmont’s town administrator who led the negotiations for the town.

“It’s great to be finally done,” said Mark Paolillo, chair of the Select Board. “I would characterize all of our contracts as fair … to the employees and also to the town of Belmont.”

The agreements are very similar to the pair of agreements OK’d two weeks ago with the firefighters union, said Garvin. The two contracts are:

  • A two-year term from July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2022 with a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) of 2 percent in each year. The memorandum of agreement also includes an increase in the first responders stipend by 4.5 percent effective July 1, 2021.
  • The second agreement runs from July, 1, 2022 to June 31, 2025 with the COLA compensation at 2 percent for each of the 3 years. There is an increase for first responders stipend starting July 1, 2022. “This payment will be equal to 6 percent of the weekly base pay as well as an educational incentive for a bachelor’s degree,” said Garvin. The stipend will incrementally increase in the subsequent years, to 7 percent on July 1, 2023 and 8 percent in July, 1, 2024. Patrol officers will receive an extra dollar in their detail rate from $3.50 to $4.50, Juneteenth is added as a paid holiday, officers will receive a $2,000 Covid-19 stipend just like their firefighting brethren, and employees will receive five weeks of vacation after serving 20 years; currently to take five weeks requires 25 years of service.

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

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Photo: Patrice Garvin at Monday’s Select Board meeting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Historic Changes Proposed For Belmont Government, Budget Process As Town Facing ’Serious Financial Difficulties’

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Photo: The Collins Center’s Stephen Cirillo

Stephen Cirillo did not mince words: an on-going structural deficit will result in Belmont “facing a significant financial challenge” in the next years.

Yet Cirillo’s statement was hardly a Cassandra-like message; everyone knows it’s only so true. In fact, Cirillo has been before the town for the past four years sounding that same alarm and voters passed a Proposition 2 1/2 override in 2015 to fill the town’s coffer emptied by an earlier fiscal imbalance. But in a damning review of the town’s financial structure by the Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management at UMass Boston presented before a joint hybrid meeting of the town’s major committees and boards on Wednesday, Aug. 3, the ability of Belmont’s leaders to effectively face the current fiscal precipice is hindered by an antiquated governmental framework that mutes any opportunity to come to grips with the issues.

“We are concerned that underpinning the current financial challenges is an overall organizational structure that may be unable to meet these difficulties,” said Cirillo, a staff associate at the Center.

In one example that surprised the reviewers, no where in the town’s bylaws or special acts in the 162 years since the town was incorporated was the Select Board ever declared as head of the executive branch.

“Belmont is one of the most decentralized town structures” of its size existing in the Commonwealth, said Cirillo, in which varying committees, boards and elected officials deals with certain aspects of the town’s financial landscape but not the whole “in an inherently uncoordinated fashion.”

“Individually, none of these is necessarily unusual or problematic,” reads the report, but put together, “[it] creates a significant diffusion of responsibility and authority across the executive branch” which is unusual for a large town such as Belmont.

The initial reaction from the officials and the public was an acceptance with an acknowledgment that the recommendations must be seriously considered.

“I thought the report was incredibly well done. Very comprehensive and pointed,” said Mark Paolillo, chair of the Select Board. “So I welcome these recommendations. They are fairly robust.”

Seven months and 18 interviews

The review was initiated by Town Administrator Patrice Garvin and the Select Board which received a state grant 18 months ago to look at the town’s financial structure with the Collins Center which has assisted the town previously on developing financial policy and revenue forecasts. The report took seven months to complete with 18 of 19 town officials, employees, appointees and a resident on the Center’s interview list participating in hour-long sessions between November 2021 and February 2022.

While the review spotlighted the structure of town governance, it also pointed out the lack of fiscal “best practices” in its budgetary process. Belmont has been able, so far, to stave off the financial crisis of the structural deficit in the past seven years by using non-recurring funds such as free cash and state and federal and state grants, Cirillo said that approach is simply not sustainable “and you’re rapidly approaching the financial cliff” when one-time revenue will not fill the gap between recurring revenue and expenditures. When that occurs, the only option will require cuts to essential services – education, public safety, public works – or seeking a series of overrides to balance the budget.

While the conditions creating the structural deficit remain, Cirillo presented a list of recommendations that would bring historic change to Belmont’s governmental model and budget process since the town’s founding in 1859. The 19 recommendations [see a copy at the bottom of the page] are not radical in any sense, said Cirillo. In fact, they would bring Belmont in line structurally with nearly all cities and towns in the Commonwealth including comparable towns.

Read the 40-page Financial Organization Structure Review here.

At Wednesday’s meeting, Cirillo pointed to three key recommendations as essential to put Belmont on the path towards. One is to revamp the town’s current annual budget process into a formalized financial planning cycle by adopting guidelines and best practices developed by the state’s Division of Revenues’ Department of Local Services.

Calling the new planning cycle ”very simple,” Cirillo said each player – be it the town administrator, the select board or department head – has a specific timeline to do their specific tasks and move it forward to the next step. ”And each person, each committee has their responsibility to make their decisions themselves, independent of a group meeting,” he said.

Another main recommendation is to define and strengthen the powers and duties of the Select Board and Town Administrator via new bylaws, changes in policy and through special legislation so that “everything should flow through the Select Board and the representative Town Administrator,” said Cirillo.

“We believe that the Town’s executive branch is not configured in a way that aligns authority, responsibility and accountability,” said the report.

The third recommendation is for the Select Board to take the lead in determining what policies will guide the budget process. Cirillo said once the agreed-to revenue expenditure forecast is presented and reviewed, the board would issue policy directives such as how much should be spent on capital projects, set department hiring freezes to forestall layoffs or call for draft budgets that show the effects of reductions to their assigned revenue.

”These budget guidelines would flow to the town administrator who would then send a directive to the department heads, including the school department, at the beginning of the budget process,” said Cirillo.

Once the department budgets are returned at a date certain, the Town Administrator will prepare a budget recommendation back to the Select Board and Warrant Committee both who will meet with the individual departments “which should have the right to advocate for revenue … for the services they deliver,” said Cirillo.

”Ultimately, the Select Board will make their budget recommendation to Town Meeting with the Warrant Committee making their own budget recommendation to Town Meeting,” said Cirillo, noting it’s likely those recommendations will be very close in their final numbers ”because all budgeting is incremental in nature.” If there are differences in opinion, the board and the committee should seek to reconcile their differences. If not, the Warrant Committee can bring its budget to the town’s legislative body and the Select Board can ask for an up or down vote, he said.

New finance director to lead new financial management team

Cirillo was happy to see one of the 19 recommendations has been implemented with the “excellent” hire of Jennifer Hewitt as the town’s assistant town administrator and finance director who will chair a new Financial Management Team. The team will hold regular meetings to “create opportunities to develop new ideas and analyze the impact of upcoming fiscal events … and offer early strategies to deal with anticipated areas of concern.”

Other recommendation calls for the transition of the Town Treasurer position and the Board of Assessors from elected to appointed posts as well as finding other sources of revenue from economic development that will attract an appropriate level of commercial and industrial activity.

The Warrant Committee’s Jack Weis said his concern was the school district makes up 60 percent of the town’s budget and while town and schools have worked collaboratively, “there’s no guarantee that could work and there’s been examples where that didn’t work.” While Cirillo said the school committee does control the school department, it remains a department with the town of Belmont and the Select Board and Warrant Committee are responsible for creating the budget for the town.

“They should be working with the superintendent of school … or make every effort to do so and they succeed more times than not,” said Cirillo, noting that the schools will be part of the budget process every step of the way and they will know the fiscal reality the town is working in.

”The budget is driven by the executive and the executive is the Select Board represented by the town administrator and the warrant committee represents the Town Meeting,” said Cirillo.

Much what the Collins Center is recommending is not new. In fact, many of the suggestions were first proposed in a 2011 financial management review conducted by the state’s Division of Local Services. ”We implemented a handful of recommendations, many which we did not,” said Paolillo. ”When reading the report, I was not surprised to see that a lot of the recommendations from 11 years ago were in this report.”

While Wednesday meeting was the release of the report, a subsequent public meeting on Aug. 29 will be used to plan a path forward, said Paolillo.

”We can’t make changes in a vacuum” it will need consensus of town and elected officials as well as the public ”because some of the recommendations, I would say, are maybe controversial,” said Paolillo.

”It’s not the end of the discussion,” said Paolillo. ”It’s the beginning of our deliberations. This will be an ongoing dialogue … so we need your thoughts and input.”

Change To ‘Final, Final’ Rules Frees Up Covid Funds For Unrestricted Town Use

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Photo: The American Rescue Plan signed on March 11, 2021

It’s true: the squeaky wheel did get greased.

A last-minute reversal of state regulations which likely would have forced Belmont to hand back a substantial portion of millions of dollars in federal Covid-19 relief funding will now allow the town to spend the entire $7.6 million as it sees fit.

“As of Thursday afternoon … we were informed that the interim final rule changed yet again. I’m told this is the final, final interim final rule, which puts the town in a great position,” said Patrice Garvin, Belmont Town Administrator who with the town’s state and federal elected representatives.

After a quick word with the town auditor, “we were able to all of our money as revenue loss if we choose and we can use it as unrestricted as we’d like,” Garvin told the Select Board on Monday, Jan 10.

“We were concerned that we had to return [the 7.8 million],” said Adam Dash, select board chair. “This is phenomenal.”

While the grant does nothing to solve the massive structural deficit looming over Belmont, it will allow the town’s planners breathing room for at least the next two budget cycles as the funds will come in two $3.9 million segments with the second available next fall.

In mid-March 2021, Belmont received $8.8 million as part of the Biden Administration’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief plan – dubbed the American Rescue Plan Act – with $1 million going off to the schools. But as Belmont was preparing to incorporate the funds to replace revenue lost during the pandemic, it became apparent regulations imposed by the state would placed a stranglehold on the funds.

After a careful reading of the rules and regulations, the town’s auditor – Craig Peacock, a partner with Powers and Sullivan – determined that during the tight 18 month window the state is using to calculate lost revenue, the 2018 voter-approved debt exclusion used to finance the building of Belmont’s new Middle and High School, as well as the state’s partial reimbursement of expenses constructing the building was seen by Beacon Hill as a revenue “gain” for the town.

“As you remember, we had the town auditor come in and report out that … we could not find any revenue loss calculation” under the then final interim regulations, said Garvin on Monday.

While he could not give the town a financial balm, Peacock suggested a more political avenue of relief. “As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease so I don’t think it ever hurts to try to contact” state legislators, said Peacock at the time.

And that’s what Belmont did.

At the urging from the Select Board to air its consternation of the rules, Garvin sent a letter before Christmas “prompted by a lot of the town’s frustration with the final interim rule” to the town’s elected officials – State Sen. Will Brownsberger and State Rep. Dave Rogers – as well to [US Rep.] Katherine Clark, “letting her know that we are we’re in a really tough position with revenue lost calculation given the interim final rule,” said Garvin.

The result was a letter from the entire Massachusetts Congressional delegation to the US Secretary of the Treasury asking to provide relief to Belmont and a number of other small and mid-sized municipalities which found themselves in a similar predicament.

On Thursday, Jan. 6, came the good news from the state that the new change will allow any community to use up to $10 million in ARPA funds to recover revenue lost which has no bearing on each town’s final calculation.

“We will be able to take all of the money that we received from ARPA … and not have any restrictions for it,” said Garvin.

Garvin’s Sticking Around As Reading Goes Another Direction For Town Manager

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Photo: Town Administrator Patrice Garvin

Well, the Belmont Select Board dodged that one.

With its decision to select the DPW Commissioner of Chelsea as Town Manager, Reading has spared the three-member board from the excruciating practice of finding a replacement for its highly-effective Town Administrator Patrice Garvin, who was the other finalist for the job.

The Reading board voted unanimously to install Fidel Maltez as only its third-ever town manager. While not as experienced with the ins and outs of running municipal governance as Belmont , the town leaders voted unanimously for “someone who will look out for the community long-term,” said Reading Select Board’s Carlo Bacci.

The Belmont board can thank their Middlesex breadthen to allow the Town of Homes to have Garvin’s steady hand at the fiscal tiller while she constructs the critical annual budget and looking forward three years at the town’s financial condition. She will also attempt to attract a talented assistant since the departure of John Marshall. These are just two important areas that Garvin will have time to pursue as she will be sticking around.

Garvin will begin her fourth year as Town Administrator in January.