Skating Rink Heading To Town Meeting To Fill $4.3 Million Budget Shortfall

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Photo: Mark Haley, chair of the Municipal Skating Rink Building Committee, at Wednesday’s meeting

In a stunning admission, the Municipal Skating Rink Building Committee revealed on Wednesday, April 24, that the proposed skating rink/community center located on Concord Avenue is approximately $4.3 million over its $30 million budget, according to committee members, jeopardizing the project’s future.

The news comes just over a year after voters passed a $29.9 million debt exclusion to build a replacement for the dilapidated ‘Skip’ Viglirolo Skating Rink that stood for nearly 50 years at the same site as the new rink.

While the committee, construction contractor Skanska USA, and the owner’s project manager CHA are scrambling to make significant cuts to the project in an attempt to siphon off the red ink threatening the new rink, it appears the committee will come before the annual Town Meeting in late May seeking an infusion of dollars to bridge the shortfall.

“The long and short of it is we have to make some drastic cuts and get that number as close to $30 million as we can,” said Mark Haley, chair of the Municipal Skating Rink Building Committee.

The day before Wednesday’s meeting, Haley and representatives from Stanska and CHA met with town officials, including Town Administrator Patrice Garvin, Select Board Chair Roy Epstein, and Town Moderator Mike Widmer, on the rink’s future. While most of what was discussed remains under wraps, Haley revealed that Epstein – whose board would submit an article before Town Meeting – told him he would not bring a request before members greater than $2 million.

“If we need more money, we have to do it quickly,” said Haley, as the Select Board will need a final number in early May to have a Town Meeting vote later that month. “If we stay at the [current cost], we’re being told there is no project.”

At the end of the first night of value engineering, the committee reduced the deficit to $33.0 million, but only after major reductions to the building’s interior and exterior. This immediately sounded alarms that a reduced building is not what voters – specifically supporters – cast their ballots for.

Location of the proposed municipal skating rink off Concord Avenue

But when the members reconvened on Thursday morning, April 25, the building team was in better spirits. They believed a compromise solution that secured more reductions without challenging the programming was doable despite giving themselves only four working days before revealing a major budget rewrite on Wednesday, May 1.

The story behind the more than 10 percent cost acceleration in the past year is familiar to any construction project. Haley revealed that due to shortages and supply chain delays, nearly every construction cost has spiked since voters approved the project. Examples included concrete costs up by more than half a million dollars, masonry $400,000, the site package $704,000, and plumbing $306,000. Add inflation to other costs, and the total price tag is currently pegged at $34.3 million.

When Haley asked if there were any questions after revealing the deficit, the Select Board Room turned eerily silent as those in the room – many hearing the amount for the first time – took in the enormity of the shortfall.

When the shock wore off, the brutal reality came into focus. If you want a rink, cutting your way to that goal will be ugly, from fairly insignificant expenses facing the chopping block to ripping out the front lobby and possibly reducing the number of locker rooms from the site.

“I was a big proponent of many of these items and not cutting them, and I’d hate to see some of them go,” said Dante Muzzioli of the Building Committee. “But if it comes down to having a project or not having a project, I’m here to make some tough decisions” during the value engineering process.

Value engineering analyzes building features, systems, equipment, and material selections to achieve essential functions and enhance results while reducing costs.

While Building Committee member Ann Marie Mahoney voiced harsh skepticism of the process -“how you can value engineer $5 million out of $35 million … without so destroying the project that it’ll makes it meaningless.” – Patricia Brusch of the Permanent Building Committee told the room value engineering is not necessarily “a really bad thing. It can make a project much better … and force you to make decisions that gets what you want.”

With 40 years of experience overseeing the construction/redesign of nearly every school in town, as well as the renovation of Town Hall and the building of the Beech Street Senior Center, Brusch said the building committee needs to be diligent in designating what in the project is a “need” (a required element), a “want” (nearly a need that is something that you’d like), or a “nice to have.”

“Everything goes on the table that can go on the table,” she said. “Everybody’s idea is an OK idea to throw on the table, no matter if it’s a sacred cow.”

“It might not be black,” stated Brusch of what the committee was about to start, saying there might be “a little gray” when working with creative people. Listen to what they say and collaborate so the committee can “still salvage what you want. In the end, you’ll have a fabulous sheet of ice in a building that the town is dying to use.”

The meeting of the Municipal Skating Rink Building Committee on Wednesday afternoon

Intending to reduce the project by $4 million, the committee, architect Ted Galante, and reps from the contractor and project manager spent nearly two hours Wednesday reviewing about two dozen budget items to determine how removing them would impact the project and it bottom line. While many of the reductions were in the five figures, the most significant cut was deferring the installation of the PV solar panels to a future date, thus reducing expenses by $1,305,000. One item surviving the process was a series of large windows along the east and west walls.

However, as the total reductions remained far removed from the $4 million target, the suggested reductions became more consequential, such as removing the building’s lobby, thus radically altering the building’s appearance to where it will represent a “gray aluminum box.” Some discussions were advanced to just order the pre-engineered building and “plop” it on the site, only to be rejected.

“There is no design, there is no aesthetic, and there is nothing that the community voted for here except the ice,” said Mahoney. Committee member Tom Caputo reiterated Mahoney’s observation, saying the cuts could be so drastic that they reduce or eliminate programs – such as using the building for summer recreation or the expected locker rooms for high school sports teams – alienating rink supporters.

When a proposal to reduce the three-season locker rooms from four to two was presented, Muzzioli said, “[t]hat is not what we promised the school department or anyone else. We took the White Field House down and said we would provide locker space.”

Committee member Anthony Ferrante said the package should be presented to the public once the recommended reductions are finalized.

“We have to go back to the town and say, ‘This is what we’re planning.’ ‘This is how we got here,” Ferrante said.

When the meeting reconvened on Thursday morning, overnight alterations by Skanska’s designers, including lowering the roof element, revisioning the lobby and building front, and repositioning the rink closer to Concord Avenue to reduce the building’s footprint and volume, gave the group added momentum on finding the right combination of cuts and alterations.

“I do think a few ideas have been tossed out [Thursday] that don’t compromise the program and in some way represent cost savings that preserve or bring back [elements] that last night we were talking about disappearing,” said Caputo.

Given their marching orders, the committee will meet on Wednesday, May 1, at 7:30 a.m., with a complete list of cuts and their savings. Haley said he and Mahoney would meet early next week with town officials “to discuss finding more money.” One possible funding source a member threw out during the meeting is the town account created from the Kendall School fire settlement funds.

Belmont Treasurer Carman Will Not Seek Re-election, Opens Up Vote On Appointed Post

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Photo: A 2014 photo of Town Treasurer Floyd Carman

Floyd Carman, Belmont’s long time Treasurer, announced late Friday, Dec. 30, his decision not to seek re-election to the post in the April 2023 town election.

“I am retiring and not running for re-election on April 4, 2023, as your Elected Town Treasurer and Tax Collector after 18 years on the job,” said Carman in an email to residents. “It has been a privilege and honor to serve Belmont.”

The announcement makes official what was speculated in the fall when the Select Board’s Roy Epstein revealed that Carman would not seek a seventh three year term as the town’s leading financial official. Carman would later say in November that he would decide whether to run to keep the post “sometime in the new year.”

With Carman’s decision, the Select Board will move forward with its plan to seek Town Meeting approval to restructure the Treasurer’s position from an elected position to one which is appointed by the Town Administrator. The Board is seeking to implement one of the major recommendations proposed in a report by the Collins Center for Public Management released in August 2022. The report called Belmont “one of the most decentralized town structures of its size existing in the Commonwealth” resulting in a “significant diffusion of responsibilities and authority across the executive branch.” The Center made nearly 20 recommendations including the change to an appointed treasurer to allow a more cohesive approach to budgeting and financial management.

The Special Town Meeting will be held in February for member to vote on an article to establish an appointed treasurer post. If adopted, a ballot question will be presented to voters at the Town Election. During this time, any eligible voter can run for the open post to fill the three year term. If the voters approve the appointed treasurer post, the winner in the general election will serve until the legislature approves the voters initiative which will occur in a matter of weeks. If the voters rejects the proposal, the winner will serve the three year term.

The Select Board has come out in strong support for the appointed post as have many members of the influential Warrant Committee. Additionally, Elizabeth Dionne, the sole candidate seeking to fill the seat on the Select Board held by Adam Dash who is not running for re-election, has said she supports a appointed treasurer. Critics of the change have said there are highly qualified residents who can fill the post who will then be beholden to the voters rather than a non-elected Town Administrator.

Nomination Papers For Town Election are Available; Due Feb. 15

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Photo: Nomination papers at the ready.

Belmont Town Clerk Ellen Cushman O’Brien announces this week that Nomination Papers for Town Offices are available for those who are interested in running in Belmont. All candidates must be registered voters of Belmont.

In addition to many town-wide offices, representative Town Meeting members from each of the eight voting precincts. New in 2022, the Town Meeting created a new elected board, a five-member Municipal Light Board.  At the time of this writing, there are also a couple of partial-term openings for Town Meeting; such vacancies are created by Members moving or resigning.

Annual Town Meeting takes place in the spring, and typically lasts for six evenings, (customarily Monday and Wednesday) in early May and early June for another two to four evenings. Town Meeting makes all of the decisions about the Town’s budgets and local Bylaws. Belmont’s government is a Representative Town Meeting, which means that only Town Meeting Members can debate and vote at Town Meeting, unlike the Open Town Meeting form of government. Video of past Town Meetings is available for viewing on www.Belmontmedia.org.

A total of 36 Town Meeting Members are elected to serve from each of the eight voting precincts, routinely for three-year terms. However, in 2022, Precincts 1, 2, 6 and 8 will need to elect all 36 at once due to Reprecincting requirements caused by population shifts identified in Belmont data from the 2020 Federal Census. Terms of service will be decided by the results. Precincts 3, 4, 5 and 7 will elect the usual 12 members per precinct to 3-year terms.   

Stop by the Town Clerk’s office in Town Hall in Belmont Center to pick up nomination papers; then have your neighbors and friends, who are registered voters, sign your nomination papers and submit the signed forms to the Town Clerk by the deadline, Feb. 15, at 5 p.m.

The Town Clerk’s web pages contain quite a bit of information to help make the decision to seek office at www.belmont-ma.gov  select Town Clerk, then select Running for Elected Office and Campaigning or feel free to call us at 617-993-2603, or email at townclerk@belmont-ma.gov  

Running for election is simple:

  • To be nominated for Town-wide office, signatures of at least 50 registered voters of Belmont are required on the nomination papers. The Town Clerk must certify these signatures so we always suggest obtaining about 20% more just to be safe.
  • To be nominated for Town Meeting – signatures of at least 25 registered voters of your precinct are required on the nomination papers. The Town Clerk must certify these signatures so we always suggest obtaining about 20% more just to be safe.  Some current Town Meeting Members will be asking the voters for re-election but all twelve seats are available in each precinct, plus any partial term seats.

Three ‘Modest’ Proposals Frame New Regs For Town Meeting Roll Call Votes

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Photo: Moderator Mike Widmer discussing changes to the roll call bylaw with the Select Board

The most impassioned moments of the 2019 annual Belmont Town Meeting didn’t involve a vote but how they were reported. And next week, Town Meeting members and residents will hear and comment on changes to the roll call bylaw sponsored by three mainstays of town government.

At this year’s Town Meeting a group of members sought roll call votes on the outcome of several articles including measures that passed overwhelmingly on a voice vote.

Unlike the usual aggregate vote when just the grand total of yea and nay are presented to the meeting, a roll call requires each member’s vote to be recorded and made public. With electronic voting in Belmont, member’s names are projected on the main screen for the assembly to see how each member voted.

While roll call proponents said knowing how a member voted is an expected part of representative government, others called out the rarely invoked process “harassment” and “vote shaming” by revealing who may have voted against “popular” measures.

The town is holding a public meeting to discuss proposed Roll Call Bylaw changes on Tuesday, Oct. 15 at 7:15 p.m. at the Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St.

It culminated with a vote favored by the pro-roll call caucus going down to defeat during the roll call after initially passing with an aggregate tally. Soon after, there was some confusion on who could ask that the article be reconsidered, resulting in a decision by the moderator that left Town Meeting in a kerfuffle for a few days.

At a recent Select Board meeting, representatives of the Town Clerk’s Office, the Town Administrator and Town Moderator presented an initial draft article which they will bring to the fall Special Town Meeting in November supporting, as moderator Mike Widmer describes it, three “modest” proposals that will clarify and codify what constitutes a roll call vote.

“The proposal is based on the informal survey of Town Meeting members after the annual meeting … and we have done our best to reflect the will of the majority of members,” said Widmer.

Assistant Town Clerk Meg Piccione announced the proposed changes to the bylaw:

  • a roll call will be automatically conducted for the final action on any article or motion that requires a 2/3 majority vote.
  • an automatic roll call will be done when a motion or article is passed by fewer than 10 aggregate votes.
  • If a member requests a roll call vote for any other article, the measure will require 50 supporting members, up from 35.

Widmer noted the bylaw change also includes redefining reconsideration – when a matter that was voted on is brought back before the Town Meeting for a second time – which was also an issue at the annual meeting. The new bylaw will only allow a member who voted in the majority be allowed to request a motion to reconsider.

Widmer said he does expect some to question the group’s bylaw change and possibly challenge some aspects of the new bylaw.

“We’re under no illusion that there won’t be any amendments to this proposal,” said Widmer. “But our hope is to have …the one article so we can make it a smoother process rather than having one citizen’s petition for an article and another for something else.”

Belmont Votes: 2018 Town Election

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Photo:

The annual Belmont Town Election takes place on Tuesday, April 3, 2018.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

And below is information that will make the process of casting your ballot all that much easier.

Whose running for town wide and Town Meeting 

Click here for the Belmont League of Women Voters Guide for candidates and their campaign message.

Polling Places

For voting purposes, Belmont is divided into eight voting precincts, located as follows:

  • Precinct 1 – Belmont Memorial Library, Assembly Room, 336 Concord Ave.
  • Precinct 2 – Belmont Town Hall, Selectmen’s Room, 455 Concord Ave.
  • Precinct 3 – Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St.
  • Precinct 4 – Daniel Butler School, Gymnasium, 90 White St.
  • Precinct 5 – Beech Street Center, 266 Beech St.
  • Precinct 6 – Belmont Fire Headquarters, 299 Trapelo Rd.
  • Precinct 7 – Burbank School, Gymnasium, 266 School St.
  • Precinct 8 – Winn Brook School, Gymnasium, 97 Waterhouse Rd. (Enter from Cross Street)

Please adhere to the posted parking restrictions and use caution to ensure the safety of pedestrians around the voting precincts.

Are You Registered to Vote in Belmont and Eligible to Vote April 3? 

If you are wondering if you are a registered voter and your voting precinct, go to the Town Clerk’s web page or phone the Town Clerk’s office at 617-993-2600.

Arrive early, consider traffic and limited parking 

Belmont Police will designate some voter parking at each of the polling locations however with a  busy election, parking close to the polling places is often a challenge.

Plan ahead: consider walking, carpooling with a friend or voting “off peak” during the middle of the day. Only voters who arrive at the precinct and are in line for the Voter Check-In before the close of polls at 8 p.m. can be permitted to vote; those who arrive too late will miss out.

Election Day campaigning

The Town Clerk and the Board of Registrars of Voters remind all residents that campaign signs, stickers, buttons or materials may NOT be displayed within 150 feet of each polling place. This prohibition, per Massachusetts General Laws, Ch. 54, §65, even extends to a candidate whose name is on the ballot, when the candidate is not actively voting.  The Town Clerk’s website posts a map displaying the 150-foot radius under Campaigning: Running for Elected Office and Town Meeting.

Election Results – How Do I Find Out the Results?

Election results for each precinct are announced by the Warden of each precinct after the close of the polls. The unofficial town-wide results will be announced at Town Hall and posted on the home page of the Town website as soon as they are available Tuesday evening or phone the  Town Clerk’s office at 617-993-2600 on Wednesday morning. Campaign representatives are welcome to wait at Town Hall for the printed results.

Town Election ’18: Ballot Set For Town Meeting; A Race For School Committee

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Photo: Pam Eagar readies to run for Town Meeting.

Pam Eagar has spent 40 years in Belmont, raising seven children (all attending the Belmont schools) and taking care of her mother in her home on Claflin Street near Belmont Center. 

Now, with the kids away and with time on her hands, Eagar wants to make a difference in the governing of Belmont with an eye on Town Meeting.

“I’m interested in [town government] but I had always been really busy for a lot of years with kids and grandchildren. But now seems a good time to get involved,” she said Eagar who came to the Town Clerk’s office Tuesday, Feb. 13 to make sure her nomination papers to run for one of the 12 available seats in Precinct 8 had been certified. 

She took her time debating whether to run down to the deadline on Tuesday. 

“I didn’t decide until the other day that I thought, ‘Oh if I want to do this I have to do this right away!”

When the clock struck 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 13, the ballot was set for Belmont’s 2018 Town Election to take place on Tuesday, April 3. See the candidates for town-wide office and all Town Meeting races in Belmont’s eight precincts here.

There is one townwide race as three candidates have been certified for the two, three-year seats on the Belmont School Committee as incumbent Susan Burgess-Cox will face off against a pair of newcomers; Winchester teacher Tara Donner and Jill Souza Norton, the director of Education Policy at Abt Associates. 

Over on the Town Meeting side, it’s a bit of a topsy-turvy year as precincts that have been historically light on candidates have filled the ballot with the 12 seats available while others will have open seats.

The big surprise is the typically underrepresented Precinct 7, the Harvard Lawn neighborhood along Belmont Street to the Cambridge line, which has filled the ballot with 12 candidates. And over at the usually politically active precincts 3 and 4, could only muster 10 candidates each for the dozen three-year slots. 

And one of the 13 seek a seat in Precinct 8 is Eagar who said she sees “a lot of growth in the town and I think we need to be really careful how things are regulated. Financially the town needs a lot of good planning in place because money doesn’t go on forever.” 

Town Meeting Warrant Opens in February for Citizen Petitions

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Photo: Belmont Town Meeting.

Have you ever said, “There ought to be a law in this town!

Here’s your chance to do just that.

The town warrant – the document that calls for the annual Town Meeting which Board of Selectmen voted to approve at last night’s Selectmen’s meeting – will be “open” from Feb. 1 to Feb. 29 for residents who wish to add their own article to be heard and voted on by the 290-member Town Meeting in May.

“Citizens are welcomed to submit petitions,” said Belmont Town Clerk Ellen Cushman.

Under Massachusetts law, residents may place articles before the annual Town Meeting without approval by the Selectmen by petitioning the Town Clerk to insert the article into the warrant. Officially, it only requires ten signatures on the petition from residents to secure a place on the warrant although Cushman recommends 15 to be on the safe side.

While not all petitions are successful, a good portion succeeded to become bylaws. In the past few years, citizen’s petitions on banning smoking in town playgrounds, combining school and town building supervision, restricting yard sales and requiring residents to shovel snow from sidewalks have passed Town Meeting muster and included into the bylaws.

For those residents thinking about putting their stamp on the town’s bylaws, Cushman advises petitioners to do their homework and be prepared to work with town officials and government groups to construct their appeal to have the chance of a favorable vote before Town Meeting.

For those seeking changes to the town’s zoning bylaws should meet with the Planning Board and the town’s Office of Community Development while those looking to alter the town’s budget priorities need to get in touch with the Warrant and Capital Budget committees and the town’s financial departments, said Cushman.

With all petitions Town Counsel, George Hall will review each, to determine that they do not violate the state or US constitutions.

“So it’s important that citizens start the process earlier than later to receive advice in drafting their petitions and getting the support they need to give themselves a good chance before Town Meeting,” said Cushman.

Preservation Committee Approves $818K in Grants; Next Stop, Town Meeting

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Photo: PQ Playground.

The Community Preservation Committee will recommend to the annual Town Meeting in May spending a little more than $800,000 on six projects set to preserve the town’s historical records, enhance the open space around a landmark and provide recreation to town residents.

The committee voted on Wednesday, Jan. 13 to approved six out of the seven final applications totaling $818,350. A $50,000 request to the Conservation Commission to create a fund to purchase land was withdrawn by the commission before the vote. 

The list of approved projects include:

• Construction of an Intergenerational Walking Path at Clay Pit Pond. Sponsor: Mary Trudeau, agent, Belmont Conservation Commission. $228,350.

• Preserving Belmont’s Original Vital Records. Sponsor: Ellen Cushman, Belmont Town Clerk. $80,000.

• Digitizing Belmont’s Town Meeting Records, Sponsor: Ellen Cushman, $85,000.

• Town Hall Exterior Railings Improvements. Sponsor: Gerald R. Boyle, Facilities Dept, $75,000.

• Pequossette Playground Revitalization study. Sponsor: Julie Crockett, Friends of PQ Park, $25,000.

• Reconstruction of Winn Brook tennis courts, Sponsor: Jay Marcotte, Belmont DPW, $325,000

The projects sponsors and the CPA committee are scheduled to meet with the Warrant Committee on March 2, said CPC member Floyd Carman while meetings with the Board of Selectmen and Capital Budget Committee are being arranged. 

Adopted by Belmont voters in 2010, the Community Preservation Act fund is financed by a 1.5 percent property tax surcharges  and annual distributions received from the state’s “Massachusetts Community Preservation Trust Fund.”

Look Who’s Running: Town-Wide, Town Meeting Candidates on the Ballot

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The “almost” final list of candidates on the 2015 Belmont Town Election has been released by Town Clerk Ellen Cushman on Monday, Feb. 23, with the hopeful trend of increased participation for those seeking to become Town Meeting members.

The list is not yet a final because residents have until Thursday, March 5 to withdraw their candidacy by writing to Cushman.

The list of all candidates, both town-wide and for Town Meeting, can be found here at the Town Clerk’s web site.

In town-wide races, only the seat on the Belmont Board of Selectmen is being contested with incumbent Andy Rojas being challenged by Town Meeting Member Jim Williams.

Cushman said she is encouraged by the number of candidates for Town Meeting, with six of the town’s eight precinct with the requisite 12 candidates on the ballot. And of the two that failed to reach the dozen candidates, both precincts 3 and 7 – notorious for seeing seats go up for grabs – will only see a single three-year seat go down to write-in votes.

And if anyone in precincts 5, 6 or 7 is looking for a quick way onto Town Meeting, there are no candidates for the partial term seats last two to one year. Each of those seven seats will be filled either by write-ins or at precinct meetings before May’s Town Meeting.

Precinct 1: 15 candidates (10 seeking re-election, 3 newcomers) for three-year terms.

Precinct 2: 12 candidates (9 re-election, 3 newcomers) for three-year terms.

Precinct 3: 11 candidates (7 re-election, 4 newcomers) for three-year terms.

Precinct 4: 14 candidates (10 re-election, 4 newcomers) for three-year terms.

Precinct 5: 13 candidates (11 re-election, 2 newcomers) for three-year terms. No candidates for a one-year term.

Precinct 6: 13 candidates (10 re-election, 3 newcomers) for three-year terms. No candidates for a one-year term or a two-year term.

Precinct 7: 11 candidates (7 re-election, 4 newcomers) for three-year terms. No candidates for four, two-year terms.

Precinct 8: 12 candidates (9 re-election, 3 newcomers) for three-year terms. One candidate for one, one-year term.

Less Than a Week to Turn In Town Meeting, Town Wide Nomination Papers

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The good news, said Belmont Town Clerk Ellen Cushman, is the number of residents who took out nomination papers will result in competitive races in nearly all of Belmont’s eight precincts.

The bad news, see added, is that many potential candidates have yet to turn in those papers with the signature of 25 Belmontians to her.

“They’ve taken them out, and now I’m waiting for them to bring them back,” said Cushman today, Feb. 11.

And the deadline for the papers to be in and certified by Cushman is looming quite large.

“They only have six day, until Feb. 17 at 5 p.m. And when the bell rings, they’ll lose their chance,” said Cushman, pointing to a call bell next to the old-style time stamp machine on the Office’s front desk.

Belmont’s eight precincts will be electing 12 Town Meeting Members in addition to any partial-term seats. Cushman opened a folder for one of the precincts and showed the sign-out sheet with several names of residents who took out papers. Only one had  been turned in.

People should not wait until the last minute to return nomination papers for either Town Meeting or for those with intentions of running for town-wide office, said Cushman, reminding residents her and all town offices will be closed for the President’s Day Holiday on Monday, Feb. 16.