Photo: Salem, NH Deputy Chief Shane Smith
The Belmont Select Board will begin contract negotiations with Salem, NH Deputy Chief Shane Smith to be Belmont’s next Police Chief.
The board voted unanimously at a special meeting at Town Hall on Friday, Feb. 20, where the board interviewed the three finalists provided by the Police Chief Screening Committee. The other two candidates were Daniel S. Unsworth of Southbridge and Shane D. Woodson from Watertown.
More to come
Photo: Belmont Town Election will be held on April 7, 2026.
With a handful of minutes remaining before the Feb. 18 deadline for candidates to submit nomination papers for the 2026 Town Election, Carole Berberian was in the Town Clerk’s office anxiously waiting for the 5 p.m. cutoff to arrive.
Berberian wasn’t in the office submitting papers to run for the soon-to-be vacant seat on the Select Board; she had done that a while back. Her concern was whether someone else would be an 11th-hour challenger to her run for the office.
The rumor – that someone heard from someone else around town – was that some residents were “unhappy” Berberian was about to waltz into the post being vacated by Elizabeth Dionne. The scuttlebutt was that a “new face” would be introduced onto the ballot as a “dramatic gesture,” hiding their intentions from Berberian by obtaining nomination papers from the Secretary of State’s office, rather than going to the Belmont Town Clerk.
But any last-second drama fizzled out when no one walked through the doors. After the Belmont Town Hall front doors were closed, long-time Town Moderator Mike Widmer turned to Berberian and offered his “congratulations” to the Herbert Road resident on being Belmont’s next Select Board member.
In a lackluster year for Belmont politics, Berberian will not be the only candidate to find an unencumbered path to public office. For better or worse for Belmont’s body politic, voters will have just a single town-wide race to decide in the upcoming election on Tuesday, April 7, 2026. Incumbent Mike Crowley and former Select Board member Adam Dash will battle it out for the influential Town Moderator position.
BELMONT ANNUAL TOWN ELECTION BALLOT
Town Moderator Vote for not more than one for 1 Year
Select Board Vote for not more than one for 3 Years
Board of Cemetery Commissioners Vote for not more than one for 3 Years
Board of Health Vote for not more than one for 3 Years
Members of the Housing Authority Vote for not more than one for 5 Years
Trustees of the Public Library Vote for not more than two for 3 Years
Municipal Light Board Vote for not more than one for 3 Years
School Committee Vote for not more than two for 3 Years
The lack of interest of residents to run for town-wide office is seen in seeking to be a representative on Belmont Town Meeting: only three of the eight precincts will have competitive contests. The most competitive race will be in Precinct 2, where seven candidates are running for four open seats and one write-in for a one-year term.
Photo: Belmont High’s 25-26 seniors (from left) Charles Tingos, Eli Pierre, Andre Chavushian, Eli Akins, Weston Zalewski, and Tyler Raubenheimer
When push came to shove, the Belmont High Boys’ Basketball propped open the door just wide enough to squeeze into the MIAA Division 1 tourney. The Marauders left it late, winning the final game of the regular season, a beat down of Reading, 66-35, to reach the 10-win mark that secured an away play-in game.
“I knew when I took the job, that they had some good players,” said Dan Burns, the Marauders’ first year coach. “I also was aware that it was going to take some time for us to get where need to be. So the goal for us was to get 10 wins, and we got it. It feels great. I’m really happy for the kids.”
Then as if the burden of making the post-season was a weight the team couldn’t wait to remove, Belmont went out and brought home post-season silverware, capturing the Division 2 winner’s trophy from the Spartan Classic at St. Mary’s in Lynn. The Marauders defeated Lowell Catholic, 68-51, on Sunday and then took down 15-4 Lincoln/Sudbury, 57-53, via a late three-point dagger-to-the-heart from senior captain Andre Chavugian (17 points) with a clutch 3-pointer down the stretch.
“It was a great overall team win. Everybody played,” said Burns. “I thought the seniors really came out and carried us right from the start we haven’t had a really good start in a long time.”
Nearly ever game this season has been a struggle for the Marauders as the team learned Burn’s new system throughout the season. Sporting a power ranking of 37, five spaces from an automatic placement, Belmont walked onto the court on Seniors Night needing a victory to move on. As fortune would have it, the Rockets have had an uncharacteristic poor season sporting a 3-16 record.
One issue the team was battling all season was falling behind early in games.
“We haven’t had a really good start in a long time, and we’re usually six or seven down going into the second. Tonight we actually went up seven (9-2) early. That’s a credit to the seniors and their leadership,” said Burns.
Belmont got out in front early and just kept scoring. With a solid defense, the Marauders raced through the first quarter up 18-8, led by senior Charles Tingos with a pair of threes and a run away lay up. Belmont’s second quarter resembled Secretariat at Belmont, throwing down 21 while holding the Rockets to six to blow the doors off of the game to lead 38-14, by the half. Junior co-captain Braiden Dargon scored 12 of his 15 points. in the quarter dominating the post on both ends of the court.
With a good lead on hand, Burns was allowed to look down his bench and give those players time on the floor. Senior guard Eli Akins provided the night’s highlight when after initially blowing a dunk, stole the ball and completed the slam to the delight of the students section. The Maruaders didn’t let up in the fourth scoring 18 to take their 10th of the season.
“It was a great team win. [It] gets us to the tournament that was our goal all year. So great to accomplish that,” said Burns.
For Burns, the last three wins gives a boost to the team’s belief that it can do some damage in the tournament.
I think we have a lot of size, and we’re pretty physical, and, we tend to beat up teams inside with our rebounding and just our physicality is a problem for most teams.”
“We’ve had a couple heartbreaking losses, and we’ve had some great wins, too. And part of that is just learning how to win,” said Burns.
Photo: Belmont Police Department
Three finalists – one from the next town over, there’s the current president of state’s Police Chiefs organization, and a deputy chief from (barely) across the state line – to fill the post of Belmont’s police chief will be presented at a Friday afternoon meeting, Feb. 20, of the Belmont Select Board.
Who wasn’t selected for a final interview was an internal Belmont Police Department candidate, a request from the patrol officers and sargents unions as well as many residents.
The finalists coming before the Select Board on Friday are:
Shane Smith is the deputy chief in Salem, NH. He has spent his entire law enforcement career on the Salem Police Dept., spanning 24 years. Smith attended the prestigious FBI National Academy in Quantico, VA in 2024. He graduated from University of Massachusetts Lowell with a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and Psychology.
Daniel Unsworth has spend the past 19 years on the Watertown Police Department, most recently as Captain of the department’s Administrative Services Bureau which includes the Detective Division, budget management and facilities management, and managing community policing. Unsworth has his master’s in Criminal Justice from Western New England University.
Shane Woodson is the chief of the Southbridge Police Department where he has served for the past three decades. This past December, Woodson was installed as the 2026 President of the Massachusetts Chiefs of Police Association.
Photo: Special Town Meeting on the Belmont Center Overlay District
The Belmont Select Board has crossed the Rubicon on the controversial Belmont Center Overlay and Gateway district articles to be presented at the Special Town Meeting on March 4, at its Monday, Feb. 9 to advise “favorable action” on the proposed zoning changes.
On Monday, the die was officially cast by the town’s executive arm as the three members voted to support the overlay plan, created by Chris Ryan, the town’s Director of Planning & Building, with the assistance of consultant RKG and the Planning Board.
The board’s action came as no surprise, as the Select Board has been actively promoting the adoption of Article 2, the “form-based” revisioning of the town’s principal commercial district along Leonard Street, and Article 3, a Gateway section on Concord Avenue where a hotel is envisioned. While first proposed to come before Town Meeting at the annual get together in June 2025, it was delayed twice before settling on a spring Special Town Meeting.
See what Article 2 and Article 3 will be before the town meeting.
Just as with their vote, the motivation to support the articles has been consistent since the first architectural charrette to review the consultant’s initial concepts held in January 2025.
“[It’s] to replace the town’s Frankenstein zoning bylaws, internally incoherent, section piled upon section whose purpose is to downzone and stop any kind of economic progress in town,” said board member Elizabeth Dionne.
“The town repeatedly told us [the pro-development overlay] is what they want,” she said, reiterating her past statements that each of the board members was primarily elected to promote commercial/retail growth to lessen the property tax burden on residential homeowners.
Board Chair Matt Taylor noted the significance of new revenue that optimistically can come due to overlay: The Multi-Year Budget Advisory Committee noted that just an additional $200,000 in new growth in Belmont Center can reduce the anticipated Prop. 2 1/2 override request by $2 million.
“That’s what we’re talking about,” said Taylor.
Residents opposing the overlay plan question the assumptions provided by the Planning Board and the town’s consultants, RKG, which developed a modified Fiscal Impact Analysis of several buildout scenarios, as well as parking and traffic analyses by DESMAN Inc. and BSC Corp., respectively. In addition, several “copy editing” amendments have been attached to the articles challenging the validity of the bylaw changes.
But while supporters and critics have quibbled over the data the studies propose, and what the board describes as “scrivener’s error” within the existing bylaws, the overriding feeling among the board members is that after 13 months of crafting the proposal, pulling it back for another round of revisions will not improve the document on the existing warrant.
For the board, the time has come to move the measure forward. “We will never have a perfect solution that pleases everybody. We just won’t,” said Dionne. “If we get enough people who are happy, then it makes sense to move forward.”
Photo:
The finalists to be Belmont’s next Police Chief will come before the public and the Select Board on the Friday of school vacation week at Belmont Town Hall.
Town Administrator Patrice Garvin said the interviews will commence after the Select Board holds its general business beginning at 2 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20. The interview section of the meeting will start at 3 p.m.
Garvin would not say how many candidates will be scrutanized by the three-member board or if any are interternal candidates, which the leadership for the patrol officers, and sargents unions have said is their preference. The Select Board strongly preferred three finalists if the Committee feels they have that many qualified candidates.
The announcement of the interviews came on the same day as the final meeting of the Police Chief Screening Committee. The seven-member committee chaired by former Select Board member Roy Epstein, was assisted by Chelmsford-based Parow Consulting & Associates which performs Fire and Police Chief recruitment services.
Former Chief James MacIsaac announced his retirement in July. Assistant Belmont Police Chief Mark Hurley was named the department’s interim head by the Belmont Select Board on Thursday, Aug. 21. Chief James MacIsaac who announced his retirement in July.
Photo: (from left) Tate Skiffington with Sean McGillvray, and Michael Downing with Allie Wadland.
The Belmont Fire Department has added two new members to the department this week at a ceremonial badge pinning.
“The badge that these firefighters will wear symbolizes an achievement,” said Belmont Fire Chief David DeStefano before the Select Board on Monday, Feb. 9. “A visible recognition of hard work, dedication, and training. That is why we celebrate this moment publicly and acknowledge the effort that has made this day possible.”
The two probies joining the BFD are Michael Downing and Sean McGillvray. A veteran of the US Army, Downing holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and was appointed to the BFD this past August. He is assigned to the Operations Division, Group 4. A native of Burlington, McGillivray, a vet of the US Marine Corps, joined the BFD in August and is assigned to Group 3 in the Operations Division.
DeStefano said both probies could not have completed their journey to becoming firefighters without a support system, with each asking one of those special people to pin their badge: for Downing it was his girlfriend, Allie Wadland, while McGillivray was pinned by his girlfriend, Tate Skiffington.
Wearing our badge signifies commitment to the ideals and principles of the fire service, the high standards of the Belmont Fire Department, and the protection of the lives and property of residents and visitors of … Belmont,” said DeStefano.
Photo: Cardboard drop off is back on March 7.
Long dead since the collapse of the worldwide corrugated box market made the practice too pricy to hold, Belmont will see the return of an old-fashioned town wide Cardboard Collection Day next month.
Residents can load up flattened boxes in their vehicles and head to the DPW Yard, 37C Street (off of Waverley Avenue) on Saturday, March 7 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. where all those Amazon-type packaging will be collected, free of charge.
But in all likelihood, the drop off day will be a one-time offer. The collection is being facilitated with a $10,000 donation from Waste Management, the town’s trash and recycling contractor. Three weeks ago, many neighborhoods had “a little hiccup” with their recycling day pickup, which several upset residents let the town know about, said Town Administrator Patrice Garvin. DPW Director Jay Marcotte reached out to the WM reps and the company reimburst the town with the donation.
Cardboard drop off days were once a popular post holiday event in Belmont. In January 2021, nearly 350 vehicles waited an hour in line at the DPW Yard as the town collected 22 tons of cardboard filling five 40-yard long containers, two truck bays and six 6-wheel dump trucks. But a collapse in the price of recycling corrugated material after the pandemic made the service too costly for the town, with the practice stopping in 2023.
So March 7 will be a rare opportunity to relive a little of Belmont’s past.
“Load up the trunk and recycle some cardboard,” said Select Board Chair Matt Taylor.
Photo: Belmont’s Mackenzie Tierney vs Reading
When push came to shove on Saturday, Feb. 7, it was the Belmont High hockey program that shouldered past host Woburn in a pair of late season matches giving a boost to the Marauders’ playoff hopes as the state Division 1 tournament looms only a fortnight away.
Belmont High’s Girls’ continued its best stretch of the season with five wins and a tie in its last six games with a convincing 3-1 away victory over 10th-ranked Woburn in the midst of Saturday’s snowfall.
It was Belmont’s Mackenzie Bookends – first year Mackenzie Tierney and senior Mackenzie Clarke – who tallied Saturday with the youngster collecting the first goal in the first period from the point while the veteran put home an empty netter with 30 seconds remaining in the third to go along with her first period backhander to seal the deal.
Along with sophomore Mia Smith – whose second goal scored in the final minute salvaged a 2-2 against Reading the previous Saturday – the “Macs” have stepped up in February after Belmont’s top scoring threat, sophomore Alexcia Fici, was lost to a season-ending injury.
The Marauders defensive lineup – led by junior Elsie Larkin-Schlutz, first years Amelia Long and Kate Townsend and senior Martha Dimas – has been stellar in front of goalie Elinor Dorn who has replaced consenus All-Star Jil Costa. The sophomore put up 43 minutes of shut out goaltending against Woburn which was on a seven-game winning streak.
With the weekend win, Belmont (10-4-3) sweeps the season series over the Tanners with its second 3-1 victory, the first coming at home in early January. The Marauders inflicted the only league losses to Woburn which came into the game 10th in the MIAA Division 1 Power Rankings. Belmont was 15th in the all important rankings, the penultimate place that secures a home game in the first round of the playoffs.
Belmont’s final three games of the season includes its final regular season home game at 5 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 11 vs. Lexington, a Valentine’s Day love match against Winchester in Woburn at 2 p.m., and a season ending romp with Waltham at Bentley University on Tuesday, Feb. 17, at 1:45 p.m.
It’s been a trying season for Belmont High Boys’ Hockey. Last year’s squad was one of the state’s elite, sixth in the final MIAA power rankings, with 15 wins (15-6-1), shutting out the state’s top-ranked team (Pope Francis) while winning the Ed Burns Coffee Pot tournament. A three overtime loss to league rivals Winchester in the Sweet 16 of the MIAA tournament was a shocker but the team appeared ready to reload for the 2025-6 campaign.
But the loss of nine seniors and the transfer of the team’s three lynchpin players raised a large question mark for the season. The answer to that quiry was that it would be a tough rebuilding year for the Marauders. Playing in one of the state’s most competitive leagues – three teams in the top ten of their power rankings – with a very difficult non-league schedule, the Marauders have been in games where they could not match up in talent or bulk.
“Do you a weight room we could use?” joked Belmont Head Coach Tim Foley between periods of one of the matches where his players were pushed around.
The result has been a 3-12-2 record with the team sitting in 28th in the Power Rankings, percariously close to the 32nd ranking that marks the final automatic playoff place. What Belmont needed in the final stretch of the season would be a big time win.
And that is exactly what the team did, swamping 6th-ranked (in Division 2) Woburn, 6-3, at the O’Brien rink, as junior defender John Connolly racked up the hat trick and forward Michael Rowan took home three points with his own brace while adding an assist in the team’s performance of the year.
The three-goal margin gave the Marauders the maximum points avaliable as they seek to secure a playoff spot. Belmont – which is coming off a 2-0 win on Sunday against Braintree in the consolation game of the Ed Burns Coffee Pot tournament – will meet 8th-ranked Pope Francis in the final home game on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 7:15 p.m. and Winchester on Valentines Day in Woburn with a noon start. The team finishes its season playing in West Springfield in the Cardinal Classic on Tuesday, Feb. 17 and Wednesday, Feb. 18.
Photo: Regie Gibson, Poet Laureate of Massachusetts, will be the featured artist on Friday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. (credit: convergenceensemble.org)
For the past 100 years, the month of February has been recognized as Black History Month, designated as a time to promote and educate people about Black history and culture. With the help of Belmont Against Racism, residents will have a rich array of events to attend to learn abou
Film screenings at Belmont Public Library, 336 Concord Ave.
These powerful movies will spark meaningful conversations around justice, equity, and history.
2nd Annual Community Potluck, Karma Fine Crafts, 68 Leonard St, Belmont Center
Friday, February 13, 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. (RSVP)
Our community’s favorite event returns! Share a meal, connect with neighbors, and celebrate community care. Bring a dish, bring a friend, and come ready to enjoy the warmth of shared stories and food.
Click here to sign up to bring a dish.
Book Group Discussion at the Library
Monday, Feb. 23, 6:30 p.m. (RSVP)
Join us for a thought-provoking discussion of this month’s Equal Justice Book Group selection—a space for reflection, learning, and shared insight.
T-Shirt Design Competition (for Middle and High School students)
Feb. 1 – Feb. 20 (Entry Form)
Calling all young artists! Help shape the visual identity of BHM26 with a design that expresses what Black History Month means to you.
Click here for details.
BHM26 Finale CONCERT: An Evening of Poetry, Music & Conversation
Friday, Feb. 27, 7 p.m. (RSVP)
Black Box Theater, Belmont High School
This inspiring concert will feature:
We Need Your Help!
In order to make these events successful, we’re seeking volunteers to assist with everything from event setup to spreading the word. You can make a real impact by helping us bring these community-centered events to life.
Click here to volunteer.