Belmont’s New Police Chief’s First Hires Upshot From Soaring Applications Coming Outside Civil Service

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Photo: Flanked by her mother and father, Belmont’s newest Police Officer Emily Ricci has her picture taken at her swearing in on Aug. 3 at Belmont’s Town Hall.

The Belmont Police Department welcomed two law enforcement veterans into the department in a Monday, Aug. 3 ceremony. 

Emily Ricci and Robert Ludwig were sworn in by Assistant Town Clerk Meg Piccione in the Town Hall auditorium with Belmont officers, Belmont elected officials, town staff, and family and friends in attendance.

Robert Ludwig (left) and Emily Ricci at their swearing in to be Belmont Police officers on Aug. 3

Four additional police hires began 22 weeks of Recruit Officer Courses, a basic training curriculum overseen by the Municipal Police Training Committee at its Randolph Police Academy. 

“The swearing in is a time-honored tradition that affirms the dedication of a public servant to the protection of the community,” Belmont Police Lt. Paul Cowing to begin the ceremony. “A solemn vow to serve the people based on the law, the Constitution, and what is best for Belmont.

“… [T]his ceremony will mark their commitment to a new community and the start of a new chapter in their professional lives,” said Cowing.

Ricci and Ludwig are lateral/post-certified officers transferring from their previous posts.

A Bedford native, Ricci began her law enforcement career in 2020 with the Richland County (SC) Sheriff’s Department after graduating from the University of South Carolina with a degree in psychology. She was a dispatcher with the Belmont Police Department for the past two years. Ricci joins her brother, a Burlington PD detective, as an officer in Massachusetts.

With Ricci and a candidate at the Academy, Belmont will soon have eight female officers.

Belmont Assistant Town Clerk Meg Piccione issues the oath to Emily Ricci and Robert Ludwig to serve as Belmont Police officers

After serving in the US Air Force, Ludwig began his career with the Dracut Police Department in 2014 before joining the Carlisle Police Department, where he was both a firearms instructor and a patrol officer. He matriculated at UMass Lowell, where he earned a degree in criminal justice. 

This group of a half-dozen successful applicants are the first hires by Belmont’s new Police Chief Shane Smith. 

“It’s such a milestone for me personally,” said Smith. “This was a very competitive process … and these two stood head and shoulders above everyone else.” 

Unlike past police chiefs, Smith was not constrained by the state’s Civil Service system in which applicants take a competitive examination, and those eligible candidates are then rank-listed. Due to Civil Service’s strict adherence to ranked lists, departments are prevented from hiring high-potential or diverse candidates lower down if scoring thresholds interfere. 

“We were having trouble recruiting applicants, given the restraints of Civil Service,” according to Town Administrator Patrice Garvin. In the final four years under the system, Belmont received less than a dozen applicants: four candidates in 2020, three in 2021, two in 2022, and just a single candidate in 2023. 

Belmont Police Chief Shane Smith

The resulting impact was an undermanned department and large yearly budget payouts in overtime, said Garvin. In 2024, Belmont’s Town Meeting voted for the police department to leave the state-run program. 

And this year, the number of applicants has exploded.

“We received 53 applicants to fill the vacancies, and I think it’s a direct result of bringing [Smith] on board,” said Garvin, who praised his ability to use more recruiting avenues “to make sure we have the best applicants.”

“Coming from the agency that never had civil service in New Hampshire, you have to go out and recruit people,” said Smith. Because so many local police departments depend on lists of applicants, they don’t have a culture of actively finding and attracting hiring new people for a job, he said. For Smith, it was second nature.

“I took basically the blueprint that I had from [Salem, NH] that was very successful, and I brought it to Belmont,“ said Smith.

With younger people using apps, Smith focused on PoliceApp.com, a popular law enforcement job site.

“We paid a small fee, which also allowed the site to push Belmont to the top and also push us out over social media. We did our own pushing out as far as Instagram and Facebook and had people share it.” Smith said one of the six who was selected – a recent graduate from the University of New Hampshire – reached out to him on LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned business and employment-oriented social networking service.

“I said, ‘Are you interested in being a local law enforcement officer?’ because he had a degree in Homeland Security. He said, ‘Absolutely, I am.’ So through a wide array of social media, we get an educated college athlete who is one of your people who will be studying August 3rd in the academy in Randolph.”

“I was beyond pleased with the people who came in for a chief’s interview at the end, and I was blown away by the candidates who were before me. Educated, articulate, well-rounded, from various backgrounds,” said Smith.

And the large number of applicants allowed Smith to be selective about who he wanted in the department.

“I had several certified officers apply. I did not select them. I would only take the best. I’ve learned in my career that if you settle for what’s out there, bad things will happen. Maybe not now. Maybe not in my time here. The last thing I want is a future chief to say, “I cannot believe that Chief Smith hired this person.”

Giving Is An Art: BHS’s Revamped Arts Honor Society Transforms Wall To Mural At Sancta Maria

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Photo: Finishing touches being applied on a mural at Sancta Maria Nursing Facility by members of the revamped National Arts Honor Society

Cans of paint laid open in a corner of a community room at Sancta Maria Nursing Facility as seven Belmont High School artists spent a May Friday afternoon – a Friday! – placing the finishing touches on transforming a drab wall into a striking mural within the walls of the Cambridge facility that straddles the Belmont town line.

The cool blue, green, and beige color scheme depicts sunbeams and a breaching whale, transforming the once large blank canvas into a vivid and calming spot for the hospital’s patients within the memory loss unit.

“It’s a lot of work from the artists. But we’re now seeing how the preliminary design is coming along and can see the final work. It’s great to see,” said Alexis Zhang, a BHS sophomore and one of the project leaders.

“This is a great location, a great spot to do it,” said Belmont High arts teacher Milo Milowsky when viewing the work.

The project was devised and created by members of the reemergent National Arts Honor Society, which was reestablished at Belmont HIgh School in 2025. The charter originated 20 years ago but did not generate much support at the time.

“We were really surprised that we didn’t have this [in Belmont] because a lot of surrounding schools, like Lexington and Winchester, have a national arts honor society charter, and we have such a busy arts program,” said Zhang. 

With the help of Milowsky as faculty advisor, the chapter revived student interest, with more than 40 current members. Once the charter was back up and running, the students began performing small activities such as selling caricatures at the Belmont Farmers Market. Soon after the Honor Society’s reemergence, it began looking at larger venues to bring the group’s talents, starting with nearby spaces. The two began just emailing nonprofits, health centers, and public spaces with a proposition: can we create a mural for you?

“We want to use the talents of all the students to uplift the space, as there was not any art here,” said Zhang.

It didn’t take long for the group to receive an answer from Sancta Maria. 

“I learned about this a couple of months ago,” said Chief Executive Officer Alvin Lim. “They approached us and they wanted to do something for the community.” Saying the hospital wanted to support a group that gives back to our community, “[w]e’re like, ‘yeah, why not? Why not support the arts program?'”

“They were completely open, because in the past no one had reached out to them before,” said Zhang. The staff told the students there was available a room used by nursing and care staff and the Alzheimer’s and dementia patients that was ripe for a change.

The project’s design and color select wasn’t literary throwing ideas on the wall. Approximately half of the club’s 40 National Arts Honor Society members contributed to the planning process by providing feedback to the design.

“We didn’t freelance it,” said Zhang, as students formed small work groups to brainstorm concepts. “We had a lot of rough sketches, and then we combined it all on a large sheet of paper. It was during the process the artist focused on the whale “because it symbolizes kind of the energy that we want to convey, like longevity. We also like the ocean and the clouds because of their expansiveness and this ability to fill up the space,” said Zhang.

Milowsky came through for the student by connecting them with Hillside Gardens/Ace Hardware on Brighton Street for donated paint and material. “[Hillside Gardens] was really exciting; they were really welcoming,” said Zhang. “We’re artists and students as well, so we don’t have any of the funding for it.”

For successive Fridays from January to June, the students put in several hours prepping and painting as staff and patients would stop at the windows into the room to watch as the wall metamorphosed from a blank wall to a brilliant seascape.

On June 5, the room was filled with hospital staff and all the students who had ideas and applied paint to celebrate the completion of the Honor Society’s first (“but not last,” said Zhang) endeavor at public art.

For Sancta Maria’s Lin, when he was first presented the project, “[m]y expectation was I wasn’t sure how this would end up.” But then he saw the finished mural “my mind’s blown. This is unbelievable. I couldn’t be more proud of these students. I’m so grateful that they would do this for [Sancta Maria].”

He said the spectrum of colors provides a cheerful image that makes the unit’s dementia and Alzheimer’s patients “really happy. They make them feel calm. It makes them feel like they’re home.”

Long-time educator Milowsky said he hadn’t seen this level of commitment and execution in 15 years. 

“I think it’s great for the community and it brings awareness to the arts. For them to venture out again and do things for the community is remarkable. It shows them how good of artists they are and how they can give back.”

Belmont Farmers Market Opens For Its 21st Season

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Photo: Select Board’s Carol Berberian cutting the ribbon to open the 21st season of the Belmont Farmers Market

With the official opening of the Belmont Farmers Market on Thursday, June 4, Town Moderator Adam Dash declared, “It’s now officially summer in Belmont.” No truer words could have been spoken.

The day saw 90 degree temperatures under a cloudless sky that had vendors dousing themselves with water and some patrons placing their overheated smart phones on ice as the heat played havoc with humans and machines.

But the conditions did not thwart patrons from flocking to Belmont Center on the first market day of the season. While produce stalls are still weeks away from trucking in the first harvest of vegetables and fruits, vendors did a brisk business selling baked and cooked goods, meat, fish, and beer. The day included music, kids story time with the Belmont Public Library, and information on food security.

“After five months of planning, it’s great to finally be doing,” said Hal Shubin, chairman of the market, at the opening ceremony. The Farmers Market is part of the Belmont Food Collaborative, a nonprofit umbrella organization that includes Belmont Composts, Belmont Helps, Belmont Food Pantry, and Community Gardening. A large component of the Collaborative’s mission is in support of food security.

“A recent report shows that 40 percent of the households in Massachusetts doesn’t always have enough food. Think about what that means for your family,” said Shubin, who pointed out the market started its food assistance program in 2011, raising more than a quarter million dollars in extra money for individuals to buy healthy local food and to support area food banks.

The market also promotes children being involved in the market with its POP Club which allows members $3 a week to purchase produce of their choice.

Among the speakers at the opening was Liza Bemis, a fifth-generation farmer and co-owner of Hutchins Farm, a historic 112-acre organic farm located in Concord that has been a vendor since 2008. She spoke of the importance of the state’s Healthy Incentives Program (HIP) in which SNAP/EBT users are provided extra funds – depends on their household size – to purchase fresh, local fruits and vegetables from participating Massachusetts farmers markets.

“The immediacy of the impact from the HIP program really surprised me,” said Bemis after her operation was certified by the state.

“I had no idea there was such a need in the greater Belmont community, and how many folks wanted to be customers, but hadn’t been able to access our produce. As other farmers became HIP certified, and the program grew in recognition, it was amazing to see how this program could impact both customers and farmers. It was a textbook win-win program, how to get more fresh food into customers’ diets, and how to strengthen the economic stability of local farms by expanding our customer base and increasing our current customers’ purchasing power.”

At 2 p.m., Select Board member Carol Berberian was given the honor of cutting the tomato red ribbon and the opening bell was rung for the first time this season.

‘This Future Is Yours, And This Future Is Now’ Belmont High Class Of ’26 Graduate 340-ish

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Photo: What’s more traditional at a graduation than plenty of caps sent upwards? 

The final act of the Belmont High School Class of 2026 occurred on the stage of Harris Field on Saturday, June 6, before an audience of parents, siblings, relatives, friends, teachers, and a gaggle of photographers that would not seem out of place at a Hollywood premiere.

The class gathered under partly cloudy skies with temperatures a bit in the uncomfortable range. But any hint of rain was pushed back to that night, allowing students and guests to enjoy the pageantry of graduation. The High School’s Wind Symphony under Alley Lacasse and Combined Chorus conducted by Kaitlin Donovan served as artistic accompaniment. 

The school committee and members of the school administration, led by Superintendent Dr. Jill Geiser and Committee Chair Meghan Moriarty, marched in front of the students before taking their places on the dais. 

Belmont High School Principal Issac Taylor

In his welcoming remarks, Belmont High School Principal Isaac Taylor recalled that in the late 1960s, the technically-based race to the moon and the environmental movement ran in parallel only to see each sidelined for decades. Today, while interplanetary space exploration “is back on the table” as the idea “supporting life in barren environments charges the imagination … and spurs us to think big, shared dreams for humanity.” Yet there is no similar effort to “re-engineer our planet, turn the solar system green.

“Can it be that we can take on the technical and logistic challenges of planting life in air and dusty worlds, yet fall into a nihilistic stupor when it comes to repairing our own beautiful home, even where we have the knowledge and the means to do so?” asked Taylor. 

And while today magical thinking dominates our collective consciousness, a “techno-authoritarian view of the future, devoid of community and empathy, is settling over humanity like obnoxious gas as tensions rise and hope fades,” he said.

“It is darkly fascinating that the same wealthy elite can be so optimistic about our prospect of multi-planetary species with complex space-centered heavy industry, while at the same time denying agency for solving our climate crisis, inequality, and biodiversity dilemma,” he said. 

“But this is not the only future,” said Taylor. In the past four years, the Belmont High Class of 2026 had demonstrated the possibilities of humanity, having stamped their mark upon the new high school campus by inventing and cementing traditions, such as hosting the largest prom in the state, establishing the first mini forest in Belmont, and creating such viral Instagram reels on the class account with two million views.

“Class of 2026, you are graduating at a time when you will see big changes in the world, no matter what. There is no possibility of things staying the same. In an era of grievances of people and defeatism, our greatest resource and our greatest hope are all of you. I know that you have the skills to be engaged citizens, empathetic people, and creative and imaginative thinkers—everything you need to effect change.”

Class President Ignacio ‘Iggy’ Matorras

From a student who was “too scared” to run for student government as a first year to addressing the approximately 370 members of the Class of 2026 as its student government president, Ignacio ‘Iggy’ Matorras remains surprised that someone who was so nervous during his first campaign speech that he read a paragraph twice would be speaking for his classmates.

“Somehow I still won the election, and this role had a tremendous impact on my life,” said Matorras, forcing him to speak and working with others and finding solutions to problems on the fly. 

“Most importantly, it showed me that some of the best opportunities in life come to you when you’re willing to do something that scares you.”

Michelle Chow, School Committee Award for Outstanding Achievement in Scholarship

Recognized for her integrity and outstanding academic activities, Michelle Chow will matriculate this fall at Cornell, studying engineering. 

“A wise man taught me what it means to be part of a thriving community,” Chow told the graduating class. “He brought people together by being present in ordinary ways, showing up with a smile, greeting people, asking how they were doing, laughing with them, talking to them. His seemingly simple actions had a large impact, making everyone feel like they belonged, and so I realized that community is born through the unremarkable moments that become the thread weaving us together.”

The change of the members of the Class of 2026, from being “average freshmen” to graduating seniors, was not simply because “we became more mature, more experienced, and more accustomed to the rhythm of high school.” Rather, it’s because through our day-to-day interactions, we’ve created an extraordinary sense of unity,” Chow said, from shared classes, clubs, field trips, and senior year activities which “weren’t just a source of entertainment, they were also a reminder of having gone through high school as a class rather than simply as individuals.”

“While today marks the end of our journey at BHS, the legacy of our time here will live on through the memory of the distinct and special community we’ve built,” said Chow. “We each have our own stories, our own backgrounds, our own lives, like diverse patches of fabric, but through the time we spent together, we’ve managed to stitch together a beautiful quilt.”

Fiona Rodriguez-Clark, School Committee Award for Outstanding Achievement in Scholarship

Early in the lacrosse season, in which she was a co-captain and senior leader of a very young defensive backline, Fiona Rodriguez-Clark rushed off the pitch just before halftime and sprinted to the high school. It wasn’t any sort of emergency. It was a concert. Rodriguez-Clark was scheduled to play with the school’s orchestra. The question about Rodriguez is what she hasn’t accomplished in her four years at BHS: a perfect 4.33 GPA, National Merit Scholar Letter of Commendation, AP Scholar with Distinction, co-founder and president of the mental health initiative Morgan’s Message, playing cello with the Boston Philharmonic and a three-time All-State musician, a volunteer with her church in serving the unhoused community. She will take her boundless energy to Penn in the fall, studying mathematics.

With so much done on her resume, Rodriguez-Clark said she wished to talk about what the future held for her and her classmates. It’s a question that everyone has been asked for much of their lives—Rodriguez-Clark was four when she saw a future as a dentist – and which has changed up until the current vision of yourself, where the future is “concrete to vague.”

In a clever moment, Rodriguez-Clark asked her classmates to reach under their chairs where she placed slips of paper with occupations and accomplishments such as two-time BAA Marathon wheelchair champ, NASA astronaut, population ecologist for the National Zoo, a nanny, a US Marine major, and Empress of Japan.

Rodriguez-Clark told the assembled that she wasn’t the class Cassandra, rather that each of the 340 slips were people who are Belmont High School graduates.

“The important thing is that at one point in all of these people’s lives, the dream written on that piece of paper before you was only that, a dream. Conjure up that image of your own future again. Like all of us graduating today, these people started with only an idea of what they wanted their futures to look like, but as soon as they walked across this stage, it was time to start making those futures a reality.”

“At this point, you can either accept the futures that other people choose for you, or you can strive to create your own. No one lives your life but you, and only you know what it’s like to be in your shoes at this moment.”

“This future is yours, and this future is now.”

Sixth Pride Parade On Sunday, May 31, Celebrates Belmont LGBTQ+ Alliances’ 25th Anniversary

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Photo: Belmont’s Pride Parade is Sunday, May 31, at 1 p.m.

The sixth annual Pride Parade, to be held on Sunday, May 31, will be extra special as it will also commemorate an important milestone.

“It’s a particularly special year, as we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Belmont LGBTQ+ Alliance, which was founded in 2001,” said Belmont’s LGBTQ Alliance founder Fran Yuan. “We’ve seen many positive changes over the years in making Belmont more open and welcoming to members of the LGBTQ+ community.”

Co-sponsored by the Alliance, Belmont Human Rights Commission, Belmont Against Racism, Belmont Wellness Coalition, the First Church in Belmont, Plymouth Congregational Church, and Beth El Temple Center, the parade will start at 1 p.m. at the Belmont Town Green across from First Church Belmont at 404 Concord Ave.

The day will begin at 12:45 p.m. with opening remarks as residents gather before the parade. The march will include a short walk along Concord Avenue up to Belmont High School before returning through Belmont Center back to the Green. The route is relatively flat and accommodating for everyone.

There will be live music, kids’ activities, representatives of community organizations, and cake and ice cream.

A Celebration Of The Copper Beach On Belmont Town Green Sunday At 12:30 AM

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Photo: The 165-year-old Cooper Beech tree at the intersection of Common Street and Concord Avenue on the Belmont Town Green.

The community celebration of the life of the Copper Beech at the Unitarian Church, will take place on the Belmont Town Green on Sunday, May 3 at 12:30 p.m.

Join the First Church in Belmont UU, the town’s Shade Tree Committee and Department of Public Works, and the Henry Frost Preschool at 404 Concord Ave. as the community honors the beauty and legacy of the beloved cooper beech tree.

Estimated at approximately 165 years old, the tree – Fagus grandifolia – began as a seedling when Belmont was incorporated as a town in 1859 and the start of the US Civil War. Over its lifetime, the cooper beech provided food from the nuts it produces to various birds including ruffed grouse and wild turkeys, raccoons, foxes, white-tailed deer, rabbits, squirrels and opossums.

The tree has succumb to beach leaf disease, caused by a newly-recognized nematode (roundworm) first discovered in Ohio in 2012.

The celebration will include remarks and a history of the cooper beech by Jay Marcotte, DPW director, a song from the Children’s Choirs, a poem from Richard Waring, a ritual of memories by tying ribbons on the tree’s branches, a presentation of artworks as gifts, and a ritual of release lead by Rev. Martha Durkee-Neuman.

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Belmont Town Election Tuesday, April 7: A Return To The Library

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Photo: Go out and vote Tuesday

Belmont’s annual Town Election is Tuesday, April 7!

Registered voters may cast their ballots in person only on Election Day; polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the following polling locations: 

A list of the candidates for town-wide office and Town Meeting can be found in the Belmont League of Women Voters guide.

And on Tuesday, Precinct 1 voters will have both a new and old polling place as the town “returns” to the recently opened Belmont Public Library at 336 Concord Ave. After the old library building was taken down in March 2024, voting took place at Beth El Temple Center.

The precinct locations are:

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

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.

Election results for town wide and Town Meeting races will be announced at Belmont Town Hall after the polls close and on the Town Clerk’s website early Wednesday morning.

Town To Residents: Clear The Sidewalk A Day After The Blizzard Is Done

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Photo: Sidewalks are to be cleared a day after a storm has passed.

When the snow ends, the important work begins.

After the storm has ended and if you are able to do so, lend a hand to the Department of Public Works and your fellow residents by clearing snow from the sidewalks and spaces near your home or business.

Under Belmont’s residential snow removal bylaw, sidewalks along residential property are to be cleared of snow and ice by 8 p.m. the day after a storm ends. Snow and Ice should be cleared or treated from sidewalks to a width of at least 36 inches. Please refer to the Town’s web site www.belmont-ma.gov/emergency for further information regarding winter weather and the Town’s snow removal bylaw.

And when clearing sidewalks and driveways, don’t be tempted place snow into the street as that will create a safety issue and increases the workload on the DPW.

The town appreciate any help you can provide as the town works around the clock to clear roadways and schools as quickly as possible, according to a town press release sent on Sunday, Feb. 22.

Belmont Snowstorm Update: Schools Delayed Opening, Parking Ban Lifted, Trash/Recycling Starts Tuesday

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Photo: Opening the roads in Belmont after the two-day storm that left 20 inches of snow.

After weathering a powerful storm that wreaked havoc across the country and dumped more than 20 inches over Sunday and Monday, Belmont is getting back to business.

The Belmont Department of Public Works reports the Snow Emergency Parking Ban will be lifted at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 27.

Trash and recycling collection will begin on Tuesday, with the pickup schedule delayed a day as if Monday was a holiday: If your collection day is Monday this week, it will be picked up on Tuesday, etc.

To the relief of parents, Belmont Public Schools will reopen on Tuesday, but with a two-hour delay.

All town offices – including the Belmont Public Library, the Beech Street Center, and Town Hall – will be up and running Tuesday under normal times of operation. 

Belmont Under Emergency Parking Ban Starting Sunday, Noon; Monday Trash/Recycling Pickup Cancelled

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Photo: Don’t be towed! Park your car off of the street

Starting at noon on Sunday, Jan. 25, a Snow Emergency Parking Ban will be in effect on all roadways and municipal/school parking lots in Belmont, according to the town’s website. The ban will continue until further notice.

All vehicles parked on the street and the lots during the emergence will be towed at the owner’s expense.

And you know it’s a doozy of a snow storm when trash pickup is cancelled for Monday, Jan. 25. A decision on the what’s and how’s of this weeks collections will be determined “following the impact of the storm,” according to the town’s DPW.

Below is an update on the status of town assets during the snow storm:

BELMONT PUBLIC LIBRARY: Closed Sunday and Monday.
BELMONT SPORTS COMPLEX/RINK: All ice rentals and programs are cancelled after Noon, Sunday and all day Monday.
BEECH STREET CENTER: All programs are cancelled after noon Sunday for the remainder of the day and all day Monday.
ALL OTHER BELMONT TOWN BUILDINGS, OFFICES, AND MEETINGS: All Town buildings will close at 12:00 p.m., Sunday and all day Monday. Board and Committee meetings scheduled to take place virtually will still be held at the discretion of each Board and Committee.