Town voters nix arena, underride articles
Published on May 12th, 2004
STONEHAM, MA - Only addressing eight of the Annual Town Meeting's remaining 20 warrant articles, last Monday's assembly forbid the long-term lease of the Arena and rejected a proposal empowering citizens to place an underride on the ballot.
Ending a now twice failed and year long debate as to whether the Arena should be run by a private management firm, Town Meeting rejected authorizing Town Administrator David Berry to lease the facility for a period of up to ten years.
"I just feel very strongly that we don't want to give the Town Administrator the power carte blanche to lease a property for ten years," argued Selectmen Cosmo Ciccarello. "I feel the bylaw only allows one-year. [A leasee] can always come back to Town Meeting and say, 'I want a contract for three or two years.'"
However, the article's author, Selectman Charlie Smith, felt that no business would ever accept such a limited contract.
"In this day and age in business, nobody's going to put their capital into a project for just a year. This will just give the Town of Stoneham more of a chance of recouping money and turning that jewel back into something the people can be proud of," said Smith.
Characterizing the Arena as a "financial sucking chest wound", Finance Board member Peter D'Angelo also brushed away concerns about the Town Administrator gaining too much power as a result of a favorable vote.
"The Town Administrator works for the Board of Selectmen, so if I was a member of the board, I'd think I'd have some leverage on the decision," D'Angelo commented.
While several opponents of the measure didn't deny that the facility lost money, several questioned whether a private management firm bent only on turning a profit might worsen the situation. Others opined that like the town's parks and playgrounds, the Arena was never built as a profitable enterprise, but rather as a recreational facility for the townspeople to enjoy.
"[The Arena] was built for the children of Stoneham as an athletic facility, the same as baseball, soccer and football fields. None of those make money," said Stoneham attorney and Stoneham Youth Hockey member Charlie Houghton.
While Houghton attempted to convince the Town Meeting audience to form a committee to study how to fix the financially ailing rink, he withdrew his proposal after the assembly objected to the measure.
"I think I'm overwhelmed by the number of committees. We have an open-space and recreation committee. We had an Arena oversight committee. And now we're having another committee when it's quite clear we don't have the right skills to manage the Arena," said Stoneham resident Brenda Boyle. "Any time we have to make a tough business decision, we form another committee."
As a result of the vote on Article 5, the future financial well-being of the Stoneham Arena now resides with the promise of consolidating the ice-skating facility with the Unicorn Golf Course. A warrant article seeking to empower the town's citizens to place a proposition 2 1/2 underride on an election ballot was also narrowly defeated by six votes. According to Article 12 motion maker John DeGeorge, the measure would not request that state officials change the language of proposition 2 1/2. Rather, the Franklin Street resident argued, the motion would only allow the town to utilize a section of the law granting citizens the right to place the initiative on a ballot.
"This is a no-brainer for the citizens," opined DeGeorge. "Mass General Law has language there that says unless an initiative referendum procedure is allowed by applicable law."
Agreeing with DeGeorge, Finance Board member Peter D'Angelo argued that a favorable vote on the article acted in the spirit of a Town Meeting government by allowing the people to decide on whether they wanted to lower their taxes. However, former Selectman Chairwoman Mary Pecoraro and Stoneham resident John Ellis argued that the measure could result in citizens endorsing an underride at a time the town could ill-afford to assume the reductions.
Subscribe and get Home Delivery of The Independent
Save 36% off the newstand price — that's like 18 FREE issues!