Montavale Plaza senior party on tap
Published on November 2nd, 2005
Montvale Plaza owner Marty Murphy will again dig deeply into his own pocket this December to bestow a little Christmas cheer upon Stoneham's senior citizens.
For the second straight year, the town's Board of Selectmen find themselves lacking the funding necessary to sponsor its annual holiday gathering for the town's well-aged population.
And for the second consecutive year, Murphy - known for his philanthropic nature both in Stoneham and his hometown of Medford - stepped before the town's fathers and agreed to shoulder the full financial burden for the bash, which has traditionally cost anywhere between $4500 and $5500.
"People may remember last year that Marty and his staff were kind enough to donate the Christmas party for senior citizens at his own expense," recalled Selectman Tony Kennedy, introducing the local businessman at last week's Selectmen meeting.
"We're very proud to be a part of the town and we feel we would like to give back to the town. We'd like to continue the [holiday party] tradition," Murphy proposed. "We'd like to do it again this year on Dec. 7, which is a Wednesday. We'll pick up all the costs, we would just ask for some volunteers."
Expecting to accommodate at least 300 guests this year, the Medford resident will open the doors for the celebration at 11 a.m. on Dec. 7. A full sit-down meal will be served to the seniors at 12 p.m. and will be followed by entertainment from various singers, speakers, and gift giving.
Cell-antenna Committee
The Selectmen also endorsed the mission statement for a new committee on wireless facilities, which will seek to sponsor a spring Town Meeting proposal for new cell-phone antennas.
According to Finance Board Vice-Chairman John Warren, the committee would specifically look at the benefits and downsides of placing wireless facilities on municipal buildings to generate annual rental and tax revenues.
Currently, the Finance Board member has already been approached by telecommunications' company representatives who are considering whether antennas would be appropriate at or near the town's Senior Center, Warren announced.
"I received a phone call today [from a cellular service provider] and he was interested in something around the Senior Center. So there is an opportunity for town revenues if it's an appropriate structure," Warren remarked.
"There was some frustration that there were articles for cell antennas [in the past] that were withdrawn from time to time," the Finance Board veteran added, referring to his original motivation to form the study group.
According to Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello, any proposal to place cellular structures on municipal buildings should take that previous opposition into consideration, especially since town and school employees voiced the loudest objections to the measures.
"We should take that into account. I'm not a doctor, but I think we should consider that," Ciccarello remarked, referring to health and safety concerns with the structures.
In response, Warren emphasized that no warrant article or wireless facility proposal would move forward without the approval of Stoneham's electorate, who must ultimately pass a zoning change for any antennas on the Senior Center. To ensure that dissenting opinions formulate the backbone of any discussions on the matter, Warren has taken steps to include some of the strongest opponents of previous cell-antenna proposals on the committee.
Also in favor of the committee's mission, Town Attorney Bill Solomon, who has successfully handcuffed two separate wireless facilities from being erected outside of the overlay district - a zoning region specifically identified for cell antennas - believed that the town needed to take adequate measures to prevent telecommunications' companies from gaining the upper hand.
"As of right now, our overlay district has been one of the most successful in the state," Solomon explained. "The question going forward is to ensure that Stoneham always controls it's own destiny by making sure that there are enough possibilities for wireless carriers."
School Concerns
According to Selectman Kennedy, the board had recently received correspondence from the School Committee warning that the district was in danger of running a significant energy budget deficit this year.
Specifically, because of the soaring costs of electricity, natural gas, and fuel costs, the school department budget was in danger of running hundreds of thousands of dollars into the red. Kennedy also commented that the current fiscal year's financial woes, which could exceed $300,000, were exacerbated by the town's inability to implement health insurance expense reforms.
Specifically, last year's budget called for controlling health care costs by increasing employee co-pay fees. However, town officials failed in their bid to up the employee charges - in turn throwing the school department's budget out-of-whack.
"The Stoneham schools are projecting a worst case deficit of at least $300,000. This is something we need to watch," Kennedy explained.
Prior to that brief budget update, Selectman John DePinto asked for clarification on the chain of command within the school system.
According to the Selectman, he has recently been deluged with calls from concerned parents whose children had contracted a bacterial infection due to a lack of sanitation within the high school. DePinto furthered that he has also received complaints about the prevalence of student smoking within and around the building.
"A few months ago, I personally gave approval for adding four janitors to the schools. At the time, there was talk about closing the schools at night and I didn't want to see that happen to the town's children," DePinto said.
"But since then, I've gotten phone calls about sanitation issues at the high school. It was basically because there was no soap in the dispensers, so students couldn't wash their hands," DePinto explained, referring to a reported outbreak of bacterial infections amongst the football team.
Essentially asking what he could do to help residents concerned with school issues, DePinto was told that he was powerless when it came to controlling the school system's day-to-day operations.
"I'd refer them to the School Committee," responded Ciccarello. "They're an elected board and I can't tell them what to do. We have no jurisdiction up there."
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