Stoneham Year in Review: Part I
Published on December 28th, 2005
STONEHAM, MA - It was another year of budget cuts, new faces, state championships, sad goodbyes, Town Fathers, World Series Trophy Visits, Old Stonehamites and brotherly love in the Town of Stoneham. Among the new: Selectman George Seibold, School Committee member and familiar face Maureen Soley, a trash fee that is expected to carry on for at least another year.
January 2005
Smith/Rotondi letter results in town-wide brouhaha
By Patrick Blais
Stoneham Selectman Charlie Smith only wanted to defend Town Moderator Mike Rotondi. Instead, claims the Selectmen, the embattled figure he ws sticking up for betrayed him.
After submitting a "Letter to the Editor" from his home E-mail address for publication in this week’s Independent, Smith retracted a two-page document after being questioned about several paragraphs of text that alleges Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello conspired along with other town officials against Rotondi — going as far as to interfere with the Moderator’s pension application with the Stoneham Retirement Board.
"He used me to get a point across and he betrayed me. He used me to step on Cosmo, and that’s absolutely wrong That’s Mike Rotondi’s writing, not mine," responded Smith, when asked about the charges.
According to Smith, he felt compelled to defend Rotondi after a recent state Ethic’s Commission hearing — investigating the moderator’s actions at May’s Annual Town Meeting n 2003 — was cancelled when Rotondi agreed to pay a $2000 fine and accept responsibility for two violations of the conflict of interest law.
Selectmen approve
600 unit proposal
By Pat Blais
Publicly unveiling their revised proposal to construct 600 residential dwellings at the former Boston Regional Medical Center, the Gutierrez Company and Simpson Housing LP, found an at-times hostile crowd of area residents opposing the chapter 40B projects at a public hearing Monday night.
Packing into the Town Hall auditorium by the scores, the gathering of Medford, Melrose, and Stoneham residents voiced a series of concerns with the proposed development that echoed criticisms raised during the Gutierrez Company’s failed bid to erect a 914,000 square foot office park at the site in 2003.
"I understand, as a former town official, the concerns with trying to maximize the economic opportunities available to local cities and towns. [But] I’m concerned that the Board of Selectmen will do something they feel is good for their community that is really to the detriment of the entire area," said Medford and Malden State Representative Paul Donato.
Initially proposing to develop 600 apartment units and 350,000 square feet of office space last year, the town’s Boston-based peer counseling firm, Community Opportunities Group, commented in an interim report last August that the site was too congested and that a more diversified housing stock should be included.
Over 600 locals show support for Central School families
By Joe Haggerty
School Committee member Marie Christie stood motionless at the end of a white-clothed table, her head slightly tilted to the side as if engaged in a great debate.
Studying the number-scribbled sheet before her, Christie shifted a pen toward the document and then began abruptly halted, again glancing carefully at the small write-up detailing the specifics of a Celtics dinner package.
"I have children and grand-children. I’m doing my Christmas shopping for next year," the School Committee veteran explained with a laugh upon realizing she was being watched.
"You just go from one table to the next and hope you have enough money left over at the end of the night. I’m going to take a mortgage out on my house before this is all over," she added, nodding to the entranced crowd that shuffled along the rows of similar tables spread across nearly half of the banquet room.
In an event that raised thousands of dollars for two families hurt in last October’s Central School tragedy, Christie was just one of over 600 citizens, town officials and businessmen who flocked to the Montvale Plaza last Friday night for the Friends of the Schores and Eustace Families Auction Benefit.
A five-hour event that ended at the stroke of midnight, the charity event featured both live and the silent auction of hundreds of items, raffles, a red-tag sale, entertainment from two DJ’s and freedom to roam virtually every square foot of banquet-hall space within the Plaza.
"It was totally overwhelming to walk in here tonight and see the organization and the turnout. But I’m not surprised. This is typical Stoneham," said Superintendent Dr. Joseph Connelly as he sipped a glass of white wine while enjoying a Friday night with co-workers. "This makes me really proud to be a part of Stoneham."
FEBRUARY
Connelly outlines difficult FY06 budget
By Nancy Donahue
Calling it the most difficult budget year of the past three years, Stoneham School Superintendent Dr. Joseph Connelly outlined for the School Committee on Thursday the latest predicament in development of a balanced FY06 budget.
Connelly reported that Town Administrator Ron Florino presented his FY06 budget figures to the Board of Selectmen last week which include an allocation to the school department of $21,241,000, a mere $200,000 increase over the current year.
The biggest problem with those numbers, in addition to continuing to proliferate a decrease in the level of service Stoneham is used to providing its students, other fixed costs have been identified in the past as expected to rise more than originally estimated.
Health insurance, which is a huge expense every year, is expected to increase by 24 percent next year, not 16.5 percent as earlier predicted.
In addition, the preliminary budget presented last month could not anticipate other changes including SPED payment to the SEEM collaborative, a reduction in a Title I Grant, a salary correction and increased heating costs, all this in a year where the directive to budget holders is to level fund or decrease where possible.
Town Mulls plan to combine departments
In an effort to alleviate some of the harm caused by proposed FY06 budget cuts, Town Administrator Ron Florino will explore the feasibility of consolidating several municipal operations and services.
But unfortunately, with little wiggle room to finagle the operating costs of smaller departments that have already been fiscally hamstrung in recent years, the Town Administrator believes those consolidations will almost inevitably mean of the two things: cost pass-offs to citizens through new fees, or a lower than normal level of service.
According to Florino, his consolidation discussions have focused thus far on the now abandoned possibility of merging the School Department’s Business Manager with the Town Accountant, folding the zero-funded Recreation Department into the Arena’s operations, and combining the costs of maintaining town’s fields and parks into one contract.
Selectmen vote down trash fee, override
By Pat Blais
In separate 3-2 and 4-1 votes, attempts by Selectmen John DePinto and Tony Kennedy to halve the approximate $2 million FY06 deficit through a debt exclusion override and a trash fee failed respectively Tuesday night.
According to Kennedy, who initially requested that the debt exclusion be placed on the agenda, Stoneham officials need to start focussing on the revenue side of the town’s finances as a way to alleviate the burden of an FY06 deficit.
And in an attempt to address the budget approach as opposed to pure slash-and-burn reduction philosophy, Kennedy met with DePinto and Town Administrator Ron Florino over the past few weeks to develop four deficit lowering suggestions.
"Let me just preface this agenda item by saying that I recognize very clearly — and it is no secret — that Stoneham has a large deficit that it needs to deal with," said Kennedy.
"This budget has really been an exercise of frustration where we try to cut budgets. If we put our heads together and come up with an idea to save $1 million, then we could then go to ask department heads [to cut the other $1 million]," Kennedy added.
‘Curse Breaking’ hardware on its way to Town Hall
By Joe Haggerty
The people of Stoneham may want to start lining up sooner rather than later. That’s because the biggest celebrity in Boston this winter, the Boston Red Sox World Series Trophy, will be making a visit to Stoneham on Wednesday March 9 as part of its whirlwind tour through Massachusetts.
"We have the World Series Trophy coming to Stoneham," said Stoneham Superintendent Dr. Joseph Connelly. "Senator Tisei’s office is coordinating it. What I think the Red Sox have done is used the local State Senator’s to coordinate the visits. He called my office to try to find the best location. We discussed it and decided that the Town Hall would be the best location."
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