Nomination Papers for Belmont Town Elections Ready at Town Clerk's

Seats on Selectmen, School Committee and Town Meeting up for grabs.

Nomination papers are now available in the Belmont Town Clerk's office for elected town-wide offices and for Town Meeting representative. This year, Belmont voters will elect a member of the Board of Selectmen, two on the School Committee and Board of Library Trustees and one each for the Board of Health and Belmont Housing Authority and a slew of Town Meeting reps. New candidates for Town Meeting must gather 25 signatures from registered voters in their precinct in support of their nomination and submit the signed papers to the Town Clerk's office by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 12. Town election will be held on Monday, April 1, 2013. All candidates for town-wide office must gather 50 signatures from registered voters in Belmont. For more …

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Paolillo Seeks Re-Election to Selectmen

Priorities in second term include long-term financial solutions and Uplands development.

Why give up something you love doing? And that is one explanation why Mark Paolillo, chairman of Belmont's Board of Selectmen, told Belmont Patch why he will be seeking re-election to a second three-year term at town elections in April 2013.  "It's been a fun two-and-a-half years and I think we've accomplished a lot as a board," said Paolillo today, Nov. 14. "I love doing this job but there is still a lot of town business to do," the Pilgrim Road resident said. Paolillo points to the board's effort to strengthen the town's long-term financial security with the establishment of a strong financial team in the new Town Administrator David Kale, assistant Town Administrator Kelli Hebert and Town Accountant Chitra Subramanian and in creating a…

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The Candidate's Question of the Week

Question of the Week: Selectmen Candidates Speak on Regionalization

Can regionalization work for Belmont? Andy and Dan tackle that question.

Regionalization – merging town services of one or more municipalities – was one area that former Town Administrator Thomas Younger recently said he was unable to move forward during his tenure. The promise of combining services – including small functions such as sharing a town nurse to major areas including public safety – with a nearby town or towns is that Belmont will see savings and greater efficiencies. Do you support regionalization and what top three areas would you strongly push to see combined with other towns? The discussion of regionalization of services has been ongoing in Belmont for many years now. We’ve had public forums and studies exploring the needs, options and priorities for regionalization and consolidation. …

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The Candidate's Question of the Week

Question of the Week: Schools Candidates on Professional Learning Teams

The school committee candidates tackle the effectiveness of Professional Learning Teams.

This week's question: The establishment of the district's Professional Learning Team program has been viewed as a success by the school committee, educators and the administration as teachers work collaboratively to change the way they teach in order to address students learning needs while providing onsite professional development that builds collegiality, improves teaching quality and job satisfaction. Yet some national observers have been critical of PLTs for their cost, reduction in classroom time and often vaguely determined goals. If you are elected to the school committee, how would you determine the effectiveness of Belmont's PLT program and if any changes are required? Massachusetts law grants three specific powers to school …

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Open Seats in this Year's Town Election

Deadline to submit nomination papers is Feb. 13.

There is a long list of offices appearing on Belmont's annual Town Election ballot in less than ten weeks time, according to Belmont Town Clerk Ellen Cushman. Town-wide offices include: • Town Moderator, 1 seat for one year term.  • Board of Selectmen, 1 seat for three year term. • Board of Assessors, 1 seat for three year term. • Board of Cemetery Commissioners, 1 seat for three year term. • Board of Health, 1 seat for three year term. • Housing Authority, 1 seat for five year term. • Trustees of the Public Library, 2 seats for three year term. • School Committee, 2 seats for three year term  • Many Town Meeting representative slots. See the complete list of Town Meeting seats open in 2012 on the accompanying pdf. The election will take …

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