Moreira Hopes To Bring Electronic Voting To Town Meeting

The town moderator will file a warrant article for the spring session that will ask Town Meeting members to consider allowing electronic voting at Town Meeting.

Town Meeting moderator, Gil Moreira, who will sponsor the warrant article, said he hopes to have the committee approved in the spring so members can take a trial run with the system at the next fall session.

“I think people will see it as a great step forward,” Moreira said.  Moreira said that recording votes, that would later be published, would give the entire Town Meeting process a greater sense of transparency.  “I think it’s a heck of an opportunity to streamline the entire process,” he said.

Curran Stiffed By Town Meeting Members In Quest For Meals Tax

Town Meeting members voted down a local meals tax Thursday, with many members saying that the tax would hurt local restaurant owners and take more money out of the pockets of residents in difficult economic times.

The divisive proposal was brought forth by town manager, John Curran who said that the revenue would go towards capital improvement projects and paying down the debt.

The proposal called for an additional .75 percent tax on top of the 6.25 percent meals tax collected by the state. In all, the local portion of the meals tax will would have amounted to an additional 75 cents on a $100 bill.

But members were not hearing it and complained that residents had seen their property taxes go by an average of 2.5 percent the last several years, the maximum allowed by law without a voter override.

“This is not going to bring in the revenues they think it’s going to,” said Rep. Anthony Ventresca, a member of the Finance Committee.

Rep. Madeline Sargent said she was concerned that the tax would be harmful to restaurant owners and said that four establishments had closed in town recently.

Curran tried to allay the concerns of members by telling him that he spoke to several restaurant owners and, while they weren’t happy about it, they didn’t think it would harm their business.

“People aren’t going to make a decision not to get a meal based on an extra seven cents on a $10 bill, ” Curran said.

Town Meeting Approves Pay Increases For Police and School Staff

Town Meeting approved a series of union contracts in a brisk moving third session Tuesday that saw some members frustrated that town administrators negotiated pay raises for school and public safety employees in difficult economic times.

“There are people in our community who wish they were getting a pay check, never mind a pay raise,” said Rep. Paul Overy.

Rep. Virginia Musker was frustrated because she said that members had no authority to vote down the school contracts because school departments officials negotiated agreements that need no funding in the current fiscal year, thereby making the contracts valid even if Town Meeting voted them down, according to Patrick Costello, the town’s legal counsel.

Rep. Barbara Morrissey disagreed: “We are the final arbiter, and I don’t understand why we are giving raises,” she said, “I think it’s our job to protect our citizens.”

School clerical and cafeteria workers will see their pay increase .5 percent next year and 1.5 percent in fiscal year 2013.  The raises will be paid for from savings on tuition the town is required to pay for students electing to go to Minuteman Technical High School.

Patrolmen will see their pay increase 1.5 percent each year beginning in fiscal year 2011 and ending in 2013.  The town also negotiated adjustments in attendance benefits that will see patrolmen and their superior officers stripped of financial perks should they have only used between two and four sick days. A $1,000 bonus for using no sick days and a $750 bonus for using one sick day remain.

Gagliardi and Lombardo Clash Over Bike Path Plan

The second session of Billerica Town Meeting descended into series contentious debates over spending after members voted down a proposal made by state Rep. Marc Lombardo to appropriate $125,000 to begin the design and construction of a bike path.

The proposed path would extend from Middlesex Community College on the Bedford line all the way to Good Street where the Hallenborg Ice Rink is located.

Will the familiar refrain: “Why not us?” Lombardo gave an impassioned defense of a project he has worked on since his days as a member of the Board of Selectmen.

“I picture families walking and spouses jogging,” he said.  Lombardo said that the project would also contribute to a cleaner environment and spur economic development.

Lombardo also lashed out at critics of the plan, including Selectman David Gagliardi, who said that, while he supported the construction of a bike path, the town should wait until it had secured the proper easements from private landowners.

Gagliardi also questioned where the funding for the project would come from and criticized Lombardo for not securing any state funding before he brought forth the warrant article.

The project would also require easements on property owned by the Cabot Corporation and Pan-Am Railways.

Beverly Woods, executive director of the Northern Middlesex Council of Governments said that the town was told several years ago by the state Department of Transportation that the agency would not release any state funds for bike paths until municipalities had secured easements from the private landowners involved.

Woods said the town secured state funding for a similar project almost a decade ago, but had to relinquish it once it became clear that the necessary easements couldn’t be secured.

Gagliardi told members that he spoke with representatives from Pan-Am who told him that they would be unwilling to give up there leases to the rails.

A representative from Pan-Am Railways, who refused to give his name, declined to comment on ownership of the tracks, nor did he confirm or deny that the company had any conversations with any town officials.

Cabot Corporation did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Citing a cost estimate done in 1999, Gagliardi said that the project could cost the town more than $2 million and probably more given the increases in labor costs over the last 10 years.

In a report by chairwoman, Mary McBride, the Finance Committee, who voted 10 to 1 to recommend that the project be defeated, said that the bike path could cost between $4 million and $6 million.

Ed Hurd, a former selectman and Lombardo’s chief of staff, balked at that number saying the project would cost the town around $700,000.

The article came just three votes shy of passing only after Lombardo tried to have the article dismissed saying he couldn’t go ahead with the project without the support of the Board of Selectmen.

Outside Town Hall after the vote, tempers flared when Lombardo called Gagliardi a “liar” and accused members of the Board of Selectmen of demagoguing the issue in order to hand him a defeat.

School Maintenance Dominates First Session of Fall Town Meeting

Interim Assistant Superintendent of Schools Tim Piwowar walked into Billerica Memorial High School in September 1997 as a young math teacher and instantly became one of the most popular members of the faculty.

Known for his sense of humor, he captivated his students with his ability to do complicated math problems in his head. Endlessly congenial, he advised the class of 2005 through graduation and organized fundraisers to help reduce the cost of class activities such as the senior prom.

When Piwowar took the podium at Town Meeting to plead for funding for building maintenance, it seemed as he were back in front of a rowdy classroom again, but with his trademark wit and organization he answered every question about school maintenance plans that dominated the first session of Town Meeting.

Selectmen Recommend Capital Warrant Articles as Town Meeting Looms

With Town Meeting looming, the Billerica Board of Selectmen, Monday, met briefly to recommend two final warrant articles and discuss possible uses for the old Ditson School on Boston Road.

The board approved a capital article that would take $500,000 from free cash to purchase a new backhoe, bucket truck and the replacement of water lines in the Rio Vista section of town.

Though he supported the warrant article, Selectman Andrew Deslaurier asked why these purchases were not made in the normal budgetary process in the spring.

Town Manager John Curran responded that the town and received more revenue from new economic development than officials had previously anticipated.

Curran also stressed that the items were of an urgent need.  Curran said that town employees had been called to the Rio Vista section of town approximately 21 times in recent years to fix line breaks. According to Curran, the town could save a significant amount of money in labor and overtime play if the lines were replaced.

“These are essential, frontline services of government,” Curran said.

In other news, Curran met with officials for the Massachusetts Housing Authority to discuss the agency’s interest in renovating the old Ditson School into elderly housing.

Curran said that the MHA was more inclined to help communities develop private properties into affordable housing units.

This is something of a setback for town officials and local housing authority members who have tried for years to find a suitable use for the old school property.

Still, members of the board of Selectmen remain reluctant to give up any authority over the Boston Road site. They forwarded the matter to the housing subcommittee in the hope that the committee will be able to come up with a proper use for the antiquated school.

“We need to explore all the avenues so we can make informed decisions,” said Correnti.

Sewer System Requires Millions in Upgrades as Selectmen Move Ahead

It wasn’t the first time 79-year-old Stanley Evans had signed up to speak during the open mic session of the Board of Selectmen meeting.

Evans, a 50 resident of Orchard Avenue bordering Bedford, has been pleading with board members for years to put pressure on on Bedford officials to allow him to tie-in to Bedford’s sewer infrastructure.

“I’ve been through five town manager’s in Billerica, probably five more in Bedford, and probably forty of fifty selectmen,” Evans vented.  “I don’t see any reason why you people can’t put pressure on the town of Bedford.”

Short of a tie-in, Evans said he was told by the department of public works that it would at least 10 years before the town-wide sewer expansion project made it to his part of town.

Billerica Native Recalls Coming Face to Face With Whitey Bulger

Billerica native Brittany Allen was absolutely elated. It was around noon, the sun was shining, and Allen,  a student in the physician assistant program at the University of Southern California, had just finished her orthopedics exam. With her apartment just a three minute walk from the Pacific Ocean, she was looking forward to some rest and relaxation.

Allen, 25, bounced onto the elevator of her small Santa Monica apartment complex accompanied by an elderly couple.

“It’s beautiful out,” said the old woman, her male companion standing quietly beside her.

“I know,”Allen responded.

When the elevator stopped on the second floor, Allen got out and said goodbye. As she walked to her second floor apartment, Allen had no idea that she had just come face to face with the country’s two most wanted domestic criminals: James “Whitey” Bulger and his female companion, Catherine Greig.

Water Rates Increase As Lakeside Mobile Home Residents Search For Answers

Billerica residents will see their water bills increase by five percent beginning in August after the Board of Selectmen, Monday, increased water rates for the second year in a row. The hike will cost rate payers approximately $15 more annually.

The increase was based  on the recommendation of the Water and Sewer Oversight Board. Board Chairman Lewis Zediana told the board at their regular meeting on June 6 that the high increase was necessary to maintain the town’s dilapidated water infrastructure.

The increased passed with a 4-1 vote.  Selectman Mike Rosa was the lone “No” vote saying that given the economy, the increase was too steep.  Rosa advocated for the plan put forward by by Town Manager John Curran that called for a half percent increase.

But other members disagreed saying that the water infrastructure was in desperate need of upkeep and the town could no longer kick the can down the road.

Sewer Rates Increase For Second Consecutive Year, Water May Be Next

For many Billerica residents, the chance to hook up to the sewer system has been decades in the making. But after Monday, many residents may have to rethink that conventional wisdom.

The Billerica Board of Selectmen Monday voted 4-1 to increase sewer rates.  The increase means the average house-hold will see their bill increase by approximately $26 a year.

With the recommendation of the Water and Sewer Oversight Board, the town manager, John Curran, said the increase was necessary to support the upkeep of the sewer infrastructure, but also to fund capital improvements to the infrastructure.

Selectman Mike Rosa was the lone no vote saying he disagreed with retroactive billing and thought that capital improvements should not be funded through the rates.

“People don’t like retroactive things because they smack of unfairness,” Rosa said.

But proponents of the increase disagreed saying that the need for spending on sewer infrastructure is long overdue.