Good News Fills Selectmen's Agenda

During a short meeting Monday, July 12, Belmont's Board of Selectmen received an abundance of good news in less than 90 minutes concerning the town's environmental initiatives, finances and upcoming volunteer efforts.

BOS Chairman Ralph Jones complimented members of Sustainable Belmont and handed a Milestone Achievement Award to the group from the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) which congratulated Belmont for completing Milestones 1, 2 and 3 of the national organization's five for climate mitigation.

Milestone 1 is conducting an emissions inventory, Milestone 2 is setting an emissions reduction target and Milestone 3 is developing a local climate action plan.

"This is an incredible accomplishment for the town of Belmont and truly underscores the town's commitment to climate protection and sustainability," stated Angela Vincent, Northeast/Mid-Atlantic regional director for ICLEI; Local Governments for Sustainability, in a letter.

"The town of Belmont is truly one of the leading jurisdictions in the region and in the nation for its sustainability work," she wrote.

The town now needs to complete Milestone 4 that is implementing the local climate action plan and Milestone 5 that is monitoring and reporting results.

Belmont Town Administrator Tom Younger also had positive news to report. In June, the Underwood Pool brought in $64,959, which is approximately $19,000 more than June 2009.

In addition, he said use of the town's recreation programs is at "an all time high" bringing the town $690,000 in fiscal year 2009, $30,000 more than in 2008.

The town may be seeing some savings in the coming months, Younger said, describing a discussion he had with Director of Public Works Peter Castanino about reviewing Belmont's 52 trash barrels.

According to Younger, Castanino recommends removing 20 barrels that aren't used as much as they once were, saving about $3,000 a year in garbage pick-up fees.

Representatives of the Belmont Religious Council met with the board to discuss the second annual Belmont Serves that will take place on Columbus Day.

They asked the board for its support and to c-sponsor an activity that Jones and Vice Chairman Mark Paolillo unanimously agreed to do. Selectmen Angelo Firenze is out of the country and was not at the meeting.

Council members said the first Belmont Serves Day was an enormous success with nearly 300 people working to clean and beautify Rock Meadow, the grounds at Town Hall and the library, conservation land at McLean and painting rusted fencing at the town field.

In addition, volunteers collected 250 bags of groceries for the Belmont Food Pantry and quilters gathered to finish quilts for families staying at the Renewal House.

The second Belmont Serves promises to be as successful as the first, council members said, and the expressed enthusiasm for an even richer service to the community.