It's Official: Town Meeting is Nov. 8

The Board of Selectmen unanimously voted Monday, Oct. 4 to call a special Town Meeting for Monday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the Chenery Middle School.

The warrant for the meeting will open at 9 a.m. today, Oct. 5, and close at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 12. On Monday, Oct. 18, the selectmen will approve and sign the warrant.

Town Clerk Ellen O'Brien Cushman said that the warrant must be legally posted and in the hands of Town Meeting members by Monday, Oct. 25.

According to Assistant Town Administrator Jeff Conti, there will be at least 10 warrant articles for Town Meeting to discuss. In addition, he said he expects a few citizens' petitions to arise as well.

Wellington: On time, on budget

In other business, the board received an update from the Wellington School Building Committee. Joseph Barrell and Mark Haley said the site work is just about established and the project is moving along fairly well.

Four of the 17 different trade groups are active on the site now, said Haley, and the completion date for the new building is now set for July.

Projects such as these always have "bumps" along the way, said Barrell but to date, the Wellington School is on budget as scheduled.

The success of the project so far, he said, is due in large part to the committee hiring a construction manager who handles all bids from the sub-trade groups, recommends one to the committee that then approves it; and there's a general contractor on the site who meets with every worker who is involved in the work to ensure quality control.

Three new hires at BPD

The selectmen also unanimously approved a request by Belmont Police Chief Richard McLaughlin to hire three police officers, each Belmont residents, to fill vacant positions in the department. As provisional officers, they are scheduled to begin attending the police academy on Oct. 18.