Wakefield Town Council Notes -- May 13, 2024

Here's what we covered at our Town Council meeting on Monday, May 13:

• We welcomed our two new colleagues, Doug Butler and John Carney, to the Town Council.

• The Council approved a temporary relaxation of parking restrictions on the east side of Farm Street through the end of September. The purpose of this temporary change is to allow for additional street parking while the lot across from Landrigan Field is under construction this summer.

• We approved a renewal of our intermunicipal agreement for animal control services with the Town of Reading. Over the last three years, this agreement has allowed Wakefield to reduce its animal control costs by nearly 50% while maintaining the same level of service.

• The Town Council referred an Open Meeting Law complaint related to the posted agenda for our April 22, 2024 meeting to Town Counsel Tom Mullen for review and response.

• We adopted a proclamation declaring May as ALS Awareness Month in Wakefield.

• Looking ahead to this summer's Farmers Market, the Council approved alcohol sales licenses for two vendors, Blisspoint Meadery and House Bear Brewing.

• We appointed Joseph Giacobbe to the Veterans Advisory Board and Hyon Leon to the Human Rights Commission. There are still open positions on both committees, and we would welcome additional applicants. If you have any questions about serving on these committees, please let me know.

• The Town Council authorized Town Administrator Steve Maio to send a letter to the MBTA advocating that they fund handicap accessibility improvements at Wakefield Station as part of the MBTA's capital plan. We also discussed the potential impacts of commuter rail service reductions recently announced by the MBTA for this summer.

• The Council selected Mike McLane as our chair for the coming year, and Ed Dombroski as our vice chair.

Our next Town Council meeting will be Monday, June 10 at 7:00 PM on Wakefield Community
Access TV and Zoom. Please also join us this Friday, May 17 at 10 AM for the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Wakefield Memorial High School. While we have a long way to go before the new building open, it's exciting to celebrate this important milestone for this project!