watch and listen to the talking news every day at twelve noon and six pm on channel ninety six comcast six finity and channel thirty verizon fi o's he can also be heard mondays and tuesdays at four thirty pm and wednesdays at twelve thirty pm on channel nine x finity and channel twenty nine fi ost listen any time on the b m c podcast network on sound clouds and i just search for the belmont media podcast network and now on to the talking news proposed budget up eleven point eight percent by joanna case of alephs town administrative patrice garvan and superintendent john failon presented the proposed town and school budgets for fiscal year two thousand and twenty two the selectmen school committee and warrant committee jointly on march the th the total budget for the grades seven through twelve building project an increase of one hundred and forty four six percent from fiscal year two thousand and nineteen the highest priorities in development and development budget were education and facilities the main message from garvan was an override would most likely be needed for the fiscal year two thousand and twenty one because the town is constrained on revenue and needs to maintain its aaa bond rating funds from the two thousand and fifteen override were only supposed to last three years but the town managed to stretch them an additional two years said go thousand six hundred and thirty one dollars and the pavement management program at three hundred and thirty one thousand one hundred forty four dollars and to maintain the current level of series provided by the town services excuse me provided by the town she said moving forward the town will develop a strategy to increase revenue through recreation enterprise funds seeking additional grand opportunities and through negotiations with the union employees for the town and school committees town and school employees when their contracts are up for renewal in june of two thousand and twenty she also said the development in cushing square and future development of the mclean property if it is rezoned and the selfless and street property would was also recently rezoned could help in new growth phailin said that there were three drivers to the twenty of fiscal year twenty budget english language learners ten percent of the current student population special education health insurance for the additional staff needed belmont spends thirteen thousand six hundred and fifty six dollars per pupil that is two thousand three hundred dollars less than the state average of fifteen thousand nine hundred and fifty six dollars in roman continues to to failon he is requesting three dollars full time employees being added at a cost of two hundred and ninety eight thousand six hundred and seventy three dollars to the budget the positions include elementary guidance counselors at one hundred thousand nine hundred and seventy four dollars a middle school foreign language teacher twenty eight thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars a high school assistant principal at forty thousand dollars and a high school teacher at twenty eight thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars and a district wide in glitch language learner program director at one hundred thousand dollars and an email to the citizen herald phailin said the leadership council identified more than twenty positions needed to support teachers and students the three dollars additional educators where the most prioritized if these positions were not in place next year three of our four elementary schools would not have full time gardens counseling services in place and a full time level which is truly a need said failon in addition he said the enrollment needs for world language at the middle school and math and social studies at belmont high school would not be addressed resulting in class size increasing to a higher level the increasing enrollment and having a high school adjacent to the construction site for the new seven through twelve building is another reason an additional assistant principal is needed said failon the english director is currently responsible for overseeing the state mandated services for english language learners and is responsible for reporting the work to the state without the new position of the english language learner program director phailin said they would have difficulty complying with the state mandates and the quality of service to students would be diminished the health insurance for the additional staff totals thirty nine thousand eight hundred dollars athletes will need to be relocated during construction of the new  school requiring seventy three thousand and twenty four dollars to rent field space pool time and for bus runs due to the growing student enrollment another bus is being requested to transport students to and from school for seventy three thousand eight hundred dollars instead of increasing student fees for extra curricular activities the budget includes three hundred and twenty thousand three hundred and fifty dollars checks materials and supplies due to increase in roman requirements are an additional seventy four thousand eight hundred and seventy seven dollars for the fiscal year tw facilities of the department that has the most needs increasing six two percent in fiscal year two thousand and twenty according to gov and the budget includes a forty five thousand dollars to hire new full time facilities coordinator to work in the facilities department overseeing the maintenance and repair of all town buildings she said the facilities department requested another additional three hundred and forty thousand dollars but  denied in her proposed budget cover letter garvin wrote we are seeing unanticipated maintenance due to failure to provide timely maintenance in the past once the new high school is on line maintenance demands appeals sides with belmonte neighbors by down here mclachlan belmont zoning board of appeals sided with a group of neighbors opposing the town's decision to issue a building permit for a four car garage on clark street in a four to one vote z b a agreed with neighbors that a building permit should not have been issued because the roof height exceeded the maximum allowed under the bylaw the decision based on a special counsel's opinion a two thousand and sixteen amendment to the belmont zoning bylaws made the house a non conforming structure during a public hearing in february arguments by attorneys for the homeowner and the neighbors raised questions about the town meetings intent when it amended the zoning bylaws in two thousand and sixteen the case involved a house with within the single residen district at sixty five clark street owned by jews in blue and sixty five clark real estate l l c a building permit was issued in november two thousand and eighteen for a four car garage with a nd story of living space in december neighbors filed an appeal with the z b a arguing the building permit should not have been issued because the roof right to the ridge the highest point yesterday six point three five feet making it the no one conforming structure in two thousand and sixteen town meeting had changed the maximum building height for dwellings in the single residence see to restrict to thirty four feet to the ridge a special permit from the planning board would be required for additions to non confirm instructions that increase the gross floria by more than thirty percent but the town's building inspector glen clancy interpreted the by law as applying to new structures not to projects on existing homes according to a letter he wrote before the neighbors appealed during the c b s meeting much for vice belmont's town council recommended a special counsel thomas mullen to review the case in the lata to the z b a melon wrote the building was a preexisting non conforming structure based on belmont zoning bylaws what and whatever may have been said at a town meeting in two thousand and sixteen from the perspective of a property owner who reads the zoning by law in an attempt to understand its application to his land there is no difference between the height restrictions applicable to single residency district and all the other dimensional provisions of the zoning bylaw all of them when adopted relegated then existing buildings that uniformity laws would prevent melt belmont from applying by law and minutes only to new buildings and his letter mullen wrote that the question of whether the town meeting could have limited roof height restrictions only to new buildings was a harder question and one that need not be answered to resolve the issue before the board in the letter cited several court ruling to related to uniform bylaws provide seed with the project during the february public hearing the homeowner's attorney stephen most ollie's had argued the roof right was conforming based on other definitions within the zoning bylaw rosalie's told the bellman citizen herald that he was disappointed by the decision it is still my opinion that the planning board in two thousand and sixteen intended that this amendment in question dealing with buildings was meant to be for new structures and not exist instructions those alleys he referred to the planning board meeting of two thousand and sixteen town meeting reports which said the by larry man criteria for new homes in logic titian's on noncom fail i mean lots less than one thousand square feet in seventy five dollars foot of frontage now over to max thank you clear question of the week for housing authority candidates alice there are two candidates running for the five year housing authority seat in the upcoming town election april nd they are newcomer cassandra page and incumbent thomas e knowles the housing authority has five members four of whom are elected for overlapping five year terms while the th is appointed by the state the full time salaried executive director supervises and coordinates the programs according to belmont's town website the belmont housing authority manage programs would provide housing assistance for low income families veterans and the elderly it presently manages a total of two hundred and fifty six dollars units of conventional housing which includes one hundred dollars units of veterans and family housing one hundred and fifty four units of elderly and handicaps last disabled housing and two units for housing for the developmentally disabled the authority also administers two massachusetts rental vouchers three alternative housing vouchers twenty existing section eight rental assistance certificates and twenty five section eight housing voucher certificates each week leading up to the election the belmont citizen herald will ask page and olsen a question to help voters decide which candidate is the best choice this week's question is what other programs or services do you think the housing authority should offer its residents or improve upon and why the belmont community needs additional affordable housing as our population ages as clearly identified by the housing production plan produced by the housing trust of which i am a member one tool is tax credit housing which addresses the need of households with income lower than sixty percent of the median income most likely people fifty five and older who are into supporting their long term living needs as they begin to retire providing more moderate income housing allows belmont to keep long term residen living in belmont and supports the initiative of aging in place as vibrant members of our community the council on aging on which i serve has been coordinating with the belmont housing authority to identify social service programs to assist our current elders to remain in their homes as they age importantly at the family housing units i believe the goals are community and education in concert with our new director the belmont housing authority board has identified opportunities to bring residen together similar to the goals of the april program better together at the belmont library additionally because of my commitment to education as a former reading specialist the board placed two little libraries at the family units with the goal of encouraging literate city because sandra page i would love to see more activities on site across all three housing authority properties the elderly slash disabled developments need a computer lab without with computers and essential is like a copy printer fax machine on site for resident use for those unable to afford their own or unable to travel far for access i also think it would be great to get community involved community involvement to offer basic computer skills a community garden for fruits and vegetables would be a neat activity and promote healthy eating choice at a low cost the family developing needs activities for kids and teens our children would benefit from adding a basketball court reading groups and our water access back for personal sprinklers and gardens would remove the financial burden and inability to access public resources offsite especially for those without access to a vehicle organized monthly events at each location like potluck cookouts were moving nights during the nicer months would be beneficial for all residents to promote healthy relationships over the upper library at belmont high school on february th that approximately four pm interim belmont high school principal thomas brough inform parents about it in an e mail on february t wrote the image was a lot hurtful and it was seen by some students who brought it immediately to my attention via e mail to a stunned and hurt to learn that this was done by someone in a school several teachers were quick to assist the students who saw the image and they responded quickly to me bro informed parents the person of interest was identified and met with the student and the student's family on february t that student confessed to the terrible act i cannot share information about evaluations school consequences counseling disciplinary action and all legal actions but i can assure you that the policies of the belmont high school student and book were strictly enforced wrote bro superintendent john failon said he is concerned and saddened by the actions of the young person involved and and encouraged by the actions of the belmont i school students who responded responsibly to the issue by seeing something and saying something the actions of us students stepping up to work with our educators and ministry does demonstrate saw goal of building strong relationships and then a positive culture is working said failon in his email to parents brower wrote that he thought it was important to share information about the incident with the belmont community because horrible acts affect us film on high school is a school family and when something is wrong we need to come together and make it right there were students who experienced emotional pain because of this wrongful act they clearly made that known to me such a pain affects us all wrote bro he concluded his email saying the school will not tolerate disrespectful and harmful acts and now want to claire thank you little shop performing arts company participating p h s the it is specialist or is the fully i'm so this year's musical was chosen for its catchy songs inspired by sixty's rock doo wop and motown fun employed barry get mushed next flower shop he is in love with his coworker audrey but she is in a relationship with us the distinct evil dentist though she also has feelings for seymour everything changes when seymour finds an unusual looking venus flytrap plant which feeds on blood the blood thirsty plant will come to life on the b h a stage through the use of four puppets which depict the plant's growth from a small bud to a giant monstrosity the eye can and does swallow a person whole said flamm three different students will take turns operating the puppets which flam says are sure to be a highlight of the show for the audiences the set crew has been working hard recreating the fictional skid row and the flower show costumes capture a colorful and twenty three at seven pm and much rd at two pm in the b h s auditorium tickets may be purchased at champions boarding goods in belmont center now over to property owners still live in the homes they built like jerry canary who built his home in one thousand nine hundred and fifty seven this paradise like neighborhood is because of two five miles of private roads evergreen way christian you burchill along meadow spring valley stony brook lantern and hurst and would fill roads the developer of hillcrest pave the roads in one thousand nine hundred and fifty eight as time went on the roads began to develop potholes the town patches the potholes throughout the year but they continued to redevelop and grow bigger every year public works assistant director michael santoro says the condition of the hillcrest neighborhood roads is among the worst in belmont director of community development going plans he uses a rating of one to one hundred to rate roads and plain road work any road with a grade less than sixty needs full depth reconstruction he estimates the roads in hillcrest grade somewhere in the forty's however because the roads are private the town is not responsible for paying for the reconstruction of the roads the homeowners are said clancy he said the developer never turned the roads over to the town upon completion which is why they remain private in the area who uses  around said he has drivers from all over the world who tell him the poorest countries in europe have better roads than the hillcrest neighborhood yes to me it's the town spends about twenty thousand dollars annually to patch the potholes of the hill chris neighborhood neighborhood streets it's money wasted every year he said he also doesn't think it's fair that hillcrest residents are paying for other roads around town to get reconstructed and he's concerned about how the condition of the roads will affect property values for fiscal year two thousand and nineteen the town wide budget for possible patching is seventy two one thousand five hundred and ten dollars according to cent toro this budget is usually increased two to three percent every year depending on the bid price public works gets santoro was not able to give a breakdown of how much is spent to patch the potholes in the hillcrest neighborhood annually many oh chris neighborhood residents like mary have gone through at least one set of tires every year due to the potholes in their street over to you thanks max belmont hill school chapel renovations approved diane mcglothlin a nearly one hundred and eighty year old chapel on the belmont hill school campus will receive a make over the belmont planning board approved plans for an addition and renovations to the chapel originally built in connecticut in one thousand and forty the building was moved to its current faculty said scott aqua nella the architect with the firm of bruner caught the addition of the back of the structural would expand seating capacity to six hundred he said other changes would include a lodger performance stage a new accessible entrance and landscaping enhancements the planning board unanimously approved the project it really respects the old building planning board member steve pinkerton said it's a nice little chapel and it has historical significance and now over to clare  thermostats the program has also increased the rebate for heat pumps and hybrid he pumped dry years to three hundred dollars according to general manager chris roy belmont like customers continue to take advantage of the opportunity to save money and energy through the program which offers rebates on qualified appliances such as refrigerators central and room air conditioners and  dehumidifiers in addition to the heat pump water heaters and dryers and smart thermostats many of the program's components remain the same as in past years and the program continues to be popular among our customers a credit up to two one hundred dollars annually on belmont light bills when customers purchase qualifying energy star labeled appliances and smart devices including refrigerator fifteen  seventy five dollars wife i enabled hybrid he pump water heater three thousand five hundred dollars optional smog quanta controller rebate up to one hundred and sixty five thermostat one hundred dollars rebate for an optional cincy though smart controller is available for up to one one hundred and twenty dollars a copy of the appliance dispos see from the vendor proof of d p w disposal must also be submitted with the application stand idries even though energy star labels do not qualify for the program heat pump units are not right to verify installation now over to max thank you claire bill maher the host community workshop bill maher will host a community workshop from three to five pm april th at the beach street center t six beach street belmont the workshop will explore new ways of working together to build a community robert putnam author of bowling alone and better together restoring the american community will kick off the event  a great programs happening in our library community organizations religious institutions and schools said cole we're going to users marcia samuels and mary power how can we build upon all we have done well and pool our strengths as the town looks to the future spearheaded by the belmont library foundation and co sponsored by an array of groups including letters board of selectmen belmont public schools and more than twenty town organizations the workshop welcomes all citizens to join in the conversation town moderator mike wood maher will guide the discussion i'm proud of the extraordinary level of community engagement in belmont said adam dash chair of the board of selectmen this workshop will bring many groups together to brainstorm how we can make our community even stronger by forging connections and working together communication and cooperation of the key to the he said community and this event will foster both back to you bob along with my