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 os it can also be earned mondays and tuesdays at four thirty pm and wednesdays at twelve thirty pm on channel nine ix finity and channel twenty nine five listen any time on the b m c podcast network on sound cloud and i tunes just search for the belmont media podcast network now on to the talking news three things to know about the april twelfth select facilities director for the town and school buildings he starts on april thirtieth and replaces general boyle who officially retired on december twenty ninth four finalists were interviewed for the position and dor to the top according to town administrator patrice garvin he said by working he has been working for the state for the past four years as bureau director of facilities for the for  department public health hospitals two million square feet forty five buildings and one thousand acres of our king dorrance has been a member of the national trust for historic preservation for twenty years he said he loves the character of belmont i'm looking forward to making some of these old buildings even more beautiful he said number two the future uses of incinerate a site to be discussed a town meeting will be voting on appropriating seven hundred seventy seven thousand dollars from the landfill stabilization fund to demolish the incinerators site town administrat patrice garvan recommended getting getting input from the community a boat their ideas for post closure use of the site selectman chairman adam dash said that they will have a public meeting we do have a ticking clock on this now that we that we took title we do have to actually do something and we have to cap it and we have to know what the post closure use is to determine the appropriate caps it dash selectman vice chairman mock paleo said that the belmont youth hockey association would like to put a new skating rink on the site they have met and discussed garvin excuse me and director of community development glen clancy it doesn't align with what we're going to do on the site with the high school it's almost like we have to stop thinking about this sooner than later that the the cost to cap it will be considerable the funds from the stabilization fund baby short and there may not be enough to build something for recreational use the cap design could be dependent on the future use a dash garvin suggested having the meeting june eighteenth however the date will be announced and publicized an item three housing production pla approved the selectmen approved the housing production plan proposed by the belmont housing trust the plan demonstrates twenty five percent of belmont's current hosts holds are eligible for affordable housing according to gloria leipzig cochairman of the belmont housing trust belmont currently has three hundred sixty five affordable units of housing which are considered affordable but twenty four hundred households that are eligible for the affordable housing in particular there's a need for senior housing and housing for young and newly formed families and belmont the housing production plan identifies locations to row belmont where development opportunities exist the would help increase affordable housing options there was an article on the warrant for the upcoming town meeting from the belmont housing trust for two hundred fifty thousand dollars of community preservation act funds to be set aside to help accomplish the goals of the housing production plan and now over to clare thank you what's next for jim williams the involved i'm not going to withdraw he said i expect to be involved in some of the citizen's petitions going to town meeting and i'm interested in other things he said he hopes the board will keep him in mind for future committee appointments he said he didn't run to be a long term selectman it was a three year commitment he will be turning seventy two this summer his the says decision to run in two thousand and fifteen was based on concerns about two specific issues the growing unfunded employee benefit liabilities for pensions and other post employment benefits which were one hundred fifty million dollars at the time his campaign slogan was a better way for a better belmont i had no committee no fundraising nothing but i wasn't worried because i was merely trying to bring attention to those two aspects of our financial situation when i couldn't get through to anyone that was in a position to do something about it he said early on in his campaign williams gained support from seoul a proponent  active committee members are in libya and kate brown and many others during his three year term williams managed to get a committee in place to study the unfunded o p e b and pension liability through a study the liability was reduced by one hundred inmates eight million dollars from two hundred ten million dollars more than fifty percent at his final selectmen meeting april second the board approved the water and sewer rates for fiscal two thousand and nineteen which include funding for all p b liability payments and according to williams this will reduce scheduled payments by six million dollars over and eleven year funding schedule similar similarly approving like department a proposed funding would reduce future scheduled payments by an estimated nine million dollars he said he's advocating for a five member board williams said he was unhappy with the structure of the select meant job which doesn't allow the three million board to talk to each other outside open meetings he sees that as a tremendous disadvantage which is why he put forth the citizen's petition for a committee to study increasing the number of selectmen the petition was approved at town meeting last spring williams said he plans to support the committee the camping for a five member board of selectmen which is one of the articles where this brings town meeting if there is a five member board i can talk to four of the members one on one about anything if i want to but they can't tell any selectman what i said and i can tell any other selectman what they said he said with a three member board williams said there are voids that exist and other people in town become quote unelected selectman he believes the town should have a five member board with a rotating chairmanship and one member in charge of the light board one in charge of unfunded employee benefits health care and pensions for active employees and retired employees someone in charge of schools and maybe someone in charge of bylaws each of those people could talk to at the selectmen about their own simons instead of sitting there i've never been in a position where you c peers you are managing with said williams he calculated the time he spent with his fellow boardman there's to be about one hundred twenty hours per year he said if a five member board is approved by town meeting he may decide to run again now over to max thank you clear new minuteman high school building reaches topping off milestone the minuteman high school building project has reached another major milestone in ceremonies attended by hundreds of students dignitaries and minutemen supporters gilby in building company used a one hundred eighty five foot crane to lift the final steel beam into place over what will become the new high school's main entrance erection of the twenty four foot beam painted white and signed by students teachers elected officials and well wishers marks completion of the steel structure of the building what a beautiful sight said edward boak willian the school superintendent as the final steel beam was lifted into place in what builders for additionally call a topping off ceremony a u s flag and small tree were also attached to the b jack mccarthy executive director of the massachusetts building authority told the gathering that the ceremony quote is meant as a celebration of the workers unquote he singled out workers from ironworkers local seven for special recognition speaking on behalf of the area legislative delegation state senator cindy freedman democrat arlington praised state and town officials for keeping the project moving forward over the past ten years we did it for all those people back there all those kids friedman said as she pointed to hundreds of minuteman students stand behind the state and local dignitaries we are so proud of minute ma'am in addition to mccarthy and friedman a host of dignitaries attended the april twelfth ceremonies they included state senator dean tran republican fitchburg representative jake housman democrat lexington and representative jennifer benson democrat lunenburg they were joined by town managers select board members and area school officials as well as members of the minutemen school committee the minuteman school building committee the schools program advisory committees the minuteman futures foundation and the campaign for minuteman future despite some challenging weather over the fall and winter the minuteman project remains on schedule and on budget school officials said students are scheduled to start classes in the new building in the fall of two thousand and nineteen look what a skilled wor workforce can do in less than ten months said book william as he surveyed the concrete and steel building skeleton that will become the new minuteman high school he described the new minuteman as quote the school of the future unquote the new school with the design capacity of six hundred twenty eight students is being built on the lincoln side of minute man's property the new school will combine sixteen career and technical education programs and a robust offering of academic programs under two career act academies and five pathways the topping off ceremony is a traditional builders right marking the point when the final steel beam is list lifted into place at a construction site a tree or leafy branch along with an american flag are often tied to the beam to represent good luck and to demonstrate patriotism over to you bob thank you max dramatic club presents musical godspell is is just a boat anybody who likes really happy music according to cheryl land welsh to stick director co producer costumer and junior vice president of the belmont dramatic club  godspell is a musical based on the gospel according to st matthew welsh said john michael to ballack wrote godspell as his senior thesis for his masters degree in theater in the  seventy s he attended a service and found it long and boring and sad she said he used many of his own fellow students as the characters which is why they all have normal names except for jesus and he produced it and opened it in a little theater on broadway and he never went back to the university his professors came to the show and liked it so much they sent him a letter saying he would get his master's degree said welsh according to welsh godspell came out at the same time as jesus christ superstar by andrew lloyd webber webber was furious because he thought to belich who was stealing his material he came to the show angry wanting to get to bellick and he left loving it saying it's not anything like jesus christ superstar and it's such a joyous happy theatrical performance three of the event highlights include the music to godspell is iconic the score by steven schwartz has so many hits the people know especially the song day by day just catchy songs that will get stuck in your head for days on end choreographed choreograph for and they have to rise to the occasion said choreographer warren freedman item three entertaining bible lessons the story of jesus his life is tol through music comedy and dance writer and director and original director john michael to bellick and compose a stephen schwartz wanted to put the gospel according to st matthew into something that would be not preachy but joyous and happy and community building said welsh and over the clear thank you bob belmont woman's club host and author author mock gave an interchange in talk about his recent book old whiskey and young women american true crime talks of more murder sex and scandal to a pat selectmen meeting room at town hall for the belmont woman's club on april eleventh kantrowitz is a former prosecutor private attorney juvenile court and appeals court associate justice he is also the most highly published author on massachusetts state law with among others books on evidence criminal law civil law mental health law in juvenile law he is the godfather of the massachusetts guide to evidence used t in all courts of the commonwealth kantrowitz has also published three historical books for the images of american series for arcadia press he writes two columns law and history about once famous and now forgotten crimes of our past and unsolved about unsolved murders in massachusetts with runs in lawyers weekly now over to macs thanks claire gallagher remodelling wins gold for belmont project the eastern massachusetts chapter of the national association of the remodeling industry awarded gallagher remodelling incorporated of belmont with team member g m t home designs incorporated the two thousand eight hundred m n a r i contractor of the year award in the category of best residential exterior the project also located in belmont transformed a previously nondescript existing entry enclosure with an entrance as grand as the eight hundred ninety one victorian home itself gallagher remodelling built appropriate architectural forms adorned with victorian elements to create a fresh and updated entry facade the homeowners were thrilled with the results president of gallagher remodelling incorporated roger gallagher said we're glad our peers in the industry also recognize the exceptional quality of the design and craftsmanship in addition to the c o t y award roger gallagher was also presented with a special member of the year award by e m n a r i to acknowledge his ongoing dedication to the organization and support of its members gallagher remodelling and g m t home design were presented with the c y award at e m n a r i's evening of excellence event on march twenty eighth at the clark showroom in milford this year there were one hundred projects submitted to it for c o t y awards across eighteen categories a panel of ten independent reviewers judged the project entries in a blind evaluation projects were judged on a seventy point scale with points awarded for how well the project at the client's needs and enhanced the functionality and excess of the space innovative use of materials and methods the ability to overcome obstacles creatively the craftsmanship displayed in the work and the presentation of the project over to you bob tha x city side that subaru of belmont donates to the foundation for belmont education seaside subaru of belmont recently donated thirty two thousand six hundred dollars to the foundation for belmont education as part of the subaru share the love of the nt city side subaru selected the f b for for a fourth year as their local nonprofit organization to benefit from the subaru share the love and razor this year's subaru of america donated more than twenty one million to national and local charities for a total of one hundred fifteen million through the history of the campaign we could not be more excited about our partnership with the foundation for belmont education this is by far our most successful turnout for the subaru shared a love campaign this year with the help of our local custom is in the community at lodge we were able to shatter all previous donations amounts for the foundation for belmont education thank you all who helped to make this happen general manager of city subaru nathan white said in addition to the traditional share the love program city side subaru offered an additional discount to all belmont public school teachers and staff who purchased a car during the promotion city side subaru is one of the f b i e s investors in education businesses that donate more than five thousand dollars annually to the foundation they they have thank you bob tune into community conversations all sorts of fun interesting conversations with belmont's newtown administrator on roger colton's community conversations podcast this week through the belmont media center patrice garvan who joined the belmont staff in january talks about how being one of nine siblings helps her in her job how she manages a town government with sixty six volunteer committees how delivering municipal services has changed over time how she and others are trying to ensure that the pipeline o future municipal oficial is doesn't dry up and many other things fascinating stuff listen in at belmont media dot org slash sed watch slash community conversations zero four one two one eight no here is max thanks claire a second phase of commonwealth average construction project to cause delays this summer the westbound side of the commonwealth avenue bridge will be demolished and replaced the summer so officials are warning residents of the travel impacts austin communities will have to prepare for another set of significant travel delays this summer the second phase of the commonwealth avenue bridge construction project rolls out the massachusetts department of transportation announced on monday that intensive construction will take place from july twenty sixth through august eleventh as the westbound side of the bridge is replaced the nearly sixteen day construction operation is part of an ongoing one hundred ten million dollars bridge replacement project last summer construction was done for twenty days to were demolished and replaced the eastbound side of the bridge and the green line architecture this summer all modes of transportation in the boston university st paul street neighborhood along commonwealth avenue you will be impacted by the construction officials said that includes the m b t a commuter rail and amtrak vehicles that drive along commonwealth avenue and the boston university bridge and traffic on the massachusetts turnpike travel over the bridge for pedestrians could also be impacted though those computers will have full access on the eastbound side through up construction detours and shuttle trains will be necessary the depart the transportation department said for some stations on the green line be branch m b t a routes c t two and forty seven the wister commuter rail line and amtrak's lake shore limited route of void on necessary travel if possible said mass d o t highway administrator jonathan gulliver according to c b s if you don't have to be here you should be someplace else it is going to be a very very difficult three weeks as we go through this construction process commonwealth avenue between packards corner and kenmore square will be closed to drivers for the entire fifteen and a half days from seven pm july twenty sixth to five am aug eleventh the bridge will also be closed to vehicular and bus traffic during the same time period open only for pedestrians and bicyclists the massachusetts turnpike between the allston interchange and the beacon street overpass will be reduced to two lanes in each direction during peak hours from nine pm july twenty seventh to five am august sixth this area will then decrease to one lane in each direction during off peak weekend and overnight hours mercury recovery program mercury is an element that can be harmful to human health and the environment if not disposed of properly mercury is found in such products as thermostats thermometers but cell batteries mercury switches and fluorescent lamps please contact your local board of health or department of public works for information on where to safely dispose of these items back to you bob along with my colleagues claire and max we thank you for listening to the talking news and hope you'll enjoy the show we return next week for another edition of local news happenings around