Belmont's Week in Review July 11 to July 18

It was an especially busy week in Belmont, even more so that so much activity occurred during the dog days of summer.

The big news happened Tuesday, July 12 when the Belmont School Committee voted to allow private donations to pay for specific sports. The decision, before a crowded room in the Chenery Middle School, required supporters of freshman sports to meet with Athletic Director Jim Davis who will decide what sports or activities need funding.

On the same night but in a different room at the Chenery, the site selection committee of the Belmont Municipal Light Department voted to begin negotiations with the owner of the Purecoat North facility on Hittinger Road as the future home of the $39 million electrical substation.

A few days later, the BMLD and Belmont Board of Selectmen set a date – Monday, July 18 – for a detailed explanation of the reasons behind the site selection committee's decision earlier in the week.

The site selection committee's decision came a few hours after the School Committee – responding to BMLD's requests for an urgent decision - voted to allow the transfer of a small parcel of land at the High School to the BMLD to build the plant. Never mind.

On Friday, July 16, Town Clerk Ellen Cushman filed a formal complaint with the state's Office of Campaign & Political Finance against a person or group that sent automated robo calls and a push poll to residents to defeat the Proposition 2 1/2 override. The state investigation could take three years.

The town and schools remembered Denis Fitzpatrick, a teacher and administrator who was instrumental in directing the educational process in Belmont for the past three decades.

Staying with the schools, Superintendent George Entwhisle said he would not waste any time when it comes to replacing departed assistant High School Principal Layne Millington became principal at Swampscott High School.

The town is very close to meeting the requirements allowing it to seek grants to complete work on mitigating natural disasters in town.

It was also the week the town learned what it takes to be a National History Day finalist, the food pantry was open this summer and it has two Great Places in the state.