Selectmen Consider Removing Brookline from Norfolk County

Selectmen Ken Goldstein discussed removing Brookline from Norfolk County at the Selectmen Meeting on Tuesday.

  Selectmen Ken Goldstein wants Brookline out of Norfolk County. “There is a basic inequity in the county system of government,” Goldstein said. “Municipalities in those counties are paying for legacy costs, pensions, which poorly serve the town. We are paying 16 percent of the total assessment in Norfolk County.” That 16 percent equals about $700,000 annually, which is a lot considering that the Town of Brookline doesn’t use much of the county services. In the 1990’s Massachusetts dissolved most of the counties within the Commonwealth and assumed the financial obligations and other functions. In total, 70 percent of the population lived in these now-erased counties, leaving 30 percent of residents, Brookline included, in what Goldstein …

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Town Officials: Brookline's Hurricane Prep Paid Off

Brookline officials reported to the Selectmen at last night's meeting.

Yesterday's hurricane pounded the town with winds, left hundreds without power and brought a number of tree limbs to the ground--it even caused a transformer explosion.  Emergency operatives were working from early morning until late at night, and town workers are still working around the clock. Brookline's various departments were prepared, officials told the Board of Selectmen at last night's meeting.  Police Chief Daniel O'Leary said that the town's emergency operations center was open from 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., and brought together personnel from the Brookline Fire Department, Police Department and Department of Public Works to monitor and respond to the situation. "These are the times when inter-deptartmental communication works to …

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Proposed Settlement NCD Drawing Mixed Opinions

While majority support neighborhood conservation district in the North Brookline, some neighbors remain skeptical.

  In order to preserve the character of a neighborhood, residents can come together to create a neighborhood conservation district or NCD thanks to a zoning bylaw change enacted last fall. This is exactly what residents of an area known as The Settlement, north of Route 9 near the Heath School, hope to accomplish with a warrant article planned for the fall's Special Town Meeting. They spoke to the Selectmen about this on Tuesday night.  According to the NCD bylaws, if passed, the Settlement will have a five- to seven-member neighborhood conservation commission made up of members of the Conservation Commission, and neighbors who have been interviewed and appointed by the Board of Selectmen. The Hancock Village neighborhood commission is in …

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Heath School Auditorium Seating is Back, School Re-Opens Soon

The Heath School is tracking to re-open in a matter of weeks, with another change to the amount of auditorium seating: an increase.

The freshly-renovated Heath School should be ready to open in a matter of weeks--a decision which came the day before this school year started.  Project Manager for the Heath School project, Ray Masak explained to the Selectmen at last night's meeting that the Heath School should re-open by mid-October-- and that seating in the auditorium is going up from the planned 191 seats which had concerned parents earlier in the year.  Some Heath School parents considered raising $1.8 million privately to cover the cost of rebuilding the auditorium to get back to, or exceed, the original 225 seat capacity.  This seating decrease was caused by a decision to use spring-free chairs in the auditorium. The chairs would fold, but would not fold up …

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License Plate Reader Coming to Brookline

In a 4-1 vote, the policy and technology were approved. The system will be subject to the CIMS Camera Oversight Committee.

Brookline's Police Department is getting an automated license plate reader (ALPR), and a civilian committee will be watching the watchmen. The Board of Selectment voted last night, 4 to 1 in favor of the ALPR technology and of the policy Police Chief Daniel O'Leary has been crafting since the discussion began last year. In a separate, unanimous vote, the Board also set the CIMS Camera Oversight Committee in charge of overseeing the use of these readers.  An ALPR system uses three cameras mounted on a police cruiser, which read license plates on passing vehicles and uses optical character recognition to compare that license plate with a "hot list" of vehicles for which police may be looking. The technology has a number of uses ranging from …

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Grahame Turner

10:57 pm on Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The ACLU commended the town for just that in a letter the Police shared at the last hearing: http://patch.com/A-vfr7 Called the town an example for other communities considering the technology.   more ›

Brookline Still Not Ready for License Plate Readers, Yet

Last summer's automated license plate reader (ALPR) discussion returns with an updated policy, Selectmen still not quite ready to bring the technology to town.

Brookline Still Not Ready for License Plate Readers, Yet

Last summer's automated license plate reader (ALPR) discussion returns with an updated policy, Selectmen still not quite ready to bring the technology to town.

Despite concerns about the technology, the Brookline Police Department still hopes to add one automated license plate reading device to a police cruiser.  The Board of Selectmen last night discussed an updated policy surrounding the use of automated license plate readers (ALPR) to technology, and ultimately decided to hold the debate until a later meeting.  Police Chief Daniel O'Leary said that he worked with Town Counsel Patricia Correa to look at the policy first proposed last year, and work with recommendations from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and residents to create a more palatable policy. "We did an almost complete rewrite," O'Leary explained.  One change O'Leary noted was bringing the data retention policy from the …

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Summer Sunday Hours for Brookline Libraries? [POLL]

The Board of Selectmen approve a $7000 addition to the Library's fiscal 2013 budget for Sunday hours in July--if it passes Advisory Committee and Town Meeting.

Sundays at Brookline libraries get a step closer to reality--for the month of July, at least. During a discussion of warrant articles at last night's Board of Selectmen's meeting, the Selectmen faced an addition to the fiscal 2013 budget which worried Town Administrator Mel Kleckner: An addition to the Library budget for summer Sunday hours. A decision which they supported, but not without debate. "We’re worried about the future. The margin is very slim, and we have a significant increasing in the school population coming," Kleckner said, saying he thinks the town needs to be conservative with the budget. The amount in question, $7,000, covers staff who would work at the library on Sundays in July for a pilot program.  "We could find this…

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Brookline Residents, Riders and Officials Talk T Proposals

The Selectmen's meeting on MBTA cuts drew a crowd with some issues with the T cuts, and a few ideas.

Brookline held its own MBTA meeting last night with a crowd of about 80 people signed in, a stenographer, a long table of legislators, town officials and T representatives, and one sing-along of "The MTA Song." The Board of Selectmen hosted this meeting because the town was not included in a list of public meetings with the MBTA, as part of its public process explaining their proposed service cuts and budget hikes aimed at closing a $161 million budget deficit. “We understand that the T faces a deficit, but this is a time for a real, long-term solution," Selectman Chair Betsy DeWitt began, referring to the two proposed scenarios as a "temporary solution" and a "punishment for riders.” Speakers gave their feedback on the proposed service …

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New Water and Sewer Rates Approved by Selectmen

Brookline Board of Selectmen approved altered Water and Sewer rates from the DPW.

Over the last two Board of Selectmen's meetings, Andrew Pappistergion, Commissioner of the Department of Public Works (DPW), detailed new water and sewer rates, and heard some feedback from residents. The intent is to combat rising costs and decreasing sales of water by the DPW. Based on the feedback from last week, Pappistergion commented, "We went back, sharpened our pencils, and took a look at the methodology." The original two-tiered option triggered the new block rates at 800 cubic-feet of water used. Pappistergion cited Chapel Street Resident Tommy Vitolo, who suggested a lower trigger for the rates. With pencils sharp, the DPW and the Committee working on this returned with a new two-tiered rate at 700 cubic-feet.  By lowering this …

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