Posted by ED
on April 5, 2008, 12:24 am
24.34.144.49
Like I said VOTE!
Your vision for the future of the town and valley may be depending on
your votes.
3 races up for grabs tomorrow
By Jennifer Myers, jmyers@lowellsun.com
Article Last Updated: 04/04/2008 12:42:22 PM EDT
BILLERICA -- Voters will head to the polls tomorrow to settle
contested races for three boards, all of which will be facing big
decisions in the coming months.
In the race for two seats on the Board of Selectmen, incumbent Marc
Lombardo, 25, is vying for a second term against challengers Bob
Accomando, 57, Pat Flemming, 58, and Ron DiOrio Jr., 44. Selectman
Kathy Matos chose not to seek re-election.
In the immediate future, the newly composed board will be charged
with choosing a new town manager, tweaking the proposed budget for
the 2009 fiscal year before spring Town Meeting, working with the
Department of Public Works to continue the townwide sewer project,
and working to bring businesses to town to continue filling vacant
commercial and industrial spaces along Concord Road and the Middlesex
Turnpike.
In the School Committee race, incumbent Jessica DiOrio's decision to
withdraw from the race after the ballots were printed may put a kink
in the voting, as incumbent Thomas Galligani, 64, and challengers
Joanne Barry, 45, and Maryann Harring Laurendeau, 42, battle for two
open seats.
Veteran committee member Galligani, the headmaster of Cambridge's
Matignon High School, is running for his eighth term.
Barry, the former chair of the Special Education Parent advisory
Council who has attended nearly every School Committee meeting for
the past nine years, is making her third consecutive bid for a seat
at the table, losing out to Marie Blanchette
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by just 20 votes last year.
Harring Laurendeau, a former math teacher in Harvard, sat on the
committee more than 20 years ago as a college student. Now a mother
and volunteer at the Parker Elementary School, she is hoping to bring
her life experience to the committee.
The School Committee's biggest challenge in the upcoming term will be
working with the town and state to build a new Parker Elementary
School. It will also be looking at ways to control skyrocketing
special-education costs while working with a new special-education
director.
In the Planning Board race, incumbents Rich Baraldi, 58 and Rich
Tortola, 50, are facing challengers Rome Capobianco, 67, and Marti
Mahoney, 52, for two three-year terms. Incumbent Bob Casey, 58, is
running unopposed for an unexpired two-year term.
If Mahoney or Capobianco successfully oust either of the incumbents,
it is likely that hearings on the $20 million Billerica Mall
revitalization plan will start all over again. The proponent needs a
yes vote from five of the seven board members for approval. New
members will be unable to cast a vote on the current hearings,
because they would not have been on the board for all of the
meetings.
Other than the Billerica Mall/Home Depot project, the Planning Board
will ultimately be hearing plans for the proposed Billerica Energy
Center, a 348 megawatt, natural-gas-fired power plant proposed for
North Billerica by DG Clean Power.
In other races, Shawsheen Valley Technical High School Committee
member Bernie Hoar, 69, and Town Clerk Shirley Schult, 72, are
running unopposed for re-election to their seats.
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