As Haverhill completes its Open Space and Recreation Plan, City Councilors Devan M. Ferreira and Melissa J. Lewandowski advocated at last night’s meeting for a revival of the forest stewardship program, which was created in 2009 but has since become inactive. Ferreira said of Haverhill’s residents, “As much as they like the heart of the city, they like the country, they like the woods, they like everything that offers us. It’s an important step for addressing some urgent climate issues that we have, as well as biodiversity in our community.”
Mayor Melinda E. Barrett said she supports bringing back the forestry program, “which we had for many, many years with some real high-quality people on it who knew and cared about keeping our forests healthy, keeping invasives out of our forests and keeping our natural trees.”
Barrett continued that an already-established committee focused on urban trees could add forest stewardship to its responsibilities. Though forest fires may seem a remote possibility in Massachusetts, city American Rescue Plan Act Project Manager Kathleen Lambert, who heads the group, said proper forest management is necessary in the face of climate change.
The North Andover School Committee is scheduled Thursday to discuss placing the school superintendent on paid leave, but an official would not confirm the circumstances giving rise to the item. A new business agenda item referenced two items, “Placing the superintendent on paid administrative leave pursuant to Section D of his employment contract” and “Process for selecting and naming an acting superintendent during the paid leave period.”
North Andover Chair School Committee David Brown told WHAV that he “cannot comment on personnel matters” regarding Superintendent Gregg T. Gilligan. The School Committee meets in public session tomorrow night, 7 p.m., in the Superintendent’s Conference Room, School Administration Building, 566 Main St., North Andover.
Amid a rocky selection process, the Haverhill School Committee will again hear candidates for one of the city’s two seats on the Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School Board, as well as vote Thursday on a proposed change to the policy governing how it fills those positions. It appears the body will choose between member Gail M. Sullivan and incumbent Richard P. Early Jr., though the agenda did not specify which candidates will be heard at the meeting. If the committee adopts a change to the Whittier Tech appointment policy, it may be required to provide notice and a hearing before removing one of its members from the vocational school’s board for policy violations or an unspecified “other cause.”
“Basically, the city solicitor said that she believed that there needed to be cause and notice and hearings,” member Richard J. Rosa told WHAV.
The Haverhill Republican City Committee says it is standing firm in support of Israel following the recent Iranian-launched drone strike on the country. In a statement released by Jeri Levasseur, Haverhill Republican City Committee chair and State Committeewoman for Second Essex and Middlesex Senatorial District, the group cited Iranian aggression in the form of a barrage of 300 drones and missiles fired at Israel. “At the same time, the terrorist group Hamas rejects any peace talks or negotiations while they continue to hold Israeli and U.S. citizens hostage.