A new $160 million Dr. Albert B. Consentino School is coming no matter what, and Haverhill taxpayers will pay the same amount of money to build it no matter what voters decide in June. Haverhill Director of Finance Angel Perkins made the total clear during a presentation before the Haverhill School Committee last week. She made clear, however, voter approval would give city officials the capacity to pay for other projects the city wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford. “The payment itself is going to cost the taxpayer the same, whether it’s within the levy or excluded.
Methuen Mayor Neil Perry said in a video released Thursday that he is now working remotely as he recovers from what he called an “experience that happened” during a routine dialysis appointment. Seated in a wheelchair, Perry thanked his fellow elected officials and department leaders who “picked up the slack” during his six-week absence
“The good news is, I’m on the mend and working on these legs to get them back in shape,” he said. Methuen confirmed in mid-February, the mayor was at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston after he “experienced some health issues.” At-Large Councilor David P. Beauregard Jr. has been serving as Methuen’s acting mayor, but Perry said he is now on the job.
The Haverhill city clerk’s office wants to help both voters and candidates navigate the city’s new, mostly Ward-based elections of city councilors and School Committee members. City Clerk Kaitlin M. Wright said her office is hosting two information sessions, giving an overview of the upcoming shift away from all at-large councilors and School Committee members to both ward and at-large representatives. Her office will also present deadlines for those interested in running for office.
A 26-year-old Haverhill man is the latest to plead guilty in federal court to distributing cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl and conspiring with others in a scheme that included smuggling drugs into the Essex County Jail. Elijah Declet pleaded guilty Tuesday before U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani, who scheduled sentencing for June 16. In an earlier federal statement, Declet was also known under the name “Evil.”
According to a statement from U.S. Attorney Rachael S. Rollins’s office, Declet was charged in November 2021 along with 12 others in connection with a large drug conspiracy centering around a gang operating in Lawrence, Haverhill and Methuen.
