Appointments to new and existing city boards are among the highlights of a mostly routine Haverhill City Council meeting Tuesday night.
Haverhill Planning and Economic Development Director William Pillsbury Jr.
Mayor James J. Fiorentini has informed councilors he is establishing a new, 13-member Neighborhood Advisory Board with 11 residents from various parts of the city, including the Acre and Mount Washington neighborhoods. Other neighborhoods to be represented include Ward Hill near the Merrimack River, Round Pond, upper Main Street and the Hilldale Avenue area between Hilldale Cemetery and Brook Street. Two city employees, Economic Development and Planning Director William Pillsbury Jr. and Public Works Director Michael Stankovich are also named as “ex officio” board members.
“The Neighborhood Advisory Board will meet with me periodically and advise me about neighborhood issues,” Fiorentini said in a letter. “Board members will be expected to meet with or speak with their neighbors, be aware of neighborhood issues and be a liaison for their street or immediate neighborhood to the mayor’s office.”
Those being named are unsuccessful council candidate Katrina Hobbs-Everett, 31 Ledge Road, Haverhill; two Sixth Avenue residents, Bianca Mercado, a member of the city’s Community Affairs Advisory Board and the group Acre In Action as well as Stephen Arnold of Acre Neighborhood Association. Others being appointed to the Neighborhood Advisory Board are:
- Soila Rosario, 17 Riverdale Ave., Ward Hill
- Andrew Koen, 85 Lakeview Ave., Haverhill
- Kathy Parker Ogle, 7 Garfield St., Haverhill
- Mike Arasi, 33 Scotland Heights
- John Bachman, 47 Marlon St., Haverhill
- Keith Boucher, 512 Washington St., Haverhill
- Gary Ortiz, 19 Thirteenth Ave., Haverhilll
- Eduardo Penalo, 50 Fifth Ave., Haverhill
LaBranche Resigns from Board of Health
Also on the agenda, Fiorentini has asked the council to confirm a new appointee to the city’s Board of Health. Dr. Alexander Matolcsy, 70 Washington St., Haverhill, was named to succeed Dr. Victor L. LaBranche who, according to Fiorentini, “has resigned.” The three-year appointment would expire Jan. 26, 2019.
In another item, Councilor William J. Macek has requested to present a petition from a number of Jordan Street residents requesting a one-way traffic designation on the side street near Holy Family Hospital at Merrimack Valley and connects Groveland Street with East Broadway.
The Haverhill City Council meets at 7 p.m., Tuesday, in Theodore A. Pelosi Jr. Council Chambers at Haverhill City Hall.
A neighborhood advisory board? After 12 years in office? That train left the station a looooong time ago.
It would have been nice to have a representative from all areas of the city. It also would have been nice to know that such a group was being established. There appears to be no representation of such areas as: Riverside, Broadway area, Amesbury Road area, etc.
Agreed Joy. I was just thinking the same thing while reading this story. WHO KNEW ???? Nobody ! Lol
It was touched upon by a few on the “Meet candidates Night” that almost nobody went too. In fact, it was kind of joked about how most of the city government is ostensibly represented by those of us who live in the Bradford section.
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