The public has opportunities to shape policy this week as various Haverhill boards meet. In the interest of transparency in government, WHAV provides this list of upcoming meetings every week.
Click image for Haverhill City Council agenda.
The Haverhill City Council plans a public Tuesday night on plans by Haverhill Pavilion for Behavioral Health to add an additional 24-beds at the existing 71-bed home owned by New Jersey-based Acadia Health Care.
According to a letter from Robert D. Harb the Haverhill attorney representing the 76 Summer St. home, the need for additional geriatric mental health beds is well-documented. Harb wrote Haverhill Pavilion is running at 97.1% capacity and “deflected” 1,354 referrals in 2024. He added the project received the blessing of the state Department of Mental Health.
Haverhill Public Works Director Robert E. Ward is also scheduled to give an update on the state of the city’s water supply and will offer a recommendation for updating water usage guidelines during the city’s current drought emergency. Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School Superintendent of Maureen Lynch is scheduled to appear with Northern Essex Community College President Lane A. Glenn to give an update on a possible shared campus between the two schools.
In other business, councilors are also scheduled to discuss taking $500,000 from free cash to pay for youth activities and mental health programming in the next year.
Finally, Mayor Melinda E. Barrett is recommending confirmation of her appointment of Frances (Hogan) Lamb to an appointment on the city’s Commission on Disability Issues. Lamb had been the longtime chair of the Commission until moving briefly part time to Florida. She said she is now back living in the city full time and can make the commitment again to the work of the Commission.
The Haverhill City Council meets Tuesday night at 7, remotely and in-person at the Theodore A. Pelosi Jr. Council Chambers, room 202, Haverhill City Hall, 4 Summer St. As a public service, 97.9 WHAV plans to carry the meeting live.
The Haverhill Housing Authority is scheduled to hold a special meeting Tuesday, April 8, at 2 p.m. to discuss a possible change to the Bradford Terrace reconstruction project. The Authority is preparing to undertake the estimated $1.45 million project to address a structural integrity issue caused by years of water infiltration at the 52-unit subsidized housing complex on 77 Webster St., built in 1961. The meeting will be held in person at the Housing Authority’s offices at 25C Washington Square and by video conference.
On Wednesday, April 9, negotiators working on a new contract for the city school district’s classroom assistants, formally known as Education Support Professionals, are scheduled to meet for the second and final session with a state-appointed Department of Labor Relations fact finder from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Conference Room 301 at Haverhill City Hall, 4 Summer Street. Richard Rosa, the member of the Haverhill School Committee chairing the negotiating team for the ESP Unit, said he anticipates the meeting with negotiators representing the Haverhill Education Association’s ESP Unit will immediately go into a closed-door executive session and will not reconvene in open session at the meeting’s conclusion.
The city’s Community Affairs Advisory Board, which advises the mayor on how to allocate federal Community Development Block Grant money, is scheduled to begin a series of five meetings Wednesday, April 9, at 6 p.m. to hear presentations from two dozen local organizations and institutions which have applied for a portion of the city’s 2025 federal Community allocation. Division Director Andrew K. Herlihy said the city received 30 different proposals, with some groups applying for more than one project, but that the city has not received a notification of the amount of funding Haverhill will have to distribute in this funding cycle. The meetings will all be held in conference room 301 at Haverhill City Hall, 4 Summer St.
Groups which are scheduled to present Wednesday evening are: All Saints Church, Bethany Community Services, the Dr. Albert D. Consentino School, Pregnancy Care Center, and St. Gabriel the Archangel Church. The four following meetings are scheduled April 14, at 6 p.m., April 22 at 7 p.m., April 24, at 6 p.m. and April 29, at 6 p.m.
The public can weigh in on the proposed budget for the next school year for the Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School when its School Committee meets for a special session Wednesday, April 9, at 6 p.m., a half hour prior the regular meeting. Both sessions of the Whitter Regional Vocational School Committee will be held at the school, 115 Amesbury Line Road and on the school’s YouTube channel.
The vocational technical school serves students in 10 communities in addition to Haverhill. They are Amesbury, Georgetown, Groveland, Ipswich, Merrimac, Newbury, Newburyport, Rowley, Salisbury and West Newbury.