Haverhill

Haverhill Mayor and Council Will Share Official Authority to Appoint Outside Lawyer

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After city councilors expressed concern a new ordinance would reduce their powers, the mayor agreed to share the authority to appoint outside legal counsel with the body. Councilor Colin F. LePage and Council Vice President Timothy J. Jordan requested the ability be explicitly granted at a subcommittee meeting last week, while councilor Melissa J. Lewandowski said the change was unnecessary because the ordinance already grants the council sufficient rights, which she also raised earlier this month, as WHAV reported. City Solicitor Lisa L. Mead, who drafted the ordinance and Mayor Melinda E. Barrett made similar points. Jordan said, “In my six plus years on the council, I was always led to believe that it was the mayor [who] had all of that authority and the rule we’re looking to change, makes it read like the council actually had the authority to get outside council. At least on a couple occasions when I was on the council, myself and others wished to get an outside opinion and we were told we could not.”

Councilor Shaun P. Toohey noting a precaution against potential mayoral overreach, reassured the mayor, “I don’t think it’s about you.”

Barrett responded, “I know.

Haverhill

Survivors Detail Life After Lead at Haverhill Talk; Advocate Says Stories Make Her Angry and Sad

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(Additional photograph below.)

Advocates and survivors discussed life after lead exposure at a Haverhill panel last week. Mayor Melinda E. Barrett, who introduced the event, said the city meets state and federal standards. She added that the city will be removing lead from at least 75 houses in the next three years after receiving a $2.4 million federal grant, the only grant of its kind in New England and the largest nationwide, as WHAV reported. Lead Free MA founder Andrea Watson, who hosted the panel, consumed a significant amount of the toxin after Flint, Mich. switched its drinking water to a contaminated source, a public health disaster that began in 2014.

Education

J.G. Whittier School Staff Critique Principals Before Haverhill School Committee; Admin Responds

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Citing what they called a “hostile” work environment, union staff at John Greenleaf Whittier School say they do not support Principal Matthew Condon and Assistant Principal Cathy Koch. Condon and Koch told WHAV Friday “we have been revamping structures and systems to facilitate improved student achievement and growth,” pointing to a recent increase in a state-defined metric for success. Their “doors are open” to staff seeking to give feedback, they added. At a School Committee meeting last week, Special Education Teacher Barbara Greenwood read a letter from the Haverhill Education Association explaining its members’ “vote of no confidence.” Her colleagues in the audience stood solemnly while she spoke. “Our staff has worked in a hostile environment—ignored, silenced, threatened, retaliated against and dismissed,” she said.

Education

Early Wins Whittier Tech Seat; Haverhill Committee Chooses Not to Favor Own in Appointment Policy

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Richard P. Early Jr. remains in his seat on the Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School board, adding another three-year term to his nearly 24 years of service. With supporters testifying to his good character at last night’s meeting, the Haverhill School Committee chose Early over its own Gail M. Sullivan. Richard J. Rosa, Thomas Grannemann, and Sullivan were the only members to cast votes for her. Paul A. Magliocchetti abstained. Before the vote, the committee removed a section from a proposed appointment policy that would have given preference for a Haverhill committee member to hold one of the city’s two Whittier seats.

Haverhill

Rebuilding Together Greater Haverhill Seeks Volunteers to Help Revitalize Homes Saturday

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National Rebuilding Together Day is tomorrow, where volunteers come together to help homeowners in need. Rebuilding Together Greater Haverhill Program Director Maureen McGonagle told city councilors this week that volunteers may sign up at 7:30 a.m., Saturday morning, at the Elks Lodge, 24 Summer St., in Haverhill. They will receive a free breakfast and t-shirt, she continued, with projects taking four to five hours. “So, it’s a quick day. We get a lot done,” she said.

Cannabis

Haverhill Workshops Policy Helping Those Most Impacted By ‘War on Drugs’ Get Cannabis Shop Permits

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As the state enacts legislation aimed at giving cannabis shop permits to those most negatively impacted by the, so-called, “War on Drugs,” Haverhill officials are facing a state deadline to decide how the city will support such applicants. According to a draft of Haverhill’s social equity policy, conditions to qualify include that a majority of a business’s owners have previous cannabis-related convictions, live in an “area of disproportionate impact,” meet certain income requirements, or have descendants from particular minority groups. These were specified as “Black, African American, Hispanic, Latino or Native American or indigenous.”

In an email to the City Council’s Administration and Finance Committee workshopping the policy, Councilor Melissa J. Lewandowski said the document should make clear belonging to the group prioritized by the state does not “guarantee” an applicant a license. With the state’s Cannabis Control Commission—or CCC—having set a May 1 deadline, councilors and City Solicitor Lisa L. Mead discussed at a Monday meeting whether to include sections on cannabis delivery businesses and community impact fees. Lewandowski raised concerns about whether to give applicants “exclusive access” to delivery licenses for three years because the city has yet to make specific legislation about the service.

Haverhill

Haverhill Councilors Call For Revival of Forest Stewardship Program; Mayor Agrees

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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. Funded by grant and state money, Lambert told councilors she is seeking five to seven commissioners to guide the city’s approach.

Education

Haverhill Candidates Vie For Whittier Tech Seat; Appointment Policy May Change Following Monday Vote

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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. He said this was the only proposed change to the policy at a subcommittee meeting Monday

The amendment follows the body’s abortive attempt to remove former School Committee member Scott W. Wood Jr. from the Whittier Tech board. After initially announcing candidates could run for two seats, the Haverhill committee later declared only Early’s open, causing four people to drop out of the race.