Man About Canton: New Town Admin

Did you know …

Canton’s new town administrator, Charles Aspinwall, recently signed a three-year contract to succeed Bill Friel, the retiring longtime town administrator, whose last day of work is June 30. Friel served as Canton’s administrator for the past 25 years. Aspinwall, who lives in Sharon, has an extensive background in municipal services. He was the administrator for the town of Millis, served as the assistant town administrator for Walpole, and was the assistant to the general manager for the town of Norwood. Aspinwall, whose current annual salary in Millis is $168,000, will earn $175,000 in Canton, a figure that is similar to Friel’s salary. According to Canton Selectman John Connolly, the board is pleased with his appointment, saying, “[Aspinwall] will hit the ground running. He is a very down-to-earth man, not a greedy person, but a humble, low-key guy.” MAC welcomes Charles Aspinwall to Canton and wishes him good luck in his new endeavor as the town of Canton’s new administrator.

The state senate seat that will become available when Brian A. Joyce steps down at the end of his term after representing the district, including Canton, since 1998, now has at least five candidates vying for it. Milton state Rep. Walter Timilty and Nora Harrington of Milton are running as Democrats while Jonathan Lott of Stoughton and Diane Agostino of Milton are running as independents. Frank Morrissey, also of Milton, is running as the lone Republican.

Selectmen approved a transfer of a Class II license from Dineen’s Auto to Canton Car Center at 395 Washington Street.

The two Cantonites who tragically died when they were hit by falling tree limbs during a snowstorm in early February were recently honored. The Luce School held a remembrance ceremony for Kaleigh Kenyon where a “buddy bench” was dedicated in her honor; and the Canton Recreation Commission approved a sign honoring the late Tom Gunning at the Windsor Woods soccer field.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the average salary of a Canton teacher for 2015 was $77,664. At Blue Hills Regional Technical School, it was $80,551. In Sharon, teachers averaged $78,087 while in Stoughton teachers averaged $76,466 per year. Over the past six years, teachers’ average salary in Canton increased by 18 percent from $65,543 in 2009 to $77,664 in 2015. Massachusetts public school teachers earned an average salary of $74,737 in 2015.

The Sonic Drive-In fast food restaurant is still coming to Stoughton. It is scheduled to open in August at the old Friendly’s restaurant at 630 Washington Street (Route 138).

Talking about Friendly’s, S. Prestley Blake, who cofounded the Friendly’s ice cream chain in 1935, has put on the auction block his $8 million replica of Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello home. Prestley, who will turn 102 on his next birthday, had the home built in Somers, Connecticut, on property he purchased from the D’Amours family, owners of the Big Y supermarket chain. The asking price was $4.9 million. It sold for $2.1 million.

California recently raised the smoking age from 18 to 21 and restricted the use of electronic cigarettes in public places. Canton’s Board of Health, which raised the purchase age to 21 in 2014, should also pass a bylaw that restricts the use of electronic cigarettes in restaurants and in other public places.

The town of Milton had an amazing turnout of 34 percent of registered voters in their recent town election. The incumbent selectwoman Kathleen Conlon was being challenged by the town’s police chief, Richard Wells. Conlon had voted earlier this year with the Board of Selectmen not to renew Wells’ contract, which expires June 30, 2016. Wells was chief for the last nine years. Conlon received 3,198 votes to Wells’ 2,542 votes to retain her seat as selectwoman in Milton.

At the other end of the spectrum, in the town of Bridgewater, with 27,000 people and 15,400 registered voters, no one ran for the Precinct 7 Town Council seat. Write-in candidate Francis Sousa won with 56 votes.

It is interesting to note that the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center of Canton recently purchased the property at 1 Turnpike Street for $528,500.

Stoughton town meeting members recently passed funding for a $123 million new high school. The state is to provide $52 million for the project. The average home in Stoughton is valued at $307,075, and residents will see a tax increase of about $387 a year. After receiving overwhelming support in the June 7 town-wide vote, construction is expected to begin in July 2017 and to be completed by the fall of 2019.

A Hansen School family has donated $70,000 to be used to renovate the school lobby. The family asked that the donation remain anonymous.

The Brightview Senior Living complex off Route 138 is scheduled to open in July.              

Meghan Fox of Canton was the valedictorian for the Notre Dame Academy Class of 2016. Erin Morrissey, also of Canton, was the senior class vice president. The Hingham private school had 130 female graduates.

The Blue Hill Weather Observatory in Canton has an average wind speed of 15.2 miles per hour, which is second nationally to the average speed of 35.1 miles per hour recorded atop Mount Washington in New Hampshire. Believe it or not, the city of Boston ranks fourth as the windiest city in the United States with an average wind speed of 12.3 miles per hour. Chicago, known as the windy city, at about 10.3 miles per hour, didn’t even crack the top 10 of the ranking by the Weather Channel.

MAC was honored to be invited to throw out the first pitch for the Canton American Legion Post 24’s first baseball game of the year on June 9, and the pitch was a perfect strike … of course.

A rumor is one thing that gets thicker instead of thinner as it spreads.

This is all for now folks. See you next week.

Joe DeFelice can be reached at manaboutcanton@aol.com.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=33610

Posted by Joe DeFelice on Jun 17 2016. Filed under Featured Content, Man About Canton, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.