Man About Canton: Town Election

Did you know …

The deadline to obtain nomination papers for the April 2 annual town election is Friday, February 8, at 5 p.m. The deadline to file those papers with the Board of Registrars — with at least 50 signatures of registered voters — is Tuesday, February 12, at 7 p.m.

There are two openings on the Board of Selectmen: a three-year seat currently held by John Connolly and a two-year term to fill a vacancy following the resignation of Kevin Feeney. There will also be two three-year terms on the School Committee to be filled. School Committee Vice Chairman Mike Loughran announced that he will not be seeking reelection when his term expires in April and instead will run for one of the two available selectmen’s seats.

Also running for the two-year seat on the Board of Selectmen are Lisa Lopez, wife of former Selectman Victor Del Vecchio, and Jim Quigley, a retired Canton police officer.

School Committee member Meg Gannon announced that she will not seek reelection, making two open seats available.

Kathy Gibbs McCormack, a candidate for Board of Selectmen in last year’s election, has decided to run for a seat on the Planning Board.

The Board of Assessors and the Board of Health have one three-year term to be filled, while the Planning Board will fill one five-year term and the Trustees of the Public Library will fill three three-year terms.

The new sign installed by Canton Veterans Agent Tony Andreotti at the Veterans Memorial Park American Legion Walk of Honor was placed at the Canton Corner Cemetery in tribute to Canton’s gold star families in this place of homage to Canton sons and daughters whose lives were lost in service to our country. The beautiful new sign includes the Canton town seal at the top of the green background with gold lettering and an outlined red box with a gold star in the middle. It is a very impressive sign for the entrance to Canton’s Veterans Memorial Park.

The state of Massachusetts’ minimum wage was raised to $12 an hour from $11 on January 1, 2019. It will gradually move to $15 an hour by 2023. At $12 per hour, Massachusetts joins California and Washington state as the three states with the nation’s highest minimum wage. Business owners say it will lead to staff cuts, higher prices, or possibly even closings. In the meantime, according to the Boston Globe, the federal minimum wage still in place in 21 states remains at $7.25 per hour. The current $3.75 minimum wage for tipped employees increased to $4.35 and will eventually jump to $6.75 in 2023.

The Massachusetts unemployment rate of 3.4 percent has dropped to its lowest point in 15 years. The state’s unemployment rate has held under 4 percent for 31 consecutive months. The national rate is 3.7 percent.

The IRS has raised its standard mileage rate for deducting the cost of using a car for business during 2019. It will now be 58 cents per mile, up 3.5 cents from 2018.

There are five stores in the Cobb’s Corner area with a license to sell beer, wine, and/or liquor.

Only about 300 voters turned out to vote on rebuilding the Canton skating rink at a total cost of $10.5 million, which included a $10 million construction estimate plus $315,261 in cost contingency funds and $150,000 for a new Zamboni.

Renovations for the new skating rink are expected to begin in the spring of 2019 and be completed in 2020.

The vote to approve the rink repairs at $10.5 million passed by only 12 votes. Needing two-thirds, the final vote was 197 for and 81 against. At 70.8 percent, it was just over the 66.7 percent needed to secure its passage.

As recently reported in the Canton Citizen, the Board of Selectmen approved the transfer of an all-alcohol package store license from Tedeschi Food Shop (Crowell’s Market) at 2160 Washington Street to Richdale Food Shops, now owner and managed by Barznab Kahn. The transfer will take place on Thursday, February 28, 2019.

Selectmen closed the 2019 town warrant for all zoning and non-zoning articles on Friday, January 11.

The town of Canton’s annual town meeting is scheduled for Monday, May 13, 2019. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. and will be held in Canton High School’s Morse Auditorium at 900 Washington Street.

Sometimes we don’t realize the blessings we have until we no longer have them. Appreciate all the blessings in your life. Take none for granted. –Catherine Pulsifer

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

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

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Posted by Joe DeFelice on Jan 18 2019. Filed under Featured Content, Man About Canton, Opinion. Both comments and pings are currently closed.