Town Meeting

Town Meeting voters approved Article 34 on Tuesday, on a 373-360, narrowly establishing a new Community Development and Planning Department to oversee the town's development and planning efforts.  The move comes in response to the retirement of longtime Town Planner Becky Cutting, who managed multiple responsibilities. Town Meeting approved a new Community Development and Planning Department, which will have a wide range of duties. CURRENT PHOTO / LEIGH BLANDER Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer said the new department will be led by a director responsible for…

Veterans in Marblehead will be able to get free Transfer Station and beach stickers, thanks to a citizens petition that passed at Town Meeting Tuesday night, 343 to 192. It was sponsored by local vet Charles Nordstrom. “There are 750 veterans in town, 360 of them from the Vietnam era,” Nordstrom said. “After doing our service, we’re asked to pay again. I don’t think anyone here wants us to pay twice. I think it’s just fair to the veterans to take that into consideration.” Veteran…

Hundreds of Marblehead educators and other town employees rallied outside the Veterans School before Town Meeting Monday night, demanding "fully funded" budgets. The Marblehead Education Association handed out flyers urging voters to “restore $700,000 and save our educators.”  The town’s $115 million budget, including $46.7 million for the schools, passed easily and without much debate. Educators ultimately did not make a motion to ask for another $700,000. Connor Ryan, Robin Feins, and Finn Ryan, 10, wave to people arriving at Town Meeting Monday evening. They…

Terri Tauro, head of the Marblehead Municipal Employees Union, spoke at Town Meeting Monday night during a motion to indefinitely postpone a collective bargaining vote. She was cut off by Moderator Jack Attridge, who said her remarks did not pertain to the motion at hand. Here is Tauro's complete message. "I would like to start with a shout out for our town employees. Marblehead’s town employees educate your children and keep them safe. We keep your power on, plow the snow and care for your…

Beginning July 1, Marblehead will institute two new taxes — a .75% local meals tax and a 6% rooms occupancy tax — after Town Meeting voters approved them Monday night. Both new measures passed by healthy margins. Town Meeting also rejected a motion, by Harbor Light Inn owner Carolyn Pyburn, to lower the room tax from 6% to 4%. "Everyone around us has already adopted this," Town Administrator Thatcher Kezer told Town Meeting. "Would this put us at a competitive disadvantage? We decided it would…

An anonymous postcard mailed to many homes in Marblehead last week made several claims about zoning changes up for a vote at Town Meeting tonight, including that the town will “lose nothing in grants” if it rejects the state mandate. A closer look, however, reveals that Marblehead is, in fact, at risk of losing millions of state dollars if it does not comply with the MBTA Communities Act. This anonymous postcard was mailed to many Marblehead homes last week. Initially, Gov. Maura Healey announced that…