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Recent Raises Make School Board Members Eligible for Pensions

With the recent bump in compensation for the City Council, Mayor and School Committee, school board members will now be paid enough to be eligible for public pensions.

As we reported earlier this month, the Peabody City Council voted to give Mayor Ted Bettencourt a raise, along with itself and the School Committee. The response we heard from readers was mixed, but largely negative. It was the first raise for councilors since 2001 and the first for school board members since 1998. The raises for the mayor and School Committee take effect in March, while city councilors won't see theirs until 2014. A seemingly unanticipated benefit of the $1,100 raise for school board members was that they are now eligible to receive public pensions for their service, reports the Salem News. That issue didn't come up at the City Council meeting on Feb. 14 when a majority of councilors agreed to dole out the raises -- Ward …

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City Council Gives First Raise to Peabody Mayor in 12 Years

Mayor Ted Bettencourt will receive just over a 10 percent pay bump. City councilors also gave themselves a raise along with school board members, although the councilors' raise doesn't start until 2014.

[Editor's Note: The article has been updated to clarify former Mayor Bonfanti's refusal to accept a pay raise and the council's actions in that regard.] City councilor Dave Gamache has been trying for the past 12 years and he finally has a mayor now who appears open to receiving a pay raise. The City Council voted Thursday night to hike the mayor's base pay to $105,000, which is just over a 10 percent increase from the current $94,933 salary and will mean Mayor Ted Bettencourt will now earn the same or slightly more than his many of his senior department heads. The new salary will take effect once the ordinance is adopted, likely next month. Gamache says the higher salary is long overdue, especially given that all other city employees have…

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City Council OKs Consolidation, Budrow as HR Director

City councilors approved changes to city ordinances Thursday night that allow for a joint human resources director between the city and schools and likewise unanimously approved the new director the mayor has hired.

It’s official: human resources functions between the city and schools in Peabody will now be consolidated under the supervision of one director. The City Council made some changes to city ordinances to allow for the consolidated position and a larger salary ($97,000), along with some specific job qualifications going forward. "This was only going to be presented to you as a joint position if we had the right candidate," Mayor Ted Bettencourt told councilors Thursday night, and he strongly believes Karen Budrow is the right person for the job, which is why he hired her. "We had a number of outstanding applicants for the position...but Karen stood out," Bettencourt said. "Her credentials are outstanding...her personality is an outstanding …

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Jose O.

12:13 pm on Sunday, November 11, 2012

I am all for consolidation IF it results in efficiency. I have witnessed MANY incompetent HR departments in my life...and hope we are not being penny-wise and pound foolish. If this woman is not up to date on current the education licensing process and practice our city could be subject to lawsuits (not hiring a qualified teacher, etc). from both residents and school employees (seniority, tenure …   more ›

Sex Offenders, Blue Lights, Billboards and Flood Maps

All that and more on the City Council's agenda Thursday night.

As the City Council reconvenes Thursday night from its summer recess, a number of weighty issues await councilors. --- Mayor Ted Bettencourt is asking the council to schedule a committee meeting in order to discuss a local sex offender ordinance he is proposing for Peabody, but before he actually submits the proposed law into the public record, he wants a set date. "Once a date has been scheduled for a hearing, I will submit a draft ordinance for review and ask for adoption of same," Bettencourt said in a memo to the council. Bettencourt initially said in June that he would be looking into a local ordinance, and did not reveal many details of his intentions other than to say the law would both restrict where Level 3 sex offenders can live …

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Appeal Filed on City Council’s Denial of Permit for Dunkin’s

An appeal has been filed in Superior Court over the City Council’s recent decision to deny an application for a Dunkin’ Donuts at a Lynnfield Street plaza.

You can’t say it was surprising news. Earlier this week, the Salem News reported that attorney John Keilty did in fact file an appeal in Salem Superior Court on behalf of his clients over a recent Peabody City Council decision, an action some councilors were anticipating. Councilors offered up a divided vote, 6-5, on July 14 to approve a pair of special permits for a new Dunkin’ Donuts at the plaza at 79 Lynnfield St. Special permits, however, require a supermajority of assent from the council — eight votes. Council President Anne Manning-Martin, one of those to vote in favor of the petition, warned her colleagues there didn’t seem to be any legal reason to deny the application. She felt the city would lose on appeal. The Salem News …

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City Council Cracks Down on Bus Company at Pulaski Street Industrial Park

City councilors order building inspector to issue cease and desist order to get rid of school buses that are in violation of zoning ordinance.

Councilor-at-Large David Gravel didn't have to relay too much information to his fellow councilors at City Hall about the problems at the Pulaski Street industrial park from the recent Industrial and Community Development Committee meeting. The City Council voted, 9-0, Thursday night to order Building Inspector Kevin Goggin to issue a cease and desist order against the company at 60 Pulaski St. to not allow any school buses on the property because they are in violation of the city's zoning ordinance. The council also unanimously voted, 9-0, to have the building inspector force other businesses that have engaged in illegal trash dumping and other activites that have threatened nearby wetlands to stop those activities. Several Pulaski Street…

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Council Will Review Redistrict Map on May 19

Wards 4, 5 and 6 to see the most change.

Residents in wards 4, 5 and 6 should expect to see some change in the way precinct and ward lines are drawn next year, according to a preliminary redistricting map that will be presented to the City Council later tonight. The office of Secretary of State William Galvin presented the new map to the city this week, an expected move in response to an over 6 percent increase in city population over the past 10 years. With the population growth, indicated on the 2010 U.S. Census report, comes the need to redraw the lines for wards and districts in the city to ensure that the number of constituents in each area remains as close to equal as possible. City Clerk Tim Spanos said Wednesday that wards 4 and 5 saw the largest population growth in the …

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City Council to Review Redistricting Map

U.S. Census figures force Secretary of State's office to redrawn Peabody's six wards.

City Councilors will have an opportunity to discuss and possibly approve a new redistricting map after the city received a draft from the Secretary of State's office in Boston. Boston.com reported that the city received a draft of the proposed redistricting map from Secretary of State William Galvin's office earlier this month. City Clerk Tim Spanos told the Web site the City Council now has to decide whether to approve the proposed map. Peabody Patch reported in March that U.S. Census data showed an increase in population by 6.49 percent, or more than 3,000 people, since 2001, something that city officials say will affect the way all wards are defined going forward. Spanos said then that if the City Council does not approve the proposed …

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Peabody Council Reviews $15 Million Flood Plan

City planning officials, engineers say first phase of downtown flood mitigation will involve temporarily relocating Peabody Square monument.

If City Councilors felt any hesistation about going forward with a $15 million flood mitigation plan for downtown, city planning officials reminded them about one simple fact. Since 2006, dowtown flooding has cost the city that much money in damaged businesses, emergency response, lost property tax revenue and downtown vacancies. Karen Sawyer, director of the Community Services and Planning Department, said the goal of the three-phase project is to "invest in city infrastructure" to spur future economic growth in the form of new jobs and property tax revenue. She said the city incurred $12 million of damage from the Mother's Day flood in 2006 and another $2- to $3 million in flood damage in 2010. She said three of the six major floods that…

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