The following report for the Town Clerk for the year ending December 31, 2004 is respectfully submitted:
The Town Clerk’s office is staffed by the clerk and two full time employees plus the eighteen hour per week clerical aide. For the size of the staff, we do accomplish all that is required of the three departments, Legislative, Town Clerk and Board of Registrars, located within the confines of the office. Two volunteers, Ellen Lavin and Grace Harrington have been helping with animal registrations and census work the past few years and we are most grateful. The census forms went out the end of January and were returned daily through March. This enabled us to print the Resident Book in early July. As mentioned in the Board of Registrars report, the death of Registrar Mary G. Harrington in June was a sad occasion. Mrs. Harrington had been a registrar since 1983 and was extremely knowledgeable in MGL’s
and election laws in particular. She had been employed by the Commonwealth of MA before her retirement in 1990.
Conducting five elections in 2004 made for a busy schedule starting with the Presidential Primary on March 2nd, Annual Town Election on April 5th, State Primary on September 14th and State Election on November 2nd. In addition to these four we had a Special Election on November 15th to replace Anne Marie S. Mahoney who resigned as Selectman. The decision was made for a separate election on the advice of Town Counsel and the Secretary of the Commonwealth. The volume of voters at a State Election (13, 366) along with new mandates for the voting process of those not registered, was in the best interest of both candidates and election workers. On this day, Lori Carlson, a third grade teacher at Wellington School, visited Precinct Three with her class to observe the
voting process. It was a very pleasant experience for all involved and a photograph of the group is included in this publication. Our thanks to Officer Brendan Young for explaining the role of the police officer and giving each student his “Collect A Cop” card.
The Annual Town Meeting convened on April 26th and continued on the 28th concluding on May 3rd A Special Town Meeting was held within the April 28th session to primarily appropriate funds for the design and construction of two fire stations and a sum to cover expenses related to the Burbank School oil leak. Another Special Town Meeting was held on November 29th to discuss changing the elected Town Treasurer position to appointed, as well as several money appropriation articles. It was known another meeting would be necessary and it was decided to hold a Special Town Meeting in January or February. The minutes of the meetings as well as all election results can be found elsewhere in this book with full copies available at the Town Clerk’s office.
Vital Statistics 2004 2003
BIRTHS 266 275
DEATHS 174 221
MARRIAGE LICENSES ISSUED 168 114
Not all deaths recorded are Belmont residents. The actual count of residents is 151 with the remaining number of out of town residents residing at Belmont Manor Nursing Facility. Our 2004 numbers will increase when all records are forwarded to us from medical facilities in Boston, Cambridge and surrounding towns.
Receipts of the Town Clerk’s office for 2004 are as follows:
Dog Fees $9,565.00
Cat Fees 4,782.00
Sporting Fees 229.90
Marriage Intentions 3,400.00
Victuallar Licenses 483.00
Fuel /Gas Permits 520.00
Certified Certificates 17,803.01
Labels 1,320.00
Violations 2,300.00
Holders 4.50
Business Certificates 3,357.00
Resident & By-law Books 2,217.00
Maps & Raffles 138.00
Zoning Books 663.00
Wildlife Stamps 900.50
Passports 4,005.00
Monies sent to Commonwealth 3,675.25
Monies collected for DPW 2,220.00
TOTAL COLLECTED $61,583.16
TOWN CLERK REVENUE $54,787.41
Once again our Animal Control Officer is keeping on top of unlicensed animals and the number of registered dogs remains steady at 1072 and cats number 652. It is difficult to convince residents that we license for two reasons….revenue and to be certain every animal in town is vaccinated against rabies. So many pets are “house pets” that owners feel no need to license them. It is our intent to follow up with the $25.00 non-criminal violation fee in 2005.
The Town Clerk initiated the practice of being open one night a month, but after four months the public has not been overly receptive. The thought was to help those who cannot do business during the usual 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. business day. Perhaps the idea other towns have implemented of being open on Thursday evening and closing at noon on Friday will be addressed at a future date.
We continue to assist the Belmont Historical Commission and Historical Society with the sale of books, boxes of notes and the wonderful Belmont Afghan.
The sale of stickers for appliance and CRT pick-up is done in co-operation with the Department of Public Works.
Four hundred eighty-two new committee and board appointees have been sworn in and hundreds of meeting notices posted. Our official bulletin board is no longer adequate to handle the number of meetings. Clerks of committees will be requested to post monthly rather than yearly for this reason. As is done every year, the Town Clerk administered the oath of office to the Special and Auxiliary Police Officers at their May 12th meeting at Belmont High School.
Passport applications have been accepted since March 2004 and we turned over $4,005 in general revenue to the town from this endeavor. We see the additional function as rewarding to residents and another opportunity for revenue.
The staff remains dedicated to providing service and information to all.
Respectfully submitted,
Delores A. Keefe, Town Clerk
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