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Vol. 20, No. 25
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Candidates line up to run in city election By Barbara Taormina he 2017 election season began officially on Tuesday with candidates pulling nomination papers to run for seats on the City Council and School Committee. By Wednesday afternoon, most of the incumbents and a group of challengers and newcomers had been to the City Clerk’s Office to register their intentions and start the process of placing their names on the ballot. Candidates in ward races must collect signatures from 50 reg-
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istered voters, while those seeking an at-large seat need 200 signatures. Nomination papers must be returned by August 1 for certification by the city clerk. While not everyone who takes out nomination papers returns them, interest in this year’s local election is brewing. Five candidates have already jumped into the race for the three at-large seats on the City Council. In addition to incumbents Debbie DeMaria, Craig Spadafora
CANDIDATES | SEE PAGE 14
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Friday, June 23, 2017
MHS students win reading contest
Mayor Gary Christenson was thrilled to present five Malden High School students with certificates in recognition of completing the 2016-2017 MHS Reading Challenge. The contest, which was organized by Librarian Mary Liberge and English Teacher Brenden Maney, began on January 2 and ran through June 2. Students were challenged to read as many books as possible during this timeframe. One student in each of the grades 9-12 took top honors for reading the greatest number of books. There was also one overall student winner who read more than anyone else during the entire time period. Simultaneously, the same challenge was offered to MHS teachers. Ten teachers participated, and the grand prize winner was English Teacher Brian Wong. Mary Liberge and Brenden Maney organized a pizza party for all the winners at which they were presented with reading certificates and gift cards. Shown, from left to right, are MHS contest winners Audrey Magioire of Grade 10 and Francesca Seac of Grade 9; Mayor Gary Christenson, and contest winners Kathleen Weihrauch of Grade 11 and English Teacher Brian Wong.
Council approves 2018 budget By Barbara Taormina City Councillor John Matheson fills out nomination papers for another run for the Ward 3 seat on the Malden City Council.
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ity councillors used their final vote on the 2018 budget as a chance to share their views on municipal management and the future of Malden. Finance Committee Chairman Paul Condon introduced the final $180 million budget and listed a few small changes in salaries and ac-
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counting that were negotiated with Mayor Gary Christenson. “It was a pretty tight budget and the committee did an excellent job,� said Condon, who also praised the School Committee for their work in balancing their books. But Councillor-at-Large David D’Arcangelo, who opposed both the budget process and the final numbers, spoke at length about problems he sees in the way the city manages its money. “Starting with taxpayers, our demands on them are going up and up and up,� said D’Arcangelo, citing lead pipe replacements, road repairs and debt payments as just some of the costs residents are being asked to cover. Although the city is taking in significantly more tax revenue and will soon be collecting substantial fees from developers, D’Arcangelo said the city should be looking for ways to decrease spending. “We’re spending money as fast as it comes in,� he said, adding that the city has chosen not to eliminate the Pay-As-YouThrow trash bag or create a capital improvement plan to maintain school building that are aging and might soon need repairs. D’Arcangelo also zeroed in on the $15.5 million in debt pay-
ments the city will make next year and said Malden’s debt was far higher than in any surrounding communities. “Taxpayers are asked to do with less and I think the city government should do with less,� he said. D’Arcangelo then made a series of motions to cut the budget. He started with a request to cut $1.8 million and gradually whittled it down to a decrease of $18,500 as a show of good faith to residents and businesses that pay the city’s bills. No other councillors supported D’Arcangelo’s calls for cuts. “If we want to cut, we are not talking about cutting programs, we are talking about cutting bodies,� said Councillor-at-Large Craig Spadafora, who stressed that the budget allowed the city to avoid layoffs. “This was an easy budget because there was no fluff,� he added. Spadafora acknowledged that taxpayers are getting hit by increasing property values but said the solution is to develop the city’s commercial and industrial base to bring in more revenue. However, Spadafora said the city parks, roads and other services
BUDGET | SEE PAGE 4