Malden
AD VOCATE Vol. 29, No. 19
-FREE-
Have a Safe & Happy Mother’s Day!
www.advocatenews.net
Published Every Friday
Picnic Perfect
617-387-2200
Friday, May 8, 2020
Former legendary MHS Coach Bill Tighe passes at 95 By Steve Freker
O
n paper it says that Coach Bill Tighe, who passed away April 15 at age 95, reportedly due to complications from COVID-19, was the oldest active high school football coach in the nation when
he stepped down in 2010, after 36 seasons as the Lexington High football field general. Many probably don’t realize that he spent a few more years “under the radar” – and past his 90th birthday – as a volun-
BILL TIGHE | SEE PAGE 13
Logan Moss, Holden McSweeney and Jeff Clark enjoyed a picnic lunch as temperatures reached well into the 70s last Sunday. See page 10 for photo highlights. (Advocate Photo by Tara Vocino)
City Council addresses CPC controversies By Barbara Taormina
C
ity councillors rejected several proposed amendments to the city’s Community Preservation Committee (CPC) ordinance and decided instead to continue with the ongoing review of the rules taking place in the Ordinance Committee. Councillor-at-Large Stephen Winslow presented a ready-toordain revised ordinance that would have changed the way the five community members of the committee are appointed, reset term limits and clarify application procedures for current committee members. “We heard from a lot of residents about the need to look at term limits and how they are applying to members who have served on the committee for a long time,” he said. “There’s a lot of controversy about the committee and appointments,” said Winslow, adding that the point of the proposed amendments was to add some clarity to the process, which he described as convoluted. In order to ensure that the city’s eight wards are represented on the CPC, the ordinance calls for looking at the wards represented by the four statutory members from the Planning Board, the Housing
Authority, the Conservation Commission and the Historical Commission. The five committee members from the community are appointed by ward councillors whose wards are not represented by the statutory members. There are provisions for an at-large seat if all wards are represented and procedures to follow if a ward isn’t represented. Winslow’s proposal called for having the Personnel and Appointments Committee take over interviewing and nominating candidates for the five community seats. Winslow also called for two-year terms for community members that would end on June 30. Committee members could then apply for a second term. Terms for current members who have served for three or more years would be extended to June 30, when they could also apply for reappointment. Winslow said the point of his proposed amendments was to end controversy surrounding the committee. And there has been controversy. The committee was hit with an Open Meeting Law complaint after failing to provide minutes from a public hearing on the Roosevelt Park project, which includes the hotly debated artificial turf field. A second
Open Meeting Law complaint was filed when, after months of delay, the committee provided incomplete minutes of the hearing. There have also been reports about conflicts among committee members. And residents have complained that CPC Chair Julianne Orsino and CPC Member Lisa Sulda have served two terms, the limit according to the ordinance, and continue to serve on the committee. These and other problems with the CPC have been reported in a series of detailed accounts posted on the Malden News Network’s Facebook page. Councillors were not opposed to discussing Winslow’s proposed changes, but they did not accept his stepping in to rewrite the CPC ordinance. Ordinance Committee Chair Councillor-at-Large Craig Spadafora said that Winslow’s amendments could be considered but added that the city solicitor has already provided an opinion about Orsino’s and Sulda’s terms on the committee. Those terms involve the question of whether the committee’s first year, 2017, is considered a full term. There was no budget, no project applications or re-
CITY COUNCIL | SEE PAGE 4
Coach Bill Tighe is believed to have been a football head coach longer than anyone ever in Massachusetts athletic history when he stepped down at Lexington High after the 2010 season, after 52 years total coaching at Wakefield and Malden High before his 36 years guiding the Minutemen (shown above). (Courtesy Photo)
* Mulching * Spring Clean-ups * Trimming & Maintenance NOW BOOKING NEW CUSTOMERS!
Call 781-321-2074