Belmont Board Awards $2.57 Million Rink Contract, Puts Lodging House on Probation

BELMONT -- December 15, 2025, Belmont Select Board accepted a $342,691 library donation, awarded a $2.57 million park construction contract, and placed the town's only lodging house on a three-month probationary license at its December 15 meeting. The board voted unanimously to accept a final transfer from the Belmont Library Trustees, bringing total donated funds for the new Concord Avenue library to $5.642 million against an original $5 million fundraising pledge; Library Building Committee Vice Chair Claire Colburn said the project will avoid borrowing at least $500,000, with a grand opening weekend set for January 17 and 18, 2026. On capital projects, the board awarded the Kennedy Park Complex construction to MJ Cataldo Inc. of Littleton at $2,574,520, well below the $3.5 million Community Preservation Committee appropriation. On the lodging house, Acting Police Chief Mark Hurley reported 16 days of police calls to 386 Common Street since August; Town Counsel Paul Stein advised that Massachusetts law limits renewal denial to grounds of physical inadequacy or bad management record, not general neighborhood impact, and the board voted to renew for three months contingent on payment of roughly $22,000 in back taxes, resolution of tenant screening failures, and "material improvement in conditions." The meeting also featured sustained public comment from eight Belmont educators urging the board to fund override dollars over three years, with one speaker reporting that 67 percent of English learners' first-quarter grades were C-plus or below, compared with 13 percent for non-English learners.