City Council candidates were asked to answer yes, no or undecided to each of these questions:
1. Do you support the closing of the Bradford Fire Station?
2. Do you support the continued study of the Merrimack River for a drinking source?
3. Do you support all municipal unions joining the GIC?
4. Do you support refinancing the Hale debt?
5. Do you support city-wide single-stream recycling?
Voters will select nine to serve 2-year terms.
David Hall
Bradford Fire Station: No
Continued study of river: Undecided
GIC: Undecided. There are different levels of the GIC that don't conform with what state employees get.
Hale debt: Yes
Recycling: Yes
Leonard Russo
Bradford Fire Station: No. It is a small facility requiring small monies, excluding payroll, to stay open in a very strategic spot.
Continued study of river: No. There is too much risk from well contamination in the river and not enough acreage to satisfy the requirements.
GIC: Yes. Anything - and that will be a start - to save our city from financial meltdown.
Hale debt: No. Why continue to pass the debt to future generations. It's never going to get cheaper.
Recycling: Yes. It's long overdue. Let's get all the bugs ironed out now before it becomes mandatory because of lack of space for our generated trash.
Michael Young
Bradford Fire Station: No
Continued study of river: No
GIC: Undecided
Hale debt: No
Recycling: Yes
Michael Hart
Bradford Fire Station: No
Continued study of river: Yes, but on a more limited basis.
GIC: Yes
Hale debt: Yes. Please note however, the so-called Hale debt consists of pension obligations, health benefits, a bond on the hospital building and deficit bond, which has to be refinanced every year. I'm not sure how this question can be answered in one word, yes or no.
Recycling: Yes
Mary Ellen Daly-O'Brien
Bradford Fire Station: No. I do not support the closing of any fire station.
Continued study of river: I believe we should plan ahead for future water needs in case we need it. All of our water from the lakes and ponds goes through the treatment plant. So, if we did need to use the river someday, I'm sure it would be treated too. Do I think we need to pursue drinking the river water now, no.
GIC: If the GIC insurance would provide a substantial saving for the city, then I would hope the Commonwealth would give us the same opportunity to explore the change. Tying our hands with a 70 percent union vote does not give the city any flexibility to manage such a huge budget item.
Hale debt: I believe we should look at every opportunity to save money so we can continue to produce balanced budgets and maintain the many services the city provides.
Recycling: Yes
William Ryan
Bradford Fire Station: We should support keeping the Bradford fire station open until we have a comprehensive review of all of our fire stations and fire personnel needs in the city. the present stations were all built before I-495 or the ward hill connector were laid out. Haverhill is a much different city today than it was a the turn of the 19th century.
Continued study of river: After hearing new facts at a recent city council meeting I believe that we should continue our funds to improve our local water system and leave the river for the federal/state government to study.
GIC: Requiring municipal employees to join the GIC should be and is a collective bargaining issue. If both sides come to an agreement I would support it as a member of the City Council.
Hale debt: If refinancing the Hale Hospital debt is cost effective for the city I will support it. If we are just passing this problem on to our children/grandchildren, I would be against it. Most of the schemes allow for lower payments for the next few years then huge payments for our children/grandchildren to pay-off the Hale Hospital debt. That would not be an honorable way to run our city.
Recycling: Single-stream recycling a good idea and is having a trial run. We should give it a chance to prove itself before we go on to a city wide program.
David Noyes
Bradford Fire Station: No. We need to staff all stations so we don't have to close one to cover another when a fireman is out, which is another issue.
Continued study of river: No. I do not believe we are in a Las Vegas situation with thousands of people moving here and a dwindling water supply.
GIC: Yes. Just think how much easier the billing for the city would be. One insurance for all of the city workers. The city would be able to address the check to one place.
Hale debt: Absolutely. The cupboard is almost bare.
Recycling: Whole heartedly.
Sven Amirian
Bradford Fire Station: No
Continued study of river: Yes. All options including conservation and rain water capture must be examined.
GIC: The city must do what it can to cut health care costs without compromising the services it provides to its employees. All options must be considered.
Hale debt: Refinancing at a better rate definitely makes sense but I do not support deferring the debt.
Recycling: Emphatic yes.
Malcolm Kimball Jr.
Bradford Fire Station: No. There is plenty of funding to keep it open, just look into the present Fire Department budget.
Continued study of river: No. The funds in that account are for betterments and infrastructure fees paid by developers like myself. They need to use it on life and safety issues such as fixing hydrants, old water lines, low pressure areas, stopping leaks within the system presently, and dredging lake and intake areas for more retained storage and volume during peak season run-off.
GIC: Yes and no. At least put all department employees into one health care policy. If not, we need to move forward and consider GIC with the approval of the union membership.
Hale debt: No. You cannot continue paying interest only and expect the problem to go away. Pushing the debts onto our grandchildren and beyond is unacceptable.
Recycling: Yes, yes and yes again.
John Curtin
Bradford Fire Station: No
Continued study of river: No
GIC: Yes
Hale debt: No
Recycling: Yes
Ken Quimby
Bradford Fire Station: No
Continued study of river: No
GIC: Undecided
Hale debt: Yes
Recycling: Yes
William Macek
Bradford Fire Station: No
Continued study of river: No, but yes to additional water alternatives.
GIC: This is not a simple yes or no question.
Hale debt: Yes
Recycling: Yes
David Langlois
Bradford Fire Station: No
Continued study of river: Yes
GIC: Undecided
Hale debt: Yes
Recycling: Yes
Christian Miller
Bradford Fire Station: No, I oppose the closure of any of our four remaining fire stations.
Continued study of river: No,
GIC: Yes, I support the GIC as a health care plan for all city employees. According to the Mayor's office, Haverhill stands to save roughly $2 million per year. With that money we could keep the Bradford Fire Station open, eliminate all extracurricular fees, bring back the band in our middle schools, and hire roughly five fire fighters, police officers, and teachers, as well as add to our rainy day fund.
Hale debt: Yes, I support the refinancing of the Hale Debt. We must take advantage of our higher bond rating and today's historically low interest rates.¬� I do not support extending our payoff date by more than five years. We can and should refinance without adding to many years to our current payoff date.
Recycling: Yes, I support curbside recycling throughout the entire city of Haverhill.¬� This is a topic that not only makes sense environmentally but fiscally as well.
Robert Scatamacchia
Bradford Fire Station: No
Continued study of river: Yes
GIC: Yes
Hale debt: Yes
Recycling: Yes
Michael McGonagle
Bradford Fire Station: No
Continued study of river: Yes
GIC: Yes
Hale debt: No
Recycling: Yes
Colin LePage
Bradford Fire Station: No
Continued study of river: No
GIC: Yes
Hale debt: No
Recycling: Yes
Candidate Anastasia Papaefthemiou could not be reached for comment.
School Committee candidates were asked to answer the following question:
Suppose the state had a pot of money to distribute and Haverhill could get a portion. Of these five programs, which would you restore in order from most important to least: middle school band, athletics w/o fees, middle school languages, expanded health curriculum, so-called encore programs such as music, art and physical education?
Voters will elect three to serve.
Raymond Sierpina
1. So-called encore programs such as music, art and physical education
2. Middle school band
3. Middle school languages
4. Athletics without fees
5. Expanded health curriculum
Krystine Hetel
1. Middle school band - It is very important to start languages early.
2. So-called encore programs such as music, art and physical education - This we also need to start early. Young children, especially, need creative activities to supplement their classroom traditional learning.
3. Middle school languages
4. Expanded health curriculum
5. Athletics without fees - I'd like to get corporate sponsorships to decrease these fees and keep it out of the budget.
Joseph Bevilacqua
"As each program is of great importance, I would work to allocate funding to each of the programs and utilize other resources to maximize the effectiveness of each program delivery."
Candidates Paul Magliocchetti and Daniel DeRoche could not be reached for comment.
