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retired after o long and valued career with the town. Laura Gemma was hired as Town Clerk and <br />dived right in and coordinated a special primary election in December that attracted higher than <br />expected turnout. <br />Some change was not planned. Each year we feel the loss of many of our citizens, and tonight | <br />cannot mention everyone that is deserving of note but | want to draw your attention to three <br />people who had a major impact on the work vvedo as a community. Ban Nioho\o, who set a very <br />high standard for community involvement passed away after full century. Neil Sullivan, who was <br />a former member of our Community Planning and Development Commission and made a <br />valuable contribution to our current moob*r p|an, passed away. Neil was e gentle person who <br />showed exceptional compassion ho his neighbors in making decisions involving public policy. VVe <br />also mourned the passing of our School Superintendent and fellow town meeting member Pat <br />Schettini, whose connection to all of us was seen in the huge outpouring of support for his family, <br />friends and colleagues at his visiting hours and funeral. He is dearly missed but the successes of <br />our schools, and the respect they are shown by folks throughout the Commonwealth stand as o <br />major baobanoent to his life and work. These paasing'u remind us of our responsibility 0o be <br />involved but to a|su encourage others in the community to step forward and be involved to help <br />each other achieve our goals for the community, For example, the School Department turned to <br />Dr. John Doherty for able leadership and we thank him for making Reading his priority when he <br />had other opportunities. <br />The Board of Selectmen made dozens of appointments and re-appointments to our boards, <br />committees and commissions. | am continually amazed by the popularity of some of our newest <br />bodies such as the Trails Committoa, Economic Development Committee and the Advisory <br />Committee on Climate Protection. At the conclusion of u long discussion and evaluation the <br />Board of Selectmen formed another new body to help with future p|anning, the ad hoc Municipal <br />Building Committee. It has started meeting and will help the town make decisions about our <br />public buildings including the Cemetery Garage, per the instruction of town nneeting, and based <br />on the extensive data collection forthcoming from the DPW. <br />We have also appointed a new sub-committae ofthe Board of Selectmen to help the Board <br />handle volunteer appointments. My colleague Rick Schubert and | have interviewed a number of <br />candidates for board appointments through this process and have received positive feedback. We <br />are now gearing up for our busy season of BCC appointments and will give a fuller report to our <br />colleagues on the Board of Selectmen ot the conclusion. <br />So what else did we accomplish in 2008 outside of two new committees? As o community here <br />are m few ofthe highlights... <br />VVe authorized the first lodging house license in the town's history. <br />Town Meeting created our second smart growth zoning district, this one for our downtown. <br />Through most of two construction seasons and after many years of planning and anticipation our <br />downtown atpeetscape project was oomp|eted. <br />We discussed and rejected the W1VVR/Ys proposal for two large water storage tanks within the <br />town limits. <br />We developed and adopted master plans for three parks; VVaohington. K8omoha| and Birch <br />Meadow. <br />2 Annual Town Meeting <br />April 2S.201O <br />