Fin Com OKs $5.3M Budget: The Hull Finance Committee has completed its recommendations on warrant articles for the March 1 town meeting with a total budget approval for $5,335,924, Town Accountant Joseph E. Chase said today. The committee also urges changing the dates of the annual town meeting and election to the second and third Mondays of May. The committee is withholding recommendation on proposed 6.4 percent salary hikes for all town employees until the town meeting. Highlights of the recommendations are: fixing of elected town officers’ salaries at the same level as last year; $20,000 for street lighting; $2,360 for Straits Pond clearance; $13,600 for repair of town buildings; $3,700 for new Fire Department car; $9,000 for four Police Department vehicles; and $4,400 for new speed-detecting device and portable radios, also for the police. Also: $24,000 for new traffic signals at Kenberma Street and L Street; $3,400 for a new pickup truck for the Highway Department; and $16,131 for a 4-ton diesel dump truck.
Voter Registration Sets Record: Town Clerk John F. Darcy said last night that the official total of Hull registered voters is now 5,233, the highest in the town’s history and an increase of 500 over the enrollment tabulated last November. “The increase was the greatest of any registration period and largely reflects the influx of voters in the young age bracket,” said Darcy. Under the recent state law, 19-year-old voters became eligible to vote at local and state elections, while the minimum voting age for national elections only is 18 years old, under a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
HUD Data Delivered: Selectman Martin Fallon said last night that he personally delivered the required data for recertification of the Hull Redevelopment Workable Program to Director William Barry at the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Agency’s Boston office on Feb. 8. The data were requested by HUD Jan. 29 and have been officially described as essential to the long-awaited “go-ahead” for Project One in the Monument Square to Water Street area of Hull.
School Com Gets Guidance Staff Review: Psychologist Charles Waterhouse and nine members of the Hull school guidance and counseling staff presented a composite picture of the entire guidance program to the School Committee Monday. Charles Aftosmas and Mrs. Eleanor Nicholson reviewed the program in the Damon and Jacobs schools from kindergarten through grade five, while Timothy Hurley, Regina Nolan, and Ethel Epstein covered the Middle School. The high school guidance concept was presented by Dorothy Carlsson, Richard Brown, and Ralph Rinaud.
Anti-Charter Group Organizes: Citizens to Preserve Open Town Meetings met and organized Sunday evening, Feb. 7. “This committee was formed to oppose the charter in its present form and to preserve the New England tradition of open town meetings in the Town of Hull,” said a committee official.
Hull’s Colten Promoted: The U.S. Postal Service announced this week that Mr. Leonard Colten, of Hull, has been promoted to the position of chief of the Cost and Survey Branch for the New England region.
A Busy March 8 in Hull: Election Day in Hull will also be Bloodmobile Day, March 8, at the Memorial School. Anyone in good health, weighing over 110 pounds, and between the ages of 18 and 59 is eligible to give blood. The goal of 200-250 pints will protect the entire town for one year.
