Published in the July 2, 2020 edition.

By MARK SARDELLA

WAKEFIELD — After a very brief hiatus, Jim Luciani is back on the Conservation Commission. The Town Council appointed Luciani at its June 22 meeting to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of commissioner Warren Laskey.

Luciani’s appointment closes the loop on a small controversy.

At the their April 13 meeting, the Town Council handled appointments to 12 different committees under their jurisdiction. Two Conservation Commission members’ terms were expiring, and both applied for reappointment. One was a founding member of the commission, Frank J. “Jim” Luciani, who had served since the commission’s creation in 1983. The other incumbent was Warren Laskey, another long-serving member. Two other individuals also applied for the positions: Kenneth Alepidis, a geologist and environmental consultant; and Michael Owen, an insurance specialist with the Social Security Administration.

The Town Council appointed Laskey and Alepidis. Of the dozen committees appointed that night, Luciani was the only incumbent committee member who was not re-appointed.

Questions were raised as to why Luciani was passed over for re-appointment and a number of rather pointed letters appeared in the Item Forum along with comments on social media. Some went so far as to posit conspiracy theories regarding the Town Council’s motives, even to the point of suggesting a level of malfeasance related to possible future development in town, in particular a yet-to-be-filed proposal by Cabot Cabot & Forbes to build 600 units of housing on the former American Mutual/Comverse site at 200 Quannapowitt Parkway.

Meanwhile, Laskey abruptly resigned in protest over the fact that Luciani was not re-appointed. Laskey’s resignation opened up another 3-year position on the ConCom.

Luciani was the only candidate who applied for that open position and he was appointed by a unanimous vote of the Town Council last week.

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Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio reported to the Town Council on $174,100 in Reserve Fund transfers to close out Fiscal Year 2020, which ended on June 30. Maio said that he was pleased with this amount, which came in well under the $300,000 budgeted for this purpose. He broke down the total as follows.

He said that $38,850 was transferred from the Reserve Fund to the Legal Department for professional services related to the Woods, LLC law suit. Another $6,850 was transferred to update town’s legal library.

A sum of $47,000 was added to the vocational school budget due to three additional students from Wakefield attending Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School.

Maio said that $10,000 was transferred to the Unemployment Insurance account.

An additional $1,500 was transferred to the Board of Appeals to cover the cost of advertising meetings.

The Professional Medical account was supplemented by the transfer of $5,300 for costs associated with hiring new police officers.

The General Insurance fund was supplemented by transferring $14,800 to cover additional vehicles and slightly higher than budgeted rates.

The Animal Control budget was supplemented by $3,000 to pay the cost of coverage during mandatory training.

A total of $36,800 was transferred to the Workers Compensation budget to cover costs associated with higher than projected payroll.

A sum of $10,000 was transferred to the Medicare account due to slightly higher than estimated payrolls.

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In other business last week, the Town Council:

• Appointed Abigail Lane, Jordan Coccoluto and Jiovanni Luciani to the Clean Lake Committee as student members.

• Approved a request from Beebe Library to accept and expend gifts in the amount of $805.00 from various donors.