New Marblehead board gets right down to business

MARBLEHEAD – The town?s new Board of Selectmen settled in Wednesday night with a swearing-in ceremony and some stepping out.First on the board?s agenda was Police Chief Robert Picariello, with a list of permanent police appointments – Police Capt. Mark Mills, who has served as acting captain for more than three years, Acting Police Lt. Sean Sweeney and Police Sgts. Nick Economou and Sean Brady. The appointments take effect Sunday.New Selectmen Chairman Jackie Belf-Becker, who has chaired the board twice before in her previous six years, and Selectmen James Nye and Judy Jacobi voted unanimously to appoint Mills as permanent police captain.Mills is the brother-in-law of Selectman Harry Christensen. New Selectman Bret Murray serves the town as a permanent intermittent police patrolman. Murray told his colleagues he is in the process of preparing a letter detailing that position and its effect on his ability to vote with the help of town counsel.Both Christensen and Murray left the meeting room for the vote on Mills and returned later.Chief Picariello said the appointments were “the key to moving everything forward” in his department.At the chief?s request, selectmen voted to let local officers participate in the Civil Service exams for sergeant, lieutenant and captain so the town will have a list of candidates to choose from when openings occur.Town Clerk Robin Michaud, who swore in the newly-elected town officials, noted two surprises in Monday?s election. The voter turn-out, thought to be light by most observers, turned out to be 3,219 or 22.3 percent, only slightly behind last year?s town election, which was 24.5 percent.Michaud said the math left her surprised. “It didn?t seem that busy,” she said.Monday?s uncontested race for Recreation and Parks Commission offered a surprise as well. The voters chose Derek Norcross, Linda Rice Collins, Charles “Chip” Osborne, Sam Ganglani and newcomer Gerald “Jerry” Tucker.The surprise was challenger David Andrew Deutsch, who withdrew from the race in favor of Tucker two weeks before the election. Deutsch received 758 votes Monday, or about 100 votes in each precinct, and he received 138 votes in Precinct 4. He was no longer a candidate, but just about one out of four Marblehead voters still supported him.