The Swellesley Report

Since 2005: More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

Wellesley pays tribute to loooongtime DPW employee Smitty Rogers ahead of his retirement

by Leave a Comment

Smitty Rogers with “Smitty’s Way” sign (presented to him as a retirement gift from the DPW, where he worked for 51 1/2 years in the Water Department)
Dwight “Smitty” Rogers with retirement gift 

 
The Wellesley Department of Public Works this past week hosted a retirement party for Dwight “Smitty” Rogers, more than 51 years after he started working for the town. His retirement starts on Sept. 1.

From Smitty’s start in 1975, the lifelong Wellesley resident rose through the ranks to become town’s water treatment plant operator in 1981. From there he became general foreman in 1988. In every capacity he’s worked in, Smitty has provided front-line supervision, oversight, maintenance, and on-call service for all town water treatment issues.

A testament to his character and dedication: Among celebration attendees were two former water superintendents, and the executive director of the Massachusetts Water Works Association, who presented Smitty with a certificate.

Lifelong Wellesley resident Smitty Rogers at the party with Dave Cohen, Director of Public Works
Rogers with DPW Director Dave Cohen

 
Smitty Rogers (center) with two of his previous (now-retired) Superintendents of the DPW Water & Sewer Division: Bill Shaughnessy and Joe Duggan, who returned for the party.
Rogers (center) with two of his previous (now-retired) Water & Sewer Division
superintendents—Bill Shaughnessy and Joe Duggan

 
Smitty with Jen Pederson, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Water Works Association, who came to his retirement party to present him with the MWWA’s Certificate of Appreciation.
Smitty with Mass Water Works Association’s Jen Pederson

 

Please send tips, photos, ideas to theswellesleyreport@gmail.com

image_print
     

Advertisements

black & blue, Wellesley
Olive Tree Medical, Wellesley
Haskins Automotive, Wellesley
MIT Museum, Cambridge

Air conditioning & EV buses inform School Committee’s Special Town Meeting articles

by Leave a Comment

The Wellesley School Committee during Special Town Meeting this fall will get a break from the usual intensity over school budgets that arises each spring but the committee could spark plenty of discussion with articles related to air conditioning funding and electric buses.

School Committee members ended their Aug. 18 meeting with a discussion about possible articles for Special Town Meeting, which is set to start on Nov. 9 at Wellesley High School (see Wellesley Media recording about 36 minutes in for Special Town Meeting warrant article segment). The deadline for warrant submissions was on Friday, Aug. 21.

The School Committee had been planning to bring a request to fund design of air conditioning systems at the town’s older schools, addressing a situation that proponents say has become a health danger in the summer (see background on air conditioning project on the School Committee website). Committee Chair Niki Ofenloch said needed funding for design work looked to be about $1.425m, with separate funding to be requested for construction a year later (funding for a feasibility study was previously secured, as Wellesley follows a feasibility-design-construction process on projects like this).

Though following discussion at the Aug. 18 meeting, including questions of the article scope raised by member Bob Sullivan, it was determined to submit a broader article about air conditioning funding. Motion language—what Town Meeting members actually vote on—will be hashed out in the weeks and months ahead. Ofenloch said this broadening of the article language makes sense given the School Committee plans to discuss air conditioning at its next meeting, and that the Permanent Building Committee is also discussing project timing.

Simultaneously a citizen petition has been filed to accelerate the project, with the goal of installing air conditioning at Bates, Fiske and Schofield Elementary Schools next summer, and getting to Wellesley Middle School after that. The current School Committee plan aims for construction in summer and fall of 2028.

Separately, the School Committee OK’d bringing a warrant article to Special Town Meeting to allow for longer contracts in special circumstances, such as those related to sustainability projects. The background here, shared by Supt. David Lussier, is that the district is heading into the final school year of its contract for big yellow bus service with Eastern Bus. There’s been an interest in electrifying school transportation, including from the town’s sustainability leaders, but one challenge is that schools are limited by town bylaw to signing contracts no longer than 5 years, and transportation companies may need longer ones to justify investments in electrifying their fleets. Lussier said Wellesley has been closely watching how peer communities, like Belmont (which signed a 10-year contract with its vendor), are handling this issue.

So the superintendent raised the notion of a Special Town Meeting placeholder article designed to allow special dispensation, if needed, to sign a longer contract to take advantage of possible EV options. Waiting until Annual Town Meeting in the spring to receive such permission would be too late, given the school district’s plan would be to start the bidding process before that.

The actual Special Town Meeting article could be designed more broadly than focusing on giving the school district more flexibility on this particular contract. It could be written to focus on contracts in general that might require longer terms to achieve sustainability goals, for example. To be clear, the article would not be about actually approving any specific contract.

Is this news to you? Please support our efforts to keep the community up to speed on Wellesley news by making a tax-deductible donation.

image_print
Page Waterman, Natick
London Harness, Wellesley
Longfellow, Wellesley

With Solidcore and Degree Wellness on way to Wellesley, fitness vs. pastries arms race intensifies

by Leave a Comment

Solidcore, a fitness business with nearly 200 studios across the United States and that touts 50-minute full-body workouts, soon plans to arrive at 51B Church St. in Wellesley. Separately, Degree Wellness, looks to bring its infrared sauna, cold plunge and more to 51 Church St..

They’ll add to the town’s seemingly endless fitness and wellness options, each with its own twists. Many of them point to science, pump up the jams, make obligatory “journey” references, and play around with capitalization and punctuation to try to stand apart.

The two newest fitness businesses we’ve heard about will be adjacent to Figurella, at 51A Church St. with its weight loss/body toning/detox approach…

and not far from Btone…

and B/Spoke…

and Orangetheory…

and The Exercise Coach…

and Human Powered Health…

and Jetset Pilates…

and The Bar Method…

And that’s just in Wellesley Square.

Linden Square and Linden Street are dotted with fitness and yoga studios, too, such as Down Under Yoga Studio, YogaSix, HYP Studio, Beacon Hill Athletic Clubs, Pure Barre, and Club Pilates.

The beat goes on into Wellesley Hills and Lower Falls, with businesses like Stepping Stone Studios and FA Boxing. PVOLVE, coming to Wellesley Hills, is among the latest seeking to CAPITALIZE on what seems to be an insatiable market for fitness studios.

You might ask: Why would Wellesley need so many fitness places, many catering largely to women?

Well, people really care about their health, and often the camaraderie of fitness studios.

Though another reason could be that bakeries and chocolate shops are targeting Wellesley, too, and many locals want to enjoy their sweet and savory treats.

ChocAllure sells jewell-like chocolates in Wellesley Square with flavors it says are “inspired by the genius of French pâtisserie. Speaking of pâtisseries (and using ALL CAPS) SALT Patisserie is prepping to open at the former Starbucks location at 68A Central St. in Wellesley Square.

Also in Wellesley Square, Bridgewater Chocolate plans to open at the former Wellesley Toy Shop space at 59 Central St. Meanwhile, Tatte has been a hit since it opened in Linden Square in 2022, Le Petit Four has had lines coming out the door since it opened in 2025 in Wellesley Hills and this year opened a factory in Needham to keep up with demand. And don’t forget about established Wellesley bakeries like the Wellesley Bakery and Quebrada.

How much overlap there is between bakery and fitness studio customers, we can’t say. But we’re sure they’re finding a healthy balance.

Expand your reach by advertising on The Swellesley Report.

image_print

Bat Walk on Aug. 26th, sponsored by Wellesley Conservation Land Trust

by Leave a Comment

EVENT: Bat walk

DATE: Wednesday, August 26 (Rain date: Thursday, August 14th)

SIGN-UP: Signing up will help the group communicate with you in case of postponement

TIME: 7:15pm

LOCATION: Meet at the Morses Pond gate at the end of Turner Road. Park on the North 40 (wooded) side of the street.

SPONSOR: Wellesley Conservation Land Trust

Wellesley Conservation Land Trust

DESCRIPTION: Come see, hear, and learn about bats in Wellesley (Wellesley Conservation Land Trust’s fifth annual)! See a real bat detector in action. Did you know bats eat a few thousand mosquitoes every night?

Please take proper mosquito precautions.

image_print
Public safety

Wellesley Police Dept. ends Flock license plate reader trial early amidst ‘overwhelmingly’ changed landscape

by 8 Comments

The Wellesley Police Department, which began testing a Flock Safety Falcon automated license plate reader (LPR) in spring of 2025, has ended its trial about a year early.

The camera, which had been located on a pole at the intersection of Rte. 9 East and Rte. 16 near Elm Park, was removed on Aug. 18. Flock devices capture license plate and other vehicle data, but don’t, for example, support facial recognition.

Wellesley Flock camera“The landscape surrounding the use of Flock cameras has overwhelmingly changed since we began testing one Flock camera last year,” according to Wellesley Police Chief Scott Whittemore. “After reviewing the last year of use, I would not be inclined to deploy additional Flock cameras in the community or continue to use Flock after our contract expired in June of 2027. As such, I saw no reason to continue testing the Flock camera.”

The Swellesley Report posted an article on Aug. 5 sharing the department’s reasons for testing the technology. The town had not sent notice to residents about the trial, which it says is consistent with its general practice for departmental equipment and technology purchases unless it invests in a widespread deployment.

Increased scrutiny over municipal use of Flock Safety LPRs across the country has led to more and more cities and towns ditching them in the face of privacy concerns raised by members of the public and organizations such as the ACLU. Natick’s Select Board at the start of the year quashed a police pilot of Flock technology.

Flock last week responded to rising concerns about its technology by pledging to make changes, such as cutting default data retention to seven days and requiring customers to make misuse detection mandatory in the wake of disturbing reports.

Whereas some communities have installed networks of Flocks, leading to concerns about vehicles being tracked across a town or city and beyond, Wellesley had only a single Flock automated LPR at a high traffic spot.

You can check out an interactive map to see where Flock systems are installed.

The Wellesley Police department has been using mobile LPRs since 2014, and the ones it is using now come from Motorola. LPRs are also used by private businesses and the state police.

Whittemore says Wellesley installed the Flock at a time when many police departments in the area and in metro Boston were using the technology. “At the time we were an outlier who didn’t,” he says.

Flock devices capture license plate and other vehicle data, but don’t, for example, support facial recognition.

Using mobile LPRs has played a major role in helping the Wellesley Police Department solve a number of cases over the years, including mail theft, car thefts, a kidnapped dog, and a house break-in. The Flock system itself hasn’t contributed to any breakthroughs during its year-plus in town.

image_print

Spotted lanternflies are loving Wellesley this summer

by Leave a Comment

We’ve been swarmed over the past week with reports and photos of invasive spotted lanternflies descending upon Wellesley’s trees and plants.

Especially disturbing was a photo shared on social media of a tree at Centennial Reservation covered by lycorma delicatula, to get scientific about it.

This quarter-sized insect has gray wings with black spots and red underwings that are visible during flight. They’re pretty pests.

According to the Commonwealth’s Department of Agricultural Resources, spotted lanternflies damage trees (like the tree of heaven) and other woody plants by sucking their sap. The department informed Wellesley in 2023 about lanterflies at Carisbrooke Reservation, near the Weston line.

You can report sightings to the state online.

spotted lanternfly
Spotted lanternfly in Linden Square (photo by Caitlin Buckley)

We’d come across a couple of lanternfly nymphs ourselves earlier this month in Natick. We are in peak spotted lanternfly season as the nymphs become adults.

natick lanternfly

Wellesley Natural Resources Director Brandon Schmitt says the town has alerted gardeners at both the Weston Road and Brookside Community Gardens, where the presence of spotted lanternflies has been observed.

“I’m not sure this is something new, except maybe now we are seeing them in greater numbers than before. The state has not changed any of their protocol or recommendations in terms of management, reporting, etc,” Schmitt says.

He adds that early stage research suggests the insects may not be as destructive to fruit and other tree species as once thought.

Residents are encouraged to remove invasive species, such as tree of heaven, that spotted lanterflies are attracted to, and the town tries to follow its own advice on that front, too.

“Folks are still encouraged to report sightings, squish the insects and scrape off egg masses when they can,” Schmitt says. The insects don’t bite or sting.

More: Bob’s bugs

image_print

Wellesley Select Board: North 40 public input plan takes shape; FY26 financial wrap; Special Town Meeting filling up

by Leave a Comment

The Wellesley Select Board at its Aug. 17 meeting (see Wellesley Media recording) previewed the town’s public engagement plan for the North 40’s future, heard a rosy update on fiscal year 2026 financials, and readied for what’s shaping up to be a packed Special Town Meeting in the fall.

North 40 public input plan takes shape

The town has scheduled a public workshop regarding the future of the North 40 for Oct. 1 at 6:30pm at Hunnewell Elementary School. The event will include an overview and history behind the town’s 2014 acquisition from Wellesley College of this 46-acre property along Weston Road—half the property will be preserved as open space and the rest will be available for municipal uses. A hands-on portion of the meeting will be used to consider possible future uses of the property. Abutters, community garden members, and Town Meeting members will be among those receiving targeted outreach from the town for this public workshop.

Note that the town has pushed off bringing a request for fire station feasibility study funding from fall to spring Town Meeting. A master plan has recommended a location within the North 40 on Weston Road as the site for a new fire headquarters, and the Select Board plans to deliberate on the fire station plan at its Sept. 8 and 15 meetings.

FY26 financial wrap

Town Chief Financial Officer Rachel DeRoche and Town Accountant Tiana Desens shared what Select Board Chair Marjorie Freiman teed up as a “comprehensive, very positive update on the end of FY26.” We are now in FY27, which started mid-year.

DeRoche said that revenue greatly exceeded budget and expenses were way under budget, with reserves projected at 20% of 2027 revenue.

The revenue increase was powered in large part through strong interest earnings, higher motor vehicle excise tax revenue (driven in part by new multi-tenant residences), and a boost in building permit fee intake (Babson had a whopping $700,000 permit for its new lodge and conference center).

Expenses came in $6.9m under budget, fueled by big turnbacks from the schools, for health and other insurances, improved fire department financial operations, and for various projects that never got started despite having capital appropriations.

Looking ahead to fiscal year 2028, the town awaits how union contracts turn out, plus where health insurance and medicare rates land. Also, the new Capital Planning Committee will be making recommendations on major capital projects, and in mentioning this, DeRoche raised the possibility of establishing a capital stabilization fund, as town officials have discussed, especially in light of strong reserves. Nationally, DeRoche said, communities have been seen heading toward reserves of 25%, but Wellesley stands apart from many other municipalities in terms of its pension and other post-employment benefit funds being so highly funded. Select Board member Colette Aufranc advocated for establishing a [capital] stabilization fund “in short order to do what we can to moderate the burden for taxpayers on needed capital work by shaving the peak on borrowing on major capital projects we know are coming.” Fellow member Kenny Largess concurred a capital stabilization fund is important, but also noted that with such strong reserves, the town needs to continue seeking additional ways to reduce the tax and fees burden on residents, especially older adults, and including those hit hard by the permit fees that Wellesley jacked up in 2025.

Special Town Meeting filling up

Special Town Meeting will convene on Monday, Nov. 9 at Wellesley High School, and it’s expected that it could last a few nights. The window to get articles onto the Town Meeting warrant is closing fast, with this Friday, Aug. 21 at noon being the deadline.

Executive Director Meghan Jop shared with the board a handful of potential article topics for Special Town Meeting. This includes about 10 human resources policy-related articles, some considered housekeeping of classification and rates. Union contracts, town bylaw updates, supplemental budget appropriations (including for the Planning Department to possibly transition a senior planner to an assistant or deputy planning director), school air conditioning design funding, comprehensive plan funding, and more could make their way onto the warrant. Citizen petitions related to Wight Pond and a modification to school air conditioning plans may also make the warrant.

Also at the meeting:

  • Jack Walsh, Wellesley’s sealer of weights and measures (checks scales at grocery stores, gas pumps, etc., to make sure they’re legit) is retiring in October after 47 years with the town. Wellesley plans to shift the responsibility to Norfolk County, which works with several communities to provide this service. Apparently, finding a qualified sealer is no easy task.
  • The board ended its night by going into executive session (behind closed doors) to discuss strategy with respect to litigation regarding 40 Oakland St. (MassBay property), to conduct strategy regarding negotiation with the Wellesley Patrol Officers Association, and to conduct strategy with respect to negotiation with the Wellesley Free Library Staff and Supervisors Associations. Also on the agenda were conducting strategy with respect to potential litigation regarding 140 Weston Road and to conduct strategy with respect to litigation with Albany Road-Wellesley, LLC.
  • Bates Elementary School is getting a new sign, more consistent with other new school signs in town.

    bates sign

    Is any of this news to you? Please consider supporting our independent reporting venture by making a tax-deductible donation

image_print