The election season is here and on 08 November 2011 the voters of Weymouth will elect a Mayor, Town Council and School Committee. The field of candidates is very lean this year, but it is still important to get out to vote.

Mayor Susan Kaye is running for re-election and is being challenged by Bob Thomas.

At the Town Council, District 6 Councilor Mike Smart is being challenged by Shawn Hardy. All the other District Councilors are running unopposed. Jane Hacket and Ted Miller are seeking a seat on the Council as Councilor at Large and are challenging Mike Molisse, Bob Conlon, Patrick O'Connor and Brian McDonald for 5 available councilor at large seats. Current Councilor at Large Kevin Whitaker is not seeking re-election.

2 school committee incumbents Gail Sheehan and Sean Guilfoyle are being challenged by 2 challengers, Tracey Nardone and David Sullivan running for 3 available seats on the school committee.

It is up to you, voters of Weymouth, to decide who is best qualified to lead our Town for the next 2 and 4 years. If you are a registered voter, get out to vote. If not, get yourself to the Town Clerks office and register to vote. The deadline to register to vote on 08 November is Wednesday 19 October. The Town Clerks office will be open until 8:00PM that day for voter registration.

Greetings one and all -

Weymouth lost a very valuable asset when Mary Jo Livingstone passed away unexpectedly on 13 April 2011. She was the Superintendent of Schools and took over that position in 2007, after being an assistant superintendent for 5 years. She was a 1975 graduate of Weymouth South High School and taught math in the Weymouth School system before moving into administration. She was a financial whiz and that knowledge paid off when the lean times hit town finances. She had the ability to look 2 to 3 years into financial future while preparing a budget. She knew how the budget of today would impact the budget of the future. She also knew just when the financial picture would be better and how to plan for that as well.

Mary Jo was an advocate for the schools and the students in this town. Job one for Mary Jo was education and how to make it to make it work it work best for the students. She understood every aspect of education better than anyone and that ability will be very much missed. Rest in peace, Mary Jo.

Greetings

This is an election year for Mayor, Town Council and School Committee. This is your chance to decide who will be the leaders of our Town. If you are not registered to vote, get yourself over to the Town Clerks office between the hours of 8:30 AM and 4:30 PM on the days the Town Hall is open, and register to vote. It is not only your right to vote, it is your responsibility to vote.

And now a word about recycling. Did you ever wonder what becomes of the recyclable material that is collected every week? It is sent to a recycling center and the Town is paid per ton for it. Yes, their is money that comes back to the Town for the residents recycling effort. If you think the Town invest in trash instead of anything else, it is because of the volume of all that is collected, 70% is trash and 30% is recyclable material. If those numbers were reversed, a lot more money would be returned to the Town. According to an article in the Patriot Ledger in October 2010, 19,952 tons of trash were picked up and 3,258 tons of recyclable materials were collected. 17,800 households have municipal trash pick up.

To those who recycle, thank you.

That is all I have to report at this time.