Beverly City Council sets hearing on Community Preservation budget after procedural error

BEVERLY — October 25, 2021 — Beverly City Council corrects procedural error and flags National Grid cable project in brief special session. Council President Paul Guanci called the special remote meeting after acknowledging he had incorrectly placed the Community Preservation Committee's fiscal year 2022 budget on file at the prior night's regular meeting rather than setting a public hearing; the council voted unanimously to schedule that hearing for November 8 at 7:30 p.m. The council also unanimously accepted a late-filed order from Councilors Flowers, Rand, and Houseman concerning National Grid's electric cable infrastructure plan — which Guanci said members want to "put the brakes on" — and referred it jointly to the Committee on Legal Affairs and the Committee on Public Services. A late-filed letter from Mayor Michael Cahill, read into the record, noted that National Grid had presented the project to the full council as far back as September 24, 2018, and provided mailing lists and siting board notices from 2018 and 2019. Both the order and the mayor's letter were referred to the same two committees for a joint hearing to be scheduled.