Beverly Council Approves Racial Justice Director, Sustainability Post, and $700,000 Housing Grant

BEVERLY -- October 5, 2020, Beverly City Council unanimously approved a $150,000 racial justice and equity initiative and a new sustainability director position at its October 5 remote meeting. Mayor Michael P. Cahill said the equity initiative, funded by $100,000 in raised-and-appropriated funds plus a $50,000 reserve transfer, will cover anti-racism training, an equity audit, and a full-time director he expects to hire by early November at a starting salary around $70,000 to $75,000. The sustainability director post will be supported in its first year by a $100,000 anonymous private donation from the Monarch Group LLC plus a $15,000 city reserve transfer, with the donor committed to partial funding through year three. The council also voted 8-0, with Councilor Julie Flowers recused, to appropriate $700,000 in Community Preservation Act funds for the Briscoe Village for Living and the Arts project, an 85-unit affordable senior housing development at the former Briscoe Middle School site that is part of a roughly $42 million total project. Four additional grants totaling more than $256,000 were accepted, including $135,445 for a pump station vulnerability study and $58,340 for Obear Park shoreline resilience work.