Voices Amplified

On Monday, July 22, the Select Board Vice Chair launched a verbal attack on Citizens for a Fiscally Responsible Belmont, (CFRB) and on CFRB Vice President, Marie Warner.  Marie’s reappointment to the Economic Development Committee (EDC) was to be voted by the Select Board. The Vice Chair opposed this reappointment due to her affiliation with CFRB.  Marie’s appointment was approved, with two SB members affirming and the Vice Chair abstaining from the vote.

Among the scurrilous accusations made against CFRB were that our organization advanced conspiracies, disparaged town employees, elected officials and volunteers, and engaged in bullying.  None of these accusations are true. 

CFRB is a 501c4 non-profit organization and a non-partisan, grass-roots group of concerned citizens who serve Belmont residents by working to increase accountability, responsibility and transparency in all aspects of town government. 

As stated on our website  www.cfrbbelmont.org, a key facet of advancing the CFRB mission is to solicit and participate in collaboration with Belmont municipal and school officials.  Since our founding in 2021, CFRB has engaged in productive dialogue with the representatives from the Collins Center, with leaders in the Library Building Committee, and with individual Select Board members and others.  

Officers of CFRB are elected Town Meeting Members and are also involved in Belmont committees as volunteers – the Economic Development Committee, the Warrant Committee and the Vision Implementation Committee.  This involvement is far from sinister, as was accused by the Vice Chair, but rather reflects our shared commitment to work for Belmont in collaboration with others – including those with whom we may disagree on specific issues.

One phrase used in the July 22 diatribe resonates with us -- - that CFRB “Amplifies Voices.”  Those words were used by the Vice Chair in a distorted, false accusation of malfeasance.  But CFRB does in fact amplify the voices of many in Belmont who feel under-represented, marginalized and ignored.  We are proud to amplify those voices and make them heard.