Selectmen Notes: Chief Brooks Meets with Board, Food Truck Regulations Accepted

Chief Brooks and Selectmen Encourage Citizens to Call in Suspicious Activity

Chief William G. Brooks III, of the Norwood Police Department, appeared before the Board of Selectmen Tuesday night with the monthly report of his department's activity.

Brooks highlighted a recent case where a home invasion incident was discovered after a concerned citizen called to report suspicious activity in her neighborhood. Because of the timely call, Brooks said, police were able to get on scene earlier than they might have been if the break-in had been discovered only when the residents returned home.

The officers found a latent print at the scene and were able to connect it to a Dorchester male who was already in the system. He was arrested and in custody within a couple days of the incident.

"We do encourage people to call us right away," Brooks said, regarding suspicious activity. He noted that often, suspects will knock on the door of a residence they are trying to break in to, to see if someone is home, and then make an excuse for being there - such as looking for directions to a street no where near there.

"We would rather answer ten false alarms than miss a true tip," he said.

Draft of Bylaw Regarding Transient Vendors Accepted by Board

Selectman William Plasko motioned that the Board vote on the proposed draft of a bylaw regulating food trucks and other transient vendors in Norwood. 

The issue had been tabled from last week's meeting to allow Chief Brooks time to look over the draft. With his approval of the preliminary regulations, the Board voted unanimously to accept the bylaw, which Plasko said would serve as a "living document" and could be changed to address issues as they present themselves.

"At the moment we're taking it slow and steady and not trying to make it a whole big complicated regulation..." Plasko said.

Board Votes to Put Traffic and Financial Studies on Proposed Hockey Rink on Town Meeting Warrant

Town Manager John Carroll asked the Board to put two studies on the Warrant for vote by the Special Town Meeting Nov. 15 - a traffic study and a financial analysis on the proposed Norwood hockey rink.

Carroll said the traffic study would cost $20,000 and the financial study would cost $25,000, but the Board should be receiving a letter in the coming week from the Recreation in Norwood Committee regarding gift money to the town covering these expenses.

Selectman Paul Bishop said that he attended a meeting by the RINC on Oct. 1, and heard a lot of negativity in the comments. He asked that residents respect all opinions in this process.

"This will be a fairly lengthy process before we tie our skates on," he said.