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Page 8 THE REVERE ADVOCATE – FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2022 City Council’s Ways & Means Subcommittee Meeting Library Director adding new positions, bookmobile By Adam Swift T he Revere Public Library is adding two new positions and will have an increased budget for capital improvements in Fiscal Year 2023. Library Director Diana Luongo appeared before the City Council’s Ways & Means Subcommittee on Wednesday evening as part of the FY23 budget hearings, highlighting recent accomplishments and plans for the next year. Luongo pointed to recent improvements that have been made to the physical condition of the library and a revitalized focus on staffing. “When I inherited the library right before Covid, it was a mess; there were a lot of old items piled up and junk,” said Luongo. “Some of it we successfully auctioned off and that [money] went back into the general fund. We cleared out the library completely and refurbished the old fl oors and brought them back to life.” Luongo also noted that when she took over as director there wasn’t enough staffi ng in place to successfully run programs for the community. She said she was able to work with the union to add some new roles and responsibilities for staff to help create new positions that could provide new programming. In FY23, Luongo said, the library has two new positions – a young adult librarian and an adult librarian – in the budget to help expand services and programming. Those positions will be paid for with state grants the library typically receives each year. The library will also have an increased budget for capital improvements and supplies this year, and the FY23 capital budget includes funding for a bookmobile to bring library services to other parts of the community. “We’re trying to get back to our staffi ng levels from pre-pandemic and also giving some additional funds so they can expand their programming and services,” said city Finance Director Richard Viscay. Viscay said there was feedback from the library trustees indicating that Revere is one of the lowest funded libraries per capita in the state. “We certainly don’t want that moniker,” said Viscay. Councillor-at-Large Dan Rizzo, who is chair of the Ways & Means Subcommittee, said he would like to see either a new library or an expansion to the existing library down the line. “I’ve always viewed the library as the center of our community,” said Rizzo. “You look around at some other communities, and there are some beautiful libraries – not to take anything away from the [Revere] library – I think it has a lot of charm, but its old, needs ‘TLC’ and needs to be expanded.” RevereTV Spotlight F irstly, this is a reminder that RevereTV’s full coverage of the Pride Flag Raising Ceremony and Revere High School Class of 2022 Graduation are currently replaying on RTV. The Pride Flag Ceremony can be viewed on RTV GOV as it was a City of Revere event that took place at City Hall – commemorated by elected offi cials. RTV GOV is channel 9 on Comcast or channels 13 and 613 on RCN. This year’s graduation ceremony is replaying on the Community Channel. This is channel 8 or 1072 on Comcast and 3 and 614 on RCN. All events covered by RevereTV can be found on YouTube to watch at any time. Keep an eye out for new event coverage and programming on RevereTV. You will soon see a new episode of “The Senior FYI” on the Community Channel. This is an informational show for Revere’s senior citizens featuring staff from the Rossetti-Cowan Senior Center. “The Senior FYI” always plays on Monday and Thursday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 8 a.m., but it is also scheduled most mornings every day. RevereTV has covered a few musical and theatrical performances by Revere Public School students this season. The latest performance was the Garfield School Music Show last week. Recordings from that performance will soon be playing at various times throughout the week on the Community Channel. You can also see replays of the Rumney Marsh Academy Synth Percussion Ensemble performance and RHS and Garfield Middle School Rock Ensemble performances. These replays are typically on weekday afternoons. RevereTV is collaborating with Revere Parks and Recreation to serve as a venue for their “From Scratch Baking Series.” Jennifer Keefe, local baker and owner of From Scratch, a special order bakery, is leading participants through baking classes that will be aired on RevereTV for others to follow along. According to Revere Rec’s Summer Flyer, participants will learn how to bake desserts, such as brownies, Italian cookies, scones and cupcakes. You can watch as Jenn bakes in the RevereTV kitchen studio over the next few weeks on the RevereTV Community Channel. Cooking classes are held on Wednesdays over the next few weeks. Specific air times will be listed in the “RevereTV Spotlight” next week. St. Mary’s High School 3rd term Honors students S t. Mary’s High School announced its Honor Roll and Principal’s List for the third quarter of the 2021-22 academic year. Honor Roll students must achieve 85 or above in all classes, and Principal’s List students must achieve 90 or above in all classes. The following students from Revere have achieved these honors: Principal’s List Anthony Ferragamo, ’28 James Ridley, ’28 Gabriella Polidoro, ’26 Conlan Buckley, ’25 Anthony D’Itria, ’23 Christopher Lutchman, ’23 Gabriela Mogavero, ’22 Honor Roll Maximus Kalis, ’26 Alexamarie Manta, ’24 Isabella Mogavero, ’24 Sophia Ortiz-Vargas, ’24 Marco Leone, ’23 Maia Kalis, ’22 Kendra Trainor, ’22

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