Newton panel OKs $550K IT buy, soccer netting
Newton's City Council committee approved $550,000 to replace an obsolete data storage system and $150,000 for safety netting after soccer balls began flying onto Craft Street from a new turf field.
Other Committee · Meeting of May 14, 2026
Newton's City Council committee approved $550,000 to replace an obsolete data storage system and $150,000 for safety netting after soccer balls began flying onto Craft Street from a new turf field. Committee Chair Josh Princeman and Council President Oliver led votes advancing fiscal 2027 budgets for six departments, including $10,427,226 for Parks and Recreation, $7,100,935 for the library, $3,115,096 for IT, $409,570 for the newly created Arts and Culture department and $248,659 for Veterans Services. An IT staffer said third-party support for the failing system would cost "roughly $70,000 annually." Oliver called the netting "a safety challenge" after officials described children chasing balls into traffic.
All votes passed unanimously, several by explicit 6-0 counts.
In the full story:
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Source: the Other Committee meeting of May 14, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.
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