New police station, roundabouts topped Cumberland news in 2019
C8MBERLAND – The long awaited opening of the John J. Partington Public Safety Complex was the major news story in Cumberland in 2019.
The 20,000-square-foot complex at 1379 Diamond Hill Road officially opened in April. It houses the Police Department, the town’s Rescue Service, and also administrative offices for the fire departments.
Voters appropriated a total of $11.3 million for the complex while funding the project and former Mayor William Murray oversaw the start of the project, after identifying and arranging the purchase of the privately-owned site at 1379 Diamond Hill Road, right across the street from the existing John J. Partington Police Headquarters building at 1380 Diamond Hill Road.
The new complex was also dedicated to the late John Partington, the town’s former police chief, a federal marshal and Public Safety Commissioner for Providence.
Here’s a look back at what else made news in Cumberland in 2019
New roundabouts designed to improve traffic flow and increase safety on Diamond Hill Road and the Chapel Four Corner intersection are finally opened. The new roundabouts are part of a $5 million intersection safety improvement project on Diamond Hill Road (Route 114) started nearly two years ago by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation. The first roundabout opened on Sept. 13 and the second opened later that month.
Construction by Cardi Corporation will continue work on the roundabouts through the end of this year, finishing next spring. The Chapel Hill Road realignment and other improvements also will be ongoing next spring and summer. The entire project is on time and on budget, and final completion of all improvements is set for fall 2020. Construction will continue on the
roundabouts through the end of the year, finishing in the spring. • Jeffrey Mutter officially takes over as mayor of Cumberland at a Jan. 6 inauguration ceremony that focuses on unity and community
spirit. Mutter replaced former Mayor William Murray. A local businessman and lifelong resident of town, Mutter previously served as president of the Town Council and later as chairman of the School Committee.
More than 200 people, including several local and state dignitaries, came to the McCourt Middle School for the inaugural ceremony, where Mutter was sworn into office via Skype by the Rev. Thomas Conboy, pastor of Calvin Presbyterian Church, who administered the oath of office from 1,500 miles away in Minnesota. The video call was broadcast on a giant screen in the school auditorium, which echoed with cheers and applause after Mutter, Joined by his wife, Jenny, was officially sworn in.
• Three Cumberland police officers – Matthew Alves, Brad Hampson and Christopher J. Iozzi – are promoted at a swearing in ceremony at the Cumberland Public Safety Complex. Alves moved up in rank from sergeant to lieutenant; Hampson from patrolman to sergeant; and Iozzi from lieutenant to captain.
• In recognition of his more than 20 years of dedicated service to Cumberland school students, Martin Crowley, a teacher’s assistant and girls softball coach at Cumberland High School, is named the school district’s 2019 Education Support Professional of the ear.
Nominated for the annual award by Cumberland High School Principal Adolfo Costa, Crowley is lauded at a School Committee meeting and awarded a plaque by School Superintendent Robert Mitchell and School Committee Chairman Paul DiModica.
• The Town Council approves a proposal to lease the town’s former animal control shelter to Cumberland-based New England Humane Society, a non-profit organization that rescues dogs and cats from out-of-state high-kills shelters in the south.
• For the second year in a row, Cumberland school officials blast Durham School Services’ performance, saying the district continues to receive phone calls and emails from parents concerned about late school buses across the district.
• Mayor Jeffrey Mutter unveils the new Preserve Cumberland initiative, an eightpoint strategy to help protect the town’s historic buildings and structures and stop what the mayor says is the “tearing away of Cumberland’s historic fabric.” One of the strategies in the new preservation initiative is a plan to redevelop the shuttered St. Patrick Church on Broad Street.
• The Cumberland Town
Council appoints a building committee that will oversee a project to repair and renovate the Senior Center on Diamond Hill Road. Additional work to revitalize the Cumberland Senior Center is expected to begin next spring with both interior and exterior improvements planned for the aging facility, including a new gas-fired boiler, new commercial kitchen and ADA accessible doors, ramp and railings.
• Mayor Jeffrey Mutter swears in Denis J. Collins to fill an unexpired one-year term on the seven-member school board, which ends in November 2020. Collins was appointed by the Town Council to succeed former committeeman Stephen Hess who resigned Oct. 1.
• The School Committee pays tribute to Dale O’Dell, a longtime fixture in Cumberland school athletics who retired in September after 32 years as a physical education teacher and coach. O’Dell is presented with a citation from the committee recognizing his three decades of service as a physical education teacher.
• Acting on legislation filed by Mayor Jeffrey J. Mutter, the Town Council agrees to initiate a pilot neighborhood traffic calming program on Sonny Drive, Rawson Road, Bear Hill Road and Scott Road to address speeding and cut-through traffic concerns. As part of the program, the town implements speed cushions, street lining and speed radar trailers.
• A incoln man who works as a special education teacher for the Cumberland School District is arrested on child molestation charges. Nicholas Oliveira is charged with two counts of second degree child molestation. The alleged victims were known to Oliveira who reportedly had a personal relationship with the their families.
• The girl’s softball field scoreboard at Diamond Hill Park is officially named the “Michael P. Mucci Scoreboard” in memory of the late Cumberland resident who oversaw the building of the scoreboard as part of his Eagle Scout project in 2009.