Stoneham Select Board Appoints Housing Authority Member Over Chair's Recommendation

STONEHAM -- July 15, 2025, Stoneham Select Board voted 5-2 to fill a Stoneham Housing Authority vacancy with lifelong resident and housing advocate Kenneth McPherson, passing over a construction-law attorney recommended by the authority chair. The joint vote, involving all five select board members and the authority's three sitting commissioners, came after Housing Authority Chair Michelle Maher and Commissioner John Shaughnessy backed attorney Al Caldarelli, a MassDOT and MBTA managing counsel with four decades of public construction experience, while Commissioner Danielle Connelly broke with her colleagues, nominating McPherson and arguing that willing tenants "should be first pick because we're the ones that live there." McPherson, who lives in public housing at 63 Calthea Street, cited advocacy work with GBIO and AmeriCorps and said his efforts helped secure $1.8 billion in state housing funding. The board also approved site plans for a 51-unit apartment conversion at One Montvale Avenue, with seven affordable units and a new 8 a.m.-4 p.m. trash-collection restriction added after abutter Matt Kilty raised safety concerns about trucks backing onto Flint Street, plus conversions at 4-6 Common Street and 32 Summer Street. Citizens' comments opened the meeting with three residents, including Jessica Killalay and Abby Shaw, criticizing the all-male override study committee as unrepresentative of Stoneham's diversity.