Despite the failure of the override, Article 14 will still be fully funded, as two-thirds of attendees at Town Meeting voted to cover the $9,500 by tapping the stabilization fund.
Article 14, which originally requested $40,000 for a project much larger in scope, was “down-sized” to $9,500 via a friendly amendment proposed by members of the Town Center Septic Task Force.
The final amount will cover $5,500 in consulting fees to the wastewater treatment firm Norfolk Ram, whose job it will be to assess the current municipal septic system; recommend specific upgrades and changes to enable the system to serve either municipal buildings only or municipal buildings and private properties; and generate specific cost data to encompass the whole project.
The remaining $4,000 is set aside for limited soil testing and analysis, legal fees related to setting up a municipal sewer district, and public communication.
Before the vote, which passed with only two opposed, Elm Street resident Billy Salter spoke in favor of the measure, linking the resolution of the town center’s septic issues with its revitalization. Salter recalled when he first moved to town decades before, back when the center was still, in his words, “vital.”
“You could run into people you knew,” he said. “There was enough going on in the town center that those random social interactions which are part of the fabric of real community life naturally occurred.”
“I suspect that the town center is now deader that it has been in any point in the last 200 years,” he said.
Glen Frederick of Littleton Road spoke on behalf of the Unitarian Church. He explained that the church’s plans to build a new fellowship building are currently stalled due to septic issues, and said, “We are very much in need of this, and we do not expect that it will come free. We expect to pay our way and our fair share.”
General Store owner Adam Horowitz is “delighted” that Article 14 has been approved. He explained that he and his wife Lyn were actually waiting to hear “the will of the people” at Town Meeting before committing to additional expensive equipment for the store. Now that the article has passed, he said, they have placed their orders for additional refrigeration equipment that will house bakery products, dairy products, and other food items that will be for sale.
With “marching orders” from Town Meeting, it is now the job of the selectmen to acquire and distill data on a possible municipal septic system for town residents in time for the next Special or Annual Town Meeting. After arranging for open hearings and public communication, the selectmen will then place an article on the warrant that will enable town residents to “vote up” or “vote down” a specific sewer project.
