“Ayer is looking to consider taking all of Devens as part of Ayer,” said Ayer Selectman Richard Gilles at last Thursday’s Joint Boards of Selectmen meeting. Gilles explained that as a result of a citizens’ petition voted on at Ayer’s Town Meeting, the town expects to seek at least its share of land at Devens, and “possibly the whole thing as a village.”
The citizens’ petition, Article 31, identical to Article 30 on Harvard’s Annual Town Meeting warrant, directs the selectmen to “…petition the Great and General Court…to acquire municipal jurisdiction and permanent government structure for the ongoing operation and administration within such portion…as was within the historic boundaries of the town.”
Amended on the floor to read “as was within at least the historic boundaries of the Town,” the article was approved by the voters.
On Wednesday Chairwoman of the Ayer Board of Selectmen Carolyn McCreary confirmed that her board is in agreement with the Town Meeting vote. “But we are not the sole deciders,” she added.
McCreary said she believes that although Devens residents want their own close-knit community, Devens would not be financially viable as a new town and should become in its entirety a village of one of the other towns, most likely Ayer or Harvard. From her perspective, making Devens a village of Ayer is a very natural solution.
McCreary has been confused by the “mixed messages” Harvard is sending about Devens. “They keep pushing away the idea of Devens,” she said.
When Harvard’s voters considered Article 30 at Town Meeting on March 29, along with Article 31, which directed selectmen to pursue the creation of the town of Devens, both articles were withdrawn after Town Counsel Mark Lanza determined them to be out of order and in conflict with the disposition process as specified by Chapter 498. Moderator Dave Westerling chose to conduct a straw poll instead, with 33 voters in favor of resuming jurisdiction of Harvard’s land at Devens and 60 against, with 48 abstentions. In another straw poll on the question of Devens as a town, 56 people voted in favor, 31 were against it, and 51 abstained.
“Ayer is moving forward quickly with their analysis from a financial standpoint and they expect one to two months to a complete picture,” Kinch said, referring to numbers that MassDevelopment has been providing to the towns to assist with their understanding of the financial impact of resuming jurisdiction over their former lands at Devens.
“Where’s Harvard?” Kinch asked.
“We have been preoccupied with budget,” Harvard Selectman Tim Clark responded.
“We need to talk about it,” said Harvard Selectman Ron Ricci.
On Wednesday of this week, Harvard Board of Selectmen Chairman Leo Blair said that the board is running about a month and a half behind, and does not expect to have Devens on the agenda until the first meeting in July.
“When we talk about it, it will be in a deliberate and careful way, with the discussion tied into actual information,” Blair said.
Blair added that without a clear financial analysis done by independent auditors, any kind of dialogue is “smoke.”
