Voters at Saturday’s Annual Town Meeting voted overwhelmingly to pass articles 24 and 25, enabling the $1.9 million town center sewer project to go forward. Final approval requires passage of the Proposition 2½ debt exclusion question at town election Tuesday, May 5.
Conventional wisdom preceding the vote was that if town center residents supported the articles and the financial model behind them, then there was every reason for taxpayers to approve it. On Saturday, two who have expressed misgivings in the past stood to urge a “yes” vote.
“It is a bargain [for everyone in the town],” said Kyle Hedrick of Fairbank Street. “There are people in the center of town who have to give up money they have spent on their systems, but I think that most of them are willing to do that.” “The only way to smell the rose [that is this plan],” he said, “is to just vote ‘yes.’”
Billy Salter of Elm Street also spoke in favor of the plan, noting that “it’s not such a great deal” for those, like him, who have recently installed Title 5-compliant system. “I’m for it,” Salter said, “because the net benefit to the town is huge.” He urged those attending Town Meeting to speak to friends and neighbors “who aren’t here” because the plan, he said, is “pretty complicated,” and no one should cast a vote for or against “out of a lack of understanding.”
In his presentation to Town Meeting, Board of Selectmen Chairman Leo Blair urged residents to review the latest versions of plan documents posted at the town website, including a map of the proposed sewer district and the latest financial model and “circuit breakers.”
