Saturday afternoon’s second session of the 2022 Annual Town Meeting drew 160 citizens—3.5% of the town’s registered voters—to Cronin Auditorium. The assembled voters took no action on one of the warrant’s seven articles but approved the remaining six, including three of the most controversial (see table).
Among the articles that passed were Article 4, which authorized the town to hire a recreation and beach director; Article 6, which authorized the town to regulate outdoor water use from private wells during a drought; and Article 7, which added Bromfield House to the Harvard Common Historic District. However, attendees voted to take no action on Article 5, which would have allowed the town to enforce certain bylaws and regulations by issuing fines rather than filing criminal complaints in court.
The longest debate of the afternoon concerned Article 7, a request by the Historical Commission to expand the Harvard Common Historic District to include Bromfield House, as previously urged by the October 2021 Town Meeting. Advocates and opponents queued eight-deep behind the single working microphone on the floor of Cronin to make their cases. Those in favor argued that placing the house in the district would protect it from being torn down or removed by a future developer. Others argued the decision was too important to be made by such a small number of voters.
Historical Commission member Pam Marston acknowledged the number of voters present was small, but “If you snooze, you lose,” she said. Tim Clark, a former Select Board member, observed that the move, first proposed in the 2002 Master Plan, had been talked about for more than 20 years, and he urged the article’s passage. Jared Wollaston of Elm Street asked if the article was binding, unlike the 2021 Town Meeting vote and a subsequent referendum. “Yes,” answered Moderator Bill Barton after a brief consultation with Town Counsel Mark Lanza. After 40 minutes of debate, the article passed easily by its required two-thirds majority.
Parks and Recreation Committee Chair Bob O’Shea spoke in favor of Article 4, proposing a full-time recreation and beach director. “We’re running a small business here,” O’Shea said, describing the volunteer committee’s extensive work managing programs at the town beach and the sports fields. He explained the committee was not asking for any money in fiscal 2023 for the new position, because there is already enough in the committee’s account to cover the months from spring till the end of this fiscal year on June 30, 2023. But waiting until next May’s Town Meeting to authorize funds for the rest of the summer months, which fall in fiscal 2024, would be too late to find a strong candidate to fill the job, he said. Despite concerns from several speakers about the cost of the position—which the Personnel Committee ranked between $81,000 and $110,000—the article passed by a majority.
With only seven articles to consider, attendance at Town Meeting is light. (Photo by Jen Manell)
Article 6, empowering the town to regulate outdoor watering from private wells during state-declared droughts or water supply emergencies, also passed, but narrowly. Before the vote, the Board of Health removed a section that specified controls for in-ground irrigation systems. Chris Mitchell, chair of the Board of Health, emphasized the unfairness of the current situation, with everyone on the town water system banned from all outdoor water use, while a neighbor one house outside the central water district is allowed to run a sprinkler all day.
Those opposing the measure argued it took away their private property rights, and many said they used common sense and self-regulation in watering during a drought. But Justin Brown of Park Lane questioned the power of self-regulation: “Anyone who’s had a bag of potato chips knows self regulation isn’t real.”
A majority of voters seemed swayed by arguments that, while a well might be privately owned, groundwater is a shared resource, and overuse by one well owner could jeopardize the wells of their neighbors. The vote to enact the bylaw, which required a count, was 75-65 in favor. In later discussions on the social media site Nextdoor, however, opponents of the measure suggested they may try to rescind it at the next Town Meeting.
Article 5 also proved controversial. A favorable vote would have allowed the town to settle violations of 28 Harvard bylaws and regulations by simply fining the offending parties. Passage of the bylaw would not have precluded the town from pressing criminal charges against the most egregious violators. But after 30 minutes of debate, enough questions had been raised—including the revelation that no public hearing had been held on the prospective changes—that a majority was ready to agree when Paul Green of Old Littleton Road moved to take no action. His motion passed easily; but as a consequence, a violation of any of the listed bylaws remains a criminal offense.
Low turnout
The meeting lasted approximately two hours and adjourned at 2:13 p.m. Saturday’s turnout was decidedly lower than last year’s October session when 410 voters—9.1% of the electorate—gathered under tents in front of Bromfield to debate and decide the fate of 18 articles. Over the past four years, attendance at each session has averaged 270, with differences between the first and second session in any given year driven by interest in particular issues on the agenda.
At this week’s Select Board meeting, members appeared ready to return to a single-session Annual Town Meeting in the spring. But because a second session was introduced in 2019 to allow more time for discussion of bylaws, the board will consult the Planning Board before taking action.
