At the second session of Annual Town Meeting Saturday, Oct. 21, voters will be asked to approve nine articles put forward by the Select Board and other town committees. While the first session is devoted primarily to financial matters, the second deals with changes to policy and the town’s bylaws, as well as financial matters that cannot be postponed.
Here we explain each article in the warrant, highlighting the amount of money involved, its source, who will manage its use, whether the article affects your taxes, and—when less than obvious—the consequences of voting “yes” or “no.”
You’ll find additional detail in the Town Meeting booklet, which will be distributed to attendees on Saturday when they register. The booklet is also available on the town website. To find it, go to www.harvard.ma.gov. Select “Annual Town Meeting & Election Information” and follow the links.
The booklet contains the town counsel-approved wording of each article, its cost, and whether it’s recommended by the Finance Committee. Readers should be aware, however, that the language of an article and sometimes its exact cost and source of funds can be altered when the motion for its adoption is read on the floor of Town Meeting. As long as they don’t expand the scope of an article, motions can also be amended, so you’ll need to pay attention.
For details on how to speak and legislate at Town Meeting, you might consult the brief guide to “Town Meeting Conduct and Procedures” prepared by the League of Women Voters of Harvard, available at the League’s website: Go to lwvharvard.org/town-meeting-conduct-and-procedures.
For help with specialized terms such as “General Fund” or “levy,” see our “Glossary of municipal lingo”.
Article 1 – Approval of Department of Public Works contract and funding
Cost to town: $37,144
Source: General Stabilization Fund
Vote required: Two-thirds
The Select Board approved a new three-year contract for the 11 union employees of the Department of Public Works on Oct. 3. The new contract includes a cost-of-living adjustment of 3% as well as adjustments to wages for two positions and a longevity payment for employees who have been with the department for at least 10 years. The previous contract expired June 30.
This article asks the town to approve the contract and transfer the funds needed to cover its provisions for the current fiscal year. The fiscal 2024 budget, which included wages for Department of Public Works employees, was set at last spring’s Town Meeting, before this contract was ratified and approved.
This article was requested by the Select Board and recommended by the Finance Committee and the Select Board. The funds would be spent by the finance director
Article 2 – Amendment to Capital Planning and Investment Committee article: School vans
Cost to town: No additional cost
Vote required: Majority
Last spring, Town Meeting approved $30,000 to allow the schools to buy a new, 12-passenger van to transport small groups of students to after-school sports and other extracurricular activities. However, during the summer, new vans were in very short supply and prices rose steeply. So the school superintendent now proposes using the money to buy two used 14-passenger vans, rather than one new one. The change from one van to two requires Town Meeting approval.
An additional benefit would be that the vans could transport two groups of students to different after-school events. Keeping the van capacity below 16 passengers means no special licensing would be required for the driver. The vans would reduce the need to use Dee Bus Service, which last year charged about $100,000 for after-school sports transportation, according to the school business manager.
This article was requested by the School Committee and recommended by the Finance Committee and the Select Board. The money will be spent by the superintendent of schools.
Article 3 – Amend Open Space and Conservation Planned Residential Development
Cost to town: None
Vote required: Two-thirds
This article would amend an existing zoning bylaw, the Open Space and Conservation Planned Residential Development bylaw, which for the 20 years it was in effect, did not meet its intended purpose of conserving open space while encouraging a wider variety of housing types. The premise of the bylaw remains the same: to cluster homes while leaving significant swathes of permanently protected open space—at least 50% of a property. Also the same is the permitting process, which is by special permit and allowable anywhere in the agricultural-residential district. Both single and multifamily units remain allowable.
What is different are the enhanced density bonuses offered to developers in exchange for preserving the open space and for creating homes that are affordable, smaller, and ecologically sustainable. To see the main differences between the 2003 bylaw’s incentives and those proposed by the amendments, see the table page 12.
This article was requested by the Planning Board and recommended by the Select Board.
Article 4 – Local option room occupancy tax
Cost to town: None
Vote required: Majority
The Select Board is asking the town to approve a local room occupancy tax. The tax would apply to room rentals of 90 days or fewer in hotels, motels, bed and breakfast establishments, and lodging houses, as well as short-term rental properties, defined by the state as homes, apartments, condominiums, or rooms that are rented out for fewer than 31 days. Short-term rental properties do not include rentals covered by leases or tenancies at will.
The state allows towns to impose a local room occupancy tax of up to 6%, and the board is seeking that rate. The new tax would be paid by the occupants. Currently, 207 towns in the state have adopted the local room tax. Revenues in neighboring towns last year ranged from about $11,000 in Bolton to about $232,000 in Littleton.
The state charges a 5.7% room occupancy tax, and, if this article passes, the Department of Revenue would collect the local tax and distribute it to the town quarterly.
A similar article on the warrant in 2010 failed to get a majority vote. Only one business in town, Friendly Crossways, which was running a youth hostel at the time, would have been subjected to the tax, and voters were concerned that a room tax would unfairly burden that business.
Since then, Airbnbs have sprung up in town, with rental prices ranging as high as $1,250 a night. Town Administrator Tim Bragan recently told the Select Board that the tax would apply to 17 establishments in Harvard.
This article was requested and recommended by the Select Board.
Article 5 – Amend General Bylaw, Chapter 78, Personnel Bylaw
Cost to town: None
Vote required: Majority
This article would give the town administrator, rather than the Select Board, authority to accept, modify, or reject personnel policies recommended by the Personnel Board. The article also lays out the steps for resolving employee conflicts or complaints; the steps move from the immediate supervisor to the Personnel Board and then to the town administrator, rather than to the Select Board.
In addition, the article removes the section on employee benefits—such as vacation days, holidays, overtime pay, and town contributions to retirement plans—from the town bylaws, where any changes require Town Meeting approval. Employee benefits would be moved into a document titled Personnel Policies and Procedures, where changes could be made jointly by the Personnel Board and the town administrator.
For more information see article on page 1.
This article was approved by the Personnel Board and recommended by the Select Board.
Article 6 – Add civilian traffic control agent to the Police Department staffing
Cost to town: None
Vote required: Majority
The police chief has requested a pool of 10 civilian traffic control agents for safety at construction projects, parades, and emergencies. There is a statewide shortage of reserve police officers to fill these positions, and most nearby towns have adopted the use of civilian agents.
Police officers and retirees will still have first priority for traffic control jobs if they want the extra duty, and the civilian agents would be paid at the same rate as police officers. The costs would be borne by the entity in charge of the project. For example, if National Grid was doing work on a public roadway, the company would pay for the traffic safety detail.
These civilian traffic agents would buy their own uniforms and would be paid only when they were working a traffic detail. The only new costs to the town would be for the agents’ coverage under workers’ compensation insurance and Medicare. If other towns ask for Harvard’s police or civilian agents to work out-of-town traffic details, Harvard would receive a 10% administrative fee.
This article was requested by the chief of police and recommended by the Select Board.
Article 7 – Capital Planning and Investment Committee: Fire Department emergency generator
Cost to town: $77,507 to $160,000, amount scheduled to be decided by CPIC at its Oct. 19 meeting
Source: Capital Stabilization and Investment Fund
Vote required: Two-thirds
The Fire Department’s emergency generator, which powers the station in a power outage, failed last April. It no longer turns on automatically, and its main oil seal has a leak that requires oil to be added to the generator every hour when it is running.
In his request to the capital committee, Fire Chief Rick Sicard said the generator is at least as old as the station (47 years), and the manufacturer’s representative told him “that thing belongs in a museum.” Sicard said everyone who looked at it said it was not worth trying to fix.
The generator is necessary for public safety. During a power outage, it is needed to operate the overhead doors that allow engines to leave the station. It is also needed to keep the station heated during an outage in cold months to protect the millions of dollars’ worth of equipment inside.
Sicard submitted the capital request this fall, but Capital Planning and Investment Committee Chair Nate Finch told the Press he did not realize a request had been submitted for an item needed immediately. Consequently, the committee has not yet voted to recommend it, but Finch said it will do so at its Oct. 19 meeting.
This article was requested by the Capital Planning and Investment Committee and recommended by the Finance Committee and the Select Board. The funds would be expended by the fire chief.
Article 8 – Authorize Select Board to acquire land and easements for Ayer Road project
Cost to town: None
Vote required: Two-thirds
This article would authorize the town to pursue the easements needed for the $12 million renovation of Ayer Road, which is scheduled to begin in 2026 and take about a year to complete. Town Meeting in the spring of 2024 will be asked for the necessary funds.
Most landowners in the path of renovation will be asked to donate or sell permanent or temporary (the duration of roadwork) easements, mainly to accommodate utility poles. Town Administrator Tim Bragan told the Press that most of the accommodations are temporary easements; only four parcels must be permanently secured by the town, including land near Gebo Lane where the Ayer Road-Lancaster County Road entrance will be eliminated and access to Lancaster County Road rerouted through Gebo Lane.
Bragan said each homeowner will be asked to donate a permanent or temporary easement; compensation will be offered if the landowner won’t donate it. Taking by eminent domain in the four cases where land must be permanently secured is the last resort, he said.
The federal government will pay for about 80% of the renovation, the state for about 20%. Harvard pays for the design and for easements and land purchases or takings.
This article was requested and recommended by the Select Board.
Article 9 – Authorize an easement to connect the town’s water system to the water system in Devens
Cost to town: None
Vote required: Two-thirds
Last spring voters approved borrowing $4.85 million to install a connection to the Devens water system from Depot Road, making Devens the source of town water. Two easements will be required, one from MassDevelopment and one from CSX, the company that owns the property under the railroad tracks.
This summer, Tighe & Bond engineers determined that the ideal location for the pump station would be on the Devens side of the railroad tracks, necessitating an easement from MassDevelopment.
The water main from the pump station will need to be installed under the railroad tracks, as will an electrical supply from the Harvard side of the tracks to the pump station. That will require an easement from CSX.
Town Administrator Bragan told the Press he does not anticipate any cost for either easement. Both MassDevelopment and CSX are being very cooperative with the town on this project, according to Tighe & Bond engineer Tom Mahanna.
This article was requested and recommended by the Select Board.
Residents signal their vote at Town Meeting, April 29. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz)
