by Joan Eliyesil ·
Friday, September 13, 2024
The warrant for the second session of Annual Town Meeting, to be held in the Cronin Auditorium at the Bromfield School at noon on Sept. 28, sparked some controversy at the Sept. 4 Select Board meeting. But while some board members expressed doubts about the content of a few of the 13 articles, they voted unanimously to close the warrant and approve the language, with a few minor amendments.
The most substantial article is Article 13, which asks the town to adopt a specialized energy code to replace the town’s current stretch energy code. The proposed code would apply only to new construction (not alterations or additions), and contains provisions to include either pre-wiring for or installation of solar, depending on the size of the building (see “Consider This” on page 3 for more information).
Most of the other articles fall into the “housekeeping” category. Five involve transferring money from the General Stabilization Fund to cover unforeseen expenses such as the need to temporarily employ the previous town administrator past his resignation date and a human resources consultant to fill a gap in the assistant town administrator position. Article 3 requests funds to repair the pipes under the old library, but that problem has since resolved itself. The board chose to keep the article in the warrant at the recommendation of Town Administrator Dan Nason in case the problem should reoccur before Town Meeting. If the funds are not needed, the board will move to take no action on this article.
Voters will likely be surprised to see Article 6, which requests $2.31 million for the Devens water connection. That sum was approved at Special Town Meeting in May, but due to a procedural technicality, bond counsel requested that another vote be taken. The Town Charter specifies that Special Town Meeting warrants must be posted on the town website at least 14 days prior to the meeting; last May’s meeting was posted only 13 days in advance. Should Article 6 fail, Nason told the board the town would have to hold another Special Town Meeting to vote on the additional funding. Construction on the pipe installation is set to start the week of Sept. 16, and Nason told the Press work can go on as scheduled, as the initial appropriation of $4.85 million, voted in 2023, is available.
Article 8 asks the town to accept the layouts of a few roads that intersect Ayer Road as a requirement for the Ayer Road reconstruction project. Nason explained that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation no longer accepts outdated layouts for any road that intersects roads in one of its projects. He said that to get federal funding for the project, the road layouts need to be redone and accepted again by the town.
Article 11, requesting a separate reserve fund for special education was controversial. Board member Charles Oliver objected to the transfer of $150,000 from the General Stabilization Fund into the proposed fund. Oliver said the existing emergency Reserve Fund of $350,000 is customarily split evenly between special education and snow and ice removal, so special education is already entitled to $175,000 of that fund. He said the article should be tabled until spring when the Reserve Fund could be adjusted. Chair Don Ludwig said the article had been inserted by the School Department, and the board had no authority to remove it.
Oliver also objected to the $300,000 limit in Article 12 that would create a revolving account for money received from renting school facilities and used to pay for overtime and other expenses related to the events being held there. Oliver said the $300,000 account limit was too high, and would tie up too much money. Member SusanMary Redinger said rentals bring in about $60,000 “in a good year,” but they could bring in more. Oliver said he’d like the cap to be set at the average amount that rentals have brought in over the past five years.
The board will likely discuss the two articles again at its Sept. 17 meeting when it makes its recommendations on each warrant article.