Brenda Church

The meeting includes discussions and votes on various articles, including appropriating funds for unpaid bills from previous fiscal years, a grant cash match, authorizing a five-year contract for police tasers, expanding district improvement financing boundaries, establishing an opioid settlement stabilization fund, a MMWEC solar PILOT, capital transfers, Piney Lane right of way, a FY24 budget amendment, zoning bylaw amendments related to visibility at intersections, fences, dimensional requirements, administrative review committee membership, setback diagram replacement, site plan approval process, reference changes, replacing diagrams, a temporary moratorium on battery storage, replacing diagram reference numbers, and licensing, control and keeping of dogs.

The town meeting will address the appropriation of funds for the design, construction, and land acquisition for a new senior center. Additionally, it will discuss the appropriation, borrowing, or transfer of funds for the design and construction of the new Chapin Street Elementary School with a capacity of 630 students, accommodating grades 2-5, at the 13.8-acre site located at 766 Chapin Street.

The meeting discussed departmental budgets for FY2018, reviewing and approving budgets for various departments including the Board of Selectmen, Finance Committee, Town Accountant, Board of Assessors, Treasurer, Town Collector, Town Counsel, Human Resources, Information Technology, Town Clerk, Election & Registration, Conservation Commission, Planning Board, Board of Appeals, Public Buildings, Police Department, Fire Department, Ambulance Service, EMT Service, Building Commissioner, Sealer of Weights & Measures, Emergency Management, Animal Control, Safety Committee, Department of Public Works, Snow & Ice Removal, Streets/Traffic Lights, Board of Health, Council on Aging, Veterans Services, Hubbard Memorial Library, Recreation Commission, and Historical Commission. The meeting also covered debt principal and interest, employee benefits, the School Department, Golf Enterprise, Sewer Enterprise, and Cable services.

The special town meeting included discussions and votes on various articles. These included addressing unpaid bills and overexpended accounts from previous years, authorizing the Police Department to enter into a Lease to Own Taser Contract, and offsetting the deficit in debt service for Fiscal Year 2019 for the Chapin Street Elementary School and Senior Center projects. Additional items covered transferring funds for Sewer Division Capital Improvements, purchasing a Deputy Fire Chief's vehicle, and amending zoning bylaws related to recreational marijuana, private swimming pools, and business in agriculture overlay districts. The meeting also addressed changing zoning classifications for specific parcels of land, acquiring land for public ways such as Maria's Way, Sunset Ridge, Turning Leaf Road, and Harvest Drive, and purchasing property for a new Senior Center. Finally, the transfer of funds from the Stabilization Fund to be used by the Board of Assessors in determining the Fiscal Year 2019 tax levy was discussed.

The special town meeting included discussions and potential votes on several financial articles. One article addressed the transfer of funds for unpaid bills and over-expended accounts from previous fiscal years. Another article focused on transferring funds from free cash to cover additional overtime expenses incurred by the Police Department.