Special Town Meeting is coming up in 2½ weeks. Here’s my overview of what’s up for a vote. (And some logistics.)
Meeting Overview
Anyone registered to vote in Southborough is welcome to participate in the Town Meetings which serves as the Town’s legislature. (For this meeting, voters need to be registered by 5:00 pm on October 7th. Learn more here.)
The STM on Saturday, October 17th is scheduled to open at 10:00 am at Trottier Middle School, 49 Parkerville Road.
There is no end time, and how long debates will take is always uncertain. But this meeting is likely to be wrapped up within a couple of hours.
As usual, the auditorium will serve as the primary hall for officials and voters. But those who wish to attend with their children will be able to participate from the cafeteria. The caf will again be set up with full audio and video. Voters in that room will have the full ability to ask questions, make public comments and motions, and vote from the cafeteria.
No food or beverage will be available for sale at the meeting.
According to the Town’s website, auditorium voters can only bring in beverages if they are in a container “with a sealed top — no DD or Starbucks type containers are allowed.”
Warrant Articles To Be Voted On
The Special Town Meeting will be asked to vote on the following 8 Articles.
1. Change Town Clerk position from Elected to Appointed
After 11 years in the role as elected Town Clerk Jim Hegarty is retiring, effective today, September 30th. Over a decade ago, he supported the position of the former even longer term Town Clerk Paul Berry when he convinced voters to keep the position an elected one. But over time, he came to change that opinion. He proposed this Article as the first step in converting the position to one appointed by the Select Board.
He warned the Select Board that the Town could end up with someone elected for three years, collecting a salary, but not really doing the important, and complicated job. You can read more about his reasons for the change here.
The Article proposes to options for how the conversion of the position would occur. One option, which was explained by Hegarty when he first discussed his plans to retire, would be for voters to ratify it through the Town Election next May.
But a second option in the Article would authorize the Select Board to bypass ballot voters about this decision, and bring the requested change straight to the State legislature. That jumped out at me, given that only a small percentage of the voters who participate in Town elections also attend Town Meetings.
In the meantime, an Interim Town Clerk, Amy Berry, has been appointed by the board to serve until the next Town Election. (Since she doesn’t live in Southborough, she isn’t eligible to run for the seat in the election.)
Hegarty hasn’t publicly presented the Article. (That may take place at the Select Board’s meeting next Tuesday, October 6th.) While the Select Board and Advisory Committee both voted to support the Article, neither have yet publicly discussed the rationale, or pros and cons, for potentially cutting out or disregarding results of the ballot vote.
2. Amend Zoning Code – Two Family Dwellings
This Article would remove the current 2-year time restriction on converting single family homes to two family homes, allowing new construction of two family homes — if they receive a special permit through the Zoning Board of Appeals’ public hearing process. Learn more about that in my prior coverage here.
The following two Articles are for increasing spending on projects previously authorized to use Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds:
3. CPC – Appropriate Additional CPA Funds for Golf Irrigation Project
This Article seeks to add an additional $433,546 of CPA funding and extend the project timeline for replacing the over 50 year old, leaky and frequently failing sprinkler system for the Town owned golf course. If approved, the total project budget will be $1.1M. About 90% would be covered by the CPA and $100K by the Southborough Golf Course Revolving Fund. Learn more about the Article and officials’ split positions in my prior coverage here.
4. CPC – Appropriate Additional CPA Funds for Peninsula Trails Project
Town Meeting also previously approved CPA funds to continue the effort to bridge the gap in regional and town trails. The budget to extend the Peninsula Trail included paving/striping/signage for new accessible parking spaces and hiring a qualified contractor to oversee and manage the purchase and installation of an elevated boardwalk and pedestrian footbridge.
After an unsuccessful bid that proved the budget was far too low, the Trails Committee is now asking to double the budget, by adding $217,318, while shrinking the scope of work. The budget will now only cover the installation of a pedestrian footbridge (and the consultant to engineer and oversee the project).
Both the Select Board and Advisory Committee members voted to Not Support the Article.
Look for a future dedicated post, including officials’ criticisms and Trails and CPC’s responses. (I’m waiting to include the Trails Committee’s FAQs on the project. They’ll be meeting tomorrow to finalize those.)
5. Create a Stormwater Enterprise Fund.
The administrative act of creating the fund would allow the Town to:
separately account for the revenues and expenditures associated with the Town’s stormwater management program, including regulatory compliance, operation and maintenance of stormwater infrastructure, drainage improvements, engineering, administration, capital projects, debt service and other stormwater-related expenses.
This Article would not entitle the Town to bill property owners for stormwater management expenses. But it could eventually lead there if future voters approve that.
In the meantime, tax revenues dedicated to the enterprise fund would still need approval under the normal budget process at Annual Town Meeting.
Select Board Vice Chair Andrew Pfaff pitched creating the fund. In a presentation to the board this summer, he touted the ability to assess fees similar to what he’s seen done in other towns. The intent would be for property owners to contribute towards their share of the Town’s financial burden for infrastructure that handles stormwater that includes runoff from private properties.
Benefits include the ability to charge fees to non-profits that are exempt from property taxes, like the private schools. One potential model would use information from a mapping project that shows the amount of impervious surface on properties. That could incentivize some owners to reduce their impervious surfaces.
The majority of the board were open to Pfaff continuing to dig into options. If they decide to pursue a fee model, that would be brought to a future Town Meeting for approval.
6. Rescind Unused Debt Authorizations
These Articles clean up the borrowing authorizations that turned out to be larger than needed for two projects. The first is the Breakneck Hill Farm dump cleanup. (Stay tuned for that figure, which the Select Board learned should be different than the amount in the Warrant. They’ll discuss that at their next meeting this Tuesday.)
The second is for borrowing that was approved in 2022 to cover the Town’s study of Neary School as part of the prior effort to renovate or build a New Neary. $375,000 of the cost was covered by the MSBA (Mass School Building Authority).
7. Appropriation from Water Fund for connecting properties to Town Water
In January, I posted about concerns raised by MassDEP (Dept of Environmental Protection) about the need for further testing of private wells on two properties abutting the old landfill under Lundblad field on Parkerville Road. It appears that the recommendation was for ongoing testing.
The Article seeks $240,000 for an alternative plan that would negate that need and the liabilities that come with it. Instead, the properties (39 & 41 Parkerville Road) would be hooked up to the municipal water system.
The Select Board voted to support that 4-01. Advisory is choosing to wait until Town Meeting to decide their position.
8. Increase Personal Property Tax Exemption Amount
This would increase the threshold value of business assets that the town can assess personal property taxes on. The exemption would go from $1,500 to $2,500.
In a meeting with the Select Board and Advisory Committee Treasurer Brian Ballantine confirmed that the administrative expense for assessing the taxes on the lower cost items exceeds the resulting revenue raised for the Town.
You can find the official Warrant (with full Article language) and other details on the dedicated meeting page here. That’s also where the Town may post additional handouts prior to the meeting.
