Above: At Town Meetings, voters are invited to hear requests for funding projects, changing Town bylaws and more. Voters get to ask questions, argue opinions, suggest revisions, and directly decide the outcomes. (images from video of last fall’s Special Town Meeting)
Special Town Meeting is just two days away. Here’s my updated 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.1
(For readers who are unfamiliar with how Town Meeting works, I include a “Primer” in a February post that you can read 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 few 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 dedicated page on the 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.”
Amending Articles
In a prior story, I noted that any voter can propose an amendment. Prior to the last Town Meeting, former Town Clerk Jim Hegarty posted a link for a form that voters can fill out in advance when they know they want to make an amendment. Pre-submitting the form will allow Town Clerk Office staff to have the typed motion ready to go, to quickly project on the screen. Otherwise the process can hold up the meeting by several minutes.
You can find that form here.
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 retired on September 30th. 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.)
Over a decade ago, Hegarty supported the position of the former even longer term Town Clerk Paul Berry when he convinced voters to keep the position an elected one that reports directly to voters. But over time, he came to change that opinion.
Hegarty proposed this Article as the first step in converting the elected position to a Town employee who is appointed by and reports to the Select Board.
He warned the board that otherwise 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 publicly stated reasons for the change here.
The Article proposes two 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.
That detail was mentioned by the Advisory Committee Chair, but members never discussed the rationale for including that option. (The Select Board hasn’t discussed the detail at all.) Members of both groups unanimously support the Article.
Hegarty will publicly present this version of the Article for the first time at Town Meeting.
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.
Select Board members support the Article 4-1-0. Advisory Committee members were much less supportive. Four members oppose the change and only three support it.
Learn more about the proposed zoning change in my prior coverage here. (You can also read the the Town’s posted presentation slides 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. Only $150K would come from the Southborough Golf Course Revolving Fund (A previous $50K investment, plus a future $100K).
Learn more about the Article and officials’ split positions in my prior coverage here. (You can also read the Town’s posted presentation slides here and a letter to the Editor from the Select Board Chair asking for voter support 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. Their members believe the cost is too high for the priority. The Trails Committee and Community Preservation Committee disagree.
You can read more detail on the debate in my dedicated post here. (You can also read the the Trail Committee’s flyer and FAQs here.)
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.
One item is for the 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).
The other is $727,960 of the $4.33M that was borrowed for cleaning up an old farm dump on Breakneck Hill Conservation Land as required by Mass Dept of Environmental Protection. The cleanup was completed. The rescinded authorization would still leave $176,000 in unspent funds for additional restoration work at the site.
This Article could be debated as Stewardship seeks to leave a larger buffer for work on the site. The Select Board rejected a request to amend the Article, but a voter could make the motion at the meeting.
For more details, see my dedicated post here.
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 cost covers an extension of the water main to reach the properties, and the water line connecting to the homes. But any future repairs to the water lines would be homeowners’ responsibilities.
The Select Board voted to support that 4-0-1. Last week, after getting more details, Advisory voted 6-0-0 to support the Article. Advisory Committee member Al Hamilton described the situation as created by a problem the Town caused. He opined, “We broke it. We gotta fix it.”
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.
