Town officials hoping for efficient, productive ATM

Efficiency but also opportunity for residents to voice their opinions on warrant articles were the key goals emphasized at the pre-ATM public informational meeting held via Zoom on May 12 in preparation for Saturday’s annual town meeting, which begins at 12:30 p.m. on the CHS turf field.

Expected Town Moderator Alan Hines and Finance Committee Chair Tim McKenna hosted the two-hour meeting and invited the sponsors of all 42 warrant articles to talk about and explain the intention of each article. Hines said his hope was to give residents background information on each article before town meeting begins.

Forecasts for Saturday as of press time were calling for cloudy to partly cloudy conditions with a chance of an isolated thunderstorm and temperatures in the mid 80s.

Hines said the plan is to continue town meeting on Saturday until all business has finished. If necessary, he said he would ask for a termination at 7 p.m., although he predicted the meeting would wrap up around 5 p.m. If town meeting is canceled because of inclement weather, it would reconvene on Saturday, June 5, at 12:30 p.m.

Hines asked the FinCom to include as many articles as possible in the consent agenda — which can be voted on as a group — so that adequate time can be given to the articles that require debate. If an article listed on the consent agenda needs to be debated, residents can rise and put a hold on that article. Traditionally, articles placed on the consent agenda are those that are non-controversial with no financial impact to the town.

As of May 13, there were 16 articles on the consent agenda, including Article 4 (consent agenda), Article 5 (collective bargaining agreements), Article  6 (personal service contracts under the Select Board), Article 12 (accept general or session laws), Article 13 (annual July 4th funding), Article 14 (insurance proceeds), Article 15 (rescind unused borrowing authorizations), Article 18 (increase solar stabilization fund), Article 21 (home rule petition relative to police detail work), Article 22 (acquire permanent easement over 145 Sherman St.), Article 23 (right of way easement for land taking off Pleasant St.) and Article 24 (removal of weeds at Old Shepard’s Pond). Other consent agenda articles include Article 27 (transfer of hats to American Legion), Article 29 (acceptance of gift of land from Topgolf), and articles 33 and 34 (acceptance of two town ways). Several of the aforementioned articles have been recommended for indefinite postponement, and others, including Articles 24 and Article 28 (special tax agreement with Emergent BioSolutions) are also being considered for postponement.

The first three articles on the warrant — electing a moderator, adopting town meeting rules and hearing town reports — are procedural in nature and should be concluded within minutes. Reports by the Economic Development Committee, Community Preservation Committee, and Canton Alliance Against Substance Abuse, which are usually presented orally at town meeting, were read at the May 12 informational meeting and have been posted on the town website.

There are three articles brought forward this year that were originally on the 2020 warrant but were not considered because of the emergency nature of last year’s town meeting. They include Article 22 (easement over 145 Sherman St.), Article 21 (home rule petition relative to police detail work) and Article 25 (Sidewalk Betterment Assessment Bylaw).

Check out page 10 of this week’s Citizen for a breakdown of the 2021 ATM warrant.

There are a few other articles that will likely have little or no debate, such as setting salaries of elected officials, paying bills from the prior fiscal year, funding for snow and ice accounts, and reviewing revolving accounts.

Two of the lengthier articles with many motions each are Article 11, the town’s Capital Plan for FY22, and Article 19, which includes the spending recommendations of the Community Preservation Committee. Canton uses a random lottery system for article consideration unless the town moderator links articles together because of impact. Hines said he would link the CCPC funding to Article 32 (establishment of a Municipal Affordable Housing Trust) since one of the recommendations is a sum of money for establishment the housing trust.

Articles that could incur substantial debate include the housing trust proposal as well as Article 30, which proposes the establishment of a Municipal Energy Aggregation Program, and Article 31, which proposes funding for the Little League’s bathroom, storage and snack shack at the Kennedy School fields.

There are seven also zoning amendments on the warrant, including elimination of the Canton Center Design Review Board, a bylaw clarification pertaining to the keeping overnight of motor vehicles, a definition of short-term rentals and updates to the table of use regulations, amendments to the dimensional requirements for accessory structures, new regulations for retaining walls along scenic ways, and removal of the expired temporary moratorium on the sale and distribution of recreational marijuana (a full ban was approved at the 2018 town meeting).

The last article to be considered is the town budget for FY22. Finance Director Randy Scollins said current budget totals include $47.8 million for the schools, $23.6 million for municipal departments, $32.2 million for fixed costs, $14.9 million for water, sewer and rink enterprise accounts, $1.4 million in state and county assessments, and $3.2 million in special appropriations.

All residents and officials are asked to wear face coverings and pay attention to social distancing. Bottles of water will be provided, and bathroom facilities will be open.

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Posted by Mike Berger on May 21 2021. Filed under News, Town Government. Both comments and pings are currently closed.