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Date: 5/2/2023
BELCHERTOWN — A Special and Annual Town Meeting will take place on Monday, May 8, at 7 p.m. in the Belchertown High School auditorium.
The Special Town Meeting will feature two articles to see if the town will vote to transfer funds to and from certain line items for the fiscal year 2023 budget and to transfer funds to pay for unpaid bills of the prior year.
The Annual Town Meeting will take place at 7:30 p.m. and will feature 33 articles.
This will also be the first Town Meeting that will feature electronic voting devices. There will be no more hand counts.
With the new technology, Town Meeting votes will be anonymous and accurate, and the system will be able to instantly call two-thirds votes as well as majority.
Instructions will be provided as registered voters check-in and also will be explained before the meeting begins.
The budget will not be discussed until Article 8 and the final budget numbers will be presented at Town Meeting.
The School and Finance committees along with the Select Board have hosted multiple joint meetings to construct the FY24 budget.
Article 11 deals with Belchertown possibly changing from a town administrator to a town manager.
Select Board Chair Jim Barry said, “This article is asking Town Meeting to authorize the Select Board to ask the [Massachusetts General Court, namely our state Legislature in Boston, to pass a law to hire a town manager.”
During the last few months, the Select Board has been going through the process of finding a replacement for current Town Administrator Gary Brougham who is set to retire when his contract expires in June.
The Select Board has stated that they would like to add more responsibilities for the next town administrator and eventually shift the position to a town manager.
Some responsibilities they want to add to the town administrator are appointment powers, personnel powers, budget making authority and the responsibility to do collective bargaining.
Barry added, “Probably 85 to 90% is currently in the town administrator’s contract or current job description but there are a handful of things that are slightly different that gives the town manager a bit more authority than the current town administrator. The Select Board has approved it.”
The full job description and responsibilities are explained in the warrant.
Article 10 deals with amending the Code of the Town of Belchertown personnel bylaws.
The article would include a $75 wastewater weekend stipend for any wastewater treatment plant employee who is required to work the weekend to provide coverage.
Article 10 also adds a new town classification compensation plan with potentially two new positions, a Fire Department deputy chief and Belchertown Community TV executive director.
Both positions are not in the upcoming FY24 budget, but Fire Chief John Ingram would like the town to vote it in the personnel bylaws so that if funds become available, they won’t have to wait for another Town Meeting to potentially fill the position.
Both positions were explained to the Finance Committee by Ingram and BCTV as needs to for their respective departments.
Articles 27 deals with Community Preservation Committee and its FY24 budget.
The article discusses the need to meet the proper expenses of the Community Preservation Committee for FY24 and reserve expenses from the Community Preservation Fund annual revenues including transferring and appropriate a $65,071 CPA fund balance and $33,604 from the CPA open space reserve for a total appropriation of $98,675.
Fifty-thousand dollars is to pay for debt service and $48,675 is to make a one-time principal draw-down on the bond issued under Article 27 at the June 2020 Town Meeting for the acquisition of the DuBois property.
The article also looks for voters to approve Community Preservation Funds for Community Preservation Act projects as recommended by the Community Preservation Committee.
Articles 28-32 discuss projects that could benefit from the Community Preservation Fund if the voters approve it.
Article 28 deals with funding rehabilitation at McPherson Garden and to comply Americans with Disabilities accessibility requirements. It would also authorize the Select Board, Historical Commission and the Community Preservation Committee to enter into a grant agreement to set forth the terms and conditions under which said funds may be expended.
Articles 29-31 deals with granting the Recreation Department with Community Preservation funds to use for the Chestnut Community School football field and pickleball courts.
The funds would be used for installing a water well and shed with pump and electricity to irrigate the football field. The funds will also be used to level, crown and install a sidewalk to allow access to the field with future expansion capabilities to the surrounding sports field.
Article 31 deals with using the funds to install fencing around the newly created pickle ball courts behind Jabish Brook Middle School.
Article 32 falls under the direction of the veterans graves officer and put the funds for a gravestone preservation and restoration project at the South Cemetery.
Article 26 would establish an Agricultural Value-Added district.
As stated in the warrant, the new district is intended to support and promote local agricultural activity and the retention of active farmland by providing economic and educational opportunities to add commercial value to local agricultural products.
It’s also designed to provide a base of economic activity and reflects the town’s agricultural heritage, and to provide supportive infrastructure for new agricultural technologies.
The warrant explains the purpose, benefits, review and approval process, dimensional and use standards, parking and more.
The article goes with the town’s continued effort to increase economic development.
Articles 19-22 will see if the town will vote to accept four different roads as public ways.
The four roadways include High Bluff Road and Sunnycrest Lane/ Concord Way in the High Meadow Farms Subdivision, Hunters Ridge Phase lll- Old Sawmill Road and Trillium Way in the Meadow View Subdivision.
The main benefit of accepting a roadway as a public way is if it faces any issues, it is controlled and maintained by the local or state government to fix.
Articles 23-25 deal with amending zoning bylaws.
Article 23 looks to eliminate the Light Industrial zone and to change the zoning of multiple parcels in that district to either a Business Neighborhood Center, General Business or Village Residential.
Articles 5, 9, 12 and 14 would focus on appropriating money to the Reserve Fund, Stabilization Fund, Other Post-Employment Benefits Liability Trust Fund and the Belchertown Cultural Council.
Article 13 deals with accessing funds from the PEG Access and Cable Related Fund for operations, purchase and installation of equipment and capital projects of Belchertown Community TV.
Barry said, “All residents that have cable TV pay a little extra that goes into this fund and the fund is used to make it all happen. We need an article to collect the money and disperse it accordingly.”
The BCC would use the funds to provide engaging arts and cultural programming to Belchertown.
Article 15 would help create a special purpose Opioid Settlement Stabilization fund.
Barry added that this article will create a legal framework to collect the money Belchertown expects to receive from the national opioid settlement.
Articles 16 and 18 would see if the town will vote to authorize the Select Board to enter agreements to lease and/or purchase an ambulance for the Fire Department and DPW vehicles.
Article 17 deals with the town voting to authorize the school department to enter into an agreement to lease or purchase a school department truck.
More information on the school department truck will be presented at Town Meeting.
Article 6 would authorize the Select Board to apply for and accept any funds from the Massachusetts Highway Improvement Program for approved town ways.
Article 33 will feature a citizen petition relative to the state flag and seal of Massachusetts.