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Date: 12/12/2022
GRANBY – To kick off the new year, Granby will be hosting a Special Town Meeting on Jan. 23 after the Selectboard discussed the warrant articles for the meeting at their Dec. 5 meeting.
During the Selectboard’s Dec. 5 meeting they reviewed a draft warrant for a Special Town Meeting for Jan. 23 at East Meadow School. In total there were four articles on the draft warrant but only two remaining after discussion.
Article 1 is to see if the town will vote to transfer $50,000 from the General Purpose Stabilization Fund for the purpose of repairing a play structure at Dufresne Park. The park closed off the playground section earlier this year as conditions made it unsafe for children until repaired.
Town Administrator Chris Martin said this project comes after the previous inspection done that determined the status of the park. The two main repairs will bring the playground back to usable standards for children and families.
Article 2 on the draft warrant will be voted on to see if the town establishes an opioid settlement stabilization account in accordance with Massachusetts General Law Chapter 40 Section 5B. According to Martin the fund would be established for the purpose of future expenditures related to opioid recovery.
Martin explained that the state, through the Attorney General’s office, had entered into an opioid settlement with drug manufacturers. He added that through this settlement, Granby will “probably over a 10-year period get about $220,000 for use in opioid” programs.
“The problem we have is the settlement funds are considered a general fund revenue, so what we are trying to do, is each year, we would have at our Annual Town Meeting an appropriation equal to an amount we would receive that fiscal year, to put into this fund for future use on any opioid program that the town of Granby offers,” Martin said.
The vote at the Special Town Meeting will determine if the town establishes said fund.
One of the two articles that was removed from the draft warrant was a vote to see if the town would authorize the Selectboard to proceed with conversations on turning the West Street Building into municipal offices. The board ultimately decided to remove the article from the draft warrant as they felt they should bring options to Town Meeting voters on what to do on the building instead of back tracking some of the work that has been done already in feasibility for the building.
Martin said that in meeting with the town’s legal counsel, they had a lengthy discussion regarding this and the concern of Town Meeting being used as a sounding board for issues. He added that the setting of Town Meeting is meant as a business meeting of the town where an appropriation needs to be made, a bylaw change is up for vote, or some type of overlay district is being finalized.
“The question that counsel had was should we proceed with this article at Town Meeting or should the board hold a couple town hall type meetings to get people in and give input as to the potential future of that building instead of going to town meeting without any of that information available,” Martin said.
The board decided to remove the article from the draft warrant for these reasons. Selectboard Chair Glenn Sexton referred to a 2017 feasibility study that was done for the building and said the town could still use it as a base for options for the building and can get a rough estimate of costs based on the options.
Martin added that removing the article was a good option and that the Selectboard could identify the best option to bring to a future Town Meeting. Selectboard members and Martin expressed that having a plan such as demolition and new build, or renovation and rehab, or partial rebuild of sections are all different options with different price points.
One will be later identified after more discussions with residents who come to future Selectboard meetings. The hope is the board can bring a future article to a future Town Meeting in regard to be voted on that will decide exact plans for the building.
“If we bring a definitive option to them with either a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ then we do not get into discussion of all these various options,” Martin said.
Board members also shared similar sentiments about finding the most cost-efficient option for the project. It was also noted that the town is facing a timeline with certain municipality buildings and that the project for the West Street building could provide a town office for municipalities.
The other article removed from the draft warrant after discussion was for a vote to authorize the Selectboard to enter into negotiations to take over operations of the Granby Community Access and Media Incorporated, the community’s nonprofit cable access TV station. Martin said through discussions with the town’s counsel, there were some concerns with the article.
For starters, Martin explained that they looked at other communities in the state that operate their own community access channels. One concern Martin identified was that Granby’s community station is a nonprofit and the town is currently in a contact with Comcast that indicates all franchise fees go to the community station.
Another concern Martin noted was that through conversations with the station, he was notified their budget is not definitive and they operate on an annual basis.
“The question I have is does the town have sufficient excess taxing capacity to take over the operation of a television station and run it in a proper manner for a prolonged period of time, or are we kicking the can down the road,” Martin said.
Martin said he was not against leaving the article on the draft warrant as it was only a vote to see if the board would enter negotiations and not a finalization of any deal. The board decided on removing the article as they felt they needed more information about the expenses and income of the station and if it was a reasonable cost for the town to absorb.
According to Martin, Saugus is one community in the state that has been able to have their municipalities coexist with a local media group without the municipality being in charge of decision making for the group. Sexton called it an example of a local station being, “its own separate entity, quasi connected to the town.”
After discussions between Martin and the board, the draft warrant currently has only two articles on it for a Special Town Meeting in January.