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Date: 5/28/2021
GRANBY – On June 5, the annual Granby Town Meeting will take place at 9 a.m. The meeting, which will be hosted outdoors in a tent in front of the Granby Junior-Senior High School on East Street due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, will have residents vote on 30 separate articles. Among the articles to be voted on are several budgetary items, whether or not to rescind borrowing authority for the East Meadow School, to see which method of raising funds the town prefers to fund a settlement with the former fire chief and to fund a town-wide communication system for the Police Department.
Articles 1A through 1K
Articles 1A to 1K in the town warrant ask residents to vote on a variety of items related to the fiscal year 2022 (FY22). Among these are basic budget items such as allowing departments to receive pay for services rendered, to allow the Selectboard to conduct several financial activities, to accept donations, allow the creation of several revolving funds for departments’ needs, appropriate money to pay its share of the FY22 budget to the Pathfinder Regional Vocational High School and to appropriate money for road repairs and construction.
Article two
Article two will ask voters to decide whether or not to rescind borrowing authority for the addition/renovation project at the East Meadow School. The initial vote was approved during a special town meeting on Feb. 8, 2016. The proposed project would have been completed in conjunction with a grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) and planned for a 31,730 square foot addition and renovation of the existing building.
Article three
Article three deals with a potential settlement with the former Granby Fire Chief, John Mitchell, who was fired in July of 2020. Mitchell’s termination as fire chief has been the subject of legal action between the town and him after the town was ordered to pay him for 90 days back pay for two previous suspensions that took place without pay. Despite having been terminated nearly a year ago, Mitchell’s employment contract with the town isn’t due to expire until June 30. The article asks residents to vote on appropriating $225,000 for the purpose of “funding a settlement with the former fire chief or take any other action in regard thereto.”
Article four
Article four involves a bylaw that was passed by the town during a special town meeting on July 8, 1968. When passed decades ago the bylaw gave control of the Fire Department in town to the fire chief. If the town votes to rescind the bylaw at the 2021 Town Meeting in June, control of the Granby Fire Department will then fall under the responsibility of the town administrator.
Articles five and six
Articles five and six deal with appropriating funds for projects in town. Article five asks for the appropriation of $100,000 for the purpose of funding any tree removal that is required of the town while article six is for the appropriation of $200,000 to fund the Highway Department’s paving operations.
Article seven
Article seven, if passed, would appropriate $50,000 to fund the construction of Granby Veterans’ Memorial. The idea for the memorial began with resident Jason Richard, in 2012 after he served in Afghanistan. He, along with several other community members, have been working since then to raise money to fund the construction of the memorial, which will be placed in the center of town for all to view and appreciate. After a series of fundraisers over the years, the anticipated deficit left to fund the project as of Dec. 2020 was $50,000.
Article eight
Article eight deals with the appropriation of $38,358 to fund the town’s portion of tuition for students who attend the Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School. The school provides a unique education in agriculture and other trades to students across Western Massachusetts.
Articles nine, 10 and 11
Article nine, 10 and 11 are more town-related appropriations. Article nine, if passed, would appropriate $60,000 to fund buying a new vehicle for the Granby Fire Department while article 10 would appropriate $54,613 to buy a new marked cruiser for the Granby Police Department. Article 11 deals with the appropriation of $291,500 to fund the town purchasing a town-wide communication system for the Police Department.
Articles 12, 13, 14 and 15
Articles 12 through 15 deal with the appropriation of monies for projects and purchases for the Granby Public Buildings Department. Article 12, if passed, would appropriate $73,695 for the purchase of a truck with a plow for the department. Article 13 asks for the appropriation of $10,535 to buy a single person lift for the department while article 14 asks for the appropriation of $14,605 to buy a snow thrower attachment for the mower used by the department. Finally, article 15 asks for the appropriation of $17,001 to buy a zero-turn mower for the department.
Articles 16 and 17
Articles 16 and 17 are related to appropriation requests made by the Granby Highway Department. If passed, article 16 would appropriate $206,000 to fund the purchase of a front loader for the department while article 17 would appropriate $53,000 to buy a tractor for the department.
Articles 18, 19 and 20
Articles 18 through 20 are transfers of money between accounts. Article 18, if passed, would transfer $54,488 from the town’s free cash fund to further fund the town’s general purposes stabilization fund. Article 19 would also transfer money from the town’s free cash fund, but $54,487 would fund the town’s capital needs stabilization fund. Lastly, article 20 would transfer $54,487 from the town’s free cash fund to fund their municipal buildings stabilization fund.
Article 21
Article 21, if passed, would allow the town to appropriate funds in the amount of $51,598 to purchase a new pickup truck for the School Department.
Articles 22, 23 and 24
Articles 22, 23 and 24 all involve appropriating funds for the operation of several different departments in town. Article 22, if passed, would appropriate $482,081 for the operation of the Municipal Waste Department. If passed, article 23 would allow for the appropriation of $237,421 to operate the town’s Sewer Department. Article 24 deals with the appropriation of $400,435 to fund the operation of the Ambulance Department.
Articles 25, 26 and 27
In articles 25 through 27, the town is seeking to transfer money from accounts to ensure there is no outstanding debt and to reduce funding from tax levy for appropriations for FY22. Article 25 seeks the appropriation from available funds as necessary to defray the expense of town including any potential town debts and/or interests and to carry out the costs that would be passed during the town meeting.
Article 26, if passed, would transfer funds from the capital needs stabilization fund in the amount of $152,400 to reduce funding from the tax levy for the FY22 appropriation. Similarly, article 27, if passed, would approve the transfer of $12,959.42 from account #30-122-5801-000 bond premiums to be applied to reduce funding from tax levy for the FY22 appropriations.
Article 28
If passed, article 28 would allow the town to assess the amount of money raised and appropriate funds voted on during the Town Meeting.
Article 29 and 30A through 30I
Articles 29 and 30 deal with several proposed bylaw changes. Article 29 seeks to change the Town of Granby bylaw surrounding retail and other services large scale ground mounted solar panels mounted on top of constructed canopies over parking lots.
Articles 30A proposes the addition of an elected official recall to the town bylaws. If passed, town citizens would able to recall an elected official through a three-step process by first submitting a voters request petition to the town clerk with 100 signatures, petitioning 25 percent of registered voters and then hosting an election where the majority of voters would need to be in favor of the recall for it to be passed.
Among routine wording updates to the bylaw and outlining job responsibilities of some departments further, residents will also vote whether or not to approve article 30B. Article 30B, if passed, would change who has final say over budgetary changes. Currently, after the town administrator develops and presents a balanced budget to the Selectboard, the Finance Committee has the ability to take and amend the budget in any way they see fit prior to the Town Meeting. Should the article be passed, the Finance Committee will serve in more of an advisory role to review, comment and make suggestions to the Selectboard and town manager for budget and warrant articles.