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Date: 4/19/2022
PELHAM – The Select Board may soon have a new name. The name change to Board of Selectmen is one of 20 articles included on the warrant for Town Meeting, scheduled for May 14.
Three articles, including the possible name change, were added to the slate at the board meeting on April 4. According to Susannah Carey, administrative assistant to the board, those articles, “are all part of the bylaw project our town clerk has been working on.”
Each article needed a fix. The name change for the board lacked a required hearing. The second article on non-criminal dispositions added a necessary phrase on procedure. The third proposed article, a bylaw on delinquent licenses and fees, features language recommended by the commonwealth, with a Pelham-specific paragraph. A previous version of the bylaw was voted for adoption at the fall 2015 Town Meeting.
All three motions passed unanimously, with board clerk Tara Loomis and Vice President David Shanabrook voting to include them on the warrant. They appear as articles 18, 19 and 20.
A number of articles are town housekeeping issues. Article 1 asks voters to accept the reports and representations of town officials. Article 2 grants the Select Board the power to borrow money and take on debt in anticipation of revenue. Article 3 authorizes the board to raise money through taxation to pay the town’s expenses.
“It seems to be a pretty straightforward warrant,” said Jeffrey Eiseman, chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). “There’s certainly some articles, toward the end, that are going to draw some discussion; but so far I haven’t seen anything that puts up a red flag for me.”
Article 4 establishes the salary schedule for elected town officials and departmental expenses. John Trickey, chair of the Finance Committee (FinCom), said. “They’re all in the budget.”
Trickey commented on Article 5, which asks voters to authorize spending of $287,615 for a broad menu of expenses. Trickey said, “The FinCom recommends it. The dollars didn’t change, the verbiage did.”
Voters will be asked in Article 6 to fund the Conservation Commission account for $3,500. Article 7 asks voters to fund the Community Preservation Committee with $14,700 each for open space, community housing and storage resources. The article also asks voters to fund the fiscal year 2023 (FY23) Community Preservation Fund Budgeted Reserve for $40,200.
The language of Article 8 describes the alternative operating budget assessment for the Amherst-Pelham Regional School District. The assessment method adopted only for FY23 uses an average of the minimum contribution for five years, the per pupil cost as outlined in the regional agreement, and a maximum of a 4 percent increase or decrease, According to Carey, the language for the article was provided by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Trickey reiterated that requirement.
“All towns must vote the exact verbiage,” Trickey said.
Article 9 for Town Meeting asks residents to authorize $56,867.22 and transfer $12,657.78 from state School Building Fund and apply it to the town’s related indebtedness.
“The FinCom did not have these numbers,” Trickey said, “but the FinCom will recommend it.”
Article 10 will authorize payment of the town’s share of the capital improvement schedule of the regional school district of $30,095.
“The regional school has an ongoing capital program,” Trickey said. “This is indebtedness we’ve agreed to and this is our payment.”
Article 11 will enable the transfer of $10,418 from PEG Access and Cable Related Fund to buy equipment for the station. This money comes through the Comcast account, Trickey said, and “allows you to spend this for purchases for the town.”
Article 12 enables the approval of spending from the enterprise funds, of which there are about a dozen. Trickey commented that the Finance Committee usually doesn’t deliberate questions involving the enterprise accounts, “but the biggest is the ZBA dropped, I think it was $55,000 down to $1,000.”
Article 13 will authorize the library trustees to spend cash raised from book sales, gifts or other sources. The cultural council will receive authorization to spend the funds it receives in Article 14.
Article 15 provided for a real estate exemption. Shanabrook commented that the same article had been rejected last year. He said, “We are going to vote to remove Article 15,” and the board voted unanimously to do so.
Article 16 and 17 will authorize the Select Board to enter into contracts for Highway Department-related activities and accept monies from federal and state sources, and grantfunding organizations.
Carey said that a total of 20 articles are on the warrant for the May 14 Town Meeting, scheduled for 9 a.m. Town Moderator Daniel Robb doesn’t anticipate problems.
“My sense is things will go as they usually go,” Robb said. “I’m sure we’ll have some surprising debate, and I’m looking forward to it.”