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Date: 5/2/2023
WARREN — The town will have its Annual and Special Town Meetings on Tuesday, May 9, in the Quaboag Regional Middle High School auditorium at 284 Old West Brookfield Rd.
The Special Town Meeting is at 6:30 p.m., with the Annual Town Meeting following at 7 p.m. The complete warrants can be found at the town website, warren-ma.gov.
Special Town Meeting
According to Town Administrator James Ferrera, most of the special meeting articles cover financial housekeeping. This includes any bills and budget items that need to be taken care of, Ferrera said.
There are 11 articles on the Special Town Meeting warrant.
Annual Town Meeting
Voters will have the opportunity to vote on 34 articles in the warrant. A full list of the articles on the warrant is available on the town’s website. There are several articles of note that might generate heightened public engagement at the meeting, Ferrera said.
The Fire Department has submitted a request for a new full-time firefighter/EMT position, which will be decided in Article 3. The proposed funding needed for this position is $47,071.
The Finance Committee recommends this to pass.
Article 4 is a citizen’s petition. A citizen’s petition needs the signatures of at least 10 registered voters to be added to the warrant.
The article requests moving the position of Planning Board secretary from one category to another category on the wage scale. The position is currently a grade C-3 and the request is to it to an A-1 category. This would raise the hourly rate from $18.36 per hour at the current C-3 position to $22.31 per hour as an A-1 position.
This is not recommended by the Finance Committee.
Article 5 requests moving the position of Building Department secretary from its current category as a C-3 position to a category A-1 on the wage scale.
Both the Planning Board secretary and Building Department secretary positions are filled by the same person, and the hours of each part-time position combine to fulfill full-time hour requirements.
The Finance Committee does not recommend this article pass.
Submitted by the Board of Selectmen, Article 6 pursues the creation of a new facilities maintenance manager position for the town. The position would be a grade BM-2 and the article asks for funds of $50,918 for wage compensation.
A copy of the job description is available through the town’s website, and lists compensation as being in a range from $50,919 to $68,432.
The Finance Committee does not recommend this article pass.
Article 10 addresses the fiscal year 2023 Quaboag Regional School District Budget. The district’s requested amount from the town is approximately $1.1 less than what the selectmen are proposing, Ferrera said.
The budget is available through the town for review.
According to Ferrera, Article 22 shows the town is being financially responsible and opening an Other Post-Employment Benefits Liability Trust Fund account. This is to start addressing potential liability of the town to make benefit payments to retired town employees.
For example, Ferrera said, “If there are employees that retire, the town is required to make a contribution to their pension. We have currently over $5 million in unfunded liability and need to be able to make the payments as people retire and live longer. There is a liability on the town to make the payments.”
The Finance Committee recommends this article be passed.