Town Meeting cruises through warrant

With 23 articles on the Annual Town Meeting warrant Monday night, 77 registered voters passed most of them with few questions and little or no debate, including the $15,705,300 budget, which quickly passed without a single “hold” placed on any of its 68 items.

Article 21, however, generated discussion. It came first, having been moved up on the warrant and passed by majority vote, as required. The article was a citizen’s petition that sought to amend the Ayer Shirley Regional School District Agreement — specifically, the section concerning incurring debt.

The proposal called for changing the language so that borrowing for major capital projects — like the $50 million-plus high school renovation and addition project and the $5.2 million fields project, currently on the

table — filters through each member town before the School Committee can act.

For the amendment to be enacted, it must pass muster at town meetings in each member town — and in this case must still be approved by Ayer voters, who did not endorse the measure at the recent Town Meeting.

Required by the agreement to place the citizens’ petition on the warrant, not a single Ayer official made a motion to present the article. Neither did any of the residents present, so it never came to a vote.

As it stands, the School Committee has the authority to borrow for major capital projects approved by a districtwide vote. However, the current board had voted to tie its borrowing power for the high school renovation and later for the fields project, calling for debt exclusions to pass in both towns first.

The rub was not with the high school project, but with the fields project. The proposal

passed in a districtwide vote but stalled after Shirley voters rejected a debt exclusion (temporary tax override) ballot question aimed at paying the town’s assessed share.

The measure passed in Ayer but failed twice in Shirley before finally passing last week.

The citizen’s petition article had sparked controversy and was summarily jettisoned at the Ayer Town Meeting. The main petitioner — James Quinty — a Shirley resident who serves on the six-member Ayer Shirley School Committee and had collected over 400 Shirley residents’ signatures to get the article on both warrants, couldn’t make the motion, since he is not an Ayer resident.

Quinty spoke up for the article when it came up in Shirley, however, disputing the notion the regional school board he’s served on since day one is at odds. “We do get along,” he said.

The proposed amendment, Quinty said, would ensure that each community is equally represented when it comes to borrowing for big-ticket capital projects.

In his view, each town should

review capital projects and come up with their own lists of constraints before the School Committee incurs debt.

School Committee Chairman and Shirley resident Joyce Reischutz saw it differently, citing last week’s town election, when the debt exclusion finally passed.

“Over 1,100 voters came out” and stated their view on this issue, she said, adding that the percentage of debt parceled out to each member town is proportioned based on the total population and student enrollment numbers.

Before anyone else stood to speak, a motion from the floor called for moving the question. It passed. The article then passed as well, by the required majority vote.

All but one of the remaining articles passed.

Article 15, a proposed bylaw amendment that dealt with dog licenses and called for creating a new category called “nuisance dog” based on the definition in state law, was tabled on a motion from former Animal Control Officer Jennifer McGuinness. “None of this… is in our bylaw,” she said. It should be set aside,

pending review of the current, “grossly outdated” town bylaw, she said.

It was the only article that did not pass. None actually failed. Some sparked discussion, however.

Article 18 called for appropriating $15,000 for the Conservation Land Acquisition Fund.

The Finance Committee recommended against it, arguing that with over $30,000 in the account already, the Conservation Commission had enough money to cover “due diligence,” expenses, such as land surveys, title searches and appraisals prior to purchasing land or accepting a donated parcel, which is what the nest egg is for. If more money is needed, they can ask for it, the FinCom said.

McGuinness, the Commission chair, said they might have grant deadlines to meet that don’t align with town meeting schedules. Besides, she said, the account was more substantial historically and the goal now was to build it back up. The article passed.

Article 20 also generated discussion. It called for creating a “Nuisance Bylaw,” to require

owners of property and/or buildings in the town’s business districts to keep their properties up, citing “safety and sanitary maintenance” measures. It was championed by Selectman Debra Flagg. (Or, Select Board member now, since an article to change the board’s name passed earlier in the meeting.)

After a couple of residents raised concerns the new bylaw might target private homes or “criminalize poverty,” Flagg dispelled such fears.

The intent, she said, was to fix up Main Street and get business owners and the railroad to clean up their properties.

Her focus, she said, was on areas by the railroad tracks and overgrown, trash-strewn vacant lots.

One property in particular spills litter onto the sidewalk, she said. The article passed by the required majority vote.

The meeting adjourned at 9 p.m., nearly two hours after it began. Moderator Chip Guercio, presiding for the first time after being elected last week, thanked the assembly for an orderly session. “You all went easy on me… I appreciate it,” he said.