Town Meeting: School Appropriation and Zoning Bylaw Articles pass

Night four of the Annual Town Meeting began with Article 26 -School Appropriation.

Superintendent James Jette spoke about how even though Article 5 did not go the way he had hoped, it is important to respect the process, he says,

“Now is the time to change our focus, we need to move from what is urgent to what is important, we need to move from operational to strategy and most importantly, as a town we need to work more collaboratively and support our students.”

Areas of concerns discussed included the overpopulation of schools and the level of education the schools can provide with restricted budget guidelines.

When it came to the vote, the motion carried and Article 26 passed.

To view the school budget presentation, you can click here.

The consent agenda articles were bypassed as was previously determined from the previous nights meeting, and the rest of the articles discussed during this nights meeting passed.

There was some debate and discussion when it came time for the zoning bylaws articles. Among the non-budget articles was one that would allow accessory or in-law apartments to be rented to non-family members and to remain when a house is sold. Currently, these types of apartments are only allowed on a temporary basis. These articles passed after some back and forth discussions had by the Town Meeting Members and Committee Chairs, and edits in language agreed upon to be made.

The next meeting is to be held on May 11 and to be moderated by a temporary Moderator, Mr. Brian Walsh.