By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — According to the calendar, it’s still August and we are in the midst of the dog days of summer. But the Select Board is already planning ahead to “sweater weather” as deadlines for the October Town Meeting warrant loom.
The first such deadline is this Monday, August 21 at 4 p.m. That is date and time any citizens’ petition must be submitted to Town Hall at the close of business. It is also the deadline for boards, commissions and town departments to submit their warrant article requests.
Citizens wishing to submit a citizens’ petition need a lead sponsor and a total of at least 10 signatures of registered North Reading voters. Since these signatures must be certified by the Town Clerk’s office any petitioner is advised to submit more than the minimum signatures by the deadline. There are other requirements in the town charter as well so it is best to consult with the Town Clerk’s office to be sure the warrant request meets the parameters for such petitions.
The Select Board will meet on Monday, Aug. 21 as well and will continue its review of proposals made by the town or boards/commissions. Sometimes a “placeholder” warrant article is submitted by a board or department to the Select Board to give them additional time to work on the wording or receive pertinent information — such as costs of a proposal — prior to signing off on the warrant and sending it to the printers. If the additional data is not received by Town Meeting a vote can be taken to “pass over” it.
Since the date of this year’s fall Town Meeting is Monday, Oct. 2, the Select Board will sign off on the warrant during its first meeting in September, which is Wednesday, Sept. 6 due to the Labor Day holiday. This will enable it to be returned from the printers and mailed to every residential household two weeks in advance of the Town Meeting.
Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto also requested that warrant articles requiring a recommendation of specific boards take those votes if at all possible prior to their Sept. 6 meeting and submit the vote to his office for inclusion in the printed warrant. Otherwise, a notation will state beneath the specific article “recommendation to be made at Town Meeting.”
Wastewater will not be included on Oct. TM warrant
At the board’s Aug. 7 meeting, Gilleberto revealed a relative short warrant, possibly with 18 articles, and noted that no citizens’ petitions had been submitted to date.
Since the first 10 were basically boilerplate his review was limited to the last eight potential items.
The first order of business by the board was to cut out Article 11 to “appropriate money and otherwise authorize wastewater project.” The board members felt there was not enough time to get the public’s attention focused on such an important decision between Labor Day and Oct. 2 and that it should still be held as a stand-alone Special Town Meeting topic later in the fall.
If it were to pass at Town Meeting, Gilleberto said it is more than likely that a town wide debt exclusion election to override of Prop. 2 1/2 would be required, therefore, the would need to to notify the Town Clerk within 35 days to hold such a vote.
Article 12 is a request to appropriate money for a bridge/culvert study proposed by the DPW
Article 13 would seek authorization of Article 97 for a Home Rule Petition for the Central Street bridge proposed by the DPW.
Under Article 14, voters would be requested to appropriate money to the Opioid Stabilization Fund as proposed by the Finance Dept.
Two other articles are propose by the FinCom under Article 15 to appropriate money from the MS/HS Settlement fund and Article 16 to appropriate any moneys needed to “cover grant deficits.”
Article 17 is anticipated to be made by the Hillview Commission to approve a Golf Course Management contract for term in excess of three years.
Article 18 is the street acceptance for Eaton Circle off Mt. Vernon St. which is anticipated to be submitted by the CPC.
The boiler plate articles currently labeled 1-10 are proposed as Art. 1: hear and act on reports of town officials an committee; Art. 2: prior year bills; Art. 3-6: appropriate funds to the following: Art. 3: Stabilization Fund; Art. 4: Capital Improvement Stabilization Fund; Art. 5: Solid Waste Stabilization Fund; Art. 6: Participating Funding Arrangement Fund; Art. 7: amend FY24 Operating Budget; Art. 8: Rescind authorizations to borrow; Art. 9: Appropriate money for legal expenses, 20 Elm St. litigation.