Published September 3, 2020
By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — Amid continued concerns over reducing the possibility of transmission of COVID-19, plans are underway for another outdoor Town Meeting.
This one may be held on Saturday, October 3 at 11 a.m. on the Arthur J. Kenney Athletic Field, with a potential back-up plan for it to either be held indoors in the high school gym, plus designated overflow rooms, or postponed to the following Saturday, October 10 in the event of inclement weather.
Much remains to be debated about both venue choices, but the members of the Select Board pointed out during Monday night’s virtual meeting that the town has successfully held a Town Meeting in both of these venues.
Select Board Chairwoman Kate Manupelli added that “the board took the extra step of holding the virtual meetings in advance,” which enabled all members of the public to ask questions on specific warrant articles with a goal of potentially reducing the need to debate on the floor of the meeting.
“And we did pare down the Annual Town Meeting warrant because of COVID-19,” she added, “which is not letting up any time soon.”
The Annual Town Meeting was held Monday night, June 29 in the gymnasium. While fewer than 100 voters participated, the gym could hold at least 150 voters and still maintain social distancing requirements. A cafeteria next door to the gym had been set up for another 25 voters, designated for those who could not wear masks for medical or personal reasons, although no one opted to use that venue that night. Other rooms in the building that could potentially hold a larger crowd include the auditorium and the digital learning lab.
There were 214 voters accommodated on the football field during the Special Town Meeting on Saturday, August 8, with two electronic check-in booths manned by election workers at both ends of the field and plenty of room to stand 6 feet apart while waiting in line. For the indoor venue, the high school’s “Main Street” provided plenty of room to maintain social distancing, clearly marked by orange cones, for voters checking into the four manned stations. The Town Clerk’s staff uses “poll pad” scanners only to scan a voter’s ID card to make the check-in process faster (rather than spelling out a name or address). These poll pads have been used at elections and town meetings successfully for several years.
Town Administrator Michael Gilleberto told the board that he had consulted with Superintendent Dr. Patrick Daly regarding the use of the school potentially for Town Meeting and said he requested that if at all possible either a Friday night or a Saturday Town Meeting date would be preferable to give the school’s custodians adequate time to clean the building prior to the next in-person session of students and staff using the building.
Gilleberto added that since the October Town Meeting date of Monday, October 5 had already been voted by the board at a required public hearing last January, that date will remain the “official” date on the warrant. Under the State of Emergency declaration and subsequent acts by the state legislature and governor, this meeting date, venue and time can be changed by the town moderator, in consultation with the Select Board and the Board of Health.
The printed warrant will list the address of “189 Park Street” as the venue, which encompasses the entire campus of buildings and fields. If the date, time or place must be adjusted it will be well advertised by the town as well.
This matter will next be discussed by the Board of Health at its meeting on September 10.
Select Board member Rich Wallner said he was fine with holding the meeting outdoors on October 3. “We got lucky two times and if we have to punt, we’ll have it inside,” he said.
Town Moderator John Murphy agreed, noting that the average temperature on a sunny day that time of year is 60 degrees, so it may be on the cool side. “But I think that works and provides the size of the venue that we need, and to Rich Wallner’s point we got lucky two out of two times so I’m willing to roll the dice on three,” he said.
The fall Town Meeting is typically not as lengthy as the annual Town Meeting in June and the board decided upon 16 articles for the warrant, many of which will be routine. There were no citizens’ petitions submitted.
If the meeting can’t be held outdoors on October 3 or 10, the next available Saturday would not fall until the first Saturday in November due to Early Voting dates in October, Gilleberto said. Halloween is also on a Saturday this year. At that point in the year an indoor venue would likely be necessary.