Town Council notebook
By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — This year’s Regular Town Meeting will take place on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 9 a.m. in the Galvin Middle School Auditorium. The Town Council this week approved the Town Meeting warrant.
Regular Town Meeting will feature just six articles, most of which are routine in nature. Article 6, however, is a planning Board article related to the naming and numbering of streets in town.
Under Article 6, voters will be asked to adopt a new Article V of Chapter 175 of the General Bylaws, to be entitled “Street Names and Numbers.”
Under the bylaw change, no street will be renamed if it has been initially named, or if its name has been changed, within the preceding 25 years. Proposed names must not be identical or confusingly similar to that of any existing way in Town. No proposed street name shall be used to honor any living person or any business entity. Proposed street names shall not have more characters than set by DPW regulations.
If the new bylaw is approved by Town Meeting, any proponent of a street name change would have to file a written application with the Town Clerk, together with a filing fee of $800. The application wouldn’t have to follow any particular format, but must at a minimum: identify the existing way that is proposed to be renamed; state the proposed new street name; and be signed by the proponent.
The Town Clerk would forward a copy of the application to the Fire Chief, Police Chief, Town Engineer, and Town Assessors’ Office. The Planning Board would conduct a public hearing on the application for a street name change within 30 days. The Planning Board will give notice of such hearing by publication in a newspaper published in the Town and by mailing notice to all owners and residents of abutting properties at least one week before the hearing.
Notice of the hearing would also be sent by email to the Fire Department, Police Department, Town Engineer, Zoning Board of Appeals, Municipal Gas and Light Department, Public Works Director, Board of Assessors, Historical Commission and Postmaster. Prior to the public hearing, the Fire Chief, Police Chief and Town Engineer would each give his or her written report and recommendation to the Planning Board with respect to the proposed change.
The Planning Board will vote on whether to recommend the proposed name change to the Town Council within 30 days after the opening of the public hearing and shall forward its recommendation to the Town Council forthwith following such vote.
The Town Council will promptly review and act on the recommendation by the Planning Board with respect to the proposed street name change. If the Town Council declines to make the name change, it will so inform the applicant and the Town Clerk. If the Town Council approves the name change, in addition to notifying the applicant and the Town Clerk, it will request payment from the applicant to cover the cost of changing and installing all applicable signage, and send notice of the change by certified mail, return receipt requested, to all persons residing on the affected street or owning property thereon. No action will be taken on the name change until such payment is received.
Article 1 on the Regular Town Meeting warrant is the the Town Administrator’s wrap-up report on the last fiscal year (FY 2022), which ended June 30, 2022. Stephen P. Maio will discuss how each town department fared last year and talk about the total of $1.1 million that was returned to the town coffers at the end of the year by various town departments.
Maio’s full, FY 2022 year-end report will be available for review on the town’s web site well before Town Meeting.
Article 2 is an annual article asking voters to approve a sum of money from the Free Cash account to balance the FY 2023 budget. The amount requested this year is $3.3 million.
Article 3 is a technical correction to an article on the 2022 Annual Town Meeting warrant. The earlier article named the wrong source for Water and Sewer capital outlay funds. Article 3 corrects the error, listing “Water and Sewer retained earnings” as the source of the capital outlay funds.
Article 4 would authorize the Town Council to petition the state legislature to allow the town to continue a program whereby any senior citizen who qualifies for the state circuit breaker tax exemption would receive a matching credit from the town. Certain seniors who own or rent residential property in Massachusetts as their principal residence are eligible for a refundable tax credit.
According to Director of Assessments Victor Santaniello, the town’s matching program helped 164 senior citizens in FY 2021, 250 in FY 2022 and 214 in FY 2023. Providing the matching tax credit for seniors adds less than $30 to the average single-family home tax bill, Santaniello told the Town Council.
The town’s matching program requires a home rule petition to be filed with the state legislature every three years.
Article 5 would authorize the Town Council to grant a perpetual, exclusive easement for no consideration to the Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department on a one-acre portion of town-owned land just off Hemlock Road to construct and operate a micro-grid in the form of an energy park which would include, but not necessarily be limited to, battery/energy storage, solar generation, natural gas generation and related equipment.
The energy park/micro-grid would be used as an emergency energy source for the planned new Wakefield Memorial High School and the new Northeast Metro Tech. The article would also authorize the Town Council to petition the state legislature to permit the said grant of easement under Article 97 of the Articles of Amendment to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
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In other business this week, the Town Council:
• Voted to transfer $1 million from the town’s General Fund to the Debt Service Capital Needs account.
• Approved a new Common Victualler License and a new Entertainment License for MP Ventures LLC d/b/a Ciao Amici located at 19 Centre St. The new owners will be taking over the former Massimo’s restaurant location.
• Approved a new sign for Veterans Memorial Field.
• Made appointments to various boards, including the Permanent Building Committee, the Youth Council, the Sweetser Lecture Advisory Committee and the Fence Viewing Committee.