Warrant includes debatable articles
Published on March 10th, 1999
STONEHAM, MA - The town warrant for the May 3 Annual Town Meeting is nearing was accepted by the Board of Selectmen Tuesday night, complete with 26 articles and a few eyebrow-raisers.
Many of the 17 articles which were endorsed by the Board of Selectmen deal with annual town business such as electing officials to local posts, boards and committees; accepting private roads as public ways and appropriating and transferring monies to various town accounts.
Many residents will be relieved to see an article to raise and appropriate funds to improve the town's drainage system, a problem that became more than evident in June of 1998.
Also of concern to residents in recent years has been the state of Lindenwood Cemetery. This town-owned site has drawn criticism from residents and other visitors who have claimed that landscaping and maintenance on the grounds is lacking. The selectmen are supporting an article to up the stipend for cemetery maintenance, much of which will be recovered through a rise in rates for plots.
Selectman Cosmo Ciccarello has spearheaded a campaign which would disallow out-of-towners from taking official roles on town boards, commissions and committees. Ciccarello gained the support of his fellow selectmen at a meeting last month for the article which would require all incoming board members to be residents of the town.
The most interest, however, will likely be drawn by articles submitted by residents.
The most controversial of the articles may be the request for an appropriation of funds to provide school transportation for students in the next school year. This article, submitted by Broadway resident Joanne Tortorici, is unlikely to receive support from the Board of Selectmen which vowed after a fall appropriation of such funding to never again support busing on the municipal side of the budget.
The School Committee has yet to take a stance on the School Busing Committee's suggestion that the School Department pick up all or at least part of the tab for busing. The cost of such a move would likely approach $160,000 if the schools afforded the entire cost and approximately $70,000 if it is shared with parents.
Finally, in an article which draws strong emotions each time it comes to Town Meeting floor, Green Street resident Dianne Nowell is requesting that the town reduce its seating capacity standard for restaurants seeking liquor licenses. Nowell has suggested that the town reduce this mandate from the current 100 seats to 75, thus giving smaller restaurants an opportunity to generate additional revenue through the sale of liquor.
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