Special Town Meeting Preview; 32 articles will go before town; Price tag: $1.7M
Published on October 11th, 2000
STONEHAM, MA - A week before Halloween the Town will ask citizens to treat themselves to $1.7 million in municipal goods and services.
The trick is getting everyone to show up. Townspeople who do attend the Oct. 23 Special Town Meeting will vote on the following 32 articles:
Article 1 asks to create a medical / office district.
Article 2 asks to place the Gutierrez (formerly BRMC) property in the new district.
Article 3 asks to place this new district in the wireless overlay district, meaning cell towers are allowed.
Article 4 asks to release Gerry McCarthy's property at 128-136 Franklin St. from a restrictive covenant limiting the use of the property to assisted living and limiting the height of buildings to 40 feet and the land use to 20 percent. Kindercare plans to build a one-story day care facility on 13 percent of the land on the property.
According to Community Development Director Steve Sadwick, Kindercare asked that the restrictions be rescinded before closing the deal.
In 1997 Town Meeting voted on the restrictions, so the Town Meeting must vote to lift them.
The first four zoning articles are sponsored by the Planning Board and require a two-thirds majority. (If not specified, an article needs only a simple majority vote to pass.)
Article 5 asks to appropriate $22,300, a figure equal to $1 from every citizen, to donate to the national WWII memorial in Washington D.C. The Selectmen sponsor the article.
Article 6 is a request to change the Town Administrator Act to state that the Board of Health, not the Town Administrator, appoint all agents, assistants and employees of the Health Department. The Board of Health sponsors the article. This article requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass.
Article 7 requests the people forbid pawnshops under Stone-ham zoning. The Planning Board sponsors the article. This article requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass.
Article 8, sponsored by Police Chief Eugene Passaro, asks to ban pawnshops from town.
Article 9 is a request from Franklin Street resident John DeGeorge to require that the Town leave warrants for all special town meetings open for a minimum of 14 days, with the closed warrant posted a minimum of four weeks before the meeting.
Article 10, sponsored by the Selectmen, asks to transfer $994 to pay outstanding bills from fiscal year 2000. A nine-tenths majority is needed to pass this article.
Article 11 asks the town to pay now for $130,000 worth of textbooks for the schools. May Town Meeting approved borrowing money to pay for the books.
Article 12 also asks townspeople to spend money now for $125,000 of school technology approved in May as debt.
Article 13 asks the Town to buy a Zamboni for $60,275. The May meeting approved borrowing money to get the machine.
Article 14 is the same deal as the previous three articles, asking the Town to spend $280,000 for a fire truck.
Articles 10 to 14 are sponsored by the Selectmen.
Article 15 is the main budget article, sponsored by Selectmen, asking for authorization to spend and/or transfer up to $691,403 to amend the fiscal 2001 budget approved in May of 2000. The Finance Board and Selectmen are still working out the final dollar amounts, so the figure could change before it gets to the voters at Town Meeting.
"We're waiting for the free cash number from the state," said Finance Board Chairman Richard Gregorio on Oct. 5.
The Town hopes the number will be close to $1.2 million, but a conservative estimate by the Finance Board predicts $1.05 million.
Gregorio said that the amount of free cash the State frees up for Stoneham will determine how many capital projects are included in the article.
The proposed uses for the money include the following:
$9,000 for the annual audit of a Town department.
$4,101 reduction in the Treasury Department.
$5,000 more for elections.
$106,109 for Police Department overtime, including adding a third man for Thursday through Friday overnight patrols.
$12,000 for Traffic Directors.
$59,209 for Fire Department overtime.
$29,944 for Community Development, which includes money for an additional building inspector for the rest of this fiscal year.
$40,000 for School Department health insurance.
$23,556 for the Metro Tech.
$25,000 for the Reserve Fund.
$292,000 in debt and interest payment.
And the capital projects in question:
$75,000 for a police cruiser.
$40,000 for fire equipment
$100,000 for school repairs.
$40,000 for Public Works.
The revenue sources for Article are the following:
$? in free cash.
$247,000 in additional lottery money.
$57,883 reduction in anticipated State Charges.
$292,000 in debt exclusion.
Article 16 is a request to fund a full-time office assistant for the Board of Health. The Board of Health sponsors the article.
Article 17, sponsored by Selectmen, asks to transfer $200,000 from available funds into the Stabilization Account.
Article 18, sponsored by Selectmen, asks for $150,000 for sidewalks.
Article 19, sponsored by Selectmen, asks for $150,000 to upgrade municipal computers.
Article 20, sponsored by Selectmen, asks to delay a scheduled $150,000 debt payment in order to cover drainage improvements. This article requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass.
Article 21, sponsored by Selectmen, asks to borrow $135,000 to purchase streetlights from Boston Edison. This article requires a two-thirds majority to pass.
Article 22, sponsored by Selectmen, asks for $10,000 for public shade trees.
Article 23, sponsored by Selectmen, asks for $5,000 for beautification.
Article 24, sponsored by Selectmen, asks for $10,000 to cover Town legal expenses.
Article 25, sponsored by Selectmen, asks to use $80,000 to buy back Police sick leave.
Article 26, sponsored by the School Committee, asks to use $60,000 to buy back accumulated Public School employee vacation time. One employee, Martha Downs, now retired, had accumulated more than $27,000 worth.
Article 27, sponsored by Selectmen, asks to appropriate $135,566.46 received from the 1999 State Highway Funds Account.
Article 28, sponsored by Selectmen, asks to appropriate $267,696 from the 2000 State Highway Funds Account.
Article 29, sponsored by the Selectmen, asks for the acceptance of portions of Apple Hill Lane, Blueberry Lane, Walsh Avenue and Mardin Lane as public ways.
Article 30, sponsored by Selectmen, asks to abandon a Town easement on Gould Street running over property of Alan Melkonian. The easement from Gould Street to the back of the Public Works yard is no longer needed, according to Town Administrator Jeff Nutting. This article requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass.
Articles 31 and 32, both sponsored by Selectmen, swap one Town drainage easement for another on Franklin Street property owned by Frank Walsh. These articles require two-third majority votes to pass.
The meeting opens at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 23, at Town Hall.
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