Town Meeting Approves Sign Bylaw Changes, New Ladder Truck

During opening night at Bedford's annual Town Meeting voters approved several amendments to the town's sign bylaw as well as all but one of the capital projects included in the warrant.

Articles 1 and 2 dealt with procedural issues pertaining to Town Meeting such as hearing reports from the separate town officers and committees and rules for debate and the presentation of articles. These passed without hesitation.

Article 3, or the consent article, dealt with non-controversial issues that Town Meeting approves every year including the authorization of short term borrowing in anticipation of revenue. Not surprisingly, Article 3 passed unanimously. 

In another unanimous vote, Town Meeting members approved Article 4, reauthorizing revolving funds for

• Library charges and fines 
• Conservation Commission contributions used for consultant fees
• Cable television franchise fees and revenue to be used for purchasing supplies and equipment 
• The maintenance and operation of Depot Park, Old Town Hall and Town Center 
• Refuse and recycling programs 
• Energy-related revenue to be used for energy purchase and conservation efforts 
• Board of Health for the purchase of vaccines and conducting flu clinics

Newly-elected Selectman Caroline Fedele motioned to postpone voting indefinitely on Article 5, which provided for the payment of bills that were not received in time for payment in prior fiscal year, because there were no bills from prior years to pay. Article 5 passed unanimously. 

Article 6 through 15 sought to amend various aspects of the town's sign bylaw. Sign Bylaw Review Committee and Planning Board member Jeff Cohen said the articles are meant to make the sign bylaw more clear, something of an unattainable goal. 

"We wanted to change the one size fits all approach to signage in Bedford," Cohen said. "The sign bylaw is an imperfect document."

In order to expedite the presentation of the articles, Selectman Mark Siegenthaler motioned to have Articles 6 through 15 presented together, allow time for questions on each article, and then have each article voted on separately. This motion passed unanimously. 

Articles 6 through 15 addressed issues pertaining to the sign bylaw including redefining what a sign is in the bylaw, allowing businesses that remain open all night to keep their signs illuminated overnight, creating more lenience for political sinage on private property and allowing barber poles to rotate and be internally illuminated. 

Articles 6 and 12 were adopted unanimously while Articles 7,8,9,10,11,13,14 and 15 were adopted with a voice vote. 

Moving away from the sign bylaw, Article 16 proposed to amend the general bylaws of the town to eliminate the Affordable Housing Committee in order to merge its function and responsibility with the Bedford Housing Partnership and the Fair Housing Committee. 

This article sought to make a practice that has been in place for years official, with members of the three separate committees meeting and serving as one committee. The formal merger aims to "streamline and facilitate recruitment of volunteers who are interested in housing to serve on the single committee." Article 16 passed unanimously. 

Article 17 aimed for another amendment to the general bylaw, requiring Bedford residents to have a short length of copper piping within their plumbing systems making a continuous loop between the underground water service and an outside spout in order to make it easier for DPW to locate underground water services. Article 17 was adopted by Town Meeting voters.

Article 18 was another housekeeping article proposing amendments to Bedford's Salary Administration Plan Bylaw. The article passed unanimously. 

Town Meeting members voted unanimously on Article 19 to appropriate $500,000 for water main improvements to the original water main line which supplies the Pine Hill water storage tank. The water main, originally installed in 1908, was partially restored last summer and this latest appropriation will complete the project restoring the water main from Fletcher Road to Shawsheen Avenue. 

The funds will also go toward the installation of a new water main on Great Road between Shawsheen Road and Masardis Street.

Article 20 asked Town Meeting to vote to appropriate funds for 29 items included in the FY14 Capital Projects Plan. Voters passed all but one item, funding for the installation of an automated gate system at the town's seasonal storage facility. 
Items included as part of the Capital Projects Plan that passed included: 

• Police ballistic vests - $6,000
• Classroom renovations and space reconfigurations at Bedford Public Schools -  $168,000
• Town vehicle and equipment replacement - $360,000
• Energy efficiency projects- $339,096
• A Fire Department ladder truck replacement- $960,000
• Smartboard installation for John Glenn Middle School - $12,900
• Smartboard installation for Lane Elementary School - $31,500

Town Meeting adjourned after Article 20, and will reconvene tomorrow night in the Bedford High School auditorium at 7:30 p.m. to vote on 12 more articles.

Stick with Bedford Patch for continuing coverage of Annual Town Meeting.