Grafton Select Board Members Host Second "Ask Us Anything" Session

Select Board members Ann Marie Foley and Matt Often hosted the most recent "Ask Us Anything" session held at the Grafton Public Library on February 16, 2023. A prior session was held on October 13,2022 at the South Grafton Community House. Although Town Administrator Evan Brassard was unable to attend, the other hosts shouldered on, answering questions to a crowd of approximately 20 citizens. Select Board Chair Colleen Roy was also in attendance, but remained a silent member of the audience.

The session started with Mr. Often asking those present to introduce themselves to each other and the hosts. Once the pleasantries subsided, a resident of George Hill Rd. asked about any pending repair or replacement of said road due to its poor condition. Keeping with roads, concerns were raised about overnight street parking on both South and North Streets, along with further concern of too many unnecessary telephone poles in that area.

From there, a question about what roles the Select Board members played in governing the Town opened the door for an explanation about communication restrictions placed on Select Board members, outside of their scheduled meetings, to remain in compliance with Massachusetts Open Meeting Laws (OML).

Projected Town growth and the effects it will have on Public Safety and our schools took up a good portion of the next block of conversation. Deeper dives into terms like affordable housing, "safe harbor," housing density, master plan and tax efficiency were attempted.

The Community Preservation Committee was the next conversation highlight. CPC was credited for all the positive projects it has been responsible for over the years. A concern was raised about the Committee overseeing personal pet projects, although nothing specific was mentioned. The audience was reminded the Town can always withdraw from CPC if the citizens so choose.

Coming down the home stretch of the meeting it was about Skateboard parks and Pickleball court dreams. The 90% residential versus 10% commercial tax base ratio. Hopes for more retail stores and some climate concerns. An"eye sore" bylaw suggestion and the hope for at least a few Citizens' Petitions to be put forward at our Spring Town Meeting. All in all, a pretty good night at the Library. People seemed hopeful more of these meetings will be scheduled in the future.