Tonight's Swampscott Special Town Meeting

SWAMPSCOTT, MA - Swampscott residents will get to vote on several budgetary decisions next week at a Special Town Meeting.

The meeting will cover eight articles ranging from house keeping items to funding of the Swampscott’s local access cable TV station.

The Special Swampscott Town Meeting will be held in the auditorium of Swampscott High School, 200 Essex St., at 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 13.

The meeting will be moderated by longtime Swampscott resident Michael McClung, who was elected Town Moderator in 2016.

Here are the six articles up for debate. To read the full warrant for the Nov. 13 Special Town Meeting, click here.

Article 3: This Article allows the Town to pay for services it budgeted for and purchased in FY 17, but vendor invoices for these services were not processed until after the close of the fiscal year. Since budgeted dollars for these services were subsequently transferred to the Free Cash account.

Article 4: This Article supports the Town’s goal to maintain an operating budget that is in line with expected levels of spending. It would adjust the payment to employee health and property insurance by $75,000.

Article 5: This reflects recent changes in the law that allow using premiums earned on the sale of bonds to be allocated toward the projects that are being funded, thereby reducing the amount needed to borrow. This is new statutory language that was recently changed
in accordance with the Municipal Modernization Act.

Article 6: This article will allow the approval of a collective bargaining agreement in the event the Town and the Police Union reach an agreement prior to the date of town meeting.

Article 7: This article relates to recently amended state laws that govern the management of funds used to pay for local access cable TV stations. This change is required due to recent changes in state laws governing the administration of PEG Funds.

Article 8: If the Town adopts G.L. c.90 Section 18B, it will allow the Board of Selectmen to determine “safety zones” that will limit the speed limit within that zone to 20mph. This adoption allows the Town to directly set special 20mph zones without state review and approval.