Tewksbury Special Town Meeting: Warrant Preview

TEWKSBURY, MA — Tewksbury voters will gather at the high school Oct. 5 for a special town meeting, addressing budget transfers and a handful of other issues not taken up at the annual meeting in April.

Residents will vote on 17 articles at the meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. Oct 5 at Tewksbury Memorial High School.

The registration deadline to vote at the meeting was Sept. 24. The warrant is available here and the handout with additional information is here.

Warrant preview

The first six articles on the warrant are budget transfers.

• Article 1 appropriates $820,579 from higher-than-expected state and local revenue for uses including "future Debt Service for a new combined DPW and School Maintenance Facility."
• Article 2 appropriates $3,795.71 to pay late bills.
• Article 3 transfers $180,168 from Free Cash for uses including a new library carpet and renovations to the police station.
• Article 4 transfers $150,000 from Water Enterprise Fund Retained Earnings for work on the Astle Street Water Tank.
• Article 5 transfers $3,940,314 from Free Cash to the Stabilization Fund.
• Article 6 transfers $110,000 from the Community Preservation Fund for drainage improvements at the State Field at Saunders Recrecreation Area.

Detailed breakdowns of the planned spending are available in the handout.

The next three articles are land-related.

• Article 7 would three parcels to the Conservation Commission.
• Article 8 would allow the selectmen to grant an easement to National Grid for electric service to the solar facility at the Sutton Brook Landfill.
• Article 9 would let the selectmen sell two town-owned parcels.

Articles 10 and 11 deal with zoning.

• Article 10 would update the Groundwater Protection District to comply with "the Consent Decree regarding the Sutton Brook Disposal Area as recommended by the US EPA and MassDEP," according to the handout.
• Article 11 would update the zoning map for the same purpose.

The next three would change the name of the Board of Selectmen to the Select Board, a gender-neutral alternative.

• Articles 12, 13 and 14 would change the board's name in the Town Charter, the General Bylaws and the Zoning Bylaws, respectively.

Selectmen would become Select Board members and the title chairman would be replaced with chair.

To change the charter, Tewksbury will also need state approval.

The final three articles are resident-petitioned.

• Article 15 would accept Robbie Terris Way as a public way.
• Article 16 would create a town "Do Not Knock Registry," allowing residents to opt out of solicitation.
• Article 17 would change the length of a Planning Board term from five years to three years.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.