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Just like she promised last week, Town Moderator Heather von Mering wrapped up another Town Meeting Monday night.
The third Town Meeting started with an update to Article 29, adding more than $50,000 to WinCam, the town’s public access station, from Comcast, which was reportedly late with its payment.
The amendment was quickly passed on a unanimous voice vote before von Mering moved to articles dealing with financial and personnel issues, citizen petitions centering on term limits and whether or not Finance Committee members can sit on other boards and ending on a happy note with news the Mystic School would be getting funding for its heating project.
The bulk of the Nov. 18 meeting was taken up with Article 4, which requested Town Meeting accept the title to a property at 160 Forest St. willed by Martha Chase Rice to the town before she died in November 2020.
By accepting the title and placing an affordable housing restriction on the property, Winchester could then permit the Affordable Housing Trust to move forward with a public process to develop the property.
After heated debate and an amendment (see related story), Town Meeting voted 143 to 7 to pass Article 4.
Article 20
Select Board Chair Michelle Prior’s citizen’s petition called for a change in language to town bylaws, allowing Finance Committee members to serve on other town boards, committees or commissions.
Prior said FinCom members bring a level of financial expertise to the discussions of other boards, helping those entities make more informed decisions. Further, Prior pointed out there are many open seats on town government that could be filled by FinCom members.
The Select Board voted 3-2 in favor of Prior’s motion, with FinCom unanimously agreeing.
Select Board and Precinct 1 member Anthea Brady said she thought Prior’s motion was “premature” and questioned just when the original FinCom language was created.
“What was the intent of Town Meeting at the time?” she asked.
Town Clerk MaryEllen Marshall Lannon said the original vote was taken up at Town Meeting in 1976 when the town became a chartered community.
Select Board member Bill McGonigle, from Precinct 3, said he was one of the no votes on his board, saying he understood the reasoning behind bringing FinCom members onboard because of their expertise. However, McGonigle said FinCom needed to keep its independence.
Speaking to other people, the impression I have would be to have FinCom be more independent,” he said. “That might give us an idea of how to operate in the future.”
But both Maura Sullivan, of Precinct 1, and Susan McPhee, of Precinct 3, supported the measure. Sullivan said having looked at how Arlington operates, she thought it was a good idea to get rid of the ambiguity of the current bylaw and maybe tackle any other issues at a later time.
“I work with the Energy Management Committee and I found the participation of FinCom a big help,” McPhee said. “They have a perspective of the finances of the town and we’ve had a great back and forth. I found that very valuable. It’s a positive thing.”
In the end, Town Meeting voted 129 to 17 to pass the article.
Article 22
Shamus Brady, of Precinct 1, brought forth his citizen’s petition, something von Mering called “rare” in that it was a non-binding article.
Brady said the idea behind the article was the need for new blood in town government. He said incumbents are almost impossible to beat and there seems no interest in voting.
As might be expected, town boards were not in favor of the measure, with Select Board, Planning Board and the Board of Health voting no and the School Committee “feeling it is inappropriate to take a position since this is non-binding.”
Incidentally, Brady’s article targeted those same boards, limiting terms by members.
Most Town Meeting members who spoke, took a negative approach to the article.
Many said Winchester’s problem wasn’t so much getting rid of people in office, but rather having residents run for office in the first place.
Some pointed out those in office have institutional knowledge that’s valuable and can provide newcomers with mentorship.
“I thank the proponents for bringing this forward,” said Planning Board and Precinct 8 member Diab Jerius. “The bigger problem is people don’t run for office. It’s not easy. I think this is premature. We need to look at how we’re running our volunteer government.”
Some Town Meeting members, however, wanted to see the article become binding.
Jared Cumming of Precinct 4 volunteered to work with the proponents to come back at Spring 2025 Town Meeting with a binding article.
The final vote was 116 to 26 in the negative.
Article 23
Article 23 was quick and simple, calling for the town to remove gender specific language from its bylaws.
Megan Blackwell, of the Committee on Government Regulations, said the article is just one part of the decennial review process the board was looking at. She said more changes are probably in order before Spring 2025 Town Meeting.
The measure was affirmed unanimously.
Article 25
Town Meeting voted unanimously to transfer $125,000 from free cash to offset increases in employee health insurance. Prior said the town’s insurance is expected to be $13.8 million in Fiscal Year 2025, up 8.8% from Fiscal Year 2024.
Article 26
Purchase orders, moving money around and adding money to the Planning Board budget were the three motions under Article 26.
FinCom Chair Jeff Calabrese spoke to two motions, asking for purchase orders in the amount of more than $17,000 for the town’s information technology department. Additionally, Calabrese said the town was adding $12,400 to replenish one of its reserve accounts.
Brian Vernaglia, vice chair of the Planning Board, said the final motion was a $15,000 request for the board’s budget in order to perform an Economic Feasibility Analysis (EFA) regarding inclusionary housing in the MBTA 3A district.
He said during the passage of the MBTA 3A article in the spring, the Planning Board had promised to do the EFA.
All three motions were passed.
Article 30
Town Manager Beth Rudolph said this was a request for free cash to pay two bills totaling $13,395.28 presented to the town by National Grid in October.
She said because the bills were received after the fiscal year budget closed in June, the only way to pay National Grid was from free cash.
The motion was passed unanimously.
Article 31
Personnel Board Vice Chair John Dickison did some pinch-hitting Monday night, joking he was the backup for the evening.
Dickison had five motions to bring before Town Meeting, four of which asked for financial increases to accommodate the new contract with the Winchester Police Patrol Officers Association.
Town Meeting passed the motions to provide Cost of Living Adjustments, specialist pay, Quinn Bill benefits and add Juneteenth as a holiday.
Additionally, a request was made in motion 5 to amend the town’s personnel policy guide to provide a $1,500 yearly stipend paid on July 1 of each year to any employee who receives a public purchasing officer certification.
The motion was passed.
Article 32
The final article of the night requested $180,000 from free cash for the repair and construction to address deficiencies in the heating system at the Mystic School.
Select Board member John Fallon, who has been heavily involved in the issue, said approximately 300 families use the school on a weekly basis, whether it’s through the Recreation Department or Kids Corner.
Fallon said the problems with the heating start with the system, which is original to the 1920s portion of the building. Because of issues, such as asbestos, the building has become a real problem for everyone who uses the facilities, whether it’s the children or staff members.
The town has already earmarked $695,000 in ARPA funds for the targeted project, but needs the additional $180,000 from free cash for a transformer as well as project administration.
Both FinCom and the School Committee unanimously supported the measure.
Town Meeting also passed the article unanimously.
