Outdoors, small, and socially distanced, Grafton Town Meeting still draws debate
Town Meeting appropriated $800,000 for the Municipal Capital Stabilization Fund Saturday after a former selectman objected to the last-minute inclusion of the request, meant to correct an error made when the town budgeted funds from the Proposition 2 1/2 override in June.
It probably wasn’t the outcome former Selectman Brook Padgett expected when he stepped up to the microphone.
Let’s step back a little bit.
On Thursday, Temporary Town Administrator Carter Terenzini told a joint meeting of the Select Board and Finance Committee that he discovered an error in how the town handled its budgeting plan for June’s Proposition 2 1/2 override. The override had two parts, bundled in one ballot question: a $3.2 million operational override, primarily targeted at school funding, and an $800,000 capital stabilization override.
The original plan was to not add the stabilization portion until Fiscal Year 2022, while the operational funds were included in the FY 2021 contingency budget passed by June’s Town Meeting. This, Terenzini discovered, was not allowed. The two boards, as a result, added the appropriation of $600,000 to the fall Town Meeting warrant.
On the sunny Grafton High School football field two days later, Padgett objected to the addition of the appropriation to the warrant without much advance warning. He noted only about 70 people were in attendance at Town Meeting.
“You promised not to do something, you did the opposite, and did it 48 hours before it was to be voted on,” Padgett said.
Select Board member Mathew Often explained the town was in danger of losing its capital program if the Select Board did not act quickly to appropriate at least a portion of capital stabilization money. When Padgett pointed out that voters approved $800,000 rather than $600,000 — a sum the Select Board and Finance Committee agreed would soften the impact of the last-minute change — Finance Committee Chairman Mark Haddad immediately stepped to the microphone and proposed the increase.
The change, as well as the appropriation, passed.
This was not the only time the attempt to streamline the meeting by using a “consent agenda” went astray. Padgett also called for discussion on a charter change that removes appointment of Finance Committee from the sole discretion of the town moderator to a committee comprised of the moderator, town clerk, and a member of the Finance Committee.
Haddad noted that the Finance Committee is the only board selected outside of a public process. He said several towns use the committee approach to selecting new members — including Groton, where he presides as town manager.
The charter change passed, along with:
- The town’s adoption of the “strong chief” structure as part of the re-organization of the Fire Department. The town will be hiring its first full-time fire chief after the retirement of Fire Chief Michael Gauthier, who believes the town will be able to attract better candidates.
- $210,000 from CPC funding to make ADA accessible routes and surfacing at Perry Hill Park, Airport Park, Norcross Park, Riverview Park, Ferry Street Park, and Silver Lake Beach.
- The creation of a Capital Improvement Planning Committee bylaw.
