Town Meeting takes on changes to town clerk office, funding for new park

Fall Town Meeting kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Monday — and for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic started, it will be held indoors, in the auditorium at Grafton High School.

Voters will take on the question of changing the Town Clerk’s office from elected to appointed, changing Town Meeting dates to Saturday mornings, authorizing Community Preservation funding for a new park, and the usual budget transfers to wrap up the the year.

What it won’t be discussing: Article 25, which would have changed the deed restriction from senior affordable housing to simply affordable housing at 25 Worcester Street, was expected to draw debate on the Town Meeting floor. Instead, that debate happened at the Affordable Housing Trust meeting Thursday, when some of the same residents who initially spoke out against senior housing on the empty plot decided it was the lesser evil of the two options.

The trust agreed to withdraw the article.

Town Moderator Dawn Anderson said the auditorium will be set up to allow for social distancing, with microphones set up at the front of the auditorium. Voting will be by hand count, using paddles rather than the meeting clickers. Masks are required.

Town Meeting warrant highlights:

Article 4, requesting $47,000 in CPC funding for design service to create a passive recreation park at 95 North Street, a property donated specifically for this purpose.

Article 19 would change spring Town Meeting to the second Saturday in May, while the fall meeting will be held on the third Saturday of October. Both would start at 10:30 a.m. The change is with the hope that more residents would turn out for a daytime meeting rather than a Monday evening.

Due to COVID-19, the past three Town Meetings have been held on Saturdays, all outdoors on the Grafton High School football field.

Article 23, which would have changed the process for appointing the Community Preservation Committee, will be passed over.

Article 24 would change the office of Town Clerk to an appointed, rather than elected post. Town Meeting had voted down a similar article in 2018 but concerns that an untrained candidate might be appointed to the increasingly complex job has led to a second go-round.

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