Published June 17, 2020
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — Better late than never.
The Annual Town Meeting will take place on Saturday, June 20 at 9:30 a.m. at Lynnfield High School’s Pioneer Stadium. Town Meeting is usually held at the end of April, but Moderator Joe Markey delayed it twice because of the COVID-19 virus pandemic. If there is inclement weather, Town Meeting will be moved to the high school gym.
Attendees will be required to wear face masks at Town Meeting as well as stay six-feet apart in order to practice social distancing.
“The town will provide masks for those who do not have them, and anyone who does not wear a mask will be out of order,” said Markey in a recent letter to the editor. “If you have a health condition that would prevent you from wearing a mask, you are required to notify staff when entering the high school parking lot.”
While Town Meeting has a 175-voter quorum requirement in order to conduct the town’s business, the Board of Selectmen met virtually on Wednesday, June 17 after the Villager went to press in order to discuss reducing the quorum for this one session of Town Meeting.
The vote is the result of a new law that that allows municipalities to reduce quorum requirements to no less than 10 percent of the traditional threshold. While Selectmen Chairman Phil Crawford said the quorum reduction has yet to be determined, he believes it will be reduced to 50 voters.
Warrant breakdown
The highlight of the 14-article warrant is Article 6, which is the proposed operating budget for fiscal year 2021. Town Administrator Rob Dolan has offered a $58,174,347 operating budget for FY21, which is a 2.6 percent increase over FY20’s $57,199,707 appropriation.
While the selectmen and the Finance Committee have recommended the proposed operating budget for FY21, the School Committee will not be approving the final spending plan for the town’s schools until 9 a.m. on Saturday. The current proposed school budget represents a 3.4 percent increase over FY20, but it’s still higher than the 3 percent increase Dolan has budgeted for the schools.
The proposed school budget seeks to hire a full-time kindergarten teacher and a paraprofessional for Summer Street School due to a spike in enrollment. The budget proposes adding a full-time elementary special education team chairperson, who would be tasked with running special education meetings at each elementary school. The proposed school budget also seeks to add two adjustment counselors for the elementary schools.
Article 7 is the proposed capital budget for FY21, totaling $1,936,900. Article 8 will ask townspeople to appropriate $150,000 for the Stabilization Fund.
Town Meetings first warrant article will request Town Meeting to act on reports of town officials and special committees. Article 2 will choose all town officers “not required to be chosen by ballot” including three field drivers, one pound keeper and three wood measurers.”
Article 3 will request Town Meeting to “fix the compensation of each of the elective officers of the town” as required by state law. The Board of Assessors and the Board of Selectmen are the only boards in town that get paid.
According to the warrant, Article 4 will ask Town Meeting to “vote to raise and appropriate or appropriate by transfer from available funds, sums of money to supplement certain accounts in the current 2020 fiscal year where balances are below projected expenditures for various reasons.”
Article 5 will request Town Meeting to approve paying overdue bills from a previous fiscal year.
Article 9 will set spending limits for the town’s revolving funds. The limit for the Council on Aging’s revolving fund totals $50,000. The Board of Health’s revolving fund’s limit is $15,000. The Lynnfield Public Library’s revolving fund limit totals $10,000. Lynnfield Recreation’s revolving fund limit equals $325,000. The DPW’s fields’ revolving fund limit totals $75,000. The DPW’s revolving fund limit for the Al Merritt Media and Cultural Center is $10,000.
Article 10 will ask voters to “appropriate a sum of money from Emergency Medical Service Enterprise receipts to pay expenses and contractual services.” Article 11 request Town Meeting to allocate funds from “Golf Enterprise receipts and/or Golf Enterprise Retained Earnings to pay expenses and contractual services required to operate the Reedy Meadow Golf Course and King Rail Golf Course.”
Article 12 will ask Town Meeting to appropriate $200,000 by transferring available funds as part of a plan to renovate the Town Common. The project entails installing an irrigation system, new lights and upgrading the Common’s electrical system. The project also includes sidewalk and crosswalk improvements. The money will not be used to construct the proposed gazebo.
“We are seeking $200,000 to do some much needed sprucing up of the Common that will make it better for the various events we have there,” said Assistant Town Administrator Bob Curtin during a June 11 press conference.
Article 13 seeks to amend the town’s general bylaws in order to prohibit minors from sitting at bars in the town’s various restaurants and clubs. The selectmen approved a similar regulation change in February.
While the selectmen unanimously supported Article 13, the Finance Committee recently voted not to recommend it because the proposed bylaw would place restrictions on restaurants that have already taken a financial hit due to the ongoing pandemic.
“At this stage, we don’t want to restrict a restaurant’s ability to let people in,” said Finance Committee Chairman Chris Mattia.
Former Planning Board Co-Chairman Alan Dresios submitted Article 14. The proposed warrant article seeks to ensure that any changes to the Zoning Bylaw still require a two-thirds vote in order to pass Town Meeting.
The Planning Board voted not to recommend Article 14 after Town Counsel Tom Mullen recently ruled it is “unconstitutional” due to being “inconsistent with state law.”
