Issue 1 May 25, 2024
The Lancaster Annual Town Meeting became a mostly rote meeting with all Articles passing.
One Article though, the Citizen’s Petition, Article 20, for a 5-member Select Board was moved up, out of order after Article 5, and had a detailed presentation and lots of drama.
The Meeting opened with Moderator Wm. O’Neil declaring that he would allow all people to speak who were in line at the microphone if anyone chose to call a question before all people in line got to speak. He also stated presenters would have 15 minutes to present. He urged all to get in line early.
Select Board member Alix Turner then read a prepared statement about her ending service with the Select Board.
Chief Everett Moody was then feted and sworn in as Public Safety Commissioner, a newly combined role of Police Chief and Fire Chief. A vote to approve this position as a permanent change will be on FY25 ballot.
Article 1 was the Operating Budget for FY25. Kate Hodges presented. There is $2.6 M in free cash. Free cash is recommended to be 3-5% of the annual budget. For FY25 that would be $1.4M.
$28,059,980 was the total budget passed. 188 Approved : 27 against
Article 2 transferred $1,296,500 from Free Cash to the Capital Stabilization Fund. 202 Approved : 21 against
Article 3 appropriated $176,600 to finance the operation of the Landfill Solar Array. 210 approved : 10 against
Article 4 appropriated $1,228,250 from the Water Enterprise Fund to finance the Water Department. 208 approved : 14 against
Article 5 Approval of the Revolving Fund Account Budgets. There was an amendment to zero out the funds for the Recycling center since it is defunct but this was voted down since the funds of $258 had been for specific DPW work. The question was then brought back to the original approval of the Budget. 206 approved: 15 against
Article 20 was then taken out of order, 1:05 hours into the meeting. This is a citizen’s petition for increasing the Membership of the Lancaster Select Board to 5 members brought by the 6 people that spent 2 years on the Government Study Committee.
Emily Taylor presented slides on the tenure of the Government Study Committee; its mandate was for a study of what is the best government for Lancaster. It is two year process with a full town vote on the FY25 ballot. The 5-member board’s purpose is better representation.
Russ Williston presented slides on the objective and the process. The process is two years long and the question comes to the FY25 ballot for town wide approval. Voting for additional members, if the FY25 vote passes, occurs in May FY26.
Emily Taylor went over the survey that was done to determine the best course.
Anne Ogilvie went over the Select Board sizes of other communities in Massachusetts.
Moderator O’Neil interrupted to say the presentation was running over 15 minutes, though there were four presenters with different slides.
Susan Munyon then spoke to Jay Moody’s support for the 5-member Select Board and how more people make lighter work. She went through some of the benefits of more brains in the mix.
Moderator again complained about being 3 minutes over.
Russ Williston then presented the last two slides. One bullet was about the dearth of volunteers in our government. Another bullet was about Ayer returning to a 3-member board from the 5-member board created in 2012.
Moderator then complained about getting done with the presentation.
Emily Taylor closed out with a statement that this was progress, not more government.
Debate started with Tom Seidenburg at the microphone who spoke to the lack of volunteers and the open seats already in town government.
Select Board member Jason Allison made a statement about the dearth of volunteers for town government. He made statement about the progress made since 2020:
1) Bringing water and sewer into North Lancaster along with a developer for the land there.
[Fact check: Leominster Water Agreement has lapsed; developer of the North Lancaster is in land court with other owners of specific parcels needed for development. In other words, the developer cannot develop the land as proposed because the company does not own all the land.]
2) The hiring of the new Town Administrator and the budget balanced with the override vote.
3) A declaration that the Article is about the citizens’ petition aimed at stopping progress in North Lancaster.
Ralph Gifford spoke to the benefit of having subcommittees in the Select Board to aid in bringing in businesses that would lower the residential tax rates.
Lesley Allison then “came to the microphone to express my fears about this petition.” She then went on to say that rather than discussing the petition, she wanted to tell her views of the “true intentions” of the people presenting the petition. The Moderator then cautioned her against making personal attacks. She protested she wanted to present some facts about some of the petitioners and was cautioned. She said that the “petition was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, or a Trojan horse.” She cited a letter sent to the MA AG’s office which was not explained. She ended that she “doesn’t trust the intention of the petition and so beware of the Trojan Horse.”
David Mallette cited his time on the Government Study committee, then went into the Ayer reversal, which was explained as part of the group’s presentation. He said that the research was incomplete with the Ayer situation not being explored. He talked about the departed 3 Planning Board volunteers in FY2022 and he called the Select Board expansion a wild card. He said that maybe a disgruntled former Planning Board member would get in easily in the FY26 election with three seats open instead of one. [Note: one of these former Planning Board member has moved out of town and the other two have retired from volunteering in Lancaster.]
Select Board Chairman Steve Kerrigan then talked about Ralph’s Gifford’s statement, clarifying the open meeting law. He said the petition is a solution in search of problem. He asked Anne Ogilvie about the survey that was done as part of the study; she was next in line to speak at the microphone after Select Board member Alix Turner.
Alix Turner then said she supports the 5-member board and last year had not been in support because the Government Study Committee had not finished their report. She disparaged the ascribing of personal motives to individuals and suggested the ballot box was the final tally. She cited the 5-member board as better representation and is recommended by the MA government as best practices. Attendance at more meetings and lighter work for Select Board members. She recalled the Government Study Committee as completely data driven. She then went on to say that “bad actors” would be less effective in a bigger board and the board would have more moderate decisions. She then went into the lack of volunteers; citing the need for a more hospitable environment for volunteers. Not supporting a volunteer committee was hard on volunteers who had given lots of their time.
David Carr was recognized and talked from the gym, citing again the lack of volunteers. He then moved the question to a vote; at the time there were five people in line at the microphone. Anne Ogilvie protested she was in line and wanted to answer Steve Kerrigan’s question and that also the Moderator had stated people in line would get a chance before any question was called. The Moderator said Anne Ogilvie had spoken during the presentation but she answered she had spoken as a presenter but not as a private person. The Moderator conferred with legal counsel, he then called for a vote on ending the debate.
At 51 minutes into the debate, the vote to end the debate was 153 approved and 76 against.
Then a vote was initiated on the Article. Ralph Gifford approached the Moderator and as the Moderator then explained, a motion to end debate needs to be a standalone motion; not a conclusion to a statement. Town Counsel said the rules of order say a motion to end debate need to be a single comment. The Moderator reversed course and invited the people who had been in line back to the microphone.
Anne Ogilvie then was recognized. She stated that the Government Study Committee had not met for 4 months under the leadership of Steve Kerrigan and during this time, the survey was taken care of by the Town Administrator’s Office. Continuing, Anne Ogilvie then reminded that this was a question of putting something on the ballot, not a final decision. She then noted that, ”some of the greatest arguments about …whether we should get bigger or not, are about the people in town you should be afraid of. There are people in this town you should be afraid of, because they don’t agree with you. They had a different opinion than you did. I am really offended by that. That if I had a different opinion two years ago, that now I cannot participate in my town government. My Select Board member can stand up there and warn the entire town about how some of us, hundreds of us, by the way, who voted against certain things, are now the enemy of our town. This is a problem, right, this is a problem. What we need in our town is more civility… we can have different ideas about what might work. As long as we have a side in this town holding on to power so tightly that any dissent, any dissent at all, means that you are not worthy of having an opinion, then we have a problem and we will continue to have it. A 5-member board would lead to more democratic norms. Then we abide by what we vote but we stick together to vote on the next thing to try to make positive things happen in this to town.”
Frank Streeter said he seconded Anne Ogilvie’s comments. He said he was concerned about ad hominem attacks he witnessed and that was the surest way of discouraging volunteerism. He said ad hominem attacks bankrupt the person’s statement.
Michelle Currier then moved the question and the vote was taken about ending debate. 205 approved : 30 against
At 2:09 hours into the meeting the vote was taken on the article. 123 approved : 114 against
A motion to reconsider was taken. 83 approved: 148 against
Article 6 was to accept the compensation plan in the Warrant. Hand vote was taken and with one dissenter, the Article passed.
Article 7 was to pay bills from the prior year. All approved.
Article 8 was to vote and act on the report of the Community Preservation Act budget. All approved.
Article 9 was to approve 3 projects but project 3 was stricken as not yet ready. All approved.
Article 10 was to allow the Town trust funds to be invested under the “Prudent Investment Rule.” All approved
Article 11 was to accept by gift the parcels totaling 90 acres by conveyance by 702LLC. All approved
Article 12 was to sell small lots to abutters. All approved.
Article 13 was to have a Commissioner of Public Safety, a combination of the Police Chief and Fire Chief. Approved with one dissenter.
Article 14 was withdrawn.
Article 15 was to establish a Veteran Tax Abatement program. All approved
Article 16 Amendments to article of door solicitation as written in the warrant. All approved
Article 17 was to credit firefighters with full-time service when calculating retirement benefits. All approved.
Article 19 was to accept Hawthorne Lane as a public way. Larry Shoer made an amendment to include a 32 foot utility easement. Discussion about why developers are not responsible for bringing the roadway up to road standards. Amendment passes by hand vote. Article passed 91 approved : 58 against.
Article 18 was taken out of order as the last article to allow a rewrite for clarification. It was to petition the General Court to move Town Animal Control under the Select Board. All approved.
Town Meeting can be seen on Sterling Lancaster TV URL: https://townhallstreams.com/stream.php?location_id=81&id=60225
Election results with 1182 voters:
Select Board Member Ralph Gifford 657
Finance Committee 2 seats Roy Rezac 600 Emily Notaro 624
Planning Board Michael Favreau 890 Unopposed
Board of Health 1yr Sheila Mallette 857 Unopposed
Board of Health 3yr Jeffrey Paster 867 Unopposed
Board of Public Works Richard Krafve 759
Library Trustees 2 seats Michelle Frain 842 Aime Sund 735
NRSD Committee Shandor Simon 558