Clarksburg Town Meeting, Election Set
CLARKSBURG, Mass. — Voters on Wednesday night will decide a $4.3 million total budget for fiscal 2017 and whether to institute two new zoning bylaws.
Town meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 25, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the elementary school. The annual town election will be held Tuesday, May 24, from noon to 7 at the Clarksburg Senior Center. The full warrant and budget is posted below.
There are no races on the ballot this year and the only newcomer is Patricial Denault for library trustee. Also on the ballot are Ernest F. Dix, one-year term as tree warden; Bryan H. Tanner, one-year term, moderator; William Schrade, three-year term, selectman; Michael G. River, three-year term, Board of Health; Carol Jammalo, three-year term, town clerk; Richard Bernardi, three-year term, McCann School Committee; Edward Denault, three-year term, War Memorial trustee; Patricia Prenguber, three-year term, School Committee; and Thomas Jammalo, five-year term, Planning Board.
Voters will be asked to raise and appropriate $1,438,332 on the town side, up $79,375.24 from this year. Including a requested transfer of $17,217.93 from the sewer account to pay for town labor and maintenance on the system, the total town budget is $1,455,549.93.
The budget includes 2 percent cost-of-living increases for town employees and the new compensation and classification plan approved earlier this year that will increase some workers' wages.
The school budget is $2,551,546, or $62,000 over this year; the McCann Technical School assessment is $319,275.
Also on the warrant is a request for $4,900 to continue preservation work at the two town cemeteries; this would be the second year of a 10-year plan.
Town officials are also asking permission to pay of the lengthy loan on the library. The loan still has nearly 20 years to go at a rate of 5 percent. The cost to pay it off is $79,995.13 and the amount should be taken from free cash.
Two other articles also ask to dip into free cash to pay half the cost of repairs to the town garage roof ($28,500) and the purchase of a John Deere tractor for the Department of Public Works ($51,401). A fourth would take $4,500 from free cash to preserve town records, an ongoing effort.
There are three zoning questions on the warrant. The first would amend the bylaws to require special permits for wire telecommunications facilities and the second would prohibit large wind-generation facilities but allow smaller ones by special permit. Both bylaws are recommended by the Planning Board. More information and the bylaws can be found here.
The third would set a minimum lot size for keeping domestic animals and prohibits them within a certain distance of drinking water wells and private water supplies. Voters will also be asked to approve a new stretch building code as part of the town's efforts to become a Green Community as designated by the state.
Clarksburg Annual Town Meeting Warrant 2016 by iBerkshires.com
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